symptomatica

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

As some folks already know there's a new site. I hope to consolidate everything into a singular site and thusly be easier to maintain and keep current. Blog, store, archives etc. will al be located there eventually. Here it is-

RAGNARAMA

Thank you very much for all the orders. We only have a few copies of Chromaphile left, so when they're gone we'll discontinue the Seven Book Library offer or reconfigure it. I've included a piece of original art with all of the library orders either as a sketch in each book, or a stand alone sketch. It was something that people requested and frankly I should have offered form the beginning. Have great holiday.

Volume 2

2009-12-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Took a break from current projects to do a bit of editing on the next Big City book.

D Day for D Con

2009-11-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'll be at Designer Con in Pasadena this Weekend. I'll be signing and napping all day. I can't wait.

Book Sale

2009-11-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Chromaphile
Vernaculis
Symptomatica
Got Your Nose
Izzy's Very Important Job
Big City
Kings Of The Road

I just got the news that Vernaculis now joins Chromaphile in officially being out of print. Symptomatica is not far behind.
So I figured it was a good time offer these and others up in a special package deal.

RAGNAR: Seven Book Library.

This collection features nearly all books to date.
Including the out-of-print Baby Tattoo printing of Chromaphile and Vernaculis
608 pages of art plus extras.
$160 including shipping to anywhere in the USA.
Shipping only within the U.S. all books come signed. If you'd like any or all personalized please make a note of it in the info field.

Thanks

Harmonium

2009-11-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of my new show before being packed up and shipped to Rivet.
I was happy to wrap it up, but I'm already back to painting.

Harmonium
Opens Friday November 7th
Rivet Gallery Columbus Ohio.

Harmonium

2009-10-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

Here are few shots of the studio while preparing for my current phase of work. Much of the focus here is for my upcoming show at Rivet. But since I'm only sending five or six small pieces a lot of this will continue to build towards a larger more comprehensive show in the next few years. I posted many more pictures on my Facebook page as well as some additional Big City stuff. Also I'm on Twitter.

Baby Tattooville

2009-10-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

We spent another great weekend with friends and fans at this year's Baby Tattooville event. Bob never ceases to surprise or impress. One of the highlights for me was getting a chance to chat with James Gurney. We talked shop and in our too brief conversation touched on color theory, composition, rhythm etc. He's posted some of the drawings he did for attendees on his blog. Go check it out and spend some time looking at all the older posts while you're there.

He and his wife Jeanette are incredibly kind and gracious. So cool.

Coming This Fall-

2009-09-11T10:51:00.001-07:00

Here are few custom pieces to keep an out for in the fall. They won't be available for sale until spring 2010 at the earliest.

Here's a copy of the slick for the book.

Thanks to everyone who ordered books. I hope your enjoying them. If you'd like a specific dedication signed in the book just add the request in the instructions or notes section in the Paypal form.
We're still only shipping to U.S. addresses, if you're outside the country you can order from the Brandstudio online store.

Also- Look for the first Big City graphic novel summer 2010. It will be a "BD" style 48 page hardcover.

Prepare For Impact-

2009-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

The new Big City book is here and available for purchase.
160 pages full of development art for this long simmering project.
Vehicles, girls, robots, weapons, type treatments, poster studies and more.

ART OF BIG CITY VOL. 1
Hardcover
160 4C pages
8.5" x 11"

All books signed by the artist.

Presently shipping only to US addresses.
$39.95 + $8.50 SH via USPS.

Comic Con

2009-07-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few days away now. Little Cartoons will be in our usual spot- #523
We'll have the new Art of Big City book as well as remaining copies of previous books like-
Kings Of The Road
Got Your Nose
Symptomatica
Vernaculis
Sorry, no copies of either printing of Chromaphile.
My daughter Izzy will be signing copies of her book Izzy's Very Important Job.
There will also be prints, stickers etc. And original art from most of the books as well as past gallery shows and commercial, animation, studio work.

See you in San Diego.

New Books-

2009-06-24T14:58:00.001-07:00

I've recently finished work on the two newest books. One Eyeota-A book of orphans and widows. This book collects much of the work that was edited out of the books- Chromaphile, Vernaculis, Symptomatica and Kings Of The Road. It also includes some work done for animation, toy and game design, comics and other sundry stuff from the last few years. Most of the contents have never been seen.

I also finished the first volume of The Art Of Big City. This book has few pages that were published in Symptomatica and several from the extremely limited box set Big City Case Files from a few years ago. But, mostly it's never been seen before. Here are a few pages. I've showcased the bulk of these books on Facebook. Here are some random samples.

And Go.

2009-04-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Boldly Go

2009-04-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

A few pictures I snapped before loading this thing up and shipping it back. I had planned to shot a series of pictures to document the process, but as usual was running behind schedule. This one is in Las vegas. You can read more about the rest of the pieces here-

Still

2009-04-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

2009-04-28T08:35:00.001-07:00

Big City Edits

2009-04-28T08:27:00.001-07:00

Getting close to the final edit of the Big City Files trade edition. I'm cutting lots of stuff from this volume to better organize the following volumes. This one is almost all character, vehicle and prop designs. The books that follow will be storyboards, color design, script development etc. It made sense to do the books in a chronological order that mirrors the structure of story building.

Lack OF Response-

2009-02-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

If you've emailed me in the past several months and never received a reply I apologize.
I have run into several friends over the past few weeks that have berated me for not answering email.
Mail that never got to me.
I've now made some changes to my email set-up that should ensure that I receive more if not all
legitimate mail. So fire away and again I'm sorry if I inadvertently snubbed you.

When Hell Freezes Over

2009-02-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'll be signing books and whatnot this weekend in Manhattan at the New York Comic Con.
I'll be at the Baby Tattoo Books booth most of the time.
It's 80º here right now. Tomorrow in NY it's supposed to be 24º.Yeesh!

Books In The Works

2008-12-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

I'm working on the following books for 2009-2011 release dates-

One Eyeota- A smallish book with a large portion of analog work.

Eponymonstrous- A rather large compendium type book. This will likely include work that didn't make it into previous books as well as pieces from the out of print books. It's also likely that it will include a good sampling of work done for the studios between 98-06. Photos and font/type designs. Much more of a designed book than any of the previous catalog style books like Chromaphile, Vernaculis
and Symptomatica

Big City- Finally a trade edition Big City book. This will reprint some of the work from the Big City limited edition box set as well as tons of stuff that hasn't been seen.

Monty's Book- Untitled project for Monty to go along with Got Your Nose: A True Story
and Izzy's Very Important Job

Possibly an all Halloween book and a release of the Fragmentia book that I sidelined earlier this year also.

Have A Happy

2008-12-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Monty says so-

Vinnie

2008-12-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots of the Vinnie I did for this weekends custom show at VTN.

I should have put something else in the frame for a sense of scale. These are really big, about 15" in all dimensions. I figure that this is likely the last custom/platform piece I'll ever do.

I'll be there for the entire event.

2008-12-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Another Big City poster in its unfinished state.

Vinyl Toy Network

2008-11-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be at VTN in Pasadena this coming weekend. If you're around stop and say hello. I had hoped to have a few previews of some upcoming releases, but alas I've been dragging my feet. I'm still trying to get a few things together especially for the event, we'll see how the week goes. Here's the postcard I did for the event-

Big City

2008-11-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

I just posted a bunch of stuff on the Big City blog and thought that I'd cross post a few here.

Baby Tattooville

2008-09-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Bob asked me to design a poster for the museum show that coincides with this year's Baby Tattooville event. Diesel Fuel is producing this as an 18"x24" 8 color serigraph on wood for all registered guests. I believe that there will also be an edition on paper available for sale at the museum. I'll be returning this year along with most of last year's artists. If it's anything like last year it should be quite the event.

A Few More-

2008-07-21T21:59:00.001-07:00

I'll try to get some photos of the build-ups from the show floor.

Previewin'

2008-07-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some package prototypes for a few upcoming projects-

Off To The Big Show

2008-07-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Off to Comic Con. In the usual spot- booth 620. This year my booth-neighbor will be none other than House of Secrets/Art of Fiction/5 Color Comics at booth 523. I'll have the latest and last of my pin-up books- “Symptomatica”. It'll be available in stores in the next few weeks or so. That's the book back there. You may notice the absence of Chromaphile in the stacks of those signed books awaiting shipment. It's been out of print for awhile now.

Fragmentia

2008-03-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Here are a few invites and such for my show opening at M Modern in Palm Springs on March 15th.
It's a relatively small show in one of the smaller galleries and the physical size of the paintings are
accordingly on the small size. 17"x17" on average.
The title of the show refers to the fact that the compositions are compilations, or maybe anthologies of "fragments" pulled from past and current projects- including Lexiconic, Symptomatica, Chromaphile, 24 Hour Paradise, Eponymonstrous and even Big City.
I'll post a few more pictures of additional paintings, prelims and sketches over the next few days.
Shortly after that I'll put together a post explaining my long and future absence from this here blog.

Fragmentia
bits and pieces/now and then

New work by Brandon Ragnar Johnson

Opening reception March 15th

M Modern Gallery
Palm Springs, California

Under The Mistletoe

2007-11-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

For the "Deck The Halls" group show at Windup Gallery.

Baby Tattooville

2007-10-02T10:32:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that Baby Tattooville is here. I remember when Bob began working on putting this together. I thought he was crazy then. I still think he's crazy, but I'm really looking forward to this weekend. It's going to be a blast. I really need a couple of days away from the studio and this is a great antidote to the ginormous monstrosity that Comic Con has become. Hanging out with old friends and the chance to meet some amazing artists for the first time is going to be invigorating. I hear there are some spaces left so if your looking for something to do....

Bad Robots

2007-09-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

The Set Up

2007-05-18T13:18:00.001-07:00

Almost done hanging the new show. Still have to light everything. The large gallery has all the drawings, I'll get pictures of that room tomorrow when I finish the install. Here's the show info-

Ragnar: LEXICONIC
New paintings-drawings-prints

6:00 P.M., Saturday, May 19

Van Eaton Galleries
13613 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
818-788-2357

Coming Soon

2007-04-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few events coming up that I'm looking forward to.
I'm having a solo show at Van Eaton Galleries which opens May 19th. There will be several new paintings and drawings and maybe a few prints as well. The work is somewhere between the Kings Of The Road and Vernaculis. Much less figurative than I usually do. But, I'm really enjoying the work.

Much later in the year, October 5th-7th I'll be attending Baby Tattooville at the Mission Inn. This inaugural event is shaping up to be very interesting. And if anyone can make it a weekend to remember it's Bob “Baby Tattoo” Self.

Speaking of which- I'll be signing at the Baby Tattoo booth during the LA Times Festival Of Books at various times during the weekend. I'll post times when I have them.

If your looking to kill some time you may want to visit the new Little Cartoons site. There's also a new site for art sales that you can access from the new site or here.

But for the really good stuff you should visit Coop's blog for some awesome pictures of his growing vintage lure collection. He's got a long way to go before he catches up with Mr Lure Box, but he's off to a good start and funny and erudite as ever. I started making my own lures about a year ago and hope to have some fishable versions soon. I think I'll start documenting the process when I get back to it after I finish these paintings.

Maltese Chimp

2007-02-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Maltese Chimp is now available.

2007-02-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Light

2007-02-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

There was some really nice light in the studio this day. So I took a few pictures.

Tail Lights Fade

2007-02-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Criss Cross-Post

2007-02-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

I've set up a few other blogs to help organize some of the content here, I'll be moving some stuff around in the next few weeks. And yes the other blogs will soon suffer the same fate as this one. Neglect and disinterest. So hurry before the inevitable befalls the... oh crap it's happening already. Here's a bit of what awaits on the Big City Blog.

BIG CITY

KINGS OF THE ROAD

A Bitter Pill

2007-02-01T16:47:00.000-08:00

There were a few straglers left behind when I had to wrap up the pieces for the Phantomime series and show I did in 05. Some of the images just wouldn't or shouldn't come together. Others just need a bit of coaxing. This was one of the latter. It takes as long as it takes. Released Halloween 06.

Last Call

2007-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

Here are the last few pieces in the most recent HOS series-

House Pet

2006-09-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

Post Post Neo Con

2006-08-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Oliver helping dad put the Kings Of The Road panel together for the Baby Tattoo Lounge-

Boxes-

Post Neo Con

2006-08-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

A few photos from the long forgotten Comic Con-
The Little Cartoons booth.-

Me and Rian "Device" Hughes

A big Qee

Dart, Langridge and Biskup art.

Letos.-

Headshots

2006-08-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

A few studies I've done for the sequel to Kings Of The Road-

"The south has always been dirty,

2006-08-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

now it's about to get ugly."
Yes, I just quoted Bubba Sparxx.
I'm off to Dragon Con in Atlanta. I'll be there all four days including a presentation on Saturday at 10:00 am. I'm not exactly sure what I'll talk about. I suppose I'll let the audience direct the discussion to some degree. Ive been to Atlanta for a convention in the past and I must say that it was a great experience. The city, food and people are all great. Since I was remiss on my Comic Con coverage I'll try to do a wrap up when I return.

2006-07-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Roland is God.

Garrett Chow gave me the heads up on this one. God, I wish I had filmed some of our classes with him. To this day I've not seen so many adults gutted, crushed and brought to tears as in his classroom. He seems to have mellowed considerably with age. Good lookin' out G.

If It Aint Paint...

2006-07-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

This piece will be in one of the group shows at Copro Nason in July. It's one of only two pieces from Kings Of The Road that isn't in the Spring 2007 show at Van Eaton Galleries. Of course if it doesn't sell it will be in the Spring show anyhow.

Also

2006-07-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that these prototypes may be on the show floor in San Diego. Maybe at Electric Tiki maybe at Sideshow?

Getting The Goods

2006-07-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

I've received a bunch of emails asking where to buy books. You can buy any of the current books where ever you buy books- your comic store (via Diamond Previews), Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Bud Plant, eBay etc. If your book store doesn't have it in stock they can order it. We no longer sell directly. Kings Of The Road begins shipping in the next few weeks and Vernaculis will probably ship around the end of August.

Here are the ISBNs-

Chromaphile- 0-9729388-9-3
Izzy's Very Important Job- 0-9729388-2-6
King's Of The Road- 0-9778949-1-6
Got Your Nose- 0-9729388-1-8
Vernaculis- 0-9778949-9-1

The Countdown...

2006-07-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

With just a few short days until the bedlam begins I thought I'd nail down some info.

Kings Of The Road is here. I'll say it again- I'm really happy with this book. People seem to have no qualms about telling me how mush they dislike it. I have no problem with that and for those that are waiting for Vernaculis the news continues to be good. We should have a number of advance copies available. The proofs have looked great, but I've yet to see the actual final book.

The Little Cartoons booth is #722. I think this is exactly the same space as last year and very near where we've been for the last several years. Unfortunately my schedule this year is unrelenting so I've had schedule times for signings. I'm sure that I'll be around more frequently, but there will be guarantedd times that you can catch me at the booth. When I have the final schedule I'll post it and of course the times will pe posted at the booth. I'll also be signing at the Van Eaton booth(s) on Friday and Sturday from 4-5. If you're looking for prints that's the place to go as we won't have any for sale at our booth this year. They're located just around the corner from us. If you're coming in form out of town and have my number just give me a call to track me down. I'll probably be buying comics, art or gorging on ice cream at the Baby Tattoo Lounge across the street.

En Francais

2006-06-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

An interview in french. I think.

Me and Mo

2006-06-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

I hope to be doing a lot more of this very soon.

A Slow Boat From China

2006-06-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Long live the king. I've received the first copies of Kings Of The Road from the printers in China. The printers always send a few copies of the final book before they pack the cases onto the container and they begin the 3 week journey to LA/Long Beach harbor.
I'm very happy with this book. There were some minor color problems with the cover, but that's about it. The size, the weight and the paper stock are all exactly as I'd wanted. They should be here soon, so look for them in San Diego next month.

End Of The Line

2006-06-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I've had a pretty demanding month. I've finished up Vernaculis and got it off to the printer and have approved the color proofs, so it looks like there's a good chance that we'll have copies at Comic Con next month. It won't actually be available for sale from the usual sources until the end of August. I think it's pretty good for a sequel. However, I think I've exhausted the material and can't really imagine revisiting the genres, so don't expect another follow up. There is quite a bit of material that didn't make the cut, a few montsers, the unfinished chimp calendar and a variety of other pieces that didn't seem to fit. I'm sure those pieces will see print at some point, but probably not in the same format as Chromaphile and Vernaculis. These are few pieces that did make it in.

Corn Dogs and Roller Skates

2006-05-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

2006-05-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

A piece from the now finished Old Maid card set. The background is something I threw on at the end. The actual cards all have the same cream color field behind them.

The Gourmand

2006-05-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

One more piece from KOTR.

Interview

2006-05-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

There's an interview up at the Character Design blog. I can't bring myself to read it.
I hate reading my own interviews. I always cringe at what I've said or didn't say. Feel free to cringe right along with me.

Character Design Interview

Poster Class

2006-05-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a one day -3 hours- class on poster design at EAA this Sunday May 7th.
You can read a description of the class by following the link on the right.
This is the one and only time I'm going to do this. I may still teach classes at the studios on
occasion but this is the only one that'll be open to the public.

Just Like The Old Days

2006-04-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Since having children I've made every effort to keep a somewhat normal work schedule. For the most part I work from about 7:30 to about 6:30 Monday- Friday and take weekends off. However, there are of course times when that's not going to cut it. For instance, when you have a book due, or more accurately past due. That's been the last couple of weeks. So it's been 14-16 hour days and working weekends including Easter and finishing up with an eighteen hour day on Monday. But it's done now and I'm mostly happy with the result. The cover changed quite a bit from the one I posted earlier. After the book was complete I decided that the cover really didn't suit the interior, so back to the begining. I'll post the final next week as well as some photos I took of the process of laying out the book. Here are some of the pages from Kings Of The Road-

Hugo

2006-04-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

A head study of Hugo from Kings oF The Road. Not a particularly good one, but one that looks closest to the actual drawing. Though, I think I discovered something today in my scanning software that's going to help preserve more nuances in the originals. So look for some more analog work soon.

Coverage

2006-03-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some roughs I was working on for the cover. I'll frequently work like this. Moving things around, tweaking type and colors until something stands out from the rest. If something isn't working it's pretty evident and I move on, hence the unfinished, clumsy looking state of these.

Here I'm getting into the ballpark.

This is where it ended up.

Kinks Of The Road

2006-03-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

Some roughs that are going into Kings. Big City is now pushed back until early 07 and this book is taking its slot. Big City needs a little more time in the oven.

Closing The Loop

2006-03-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

The highlight of the entire Got Your Nose animated short process came last week. The preliminary "sketches" of the music score had exceeded my expectations of having such a great composer on board. But, now I'm completely blown away. Sitting in the mixing booth at Capitol Records as the musicians tuned up and familiarized themselves with the material would have really been enough for me. I could have left after that. But, to watch and hear them bring the piece to life in the next few hours was truly remarkable. It's a fantastic piece of music and they far surpassed what this little project probably deserved. I hope that this in some small, or not so small, way is an impetus for other animated shorts and even series to return this approach of arranging music. The difference it makes is huge.

Thanks to Michael Giacchino and Chad Seiter for composing such a masterful and appropriate score. And funny too.

At the end of the session we took a trip up to the top of the building. It was a gorgeous post-rain LA evening. Apparently they used to have parties up on the roof fairly regularly. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Beatles, The Beastie Boys had all hung out up here. The mind reels thinking about the shenanigans gotten up to.

Could the day get any better? Yes. Yes, it could.

When my best friend moved out from Sweden to attend Guitar Center we decided to share an apartment nearby. That aparment right over there.

The Capitol Records building filled the window of our lobby. It was also the first apartment Jill and I shared and where I lived when we started dating. The one room apartment that would regularly be home to 4-6 people. And many, many more on weekends. The apartment that housed the elevator in which Jill found a very large and very bisected snake. The apartment that employed a security guard that wore a bullettproof vest, and needed it. The apartment form which I watched the DEA raid the place next door. There's more, but you get the point. I'm standing on the top of Cap Records 2 blocks from where it all started. Who'd have guessed that I'd be driving up from OC for the pleasure.
Jill and I eventually moved down the street a couple of blocks, just down from the police station also known as "The Wilcox Hotel" made famous by Lee Ving in Fear's "I Don't Care Bout You". Was that really 17 years ago? Damn! I just figured we moved another 9 times since then. And we bought our house 8 years go.

Loop closed? Close enough.

New York

2006-03-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

Well I'm not going to be there as I'm tied up with deadlines here, but my new art reps will be at Art Expo New York with my first new prints of the year. Van Eaton Galleries, who are probably pretty familiar to the animation fans out there, are in New York this week debuting these new pieces. They're great people and I couldn't be happier to working with them. A lot of people have been emailing over the past few months inquiring about prints. They're the people to cantact now. We won't be selling prints at all through the website or at conventions. We will still be selling books and other mechandise.

Panty Thief Paul

2006-03-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen the guys caught on video dashing to the clothes line and franticly yanking off underwear and scurrying away. Those guys kill me. Unfortunately they look like your average backwoods louts. I'd much prefer the traditional bandit mask-striped shirt-dollar sign bag get up.

Gettin' around

2006-03-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Some vehicle, prop character designs from Big City. The next batch of Big City stuff I post will be sketches and thumbnail stuff.

Cigarette Girl

2006-02-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

A cigarette girl with some BOOM in the front and a little POW in the back.

Under The Wire

2006-02-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

A couple of pieces that made the cut for Vernaculis.

Vernaculis

2006-02-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

The cover for Vernaculis (Chromaphile 2) will look something like this-

Do You Have Any 8's?

2006-02-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

An almost final design for the card game deluxe box set. This was the first straight package design I've done in years. As of now it's 4 interior boxes, 4 exterior boxes, one insert, 1 large interior box, 1 large exterior box, 60+ card designs and 4 card back designs.

Crawling back.

2006-02-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

It looks like the worst is over for a little while. It's been a rough couple of months and it's nice to have some room to breath. Just in time for spring fishing too. Awesome! Anyway- here are a couple of last minute pieces from Got Your Nose. These will be the last until after it airs, or doesn't as the case may be. I'm considering a follow up book, which surprises even me. It won't be until after I finish up a few other books, but I've got some ideas for Horace and Boris.

I'll be back soon

2006-02-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

I can 't believe it's been a month since I've posted. It's been a very busy month and I'l be back early next week to post some evidence. After I get some fishing in of course. Right now I'm off to Wondercon to buy some comics.

Thumb goes in, eye comes out.

2006-01-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Another KOTR study. An eye for an eye.

Long live the king.

2006-01-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

This is a rough comp of the King Of The Road card game box. The game play is the same as Old Maid. There are three other games in the set, all based on simple traditional card games. The others are based on Crazy 8s, Slap Jack and Animal Rummy.

Scoot!

2006-01-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

I know this is a crappy, gerneric, straight ahead angle on this, but it was really just to wrok out the design of the front of the scooter. I added the captain to provide some scale.

1313

2006-01-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've ever posted this anywhere. It's a pin-up for 1313 magazine from last year.

Horace or Boris

2006-01-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

I was going to clean these poses up a bit before I posted them, but decided they're fine the way they are. These are the kind of rough quick studies I'll do when hammering out a character. I don't worry about staying on model too much. I just want to how they move, behave and react.

Pimp Hand

2006-01-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

A detail from a Kings Of The Road panorama.

Happy New Year

2006-01-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2005-12-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

7 left, one returns.

2005-12-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

DVDs I've watched this past month-
Most of these are favorites that I've seen many times, but a few were new to me.

The Russ Meyer Collection Volume 2

The Benny Hill Collection

Bullshit Season 2

Simpsons Season7

If you've seen some of these you may like the others-
If you have any suggestion let me know.

8 Diagram Pole Fighter
5 Deadly Venoms
Born Invincible
Iron Monkey
Zu Warriors
Legend Of Zu
Chinese Ghost Story
Buddhist Fist
Tom Yum Goong
Battle Royale
Master Of The Flying Guillotine
Magnificent Butcher
Old Boy
Tai Chi Master

3 To Get Ready

2005-12-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

From the Phantomime show.

Process

2005-12-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

I've hade some requests for more process posts. I don't usually save this stuff but made an exception in this case on Bob Self's suggestion. If I can find the original sketch I'll post that as well.
The composition for this came fairly easily, but I had problems with the details and colors.
I think the turmoil paid off in this case as this has become a favorite. It doesn't always work out that way I'm affraid. Often times I'll suffer justt as much anxiety and never achieve any gratification. But, in the end you just have to put it to bed and move on.

OH! FIVE WRAP UP.

2005-12-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

NEWS-

I'll be conducting a one day class/lecture on character design at the Entertainment Art Academy on February 19th.
I'll have lots of prelim stuff and finished work done for various studio projects that I can't show here. I'll be deconstructing them and illustrating what works, what doesn't and why. I'm going to try to cram as much info into the day as I can without it becoming too incomprehensible.
Glen Murakami, Stephen Silver and Mike Mignola have done them in the past and I've heard great things about the classes. I'm really looking forward to it. You can get more details via the link over there on the right.

GALLERY SHOWS-
Maybe 2 next year, one in the spring and one in the fall. We have soft dates now, but we'll wait to firm them up before posting them here. One of the dates will likely be on the east coast.

GOT YOUR NOSE-
Final animation is wrapping now. Scoring, editing and revisions should go rather quickly. I think there's an air date in the early spring.

Book release schedule-

CHROMAPHILE 2-
Available summer 06. Same size and page count as CHROMAPHILE but with all new content. Some of which can be seen here on the blog.

KINGS OF THE ROAD-
This one is a wild card. It's basically complete but with nowhere to go. It's an odd book that doesn't easily fit into any category or genre. My guess is that it'll see print as a small run of 1,000. Hardcover- 96 pages- 5x7.

(WELCOME TO THE) BIG CITY-
Scheduled to debut at Comic Con in San Diego. Hardcover- 128 pages- 11x9.5

JACK AND RUSTLE, IT GREW THERE-
Maybe late 06, it depends on how the first half of the year goes.

OTHER STUFF-
New shirts, stickers, skate decks, toys and other merchandise starting in late spring.

I know why the cowboys cry.

2005-12-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

I created these fonts for Kings Of The Road but they never quite worked as intended. I like them and think I'll finish the lower case and puctuation and use them for something eventually. Here I placed them in a context that complements them a little better.

Izzy outtakes

2005-12-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

Izzy originally started out as a bookened to Got Your Nose but soon took a bit of a turn. These illustrate the visual changes of one of the spreads.

The year that wasn't

2005-12-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

The month of July from the canceled 2006 Bad Apples calendar.

From red to green.

2005-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

A few BC sketches of props and what not. Green this time.

The Seattle Kid

2005-12-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

Where ya headin' wayward fella? Hop in I'll give ya a lift.

Go! PEE WEE, GO!

2005-12-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

An unfinished shot of the squad runnin' and gunnin'.

Chopped and dropped

2005-12-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

I was working on this really wide interior shot when something else came up. I chopped the piece up and moved some things around and came up with this composition. I may or may not finish the piece as originally intended.

Swarm

2005-12-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

A few BC studies. I didn't bother to design this layout, I just sort of threw some pieces on the same page and called it a day. I like the rover/buggy thing.

Road Work

2005-12-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to drop the weight I put on over Thanksgiving by taking an evening jog with my trainer. It's tough staying slender with alll this gravy and egg nog around.

Smoke, smoke, smoke

2005-12-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

A custom “Funny Club” figure from the touring show last year.

My childhood blanket

2005-12-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

Various patterns to serve as end papers and chapter breaks in Kings Of The Road.

The Fuzz

2005-12-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

A shot of Pee Wee and her ride.

Orange and green

2005-12-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

A study for “Jack and Rustle”.

To the letter.

2005-12-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

Font designs for Big City. All of these are display faces, so no punctuation. There were plenty of servicable faces out there that I could have used, but none had the outside corner radius' that I wanted. I wanted a sort of neon cyrlic feel. The goofier "bubble" face is a miss. I got carried away and lost the thread I was following. I'm sure I'll use it for something some time.