Here comes cartoons!

Here's a flier I made at the Los Angeles Animation Festival at Cinefamily to promote Jerry Beck's Animation Tuesdays. Jerry is an animation historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of cartoons. He also co-runs Cartoon Brew. Every first Tuesday of the month, he screens some real gems of animation. If you're in the LA area, definitely check out one of the screenings. Next month will feature Max Fleischer shorts! More info on Cinefamily website.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is delicious!

One of the things I love most are anthropomorphic cartoon animals kowtowing to those higher up on the food chain by serving as a representative of their own species, extolling the mind-blowing flavor of their brethren's flesh and promoting their wholesale slaughter and consumption. All while sporting a smile to mask the guilt and tears that hide just beneath the surface.





I did these back on my vacation to Atlanta in December/January. My pal and fellow artist, Emer, let me paint these in his garage. These were commissions for a great little resturant in Atlanta called "Home Grown". If you're in the area, check it out. They've got some kick ass potroast.

Also, it's the home of the Corn Bred Gallery, which is run by Emer. These are all 32"x48". Acrylic on wood. Here's a pic for size reference

I love the fact that these are hanging right above the dining booths, just staring at the customers while they chow down serving as a reminder that flesh is delicious and the animals know it! It started with the pig painting which is actually a reworking of an earlier painting from a few years ago. This was a major improvement, but I plan on posting about that later. From the pig, it just expanded to include the cow and chicken. There was one more space between a booth in the restaurant, so a 4th painting was commissioned to fill all the space. I was batting around a few ideas before settling on the fish. At one point I was thinking maybe a dolphin or something.
The whole idea behind the series comes from my love of cannibalism endorsing food mascots. You know the kind, we've all seen 'em. One such mascot that stuck with me from my youth was from Ted's Hot Dogs, a great local hot dog chain from Western New York where I grew up. This was their mascot/logo


Not only is he sporting an apron and chef's hat implying that he's cooking other hot dogs, but he's also standing on hot coals being cooked himself!! I remember being a kid and thinking this was just hilarious. Unless my superior memory is failing me, I'm pretty sure they used to have him in front of a little grill using tongs to poke at other little hot dogs that aren't quite as sophisticated (they weren't wearing clothes).

Local food always come up with the best cannibal-endorsing mascots. To see some other great ones, check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/autophagy/pool/

Here's a great one I found in a newspaper ad at my parent's house.

The Chickens are STILL revolting!

Here's the finished back cover to "Poultry Uprising" from my genetically-altered pals, the Radioactive Chicken Heads. I kept with the mix of the Chinese and Russian propaganda poster styles.



Originally, all of the Chicken Heads were going to be posed as the figures appear on the Mao poster below. Pastafarian and Puke Boy (the 2 chickens in the top row to the right) followed the pose of the 2 figures in the bottom left of the Mao poster. Each character was drawn separately, and I abandoned the idea they were drawn.


To see the front cover and a more in depth look at the style, inspiration and process, click here

"Brother! What a way to run a railroad!"

Today is the 58th anniversary of one of my all time favorite cartoons, "Duck Amuck" directed by the great Chuck Jones. It was a major influence on me and one of the reasons I decided to pursue cartoons as a career. I first saw this it when I was just 14 months old. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and take 7 minutes to check it out now.






Yeah, that's me. June 1981. I swear, that isn't Photoshoped

"Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"

Looks like the shishkabob won by a land slide! Thanks to everyone who voted (mostly on facebook). I think I'm going to call the piece "Beelzkabob". Here's a preview of the finished line work. I hope to do a run of 50. They will be screen in a variety of colors and hopefully each will have a one of a kind hand painted background. I'm burning the screens tonight, but it may be a few weeks before I start mass producing them. Hopefully they'll be ready to go by October so they'll be available as Halloween gifts. I'll be posting info on where to buy them and how much for anyone who is interested.

Beelzkabub or Heart Burn?

So here's some options (uncolored) for the design of the print I'm working on. The plan is to (hopefully) have it be a 3 color screen and make a limited run, each with a 1-of-a-kind hand painted background for sale. Which design does everyone like best? Vote now! Let your voice be heard! Stand up and be a part of something for once in your life!

Can't you see them? They're everywhere!

HEY! LOOKIT THIS!!

Yeah, that's really sumptin, huh? Eh, not really, but I thought it was worth a share. Okay, here's the stats for those of you that care (and those of you that do, know that you are better than everyone for it).

Title: "Isn't This A Dream Come True?"

42" x 30"

Acrylic on parcel paper

Here's a picture for size reference

The child was based on a weird toy on my shelf. I found this thing at some strange roadside attraction on my road trip from Atlanta to LA. I'm pretty sure that the shop in question appeared from a gap in the tectonic plates that led directly to hell and the figurine is actually a manifestation of a child's tormented soul after she was denied ice cream on a family vacation to Palm Springs.

I've been trying to make an effort to start painting and drawing and just experimenting more. Basically just keeping it loose and fun for the sake of creating and not worry to much about the end result. I haven't been making much art at all this year and its already more than half over! My problem is that I feel if I'm going to paint or draw, it has to be absolutely perfect (to the best of my ability) and since I don't have the time to spend an entire day on painting anymore, I just start getting discouraged and frustrated and decide to skip the whole thing. Yeah, that's pretty stupid. So now, I'm just trying to force myself to spend a few hours everyday just doodling or gesture drawing and get myself back in a groove. That's basically what this was. Just having fun and not worrying too much about the end result. I painted this while listening to an old KROQ recording of an Oingo Boingo show from 1980. The piece itself isn't that strong, but I think the idea is pretty decent and I'd like to revisit it sometime. Maybe do a nicer more detailed painting at some point or maybe making a cleaned up drawing and try making screen prints. I think for now though I should just stick to this kinda stuff and try to develop more of a personal style rather than my usual schtick of 1930s style animated characters bleeding from the eyes or whatever.