Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I Don't Know What To Say

I had this link forwarded to me from a Coulton fan. Seems a little weird. Maybe you can let me know what you guys think. Could this really be true?

ON EDIT: Did a little google search. Seems this guy did a little research. All I can say is "huh".

EDIT 2: People on Twitter are claiming it's a hoax. It's hard to confirm, since the site is down now. The dude also started a Twitter account to complain. Weirdness continues.

ON EDIT: All explained here.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Department of Geek Affairs


One of my recent triumphs was to be tapped to design the official seal for the Department of Geek Affairs, an office that is currently occupied by Wil Wheaton and bestowed upon him by none other than Paul and Storm. My hope is that the seal brings hope to all those geeks among us, and that hopefully a t-shirt will be made of it one day. Only time will tell.

Friday, March 27, 2009

LED Sheep Art


I guess I'm a little behind the times since I just saw this today. But that doesn't make this video any less amazing. Thanks to Monica for the link.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Jawbone #241: One Jelly Belly Lane

Yet another solocast, full of Jelly Bellies, Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans and anger, just below the surface. Join the fun!

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Monday, March 23, 2009

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Starter Sketches

I don't know if anyone will have any interest in this besides me, but I thought I'd post it for posterity anyway. It might be too inside baseball, but for some artists, it might serve as helpful.

Whenever I start working on a new image, especially if it's a more involved image, I like to do a little "starter sketch" to get me rolling. Basically, the starter sketch is just a blueprint for me that I can refer to as I'm working on the finished image. I started noticing that my desk and floor has become littered with this little scraps of drawings, so I thought I would post a few. If people find this interesting, I may post more.

This is a starter sketch that I used for some art I did for Paul and Storm. The only direction Paul gave me was that he wanted to give an illustration to Mythbusters host Adam Savage. "Maybe handing him something," I think was the idea. So in about 30 seconds I sketched this:


I originally wanted to do something fully digital, with some basic shapes to represent Paul and Storm and Adam. After a few tries, I realized I was losing Adam's personality, so I decided to go with a caricature pencil sketch of the three of them. Here is how it ended up. (the little JoCo was an afterthought):



Today I did a new image for Jonathan Coulton's song "Blue Sunny Day". He had told me a few months ago to start honing up on vampires. So I kept that in the back of my mind, waiting to hear what the song sounded like. I was able to hear a live version of the song a few weeks ago, but I didn't start drawing it because I always like to hear the studio version of his songs before I draw. After he released the song yesterday, I listened to it, read his notes about the song and then formulated a mental image of what I wanted to do. As soon as I get to that phase, I do the starter sketch, just to get the idea down on paper. This is what I came up with:



I had a color scheme in my head, based on the song and I knew what I wanted the finished product to look like. The elapsed time between starter sketch to when I begin to work on the art varies from 15 minutes to a day, depending on my schedule. Here is the finished art in all its glory:



Anyway, rather than throw these little sketches away, maybe I'll post a few. It should be noted that not all images start with a starter sketch, Only more complicated ones and even then it's really for blocking and size purposes.

Ta-da!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Original Signed Artwork Available on Ebay

For all those interested, the ORIGINAL pencil sketch artwork for the Zombie Clown print that was sold during Red Nose Day is available right now on Ebay. It is signed by me with all proceeds going to benefit Comic Relief. Go forth and bid now!

Caption This: 3-16-09

Caption this, suckas. (Sorry, I don't feel like being overly creative this morning. A lot like the people who made this monstrosity.)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Red Nose Day Is Here!

A few weeks ago, I posted that I would be participating in Red Nose Day. Well, I have joined the ranks of others such as John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm, Rifftrax, Adam "Apelad" Koford, Ken Plume of Quick Stop Entertainment, John Robinson from NeedCoffee and many others to help raise some dough for Comic Relief, via Red Nose Net.

So here's what I'm doing: For TODAY ONLY (3/13/09), I am making a print named "Clown Zombie" available via Zazzle.com. This print will only be sold for one day with proceeds going to benefit Comic Relief. It's a great cause and I highly recommend you get involved, donate in your own way and just have some fun!

Here's my friends, Ken and John to tell you more:



Remember, you can pick up the VERY LIMITED EDITION PRINT right here. So go. Now.

UPDATE: Thanks to all who bought the print. All in all Ken and Widge made around 4000 pounds for Comic Relief. Good on them!

Jawbone #240: Twitt-i-quette

It's a big show tonight, folks! Tonight, the voice and heart of Jawbone, Scott Fletcher and Neil join us. We talk morning DJ's, embarrassing moments Twittering and more. Thanks for listening and if you like the show, please subscribe using the links below!

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Music, Art and Love

I do a lot of art for people. A lot of the time, I don't really get to see the end result. Case in point. My friend Jonathan Coulton enlisted me a while back to create a cartoon of himself for his guitar picks. A interesting job to be sure. I didn't even know the guy used picks, when he played, but okay. I'll humor the guy and draw a cartoon of him. Well, I sent the art to him and never got to see the end result. In fact, the few times I saw him in person, I asked him if he had any on him to spare and he didn't or HE SAID he forgot.

Time passes and I get a tweet from one of my followers asking me if that was my art on the JoCo guitar picks. I regale this poor follower with my 140 character tale of woe. He in turn, sends me a link to blog post about someone who is perplexed by the caricature of JoCo. The post includes a photo of my art.

I quickly type in JoCo's URL, hoping to chastise him on his own turf. Then I see he has posted an awesome video by an Israeli musician named Kutiman, who has basically remixed YouTube to make awesome songs:



After watching this video and the many other videos at this site, I'm okay with being snubbed by Jonathan. Oh hell, I can't stay mad at the guy. He's such a sweetheart! HUGS!

Anyway, enjoy the linkage.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Monday, March 09, 2009

Caption This: 3-9-09

Heath Ledger lives. At least in the form of a creepy ski mask. I got this gift for my son's 12th birthday last week and it seemed too good to pass up. So have at it!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Jawbone #239: The Cinematic Titanic Fireside Chat

This past weekend, the cast of Cinematic Titanic rolled through Cleveland, Ohio leaving many laughs and guffaws in their wake. Nora and I were fortunate to sit down with the entire crew (Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl and J. Elvis Weinstien) before the show and for a wonderful fireside chat. We talk to them about doing the live shows, improving, and of course, Mystery Science Theatre 3000. They also share a Roger Corman story that has never been told before. All in all, it was a great opportunity and also completes our list of MST guests on this podcast. As a refresher:

Mike Nelson's Interview
Bill Corbett's Interview
Kevin Murphy's Interview

Thanks for listening and if you enjoy the show, please subscribe!

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Caption This: 3-2-09


I changed my avatar on Twitter and Facebook. Thought it would make an interesting Caption This this week. Have fun!

Financial Crisis Explained: Video Game Style


Finally, someone explains what the hell is going on with this global financial crisis in terms that even I can get. Thanks to Laura for the link.