Artwork For A New Book - 3x4

Here is a piece from an upcoming book I'm contributing to. I'm one of 4 artists involved in this small little side project known as 3 x 4. 3 paintings by 4 artists, and all work inspired by the theme of 3, thus explaining the three eyes on the love hungry space creature above. As for the book, you may have heard of the other guys who are contributing to this project ... Scott Morse, Don Shank & Lou Romano? Well, they are amazing, and the book is shaping up to be a lot of fun. More details and release date info to come.

On a side note, there are still plans for release of The Ancient Book of Monsters and Magic, just not this year. We're all still plugging away at it, and should have it out sometime next year, more details on this in the future as well.

As for the piece above, here are the details:

3 Eyes
10" x 15"
Acrylic, Aluminum Foil & Paper Collage
2010

Toy Story 3 Character Design

As one of the lead character designers on the up coming Toy Story 3 film, I had my hands full with designing a whole bunch of new toys for the film. Once the film is released I'll post some sketches and go into more detail on the fun I had working on the film and all it's new characters, but for now, since I can't post and sketches yet, I thought I'd post one of the posters that was released for one of the characters I designed. Mr. Pricklepants was probably my favorite character I got to work on and design, here is the poster / render of him that's been released, and I have to say, he pretty much looks exactly like the drawings I did back when I was working on his design. More to come once the film is released.

Space Swingers - Commission Piece

A few months ago I was asked if I could create a piece much like a previous painting I had done before, it's not something I usually do, but it's always fun to riff on something you may have already done, just to see what you can do to build of a pre-existing concept. So I revisited a piece I did for the "Ancient Book of Sex and Science", the piece was titled "Space Quickie" you can see it HERE on my blog. Basically I ended up just trying to build off of the concept of some people enjoying some sexy time in Space. So above you can see the finished painting, it's a space ship full of astronaut swingers celebrating the discovery of a new alien planet, unfortunately, the alien that they landed their rocket ship on was not invited to the celebration. And he doesn't seem to be too pleased about it!

Space Swingers
10" x 20"
Acrylic and Paper Collage
2010

Flip The Bird - Oregon Art Show

In April I will be one of four artists teaming up for a bird themed gallery show at The Lunar Boy Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. The show will be titled "Flip the Bird" and will showcase artwork from Ben Adams , Ben Burch , Lou Romano , and my self. The Brains behind the show are two amazing artists by the names of Ben Adams & Ben Burch. It's a show they have both helped put on for the past couple of years and I'm really excited to be apart of this years showcase. One thing that is gonna be really cool about this particular show, is each artist was given one of four seasons to create a layout / sketch for. Then that design is passed out amongst the four other artists, and in the end you have four different takes on four different seasons, each designed by one artist, but painted differently by everyone else participating. The season that I was given to design was Winter, and here is my painting of the layout and bird I designed.

The show is gonna be really fun, and the other artists participating are amazingly inspirational, so if you aren't busy on April 10th, Saturday evening, and you are in and or around the town of Astoria, you should come by the Lunar Boy Gallery and check out the show.

Ice Crane
12" x 12"
Acrylic and Paper Collage
2010

Two Paths - Commission Piece

Well, I'm swamped with all types of work right now, so I thougth I'd take a quick moment to post one of the more recent commission pieces I've finished. This particular piece was inspired by a poem. The poem describes the choices we all have in life, and in many ways, how some of our desicions can be simplified down into the option of choosing between two different paths to follow.

Two Paths
9" x 15"
Acrylic 7 Paper Collage
2010

Ronald Searle Tribute

I was recently asked to contribute to a little thank you / tribute book for the amazing cartoonist Ronald Searle. Like most people in animation and cartooning today, Ronald Searles work has had a profound impact on myself as an artist. He's simply one of the best artists ever, and to have a chance to say thanks with a little tribute drawing of my own, I jumped at the chance. Anyways, below is my contribution to the tribute book being put together for him.

If by chance you haven't seen is work, or have never heard of him, just google his name ( Ronald Searle ) and be prepared to be blown away.

Sasquatch & His Bad Habits

Here is a painting from a series of paintings I did for an upcoming art book I'll be in. More info on the book and it's release date in the future.

Sasquatch Squaller
5"x 12"
Acrylic and Paper Collage
2010

Postcard Auction Benefit

Hey Everyone, I know it's been a little while since my last post, but the drought will not continue anymore as I have a bunch of work I'm finishing up, and will be posting in the next few weeks, one of the posts being a process post showing my painting process in detail.

As for this post, I was asked a few months ago, if I would participate in a postcard auction benefit in hopes of raising money to help build a school for orphans in Freetown, Sierra Leone. I jumped at the chance to help contibute, so here is the postcard I painted on, and below is the link to the blog showcasing all these postcards:

Brownstones to Red Dirt

Plus also below is a little blurb from the blog about what the whole project / auction benefit is all about.

Two colleagues at Blue Sky Studios, David LaMattina and Chad Walker, have created a feature-length documentary about a pen pal program between a group of at-risk sixth graders living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and orphans from the war living in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This Postcard Art project is an extension of the their film "Brownstones To Red Dirt" which features children from both schools. The kids in both places have inspired us all to want to do more and so we're putting together an art auction of original postcards based around the same central theme of the film in a fundraising effort to build a school for the orphans in Freetown, Sierra Leone and create a library for the youth at their school in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

Yeti Postcard
5" x 3.5"
Acrylic

Happy Holidays

Wishing you all the best this holiday season.

Mountain Hi
5" x 7"
Acrylic & Collage
2009

She Won't Be Rescued

Here is my contribution to this weekends upcoming Power in Numbers show at Gallery Nucleus. Tons of great artists, every painting is 5"x7" and everything is selling for $100 bucks! Should be a fun show, check out Gallery Nucleus's website for more info on the event.

She Won't Be Rescued
Acrylic and collage
5" x 7"
2009

Adventures in Autumn - Commision Painting

Here is a painting I did a little while back as a commissioned piece for a little boy's room. I believe it was a present for the little guys 1st birthday, and all I can say is this has to be the first painting I've ever done for anyones first birthday, really cool. When he learns to talk I'll have to ask him what he thinks, and even then, there is a pretty good chance he may just giggle, burp, or drool, which I'll gladly take any of those as a compliment.

Adventures in Autumn
Acrylic and Collage
10" x 17"
2009

Finally something on time for the holidays

With the holidays quickly approaching and the weather getting colder I have to say it's one of my favorite times of the year. And usually around this time I love to paint something of the holiday spirit for me and my wifes holiday card, and being an artist, always busy with way too many projects, every year I always seem to feel rushed in doing so. Well finally this year I'm ahead of schedule and that's nice for a change. I had a lot of fun painting this piece and most importantly my wife crystal loves it too, giving me her two cute thumbs up. Of course the yeti is no suprise here, but I thought it would be fun to see him decorated in some holiday cheer. My only hope now is that it prints well on the cards, I've gone through Kodak before and they were great, so all should be good in the end. This piece is also availiable in the store here as a print for those interested, and is going to be given away framed and for free as a part of the Stores Holiday Painting Give-A-Way which you can read about here if you are interested. I should note that all of the items in the store will be on sale during the holiday season for those of you interested.

"Decorating The Yeti"
Acrylic and Paper Collage
8" x 11"

Sas & Friends at Gallery Nucleus 5th Year Anniversary Show

This coming Saturday Night Nov.7th, Gallery Nucleus is having a power house of a show in celebration of their 5 year anniversary as a gallery. The Quinquennium Exhibitum: Nucleus 5 Year Anniversary Exhibition is the title of the show, and it will feature tons and tons of amazing artists (like usual) all doing what they do best, creating really inspiring and beautiful artwork. Shown above is one of the pieces I'm contributing to the show, it's Sasquatch and his best friend Stanley. Anyways, if you want to check out a great art show this weekend, swing by Gallery Nucleus this Saturday Night for a packed house of amazing work.

Best Friends
15.5" x 9.5"
Acrylic and Collage
2009

Thanks Spike!

Spike Jonez and Co. have recently set up an awesome blog called "We Love You So" chronicling everything that is "Where The Wild Things Are." Last week he posted the piece I did for Terrible Yellow Eyes on his blog, and although he didn't mention my name with the piece, I'm honored that he liked it enough to post it on his blog. Where The Wild Things Are is one of my favorite books of all time, and has now become on of my favorite films ever, not to mention a great example of how CG Animation can seamlessly merge with Live Action Filmaking if it's done with good taste. Too often, CG Animation becomes a crutch when it comes to creating special effects and character animation for films, but the fact that Spike and the team he assembled, constructed and built everything that they could by hand ( hat's off to Jim Hensons Creature Shop for those kick ass costumes ) and used only CG where they needed it ( mainly in the animation of the characters faces )I think set forth a great example of how the CG Animation medium should be used in film. Limited and only when necessary. Anyways my wife and I have already seen the film twice, and well probably make it to the theaters once more before it makes it's exit. The film is beautiful and a breath of fresh air for an industry that always seems to turn something we all love into something we wish was different. Anyways, thanks again Spike for posting my piece.

Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space

They don't make movie posters like they used to, and being a huge fan of classic horror movie posters, when I was asked to create and paint a few "campy" B-Movie inspired movie posters for their recently released Halloween Special, I jumped at the opportunity. While painting movie posters is fun, I find that the hardest thing about painting these types of classic horror posters is trying to balance all the story and thematic elements into one single image. Anyways, playing with text, cheesy & garish colors, and over dramatising most of the characters and elements in these posters was a lot of fun. Also, thanks to Amid for the kind words and for featuring this on the Brew.

Built To Spill Concert Poster

I recently did this concert poster for the awesome band "Built to Spill." The are playing at the world famous Fillmore in San Francisco over the Halloween weekend, so I was asked to create something with a Halloween flair to it. I ended up with this satanic recording studio featuring the grim reaper on lead guitar and the mummy on vocals.

The official show dates are Saturday October 31st & Sunday November 1st at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Halloween Print Set Avaliable

With Halloween upon us, I thought I would update my store with a little vampire flavor. The Drinking with Dracula print pack is new, and will be available for a limited time during the Halloween season. The original paintings were shown at the ART & Mayhem Gallery in Los Angeles in 2008. Every print pack consists of all three signed Dracula prints. Check out the Drinking with Dracula Print Set in the store if you are interested in spending sometime with this Halloween drunk.

My Artwork & Print Store Is Now Open

First off, I just want to thank everyone out there who has supported me and this little blog I started several years ago. All the support and positive feedback I've received from all of you out there has been amazing and incredibly inspiring.

Secondly, for a long time now, I've wanted to have a place online that I could offer some prints and artwork for sale but haven't gotten around to creating the website for it. Well, my wife Crystal and I have spent the last month getting the ball rolling on this idea and finally we have a little online store that is now officially open! The Artwork and Print store we've started will be updated regularly with new prints and new original paintings, sketches, and possibly shirts and even toys in the future. There will be a link on this blog to the right that will take you directly there, plus other links that will take you to featured prints. What's available in the store at this moment is just at a small starting place, so if something is missing from the store that you wish was there, just send us an email and we can hopefully add it to the store. Also, check out the Painting Give-A-Way section in the store, there's going to be some opportunities for people to win some free original artwork, so have a look at that if you are interested. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us or simply check out the FAQ section. And if you get a chance, swing by the store and check out what we got.

The piece shown above will be available in the store as a Limited Edition Signed and Numbered Print "She Loved the Man and the Monster." The original piece has been sold. It was featured in the newly released book "The Ancient Book of Sex and Science." The print shown below is one of the smaller 8x10 prints titled "Some Like Them Hot / Some Like Them Cold". These smaller 8x10 prints are all sized to perfectly fit right into any 8x10 picture frame, below is an example of one of the prints placed in an 8x10 Ikea frame.



**Sorry, but the photo shown above has not been color corrected, it's only to show size and scale with an 8x10 frame.

Where The Wild Things Are Gallery Show - Saturday Night

Here is a piece I recently did for the Terrible Yellow Eyes Gallery Show at Gallery Nucleus . The exhibit showcases a huge amount of amazing work all inspired by the greatest book of all time " Where The Wild Things Are." A few months ago, a guy buy the name of Cory Goodby started this great Blog dedicated to showcasing artwork inspired by the book, as a birthday gift for Maurice Sendak, the Author of "Where The Wild Things Are." Since this book happens to be my favorite book of all time, and now that Spike Jonez is making what will be the best movie of all time, naturally i had to participate. So here is my piece. It's actually a 3-D Painting / Sculpture titled "Wish You Were Here." For me, I wanted to explore the feelings and the sorrow that the monsters might have once Max was gone, this idea of holding onto what ever remains after someone has left felt really inspiring to me.



Since this piece is a small 3-D model, I thought I would have fun with the camera and photoshop and see what the movie might have looked like if it was made as a stop motion animated film. As for the real film, I think Spike Jonez has made the movie of my lifetime. This book seems like it could have been made into a thousand crappy films, and once I saw the first poster, I knew that it wasn't going to be a steaming pile. Spike Jonez is a genius, the move looks fantastic, the art direction looks amazing, my only problem with it is I didn't have the chance to work on it. Anyways, the show is gonna be great, if you can swing by Gallery Nucleus this Saturday Night from 6-11pm, you won't regret it, the artwork created by the other artists is inspiring and truly amazing.

"Wish You Were Here"
Mixed Media

Fun with 3-D

I'm guessing the glasses enhance the experience. Sorry for the lack of updates, just returned from a month long series of vacations, and finishing up a bunch of smaller projects, commissions, and trades, will post more real soon. Until then, grab a pair of these future glasses shown above and have some fun.

"Fun with 3-D"
Acrylic / Paper Collage
8.5" x 11"