Sketchery

Sic Vick

I mean, how stupid does one have to be to get into dogfighting? Just another case of when keeping it real goes horribly wrong.

Con Sketchin'

I often get asked to do sketches for people at cons these days. Up until a few years ago, I found it pretty difficult...being "on stage", so to speak, and having to perform on demand really got to me. I'd freeze up, and couldn't seem to draw anything...I'm pretty sure there are probably some horrendous Ullman con sketches floating around out there. Latley, though, I've been doing a little better job of it, and I've really come to enjoy it...it's a pretty cool thing to do, a nice little exercise, and it often makes those slow moments go by a little faster. The thing is, I often forget what I've drawn the minute the paper leaves my hands...so it's always a kick to check out people's online galleries and take a look back at some of the shit I've come up with on the fly over the years!

The Trials of Train Travel

From this week's Stranger: Author Kathleen Wilson looks to the prose of Harlan Coben to survive a 37-hour Amtrak nightmare.

Dancin' Queen

In Glorious Black and White

I'm gonna try to get my act together in the next few days here and post some more girlie drawings...I have a couple projects I'm working on for which I'll need to actively solicit the opinions of you, my loyal blog readers. But for now, please enjoy these recent black and white pieces. First, from the San Francisco Weekly, an illo to accompany an article about what to do if you're a waiter and a skanky, drunk lady comes on to you, hard and repeatedly. Next, a Stranger piece about filmmakers participating in the Seattle Film Festival making their work available to iPod owners alongside showings in theatres. Finally, a comission of Superman and Lois Lane, done for a fan.

Lee Hazlewood 1928-2007

Some S--- I'm FAR Too Busy to be Messing With

My local shop, the great Velocity Comics, holds drawing contests every few months, the prize a gift certificate to the store. There's always a theme...draw your favorite Avenger, draw Wolverine fighting somebody...this time around, the theme was WATCHMEN. I came up with a pretty fun idea right outta the gate, but it took me awhile to find the time to put brush to board...if you wanna know the truth, I still don't have the time...but it was really too good to pass up. And what's the comics biz if you can't go nuts and have some fun once in a while?

It's a parody of the cover of FLASH COMICS #92 (by, I believe, Joe Kubert), with Nite-Owl, Captain Metropolis and the Silk Spectre of the MinuteMen standing in for Hawkman, Flash and Black Canary. One of the things I really dug about WATCHMEN was the flashbacks to the first generation of heroes...the simpler times (on the surface, anyway) they enjoyed before the world went to hell. I imagine this as being a relic of that era.

I Seem to Have Misplaced My Pants

Crouch

Savage Love 8/2

It's too convoluted to explain, so just read it here!

Asian Dress

To make up for a lackadasical July, I'm gonna attempt a post every day in August. Wish me luck!

Richmond Guide

One of the last projects I was working on as little Eve was born was a suite of six illustrations for the Richmond Guide, a swanky, complimentary booklet outlining all the wheres, whats and hows to our fair city. It's published by the same fine folks as Virginia Living, and is available all over town at stores, parks, shops, etc.

It was a lot of fun to work on, and I tried really hard to make all the illustrations work together as a whole, style-wise. Upon closer inspection, I fear the "Restaurants" illo, while fine on it's own, feels a little more cartoony and doesn't blend quite as well as the others...but the clients seemed to be pretty happy with the outcome, so I suppose that's the most important thing!

The categories for the illustrations were as follows: Restaurants, Shopping, Galleries, Performing Arts, Exploring/Sightseeing, and Events. Here's hoping you can tell which is which!

Daddy, Tell Me About Hockey!

I swear the blog isn't gonna turn into all-babies, all-the-time, but please indulge me for awhile here! It's not lke I'm doing a ton of drawing these days anyway!

As soon as we found out Mrs. Chappy was pregnant, I went out and bought a pack of onesies, printed up a few sports logos and album covers on iron-on paper, and made up some custom baby wear. At the time I thought "Wow, this is the smallest article of clothing I've ever seen...there's no way the kid is gonna fit into this tiny thing!" But little Evie, all seven pounds of her, is swimming in it!

Evie Amelia Ullman

Born yesterday, July 2, 2007. She immediately made me feel like a complete, blubbering sap.

Coming Soon

Brickie Quickies

A couple recent quickie spots from the music column. Remember that flaptrap a few months ago concerning idiot Don Imus and that slightly more entertaining but still pretty much an idiot Al Sharpton? Yeah, I barely do either. Plus, a smelly hippy.

Heroes Report

I've been trying to come up with something interesting and useful to say about Heroes Can this past weekend...but really, I find myself struggling to find something that hasn't been said before. The show was awesome, as usual, and the grand Indie Island experinment seems to gain steam every year. Huge yet manageable crowds... I got to meet a ton of new people and talk to another couple dozen returning fans from years past. I was so busy jawing, in fact, that I scarcely had time to get out from behind the table to take any photos or buy much crazy fanboy crap...although I was excited to find and purchase an original, unopened set of C-3PO Underoos from 1980 that I'll give our soon-to-be-born daughter in about six years. Other con deals: lots of cheap, cheap trade paperbacks (I'm talking >$5) and a couple of those ridiculous Adam Hughes DC Comics Statue thingees.

If there's one thing I can be effusive about, it's my gratitude to the organizers and staff who put together one of the best, breeziest shows I've ever attended, year after year. I'm sure they're working their asses off all year, but once the middle of June rolls around, they make it look easy. And they take such good care of you! Even nobodies like myself! Those guys have my sincerest, undying gratitude.

First Place

I found out over the weekend that I, along with art director Pete Morelewicz and writer John Metcalfe, took home First Prize at the Alt Weekly Awards (in the labyrinthine category of "Format Buster (circuation >60,000)") for the "Black Guide to Georgetown" spread that ran in the Washington City Paper last year! Some images can be seen here, and you can still read the original article on the City Paper's website. And trust me, them images is far more impressive in print than on screen!

Nods go out to my pal Josh Latta, who was nominated in the same category for his awesome comic from the ATL's Creative Loafing about Ralph Reed, and to the ever-lovin' J. Chris Campbell, who helped me make the illustrations look just right!

Heroes Con 2007

Hey! This weekend I'm going to Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina! If you happen to find yourself in the Tarheel State, be sure to drop by..it should be quite the time! I'll be sharing some space with my pal Kelly Alder at Table 704 in Indie Island. I'll also be taking part in a panel inventively titled "Minicomics - Did You For Real Make That Yourself?" along with my good friends J. Chris Campbell, Jim Mahfood and Ben Towle!

A couple things I'm looking forward to, other than the hanging out and the drinking:

• Meeting Jerry Robinson: I very seldom take books along to cons to be autographed...but this is a notable exception. How can you resist getting the John Hancock and (hopefully) chatting for a few minutes with the man who pretty created the Joker and Robin during the formative years of Batman, even if that wily Bob Kane took all the credit! If the interview he did for the Comics Journal is to be believed, I bet this man has some amazing stories to tell.

•Buying some ridiculous item of fanboy crap. I seldom indulge, so it's always nice to pick out some wacky item and get a great con deal!

• Finally, being able to look one of my fans in the eye...specifically, the one who commissioned me to do the drawing below at Heroes Con 2004, a drawing I only recently finished and sent along!

The Sopranos Ends

In lieu of a rant, I'll simply post this.

Robot Repair

I drew this a couple summers ago, for a suite of illustrations about clever D.I.Y. Xmas presents (I think) that ran in MAKE Magazine. It ended up being printed fairly small on the contents page, so I thought I'd dig it up and give iot a little room to breathe here on the blog. It's funny, looking at this illo, I can see about five things that I'd do differently now, even though it's only a couple years old...it's amazing how quickly one's methods change, constantly evolving and learning new tricks. One hopes, anyhow.

Not Erudite Enough

Here's a couple rejected attempts at New Yorker cartoons. I thought they'd print anything that had a psychiatrist's couch in it, but I guess I was wrong!

JLU Heads

I languished on the couch all last week, locked in pitched battle with a painful abscessed tooth. As anyone whose ever had an abscess tooth will tell you, it hurts like nothing else, and pretty much demands the use of high-powered painkillers. I groggily watched hours and hours of Justice league Unlimited, in between drug-induced naps, and at one point, managed to draw these.

Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture

Goodnight, Funny Man!

I've been wanting to post this for days! It's from the music column in this week's Brick, where the author explores some of the truly horrible music recorded by holy-rollers like Falwell over the years!

Fours

Funny Hat

The Head Stooge

In recognition of the recent announcement that Elijah Wood will play him in an upcomic biopic, here's the Wizard of Ig himself, Iggy Pop, from a recent Brick!

(It occurs to me now that I could've used the same title for Tuesday's post! *Hyuk hyuk*)

String

Drawn in blue Col-Erase pencil, scanned and colored quickly in photoshop. It'd probably look better if I'd skipped the color.

Brick Path

The backyard reclaimation project continues. I dug out the earth and set the path yesterday afternoon, and today once my illo work is done, I plan to fill the gaps with dirt and topsoil and add a little grass seed. All of this sould happen just in time for the thunderstorm and hail we're supposed to get this evening. ugh.

I also recently built that little brick wall that's flush with the path. I think it looks good, but I'm having trouble finding an adhesive that will hold the bricks together. Any ideas or reccommendations that don't involve me out there with a cement mixer and trowel?

The Sound of Satire

From this week's "Sound Advice" column in BRICK: Our dipshit president reacts to some of the songs that have recently been written about him and his crooked administration. I'd feel sorry for him if he weren't such a bum.

Escalator Perverts

This is for an article in LAS VEGAS WEEKLY, about some mall or casino that had to ban cell phone use on its escalators because of...well, because of this!

Conan Does ILM

Conan O'Brien is seldom funnier than when he goes out and interacts with the people. This video is no exception. He might even be able make "Jaywalking" once he takes over the Tonight Show!