Can I Get An Application?

Everyone Should Watch This Documentary

Beauty Is Embarrassing

You may not think you are familiar with Wayne White, but you probably are. If you've seen Pee Wee's Playhouse you have seen his work. He made all the puppets and did a bunch of voices too, but he is so much more than a puppeteer. He is an amazing artist in most any medium and blends whimsy with satire and social commentary as well as any. I loved this inspiring documentary and it made me want to get off my duff, so check it out if you want some inspiration.

Virgil Finlay

Once upon a time I fancied myself an artist and my biggest influence was a man named Virgil Finlay. He was an American pulp illustrator in the 20's through the 40's. It's sort of an odd choice for a teenager in the 80's to be stuck on, but some older friends into such things introduced him to me and I was hooked. The amount of detail he put into his pen & ink illustrations was just unbelievable. He used every tool in his arsenal to make the illustrations, adeptly using stippling, crosshatching & scratchboard in the same illustration. Do yourself a favor and see if you can locate the fabulous Underwood Miller books that reproduce this stuff in glorious detail on nice glossy paper. I spent hours pouring over them, but alas I never carried the illustration flame forward. Feast your eyes on a master and seek him out for yourself.

New Update?

I spent the afternoon at Spillmanville. You never know what to expect from a studio visit with Bobby Spillman. All manner of creatures might be up for a visit with the master and that was the case today when I went for visit. I sat down to start my customary doodle while Bobby worked. Bobby's friend, forgive me, I forget his name, asked me to do something specific. It was like a no-pay commission. I'm used to that type shit, believe me. Here was the request: A pirate ship is besieged by a Kracken type creature. the pirate ship is "manned" by a bad ass girl who is large and in charge. The drawing was for his seven year old daughter. Ok, I think I got this. I can totally operate on a seven year old level. Wish I could have spent more time on it, but it belongs to a seven year old art collector now. So be it. I will leave you with a Spillman progression. Bobby is a genuine true blue artist and I have to admit a great influence and source of inspiration. I am glad to be able to call him my friend.

Bill Sienkewicz

In the early 80's when my obsession with comics was first taking hold I would occasionally notice cover that were tremendously striking. They really stood out from the genre junk that was all over the stands at that time. They were covers for a title called The New Mutants written by Chris Claremont and featuring art by Bob McLeod, nether of which were big draws for me. It was a title I tried to invest myself in, but it just never took. I think the reason I kept picking them up were the covers by this guy who was just doing insanely creative stuff that looked like no other comic at the time. That guy was Bill Sienkewicz. Those were some of the first comic cover that I truly just made me stare.

A handful of years later, in 1986 he started working with then visionary (sadly, no longer true) Frank Miller on the groundbreaking Elektra:Assassin which was an 8 issue run from Epic Comics, a sub-imprint of Marvel Comics. The art for that book was mind-blowing. He somehow was able to recreate what he was doing on cover in sequential stories. His art combined painterly photo realism and really loose almost childlike art with collage and mimeograph. The guy's art just seemed seductive and dangerous. It was utter rock n' roll.

From there he did a book with Alan Moore called Brought To Light :Thirty Years of Drug Smuggling, Arms Deals, and Covert Action. The subtiltle tells you pretty much what it is about. I haven't seen this book in some time and can only imagine the propert is mired in the same legal entanglements that haunt Miracleman. The next notable gig was something for Mad Love with a gentleman named Alan Moore. Moore was wildly popular already from Watchmen & V For Vendetta as well as Swamp Thing. The comic was set to be 12 twelve issue series that was an artsy look at the effects of big business on average joes with deeper philosopies woven throughout the story. Sadly, on two issues came out with Sienkewicz art and then he bailed due to time constaraints and handed the project over to an assistant named Al Columbia . That story is one of the more interesting tales of comicdom, but suffice to say, Columbia had a meltdown and the project was never finished. One of several tragedies of Moore's famous career.

Since those early days of comic genius, Sienkewicz has done lots of work, but never reacaptured that early glory. He does some first rate covers still, but most of the interior art he has done has usually entailed either penciling or inking, but rarely bot and Sienkewicz is an artist that needs total control to really deliver the goods. I miss his singular style that influenced countless peers including Dave McKean and David Mack.

Come back to comics, Bill. We miss you.

Life Of Pi

I was really excited when I originally heard Jean-Pierre Jeunet was making this and clearly that did not happen, but Ang Lee looks like he did a great job with this. Loved the book by Yann Martel.

Wake The Fuck Up

Random

My girlfriend works at the public library and she stumbled across these beauties in a book about comics. I LOVE the fact that they are misspelled. We once had a bunch of comics that a mentally challenged kid had cut up and glued back together to make his own comics. He'd even gone as far as to put some of his own dialog and titles in. They were so cool and more Grant Morrison than Grant Morrison ever thought about being. Pop Magic indeed!

Introducing: Flame! Mr. America! Jane Grey! And last but not least, Reese!

Dr. Duran(d) Duran(d)

Right Place Right Time

Arlo Guthrie stuck in a moment.

Banksy On Advertising

"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you are not sexy enough and that all of the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights, and copyright law mean advertisers can say whatever they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take,rearrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have rearranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs." -Banksy

White Canvas Project In LA

Pedro Almodovar

I believe that Pedro Almodovar is one of if not the best living filmmakers on the planet. His movies have complex narratives that challenge way beyond the norms of Hollywood movies. They often have a very sexual theme that is steeped in some type of dysfunction or extreme fetish, so immediately he is operating on a different level than the milquetoast American counterparts. Not only do his movies make you think, Almodovar is usually two steps ahead. I can't fully explain how satisfying that is. The last film I saw, "The Skin I live In" has a moment where everything comes into focus and I literally said "Oh shit!". This ndirector gets my highest recommendation.

Jonathon Hickman

If I didn't know better, I'd think Jonathon Hickman was British, but he's not. He was born in the States, but he writes comics like a Brit. That doesn't mean his characters are all running around speaking with Cockney accents and chasing down fish and chips. You see, comic writers, really good comic writers from the last 25 or so years have had a high propensity for British citizenship. Don't ask me why those guys seem to dominate the literary scene in comics, they just do. That's all besides the point though. Hickman has quietly become a force of nature in comics and is a ray of shining light that promises that the medium is not yet dead.

To be honest, his best work appears in the form of the monthly Fantastic Four and FF (Future Foundation). It is incredibly complex in scope and the depth of detail is staggering. It's nice to see a top talent on a flagship title, but these are not the books that peak my interest. What does whet my appetite is his Image Comics creator owned work. They usually seem less developed than his Marvel work, but they have soul and touch on much more sophisticated topics than super heroes (nothing at all wrong with that topic though). Most impressive to me, is the fact that Hickman came up under the Image banner and parlayed that into much more lucrative work for Marvel, but he didn't abandon Image like some other creators have when success came knocking (cough-Bendis! cough-Fraction!) He has a bunch of projects in the pipeline and they have found a home at the creator friendly Image. Image has been knocking it out of the park lately with new projects from Brian K Vaughn, Scott Snyder, Ed Brubaker and host of others. I applaud the man for doing what is right for the comic community. Independent comics are good for the market. Diversity of publishers is good for the market. Following your creative instincts in lieu of chasing a buck is good for the market.

If you wanted to pick a creator to mold your comic career after, I would chose this guy. He belongs to a small group of writers that excite me when I merely see they are doing a new project. I know I can count on him to deliver at certain level. If it doesn't register with me it certainly was not because his heart wasn't in a project. Do yourself a favor and check this cat out. I recommend Nightly News, Red Mass For Mars and Pax Romana.You might even swear the guy was British after you read him.