Let Me Draw My Stuff For You!

Psychotronic Cinema

2012-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

SIFF (Seattle International Film Fest) is putting on a promising new series called Psychotronic Cinema and I was asked to come up with a logo for it.
I was happy to get gross and grimy with this. Really pulling up all my influences from Garbage Pail Kids to Max Clotfelter.
I'm also proud to have something like this associated with the upcoming Don Hertzfeldt screening featuring the artist himself.

Meat and Potatoes Go To the Beach

2012-01-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

Since winter here in Seattle is generally grey and depressing, Corbett Cummins asked that I put Meat and Potatoes on the beach in the Archie Universe this time.
I did so and while they were there, Meat and Potatoes kicked a little sand around.
Around the head of the bully who kicked sand in Archies cute little face! Get'em Meat! Hold'em down Potatoes!!

Drinky Movie Holiday Spectacular

2012-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

So the Entertainment Show put on another Drinky Movie Show and it was for the Holidays!! You know the "holidays" I'm talking about.
I designed and illustrated another poster with Derek Sheen as the Grinch, Travis Vogt as Jack Frost, and Kevin Clarke as a lovable Gremlin.
This was also a release party for the complete Adventure Buddies DVD set. Which features artwork by me and you can BUY ONE NOW!!!

VHS X MAS

2012-01-14T13:20:00.001-08:00

The Grand Illusion in Seattle put on a single showing one night that honored the wonderful holiday specials and films that could still be found on VHS! Here's the poster that I created for that event! Snow flakes and lightning!!!

Meat and Potatoes in Tintin Land

2012-01-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Corbett Cummins puts on a show monthly called Meat and Potatoes, and I do an elaborate poster for each one. Each one has the characters Meat (arena fighter?) and Potatoes (a Agatha Christie-like detective) interacting within a new cartoon world usually based on a known cartoon franchise. The month of December we put them into a world similar to Tintin. Timely, No? Here they're looking for a mysterious man in the Tombs of the Terracotta Warriors.
Where will the end up next?

Drinky Movie Show

2012-01-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a poster for the first Drinky Movie Show put on by Derek Sheen, Travis Vogt and Kevin Clarke at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard, Washington. It was a show dedicated to comedians talking about film, presenting short films, and dissection of horrible movies.

Relaunched!

2012-01-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

Now that DC and other comic companies are reinventing many of their properties, Jon Morris came up with the idea to ask artists to come up with their own type of reboot by coming up with their own covers for popular or obscure characters. Most likely these will prove to be better than what the real companies can come up with. Here are my pieces that appear on the Relaunched blog.

Back when Relaunched was called "DC Fifty Too", I submitted my version of CLAW the Unconquered. Here's the post with all the information.

Then the relaunching idea spread to the Marvel Universe with "WHAT IF..." and so I did my take on Spider-man.

Devastator Issue #4

2011-10-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

I got to do the back cover for the 4th issue of the satire comic magazine the Devastator. Check it out! It's coming out in November and should be in all respectable book stores and comic shops.
Check out the Devastator site for a preview and then order your very own copy. If you cannot or will not support a local business.

Meat and Potatoes! Nov 6th!!

2011-10-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

International Independent Video Store Day!!!

2011-10-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

I whipped this poster up for such a good day!! Such a good that all video store employees should get paid time and a half. As if this day was as important as some other international holidays seem to think they are.

I'm going to be celebrating at my place of work Scarecrow Video. Come on by for some sales and discounts and other stuff.

The yeti guy was totally inspired by "Aargh the Awful" on the artwork for the funny and weird post-apocalyptic film America 3000.

Meat and Potatoes Posters!!!

2011-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

4 posters I created for Corbett Cummins for his Meat and Potatoes Stand-up Comedy Show in Seattle, WA.

Claw the Unconquered redesign

2011-07-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

So I've got a personal project coming up and I'm using an obscure DC comics character called CLAW The Unconquered.

top: first issue of Claw the Unconquered and below: Claw the Unconquered from DC's Who's Who Vol. 5

I submitted my redesign of Claw to Project: Rooftop and wanted to know what they thought of it. Here's their post.

As far as the design goes, I told P:R "I feel that chain mail and fur are cliche. I think that if this guy has some way of getting a magical gauntlet for his evil hand then he can also get some better more sensible clothes. So I chose a layered leather look for the shoulders and chest along with something like a kilt. I wanted his gauntlet to be more like it came from a suit of armor instead of something form fitting."

I later replied to some comments, "I was trying to be pretty realistic about this design. Imagining myself wearing it (sure I’m that fit), and also imagining it’s creation. I thought a lot about how it would move when he was walking or fighting. It had to be flexible and somewhat light, but not move around on his body. Hence the sleeves around his upper arm. Those keep that whole top part from spinning around his neck.
The materials would be made up of dark thick-ish leather and some sort of forged metal. Amongst fur and chain-mail, gold is ridiculously over used.
I was trying to avoid just putting him in furry leather strapped footwear, which is another cliche. That’s where the armored slippers came in. Protected toes, hard layered leather soles and open in the back to keep them from sweating to death.
The only thing I carried over from the old design was the armor on the calves. I thought that they looked cool in the original design and it worked with the layered look I was going for with the metal and leather.
The fang/claw ornaments are a bit over the top and probably the least realistic. I imagined the person who put it together for him was taking some artistic liberties. But he’s a tough guy and those claw rubbing on his thighs would probably end up being unnoticed."

Prison Pit Show and more!

2011-05-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been geeking out about Filmation cartoons from Star Trek to Bravestarr. These cartoons are really not the best things out there, but there are some qualities to these that I just have so much love for. The backgrounds are seriously well conceived and painted. There's probably more care put into those than most of the episodes. The character and creature designs are super creative. They're not Alex Toth quality, but they can hold their own. The special effects and the voice acting are pretty special too.

original cel and background from Bravestarr copyright Filmation

Since this stuff has been swimming around in my mind, I had the desire to create my own scenes from fictional shows. I'm only going so far to be authentic though. I'm painting with gouache on 5" x 8" illustration board, I'm xeroxing the line art onto acetate and reverse coloring with gouache. So it's pretty close to an authentic animation cel and background painting.

They take a lot of work and planning, so I've only got three completed so far. I'm really excited about doing these though and I figure I can come up with millions of scenes in this format. So there will be more to come. I do a lot of illustration work on the computer and sometimes it's just too easy to make something look like something else, something hand painted or done the real way... manually. So these are really important to me because I'm really painting these and not cheating digitally.

So far I've made two homages to some of my favorite comic characters the Marvel Comics great Doctor Doom and Johnny Ryan's Cannibal Fuckface from the super inspirational Prison Pit books by Fantagraphics books.

The Prison Pit piece I based directly from a panel in book two page 27. I wanted something cool in the background to paint and also something where Cannibal Fuckface was interacting with the background. Since the original comic is black and white I had to imagine what the Prison Pit would look like in color. I imagined that it would actually take place in a huge colon, hence the pink fleshy walls and the miles and mounds of shit everywhere.

This is the panel that I based the scene on.

The other, entirely original piece..."The Uninvited Visitor"

They Live Poster Phenomena!

2011-05-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I saw that Shepard Fairey was going to be appearing at a showing of They Live at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin Texas. Mondo mentioned there would be a special secret poster that they commissioned Shepard to design for the event, but they wouldn't release the image until the day of the show. "We will be debuting the poster image at the screening and you will get one in a tube after the movie is over." So I clicked through to the ticket sales page and found that the image I designed a year ago, spoofing Shepard's Obama Hope poster was being use to sell this show.

They Live (prez) by Marc Palm

I got the address to the Alamo and sent them a simple e-mail:

"To whom it may concern -

I'm a huge fan of They Live and Shepard's work. That's why I designed the They Live poster a year ago that parodies his Obama HOPE poster. This is the same image that is being used on the Alamo site where you're selling tickets for the show.

I'd appreciate if I could be credited as the artist if you want to continue to use that picture.

For some sort of proof here's a link to the blog post I made over a year ago when I debuted the image. http://marcpalm.blogspot.com/2010/04/they-live-posters.html

Marc Palm"

I got a reply saying they were forwarding it onto the dept that will remedy the issue. Then I got a reply from Kayla Williams:

"Hey Marc,Thank you for letting us know about this and we apologize sincerely. We did not intend to use someone's personal image. We have changed the image to the movie poster for They Live. Thanks again for reaching out.

- Show quoted text -

--
Kayla Williams
Creative Manager
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas"

By that time the show had completely sold out. Everyone who only saw the ticket page would have seen my image in the left and only read: "The ticket for this screening includes a THEY LIVE poster by Shepard Fairey!" They don't specify what poster, or that it's going to be special poster that has yet to be re-veiled. So it's possible that people think they are getting a copy of the poster I designed.

If you're one of those people who want one of those posters, you can order them from me. I am offering them for sale via Imagekind.com. http://www.imagekind.com/They-Live-prez_art?IMID=1b2bd486-b828-4bd8-a636-9704811ccf70

I recommend them because of the ability for variation. You can get the size that is good for you and if you want it framed there's that too.

Anyway, this is not the poster that people who go to the Alamo show featuring Shepard Fairey will receive, unless something REALLY WEIRD happens.

If you want to use this image for your article about They Live, or use it to promote your event. ASK ME!!! It's the least you could do.

Benefit Party for Cait Willis & Amber Anderson!

2011-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've donated two creature paintings for the auction for local artists Cait Willis and Amber Anderson who suffered all sorts of trouble when they were in an accident with an uninsured drunk driver. The Vermillion Gallery is putting on the party with the art and there is an enormous response from the city to help these women out. If you can make it out and help out, please do!

Here's the facebook page too.

Pseudo Criterion Covers

2011-04-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

Pseudo Criterion Covers, a set on Flickr.

There 8 FAKE covers that I created for Scarecrow Video for their Criterion Collection Wish-List.

Each employee came up with 10 films they would like to see in the Criterion Collection and there is a rental section devoted to it in the store.

Truck Turner at the Central Cinema

2011-03-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

My poster design for Scarecrow Video's presentation of one of the best Blaxploitation movies Truck Turner. Hosted by Matt Lynch who I work with and hosts the Scarecrow Video Pod-casts (here's one with me).

April 27th

Central Cinema

Seattle, WA

digital illustration and layout

Laff Hole '88 with Paul Merrill

2011-03-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

Paul Merrill asked me to come up with a corny 80's VHS box like poster for his Laff Hole '88 show this March 2nd at Chop Suey in Seattle. Brought to us by the Peoples Republic of Komedy
He knows my work well from doing the Adventure Buddies and even illustrating him for the 5th episode.
This was fun to do. Pretty different from the Adventure Buddies stuff, but still focusing on the aesthetic of the VHS box art.

Adventure Buddies - Episode 6 Revenge of the Return

2011-03-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the last of the Adventure Buddies posters. All 6 episodes have been finished and shown. It's over for now. I'm sure there will be some DVD stuff, some story books, and soundtrack releases yet to come but for now it's done. Check out the show on Funny or Die!

Like Like and Lovesick art shows

2011-02-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

artwork Nikki Burch

WOW!! This year is starting off quite well! The cartooning and drawing group that I'm apart of here in Seattle, the Bureau of Drawers is having 2 group art shows surrounding that Lovely day, Valentines day.

First, on Thursday, Feb 10th at 6:00 pm, we open "Like Like".
Here, a large portion of the group will be showing pieces representing the things they "Love" at the Cafe Racer in the University District.

Second, and this is big one to come in Second place... "Lovesick", a finely curated show at the Fantagraphics Bookstore on Saturday, Feb 12th starting at 7:00 pm.

Choose You Own VHS Adventure! - Revised!!

2011-02-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

This newly revised poster is making it's print debut in Austin TX at the Rewind This! art show. It's being put on to support Josh Johnson and his crew make a documentary about VHS.

Adventure Buddies - Episode 5 Penultimatum

2011-02-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

Adventure Buddies - Episode 4 Unidentified Dying Objects

2011-02-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

Destroy All Movies at Scarecrow Video

2010-10-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

This is for the in-store book signing for Fantagraphics awesome punk book DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film. More information? Go here: http://www.punksonfilm.com/wordpress/

Trailer Park Boys come to Scarecrow Video

2010-10-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

Did this for the in-store appearance of the Trailer Park Boys during their Drunk, High, and Unemployed Tour.

Adventure Buddies - Ghana Style

2010-10-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Adventure Buddies Episode 3!!! Hell to the Chief!!!
In honor of the West African Ghana posters.
http://assemblyman-eph.blogspot.com/2009/08/film-poster-paintings-from-ghana.html
http://www.ghanamovieposters.com/servlet/StoreFront

VHS Choose You Own Adventure!

2010-10-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

This was originally designed for the Central Cinema for a event they were having.

Adventure Buddies Episode 2

2010-10-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Adventure Buddies Episode 2 - Blasts from the Past!

In honor of all the Vets, VHS Nam War covers and... G.I.Joe the Great American Hero.

TV Carnage Let's Work It Out

2010-08-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Pinky Carnage, the genius video mash-up artist of TV Carnage wrote to me after he saw my VIVA VHS poster and asked me to help him with a tour poster. He sent me a classic aerobic VHS cover to use as inspiration and above is what I came up with.

In Seattle, Pinky will be bringing his latest show to Central Cinema on Saturday Aug 28th at 9pm.

Adventure Buddies It Begins... Again!

2010-07-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I was asked to do the poster for Kevin Clarke and Travis Vogt's newest project called Adventure Buddies. It's going to be 6 short film episodes that are parodies of chopsockie action films from the last couple of decades. Since I happily devoted myself to several of their events I was excited to work on this new one. I'll be doing a poster for each one of the episodes in different styles. This will be the most ambitious poster work I've done so far.
For this first one I went with an old stand-by (for me) and made a faux-painted VHS cover. Below show the stages I went through to get the final piece.
And for God's sake, go to the show when it opens here in Seattle at the Sunset Tavern on August 17th.
Here's a teaser for it.

photo shoot

pencil sketch from photo

first pass digitally

final digital pass

Guest Editor for Nib-Lit

2010-06-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

So I was asked by a Mykl Sivak to be a guest editor on the comics page called the Nib Lit that during the school year is published on the back page of the Southern Connecticut State University paper. I've been featured in several of the issues, along with Tony Millionaire (Maakies) and Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man).

Since the school year is out Mykl is keeping it alive via a blog and through Facebook. I just wrapped up my first editing job on it and it's available here as a high res PDF. On this blog you will also find all the previous issues and more.

For this issue I asked a few of my old colleagues (Levi Bailey, Matt Biolchini, Ben Lyon) to contribute and then a new friend (Nikki Burch). All did an awesome job and as it turns out I'll get at least one more chance to edit another issue.

So pass it along to your friends and neighbors and give some love to those who contributed. If you're on Facebook connect to the Nib-Lit here and if not, I can pass a message on to whomever you want.

Thanks for your time. Enjoy the comics.

Marc

Facebook 2.1 in Sweden

2010-06-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

I sent this artist in Sweden some faces painted on dictionary pages for his "Facebook" project. He takes the pages with faces and puts them up on wall in Gothenburg. He just sent me photos of the installation. Here's the list of artist and links to their work. Mine are posted here.

It´s up. In Gothenburg, Sweden.
Here´s some pictures. It´s 160 faces and done by 17 artists, wich are
Ollio (sweden),
Cash4 (usa),
AKA (sweden),
Sceb (sweden),
Swellzombie (usa),
Bo Rutter (sweden),
Madness (sweden),
Tålamod (sweden),
Tarkinson (germany),
Säl (sweden),
Soul (sweden),
139 115 (sweden),
Peps (sweden),
Etno 1 (russia),
Aisakello (sweden),
9mm (sweden)
Intro the pit (france).

Spread the word and the pictures!

Thanks for the participation, mail me if you want more pictures, special close ups or anything else, and tell me if you want to join on Facebook 3.

Best regards
Jonathan Josefsson / Ollio
ollio.blogspot.com

Breasts! ATTACK!!!

2010-06-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

My submission to a gallery show honoring Breasts!

A Visitor in the Night poster

2010-05-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Another poster for the local short film that debuted at Seattle's STIFF festival. John Portanova and Spencer Fornaciari also do pod-casts on blogs called MacGuffin and Backroom Comics.

Cougar-fest poster

2010-05-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

Another poster created for Central Cinema. This is for their Cougar-fest week. Which features Harold and Maude and The Graduate.

420 drawing. That's 4" tall x 20" long

2010-04-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

To commemorate the date that's all the rage with the herb-friendly crowd! I created a 4" h x 20" w drawing. I'm a really big dork.

Commisions!!

2010-04-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

"Road Rat" for my friend Gerald.

Alright! Enough already! I know there's something you want me to draw. $20 for a black and white drawing. Don't hesitate to ask for ANYTHING! If you're pervy or nerdy, I draw it for you.

They Live Posters

2010-04-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Central Cinema here in Seattle asked me to do some posters for some of their up-coming shows. John Carpenter's They Live was on the list and I had to do it. The poster at the top is the one they're going with and the one on the bottom was passed on for whatever reason. I'll just make prints of it myself.

The one that on top I chose to do in a rough painted style akin to those great Polish movie posters you might have seen before. They're always really well designed and sometimes very abstract. I couldn't get around the iconic alien face and just loosened myself up a lot to get the final result.

I've loved the alien design in this movie since I was a kid. It's really iconic to me. When I finally saw this movie just a few years ago I was already aware of Shepard Fairey and thought that he had to have been influenced by this film. With all the subliminal messages like "OBEY" and whatnot. When I got this chance I just had to riff on his most recent iconic piece. Almost as if I'm bring his original idea back around on itself.
I made sure that Fairey hadn't done the same thing already and only saw his own They Live piece. Researching I saw a couple of people give a good try and make this same image, but as the obsessive "literalist" that I am I HAD to recreate it as close to the original as possible.

John Carpenter's They Live will be showing from April 16th to April 22nd. At the Central Cinema in Seattle. Prints available now at Imagekind.com

R.I.P. Charlie Burgoon

2010-02-16T22:03:00.000-08:00

R.I.P. Charlie Burgoon - passed away at approximately 4pm EST February 14th 2010.

Charlie was one of my good friends and a great cartoonist who was just like my other friends except he had shitty hand dealt to him from the start.

In no particular order or importance I'll list off some key points about Charlie Burgoon.

funny
prankster
red hair
glasses
fingerless
big sneakers
flakey
fan of Jimi Hendrix, Ben Harper, Dick Dale, White Stripes, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Slint, Spit for Athena, Mudhoney, Guitar Wolf, Blanche, Iron & Wine, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Waits and so many other musicians. I'd be here all day.
not a fan of: electronic music

we went to see Guitar Wolf in Detroit and it rocked balls
collector of: comics, music, movies, tiki-art, concerts,
loved and related most to Frankenstein's monster
hated cops
sarcastic
bitter
hockey fan
detroit fan
dog lover
father died of dementia
smart as hell
angry
willfull
observant
honest
simple
loved to eat cheese burgers from old diners
enjoyed tripping on mushrooms
loved his family
thought people were idiots
drove fast
didn't want pity
knew you were staring
could pretty much do anything I could do
hated pain medication
loved comics by: Pete Bagge, Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, and many more
favorite fine artist was Vincent Van Gogh
really enjoyed Las Vegas
loved getting drunk
farted a bunch
never wanted to be an inspiration to others
and...

he won a contest I held for illustrating the cover of the ANT. (Obviously his biggest achievement. No, but it's how we ended up meeting. The ANT was a digest sized comic that I self-published in the '90's. He was one of the 10 people who submitted cover art for the 6th issue and his fit the tone of the comic the best, so it won. I offered the winners a special copy of the issue they did the cover for (which was just the comic printed on red paper and signed), a t-shirt, a poster and $5! The 6th issue had a release party for it during the middle of the afternoon at the Ink and Paper Place, which was a local comic book, collectible, and periodical shop in Coldwater. It was run by Mike and Gloria Lott and they let me set up a table and have a release party there. That afternoon I met Charlie for the first time when he came to claim his prize. He and I knew of each other because we were the only two mini-comic creators in town. He was doing Odd at the time while I was doing the ANT. We instantly connected when he heard I was listening to Dick Dale and the Del-tones on a stereo I brought in with me. We talked about comics and music and movies for the rest of our friendship.)

Oh yeah he had a horrible skin disease (for 40 years he suffered from a rare skin disease called Epidermolysis bullosa. This disease is one of the more horrible things for a human to deal with. The skin is not bonded well to the rest of the body. This means any sort of friction or bumps or anything done to the skin can cause blisters or tears. There are levels of severity with this disease and Charlie had it as sever as anyone can. He wasn't disabled by it though. He did everything that you or I did. Drove, worked, lived on his own, paid bills, ate, drank, shit and fucked. He felt pain over his entire body from having sores and blisters being created and healing at the same time constantly. This did not make him a cripple or anymore disadvantaged as you or I. He never wanted people to use his life story as a means to motivate themselves. He didn't want to be the person you thought about and said, "what am I complaining about, that guy lives in constant pain and still does stuff". His will power was a mystery and that will always fascinate me.

Check out the Monsterhead Books Quasioctix and Reclusives that he and I did together as well as the blog for Monsterhead Books.

As soon as I get my hands on more of his work I'll be posting full comics and other art for all to enjoy. Artworks above and below are all created by Charlie Burgoon.

Valentines Day at Cafe Racer with the Friends of the Nib

2010-02-02T18:59:00.001-08:00

Frank Henenlotter In Store at Scarecrow Video

2010-01-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest poster I've come up with for Scarecrow Video's in store appearance of the director of Frankenhooker, Brain Damage, Basket Case and now Bad Biology. Check out all of these movies and if you're in the Seattle area come meet the man at 7pm on February 5th at Scarecrow. Afterward he'll be at the Grand Illusion for a Q&A after a screening Bad Biology.

VHS, Fantagraphics and Me

2009-12-07T13:57:00.001-08:00

This is really cool! I'm going to be on a panel representing Scarecrow Video and VIVA VHS. We'll be discussing VHS and the art that covers them with a great assortment of folks at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on the 13th of December.

Friends of the Nib at Howard House

2009-12-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

For all of December, drawing and paintings collected from 20+ artists that represent the Friends of the Nib will be on display and for sale at the Howard House Gallery in downtown Seattle.

Here are some photos that were taken by FOTN member Ed.

The window display that Tom Dougherty and I assembled from art featured in the show.

Cool Spaceship at Aster Coffee Lounge

2009-12-06T02:37:00.000-08:00

The first show of Cool Spaceship designs is now up at Aster Coffee Lounge in Ballard. More shots of the exhibit at Aster can be found here on Flickr.

The reception will be on the 12th of December which is with happy hour prices on beer and wine during the Ballard Artwalk, with prepared shirts on hand with these 8 new designs for sale.

For a good look at the designs that are available to order go here to the Official Cool Spaceship blog.

Friends of the Nib at the Howard House

2009-11-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

The cartoonist group Friends of the Nib has been invited to kick off December at Howard House Gallery in Downtown Seattle.

We were asked to have a show of our random sketches and unframed drawings. The show opens on the First Thursday of December the 3rd, and ends on the 5th of December.

Three days of beautiful raw and finished art with a cash and carry policy. The artworks will be moderately priced. You can buy something and take it home that day. Frame it and ship it to your mates or family members for one of the best Holiday presents ever.

Artists participating include: *Tom Dougherty * Bob Rini * Max Clotfelter * Max Badger * Heidi Estey * Mark Campos * Marc Palm * Stevie Van Bronkhorst * Ellen Forney * Jim Woodring * Jon Morris * Adam Watson * Kelly Froh * Scott Faulkner * Jen Ralston * Noel Franklin * David Lasky * Aubrey Mysterious * Kinoko * Sean Robinson * Dalton Webb * Dennis Driscoll * Carl Nelson * Bruce Bickford * Billis Helg * Jason Miles

Enjoy!

Annual Friends of the Nib Halloween Show

2009-10-28T17:26:00.001-07:00

This year is a Freak Show themed show. This is going to be SO good. Banner art above by Mary Woodring.

I'm going to be having a diorama of a sideshow mermaid. Here's just the banner part of it.

Freak Show Banner

2009-10-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

A digital banner which is just part of the Mermaid diorama that I'm putting together for the Friends of the Nib Halloween Show at the Cafe Racer.
Opening October 29th 2009

Grand Illusion Spook Show Trailer

2009-10-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hot off the heels of the Sex Beast Attack! animation I threw together this trailer for Seattle's Grand Illusion's Spook Show Spectacular.

I used Photoshop and Flash 4.

Sex Beasts Attack! Seattle! Total Victim! scene 02

2009-10-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

Sex Beasts Attack! Seattle! Total Victim! scene 02
Originally uploaded by swellzombie

Vulvoids Attack Alki Beach!
A scene from the 1minute 20 second animation submission to Seattle's amateur porno contest HUMP.
Watch this video on Vimeo. Video created by Marc J Palm.

Uploaded by swellzombie on 28 Sep 09, 11.32AM PDT.

Entertainment Show VS Cancer poster

2009-09-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

The Entertainment Show is going up against Cancer itself with the might of Comedy, Movies, and Music!! This event is a benefit for our friend Chris Cavanaugh who is currently fighting off the bastard that is Cancer.

If you want to help, donate to Cancer Bites the Big One.

Also prints are available for sale. Any profits made will be directly donated to the Cancer Bites the Big One cause.

Image is based off of fantasy book covers. I used a pencil drawing of the battle, photoshop and painter to make it pretty.

VIVA VHS T-shirt!

2009-08-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

With the ever increasing joy that this poster brings to people, doing a t-shirt is just obvious.

Contact me at: swellzombie@gmail.com for ordering.

One Nite Only Part II

2009-07-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

A poster that I did for Kevin and Travis of the Entertainment Show fame. When I came up the the daredevil idea, this style of art came with it. It's not my usual way of doing things, but it's how I thought it would best be done. What Kevin suggested for the poster was "Simple and Epic". So... daredevil stuff is pretty much that. It was either this or dragons and unicorns. Cliche and tired. I also didn't want to use the red white and blue colors, that's why it's pink and green.

VIVA VHS

2009-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

I recently finished this poster for Scarecrow Video's upcoming VIVA VHS show at the Northwest Film Forum.

With around 100 different scans of over-sized VHS box art I made a collage of some of best or most interesting bits off of them. Then framed it all up with a classic grid and put together a pseudo-airbrushed logo for the event.

Here's a list of the covers I used. I wish I could have designed this for a mural, there are so many great covers that I wanted to use.
Also, these are all available to rent at Scarecrow Video

America 3000
Assisi Underground
ATOR the Fighting Eagle
Avenged
Avenger X
Black Six
Blind Rage
Blood Voyage
Brain 17
Cannibal Island
Chimpo's Wild Animal Safari
Clue According to Sherlock Holmes
Conqueror of the World
Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon
Duel of Champions
Equalizer 2000
Executioner of Venice
Executioner's Song
Exterminators of the Year 3000
Fabulous Fleischer Folio
Falcon
Fangs
Fast Money
Fear
Fearmaker
Feast for the Devil
Filmgore
Flying From the Hawk
Frank & Tony
Frankenstein '80
Freedom Road
Galyon the Indestructible Man
Gang War
Ghost Dance
Gold Wing
Guerrilla Girl
Headless Eyes
Heroes in Hell
Hollywood Clowns
Hot Touch
Human Duplicators
Kingfish
Metallica
Metiche Y Encajoso
Ms. Stiletto
One Shoe Makes It Murder
Riding High
Safari 3000
Thirteen Chairs
Succubare
Zombiethon

What My Future Looks Like

2009-06-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Somewhat foetus-like

Taxidermy Squirrel forms from VanDyke's Taxidermy Supply

My new heat press for t-shirt transfering. I'm going to be making shirts like they're out of style. Maybe they are...

Star Trek Custom Laptop

2009-06-02T20:53:00.001-07:00

So I spent the girth of my day off putting an old school Star Trek control panel on my laptop. Magic of plastic!

Creature of the Week submission 01

2009-05-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

So for Conceptart.org's Creature of the Week challenge I came up with this nasty little bugger.
The idea for the creature was "Cthonic Psychic Sucker". That's all you had to go on so above it the final and below are the initial steps I took to get there.

Here's a description of this guy too:
"One of many creatures that are birthed from a greater Cthuthian creature that produces various offspring fit for gathering psychic energy. This leech-like creature works as a receiver and carrier of psychic energy. The worm finds a host rich in psychic energy. I first latches itself to the host, using it’s upper and lower tentacle-like areas. Protruding from the opening at its head are psychic sensitive mandibles that extract bio-electrical energy. It receives energy through the bulb located at the center of its frontal orifice. That energy is then held in glands on either side of its upper body. Once enough energy is received, it leaves the host alive or dead then returns to its “mother” and unloads its found energy. After unloading its energy to the “mother” the rest of its organic matter is then reabsorbed and recycled into another Cthunt worm. "

my first sketches, just fooling with ideas

the sketch that I felt was about right

this was phase 2, placing colors

phase 3 tighting colors and details

Drift Art Show

2009-05-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

Drift - an art show at the Cafe Racer. Opening Thursday May 14th 2009.
Read more about it on the Stranger's Slog!

This show is going to be cool. The Friends of the Nib got together and put in a bunch of really great drawings and some paintings. These are going to be put up all over the front area of the Cafe Racer as if it was our studio. Ideas abound! Good or bad, thrown all over the place so that one's eyes can pinball around the room and be totally over stimulated. Most everything will be up for sale with prices ranging from $5 to $50. So please stop by and get eye full.
So this will make the 3rd art show I have work in this month! I'm all over the place. I tell ya' though, it's like feast or famin. First it was APW's On the Record, then Muppet Rawk and now Drift. Each one will be displayed till the end of the month.
Below are a few pieces that I came up with today for the show. I referenced some photos that happened to be taken by Coop. I was just searching for "girls holding things" on Flickr. and found some hot women holding vinyl toys. Who'd have guessed it was Coop who took the pictures?

larger

larger SOLD!

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Cheap Thrills with Muppets Rawk

2009-05-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

So after weeks of preparation, research, sketching, inking and coloring... I'm finally done with my piece for the upcoming Muppet Rawk II group show at Ouch My Eye Gallery.

View LARGER HERE and with notes that link to the Youtube clips I used as reference.

For this show artists had to take an existing rock album cover and re-image it with Jim Henson's Muppets. You could use any Muppet and it the art had to be 12" x 12".

When I got to join in on this I searched a little bit for some cool covers. The previous show had some gems in them see here. I knew that I had to do something really cool. So when I ran across Cheap Thrills over and over in lists of the "best rock covers ever". Someone had to do this cover with Muppets! I wasn't sure if I could really do it, but I thought I'd bite off more than I could chew and do it myself.

Last month was the busiest I've ever been. I chose to paint 5 vinyl records by the end of the month and do 4 weekly comics, plus I threw on a cover for a demo CD for the Seymours. On top of all that recreate Robert Crumb's Cheap Thrills cover with Muppets. What the hell was I thinking? Whatever it was it worked. I made it and I feel fucking great about it.
Currently one of my own favorite pieces and one of the most ambitious pieces I've ever done.

I want to THANK:
Tom Dougherty (for leading me to this event and all the encouragement that he gave me along with the great pat on the back when I was done), Ouch My Eye Gallery (for even having this great idea for a show), YouTube (whom without all those references would not have been made possible. I like the Muppets a lot, but I didn't know enough to fill all those titles and word balloons), Angela Stork (for loaning me her original Cheap Thrills album cover for me to make transfers from. Have fun out east.), Annie's Art & Frame (for framing it for me quickly and cheaply), and obviously Jim Henson and R. Crumb who have always been influences.

"Art on Record" APW gallery pieces

2009-04-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE ONLINE!

At the tail end of last month I was invited anonymously by APW gallery in Long Island to participate in their "Art On Record" art show. The deal is, you paint on a vinyl record. Nuff' said. So to represent myself the best I can, I chose to do gross weird erotic mutant women. Why? I don't know. I'm a weird-o... I had other ideas but I ran out of time. I'm also doing a re-creation of a famous album cover with Muppets. So I had to knock something out by the 27th.

Music to Mutate By...

All pieces are acrylic on vinyl, measuring 12" x 12".

Below are the original drawings that I did. I drew them in my sketch book and it turned out they were the perfect size for the records. So after laying down the gesso on the vinyl I covered the backs of these drawings in pastel and transfered them on to the record. I had to do this twice, once for the original outline which I filled with a flesh tone and then again so that I could get the details. I used photos of a beautiful model named Jenya D for reference. She's one of the most terrific MET-ART models out there. I appologize to her and the photographer for creating such gross versions of their work.

And... this isn't my first mutated erotic women set. I did some strange art on glass a few years ago that featured similar things. Take a look at my Flickr page for pics of those.

CD cover for the Seymours

2009-04-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

My good friend Satchel Jones out in New York, has a relatively new band called the Seymours with his friend Becca. They're getting ready to promote they're new demo and Satchel asked me to put out some artwork for it.
They say that they're very fond of skunks and old rotary telephones. So with that in mind, I came up with the above image.

Covered Blog Submission

2009-04-07T12:31:00.001-07:00

I found the Covered Blog via Drawn.ca and it got me really excited to do one of my own. So I looked through some covers at Cover Browser. I had thought about doing something with monster or superheroes but then I found Girls' Love Stories. These were just classic and different from what had already been "covered". So I chose issue 139. I liked the colors and instantly imagined how I would keep it stylish and then highten the realism. I like the Mary Jane Watson looking girl on the original but wanted to have a cuter, less melodramatic female. I also made the decision to make the towel blank. I like the design on it, but I felt that it was just way too happy and distracting from the color scheme.

I went at this recreation with everything I had. I did pencil drawings of the girl, the background folks, then pieced them together and colored them in Photoshop. I then traced all the graphic aspects in Illustrator.

I thought I'd throw out the original sketches as well.

VHS Cover Redesign 03 - From These Roots (1976)

2009-03-27T16:50:00.001-07:00

For my third cover redesign, I picked a VHS box that had barely any sort of box art at all. It was really necessary that I do something respectful for it.
It comes from Scarecrow's Harlem Renaissance section, titled From These Roots. It's directed by William Greaves and is a nice short documentary about the Harlem Renaissance during the "Roaring Twenties".
The image for the cover was inspired by one of the visual artists, Aaron Douglas that was featured in the film. His art had summed up the Renaissance and I felt that his work would be best featured on the cover. So I found the piece below "Creation" and did a vector drawing of it in Illustrator. I then embelished it for the back cover and added text. I was trying my best to do something like what I've seen come out of the Criterion Collection.

Toothy Design Makes it in Top Submissions

2009-03-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I was invited to submit a t-shirt design to a Artsprojekt LABZ 0001 contest. I slid it in just under the wire and even though I didn't win, I was put into the Top Submissions catagory. Which is pretty good. Out of 1000+ submissions that appear on their Flickr set, there were only 320 chosen for the Top Submissions.

Here's what I put together for them.

The template given out to put your design on didn't allow you to move the long sleeve out of the way from the front of the shirt. I didn't want to manipulate the template, in case they were fussy. So that's why it looks funny above.

The Toothy Laff design was based off of this drawing that I did at a Friends of the Nib meeting where we had to do a drawing based on the word "Toothy".

VHS cover redesign 02 - Wild Party (1929)

2009-03-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

For my second cover redesign for Scarecrow Video, I went with Dorothy Arzner's 1929 The Wild Party. I had watched this film early last year and when I concidered doing this cover project, I knew I wanted to do one for this film. The VHS copy we have isn't that great of a copy. I'd love to see a quality transfer of it on DVD, but until then...

This is what I came up with after testing a few different inking styles (below). I really wanted to show off the awesome showgirl like costume that ends up getting Clara Bow into trouble in the movie. Instead of rendering it exactly like it was in the movie I used the lightning bolts to heighten the design and work well with the simple drawing.

I really had no idea what I was going to do at first, so when I got the right style of drawing the rest was easy.

This is the original sketch that I did based off of a found photo.

My first ink was super tight and detailed. I don't mind this one but I was really unconfident about whether or not it resembled Clara Bow. She's beautiful and people would be able to recognize her if it was done well. If not done well, then it's just a drawing of some girl.

So with my second inking, I tried to loosen things up. A bit too much I think.

This third and final ink was WAY looser and more fun. I liked the minimal lines and I was able to get the curves that I wanted. For the final design I took out all the crappy lightning bolts and digitally colored it in Photoshop. I just went with my gut on the colors for the cover. It's a black and white film, but I wanted the cover to be nice and appealing. Blue is calm and helps keep the design looking clean and fresh. From what I've seen in posters, Clara Bow had shocking red hair. So this was a nice becon of contrast for the center of the design. The likeness isn't what I'd like it to be, but I think the drawing gives the impression that she's cute and the "Wild Party" isn't a sleazy deal. Here's the original art on day glow pink paper. It's not horrible, but I liked this movie so I was happy to make up something new for this film.

VHS Cover Redesign 01 Kamen Rider AMAZON! (1974)

2009-03-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

So as an employee at Scarecrow Video I get to see a lot of films, and a lot of cover art for movies. Many of them are brilliantly designed, some of them are amazing paintings, a few are terrifically horrible and have a beautiful quality of their own. Most of the video covers that I see are bland and/or just rotten. Lazily constructed from production photos and over-used Photoshop effects.

With nearly 100,000 videos in the Scarecrow inventory, there are covers at the store that have no "real" cover art at all. Someone printed out the title of the film, maybe with a found photo from the Internet onto a sheet of day-glow paper. It's then put into a plastic VHS or DVD case and put on the shelf. There's really nothing appealing about this and only if you're searching for this title would you be interested in even touching this case.

As a designer and a critic of cover art, I'm taking it upon myself to design some covers for these lost covers. This gives me the chance to design covers with all sorts of freedom. Scarecrow doesn't care that I'm doing this, so they're not going to edit what I do. They'll hopefully gain some more turns on these rentals. I'm not getting paid anymore to do this. It's more or less an exercise for me. To get my designing muscles stronger and maybe land a real job designing this type of thing.

The first cover I tackled was for a VHS that we have with some episodes of Kamen Rider AMAZON! This Japanese television show from 1974 was priority for me to design a cover for. I recently chose it for my monthly staff pick and the previous cover was quaint, but I knew it wasn't going to rent. So I came up with what you see below.

I researched pictures of Amazon and found a set of photos that were taken of the highly detailed action figure that was produced by Medicom. So I found the picture that I thought would be the best on the cover and repainted it using Photoshop and my WACOM tablet.
This was my first redesign so I didn't put a lot of creativity into it. I was mostly interested in having a realistic image of the character on the cover, I concentrated on rendering the digital painting well enough.

photo: copyright modxtoy.com

Here's the original artwork that was in the store for years. Yeah, it was made sideways.

Dinosaurs Fucking Robots!!!

2009-02-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

CLOSE YOUR EYES KIDDIES!!!

That's Right!!! I've lowered myself one more step into human sludge by creating another obscene illustration. Damn me and the sick sense of humor that I have.

Inspirational quote by: Myla Kabat-Zinn

When I was sent a link to Dinosaurs Fucking Robots I knew that I had to submit an illustration. I don't remember having the intention to make it as elaborate and work so hard on it. BUT... I'm happy with what I came up with. Not exactly the best for a portfolio, but worth the effort to get more digital painting experience.
Thanks to Team Tiger Awesome for creating this brilliantly funny blog and allowing my submission to reach the eyes of the people.

Notes about the piece: I originally drew this with pencil on paper at roughly 8.5" x 11", then I scanned it at 300 dpi and colored it using a number of layers in Adobe's Photoshop 6.5 (I work oldschool. That's what the poor folk do.) with a WACOM tablet.

30 in Thirty Full Color Book Available!!

2009-02-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

NOW FOR SALE!!!

Marc Palm's 30 in Thirty!!

My latest full color art book. This one is a collection of 30 paintings that I did in 30 days as a challenge for the Blank Space Gallery here in Seattle. The 30+ paintings and illustrations of monsters and other creatures here in this book are full sized reproductions of the original paintings. The book itself is full color, 70 pages perfect bound, and measures 8.5" x 11".

Ever since the completion of the paintings I wanted to make a catalogue of the whole set of paintings. All based of off creatures that I created originally for my daily comic (Lair of the Psychic Creature) I planned all thirty paintings to be seen together. And... since half of the original paintings have been sold, they'll NEVER be seen together EVER AGAIN! So catch them while you can here in this paperback collection.

I would like to think these colorful acrylic paintings should entertain anyone with a childlike appreciation of creatures and monsters as well as children.

Let Me Draw My Stuff For You!!

2009-02-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

Alien Portrait 01 - pencil on brown paper 2009

So to kick off the new direction of my Blog I'm posting this drawing. Which will be the first of many original drawings that I'm going to offer for sale. Mainly these will be for sale via Etsy.com but feel free to contact me directly. Some direct contact might lead to a better deal for you. Also if you're interested in some previously posted work ask as specificly about it as you can.

I'm open for commissions as well. So feel free to throw an idea and an offer my way. I'll get back to you with my decision and questions about the specifics. You can get an idea of what I'm able to do by looking through this site or my flickr.com sets.

Thanks

Marc "Swellzombie" Palm

Valentine's Day Art Show 2009

2009-02-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Hearts, Candy, Love, Blech...

Super nice poster designed by Dalton Webb.

Art Show at the Cafe Racer with your ever adorable Friends of the Nib!!!

That's more like it!

"The Ladies Who Play with Hearts" thirteen 3" x 4" paper cards ink and watercolor. Frame not included $50.00.

Here's a facsimile of what I entered into the show. I added the text to this image, but left it off of the original piece.

Threadless Tshirt Design 01

2009-01-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

I submitted a design to Threadless.com and they approved it. So now it's in the running for a chance to be printed and sold to millions. Well... millions I don't know.
If my design recieves enough high scores, we can get this shirt in print and on the backs of the people. With your help and five of your friends and five of their friends this can be done! Think of AMERICA!

Anatomic Snowglobe

2009-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Clausmopolitan

2008-12-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

This week when coming up with a new comic, the deeply buried holiday cheer in my heart spurted out in this very jolly watercolor. Clausmopolitan a lifestyle and culture magazine for and about Santa Claus. An obvious spoof of Cosmopolitan (the ever enlightening) magazine with relative articles to the big guy.
Ever since I made this piece I've gotten tons of compliments and so I decided that maybe I'll make it available to those who like sending out cards and the like. I love doing it, but I'm horrible at actually doing it. Anyway, you can find some Clausmopolitan products here at my Cafepress Card Shop.

Thanks a bunch. Happy Holidays.

Note regarding the prices: Cafepress has a base price for their products. I cannot chose to price anything lower than that and if I don't adjust the price higher than I stand to make $0. I personally feel that the base prices are far too high, but what can I do? What I've done is marked everything up $1, to keep everything as cheap as possible and maybe make a few dollars. Obviously not enough to buy that new car with, but... maybe lunch.

Painting For Sale on Etsy!

2008-12-01T02:22:00.001-08:00

I just got myself an Etsy account and right now I'm selling the remaining creature paintings I did a year ago for the Thirty paintings in Thirty days Challenge.
So check it out and buy as many as you can.

http://swellzombie.etsy.com/

New T-shirt Designs for Kick Me

2008-11-29T23:39:00.000-08:00

To go along with the Kick Me graphic novel anthology that I've published on Cafe Press I have t-shirts and other fun merch.

I just designed a new shirt for the hell of it. It's a colorized version of the contents page in the book. It really sums up the depressive heart breaking feeling I tried to convey in the comics.

A New Blog for Artists I Like

2008-11-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

It's called Masters In My Mind

http://mastersinmymind.blogspot.com/

I've decided to start a list of artist that I've been inspired by in one way or another. This will be on going, due to the fact that I'm never at a loss for inspiration. This internet thing brings me great pleasure.

Entertainment Show November

2008-11-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is the latest poster for this Novermber's Entertainment Show at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle. The artwork is based off of the short films of the Karate Brothers and the design is inspired by the poster for Circle of Iron. Mostly digital with some pencil sketches

Scarecrow Video T-shirt

2008-11-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

Here' s the design that Scarecrow is using for their new t-shirts. Check out more on their blog. blog.scarecrow.com/blog/?p=317

The drawing was done with pen/ink then digitally colored and prepared on the computer.

Steel of Fire Warriors Theatrical Premiere

2008-11-10T01:32:00.001-08:00

Here it is!! The big Theatrical Premiere of STEEL OF FIRE WARRIORS 2010 AD!!
Enjoy this trailer and then go see it!

Halloween and Where I'll Be That Night

2008-10-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the invite that I designed for my friends Maegan and Alissa for their Halloween Bash. It's a big mash up of design, a distressed book texture, and the drawings are traced from photos using a Wacom tablet.

Cafe Racer Halloween Show

2008-10-27T12:17:00.001-07:00

DSC_6376
Originally uploaded by themightyadam

This is a photo of me and my brother Cedric. (I only take him out for special occasions).

This comes from The Mighty Adam's flickr.com set from the Cafe Racer Halloween Show. Give a peek. He got some good stuff that you should have seen for yourself. Thanks Adam.

Halloween Show 2008

2008-10-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

So once again Seattle's Cafe Racer is going to host the Friend's of the Nib Halloween Art Show. Opening Night is October 24th from 6pm to till 10pm. Find more information in The Monocle a Halloween themed paper that highlights the illustrations of the Friends of the Nib.

This year for the show, I've taken to sculpting and assembling some creepy pieces. I'm posting some photos that I took with my phone. Once the better versions show up I'll post those too.

"It Watches" mixed media 2008

"The Red Eye" mixed media in a coffee can 2008

steel-of-fire-warriors-2010 poster

2008-08-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

Here's a digital painting based on the short film serial by Kevin Clarke and Travis Vogt titled Steel of Fire Warriors 2010 A.D.

Major inspiration was the legendary poster artist Drew Struzan who has recently retired from making movie posters full time. Read his own comment here and weep hard. The worst part of this is that Struzan was one of the last to actually hand craft a poster for mainstream films and their franchies instead of just mashing together some photo-manipulated crap together. So long, you will always inspire me.

Also check out this great review of Steel of Fire Warriors 2010 A.D. on io9.com

Art Prints for Sale

2008-07-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've started an ImageKind account in order to have prints of my art available to you and myself. They're pretty affordable, but can also be really expensive. So if you got the dough to throw, enjoy a few pieces of my art. I'm going to keep adding stuff periodicly so keep an eye open for new stuff. If you have some pieces that you'd like to see available for print let me know and I add it to the gallery.
Check out http://swellzombie.imagekind.com/

Thanks for your time.

Art Show at Bus Stop Espresso

2008-07-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here's some shot of the art that I had displayed at the Bus Stop espresso and coffee shop in Seattle. It's month long (June to July) showing is coming to an end now and I want to thank everyone who bought pieces.

I specificly want to thank my young fans. One of them was so inspired that he created his own monster and it was hung up next to my pieces. It fits perfectly. Thanks Samuel.

Fetal Fun

2008-06-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

SOLD!

These 4"x 6" color pencil drawing with watercolor were created on pink paper for the Mild Kingdom show at the Cafe Racer which I mentioned in the previous post.

The showed was theme was animals and I knew that there was just going to be a whole bunch of cuteness abound. So I didn't want to do more monster or insects. One morning I was struck with the idea to do cartoony fetal pieces. Mostly inspired by the NG In the Womb: Animals show that I had seen before. The best part is just how adorable a fetal elephant is. I really wish I could have a fetal elephant specimen in a jar. I'd name it "Johnny".

As far as I know only one of them sold the night of the opening. Thanks Patti. The show was a huge success. Lots of art sold and this should help the kitties and puppies that made it safe out of the womb.

ANIMAL ART SHOW!!

2008-06-13T17:28:00.001-07:00

Hey yeah!!! An art show opening up at the Cafe Racer tonight is a benefit show for Animal Talk a no-kill and non-profit shelter in the University District of Seattle. Check it out, everything is priced to sell and make money for the shelter. Also 10% of the Cafe Racer's drawer during the opening will be donated as well. So come out and drink and buy art and hang with people who are more interesting than the people you know. There's also a cool band!!

Some Photos of My Friends

2008-05-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Some snapshots of my friends at a birthday party.

Sarah (I've cropped this one to focus on the great composition and the background surrounding that insanely sweet young woman.)

Kate (This one I messed with because I thought it would be fun to. So shut up. It's not digital Wizardery but I like it.)

Matt (I didn't do anything to this photo but turn it black and white. I did that to lessen the horrific reality of what was happening.)

Jason (he was just having the time of his life.)

Kate (Again. She's just so fun and cute. This photo when through a time warp and ended up becoming 50 years old while I scanned it.)

Collaboration with Jason #2

2008-05-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

So Jason Dodson and I went to Hattie's Hat again, got some beer, some garden burgers with bacon and cheddar, and drew another master piece. Enjoy!!!

I Meet Some Inspiring Folks

2008-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

So while I was at the Stumptown Comic Fest in Portland yesterday I happened to meet to very influential comic artists.

First was Nicholas Gurewitch who creates the Perry Bible Fellowship comic. This stuff just blew me away when I first was turn onto it. The humor and the constant fluxuating art styles really inspired me. Some of the best intellectual dark humor out there. The comics are beautiful as well.

Then the guy who I really wanted to meet was Shannon Wheeler. He inspired so hard back in the 90's. Too Much Coffee Man came out and it was so awesome to me. I was a Sophmore in High School and wanted to make comics. When I got into TMCM I couldn't help but unconsciously rip him off. So I made the ANT. I sent him samples of my books and always thanked him. I even got to have a couple of strips published in the TMCM magazine. We kept up contact over the years but never met until yesterday. It was cool. I'm glad that he's still out there and his comics are still really funny. He didn't get old and crappy like that one guy... you know... nevermind. Anyway, It was exciting and I'm a total dork.

Lair of the Psychic Creature is now a Weekly!!

2008-04-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

So I've moved onwards and upwards from a daily strip to a weekly full colored strip. Check it out now, every Friday at Swellzombie's Lair of the Psychic Creature Blog. You can also find them at my personal Flickr account.

Two New Paintings!!

2008-03-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

So I came up with a couple of new paintings over the last few months for some friends of mine. The first one was requested by Elizabeth. She was a huge supporter and fan of the 30/30 paintings I did for the December show. So having owned one of those she wanted another based off of the comic with the Tickle Squid.

"Tickle Squid" acrylic and enamel on illustration board 2008

This other one was requested by a very enthusiastic fan of mine Amanda. She was moving into a new place and wanted some of my art for her walls. She's a very intense girl and I couldn't refuse. So I came up with this piece. The board that it was painted on had the background pattern already painted on it by my good friend Jilf. He donated a lot of supplies and extra materials when he left Seattle for Minnesota. So I told him I put all of it to good use.

"Curious Larva" acrylic on board 2008

"The Honorary Mexican" Drawing

2008-03-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

So my co-worker/friend Jason Dodson and I went out the other night, had a few beers and drew this little picture.

Friends of the Nib March 8th

2008-02-25T15:44:00.001-08:00

So I'm happy to be Friend of the Nib and this is going to be great. Insane and busy! I have no idea how anyone will be able to actually draw anything of quality, but... it should be checked out. I'd like to quote Tom Dougherty here because he has said it the best so far:
"Larry Reid* has mounted a Friends of the Nib-branded event at the Fantagraphics Store in Georgetown, South of Seattle proper. Apparently, it will be a drawing "jam" open to the public, who are all invited to participate. Space is at a premium down there, so if you're planning on being part of the "jam", I'd advise you to hightail it down there as early as your Dad will let you borrow the car. Admission is free, and there is a bar around the corner where you can get a drink or two. Seriously: arrive early and beat the crowds. Both of these guys are legendary talents, and you may be able to score a sketch from one or both as the evening evenings on. *Larry Reid is a promoter who often stops by the FON meetings at the Cafe Racer with a stack of promotional flyers for our group. He's been a Fantagraphics keystone for many years and a fixture in the Seattle "art scene" for many more years."

St. Valentine's Day Cards

2008-02-13T16:36:00.001-08:00

So these are the St. Valentine's Day cards that I designed to be shown at the Cafe Racer Valentine's Day show. (see previous post)

What's displayed is just some mounted prints of these designs. The original art is ink, pencil, and watercolor. But they're 50% smaller than these pieces and in my sketch book.

If you find these to be something that you would want to share... feel free to e-mail and post them on Myspace if you want to. I'm down with that.
Oh yeah, and screw Valentine's Day!!!

Cafe Racer Valentine's Day Show

2008-02-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

This Show I will have Work in.

Friends of the Nib show in Portland

2008-02-11T18:40:00.001-08:00

This show I'm not in.

SwellzombiePoster

2008-01-29T22:42:00.001-08:00

SwellzombiePoster
Originally uploaded by swellzombie

here's a poster I've designed as an advert of my skills and desires to be a rock poster designer. The image was originally designed for a Young Sportsman poster, but due to conflicts in the band it was never officially used. Since it's one striking image, I couldn't help but use it for myself.

Faux Superman Cover

2008-01-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

Superman is a registered Trademark of DC comics.

So for my dad's birthday/x-mas I came up with this faux Superman cover. He's a big fan of the Man in Blue and Red. I never did something like this for him so it's pretty exciting.

That's supposed to be him in the background with his new wife Cheryl. My dad is really imaginative and can come up with a solution to pretty much any problem unless it has to do with computers. So I had him come up with something to help Superman fight this beast. Superman a guy who wouldn't normally need help, save for moments like this. I'd like to think that they'd be a good pair if it came down to it.

Steel Fire Warriors!!!

2008-01-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

So here's a new poster I've designed and painted for Kevin and Travis of Seattle's Entertainment Show. It's for the latest post-apocalyptic series of shorts that they'll be showing starting on the 29th of January at the Sunset Tavern.

Julia's Search for a Tree comic

2007-12-17T15:04:00.000-08:00