Gillian Welch

"Gillian Welch," The New Yorker, October 24, 2011

Here's my illo of singer-songwriter Gillian Welch for this week's New Yorker (along with some early sketches before I went in a "more Gillian / less cowboy hat" direction) and here's a song from her latest album, "The Harrow & The Harvest"—



She's performing at the Beacon Theater in New York on Saturday, October 22.

Video Gamery

"Forget-me-not", an homage to the blessed konami code, savior of the weekend Contra player.

"Nailbiter on Custom Track 'Hunter'"

As a kid who grew up with NPR, and only one hour of TV a week my only contact with video games was at friends' houses.  It was much treasured.  So here's my two contributions to the genre from the iam8bit show and the video game show at Gallery1988 Venice opening Friday the 16.  God bless Nintendo.

House of Bamboo

"House of Bamboo," The New Yorker, August 29, 2011

Here's a quick NYer illo I did for Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo— "starring... Robert Ryan as the ruthless kingpin of Tokyo's post-war underworld!"

New print to share: Surf Jaw!

Tiny Showcase just released a new print of my work, yay!

The cool part is some portion of the sales goes out to Pangea Seed, yep, that's how TS rolls, nice.

High Places

"High Places," The New Yorker, August 15, 2011

Above is an illo of High Places I did for the NYer. Also included is an alternate sketch and an early palette direction (I liked the looks of it but didn't think it would reproduce well).

This was an especially fun piece because the WFoFers know Rob from our days at Pratt!

New Illos!

New piece for Annemarie Neff at American Medical News about the upcoming influx of twenty-somethings to the healthcare system thanks to the Obama plan.

New piece for Rob Schultz at MacWorld about creating safe wifi ipad/laptop network when you're on the road.

New piece for Scott Dvorin at the Observer.  These are fun one day turnaround pieces.  After about 6 hours of frantic work, they're a nice sense of accomplishment, and reason to go out for a happy hour beer!;)

Wet Hot American Summer Show! (and website update)

The Wet Hot American Summer Show opened up at Gallery1988, and my "Camp Firewood" map sold!  Yahoo!  I love doing these maps - they're a little bit of a nightmare, but gratifying when they're done.  My "History of the World" buddy, Dr. Owen Sherwood, contributed these guys (below) which look pretty sweet too - and if you want the Michael Showalter as Alan Shemper, too bad.  It's already gone.  Check out all the piece on the Gallery1988 site.

 

And . . . I have updated my site with some new goodies if you want to see, including some more of the History of the World show, as well as new editorial.

Turtle Power!!

I'm happy to be a part of the Autumn Society's (a Philly illo collective) "Shell-Shock - A TMNT Art Show and Tribute" opening this Friday at Brave New Worlds, a great comic book store in Old City, Philadelphia.  I really wanted o re-explore the sort of dry brush I did with the "Heavyweights" (below) in a little bit more of a serene setting with a little softer palette.  Why are they doing laundry?  Well, I do love nude turtles, but I really just thought they would have interesting laundry - those colored strips, and it's such a drudge job for teenagers, and I figured not a lot of people would do "slice of life" type images.  Just another day in the sewers . . .

Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend! Here's a quick illo I did for the NYer:

"Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys," The New Yorker, June 6, 2011

Check him out in action here:

Ronnie + Excitebike - 80's Bonanza!

"Endangerous", 22" x 28", Gouache on BFK

Thought I'd post another piece from the "History of the World" I just got around to tiling together from the scans.  Thank god Pratt has those big scanners and I had Matt Maher helping me out.  On a side note of self horn-tooting, Owen and I got nice write up in the Albany Times Union about the show!

Plus on a side note, here's a preview of part of my submission for the iam8bit Show out in LA.  I chose Excitebike - which for some reason was the most nerve wracking game I've ever played.  I just remember trying to push down on the gas so had my thumbs would be sweating and cramping.  What's more fun than that I ask you?!

When Your Cash Flow Slows

"When Your Cash Flow Slows," American Medical News, May 16, 2011

Read about doctors' "tactics for tight times" here.

Thanks, Jennifer!

For Asgard!

"Thor," The New Yorker, May 9, 2011

Here's an illustration I did for the upcoming "Thor" movie for the New Yorker. The assignment was well-timed— I had spent the day before reading "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill," the opening arc of Walter Simonson's legendary run on The Mighty Thor.

art by Walter Simonson

Here's the movie trailer:

Opens May 6th! Can't wait!

Emily's got it covered.

Emily's work is featured on the cover of PUSH Stitchery: 30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Stitched Art from Lark Books. It's out this September but you can preorder your copy here!

Here's the uncropped version of "Hey Courbet":

Hey Courbet, Emily Eibel, 2009

The Wright Brothers

Piece for the History of the World show about the Wright brothers as kids, and finally got to use the Guillow's Jetstream Glider I've had tacked to my wall for three years.  These things are the best!  I used to get these instead of candy at our local drug store on our way back from church, and play with my big brother.  Thought it made a nice parallel with Orville and Wilbur who were inspired by a toy helicopter as kids.  As well as amazing - the glider pioneered somewhere around 500 BC,  powered manned flight pioneered in 1903 - a rather large time period of improvement, and yet 50 years after Kittyhawk we were testing the edge of space and traveling at supersonic speeds.

Illo dump!

Here are a couple of new illustrations for The New Yorker, plus some sketchbook stuff:

"Warpaint," The New Yorker, April 4, 2011


"Bill Cunningham," The New Yorker, March 21, 2011

(in case you're wondering, yes, they're all on a conference call with each other)

Studies in Orbs and Years for the "History of the World" Show

The year was "1953", suburbia was sprawling, and baseball fields were shrinking to back yards, and balls were slowly evolving "wiffles" . . .

The year was 200 - or rather two hundred years since Earth collided with another planetary body, blowing it to smithereens (which would eventually become the moon), and then began it's re-coagulation into the orb we all call home.  Fireworks were millions of years in the future but I thought it would be nice to commemorate the "Bicentennial" of this collection of rock, molten rock, rock ice, and bits of water.  Why Legos?  Well, it was just a planetary toddler: innocent, but constructive in it's own growth.

Side note: we got our window vinyl!  Designed as a wacky grid by Owen Sherwood and myself, and photographed by Caroline Corrigan, Education + Exhibitions Manager up at the Art Center.  Thanks, Caroline!

History of the World - How to install a *#&@!% in 6 easy steps!

 1. Insall something on your face.  See how you like it.

 2. Get Matt Shropshire to help you (background).  He's super, super helpful.  Optional - do the show with an old buddy (Owen Sherwood, foreground).  Can your old buddy do a pensive look like this?  If not, cut him out of your life.  If he can, have him do half the work.  What a buddy!

 3. Tchotchka.  You need it.  You're not all that creative, so the crap you collect in your studio? Use it.  Again, you're not that creative, and this makes you look smart and sophisticated.  The best places to look are Wal-Mart and the crawlspace under someone else's house.

 4.  Install giant drawings on the wall of the gallery.  This ensures a memorable show: at least by the guy using the 15 gallons of matte white to cover them up when the next show goes up.  He'll go to his grave saying - "It took me eight coats to cover up that guy's painting, and he had no hope whatsoever of selling it.  What an idiot." Zang!  He'll remember you for life!

 5.  Spread crap all over the place while you're doing it.  During the installation, give the space that care-free "there might just be paint rags in this bag, but it could be an unfinished sandwich from Monday" vibe.  This is imperative.  AND - on day five, chicken curry smells like watermelon.  Fantastic.  You're almost there.

6.  Right by the front window, place a hand drawn icon featuring a famous internet cat.  I chose Maru (thanks Courtney).  While most people feign interest in politics, the Arab Spring, health care . . . at their core, they just want cat videos, and preferably of cats who, like Maru, are bad at spacial relationships.  Famous cats are the currency of the new millenium.    Draw those folks in.  This also works if you own a pet store.

In conclusion - feel free to do your own twist!  Play jazz!  Remember, we created the exact history of the world in a gallery.  You may want do something different, and lesser!  Good luck.


PS - I'm super proud of the work Owen and I did - and thanks to Caroline Corrigan, Amy Williams and Matt Shropshire at the Arts Center in Troy.  Even with the long days, and no sleep, it was fanti-billy-tastic, and It'd be great to see as many folks as possible at the reception on April 29th!