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My Year In Bicycles

I’d say my cycling enthusiasm level is now “avid.” It’s been about a year of serious riding for me (or since I was convinced to take my roommate’s 80s Schwinn road bike after he left for another coast of America). The bike was impossibly small for me and he’d kept anything related to comfort free of what he called the bi-cycle (top right).  I believe the frame was 51cm, with a plastic seat (I have to call them saddles now that I’m avid), and awful, bare drop handlebars. These words may mean little to you - simply put, the bike was a pain in the ass. And hands. And back. But, I speak of the bike in an ungrateful tone, which is completely the opposite tone I’d like to be speaking of it in. The bicycle was my entry into the mania that now permeates my everyday life. I returned the borrowed mountain bike (top left) I’d had for several years (having ridden it a handful of times [which was also far too small for me]) and set out every late-spring day on that little red beast to try to get my confidence up riding in the city. I’m getting ahead of myself however, I had to ride every day just to learn how to deal with something so foreign. The first time on a road bike is extremely unnerving and seems wrong - the way a lot of things you’ve never done and go against your basic human understanding of ‘how the world should work’ feel wrong. Two skinny inline wheels should not stay upright, especially when adding a skittery, lanky 140 pounder on top. Once you’ve given into the magical psuedo-science keeping a paper thin bike upright, you have to deal next with the posture a classic road bike thrusts you into. Riding on the top of drop bars is not comfortable, especially for a person with wide shoulders and lanky arms (me, I’ve already mentioned my lank) - but what’s worse is the leap of faith you must take to enter the lower part of the curved drop handlebar. If flashes of your face grating against the sidewalk don’t instantly pop into your mind, you’re a brave person with a brain problem.

Suffice it to say, I learned to ride the bicycle without too many issues - and through daily riding and an ever increasing interest in how the parts worked, I was well on the way to my present compulsion, need, and desire for all things bi-cycle. After taking the Schwinn to a bike shop and complaining of outrageous back pain, I was told the bicycle was about 4 sizes too small for me. They set me up on a monstrously large bike and it fit and was a revelation to my atrophying back. So I got a new bike (not pictured) and donated the Schwinn to a friend who still rides it lovingly to this day. My new bike was a low-end fixed gear that was promptly stolen after 3 months of use outside a bagel shop. I hope someone is enjoying it (or its various stripped-off parts) - I did, for the short time I rode it as it gave me a brief but thorough look into the world of fixies - a dangerously associative world I may not have escaped if my ride hadn’t gotten jacked. Despite thinking not all that highly of the New York fixed-gear order, I got another fixed-gear bicycle (bottom left) - but a nice, proper one. It was not long before I threw a freewheel on there though, and indulged myself a little coasting. The rest of My Year In Bicycles involves a lot of conversing with my old roommate who bequeathed the Schwinn to me about bicycle parts, trips we’ll take, and bicycles we need to buy. We’ve both begun a small collection at 2 a piece with a 5 bike plan in the works. My latest acquisition is an old French road bike (bottom right) from the mid 70s that I rescued from a Salvation Army and cleaned, painted and rebuilt as a fairly faithful restoration. I’ve begun training on this monster for a long trip myself and the Scwhinn’s original master are planning. I will always think very fondly of that little bicycle and the awfully wonderful time I had riding it.

2015 Calendar - September: Sabrina

Continuing the 2015 calendar project, this month is Madam Satan as seen in the excellent ongoing comic The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Felt like doing one in physical materials, so made a bunch of stencils and painted this one piece by piece.  Visit my site! Visit my new, pretty blog!

Graphic Booklet: Male Emotions

Further character study for the graphic booklet’s male character. I needed to simplify my typical facial style to pull out the highs and lows I was looking for. Since the character has very little to say in the story, I needed a very expressive, cartoony body capable of movement aplenty.

X-Villainy

I've undertaken a project to catalogue all the bad guys in each X Files episode. I've started on season 3 since that's where I was when getting the idea. I've about 200 or so left to do... Poster series to come. You can check out detailed info for each here.

Bliizzard

I’ve developed a new system for numbering severe winter storms.  It is very logical and looks pretty awesome.  Going out on a limb here and pre-calling tonight’s snow the second winter’s blizzard. With my system you can give every storm the non-anonymous respect it deserves.  I hope there is The Bliiizzard later this winter.

Starting a new project that catalogues the main villain from each X Files episode: X-Villainy. Starting from season three since that’s what I’m on currently, but I’ll eventually get to them all.

Season 3 Episode 1, in which the Well-manicured Man is introduced, member of a secret society of powerfully shady men. Guy definitely has some pull, and his alliances come into question, but remains a pretty bad dude, working with the Smoking Man and all. 

This is part of an ongoing project to catalogue the villains from the television series X Files. Check out the others here!

I was commissioned to create an art piece for a newborn's room/nursery. It came out really well AND I got to draw a whole bunch of dogs. Win win. Want one for your tiny baby (or grown adult)? Email me!

Season 3 Episode 8 in which an un-extraordinary man snatches a kid. Some psychic link stuff between a previous abductee and the current, but nothing too spectacular other than that. Carl Wade.

This is part of an ongoing project to catalogue the villains from the television series X Files. Check out the others here!

Found a whole mess of truck icons I did years ago. Dusted this one off because I liked it. Used to work in pixels so often.

Bird 7: Laughing Gull

Another bird in the love it or hate it category, the Laughing Gull. The sea gull many of us think of is the Herring Gull, but they aren’t as attractive and don’t outnumber the Laughing Gull by very much here in Brooklyn. I see these guys all the time at Prospect Park. When I ride down to Coney Island and Brighton Beach, these gulls rule the school. I like them when they leave my junk alone. They strike me as crows that have retired - changed clothes to suit their beachier environment.