3.17.2010

r-a-t-t

So I started working on some album art for a Philly band, Women. It all has a sort of...mad science Reanimator theme, and what it amounts to is a LOT of drawings of rats and green fluid. So far I finished the labels. The live rat is A and the dead rat is B. I still have a lot of work to do on it.



I'll basically be working on the Women record for the next few weeks but I'm trying to work as hard as possible to get it done in time to do the Laurel Hill thing. Also of note, one of my birthday presents from mike was a magnifying light:
I tried it out last week and holy shit...it makes those insanely small details so much easier and makes some really ridiculously small things possible. Of course it's slightly maddening to see my lines under it, looking so inconsistent and imperfect but always relieving to pull the magnifyer away and watch all the flaws disappear...also, man...are my fingernails dirty it turns out...

If you live in NY (or will be there soon) you should REALLY go see Tamara's show. It opens tonight and it looks amazing. Basically everything I've seen of hers is really cool and mindblowing, and she's an awesome multi-talented lady!

3.09.2010

Life is Short and Full of Stuff, so Let Me Know Baby When You've Had Enough!

heyyyyyyyyyy hey. After a week and a half of stupid "drawing" block and procrastination angst, I got a bunch of ideas and committed to possibly too many projects for the next two months. One of the things I was struggling with for some reason was thinking of an idea for a shirt design for my friend Carol's store, Toilet Water. It's absolutely stupid when you are given free reign to do whatever you want and your mind goes completely blank of (appropriate) ideas. After cruddy weather forced me to take the subway one morning all the sitting and waiting and walking resulted in a mini brainstorm. I decided to do a memento mori inspired design with lettering spelled in hair as a slight reference to mourning jewelry. I include a couple of close ups here since the blog format reduces the whole design so much:

The "Too Bad You're Gonna Die" phrase is actually lifted from a Cramps record, with the grammar corrected so that Carol wouldn't have to hear about it from anyone. Though I actually really prefer it with the incorrect grammar. I particularly like this phrase because it's kind of an obnoxious snarky reduction of memento mori.

On the same topic, shortly after I got to work with my idea for Carol's shirt already decided on, I read that Laurel Hill Cemetery is producing a publication for their 175th anniversary and they are accepting art submissions! I'm thinking about submitting something, because I'm a big fan of the cemetery (and cemeteries, and funeral iconography and mourning practice) and a lot of their tours and public programs. I'm thinking of working on a design that incorporates the braided hair lettering and one of the more famous monuments from the cemetery with a gravestone poem (probably culled from the hundreds of pictures I have from cemetery trips). Hopefully I can get something finished by the submission date and hopefully if I do it gets selected! It would be really cool. In the mean time I'm working on a record cover and some illustrations for a friends viking rpg manual, and as always working full time and hoping to occasionally see the outside.

In OTHER news, check out Mike's New Blog, which is completely devoted to his obsession with madballs, fake madballs, and assorted other monster balls (yes, I know that's funny). He's a wonderful weirdo. He's also been working on designing some of his own madballs, and will soon start posting those along with madballs designs by other artist friends, including me of course! Also I drew the header logo!