The Money Shot

Hi Blog. So this Thursday night is the event at Die Fabrik (38 Howard st. & Broadyway, 5th Floor). It's gonna be a lot of fun and I'm going to put up my Let There Be Stuff series, along with a couple of other pieces. I wanted to make a new piece for it so I hammered it out over the last few days and I'm pretty proud of it.

When I was a kid, I would always try to draw hot chicks, but they never turned out right. So usually the drawings I would make were Marvel Handbook-esque drawings of superheroes more suited to display their costume designs than their inherent ability to kick ass. I digress. For a while now I've just wanted to draw a hot chick, so I'm using this show as the forum for that, or maybe I've been spending too much time with Ray Jones.

It's really colorful but simple and kinda dirty without being overtly dirty. Or maybe it is overtly dirty and I'm not acknowledging that. Also, its 30in x 49.5in, so its also pretty big. I'm looking forward to picking it up from Duggal tomorrow.

So that's about it Blog. I need to get back to a job and I'll see you on Thursday.

R.I.P. Vibe Magazine

Savior El Mundo Presents POP ART - JULY 2

Sup Blog, this has been a long week. MJ's gone, which I still can't believe. I was always a big fan, and excuse me for gushing over it but this was the end of an era. I still remember being a little kid and waiting for his Sunday night premiers of the videos off the Dangerous album. Anyway, well wishes to his family and billions of fans.

Also, I know that I promised I would show pics of the new studio, but the weather here on the east coast has been fairly terrible and I haven't been there as often as I'd like. And when I do go, I forget my camera. Oopskees.

So in the meantime, here's a flier for a show I'm participating in called Pop Art, featuring myself, Savior El Mundo, Jayson Atienza, SSUR, Jason Barletta, and Masahiro. Its going to be pretty cool, and there's gonna be a performance by the Rocksteady Crew Bgirls. Its going to be on July 2 at Die Fabrik (38 Howard St. and Broadway, 5th Floor). Doors open from 7pm to 12am, with an open bar from 7-9. Also, the event is FREE, but we'd appreciate an RSVP, so please email or phone if you plan on attending.

or RSVP here if you have Facebook

Happy Daddy Day

So its Sunday and it started raining again?!? What the hell?

Quick bloggin' today. Its Father's Day here in America and in honor of that I'm posting some drawings me and my dad did at a restaurant yesterday while taking a break from looking for a poker table and drinking copious amounts of booze (ya know, typical son/dad type stuff). He's an architect for a large architectural firm in NYC and I fondly remember him sitting at his drafting table hunched over some blueprints while chain smoking. At the time I was probably 7 years old and cracking up at the Tracey Ullman Show. Although my comedic tastes have changed (Matt Groening, you smart smart man), I still think that image in my head is infinitely cool.

My dad's drawing of his 'dream house'

His portrait of me.
My portrait of him doing a portrait of me.

Happy Father's Day!

Personalless

Hey Blog, Friday's here and its finally stopped raining. I swear, I think my lawn is drowning. It's supposedly the coldest June ever here in the tri-state area. I don't mind it so much, just as long as I'm not sweating.

I wanted to wrap up the week with my latest piece I did for Hyphen Magazine. Sometimes I'm surprised that I don't deal with Asian American issues in my work, and that I don't even primarily draw Asians to begin with (all my characters tend to be Caucasian, or at least have Caucasian features). This is probably because I was born and raised here in the States. Well, Hyphen helped me change all that because the piece is for their personal essay section. The author is Deborah Jiang Stein, who is a woman of mixed decent coming to terms with her roots as the daughter of a heroin-addicted inmate. Its a pretty powerful story, and I suggest you guys read it in Hyphen's upcoming issue. Here's the piece:

The concept was to have the main character regain her past by encountering the "spirit" of her mother (the author visits the prison where she was born). This piece was definitely more about finesse than my last few, so I kept the lines to a minimum. I like the way it turned out, and tried a couple of different washes and fills. It's pretty flat too, which I tend to like.

Hope you guys enjoy and next week I plan to show some pics of the new studio, and updates on the projects I have on deck.

Also, KEEP YOUR CALENDARS OPEN FOR JULY 2! More details later.

Gimme a hand with this shelf...

Hey Blog, I missed a post last week. I think I was too busy not sleeping, hunched over my drawing table while listening to the rain hit the top of my air conditioner. Anyway, I got a couple of really great projects on the horizon and I'm quite excited. More on those once details are finalized. Anyway, right now I'm finishing up a piece for Hyphen Magazine but I'm taking a quick break to post this before I forget.

Anyway, I was recently called upon by my friends at Alpha Magazine for a full page with an accompanying quarter page on a story about "dark pools of liquidity". Apparently hedge fund managers can trade on off-exchange trading venues where buyers can fill orders with minimized market effect. This practice has gotten much more popular, and traders need to be more aware of the possible dangers and guard their privacy. I tossed a few ideas at them, and fortunately for me they chose a weird one that was cool to illustrate.


The main idea was based on the dangers of making uninformed decisions, and the "cabinet of hands" was a pretty good way for me to get that across. Also, it should be noted that my drawing style has changed A LOT over the past two years. I think my Crispy Kid book, was definitely a turning point. I don't know if I'll ever incorporate a regular pencil line into my work again (never say never tho). And here's the accompanying quarter pager.


Both pieces are darker than what I'm been doing lately (in terms of palette), and it was a refreshing change of pace, as the piece I'm working on right now is much brighter.

So that's about it, back to work and I'll catch you later.

logos, À la smart

Sup Blog, some big changes this past week. First off, I'm now sharing a studio space with two fellow SVAers in Bergen, NJ. Its really close to the Lincoln Tunnel and pretty huge. We're still settling in and decorating(!), but its great so far. We brought in a ton of posters, books, video games, etc and it looks like a big clubhouse. I've already pulled two all-nighters there, and am prepared to do more. Pics of the space soon.

Also, I got slammed with work this week, which is a good thing. A couple of editorial illustrations and some branding gigs are keeping me busy, so that studio's going to get a lot of action in the next few days. One branding job I just finished is for my friend Lynn who's starting her own health counseling business. She counsels people individually and in groups on how to eat healthier and cook healthier. She also does lectures on stress relief and alternative methods of getting healthy without being dependent on medicine. I really dig this since I'm a health nut myself. Her business is called "The Health Dish" and this is the approved logo.


Its simple and fun, and was the third idea I had. My main criteria for self-approval on these was the "Short Hills" test (as in, could I see this in Short Hills Mall, aha).

For those curious about the other two ideas, here they are (at this stage it was still called "The Healthy Dish"):




These were fairly decent ideas also, just not as fun as the final. I do like the idea of the "D" being a section of those picnic plates. I'm gonna keep that in the memory bank for the distant future.

Well that's it for now, gotta do some work. Later Blog.

P.S. Conan's kicking ass right now. 11:30 no longer sucks.

P.P.S. The title of this post was almost "Eat It, Suckers"