Initially this blog was supposed to be a process blog. But I haven't posted about process in months. So let's get as close to that as we can:



This is the "rough" line work for the new Peter Broderick album through Type Records. I have been working on this on and off for months now, and finally this morning I got to a point where I was finally happy with it. Why months you ask? Well instead of doing useful things like learning Illustrator, I spent my time learning obsolete calligraphy hands. I can't use Illustrator at all unfortunately, and all of the line work for this was done by hand with a wacom in Photoshop. Instead of taking this to inks like I normally would, I am actually doing the whole thing in Photoshop...I don't want to loose any of those clean lines at all. I wish I had more time to do technical drawings like this.

In other news: The new Ben Kweller album is amazing. The new Friday The 13th comes out in two weeks. I bought a musical saw on ebay (sorry neighbors). I currently have a terribly disgusting neck beard. I gave Leonard Cohen a shout-out in a song, and feel like a creep because of it. Oh, and I wasn't aware cats could get fat lips.

And for all of you people that keep asking me if I am still taking on tattoo commissions: if you hadn't noticed, it has taken me months and months to get around to finishing the jobs I took on in July. Unless you are looking to get finished work in late 2012, no I am not still taking on commissions.

Some of you may remember me taking on personal tattoo commissions a few months ago. Well I have been slowly (VERY slowly) working through a very long list, and finally have gotten to the "best for last" pile. To make up for the amount of time I have spent getting my shit together with these, I have decided to pick it up a notch and really kick my own ass on these.


I just finished this today, and to be honest this thing really took me way way too long. Not only was the research on the specifics a bitch (the girl who commissioned this wanted a very specific sparrow which apparently is never photographed in flight, with very specific flowers), but I really went kind of overboard with the line work. I didn't want this to be too heavy and dark, but I also didn't want it to lack in detail. My sincere apologies to whomever agrees to actually tattoo this.

When I first put out the idea of doing personal commissions, I had said that I only wanted to do black and white pieces. The reason for this was I felt like I had really lost some of my abilities with the brush with all the client work I had been doing. Thankfully my plan worked, and I have finally started to get my shit together again.



Last week I finished this piece for Chicago Magazine. I don't exactly know what the article was actually about, but count me among the 40 bazillion other artists who have now done Obama portraits. This was actually really a fun project, and I was allowed a lot of freedom with it. Though unfortunately due to a tight deadline I wasn't able to do some things to it that I wanted to.



But then, to make the deal even sweeter I was able to go back into the image to be used for the Art-Dept promotional image that I had talked about a few weeks ago. Still, it is not exactly what I wanted in the end, but it's pretty damn close.

Nonetheless I have some pretty exciting ideas going on right now, that hopefully I will be able to show off soon enough. I purchased a book on Copperplate Calligraphy, and spent two hours the other day cleaning out my old rapidographs if that gives you any hint to what to expect.

I have spent way too much time recently listening to Smog and Beach House, and then recording quick cover songs. I need to get a new hobby.

A new president and new episodes of Lost in the same week? Be still my heart.

And speaking of my heart, this damn video keeps breaking it over and over again.