dead zebra, inc

Stop staring, I'm trying to work...

2008-05-05T18:50:02Z

It's hard to draw when everyone is watching you.

the Giver - Update

2008-04-26T23:12:37Z

Hello everyone! Been busy finishing up (er.. starting ;) some custom toys for the Kidrobot NYC store reopening this Thursday and 'Down the Bunny Hole' at Rivet in a week.. Photos of those next week!

In the meantime I wanted to drop a quick Giver toy update! I had hoped to be shipping .. well.. months ago, but realistically about a week ago. However, being anal, I decided I was unhappy with one bit so I ended up delaying things for some paint tweaks. The good news is that we are almost done and ready to go! Here are a few recent photos from the factory just because those sort of things are fun...

Seeing green?

So.. many... heads..

Finding the perfect shade of red.. it's the middle one!

NYCC Releases!

2008-04-16T20:24:18Z

I'll be at NY ComicCon with some of my friends from Dumbrella at booth #2731! Just wanted to give a heads up on some of the more exciting things I'll have there:

DO NOT EAT a NEW 204 page book with 6 postcards inside! Advance copy sales!
MSRP $18, only $15 at the con.

100% FRESH a new giclee print, 12"x12" edition of 100. Signed/Numbered.

MSRP $35, only $30 at the con.

KILL THE MUSIC a new t-shirt, 4 color print on white regular Dead Zebra brand or bella babydoll.

MSRP $20, only $17 at the con.

Along with some other fun things!

More pics of the book and print on flickr

Can't make it to NYCC? Fear not, the book and print will be hitting retailers in May.

0.99 Thumbs Up!

2008-04-14T13:23:02Z

I'm working on some custom toys for upcoming shows. That usually involves some x-acto knives. X-acto knives usually involve some bleeding. This might slow me down a bit...

- "A bloody mess!" - Richard Roeper
- "Are you going to eat that piece?" - Harry Knowles

(C) Murakami

2008-04-04T17:35:16Z

Went to the preview of the Murakami show at the Brooklyn museum today,
good stuff! Wish I had room to paint so big!

h-y-p-n-o b-o-o-t-h 3000

2008-03-30T21:25:21Z

Today I rebuilt the ghetto spray booth setup I have in my studio. It's basically an artograph spray booth base (consisting of an exhaust fan and 3 layers of filters), attached to a duct which i then attached to a one-way vent going out the window.

But I think the best part is the giant spray hood with door! Oh cardboard, is there anything you can't do?

Many thanks to Kelly for the sticker.

.

The New Ultimate Jesus

2008-03-28T13:14:08Z

Paul Robertson finally finished his epic pixelly video-game battle insanity movie "Kings of Power 4 Billion %"

It is huge, 12 minutes long, and insanely awesome. This guy should be screening in modern art museums.

EPILEPSY WARNING. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU ARE PRONE TO SEIZURES.

Click the image above for links to the mirrors.

ACC AFK

2008-03-19T00:17:35Z

Later Arthur, have a good trip! I remember really liking Childhood's End, I'll have to re-read that one some day.

Week Wrap-Up

2008-03-08T22:54:10Z

It's been a busy week over for me, so busy I wasn't really able to post much, so here is a little recap below the cut.

Saturday March 1st: Get up at 6am, get to JFK, get on a Virgin America flight to LAX. Nothing special here, but I was a bit excited about my first flight on Virgin's domestic airline. The plane was new and clean, but their seat-back selections sucked, you have to pay $7 a pop for movies, and movie theater prices for snacks and meals. A crappy wrap was $9 and totally killed my stomach. Plusses: free seat-back DOOM.

We stopped in to Gallery1988 to unpack a bit and make sure all of the artwork arrived in one piece. Luckily I packed the CRAP out of everything and it was all fine, despite FedEx's best efforts!

Sunday March 2nd: Time to get started on the gallery walls! String proved to be the ideal solution to lay out the flame / wave design I wanted. Many thanks to Ms J. for the painting help, especially while donning a cheesecloth hazmat suit with booties (her idea). That suit lasted about 10 minutes. I started on the dividing wall skull and Ms. J did most of the base coats on the wall. Benjamin the dog made sure all went as planned. Painting took all day and hurt like hell the next.

Monday March 3rd: I finished up the giant skull and then we started with the darker orange. At noon I grabbed the laptop and put up the preview / pre-sales page, then Jensen and I sent out a quick newsletters to our mailing lists. After lunch the walls were done and dry enough to start hanging some paintings and drawings. We stayed pretty late Monday night to finish hanging and install fabric draped panels from the light supports.

Tuesday March 4th: After realizing that my prayers to the Customs Clearance Gods were to go unanswered, it was time to work on the final touches and clean up. We hung the skate decks and toys and set up the one ALTAR that made it on time. We were done a little early so we took a drive down Melrose, did some shopping and swung by Munky King.

A few hours later it was Opening Reception time!
Here are pics from the reception (and work):
My Flickr
Pinguino's Flickr
Juxtapoz's Site
LA Weekly Site
Vinyl Pulse

Wednesday March 5th: Back to LAX for a morning flight to NYC. Virgin America again. This time that awesome seat-back entertainment thingy that automatically overcharges for bad food was broken. The flight was fine though.

Thursday March 6th: Who needs to rest? Thursday eve it was off to the opera at Carnegie Hall where my father was performing with the Opera Orchestra of NYC. The fattest lady sang about 1/3 of the way into the program, confusing everyone and prompting some to gather their coats. I'll admit it was a bit tough to get through, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Friday March 7th: Swung by MyPlasticHeart to see the Parskid/Huot show and chat with Vin. Later that afternoon I tried to catch up on emails and world events. I failed miserably.

Saturday March 8th: A new friend arrived, time to get back to work...

Setting up at Gallery 1988

2008-03-02T21:50:22Z

Setting up at Gallery 1988
Originally uploaded by dead zebra, inc.

We're here in (finally) sunny LA setting up for the opening Tuesday!
Good times!

One week to go!

2008-02-26T20:08:07Z

"the crown prince consults"
24"x36" , acrylic on canvas

Here's a full-painting preview of a piece from my upcoming show. ONE WEEK TO GO! Whew..

Burning Desire opens March 4th, 7-10pm at Gallery1988 LA

BE THERE or I will get upset and cry in public.

Burning to See?

2008-02-20T05:33:01Z

Sort of spamming this everywhere, in case you don't read the news on the site too often, I put a few teaser images from my upcoming show up...

Mmmm... Brains...

2008-02-14T06:19:43Z

Q: What is better than a hot toddy made with a 10 year old Bruichladdich at 1am on a cold winter's night?

A: A hot toddy made with a 15 year old Bruichladdich at 1am on a cold winter's night in an "i love you more than zombies love brains" cup.

Don't Fear the Blue Oyster Cult

2008-02-07T04:58:02Z

This new Kidrobot crewneck features some artwork I did for them, should be available tomorrow i believe... Also try not to fear the reaper, or the price, but it is OK to fear the artwork. It even glows in the dark!

In strangely appropriate timing, tomorrow I am off to the UK to attend services for my grandmother. She will be missed.

beep beep beep beep dooooooooooooooooooo

2008-02-04T15:54:14Z

You might want to mosey on over to Vinyl Pulse today.. just sayin'

More updates weekly.

Way past potty training...

2008-01-21T20:17:18Z

'the Creatures in my Head' project turns 6 today. Crazy, eh?

GLUMPERS.

2008-01-17T22:57:26Z

If you enjoy my style of character design, you will probably enjoy the Creatures in my Head 3D GLUMPERS.
I have absolutely nothing to do with this, but I wish I did! Great animation, colorful and fun.

[via DRAWN!]

Ole Dirty Influence

2008-01-08T19:41:48Z

I have 4530 songs in the iTunes library on this computer, 30 of which are by Ol' Dirty Bastard. Apparently my copy of iTunes was compiled in Staten Island, because random shuffle LOVES Ol' Dirty. I'll hear him once or twice every 3 hours of playtime.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the time Big Baby Jesus and I get to spend together, but theres only so much Raw Ride I can take. What is wrong with you, iTunes? Why are you messing with me?

KANIZAs out

2008-01-06T04:01:23Z

So, these little guys are finally out! They are currently available at ToyQube as a blind box (you don't know which one you're getting), and will be at other toy retailers in coming weeks. A few online shops like myplasticheart will likely sell open boxes so you know exactly what you get, but where's the fun in that?

I only got a few samples for myself, most of which I am saving for shows and cons and whatnot.

busy busy holidays

2007-12-22T03:44:18Z

Whew it's a bit of a mess in here. I've got a bunch of paintings going on at once, a few drawings, some side work, some toy design.. everything is piled on top of everything else, and it is all due yesterday. Hooray!

Have a safe and happy holiday, may you not get into any serious fist fights.

hedge your bets

2007-12-12T03:18:44Z

In case you're wondering where I've been lately, I have a show coming up in March (sooner than you think) at Gallery 1988, so I have been hard at work on that and pretty much wont' be leaving my studio until I get on a plane to LA in 3 months. I'll do my best to keep the site updating and I'll post some progress/peeks over here.

On a completely unrelated note, my sister became mildly obsessed with Hedgehogs after seeing an article about one with widdle broken legs who had to spend the winter in captivity. Here is the masterpiece she scribbled in my sketchbook:

(those are hedgehogs walking in grass)

Baffling Bits of Creature

2007-11-27T18:19:35Z

Puzzles are fun! Many thanks to Chris for making this such an awesome collaborative project! Click the pic for more.

Help me rename Tabby the Tablet PC!

2007-11-26T05:01:02Z

So finally after 29 years I broke down and bought a laptop! Even better, a tablet! Working on the road sans computer has been a bit difficult, this was very overdue.

Now I need a proper name for it. It is currently named Tabby the Tablet PC, I'm sure someone out there can do better. Suggest a few names in here and I'll pick a winner in a week or so. The winner gets the honor of participating in arbitrary anthropomorphosizing! Oh.. and a "Black Lotus" vinyl figure.

...and then there were creatures

2007-11-14T03:03:00Z

I was digging around my old computer for a file when I came across this pic of my desk at Nickelodeon from about 6 years ago. This, my friends, is the birthplace of the Creatures in my Head!

I started drawing them in 2002 every time that stupid mac in the picture would crash (often). Then I started putting them on my cube walls. Then I started drawing them at home and putting them online...

6 years later and drawing creatures is somehow now my "job"! Oh magical days!

Click the pic for notes.

Nightmare Before Christmas

2007-11-11T18:19:26Z

My friend Chris took this great photo at the previously mentioned Halloween party, thought I would share.