HOTH-Y Holidays!

Do you like Star Wars?
Do you like tauntauns?
Do you like the holidays?
Do you need cards?

Then look no further.

When I was a 4 or 5 years old, I remember my father and I playing with a tauntaun toy on the kitchen table, making those strange sheep noises they make. Empire Strikes Back blew my mind. I hyperventilated at the sight of a giant stack of AT-ATs boxes at Toys-R-Us. I've always wanted to do a tauntaun illustration. I started doodling one day and got this image of one catching a snowflake on it's tongue in my head. I know people share my affinity for tauntauns so I figured people might like this as a holiday card.

Limited quantity

10 cards for $20
plus shipping handling.
Will ship next day.

Go to my Etsy account to order, if you'd like.

Have a fantastic Holiday season!

Printed on Hoth.

TEAM-UP! Sneak Peak Sketchiness

Here are some sketches of a couple of illustration to be featured on my wife Daria's blog, Cuz I Eats Me Spinach. One involves magic, the other the apocalypse. Stay tuned!

BLACK SWAN

Ballet competition weirdness reaches new heights with Darren Aronosky's Black Swan starring Natalie Portman and Milas Kunis. Here's a interesting review I found online about the movie. I hope it''s as good as he says. Oh, if you haven't heard, Aronosky's next movie is the Wolverine sequel simply titled The Wolverine. It's set in Japan, hopefully with ninjas (The Hand?) front and center. Can't wait!

Japanese snow monkey drinking hot tea

Couldn't get this image out of my head, so I had to paint it! I feel much better now.

Fran Lebowitz & Severus Snape

Did a little sketching on the train over the Thanksgiving holiday. The pairing of Lebowitz and Snape wasn't intentional, just kinda happened, but I think it's quite apropos. Worked large 11x14'' in pencil then digitally enhanced. Need a bigger scanner.

I DRINK YOUR EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION!

I Drink It Up!!

Over the weekend, Daniel Day-Lewis was officially cast as Abraham Lincoln in the new biopic by Steven Spielberg, coming out in 2012?? Pretty cool! Here's my imagining of him in beard and costume... Can't wait!

HARRY POTTER!!!

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows opens up today. After being very "meh" towards the franchise in the beginning, I has since become a Harry Potter UBER-fan. Here's a ROUGH color sketch of an illustration I am working on. Going to build on it more and develop everything, plus I'll be adding He Who Must Not be Named into the mix. I think this pic captures a bit of the tension between these three during their journey. Going to be doing a bunch of Potter work in the coming year - Snape, Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Creature etc... in between projects and jobs. Gonna be fun! Thanks for stopping by.

Best Fiends - Klaus Kinski & Werner Herzog!

Black & Whites

Did a couple pen and ink portraits back in September. People really seem to like them so I'm posting em now.

Illustrator Sketch Night

I went to the Society of Illustrators last week for the Sketch Night and did some quick sketches of the figure. Been a while but I kinda like these. I'll definitely go back this winter.

This one fella dressed up like Andy Warhol.

Oh, I met New Yorker cover artist Barry Blitt ( of the Obama Muslim Oval Office cover)! He was on piano in a really good jazz band that was playing during the event. I couldn't resist giving him a "terrorist jab". Thanks Barry!

Conan O'Brien the Barbarian

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you,
and to hear the lamentation of the women."
- Conan the Barbarian

"Keep cool my babies." - Conan O'Brien

I did this illustration over the summer for Royal Flush Magazine, Book 7 (out now!) for an article written by Tina Benitez. Damn it's a HOTTT issue! Check that link asap to find out more. There's currently a special lenticular hologram edition available exclusively at Barnes & Noble (limited to 1,ooo copies) of the Rob Zombie cover.

I merged the two Conan's of pop culture in what i think was a fun way. A very obvious connection, but I didn't really find any imagery in my research that reflected this. It's my homage to the great Frank Frazetta who passed away last May.
Other random thoughts - I hope Conan O'Brein shaves his beard before his first show on TBS. I think he will. It ain't working for me anymore. & Max Weinberg will be missed. Love the way he plays drums.

OH, 11x14'' Print available at my Etsy account
HERE at Castle McQuade.

Grizzly Moms, Delaware Witches & Flying Monkeys, oh my!

It is election day, silly season, and I wanted to share some recent political illustrations I did featuring Christine O'Donnell and Sarah Palin. Also made the Grizzly Mom illo into a gif at the bottom. Check it out.

ROYAL FLUSH Magazine #7 - The Cover!

Last spring, I was approached by Josh Bernstein about doing the cover for the next issue of Royal Flush Magazine. "Of course" I said, "What an honor! Let's do it!" I 've been with RF since just about the beginning. Next May will be the 10 year anniversary of the first issue. Whoa!

The cover was to feature the cast of the TV show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". Perfect! (The new season is on Thursdays at 10pm on the FX Channel) I love that show, got into it a couple season ago and have been a big fan ever since. Josh came up with the brilliant concept of lampooning the Nativity scene and I was off and running.

The Whole Gang - Sweet Dee, Frank, Dennis, Charlie and Mac!

Poster available at my new Etsy account.

Here it is... THE COV!

It looks even better than I could have imagined in print, real dense & beautiful. There's an embloss on the light beam and all the places where the light hits the cast. Stellar!!!

All in all, I am really very excited to have gotten the cover and to be in such great company with all the talent involved with Royal Flush Magazine. It's a labor of love for all involved, and is going to be on the forefront of creativity for a long, long time.

Check out the magazine @
http://www.RFMAG.com

There's tons going on in NYC this week during the Royal Flush Festival, culminating in the release party this Friday at Warsaw in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

THE BOOK - ROYAL FLUSH SEVEN - street date 10/12/10 (A special lenticular hologram edition will be available exclusively at Barnes & Noble 10/26/10 (limited to 1,000 copies)

Rob Zombie cover by heavy metal album art master, Ed “Megadeth” Repka! Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia cover by Royal Flush's own, Patrick McQuade! This issue also features a very special custom Royal Flush Fold-In by Mad legend Al Jaffee!

Plus we jam packed this sucker with interviews with Danny McBride, Lisa Lampanelli, John Waters, Roddy Piper, Tim Bradstreet interviewing Rob Halford, Roger Corman, Inside the Mind of Danny Bonaduce, Devo, Alice Cooper, Tenacious D salute Dio, Cheech & Chong, Frank Miller, Paul Pope, Chip Kidd and other comic legends interviewing Jim Steranko, Lewis Black, Corey Taylor, Mike Birbiglia, Scott Ian, King Diamond, Volbeat, Slash, Lee Ving and many more. Not enough? We also take the piss out of Sarah Palin, David Hasselhoff, Justin Bieber, Tiger Woods, Lindsay Lohan Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga, Mel Gibson, LeBron James, James Hetfield, Marilyn Manson, Mickey Mouse, Gene Simmons and Patrick Swayze in another 112 page, full color, pop-culture-skewering bible of insanity.

10th Annual Royal Flush “Full Release Party”

with KAIJU BIG BATTEL
Friday, October 15 • Warsaw • ALL-AGES •

And on a final note –
some exciting early press that I wanted to share from USA Today’s Pop-Watch…
http://usat.ly/bpSRBl

The main link to order the book is here
SUPPORT THE SCENE!
http://royalflushmagazine.com/merch/

Thanks so much again for your 10 YEARS of support!! We really appreciate it.
God bless each and every one of ya…

Freedomland NYC

Many moons ago, I created, wrote and drew a web comic for the SciFi (excuse me, Syfy) Channel. Here are some selected panels and sequences, dusted off for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, check out this music video I put together on youtube a while back that visually
tells the tale in 4 minutes and 21 seconds.

Robot Chickens, Mall Cops & Teenagers - Oh My!

I did some storyboarding and character design for an animation pilot a while back called Greyfields. Here's what I did.

It's Always Sunn...

COMING SOON!

ROYAL FLUSH #7
I illustrated the cover!!!!!!!

The main link to pre-order the book is here… SUPPORT THE SCENE MAN!
http://royalflushmagazine.com/merch/

I'll be at New York Comic Con • October 8-10 • Jacob Javits Center
Booth #646 – come say hi and meet the gang, as well as Mad legend, Al Jaffee and get a special Royal Flush Fold-IN poster!!
This is your first chance to buy the book in person and meet the whole team!

TALES of WOE by John Reed

updated march 2011 - digital version of "A Trunk of Vengeance"

"It feels good in my hands, heavy, shaped. Small and black, tight. Like an airport-hotel room bible..." - Shathley Q, PopMatters


Tales of Woe by John Reed came out last week. The "airport-hotel room bible" description is spot-on. That's what it feels like, a hardbound testament to this world's twisted cruelty. I don't think there will ever be a more horrible collection of true life horror stories. Well, perhaps there will be one day - the sequel? - but it will never be this beautifully illustrated. Tales of Woe! Damn, it's finally here. Sometimes, I didn't think it would make it to the bookshelves,. I did these illustrations back in the spring/summer of 2008. There was a big delay in the printing because of the economy and because it didn't comply with Chinese decency law, so it had to be printed in Singapore.

"Sin, suffering, redemption.
That's the movie, the front page news, that's the story
of popular culture - of American culture.
A ray of hope. A comeuppance. An all-for-the-best.
That it'll all work out in the end, that people get what they deserve.

THE FACT:
Sometimes people suffer for no reason.
No sin, no redemption.
Just suffering, suffering, suffering."

Powerful, disturbing and unforgettably painful.”
—Calvin Reid, Publisher’s Weekly

Here are the illustrations I created for the book. Glimpses of the horrors that await you... Head on down to Barnes & Noble or Borders,and pick up a copy to see the rest of 'em!

In fact all of the artists involved deserve a shout out! 8Pussy, Elisabeth Alba, Delia Gable, Chadwick Whitehead, Michele Witchipoo, Alex Warble, Ralph Neise, Sarah Oleksy, Walter Einenkel, Stephane Blanquet, myself, and Kiki Jones. Click on their names to visit their website.

I know all the artists, most of all the author John Reed, had a tough time bringing this book to you. Interestingly, the book was born out of a lunch-in with an editor who thought THIS was the idea that would get people's attention, that this was a book they'd want to print and put money behind. (Click here to read an interview with John.) Because pain and controversy sells and gets headlines. Because we love hearing scary tales around the campfire.

www.talesofwoe.com

"Tales of Woe is nearly two hundred pages of strange and twisted tragedy without even the slightest inclination to serve up a single happy ending. It’s a sickening look at the horrors of real life from around the globe, and while I’m hesitant to recommend it, I have a feeling I pretty much just have." - Marc Patterson, Brutal As Hell

Check it out on Amazon.

Dr. Broccoli

Once in a lifetime, there is a show so powerful, so incredible that it moves a nation...

Who is Dr. Broccoli?
Where is Dr. Broccoli?

Why is Dr. Broccoli?

All good questions that will be answered in due time. For now though, sit back, relax, flip through your fall calendar, find an open time slot and pencil in an appointment with him. You'll be glad you did.

www.doctorbroccoli.com