Keep Your Spoon

Rain.

2009-06-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, for the first 20 days of June, it has rained 16. I am going to go completely bonkers very shortly. I need a vacation.

animeeeeee

2009-05-27T20:17:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big anime fan (unless it's miyazaki), but I got the heads up on Twitter to this awesome-o opening.

It's pretty sweet.

Sweet Ass Art Blogs.

2009-05-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

These blogs rock my socks. I'm basically always on the lookout for new blogs and sites, so I'll update this list pretty often. These pertain to animation, caricature, cartooning, and live figure studies.

John K

Pete Emslie

Jan Op De Beeck

Grigor Eftimov

Ross Campbell

Kristen McCabe

Brian Oakes

Arkady Roytman

Jeremy Townsend

2009-05-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

I did not get a ride to TCAF.

Whatever, I have MoCCA coming to my own backyard in just mere weeks. I shall be grateful for the privilege the universe is bestowing upon me.

Also something I am grateful for is Star Trek. Because how AWESOME WAS THAT SHIT??

Answer: SO AWESOME.

--

The tax refund check arrived and I took it to Forbidden Planet and did some shopping. Afterwards it was time for some booze-- Johnnie Walker, yo-- and bills. I also bought some pinkberry. I like frozen yogurt, so sue me.

I do have leftover pocket change, and that's great, since the last employer is OF COURSE dragging his heels to pay me. I do have some boards lined up for Thursday and Friday, and it pays pretty well, and I've worked for this agency before. They pay on time and promptly, so at least that's a relief.

And....... yeah that's all I got for now. I am a boring dude today.

2009-05-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

It's been brought to my attention that the economy sucks, studios don't have money to pay me, and I am sort of broke. I may need a "real" job, one that I leave the house for. Possibly wear a name tag and / or uniform.

Oh the horror.

Lately, in between finishing a recent deadline and waiting for the Craigslist fairies to drop another gem of a job in my crotch, I have been drinking too much red bull and staying up to odd hours watching cartoons and sometimes drinking from my strangely vast collection of scotch (chalk that up to a former scotch-enthusiast roommate who, upon moving out of the country, just left 12 bottles of premium stuff behind). I can't say I regret it. I just need money to.... uhh... continue living.

PS there are cats outside having sex and yowling. I am not pleased with this

PPS I want to go to TCAF next weekend, anyone wanna give me a ride?

2009-04-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Dead sexy betch.

--

I went to a screening tonight at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts tonight, of some interviews with Chuck Jones. Every Thursday, MoCCA actually has lectures & conversations, yet this is the first time I've actually gone. It was very interesting.

At a time when I'm scrounging for storyboarding scraps or am doing boring post work at studios, dealing with the tedium of After Effects or Photoshop touch-ups, it's refreshing to be amongst animators, or at least people still interested in animation. It's inspiring, I dare say.

--

I was out of town all last week and part of this week. I was in Florida. Man, I hate Florida. I was visiting Broseph and Dru. Dru has kids now. At least, one fully formed, real kid. Another is on the way. It's strange. She's totally preggers. Her man seems upstanding and cool. Looking at her, Broseph, and myself it's hard to believe that (a. we are edging our way out of our twenties and (b. have known each other since before our twenties. Weird.

--

Pre-Watchmen

2009-03-09T14:51:00.001-07:00

Slept like 12 hours out of 52.

Assignment done.

Never want to draw again.

Note to self: You need a new damn scanner. This one doesn't even have a lid.

I'm crashing for a brief nap (number 2 of the day) before I head to the city for 'Watchmen'. Will it suck? Will I hate it, and the last 13 years of embracing that graphic novel will be shat upon by Zack Snyder? Time will tell.

2009-03-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

Yipes.

It looks like I have to wait until Monday to see The Watchmen now. I got a last minute storyboard assignment, Hope is in town, and Tre has also asked me to wait for him to get back in from Europe.

Blah.

I hope I can make it, and I hope I can make it without hearing too many reviews. I am hoping to God it doesn't suck, and I am perplexed at the idea of reviews coming out to sway me in one direction or the other.

Meanwhile... it has 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is down from what I had seen earlier. Eugh. I will just avoid it from here on out.

Watchmen Art on Exhibit @ MoCCA

2009-03-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

Good to know.

9 Trailer

2009-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

This looks amazing. Creepy as all hell to be sure, but visually amazing. This totally creeped up on me, I'd not heard a thing about it before the other day.

NY Comic Con 09

2009-02-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

Er, yeah, right. Apparently I have a blog.

SO.

I went to NYCC. It was simultaneously a clusterfuck and awesome. I won't get into the particulars about the clusterfuck part of it. That had to do with some bonehead and badges and wah wah wah. I'll talk about the awesome-- which was a large part of it!

There were.... awesome little toy things, for instance.

Yeaaaaah.

And there were a lot of booksellers apparently feeling the sting of a bad economy--you know how you go to the con on the last day and the last few hours everyone starts trying to offer discounts, desperate to not have to lug stuff home? Well the last day sales were every day! At Tales of Wonder I got a Drew Struzan book, normally retailing for $60 for $20! Unreal! Their loss in profit is my bookshelf's gain.

I came across the table for Art²Publishing, which appears to be a pretty damn solid independent book company.... they had this book, which I LOVE-- I need to check out the rest of their small catalouge:

There was Oni Press' booth, where I scored the awesome, obligatory copy of Scott Pilgrim Vs the Universe:

I was lucky enough to be there when Bryan Lee O'Malley was there so I got the sucker signed. While at the booth, I was also compelled to flip through Apocalipstix, at the behest of my con bud Ryan-- and yeah, I kinda liked it.

I had heard of Ray Fawkes but had not read anything by him. I really dig this book and am glad to have found someone new.... here's an interview with him from NYCC over at The Quarter Bin.

I stopped by the Dumbrella booth to see if Meredith Gran was there-- dude, her webcomic Octopus Pie is pretty dope. I've mentioned it before. I kind of hoped to be an idiot and compliment her but she was out. BUT I went over to Blind Ferret's table and met with the artist of Least I Could Do, Lar. He was dope and awesome and signed a copy of the book, but man, that Canuck is popular. A veritable swarm of people.

And then I had to go. Honestly, I did more stuff but I kinda forget it all. I do have like ten pounds of free flyers and postcards that people were desperately throwing at me to promote their stuff. I should go through 'em all...

Dude-tastic

2009-01-22T21:19:00.000-08:00

My facial hair may be the downfall of me yet, but strangely, middle aged African American ladies on the G train LOVE me because of it. So if my social life was just constrained to the G train, I'd be doing okay. But it's not. I am derided mercilessly. I am kind of asking for it. The hipster-tache is an unwelcome sight.

I may as well be sporting an Adolf-stache.

2009-01-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

Jobhunting is, apparently, my new job. Craigslist, why do you taunt me so? Seriously: just back off. Stop sucking so hard.

I can't complain too terribly much; I worked 3 full days at my full day rate last week in an editing suite and a buddy is passing some cash under the table to me for some storyboards I did. It could be worse.

It could probably be better. I could probably be in LA or something. Unemployed, but possibly warmer than I am tonight.

Ice storms ahoy!

2008-12-22T18:34:00.000-08:00

It's not the most current, but this post over on John K's blog is pretty great. I really love reading that dude's words; his critical eye is unforgiving, but his observations are generally on point. I think that over the next few days I will be cocooning myself away in the guest room and poring over his and others' blogs. Or I'm bailing for the Starbucks wifi. The place is full of kids and dogs and I need sweet release that only the internet can give me...

2008-12-18T09:14:00.001-08:00

So I guess we're going to get a mother of a storm starting tonight and tomorrow. F'in great; I was supposed to fly out tomorrow to NC to my aunt's. Um. I mean, I guess I am going to try to reschedule the flight, that's what I'm on the phone now trying to do but it seems to be taking a bit "longer than usual" to get through to someone.

Phone's on speaker at my side while I type.

Um.

Oh yeah so this is a pretty neat little cartoon resource a buddy showed me the other night at a sketch meet-up:

Staye Tooned! is a pretty comprehensive little magazine that's apparently published outta some dude's house down south. The guy, John Read, is just someone really into comics and cartoon art and put his own money into this project. There are a couple of pretty good interviews in the first two issues-- Berke Brethed! I mean, omg yay.

So yeah, I flipped through that; pretty damn decent. It made me want to draw. Or at least that there were more issues or that it was a more frequent thing. There aren't a lot of periodicals out there you know? Blogs, yes, magazines, no.

Hm.

So there's my endorsement of the day. Now to listen to some more muzak courtesy of Delta, and to make myself a sammich.

2008-12-16T06:38:00.000-08:00

It was oddly warm yesterday here in New York. I don't get it; just last Sunday I was freezing my face off and darting in and out of storefronts, just trying to make it up 5th Ave to the Brooklyn Target. My nose was like a faucet. It sucked. And yesterday it was warm. 60 degrees. Next week it'll probably be cold again and the week after that, a hurricane.

I drew like 6 pages in my sketchbook yesterday.

Go into a studio Thursday for some photoshop freelance. It's mind numbingly boring but the day rate is pretty ka-ching so I can deal.

2008-12-15T20:12:00.001-08:00

We need more hot girls drawing cartoons in the world.

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

Drawn! has a GREAT list of art books & comics from 2008 up right now; I've read maybe 40% of that list and I agree wholeheartedly with their sentiments. There are some books on there that are definitely not to be missed.

An early Christmas present to me just arrived from a pal in Michigan: 'Ojingogo'.

It's awesome. Read it.

2008-12-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

a print a day just posted some scans of a vintage Babar book; I looked them over and immediately was transported back to 1987.

If only it were Christmas 1987 instead of 2008; 1987 was the year I got Mouse Trap and some badASS lego sets.

Christmas = The Muppets

2008-12-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Muppets special starring Uma Thurman? It's like my biggest obsessions from when I was 6 and then 15 joined forces to blow my fucking mind.

Preoccupation of the hour: Owen Wilson

2008-12-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Dude. Owen Wilson: Don't you remember when you were pretty effing cool? Stop making movies with all those interchangeable romantic comedy broads. And dogs. Maybe Vince Vaughn too. Get back together with Wes Anderson, plz.

Remember this?

Wildcat..... Wiiiiiiild.... cat...

Glenn Barr

2008-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

I think you should own this book.

Whenever I need inspiration, I flip through Glenn Barr's book, followed by a bit of JC Leyendecker, possibly followed by some Mary Blair and/or some random comic artist. And if none of that works, then I just drink, because I'm clearly not in the mindset to draw.

2008-12-02T18:35:00.001-08:00

I was supposed to go Christmas shopping today. I was supposed to have gotten my client's check yesterday. Um. The former did not happen because the latter did not happen.

I hate being freelance.

JC Leyendecker

2008-12-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

So, I know the question has been keeping you up nights. You toss and turn, unable to sleep, just wondering... "So who is Erik's favorite painter?"

Really, if I search the recesses of my mind I may be able to come up with artists I studied in school that really piqued my curiosity and such but for the time being, I gotta go with the late, great JC Leyendecker.

He's one of the 20th century's premier artists, known primarily for his commercial success with ads, like above, and his Saturday Evening Post covers. A lot of people think just Norman Rockwell had that gig. Leyendecker had it first! He was Rockwell's mentor.

I bought this book recently and I haven't gone to bed a single night since without flipping through it and just being all "OMG SO GOOD". It's a total must-have for any artist, whether you're into painting and such or not. Like, even if comic books are your life, it's worth your time to start to appreciate some of illustration's badass pioneers.

Word.

2008-11-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

I need to learn screenprinting.

2008-11-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

sick ink brah

2008-11-24T18:54:00.001-08:00

So I'm in need of a new tattoo.

I'm strongly considering going to New York Adorned for my next one. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to do a lot better. They have a great roster of super-talented artists. My boy Jay recently got a half sleeve done by Stephanie Tamez, and it looks spectacular. There's a word I don't use too often!

She also is responsible for this awesome tattoo I unwittingly have admired on a waitress at this place in the East Village. She's got this effing sick peacock on her back, and I've always thought it was simultaneously mind blowingly hot and just a beautiful illustration. So I was pretty suprised when Jay and I went by and flipped through her portfolio to find it in there. Heck I'd know that peacock anywhere!

I'm still thinking it over while I get closer and closer to specifically what I want done, but she's a great artist. Hell, Adorned is run by the GREAT Chris O'Donnell (not the actor) so you know everyone's an amazing artist. I've also heard a lot of good things about Shinji.

So there you have it, folks. Erik is thinking about doing this thing and maybe having someone do it, but he's not sure who. What an insightful post!

Social Calendar

2008-11-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

On December 6th Dr. Sketchy's presents rockstars Lady J and Nik Syn in a tribute to heavy metal. NEW VENUE- the Slipper Room. NEW TIME- 4-7 pm.

Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School

Ah! Tribute to heavy metal? Maybe I'll stop being wishy washy and just go this time...

For the bunnyfish lover on your list:

2008-11-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

Bunnyfish on sale @ Kozy n Dan's!

I honestly don't know how the bunnyfish made it onto Sara's radar-- I have been an admirer of their work for awhile so maybe it was osmosis that she discovered them. But then she started emailing me funny pictures of the bunnyfish's travels around the globe a year or so ago. She's freaking obsessed. I don't mind if she knows from me posting it here that I am getting her one for Christmas. That's right Sara. So don't go buy yourself one, dammit.

Steve Brodner

2008-11-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

O hai guys.

I would like to school you on something.

An artist by the name of Steve Brodner.

He fucking rules.

Hey, not to be crass! Not to be vulgar! But it's just true. He rules SO much that there's no other possible adjective strong enough to describe how much he DOES rule.

He's basically the reigning king of editoral cartooning at the moment. His book, 'Freedom Fries' is something I happened upon in Borders a couple of years back and nearly yelped with glee. It was embarassing, and I quickly snatched it up and brought it home. As an artist, I definitely pick it up from time to time and thumb through it. He's an amazing artist, one you should definitely study if you are at all interested in caricaturing, cartooning, editorial work, satire, whatever.

Freedom Fries on Amazon

All images copyright- Steve Brodner, obviously

A tale of tragedy

2008-11-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

I'm the worst blogger ever.

But last night, guyz, I just want to tell you about last night.

Last night was my esteemed colleague Johanna's birthday. She just turned the ripe old age of 28.

It was pretty sweet. Would you like to know why?

It was the night that somebody stole my fucking wallet out of my back pocket of my jeans. While I wore them. SERIOUSLY. HOW THE HELL?? I wasn't drinking, friends. I wasn't drunk. And I am a pretty aware guy. And the jeans were kinda tight due to an embarassing issue with my building's dryer-- I discovered this when I put them on last night but having no other jeans handy (that were clean) I just sucked it up and squeeeezed my way into them. I am bewildered, perplexed, at a LOSS as to how somebody lifted my wallet. Like, how the hell could they get it out? I could barely pull it out at the bar. I know for a fact it went back IN the pocket-- it was so tight I had to reach back with both hands to shove it on in there.

Lame+

My unlimited metrocard was in there too. $81 down the drain. Thank God for Johanna demanding a birthday shot from me, because when i went to pay, suddenly I discovered the wallet was missing. The culprit maybe only had like an hour TOPS ahead of me so I made like Johnny on the Spot and called the credit card companies to cancel. By sheer dumb luck I had left my Chase debit at home. So that's good, I guess. Grezi lent me a few bucks so I could get the train back home.

What a lame night. For me. Not Johanna. Her birthday was oodles of awesome. Congrats, Johanna. You do not suck, although getting my wallet stolen on your birthday does. But that's not your fault.

2008-10-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sweet animation to promote an upcoming caricature book I'm kinda excited about--

It's a book concieved and illustrated by the great Jan Op De Beeck. I'm looking forward to it.

2008-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

OK

OK

What the FUCK is that clanging?

2008-10-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've been the worst kind of loser as of late, since the Curious project wrapped up. See I had budgeted plenty of time to be working there... 6 weeks, which is what they had, y'know, told me. Well it only ended up being 4 weeks. So, guys, that leaves 2 weeks unaccounted for. 2 weeks that I had available, but no work to fill those weeks with.

What does this mean for our hero?

Does it mean that he immediately went on Craigslist and secured some sort of meager short-term gig, just so he can appear to be a valid member of society? And make a bit o'pay in the meantime?

Well no, no he did not do that.

So what DOES this mean for our hero??

1. sleeping until noon.

2. bedtime at 5am

3. Barcade on weeknights

4. Pencil Factory on weeknights

5. Wii tournaments with tha homeeez

Yeah so seriously: worst kind of loser. By that I mean, a loser who has the opportunity to do something with himself for a couple of weeks but elects instead to just be a complete laze. Sloth is a deadly sin! Although you know, I do work pretty damn hard when I have something in front of me. 80 hour weeks, we're talking. So maybe I'm too hard on myself.

Excuse me, please. I have approximately 3 more days left before I have a job again. I need to go play some Guitar Hero or sleep or drink something.

Human Giant

2008-10-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

Going to their 24 hour takeover of MTV last spring is maybe one of the highlights of my liiiife.

2008-05-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

....Jesus, worst template ever.

Blogspot, you lose.

2008-02-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

I like a whole shit load of things.

I cannot think of what those things are at the moment.