Paul Coker is Awesome

Paul Coker illustrated for Mad Magazine and Rankin Bass productions and I've loved his work since childhood. I love how he illustrates people's emotional states in such a zany way. I also love how he draws backgrounds and objects in a style that's very free, almost childlike...I really struggle with drawing backgrounds and objects and am trying to get better at it so it's really nice to find a style that I want to emulate. 

Artist Showcase - Dan DeCarlo

I needed some inspiration for my "Sexy Vegetables" project so I purchased this book about Dan DeCarlo's art, and it is awesome. It's a hard cover, coffee-table size, with a variety of DeCarlo's work, from obscure Archie-esque type comics to his original illustrations of va-va-va voom ladies, which he did in the most beautiful ink washes. I love that the book includes many of his rough sketches with handwritten notes in the margins. It's definitely an inspiration!

Artist Spotlight - Seymour Chwast

I love this poster. It cracks me up. I also love the design, the image, and the colors. You can buy it here, signed! 

Artist Showcase... Carmen Herrera

“I do it because I have to do it; it’s a compulsion that also gives me pleasure” - quote by artist Carmen Herrera about painting. I love it because that's how I feel about comics and art in general. It is a compulsion. I love Ms. Herrera's story because she's worked all her life but has only recently become recognized  - at the age of 94. 

Artist Spotlight... Jim Riel

Our ridiculously talented Undercoverfish Comic veteran, Jim Riel, completed the 24-hour comic challenge hosted by Worcester Art Museum (WAM) this weekend! Woo hoo! Congratulations Jim!

The 24-hour comic challenge is an international challenge to all cartoonists to complete a 24-page story (inked and lettered) in 24 hours. I did it one year and have no desire to repeat the experience. It's grueling. But I attended the WAM event this weekend. I hung out and worked for about 8 hours and saw Jim in action, churning out one fantastic page after another. I'm excited to see the whole piece, which is about the ghost of President Lincoln visiting President Obama. A few panels are pictured here.

Antidote to the horrid "Life is Good" apparel line: Mark Beyer

I bought this t-shirt back in high school at Newbury comics. The artist is Mark Beyer . I never wear it anymore. I just keep it in my drawer to look at now and then. I absolutely love it and think it's the most hilarious thing ever and it's the perfect antidote to the horrid "Life is Good" apparel line.

So thank you Mark Beyer for being so awesome.

Andy Fish's Dracula, The Dead Travel Fast

My good pal Andy Fish is probably the most prolific graphic novelists I know. In the past two years he's written and drawn his own adaptation of Dracula, The Dead Travel Fast. Does that not sound like an undertaking-and-a-half? I believe Andy is the only writer/artist that could take on such a momentous project and pull it off to create a new re-telling of this story that's more fresh and suspenseful than any other. And starting today, he's running it as a webcomic on his blog every Wednesday and on weekends! So check it out! 

But if you're like me and you need to gobble up the whole book in one sitting, check out Andy's The Dead Travel Fast site to find out more about the book in hard copy, Nook version, etc. There's also some amazing original art for sale!

#PrayForJapan - Buy great art for a great cause!

My good pal, the amazingly talented Veronica Fish, has a piece in the SWEET STREETS show, #PrayForJapan. 100% of art sales will be donated to the American Red Cross for earthquake disaster relief.  #PrayForJapan exhibits at JapanLA gallery in Los Angeles, March 19 – April 4, 2011, but artwork will remain online until they reach their goal. 
There is a lot of great art for sale - so check it out!

Baman Piderman - Season 2 opening episode released tonight!

Written and animated by the most ridiculously talented duo, Lindsay Small and Alex Butera, 'Baman Piderman' is the silliest, most surreal, creative and totally wacked show EVER!

Have you seen me?

I took this photo of a paper mache sculpture I saw recently. I love the eyes and how it looks like he went berserk with the lipstick. The artist is a good friend of mine but prefers to remain anonymous. 

Love Hurts...

Hey Y'all!!! Guess what?!!

I won the 'Love Hurts' giveaway on Veronica's blog

and scored this amazing, beeau-ti-ful print!

Thank you Veronica!

This is me right now...

I'm psyched!!! :)

Pest Design

I rediscovered this comic yesterday while cleaning. It's by Dan James and the story is told in pictures, no words. The art is very stylized and beautiful. The book is small and square, 5 x 5 in. It's a lovely art object in and of itself.  

It's about the only time I've appreciated the mosquito, and I truly detest them. But this image made me think that as far as insects go, the mosquito actually has a pretty elegant design.

Mosquito is published by Top Shelf Productions. 

Artist Spotlight...Bodan Litnianski

Artist Bodan Litnianski built this amazing labyrinth of walls constructed entirely of trash, found objects, and creepy dolls. More on this website. Is this not the ideal venue for displaying creepy dolls? Dolls are just creepy, innately. If you keep them indoors, they just hang out and plot how to kill you :) 

I LOVE this one...

© photos Benjamin Teissedre - Laurent Jacquy

I learned about this artist from the documentary film, The Gleaners and I, in which filmmaker Agnes Varda follows a variety of rural and urban gleaners. Gleaning means picking stuff up off the ground that's otherwise bound for the trash, or already is trash. It could be following behind crop harvesters or rifling through dumpsters. 

Artist Showcase...Debi Libuda

I have been admiring Debi Libuda's work since we first met working together many years ago at a plant nursery. And now I finally own one of her pieces! (pictured here), 'Jack in the Pulpit.' Debi's passion for plant life and nature is evident in her paintings. The thick texture and infinitesimal detail to color and light that she uses makes these subjects appear to be vibrating with an intensity of energy and life that's truly striking. 

Artist Showcase...Keenan Cassidy

This piece by Keenan Cassidy is a favorite in my art collection. Keenan is an incredibly talented and prolific local artist. I believe he did this piece in 2007, when he was only 13! One of the many inspiring things about Keenan is that he's always experimenting with new techniques. Check out his blog to see how he's layering and mixing different mediums in his recent works. 

Eye candy from POST THIS! show

I love Pete Cardoso's bold, clean designs. They have a retro feel to them. The print quality of these is amazing. I'd like to learn more about his background and process:

Lindsey Kuhn's work is crazed, hilarious, neon genius: 

Well hell-O there handsome fella!

Despite being tired and hungry, my eyeballs were happily gorging on this feast of visual candy: 

YUM!

AIE-OH! 

Diggin' the work by my homies 

Veronica Hebard, Andy Fish, and Keenan Cassidy:

Suh-wEEET!

New addition...

...to my art collection...

It's "Space Ape" 

by Andy Fish!

I love it! 

Today's Artist Showcase is...Brian Butler!!

These are photos of a Brian Butler painting I bought a couple years ago...

When I saw his work at the Modus Lotus POP Euphoria! show, it stopped me in my tracks. It was so bizarre, unique, and wonderful. The subject of this and many of his paintings is the Ice Cream People. 

The way he depicts this seemingly innocuous and whimsical subject matter just makes me laugh. They look so demented, and his paint strokes give a feeling of frenzied urgency and drama that's so antithetical to the way ice cream people have been depicted in mainstream advertising in the past.  

I had a chance to chat with Brian at the POP Euphoria! show. It was refreshing to meet such a young, talented, and successful artist who's also so approachable, unpretentious, and friendly. :)

Enjoy! 

Today's Artist Showcase is...

Keith Knight!!

Keith Knight is one of my favorite cartoonists. I love so many things about his work. First, his stuff is hilarious, engaging, and utterly entertaining. If you put a book of his cartoons in front of me, I will tune out the entire universe until it's completely devoured (not unlike a bag of Cape Cod potato chips, which I don't allow in my house for that reason).  

Also, I love that he crams his panels full. It works because his style is really crisp, clean, and ALIVE. There's so much vibrant energy and personality in his handwriting and drawings. It seems like nowadays, with computers and all, you don't always get a sense of the energy that comes from the artist's hands.  

I was fortunate to be able to catch an exhibit of Keith's work at the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco when I was there last year. It was excellent. They showed a ton of his original work, which was such a treat. And it was there that I learned that he's originally from Massachusetts (although unlike me, he was wicked smahht and left). 

Artist Showcase...

Today's artist is Jean Lecointre. 

I was unfamiliar with his work until I bought this postcard of his piece, "Les Biches" (The Does). (postcard published by editions vp). 

It's so bizarre and unlike anything I've ever seen. 

You have to check out his website to see more of his work. The short films are wonderfully weird and stunning. I'm speechless. 

He also created, with artist Pierre La Police, the comic book series La Balancoire de Plasma.  I'm blown away by the freakiness of these. You can see more here.