My mates Robin LeBlanc and Neil Struthers have posted the first page of their new comic REMNANTS. And being smart cookies, they introduce the main character in the middle of something, getting the reader curious and hungry for more. As usual, Neil’s art is exceptional. Click to enlarge.
My mate Bram Gieben (aka Texture, aka Weaponizer) has launched a new music channel on his BLACK LANTERN label: URGE MODE, which “provides experimental bass music for the wide eyed and bushy tailed – incorporating sounds from dubstep, future garage, techno, electronica, breaks, hiphop and more. Deep, mental, hard, chilled, rough, smooth, techy, organic, dark, warm, straight up or just plain weird. There’s a time and a place for it all.”
I listened to their debut EP, THE SPINAL CONFLICT, by BLACKMASS PLASTICS. I really enjoyed it, which is uncommon for that kind of music, or any kind of music, since I’m a little hard to please in that respect. There’s very few albums I can listen to all the way through with pleasure and without skipping any songs (Goldfrapp’s FELT MOUNTAIN and The Gone Jackals’ BONE TO PICK, for example).
Five months ago, Bram and his associate Hamish asked me to design the logo:
Here’s what it took to get to that:
Bram asks me to design the logo. I scratch my head in confusion as to what could possibly have given him any indication I was qualified for this, considering I am as skilled at visual design as a whale is at poledancing. I might be able to draw a recognizable human figure and disguise the many anatomical flaws with convenient shading, but when it comes to typography and design a squirrel on meth has a better sense of what to do. However, Bram is completely insane, so that explained it.
I always like a good challenge (especially when it comes with the potential of money). So I said yes, and after hitting myself with a stick for half an hour for being so fucking stupid, I got to work.
As a workout and to get the horrible cliched ideas out of my head first, I did the drawing equivalent of a first draft — a first batch of fucking awfulness:
This was enough to make me so ashamed of myself my brain got off its rear lobe and started making those neurons dance. It was time to ideastorm. I submitted four new ideas (plus a few subtle, unimportant variations):
The one chosen for me to improve on was the first one. Obviously. I mean, they had to choose the one with a human spine, the most difficult thing to draw in the human body. My ability to self-sabotage never fails to impress me. Enter Google Images and a frantic search for proper spinal reference.
Of course the vertebrae have completely irregular shapes, plus the top ones look very different from the others. Of course. After a lot of work and crying for help on Twitter, I delivered five variations of the same, more polished image (but still with several flaws, such as the horrible-looking brain, which I would leave for tweaking when working on the final image, and which image that would be was up to Hamish):
Then Hamish sent me a re-arranged, mashed-up version of the logo which he’d put together from two drawings from the second batch, adding a few colors and a font, thus resulting in the logo you saw above — the final logo.
This caught me by surprise, and I expected Hamish to require a better version, since that logo was made out of my then unfinished, poor drawings (simplified spine, sloppy lines, innacurate brain ridges). So I spent more time re-drawing the mashed-up logo, which resulted in these versions:
Hamish, however, told me he liked the spontaneity and innacuracy of the mashed-up logo and that he’d prefer to go with it. After working on the third and fourth batches for so long, I momentarily fantasized about disemboweling Hamish with a spoon, but only momentarily, since Hamish is a really cool guy and great to work with (and just as crazy as Bram — these two probably cause bodycounts when hanging out). Also, I fantasize about disemboweling everyone with a spoon at some point or another. Most times I resist the urge.
Now, after five months, I’m surprised that I can look at the final logo and not projectile vomit, as is the norm when I look at anything I sketched more than a few months ago. This is probably a good sign.
Drawing a splash page of the DOOM ZEPPELIN — I’ve never drawn a zeppelin before, let alone a DOOM zeppelin — was my idea.
Yes, I am very, very stupid.
Will Ellwood writes, I draw, Robin LeBlanc and Dorkmuffin star. One of these takes no effort whatsoever.
The consistency of James’ seven available songs and the talent in them are amazing. My favorite is “Better Uses”, and all of them can be listened here. Enjoy.
My good friend Robin LeBlanc has started a brilliant contest on her website.
So here’s the deal. I’ve always loved looking at those cheesy portraits taken usually in malls during the 1980s, if you’re friends of mine chances are you love them too. With that in mind, here’s the contest:
Draw or photograph a portrait of a villain as if they are having it done to give to family or something. They can be holding flowers, standing in front of a chair, have lasers behind them, have another picture of them on the top right corner…ANYTHING. As long as it looks like a bad portrait. It can be of just one villain, or a “family shot” made of several villains…whatever you want. The only rules are that it must look like a 1980s portrait, it must be a villain from comics/movies/television and it must be them in a nice pose.
Now what’s a contest without prizes? The winner will receive:
- A mixed CD
- Some photography prints
- A 2GB flash drive with all sorts of goodies inside
- A picture of the framed winning picture on my office desk
- Something else that I can’t think of right now.
And there will also be runner up prizes! And of course, the top…let’s say 20 will be featured on this site.
SPECIFICATIONS: All pictures must be Portrait size and in 300 dpi. Send your submission to wornoldhat@gmail.com by October 31th 2009
EDIT: FOR THOSE THAT AREN’T CONFIDENT IN THEIR DRAWING SKILLS, I WILL ALSO ACCEPT PHOTOS!
That’s it! Sound good? Awesome!
Count me the fuck in.
While I’m (yes, slowly) recovering from a truckload of shit that fell on my head on the past weeks, Rachael Fox‘s photographic skills continue to amaze me. I have seen the preview pages and am itching to buy her new print-on-demand New York photography book, brilliantly titled:
I want this on my fucking living room table.
You can see a preview and buy it here.
My mate Ted Brandt (ten_bandits) has a blog now, where he writes fiction and displays his talented artwork. Go take a look.
This is him.
But he’s smarter than he looks. Honest.
John Muth from Whitechapel was the first one to talk about my first flash fic here:
“Andre, yeah. I like the photo you used… Nice layout. Don’t know if I could stand to read another story like Cheese though….
…
Yeah.. 
“
Perfect. And I’m not being sarcastic.
