Here’s A New Piece For The December Issue Of AiCIO About Partnership And The Sharing Of Technology

I got NOBROW 6 in the mail the other day and it is awesome to see it in person. I cannot believe how much talent is packed into this thing! It's really a gorgeous book, and everyone should grab a copy.

thank goodness...

___

HOLY HELL KALI YOU ARE AMAZING (she got my colors right and everything <3)

Not only is Andrea Kalfas an amazing artist, but she’s my best buddy, all-around lovely lady, AND IT’S HER BIRTHDAY TODAY! THIS IS FOR HER! I wanted to pay her back for her bootylicious gift to me, and I’m sure you can guess what we’ve been watching a lot of, lately. Happy Birthday girl! Thank you for protecting us all with your powers of love and justice and badassery!!!!

Some months ago I illustrated and hand-lettered materials at Spur Design for the Maryland Humanities Council's One Maryland One Book program. Every year a book is chosen for state-wide reading and discussion, with materials distributed to schools and libraries, and the 2012 selection was The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. It's a story based on true events about a musician during the seige of Sarajevo who honors the memory of his friends and neighbors by playing his cello everyday in the square where they were killed, a day for each victim.

It was a thrill to work on this at Spur, and lovely to work with the hardworking people at MD Humanities. You can find out more about the One Maryland One Book program here. Art & design direction by David Plunkert and Joyce Hesselberth.

Illustration for the New Yorker's Bar Tab column about a cozy-sounding trivia-night-loving bar in Brooklyn, Black Rabbit. I'm all in the mood for festive drinks now. Thanks to AD Deanna Donegan.

Tag! You're it! The rules are to state 5 random facts about yourself. Then, go to ten blogs and tell them that they are it!

get out of here with that noise.

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

For Trevor Henderson's upcoming grim and dreadful H.P. Lovecraft zine "Puffed Shoggoths", which has incredible line up of artists including Trevor himself, Jimmy Giegerich and Jon Vermilyea. You can find out more about the zine here.

With Halloween on it's way, I figure I'll tie this little story into the piece: this illustration is based on an intense fear I experienced on the one and only cruise I'll ever take in my life. I was on the deck one night, in the middle of the Atlantic; it was cloudy and a new moon so no light whatsoever came from the sky. I remember looking out past the railings and seeing the lights from the boat just end only a few feet out at the most charcoal-deep blackness I've ever seen. It was such a profoundly dark and completely unbroken void that it just seemed to swallow everything. As if the ship had sailed into a black hole, there was just nothing in every direction. I remember finding my back to the wall of the ship before I even knew I'd moved and just filling up with the most instinctual fear and dread. There could have been a colossal eye staring at me in the dark and I wouldn't have been any more disturbed than I was in that moment. 

"When you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you," apparently...according to some guy... 

So in true Lovecraftian style, I let the dread take over and this is the result! Stay tuned to Trevor's tumblr for news on the "Puffed Shoggoths" zine.

What brand of gouache do you use? Have you tried using student-grade gouache, particularly Lefranc & Bourgeois Fine Gouache? I am always told to stay away from student grades, but I was also told that if they worked for me (color-wise), I should be fine. I am worried about "permanency", or that my gouache paintings will break down in the future.

I enjoy Winsor & Newton a lot. I've never used Lefranc & Bourgeois before, but I used Daler Rowney throughout school. (Is that considered student grade? I don't know. I still use it occasionally and I like them ok, but oh man, their yellow ochre! what happened? s'not good.) About the worst thing I've experienced with "lower-quality" gouache is that there will be more variation in how the paint dries, so that you'll get some colors that dry with an annoying semi-gloss for some reason. But my older paintings done in said "lower-quality" gouache are still holding up just fine! I think you should be good so long as you mix (mix (MIX!)) your colors, look for a nice even consistency in the pigment of your paints, and be mindful about storage. That way, your works should last you a good while!

Good luck!

Yesterday, Comics Alliance posted one of the friendliest reviews of my work I've yet read. You can read the full post here. Thanks, Lauren Davis for the very kind words! 

ARGUS, the many-eyed demi-god, is a psychic-type mystical fighter who specializes in paralyzing her opponents with her gaze and holding them in crippling mental pain. Nearly impossible to sneak up on, she maintains a vigilant defense against physical attacks with evasive hovering, as any contact with her eye-covered body can do serious damage. The large eye on her forehead, when opened, casts a heavily destructive wide beam of light, but it forces all of Argus's other eyes closed and leaves her vulnerable for the duration. An orbiting shroud covers the eye until she needs its power. Fighters that want to take on Argus should employ blinding techniques: bright flashes of light, obstructive smoke, or sprays of ink. While impervious to attacks of willpower, physical attacks can bring Argus down easily if fighters manage to blind all of her eyes.

Okay, now come up from that deep dark pool of nerdiness...this is Argus, my submission to Jenn Woodall's latest anthology zine, FIGHT! Round 1! It features many talented illustrators the likes of Kali Ciesemier, Sam Bosma, Jimmy Giegerich, Valentin Seiche + more, and it's gonna be rad as hell.