the blue chair collective

Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School

2010-09-27T22:06:00.001-04:00

If you haven't been yet, you should go

Natural History Repeats Itself

2010-09-25T10:00:00.003-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of spending a day in the Museum of Natural History with my dear friend, facebook spouse and roommate Lina. We spent most of our time talking in funny accents in the Hall of Human Origins and pretending to be appalled creationists, but we did find time to do a drawing or two. The tourists really get a kick out of it.

Here are some GIANT gems/minerals (yes, I realize I would know the difference if I had paused to read anything at the exhibit). That exhibit is so sci-fi. The whole things looks like a beige carpeted jewelry store at a SPACE STATION.

^Asian

^African

And here are some elephants, generously provided for us by our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt (I didn't actually check to see if Teddy himself bagged these elephants, but he was a big game hunter and there's a statue of him out front, so you do the math).

Can you even imagine how the nation would react if Barack Obama had shot and killed even one elephant?

nuh-uh

2010-09-14T20:29:00.002-04:00

I just watched Crumb for the first time this week, and it left me with the overwhelming desire to cross-hatch.

But also these drawings are from before then. My bedroom window looks out onto what used to be Ebbits Field and is now a wasteland of fast food franchises and awkwardly place, random trees growing from the sidewalk.

2010-09-08T15:50:00.003-04:00

We're always working here at the Blue Chair Collective, even if we aren't that into updating our blog. Above, we see a get well card I made for my Aunt Laura, whose wrist looks like this:

If you have an aunt who is also named Laura and she also has a broken wrist and your name is also Clementine, feel free to use this card.

2010-09-04T13:07:00.002-04:00

Hey Blue Chairs.

A few months ago I posted the rejected design for Night For The Fight, a fund raiser for Lupus. The final, approved design has just started circulating. If you are a young professional with some extra bucks for a good cause, you can buy tickets here

purple chair collective

2010-07-19T14:20:00.003-04:00

hey guys.

i went to icon6 this year!
www.theillustrationconference.com
it was expensive and far away but SO worth it. lets all go to the next one together, k?

i drew this in a very jetlagged state at o'hare.
crayons are awesome tools.

happenings afoot

2010-07-12T17:35:00.002-04:00

Hello, Blue Chairs! My time a Grey Advertising is coming to a close and I'm embarking on a major portfolio overhaul.

first order of business, make some fancy seed packet designs for the urb garden project from over a year ago.

Now to get to work on... everything else I need to do.

h'okay

2010-05-25T16:16:00.002-04:00

so I'm REALLY going to start updating... here's two recent sketchbook things, inspired by an acquaintance from high school and an article about legalization of marijuana in CA. TO COME: wedding details, book covers, and more sketches, promise :)

newer things

2010-05-02T16:04:00.001-04:00

they're newer!

i may add to this later..

flash delirium

2010-04-22T12:39:00.006-04:00

Oh hey guys,
so posting on the blog.... yeah.
Let me tell you about the only remotely interesting design thing I've done all year.

As all of us who watched the TV show House thought lupus was a completely fictional disease, I know. But it's real and it's pretty awful and my friend Becky is very involved in raising funds for research.

Balls, I should have a link to like her fund raising page or something... oh well.

Anyway, I'm donating my time (copious) and talents (limited) to the cause by designing some invitations.

I submitted two designs. She said they really liked the first one, and we're going to keep working forward with that one. She did not comment on the second design -pictured below. heh.

In retrospect, the sci-fi paperback look might not have been entirely appropriate for a fundraiser for a deadly disease. But I had to get it out of my system.

i forget it, brotha

2010-03-20T23:54:00.004-04:00

the time for talking is over!

here are some scans I found just dicking around on my hard drive like a bunch of freeloaders:

don't worry, you're not really supposed to understand it

(way back during his last week on NBC)

it's kind of a rumination on the word, not so much an expression of my pissed-off-ness

posting... soon, there will be more of this kind of thing.
until then.

...the return of betty machete

2010-03-01T23:48:00.002-05:00

HEY GUYS!

I'm working on baby shower invites for my cousin, here's what I'm playing around with:

art works

2010-02-27T12:36:00.004-05:00

I've been slowly slowly slowly redoing my portfolio. It's been an uphill battle. First there was redoing the website, and as soon as I got a handle on that whole html/css thing, I realized I simply do not think a single thing in my portfolio is good enough for the internet.

And that's saying something. I don't know if you've seen the internet lately, but it's been hosting stuff like this and this

So anyway, I've been touching up some old projects. Here's a little beauty from junior year that I just finished last weekend, making it the oldest AND newest thing in my portfolio.

oh, right

2010-02-21T14:41:00.005-05:00

i'm supposed to be posting stuff.

turning the tables around to more recent things: a good friend of mine asked for my help creating a poster to promote an upcoming show at glasslands, "natif natal", which serves primarily as a benefit for victims of the recent quake in haiti, secondly as a kickass show literally spilling over the brim with awesome bands. if you're not doing anything thursday night and also happen to be within the legal limits of the borough of brooklyn, come out and have yourself a good time.

um, yeah

2010-02-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

the internet situation has been solved. no longer shall you be tormented by the lingering questions of what the hell happened to your good friend shao, or 'why isn't he posting anything,' 'why isn't he returning my calls,' 'what did he mean when he said "it's not contagious or anything,"' etc. fret no more, internet readers. stop your fretting right this goddamn instant. for the situation, in regards to our internet connectivity, has been dealt with swiftly and with only the most absolute of judgment. I mean, seriously. it's been covered.

here, anyway, begins the backlog of sketches and drawings dating from months back, having only been recently scanned and even more recently posted to the internet. like right now, for instance.

(above in progress, indefinitely, maybe)

more to come, soon as hell

i loved that girl with all my part – but i only loved the upper part

2010-01-27T09:39:00.002-05:00

it's almost not anywhere near valentine's day, but all the other blogs are posting their valentines day fare already, and as you all know, the blue chair collective is constantly, desperately striving to be a normal, accepted blog like all the others. i did these two drawings about a year ago. they're actually the last two thirds of a tryptic but apparently i never scanned the first one. it's the story of a sailor who falls in love with a mermaid, but things don't exactly work out.

when life gives you glitter

2010-01-24T23:25:00.003-05:00

i felt like i should post something. back at christmas time my sister and i made some lemon cookies and we put them in boxes and i made labels to put on the boxes and here are three of them, before we colored them in with colored pencils. my grandma was VERY impressed with the one we gave to her.

a tree grows in connecticut

2009-12-23T17:36:00.003-05:00

hello friends, it's been a while: since i posted to the blog and since i made this poster for CT NOFA. For serious, i made this during labor day weekend, and it's not even really done; the wording is not entirely correct and don't you think that corn came out kind of dark?

anyway, if you're an organic farmer in the nutmeg state (and according to blue chair collective readership studies, most of you are) you'd best heed the advice on my poster and begin cultivating an organic connecticut.

to the rest of you: happy winter solstice holiday! see you next year

love, sally tempo

oh my god finally

2009-11-28T22:29:00.004-05:00

it may have appeared for a moment that i was dead or stranded on a desert island or something badass like that, but i was actually just going about my normal ways, except this time without a scanner. well, the time has finally come where i've gotten my shit together and scanned a whole mess of work i've done over the past month or something. what this means: new soyarmy soon, and a bunch of blog posts strategically spaced out over specific intervals of time. i'm excited. are you excited? it's cool, i'll give you a moment to let it sink in.

the first of these posts will be a comic that i previously posted sketches for. i tried a few new things like drawing it over the sketch on a light table, which was too small for the page and had to be done in sections. quite annoying, but i am a master of composure.

this one's a good ol' driving-lesson-gone-bank-heist type of story. enjoy :)

also posted to pony up

2 interesting things i did this week that resulted in drawings

2009-11-01T23:09:00.003-05:00

went to a quick, awesome, weird party at a hoity toity department store with my blue chairs and finished reading Franny and Zooey.

lord knows i'm a voodoo child

2009-10-26T00:08:00.005-04:00

I spent this weekend watching old film noirs (films noir?) with my mom and making this set of tarot cards. The goal was to do a lot of little drawings really fast without thinking too much about what i was going to do. It was a good creative exercise, and I suspect it's a lot more Jungian and supernatural-y that way, right?

I think the knight or the pope are my favorites. what do you think?
I'm reading up on fortune telling; come out this weekend and i will read your future

guys, we suck at this

2009-10-22T12:43:00.003-04:00

holy smokes, has it been almost another month without a post? blue chairs, we have got to step it up. In the interest of keeping the blog from atrophy-ing and succumbing to whatever horrible fate befalls abandoned blogs, I'm posting this mural of Miles Davis that i painted in my high school in 12th grade. Now THAT is fresh.

Don't Put All Your Summer Internship Projects In One Basket

2009-09-29T16:44:00.003-04:00

As one could deduce from the frequency of posts to my tumblr, things have been a little slow at grey's papaya

However there have been a handful of projects I've been lucky enough to work on, one of which is the GOOD EGG PROJECT. I'm very excited to see my first logo out in the world. Even if it's not entirely mine because its adapted from the Incredible Edible Egg logo, but whatever. Mine is completely different. Except its the exact same egg.

:o

2009-08-19T20:33:00.003-04:00

we've been without internet for some time and we've been without a scanner for some time also. logically, this has led to much less posting and through that, this blog sat in silence for a length of time, facing the corner, thinking about what it's done. i hope you've learned a valuable lesson, blog. and we only do it because we love you.

let us celebrate with a posting of my submission to smoke signal #2.
this is an idea that was getting kicked around back in april, when i was not nearly comfortable enough taking a stab at a conversational, character-based comic. well, there's a sort-of-first time for everything, i guess. this is also the first time (in a very long time) i've ever laid something out in a very tight grid like this, which works a lot better for something as text-heavy as this turned out to be. i can't think of much else to say except thank god i was able to draw a cartoon spider convincingly.

guysguysguysguysguys

2009-08-19T00:26:00.001-04:00

i have a website
clementineswan.com

lost in the shuffle

2009-08-17T13:41:00.002-04:00

2 drawings

2009-07-23T21:17:00.005-04:00

Being Don Draper has kept be pretty busy lately, but I wanted to throw some sketches out there, just to keep my hand in.

The first done on a perfectly lovely sunday afternoon while drinking country club with Kelsey on the roof of Lina's apartment,. The second, the product of an equally lovely evening with Elke by the Brooklyn Bridge. See how easily I'm influenced by others? Wouldn't you agree this trait makes me uniquely qualified to work in advertising?

hay guys

2009-07-16T07:27:00.004-04:00

while I'd like to say that i finally have something to post, the truth is I just wanted to share this with you all...
I'm sorry I've disappointed you. I'll make something for real soon.
Love,
Sally Tempo

zumachrume

2009-05-22T21:25:00.005-04:00

our time living here along bustling, scenic myrtle avenue is coming, at last, to its close. no longer shall we wake collectively (no pun) to heavy traffic congestion, a choice selection of random people yelling at some other people on the payphone across the street, school children engaged in age-old pastimes such as "screaming contest" while waiting for the bus, and the 8ish-year-old friend of our neighbor's 8ish-year-old son yelling for him outside his window until he gets a response or coughs heavily and dies.

though if you want to get technical, that last one really only happened on saturday mornings, which should translate at about 1:30pm for some of us.

here are some "recent" drawings.

left: a doodle, last thing i drew for weeks
right: character based on some soccer team i saw playing

left: inside sort of thing about a job i won't have much longer
right: herpy derp

until next time

hula

2009-05-21T02:11:00.002-04:00

a week ago i got a ticket because i forgot to move my car.
a good opportunity to decorate.

i included these instructions with the ticket.

bottles & james

2009-05-15T19:17:00.006-04:00

at long last, though it's been done for quite some time, i was able to get off my relatively fat ass (relative, to say, a poodle's) and take some pictures.

quickly, and poorly, and with little thought. i really just wanted to post this since i haven't been doing much of that lately.

FYI:

this is a birthday gift for our friend and fellow (at least, in theory) collective member alex. it's about 5 months late. sorry about that, alex.

a second printing is in the works, i want to switch up the colors and get the text to show up more... but as for now, i'm satisfied.

in related news, some of us no longer have an internet to speak of. it's kind of like being stranded on a desert island. as i write this i perch my computer on top of the windowsill to maybe sorta kinda get reception from "some place" across the street. the reason i bring this is up is because i have a pretty good vantage point of the intersection and this van just drove by with like 10 mattresses tied to the top

student driver

2009-05-08T02:20:00.005-04:00

the plan was to not post anything about this until it was completely finished, but i'm so happy with how it's coming out that i felt a post of sketches was in order. other reasons included not having posted for weeks, being generally bored and a night owl, an uncontrollable addiction to scanning images, etc.

and, as always, items of (slight) interest:
1. the first page is the lone inked page because its been done since february--the intention was to have it ready for comic-con, but then i ran out of both time and $$$
2. yeah, i stole the panel with the key going in the ignition for 'may & her dog', i don't think it really makes a difference but i just wanted to get that out there so you don't hear any crazy rumors or anything

the new plan is to have a bunch of smaller printed versions of these ready for the MoCCA festival in june. there are also a dozen other things i'm hoping to finish during this hellstorm of a busy month, and yet i'm sure i'll still find time to stand on line for 3 hours for my free KFC chicken dinner. (while supplies last)

more posts eventually

good to logo

2009-05-03T18:33:00.003-04:00

who doesn't love LOGOS?

caution: link to a cute pun

2009-04-30T01:49:00.003-04:00

My last big project at Melangerie was to work on the event details for a shower event hosted by Always a Bridesmaid and Agent Provocateur (who provided some sorry gift bags)- I made black frames for the signage Elana designed and my genealogy chart. I also got to cut a jillion strips of nylon fabric for the favor which we assembled as well. Here is a link to the writeup by Always a Bridesmaid, with some great shots from photographer Karen Mordechai.

ALSO- we totally scored the rest of the cake featured (the one available for tasting, unfortunately not the awesomely decorated one)- they were about to throw it out!

what do you want?!

2009-04-30T00:10:00.002-04:00

from a while ago; rescued from obscurity with the encouragement of betty machete. it's not about YOU get over yourself.

Old Skool II

2009-04-27T02:08:00.004-04:00

a phrenology poster inspired by A Clockwork Orange, created last spring. the web colors dont do this print justice- I used a pretty kickass orange. I also printed it as a one color- just the linework in red on gray fake-velvet paper, and it currently lives above our bread and ziploc bags. aww

old skool

2009-04-23T19:35:00.004-04:00

Hemingway and my roommates are all good sports.

I can haz internet presence?

2009-04-15T13:33:00.000-04:00

website is up!

a cool thing everyday

2009-04-14T00:58:00.006-04:00

blogging to you live from an empty classroom late at night to share with you this link that alex just shared with me.
alex: it's this guy who does a cool thing everyday
me: that's his only parameter? it just has to be cool?
it is really really cool

2009-04-05T19:49:00.001-04:00

these are great.

dont forget!

2009-04-05T19:38:00.004-04:00

afternoon delight

2009-04-05T18:32:00.004-04:00

Snapple Real Facts #208: Snapple is delicious.

this is getting cross-posted everywhere. they need to just consolidate all the social networking sites into one heaving nasty glob of status updates and photo albums. anyway, i cranked this out over the past week for my entry to the next Static Fish issue, featuring several alumni, including myself. the fastest thing i've ever done (successfully) from start to finish, and all i had to do was lose a couple nights of sleep! (._.)

and so i present to you, (a link to) May and her Shape-Shifting Dog*

*alternatively titled May and her Ape-Shit Dog

a click on either of those will send you to the comic.

as for you, blog, i will post the lineart scans to you, just because i can

bottles inspired by bottles

2009-04-02T17:53:00.006-04:00

some portfolio pieces, photographed by who other than nate?

this was my interpretation of postpartum depression. i'd like to do more illustrations in which i actually construct something. it would mean a lot of extra work for nate though.

two wine bottles from last semester. Both have a quiet violence and inky undertones. If you look closely, you can see us in the reflections on the bottles. and you can tell that i haven't cleaned the kitchen in a while.

and lastly, the urb gardens... get it? who knew i liked bottles so much.

push it along

2009-03-31T19:07:00.005-04:00

sketches for upcoming static fish thing that i'm about to get some serious inking time with

developing a whole lot better than i could have planned it, and i'm really excited to finish it.

more posts soon as i continue to tackle this laundry list of projects that i've been nursing for months, like so many creative eggs. fragile, yet delicious, when cooked properly. i believe that accurately describes my work.

in progress

2009-03-24T00:01:00.002-04:00

In the midst of shitty happenings the last few days (particularly a cuticle-infection-gross-thing on my drawing hand), I found comfort in working on this illustration for the fish's eddy competition "words to live by"

thanks nate!

2009-03-23T00:27:00.002-04:00

catching up on organizing my portfolio... our dear friend nate took some great photos for me!

BOOK 'EM

2009-03-15T00:01:00.004-04:00

two project from last semester that i finally finished tonight while i was stuck in the perfect storm of literally nothing else to do (working the graveyard shift in the computer lab during spring break and the internet was down). A Tree of Night is a collection of Truman Capote's early stories inspired by childhood anxieties. The vignettes on the toile each representation of one of the stories. The painting on SeLeCTeD POeMS is inspired by the the little horse is newlY and the type/ornamentation is supposed to reference the leather bound poetry volumes of yore.

next up, hastily-scribbled, chocolate-smeared drawings from belgium!

wham bam thank you ma'am

2009-03-11T20:36:00.005-04:00

sneak peek at my new Cboard ad- everyone should participate in this!

edit: the event is APRIL 8th, not may 8th (much more convenient!)

YES

2009-03-03T10:28:00.003-05:00

snow day

2009-03-02T17:42:00.001-05:00

is it obnoxious to post the same thing in my own blog and this one?

it has been gently snowing outside all day & class is canceled. this makes for excellent working weather. so i cleaned up a little bit of my apartment and organized my art to enter the ai/ap contest.

i don't really like the idea of contests and competition regarding art. i understand that it may motivate some artists and that the concept has been around for ages, but it just doesn't appeal to me at all. there are enough outlets and visual space for everyone's art in this world (without adding competition), just not enough money. if you are making art and other people love it, that is enough of a reward. unfortunately, this is 2009 and all of us need money to survive. otherwise i'd be living on a farm with other artists, living off the land and showing art downtown with no intentions of monetary profit. just to share.

that is my spiel. this is what i entered, some new & old. these are all for various assignments, if you have any questions on the nature of them i will do my best to explain via the comment box. i seriously doubt i have any chance of getting in, mostly because my work varies a lot and i'm still developing "my style". but it's good practice i guess.

the dinosaur effect

2009-03-02T00:15:00.005-05:00

I made this for the "What I Did Over Winter Break" illustration assignment and I'm working on developing it into a poster. Still in the futzing around phase.

2009-02-28T23:26:00.001-05:00

the only way to get pratt kids to come to a meeting...

( ._.)

2009-02-23T20:00:00.006-05:00

i am in love with this photo.
credit: bob gruen

also, acting upon a piece of advice received by a fellow comic illustrator concerning good ways of getting exposure (that is, being as irritating as possible through as many social networking avenues as possible), i have created a twitter. mostly for the comic, but other stuff will surely sneak in. this really changes little to nothing about my feelings on twitter (don't get me started), but i accept that it is, for some people, their kind of thing and some sort of social phenomenon all in itself, i guess.

nevermind, just add me, if you've got it.

hello!

2009-02-22T22:08:00.004-05:00

this is from my sketch book.

busyness

2009-02-21T14:09:00.004-05:00

first up, a big helloooo nurse to our newest contributer ms. kelsey b- her work kicks ass and im looking forward to seeing more of it!

at my internship im working on a new wedding genealogy chart for them to offer- here's a sketch of what ive got so fari drew the top, frames and gems then live traced them in illustrator and cleaned them up a bit. we're still figuring out the type treatment and the bride/groom section on top but im really happy with where its going

the many faces of a soy army

2009-02-17T23:43:00.011-05:00

earlier today, while ransacking my hard drive for ~~something to kill time with~~ reference photos, i happened across a few interesting ones i had taken for reference back over the holiday break. except, by 'for reference' i mean 'with the intent of posting them to the blog' and by 'holiday break' i mean 'extended period of time in which i was unemployed that also happened to be around christmas.' careful, there's a lot of subtlety to my writing that you might be missing -- luckily i'm here to point it out for you.

so these pictures that i was just talking about? they're more like process photos. who doesn't love those, right? there's so much more to be learned and appreciated in the creative process of a thing than in the actual completion of that thing -- that's why people get sonograms. from here on, you are more than welcome to imagine these sparse process images as ultrasound composites of your soon-to-be soy army infant. or you can just take it as it is, boring old computer images; it's your loss.

first, i start with a sketch. tell me if i'm going too fast for you.

there is essentially no planning involved prior to making the sketch, unless you count the punchline/concept itself. so i guess it would be more appropriate to say that i start with a loose, incoherent mess of a lame joke (usually something i or someone said in irc-chat) that slowly takes shape as a really vague idea of how the comic will play out on a page. depending on how many panels i've decided to punish my pathetic, masochistic self with laying out and drawing, i'll spend most of the day wandering mentally from work (or something more important i.e. operating heavy machinery, dodging traffic on a bicycle, etc) and getting a feel for the placement. then i come home and jot this mess down. as you will soon see (or have seen if you actually ever read the comic), a lot of the stuff that's in the sketch ends up being in the finished piece, save for a few minor details... not usually how it always goes but this is a rare example of life moving in a favorable direction for me. as an aside, and to be totally serious, it is key to never really get too into detail with the sketch since you're going to be drawing the same damn thing a little bigger in about 5 minutes (sketching times may vary).

after several beers and probably a few hours wasted procrastinating or checking ffffound or bothering the general populace with drunken rambling, somehow this comes out:

normally i like to space my panels out a lot more than this, but time, size, and budget limitations left me with no choice (it was 11x14 bristol and needed to be finished by christmas). i tried to do the best with what i had, and figured that i could get enough contrast with colors that it wouldn't make much of a difference. but for the record, yeah, more room than this. it looks like i tried to pack a metaphorical bus full of geometric shapes. anyway, here, all the characters are placed and the environments are relatively fleshed-out enough so that i know what i'm doing when i get the pen to this son of a bitch. think of it as drawing a road map for yourself; a roadmap to success. another thing to note is that, as further means of subjecting myself to the mortal equivalent of an eternity's worth of punishment in hell, i like to do my own word bubbles. that's not only extra work, it's extra guess work -- you can never really assume how wide or tall your letters are going to be depending on the words (unless you're a fucking taoist master, disciplined in the art of making your letters the same size, always), so you have to take a wild guess and say "i think this bubble should be this big, because it doesn't not obstruct the panel too much yet will be able to accommodate all of my chicken scratches." it is not recommended or necessary to repeat this out loud. drawing lines the approximate length of the text also helps. sometimes. or you could always sit there with a ruler and draw out the guidelines for your text, if you're into that sort of punishment.

after a prolonged, frustrated and quite unspeakable period of time, we are left with this:

and i have little to say about it except that, at this point, it was the morning of christmas eve and, with my hand hurting from drawing so many tiny boxes, i was not looking forward to diving right into coloring. but what is a good comic without knowing that its creator is suffering some sort of constant agonizing pain?

what follows are a few (very few) screencaps of the coloring process and my sweet dock icons:

several things to note here: at this point it was definitely no longer christmas anymore, and my computer was (still is) also having insane cpu problems. i guess two is not several. as for the coloring, i'm not really sure what to say; i tried some new things here like different (and consistent) light sources on some panels, trying to get two colors in where i could... i was reading watchmen at the time. i feel it definitely helped things out a bit as far as dimensionality goes. coloring is probably the part i struggle with the most, mostly because i'm admittedly a perfectionist with my work, even if it means that thing is going to be shrunk dramatically and none of the imperfections will show, ever, to anyone. in terms of process, it's standard coloring in photoshop, separating the black lines onto their own layer and getting that transparency underneath to color without going over any of the lines. you know what i'm talking about.

alas, 2 days past the deadline, we have a finished comic!

it's a lot bigger than the version that got posted to the site (for obvious reasons) just so you can see some more details. was it worth the effort? any practice is good practice, like i always say. like i always say starting right now. again, to be serious, it's the greatest thing i've ever done and will ever do, and i'd do it all again, if given the chance. but since i'm not going to get that chance, i'm going to watch a movie or something instead.

(for those counting, there will be a new comic on friday.)

thanks for reading, you can go now 8)

klondike/kill

2009-02-17T21:29:00.001-05:00

Klondike/Kill from John Kersten on Vimeo.

a piece of a segment of a post

2009-02-17T00:39:00.007-05:00

oh, me? yeah, i'm still around. you know, doing stuff.

i started several different things at once and none of them are actually done yet, hence the severe lack of posts from yours truly. that, and... life in general. fear not, there will be much to talk about in the next few days. or i'll forget to post and there won't be anything to talk about. you never really know which way i'm gonna go, the crazy unpredictable bastard that i am. believe me, though -- you'll want to get your water coolers and co-workers good and warmed up for the next post.

here's a sketchbook piece to hold your collective horses over for the time being until next time when we meet again.

2009-02-16T09:31:00.002-05:00

valentine i made for my grandma this year

not just an urban myth

thinking of summer

2009-02-11T21:17:00.002-05:00

while i should be working. maybe some completed class projects soon?

from the sketch book

2009-02-09T00:37:00.005-05:00

two part drawing based on a human interest news story from a few years ago. every word of it is true.

update city

2009-02-08T13:08:00.002-05:00

hold the phone

2009-02-06T18:08:00.004-05:00

Okay so I wanted to refrain from complaining in here but...
1. there is such a thing as TypeCon!!! how and WHY did i not know about this??? what a wonderful and amazing and wild-pony-dream-like event!
2. TypeCon2008 WAS HELD IN BUFFALO (my hometown for the like, 2 people that happen upon this or those who didn't know that)
3. student tickets were $165 as opposed to $320
4. oh, and stefan sagmeister spoke.

negative aspect is that is was still over 150 bucks, which is lame because i wholeheartedly believe art students should be allowed free admission to museums, speaker series and related events... but yeah. also it took place either when i was in tennassee or getting ready for the hamptons show with scope but REGARDLESS- it would have been nice to know about.

the next one is in atlanta- so if you happen to be around there this summer, are a type nerd, and have an extra couple hundred to spare, have a great time! send me a postcard, i'll be slaving away here.

thanks trent

2009-01-22T18:50:00.003-05:00

&quarace

2009-01-18T05:30:00.002-05:00

took3codenewhatevs

I just finished Dune. What a great book. Wish I'd read it way earlier. It's about all my favorite things. The more I read science fiction, the more I think about Quarace. I stopped working on Quarace because my ultimate aim for the project, the story of a great war, seemed dangerous to me. The way I wanted to tell the story only served to aestheticize war and politics ("Po-tee-weet?") which we all know is inherently a fascist pleasure. I am not a fascist.

The world of Quarace, though, is something I've contemplated since I was a freshman in high school. Ideas like that don't just go away, and to me Quarace is a real place that I've taken on the responsibility of illustrating. I think there are a great deal of stories that can happen there, between the conflicting interests of the local governments, rebels, AQR executives, Jastins, and any other latent factions on that world. Love, hate, and redemption are all happening there.

So eventually I'll start working on it again, probably after graduation, or at least after my thesis films are finished in April.

oldie but a goodie

2009-01-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

Buster Keaton Goes To The Doghouse from John Kersten on Vimeo.

oh yeah that kid

2009-01-14T16:29:00.003-05:00

Last year's final, a study for my film thesis.

FD from John Kersten on Vimeo.

I've also uploaded "Learning To Serve Yourself" to Vimeo, but not in the proper aspect ratio, i.e. not showable. I'm compressing it again overnight and it'll be up here soon enough.

"'Yes we can' is the 'Just do it' of politics"

2009-01-13T18:57:00.003-05:00

The Buffalo Beast (fictional lovechild of Maddox and the Onion) released its list of the 50 Most Loathsome People in America- read it here on their site. You can probably guess who #1 is but the whole thing is definitely worth checking out.

...finally

2009-01-07T00:30:00.005-05:00

my completed quilt! it's been done for awhile, but i had my dear friend Nate take a deese photo this past weekend. He also shot my Albright-Knox Art Gallery bookcover.

In other news... I have yet to do anything this break. Well, that's not entirely true. I read Black Hole by Charles Burns, reread Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, and gave David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest another crack (I'm really enjoying reading 50-100 pages every other month... yeah). I also went to the Bronx Museum with friends that were visiting, and got some books at Strand.
Next week, Sally and I are going to put armfuls of recycled paper to good use, so be on the lookout for that. And be careful when someone loves you.

cream of the crap

2008-12-29T18:01:00.003-05:00

Year-end, Best-of lists: everyone likes making them, nobody likes reading them, so for your reading enjoyment I've made a year end list of the best year end lists.

Best Mug Shots of 08

Best Street Art of 08

Weirdest Books of 08

Best Nude Scenes of 08 (sadly, without the visuals)

Best Evil Clown Stories of 08

Top Ten Cats of 08

oooo im a typography ghost!

2008-12-16T21:06:00.003-05:00

its so close to being done! more pictures tomorrow.

step right up

2008-12-14T23:57:00.003-05:00

poster for the SIDESHOW GATHERING (i think it needs a more creative name too). Fire Eaters! Sword Swallowers! Hand Drawn Type!!

2008-12-14T23:43:00.004-05:00

illustrations and layouts for sideshow brochure

quilt rock city

2008-12-12T23:53:00.003-05:00

quilt is still coming along slowly... hopefully i can finish it up tomorrow. survey is thursday... eek! also, thanks to archimedes, i have a new sample site!

boys will be...

2008-12-11T01:28:00.000-05:00

a post is born

2008-12-07T14:01:00.007-05:00

it's been a long time
shouldn't have left you
without a, uh..
nice picture to look at

here are some character sketches i've done and never uploaded. there's still one left that i haven't scanned in yet, and... yeah, i guess i'll get to that soon enough.

i was planning on using these for some type of comic experiment, but whatever clouded mess of a story i've got in the mental pipeline needs serious work. i'm not really into comics that don't go anywhere, story-wise; i always feel like it could at least use some sort of narrative element. so i'm either going to do that soon or i'll continue to disguise my procrastination as a struggle to establish a good story.

yeah, so anyway, 2 weekends ago was spent locked up in the print studio making a gift for a special someone. also, i managed to get a really good scan of it:

the joker was cut out of ruby lith, and it hurt my hand very much to do so. on a related note, i was out of practice and very few of them came out correct. :\

hey, since i seem to be going in a chronological order here, this small crappy thing was done the other night:

what else did i miss? currently, i'm working on a 5-color print that's pretty much side profiles of the bcc itself. it's got this a hard day's night thing going for it, i guess, but mostly i just need to occupy myself and i consider it good practice.

i've also added a majority of my (good) sketches to my website. i'm also considering doing another run of the penguin; the remaining editions i had sold very quickly at a recent print sale. speaking of that thing that i was just talking about, it was also juried into the 'uncomissioned' category of the society of illustrators 51st annual. :o

more pictures and talking about pictures soon, everyone.. i promise

more letters, more betty!

2008-12-05T15:28:00.003-05:00

made up of the names of everyone in my family... awww

letters never lie

2008-12-03T22:31:00.002-05:00

"I'm the letter F!"

my desktop is a mess thanks to ffffound.com

2008-12-02T00:33:00.003-05:00

type experiment, 2 color silkscreen

zombie drawing for an upcoming zine from this lady

who will update the updater?

2008-11-26T09:25:00.001-05:00

is it just me, or is this mind blowing?

chart attack

2008-11-18T13:28:00.006-05:00

Nicholas Felton, the information design virtuoso who brought us the Feltron Report is speaking at Pratt on Dec 4, 7pm, in Steuben 401.

BREAKDOWN of
PREDICTED SUBJECTS FELTRON WILL COVER

hard-corigami

2008-11-12T10:39:00.004-05:00

put your money where your mouth is.

live it out

2008-11-07T20:55:00.003-05:00

it's been a couple days, i hope you've all had time to let it sink in. obama, you have some very tiny shoes to fill... you know those itsy bitsy baby booties? yeah, those.

a challenger appears

2008-11-03T22:36:00.013-05:00

shao has been busy. busy the way bees get when they listen to marvin gaye. that's pretty goddamn busy.

here's a little recap of what i've been doing lately:

1. curious pictures asked for the final ink of the design i've been working on. i took a few pictures to document my process, because it's just so terribly interesting, and not only does it carefully and methodically exploit where i make some pretty horrible mistakes, but it's also a subtle peek into my ongoing battle with insomnia. keep reading and i'll explain, friends.

pencils at around 10pm

that shiny spot up at the top is the sun rising at around 8am the next morning. you can't see me, but imagine a recovering alcoholic who's just been run over by a bus driven by stampeding wildebeests. it was worse than that.

after a few last minute changes discussed in a last minute meeting, this is the final product that was submitted for approval (by the midnight society). note that the letters are much more visible than before and there is a severe absence of electricity pulsing from the guitar hero atop 440 lafayette. had i the time, there were still a few small, minute details i would have liked to have perfected, but the world of drawing stuff for money moves so much faster than you could ever imagine.

don't look now, but there it goes. wow.

2. The L Magazine, Brooklyn's favorite free tiny magazine in an orange stand, held a call for entries to their 2nd annual comic issue. i never got a response to the "how many pages can this be" question that i emailed them, so i stuck with doing one full page.

and here is that one full page that i did.

this may or may not be based on a true story. whose to say? you certainly were not there, so you have no room to talk. it will forever remain a mystery, and i hope for your sake that pondering this doesn't eventually plunge your mind into a maelstrom of unhappiness and bad dreams and freudian slips. and forgetting people's phone numbers. and calling your best friend by your other best friend's name -- that's the worst.

on a related note, i really enjoy our roof and the view from our roof. moving on.

3. this is a collection of things currently in progress -- soy army is in full effect; i'm keeping up with a monday morning update schedule (save for this week for reasons which i'll explain shortly) and i'm trying to expand and eventually break free of any conventional ideas i had in mind for this strip. 4 panels are cool, but i like doing stuff like this a lot more:

note: this will not make sense because the actual punchline has yet to be added. additionally, i've got tons of ideas to work with now, so that ensures that i won't slack off on this comic for at least another 2 months. maybe.

the society of illustrators 51 deadline is also quickly approaching (it's friday and not wednesday like i originally thought, which is why that comic remains unfinished), and i'm trying to do a new silkscreen that i might make a small number of, depending on how it comes out. more on that soon, even if it doesn't get finished in time to be submitted. on top of that, i also have yet to completely finish my postcards.. it would be kind of pointless to post images of that if i have no real idea of when it's going to get done.

tomorrow's the day to make your political preference known! get up real close to uncle sam's ear and yell as hard as you can, si, se puede!

rough cut

2008-11-02T23:48:00.003-05:00

Twilight (Rough cut) from John Kersten on Vimeo.

I recommend full-screen mode.
Looks way better on high-def but doesn't deserve to be shown that way yet.

There's way more I can do with this one but I don't yet have the footage to go with the text. I'm shooting more this week and in my spare time in the weeks to come.

process

2008-11-02T14:16:00.006-05:00

CARNIVORITARIANISM

2008-11-01T22:12:00.003-04:00

We all know that meat is murder, i.e. there is no way to eat meat without, on some level, pwning an animal. Also, there's a factory farming industry. But anyway, the whole meat-eating issue is somewhat like the abortion issue- whether or not you can live with it.
So if you're against murder and therefore do not eat meat (and you had better not support the death penalty, either) there's a fundamental problem: there are other animals perfectly fine with eating you, dear reader. What are you going to do when you're in the middle of the jungle and then WHAM there's a tiger on you? If I were you, I would kill it and then eat it, which brings me to my point.
How about a diet where eating meat is allowed, but only the meat of carnivorous animals? For instance, it should be perfectly okay to eat shark or tiger meat. A bull or elephant certainly might kill me if provoked, but would never eat me- off limits.
And besides, you'd be the coolest kid on the block. Why offer $1 PBR like everyone else when you could offer shark burgers AND $1 PBR?
The problem, though, with a diet of lions, tigers, and bears comes back to that same issue- murder. Many of the world's carnivores are highly endangered (we killed them already, presumably without eating them. Oh my!) and eating them would mean killing them, which is certainly illegal.
I've got it! We could factory-farm grizzly bears. Anyone interested?

dumbodrone

2008-10-31T15:30:00.000-04:00

DUMBO Drone from John Kersten on Vimeo.

A Long Bit Goes A Little Way

2008-10-19T21:05:00.003-04:00

would seeing this on wrapping paper making you pause and wonder whether material things can truly make you happy?
... might need a little work.

puedo ver Rusia de mi casa

2008-10-15T15:08:00.001-04:00

weekend warrior

2008-10-13T02:12:00.002-04:00

this was mostly done at work while waiting for photoshop to process a ridiculously large file. it started out as nothing, then somehow a wolf's head worked it's way in (like it always does), and then i drew some kids. and now it's about halloween? i don't know. what i do know is that i enjoy this duotone thing with colored micron pens. when i collect enough quarters from the sidewalk, i will remember to purchase some more.

i was so very close to finishing a new soy army, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow, along with 5,000 other things...

more!

2008-10-08T22:19:00.002-04:00

awesome linocut from http://3fishstudios.com/

definitely a "why the hell didn't i think of that" moment

make quilts not war

2008-10-08T22:06:00.001-04:00

sketch sketch sketch...

danger turns me on

2008-10-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

(Title Pending) from John Kersten on Vimeo.

gothama

2008-10-07T21:24:00.002-04:00

new poster by Michael Beirut

failgate '08

2008-10-05T17:21:00.005-04:00

a comprehensive evaulation of last thursday's vice presidential debate:

it would have been uploaded sooner, but i didn't create the biden-bird until the next day. on the train. and.. you know how that goes. inking on the train, that is. (and if you don't know how it goes, i'll tell you: very shaky and very slowly.)

now that you're 2% smarter than you were five seconds ago, thanks to me, go out and spread your knowledge with others. be careful who you share it with.

serious time: i'm working on the postcards, of which i have photos, as well as some character doodles. our resident wild pony also has some pictures of things she has been working on. stay tuned-ish!

here comes the pun

2008-10-02T01:30:00.004-04:00

eh eh?

two cents

2008-09-29T00:05:00.002-04:00

I don’t know where to begin with my feelings about the financial crisis, save to say that I’ve been quite distracted all week. This is very serious, and it makes me very angry. In a time like this, I feel it’s my duty as a citizen to throw politics aside and help in any way I can. But alas, I’m an artist- what can I possibly do?

Of course, it’s true that what I do still influences culture, but it’s a process acting slowly, and usually beneath the radar. That’s not what our country needs- we need swift, explicit action, and only a select few people are equipped to be effective this way. The rest of the country sits on the sidelines, hoping the men and women in Nancy Pelosi’s office make the right decision.

But we’ve still got a right to be angry! If I make bad art, it’s not as if anyone has to look at it. If a restaurant owner does a bad job, only a handful of people lose their jobs and the patrons find somewhere else to eat. The money-men do a bad job (Sub-prime lending? Are you stupid?), and now we’ve got to deal with the consequences.

It’s just another example of how life isn’t fair, but consider the following:

Criticism of a job poorly done is only valid on one condition- that we go to our own jobs and work very damned hard! Whether you’re a waitress, a salesman or a designer- just go out there and produce! Students, you’d better study like never before, for the same responsibility will fall on you before this is over. Now is when we must rise above expectations, even expectations of ourselves.

Our country is in a crisis but the people are far from powerless. It’s time to prove that there’s more to this country than money- NOW GET OUT THERE AND WORK!

NO.

2008-09-28T18:00:00.001-04:00

poster ideas

2008-09-28T16:02:00.003-04:00

for the play "Prophecy" by Karen Malpede

the finals (so far):