Bullying the Juke: Wonka Vision Magazine

Did an illustration for Wonka Vision Magazine the other week for the Album Reviews section. It features reviews from the newest albums from Weezer, Easter Monkeys, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Devo, Rocky Votolato, Banner Pilot, Tegan and Sarah, Rise and Fall, Jello Biafra, The Wonder Years, Protest the Hero and A Lull. The headline for the review section is BULLYING THE JUKE. After a little thought, the title ultimately brought to mind to me the imagery of a intimidating biker dude at a bar hogging an old tyme jukebox, playing The Allman Bros. "Whipping Post Live" non-stop. He's thinking "Your selection are not welcome here. If you try to play anything, especially Lady Gaga, I will double tap you in the head."

Below is a selected step by step of the process from sketch to final. Pencils, inks, then digital coloring. Click 'em to enlarge.

Check out Wonka Vision Magazine website at www.wonkavisionmagazine.com Here are some examples of their previous covers.

Here's blurb from the "ABOUT US" section of the website:
"In 1998, Wonka Vision entered the world as a cut-and-paste, stapled-together, punk rock fanzine created in an 18-year old kid’s bedroom with a glue stick and some scissors. Released by the same Publisher & Writer’s all along the way, 2009 marks Wonka Vision’s 11th year as one of the country’s still-standing D.I.Y. magazines truly dedicated to Independent Music, Controversial & Important Artists and Underground (now called popular?) Counter-Culture. Despite its slick, colorful, glossy appearance, the Wonka team works out of their home office in South Philadelphia grinding out 80 hours a week creating their beloved publication. Wonka Vision is run by an almost completely volunteer staff of open-minded and eclectic punk rock kids between the ages of 18-30. Our readers? A lot of them have become Writers, Illustrators & Designers. We know our readers and we understand what our readers want, well, because we ARE our readers."

"After celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Wonka Vision Magazine is entering its second year with Curtis Circulation (Distributors for Maxim, Marvel Comics, Sports Illustrated, Alternative Press, Rolling Stone) and is steadily releasing a hundred page, bi-monthly publication with a readership per issue of over 90,000 people. Wonka Vision Magazine can now be purchased in over 25 countries; in national stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders to hundreds of mom & pop book and record stores all over the world. Projected on-shelves goals in 2008 include key chains such as Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, Albertsons, Safeway, Walgreens, Rite Aid, 7-11, among many others."

ROYAL FLUSH Magazine Presents: Conan O'Brien vs. Jay Leno! FREEBIRD vs. FRENEMY

HOT OFF THE DIGITAL PRESS! I just teamed up with the Royal Flush Crew and Josh Bernstein to produce these beauts. Josh is the editor, designer and all-round driving "tour-D" force for ROYAL FLUSH MAGAZINE, one of the hottest up and coming illustrated magazines in the country, for reals. Check out RFMAG.com to believe the hype. I did the illustrations in my new digital style and Josh designed the stellar backdrops and killer slogans. Can u guess what font he used? Hint - it's a beverage. T These particular slogans "FREE BIRD" and "FRENEMY" were the result of intense deliberations by the Royal Flush Team. Thank you Mike and Chanks for your great ideas! Along with producing a gorgeous, entertaining magazine, annually for now, Royal Flush is committed in 2010 to creating kick-ass weekly web content as well. So stay tuned... Find us on the web, or Facebook and see for yourself.

Well, NBC screwed up BIG TIME and Conan is paying the price, losing the job he'd always dreamed of having. Sad. But, if you saw the last episode of Conan's Tonight Show, you know this guy's head is in the right place. And he's going to be bigger than ever when he comes back on TV. You can't help but root for him. He ended his run with an unforgettable show (ex. sloth skeleton from the Smithsonian spraying beluga caviar onto an original Picasso) and with a heartfelt, classy monologue about the whole situation with NBC. He took the high road, then promptly strapped on a guitar and strode forth into an star-studded version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's anthem "Free Bird", featuring Will Ferrell on vocals, backed by, amongst others, ZZ Topp, Beck and Ben Harper. Whatta killer close!!! That's how you do it!! Conan is primed to rise again, to even further heights, hopefully soon in the Fall of 2010. However, his "Frenemy" Jay Leno comes off looking scummy, with blood stains on his half moon chin, all the while saying that him and Conan are friends and he feels really bad about it. Right...

Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer...chin distance!! Why didn't Jay just say to NBC "The Tonight Show is Conan's. I'll go find somewhere else to go do my thang." The rationalization Jay gave Oprah was fuzzy math. It wasn't the truth. Leno saw an opportunity and took it. Good for him. The true baddies are NBC. But going along with something still makes you complicit in the act.

Below is a look into the making of the illustrations. Started with sketch, black inks, digital coloring and a lot of elbow grease.

O'Brien getting the Tonight Show was a bold statement, clearly trying to shift an old institution to the next generation. Conan never got the chance to make it succeed, but he is THE talk show host for this generation. NBC will regret this decision for decades to come.

21st Century Style

Howdy - Started to experiment with a new style recently - Bold, black inks and digital coloring. Really digging the results! Love the graphic simplicity. Kinda remind me of Hanna Barbara/Dexter's Laboratory. I'm currently updating ALL Shapes, past and future, like this one below, and Ramburger in title above. Other SHAPES being updated include The Fronyon Man, Rooney Fruits, Scoopy, Dr. Broccoli and Queen Nadya. Opening up a whole new era. I plan on continuing with this style in other projects as well. I've been staunchly old school over the years, but am softening to the digital age of art. Will always create traditionally but this gives me another tool in the toolbox, i think giving my works a 2010 feel. Gotta keep up with industry standards. But besides that, i really find them appealing, so it's a win-win. Much to post in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by!

Xmas Paintings '09!

Maren Kelley

2010 Digital Enhancement


- Click on pics to enlarge -

Ryan Connolly

2010 Digital Enhancement

Megan Connolly

2010 Digital Enhancement

Footy

2010 Digital Enhancement

Hey - Hope you had a great holiday season. I did some paintings this Xmas for the FAM. 2 kids, one baby & one dog. Maren Kelley for Adam and Liana, Daria's sister. Ryan and Megan Connolly for Rob and Erin, my sister. Gave the framed originals to the proud parents, then copies to all the grandparents. Good way to save money - haha. Was really sweating these leading up to Christmas, kinda stressful, but in a fun way. Kids are tough to do! Pretty happy with the results though. Also painted a portrait of Football aka Footy for my wife Daria. Love you baby! Next year, i gotta start earlier in December so the usual craziness of the holiday season isn't more a blur than usual.

All paintings are 8x10''. Pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache.

UPDATED with sketches and alternate takes: "SHAPES: The New Brethren", 9 - 16

All the original Shapes drawn by Sallese. I rotated them up, down, left and right.
So many possibilities...


SHAPE #9

SHAPE #10

SHAPE #11

SHAPE #12

Alternate take. Wasn't really enamored with this. Too boring?
Wanted something different, so decided to flip it up and use the Shape as a helmet.

SHAPE #13

Alt. take 1. Too space suit-y.

Alt. take 2. Too Disney.

Just right. The ol' tried and true weird purple dude riding atop
a fish beast always tickles my geek bone.

SHAPE #14

SHAPE #15

SHAPE #16

Having such a blast doing these. Hope to have the next 8 - 10 up in mid- January. Also working on different, more graphic versions of these characters as well, black inks and photoshop coloring. Real stripped down simple. I'm liking the results. Will post those experiments soon. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have enjoyed the newest batch of SHAPES: The New Brethren.