Osama Bin Laden is DEAD

I can't believe the news. Wow, we finally got him. Was so pumped I pulled an all nighter to get this done. "It's a feel good morning in America!" - John "Coach" Karbacz

I know!! You're right, America is not about stuff like this. I kinda shocked myself by doing it, at least this graphically. I started last night around midnight and by 9am this is what I had done. I posted it. What now? This is a very controversial image that I keep going back and forth on. Did I go too far? Yes, I'm a little ashamed of it, but then I think about 9-11 and the towers and the horror of that day, the feeling I had... the people that died. I currently live in Brooklyn, and lived in New York City on 9-11. I'm still kinda paralyzed by it, speechless. Sometimes I go by Ground Zero and just stare and remember... I am not a violent person but I did do this portrait. As an artist I must stand by it. It does go too far, but yes, burn in Hell bin Laden. In doing this I wanted to shatter the image of Osama Bin Laden as a untouchable force, an undefeatable monster, the boogie man - and replace that image with this. I wanted to show him beaten, broken, beheaded like the gorgon Medusa. As a catharsis for myself, for America and the world. For all to see. He is DEAD. Justice has been done.

"Bring me the head of Osama Bin Laden" has been in back of people's minds for a while. This is the realism of that, not pretty. Modeled after Perseus holding up the head of Medusa. Careful, he might turn you into stone.

The Crazy Monster Art Show!

I created a poster for the upcoming Crazy Monsters Art Show at the Toy Tokyo Underground Gallery in the East Village this May. Really excited about it. If you live in the area, be sure to check it out! Come on by opening night and have a drink with me. The Gallery is on 2nd Ave and 6th St. www.tt-underground.com

I have a ton of material I am sifting through to see what I want to hang. Using that show as a pivot point, going back to more fantasy based work this summer. Relaunching SHAPES and Magical Tales, starting up new projects (comics and books) & updating older works with the new set of skills I've been sharpening over the past year. It's time to get FANTASTICAL. Here's a taste!

- Click images to enlarge -

The funky orange dude on the upper right was drawn by mad monster master Basil Wolverton
but all the creatures in the bottle are mine. Come by the show and meet all 88 of 'em!

Here's the official release below

Royal Flush Magazine / A Fistful of Rock / Toy Tokyo presents:
THE CRAZY MONSTER ART SHOW! Friday May 6 to Sunday May 15
Opening Night Reception Friday May 6th 7-11pm
TT-Underground Gallery, 91 Second Avenue , NYC , NY 10003
(212) 673-5424 http://www.tt-underground.com/

Featuring 18 of the greatest Crazy Monster artists! Jason Edmiston, Patrick McQuade, Justin Erickson, Josh Bernstein, Erik Rodriguez, Steve Chanks, Brian Ewing, Gary Pullin, Sean Pryor, Stephen Blickenstaff, Steve “Pheck” Ritsua, Christain Bracco, Darren Marinuk, Daniela Fullam, Paige Reynolds, Tim Lastfogel, Dennis Bauser & Jeff Lamm!

"In the spirit of Basil Wolverton, the self professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", Sal Canzonieri, in association with Royal Flush magazine and Toy Tokyo, presents a series of modern day "Crazy Monster" artists! The Crazy Monster show features some of the greatest and most wild humorously grotesque artwork that elicits a wide range of reactions. Offbeat and daring, this show combines the best of both worlds, humor and horror!"

SUPER COOL Note: Stephen Blickenstaff did the album cover art for one of my favorite albums, The Cramps - Bad Music for Bad People!!!

Prints at Papél

I hung a bunch of prints at a really cool card shop called Papél New York in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn the other week. It's located at 225 Court Street. They have custom paper everything!

From Time Out New York

Papél

225 Court St (between Baltic and Warren Sts) Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

(718) 422-0255

Subway: F, G to Bergen St

Mon-Sat 11am-7pm; Sun noon-6pm

Skip the Evite and go old-school by picking up invitations at this stationary store, started by Cali transplant Raegan Hirvela. Its walls showcase paintings from local artists, and the ceiling is adorned with paper airplanes. Wrap a present with Seltzer Recycled’s funky skull-and-crossbones gift paper ($3 per sheet) or Art with Heart’s robot-patterned paper ($8); then personalize it by filling out one of Snow & Graham’s assorted watercolor alphabet note cards ($12 for a box of five cards with envelopes). Or just skip the stress of gift giving altogether, and buy yourself a silk-screen-covered journal to pour your heart out ($12).

The prints feature Brigitte Bardot, Patsy Cline, H.P. Lovecraft, 2 Japanese Snow Monkeys, John Lennon as a walrus, and two of my SHAPE characters, Queen Nadya of Pollen Nation and Stagg Willy & The Fronyon Man. They are all framed 11.75x15.75" and are available for purchase if interested. They are several 8.5x11" unframed prints as well.








I'm also going to get some custom cards in there soon. Below is a pic of the HOTH-Y Holidays Tauntaun card I did on the shelves.





It's a really cool store if you are into this sorta thing. My wife has converted me into a card nut. I was hopeless in that category before. Anyway, swing by if you are out and about in the area and tell the owner Raegen I said hi!

HOW Magazine Portraits

These stylized portraits of contributors were recently featured in the March 2011 issue of HOW Magazine. (Top L-R clockwise) Co-founder and Creative Director of Archrival Clint Runge, President and Creative Director of Osborne Design Michael Osborne, Founder and President of Firstborn Michael Ferdman, Senior Partner at Bond Art + Science Karen McGrane & Executive Creative Director of the Cincinnati Office of Landor Associates Richard Westendorf.

Looking forward to doing more!

http://www.howdesign.com

Recapturing the 70's/The Wager

"Pamela & John"

I was recently commissioned by a young woman to do a restorative painting of her parents from the above photograph. It was to be a gift for her mother. It was quite difficult for several reason, one being the obvious damage to the picture and the other being it's overall fuzziness, especially when zoomed in - too bad they didn't have high resolution photography in the late 70's.' Essential facial features and details were unclear. I asked her to send me other photographs of them from around the same time to assist in rendering them. This helped out quite a bit.

I'm never bound to the photograph when doing works like this - elements can be moved around/removed, composition can be altered. All that matters is capturing the likeness, the soul of the people in frame and honoring the moment.

This portrait was created digitally using a Wacom tablet, CS3 and Coral Painter 11, and printed out on Canon Pixma 8 Color Pro9000 Mark II Printer on Hahnemunle Fine Art PhotoRag.

a photo of the print

The final print was asked to be 8x8" for framing. It looked quite good and the client was very happy. She said I "nailed" them, from her mother's expression to her father's subtle smirk. I heard later that when she gave it to her mother, she cried. What an amazing compliment! This one was a real pleasure to do, even if that flannel shirt drove me a bit nuts.

Photo detail of print

I'm currently doing 5 other portraits, and have gotten many inquires about commissions. If you are interested, please check out my in-progress website, COBBLE HILL PORTRAITS and contact me there.

BUT...

before you do, please realize that custom portraiture is expensive. Most take at least 2 full days + to do, so extrapolate that out for the start of a fair price ($$). Be honest with your budget before you do. Thanks for stopping by.

DJ Dancing!

Here's a couple of images I did for fun recently. Wanted to experiment with lighting. The bottom one is actually an updated, colorized version of a comic panel from "Freedomland NYC", the series I did for the SciFi (oops SyFy) Channel back in the day. I love illustrating anything involving music, look for more in the future.

Japanese Snow Monkey Drinking Hot Tea (Proceeds to Japan RED CROSS)

Last November, I got this image of a Japanese snow monkey drinking a cup of tea in my head and I had to paint it. Had such fun doing so that I figured a series was in order and plotted out two others. The original idea was inspired by international superstar illustrator Aaron Meshon's "French Onsen" painting, the one where a Japanese bulldog is sitting outdoors enjoying a steam bath. So cool. That got me thinking and the above paintings were the results. Thanks Aaron!

I've spent the last couple months setting up a print shop and retooling my portfolio and website. I purchased the best printer I've ever had a month ago, a Canon Pro9000 Mark II that prints up to 13x19" and uses 8 dye color inks. Really spectacular quality.

Last Wednesday, I relaunched my Etsy shop online with a whole slew of new prints, including the Japanese snow monkeys and on Friday morning disaster struck in Japan. I actually met up with Aaron that afternoon to talk shop about the illustration biz. He's been really helpful and supportive of my work since we met at the Nuts-n-Bolts Conference last year at The Society of Illustrators. His wife and family is from Japan so we talked about it for awhile, thank God everybody was ok. Then he launched an Etsy shop over the weekend and decided to donate all sales from that French Onsen painting I mentioned from before, seen here.

As a result, and once again inspired by Aaron, I've decided to do the same with the above top 2 prints. I guess it just felt wrong to, at this moment, be selling, for profit, imagery to that is so unique to Japan in their time of need. It was a sign, the universe talking.

Hence, proceeds to the Japanese Red Cross. That's the personal back story. Below is the official release.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69737120/japanese-snow-monkey-drinking-hot-tea

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69738323/japanese-snow-monkey-drinking-hot-tea-2

Japanese Snow Monkey Prints - 30$, plus S&H. Edition of 100. 11" x 17" for easy framing. Printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 310 gsm heavy stock paper with Archival Inks. Signed, packed, and shipped by Patrick McQuade.

Nothing beats a hot cup of tea when it's cold out, even if you're a macaque.

See Shop Announcements for further details. Smaller and larger sizes available.

***PLEASE NOTE: 100% of profits after cost will be donated to the JAPANESE RED CROSS or other Japanese disaster relief agency.***

Buy prints, help Japan!
Please help me spread the word if you would. Share it around the web.

The BOWERY RIOTS!!!

Giving a face lift to some previous illustrations. This one has come a long way since my first pass in 2009. I think I've leveled up, video game style, in the past couple months. Got a lot of work docked and ready to post. Be on the lookout!

"The spirit, soul, and energy of the Speakeasy are vibrant in New York City’s The Bowery Riots. With a “for the people” passion and strong political interest, the sextet plays an incredibly eclectic mix of punk, soul, and rock and roll. Heavily routed in the turn of the 2oth century and the hustle of the big city, The Bowery Riots are a unique amalgamation of sound and style. Their songs are filled with garage rock influence, mixing in three part female/male harmonies, horns, and harmonicas for a riotous good time." - EXPLODING IN SOUND

Here's an illustration of The Bowery Riots, a band that my friend TJ is in. I promised him an illustration a while back and figured it was time to deliver. TJ's a good guy. We met a while back playing softball for the Welcome to the Johnson's (JOHNSONS!) in The East Village Softball Association. He is a kick-ass shortstop and a devastating lefty bat, played minor league ball somewheres in fact. Ask him about Oil Can Boyd.

The Riots are really taking off!! See them LIVE. They're great, check 'em out!! Rockin out NYC!

You can listen to The Bowery Riots
here
and facebook 'em here if you'd like.

Oh, also check out Shock and Awesome with TJ and the Tux, a weekly radio on East Village Radio. Politics and rock-n-roll.

CHECK OUT THIS LINK FOR AN UPDATED VERSION of the Illustration!!
HERE