dead zebra, inc

why are you still here?

Thu, 07 May 2009 12:20:40 GMT

Hello! If you follow me here on LiveJournal, please note that I have since moved my blog to my own site and no longer update LJ.

The site is http://www.creaturesinmyhead.com/ and the rss link is http://www.creaturesinmyhead.com/feed/ .

Please update any links or bookmarks!

jars for my forefathers

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:22:38 GMT

Check out these awesome jars that creatures fan Jenni made with my monsters! Thanks for sharing.

Sorry for the lack of LJ posts, I have been hard at work on a new site with integrated blog and fancy dangly bits. It will be up in about two weeks, and I should be able to set it up to cross-post to livejournal for the lazy / unwilling to change among you!

Look for it in about two weeks!

San Francisco Treats

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:00:02 GMT

I recently took my first trip out to San Francisco for an opening at Gallery 1988. Here are a few pics I took, there are a few more over on flickr. You can see the artwork from the show over here, hopefully one of you has an 8' wall just begging for a giant monster.

Thursday I did some set up, mostly rebuilding my stretchers and stretching the canvas.

Friday morning after some canvas tweaking it was dumpling time at House of Nanking with Ferocious J.

Spent the rest of Friday walking around town, saw some nice street art and galleries in the Mission.
Ended up stopping by Super 7 to say hello to Brian.

Then it was show time!

My friend Kelly stopped in to say a surprise hello.

Hopefully everyone had a good time, the festivities were somewhat dampened by the large spontaneous Prop 8 protest happening a few blocks away. For some reason people seem to think that standing up for equal human rights is more important than an art show, the nerve!

I hope to make it back to San Francisco some time for more than 48 hours, it seemed like a lovely city.

And now, go eat more corn syrup.

Attention San Francisco!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:48:51 GMT

Hello San Francisco (and immediate area) residents (and imposters)!

I will be coming to your lovely city for the first time! There is a little art show at a gallery that I have a few pieces in, I hope that you can make it to the opening so that I may say hello to you! I will have a few framed creature drawings for sale, along with a medium sized painting (pictured below) and a very large painting (sorta pictured below). Suggestions on things to do for a day in SF are welcome!

Imaginary Friends at Gallery 1988 San Francisco
November, 7th - 29th, 2008

Opening Reception: Friday, November 7 (7-10PM)
1173 Sutter Street (At Polk), San Francisco, CA 94109

Featuring works from Me, Cherri Wood, Israel Sanchez, Ken Garduno, Scott Campbell and Yoskay Yamamoto

Undead Bricks

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:12:03 GMT

Fraser K of the UK made this fantastic life-size costume version of my LEGO Zombie figure designs for Halloween!

It's a combination of my two originals below and some design elements that I sent to him. I think it turned out great!

creatures in spaaaaaace

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:39:28 GMT

Fan / artist Matt Mills did up another one of my creatures in three whole dimensions! He tackled the popular "why are you here?" drawing, check out the result below and check out his deviant art gallery for a few other little monsters you might recognize.

you never call, you never write

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:49:18 GMT

Hello lovely livejournal, sorry I have neglected you recently. I have been busy. Here is a very brief photo retrospective of the last month while I catch up with many many other things...

Firstly me and ~~Miss~~ MRS J got all married and stuff, it was pretty awesome...

Then I went to a far away land for a few weeks. ..

I met Death while I was away. He was hidden under this frog...

Death followed me home, and then commanded me to kill in New York...

And then he forced me to fly to Chicago the next day, early in the morning, to kill again...

Death is kind of a jerk.

Then when I got back from Chicago it was time to unleash my Threadless Select line shirt entitled EAT SHIRT AND DIE! I did not give one to Death.

And now I am posting to my livejournal...

Looks infected, we're going to have to remove it.

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:52:41 GMT

The Giver of Disease: Gangrene edition should be showing up in shops all around the world shortly! I'll have a few at the dead zebra shop shortly. Also keep your eyes on Vinyl Pulse next week for your chance to win your very own Giver.

HI, HOW ARE YOU?

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:16:16 GMT

Sorry it has been a while, my tweets have satisfied a lot of my blogging desires, also I am busy/lazy.

This last week I finally picked up my sample Jeremiah the Innocent vinyl figures from Jeff at ATARMS. It was nice to be able to be a part of the project.

A while back I had helped Jeff work out the colorways, we went over Pantone swatches and I did some digital mockups and the physical painting on one of the resin prototypes for the factory to reference. The final products came out great!

For those who might not be familiar, the figure is based off of Daniel Johnston's famous 1983 "unfinished album" cover, you may have seen it on a t-shirt often donned by Kurt Cobain (before that whole explodey head thing he did). They come in green, yellow/orange, pink and white, all very much in line with colors that Daniel uses in much of his artwork. He stands about 11 3/4 inches tall on top of a separate tree stump, and comes in a beautiful box. His eye-stalks are reinforced with wire so you can even pose them! You can pick one up at Toy Tokyo (search for Jeremiah) and some other retailers around the internets / world for around $99, there are a few signed ones on Daniel's site for a little more.

If you haven't seen the excellent documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" I suggest you pick up a copy, I think you will enjoy it.

Get this thing off me!

hand-painted prototype in my messy studio

SDCC08 Goodies Roundup!

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:36:20 GMT

This Tuesday (07/22) I am off the International Comic-Con in San Diego through the end of the week!

Come say hello to me at booth #1335 & 1337. I will be there daily along with Dumbrella friends Jon Rosenberg of Goats, Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties, and Sam Brown of explodingdog plus special guest stars including puzzle maker extrodinaire Chris Yates, nerdcore rap maven MC Frontalot, Octopus Pie cooking Meredith Gran, and to top it all off Scott McCloud and Wil Wheaton will be stopping in to sign things and meet people.

A signing schedule will be posted outside the booth, but I believe I will be signing at least Thurs through Saturday around noon. Subject to change!

Thursday the 24th, 2:30-3:30 we have a panel discussion, which is usually just an hour-long Q&A and stupidity! Room 3.

We'll all be selling wonderful things so that we may continue to eat cake after paying back the nice people of the convention who charge us a lot of money to be there.

Here is a near full lineup of the items I will have available, along with prices. Unless otherwise noted, all items should be available starting preview night Wednesday and through the end of the show or when they sell out, whichever comes first!

HEADLINER!

The Giver of War: Dead Zebra Edition, vinyl figure limited edition of 100, only about 40 available at the con.
[ detail view ] [ rear view ]
$90

The Giver of Disease : Gangrene and The Giver of War: Red Scare (editions of 300) will be on display but not for sale, they should be hitting shops two weeks or so after the con for around $60.

Bottle with a Bear Problem, 50 piece hand-cut and painted puzzle
6 different versions of this new puzzle designed by me and produced by Chris Yates
$150

Stickers and Buttons
These are the new designs, there are an additional dozen or so older sticker and button designs also available.
$1 each or 5 for $3, mix and match!

T-Shirts
All T-Shirts are available S-2XL regular and S-XL women's style:

OVERDOSE

BULLET

FIRE EATER

BLOCK OF THE DEAD

MONKEY

NURIKABE print, 5"x5" on textured fine art paper, signed/numbered edition of 50
$18

NEVER LOOK BACK Prints 1 & 2, 8.5"x11" archival inks on acid-free paper, open edition, signed
$15 each

DO NOT EAT! book
$18

Now You've Done It Book
$14

A couple of totes!
$18

aaand..

BONUS ROUND
I found a long-sold-out GROOB in the warehouse, and I am bringing it with me, AND including this original artwork in a bundle.
ONE AVAILABLE.

GOO GROOB vinyl figure with 5"x5" ink on paper original artwork
$150

BIC + KRINK = BRINK?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:33:41 GMT

A lot has changed in the fragrant neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn since I moved here 10 years ago. Rents aside, the northerly migration of the great-white-tight-pants hipster has resulted in some good new bars and shops that would have been unheard of a few years ago.Two weeks ago a new graff supply shop called Alphabeta (some pics on amny) opened up a block away from my old place. It's a nice big space with a back room and outdoor area for events and shows. Hopefully there will be some good stuff over there.

I'm not a writer or tagger or anything and nor do I pretend to be, so I won't get into any sort of credibility debates about a 'graffiti store', but I do use a lot of spraypaints and ink markers in my regular work so I'm just glad I have a local spot for decent paint, caps and markers.

Speaking of which, I picked up this new metal ball point tip KRINK bottle today to try out. I love this tip! The old squeeze bottles and pens are great for big areas, but this is perfect for small details and more precise control while maintaining that KRINK viscosity and look. I have some ideas..

pinheads

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:01:42 GMT

Some new pins (buttons/badges/whatever you want to call them) for SDCC

Creatures on my Head...

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:45:54 GMT

Vanessa over at Giftable Designs took the "busy bear" artwork I did and converted it into this amazing knit hat / scarf / uhh.. back of the neck warmer thingy!

Original art:

Magic hat thing:

There are a few more pics on her blog post.

How great is that? Any knitters out there who would be interested in a pattern / instruction sheet? Mayhaps I can work something out with her.

See Mike Draw

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:44:27 GMT

This may have made its rounds already but.. rarely do I enjoy a comic enough to bookmark it, however this one is right up my alley humor and art wise. I figured if I enjoy it, a lot of you might enjoy it as well!

Click for the site with lots of comicy goodness:

I <3 U Nerd Cube

Sat, 31 May 2008 01:34:12 GMT

Erica loves her Tandoori Meat Cube! ( a little too much? )

Tired of sitting in the oven, Cube went and got a design job.

My work on the cover of the NY Times*

Thu, 29 May 2008 04:51:50 GMT

* that's the Times ONLINE, and "my work" is few pixels of a photo of an illustration on a mug for my sister's cafe.. but whatever.

Go Grumpy!

Side note: 'Creatures' was actually featured in the print edition NY Times a few years back, but now I've finally made the 'front page' without killing anyone!

Yay?

Creatures on my Floor...

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:42:27 GMT

Welcome to the newest Dead Zebra Inc employee / adoptee, Private Sancho Pants! (demoted from Captain until he decides to spend fewer than 12 hours a day hiding under the bed). He's about 3 years old and has big ole anime eyes.

Hola!

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

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:50:02 GMT

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

the Giver - Update

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:12:37 GMT

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!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:24:18 GMT

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!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:23:02 GMT

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

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:35:16 GMT

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

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:25:21 GMT

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

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:14:08 GMT

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

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:17:35 GMT

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