Phair's Phair.

Later career missteps aside, the frist two albums by Liz Phair, Whip-Smart and especially Exile in Guyville rank among my favorites ever. So, I was ecstatic to get a call from Kevin at the Boston Phoenix to provide a cover image for their Arts and Entertainment section hyping her performance of Exile in Guyville a few weeks ago in Beantown. I was also a little intimidated...when an illustration subject is something close to your heart, you feel an extra responsibility to really bring it, which for me always also brings a little extra pressure.

I wanted the illo to tie into the Exile in Guyville record in some direct way, since the show in Boston (and the tour) features Liz performing the entire album to celebrate it's fifteenth anniversary re-release. I went down the list of song titles, and immediately track 1 , "6'1"", jumped out at me. I thought about a shot of Liz, all sexy and defiant, standing in front of a police lineup wall. Simple and effective. But maybe too simple?



I sketched it out, and then another idea occurred to me...the second to last song on the record, "Stratford-on-Guy", is probably my favorite...where Liz sings very descriptively and atmospherically about being aboard a plane taking off at sunset, enjoying a drink as the lights of the city grid become visible through the opposite window. So I took that as inspiration and kinda illustrated that scene. But I thought it might be too much, too fannish...I know people familiar with the record might get it and dig it, but it might leave everybody else too much in the dust.



Kevin, knowing I was a fan, gave me carte blanche to go with whatever direction I thought was best...truly a thrill to know an art director has that much confidence in you. In the end, I decided to go back to my original idea, and I think the results are pretty swell. Hope you agree.

But is it Art?

Hell yes it is! Here's a shot of my birthday gift to myself from last year...a page of original art by Darwyn Cooke from his phenomenal comic book DC: THE NEW FRONTIER (page 354 in you Absolute Edition, keeds!). If I had to make a list of my top favorite comics of all time, NEW FRONTIER would rank somewhere in the top five...and Darwyn Cooke would warrant a similar placement on a list of my favorite creators. All of which makes me pretty thrilled to own this piece. I don't buy a ton of original art...wall space in the house is pretty limited, and, well, I'm cheap. But I figured if I was ever going to bite the bullet and lay out some cash, this was the time to do it.

A few notes about the presentation...the piece arrived unlettered, but I really wanted to have the word balloons filled if it was going to hang on the wall. I initially wanted to place a clear sheet of acetate with just the lettering printed on it above the art inside the frame, but my printer didn't have any transparent sheets large enough to cover the entire image. I briefly considered lettering it myself (a discipline at which I'm at least fairly adept), but quickly came to my senses. Finally, I decided to print the words within the balloons onto a separate sheet of paper, cut them out, and affix them with just the slightest amount of archival adhesive. I can almost hear the tightening of fanboys sphincters everywhere...including my own. Still, it looks good now...I suppose time will tell if I made the right choice.

Had it framed at Michael's for just under a hundred bucks...UV protected, glare-free glass, which makes a bigger difference than I thought it would. Happy birthday to me!

Teeny Bikini #5

The All-Hockey Girls Edition, debuting later this month at Crafty Bastards and the Small Press Expo!

Bitch

It's been a tough couple years for pitbulls...first that Michael Vick thing, and now this:

Travel Tales in C-Ville Weekly

A couple weeks back I did a series of illustrations for the fine folks at Charlottesville's C-Ville Weekly, lending a little graphic blandishment to some travel stories by a bunch of their staff writers. The stories themselves are pretty interesting, often hilarious and well worth checking out, and here's a little closer look at the illustrations!

I'm just impressed I managed to work a naked girl in there.

Brown Pencil Girl

Lightray!

Been reeeally busy with client work and Uni Girl commissions (and, sadly, a fantasy football draft) this week, but I did take a few minutes to scrawl some doodles for you: A few quickie girlie drawings, and a straight-up Kirby swipe of Lightray, from FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL.3!

Some Political Stuff

Anyone who's ever talked to me for five minutes could probably tell that I'm a fairly ardent liberal, leaning to the left of most issues... but, being professional means (for the most part) impartiality, so I generally try to keep it even-handed when I'm working for clients (You know, I usually refrain from drawing the GOPers with buck teeth and automatic weapons). If anything, I feel like I've been harshest on the Dems (see Hilary)...but maybe that's more nature's fault than mine!

Still More Uni Girls

Anyone who knows me know how close the Steelers are to my heart. The Tampa Bay Rays are another story. Still, I tried to do a decent drawing!

Pilfering Poses

With about a dozen Uni Girl commissions on the drawing table, I spent a few hours thumbing through one of my pin-up girl books and sketched a few interesting poses.

More Uni Girls

I Forgot, I'm Not WEARING Shoes!

CF at TCR

I was pretty jazzed to discover that a review of my Crustacean Frustration mini-comic is on the front page of The Comics Reporter today (btw, thanks for the tip, Will)! It's always a thrill to get noticed by Tom Spurgeon!

Order here.

Wink!

New Comics Day - Everyday

This odd strip is from Everyday, a collection of comics written by my pal Chris Radtke. It, like all the others in the book, is an illustrated account of an entry on his fake blog. I'm not sure if it's still out there, but his real blog is, and it's absolutely hilarious. Prometheus!

EDIT: Let's hear it for old computers! I had the site bookmarked on the iBook, so here it is.

More Quickies

Just a hint of pencil!

Louise Brooks

Back in early 2005, a friend of mine approached me about doing a drawing to advertise a festival of the films of silent movie star and 20's icon Louise Brooks. I knew a little about Louise Brooks, but very little: I know that her freewheeling (for the time), flapper attitude has gained her quite a following, which thrives to this day. I know that she inspired hundreds of unfathomably gorgeous drawings by Shane Glines. But I've never seen one of her films (which is, really, no surprise. I'm a complete ignoramus when it comes to the classics. For instance, I've never taken the time to watch DOUBLE IDEMNITY, but I've seen UNDER SIEGE 2:DARK TERRITORY multiple times).

So, I began doing a few drawings, trying to glean what my friend was looking for via his descriptions and photos of Louise, which are pretty easy to find. Still, I seemed to keep missing the mark. In an effort to get back on track, we decided to go for more of a cowboy theme. I did a bunch of sketches, and once we'd tentatively settled on a look for the final, I pencilled the illustration. Then, real life got in the way, we both got horribly sidetracked, and nothing further ever happened with it.

Anyways, the pencilled version of this illo has been sitting in a stack of Bristol board next to my drawing table for the last four years...every now and then when I'd be shuffling through the stack looking for a blank sheet, I'd turn it over and there she'd be, looking up at me in all her incomplete glory. Finally, last week I decided to go ahead and ink it for some reason. I even went back and dug up some of the sketches, just to detail the process a bit. I'm still not sure if it captures her essence and actually feels like Louise Brooks in any way...someone more knowledgeable about the subject'll have to make that call. All's I know is, it's a cute girl in a cowboy hat with two six-guns. And that, my friends, is the kind of thing Atom-Bomb Bikini is all about!

Straight to Ink

I've been taking a tip from Jim Mahfood lately and trying to draw directly in ink in my sketchbook without pencilling anything first. It's tough...it humbles you pretty quickly, and makes you realize you're not half as good at drawing as you think you are. For this one, I cheated and put just a bit of graphite down first, just so's I'd know where the fingers go and whatnot. Kinda defeats the purpose, I s'pose, but at least it looks good enough that I don't feel too embarrassed putting it up on the ol' blog.

Over It

I was working my butt off all last weekend, on the cover and some interior spots for the Las Vegas Weekly's "Over It" issue, in which they detail a smattering of the more grating aspects of life in the Sin City. It was a lot of work getting the gig in on time, but I think the end results are pretty satisfying. Check the magazine's newly-updated website for a look at the actual cover, and to see the interior spots!

'Stache Bash

I can't believe I haven't posted this ridiculous piecebefore (unless I have, and forgot about it)...it's from an issue of SF Weekly, promoting the "'Stache Bash", an event which, if I've done my job at all, requires no explanation!

Dress for Success

Here's a bit of concept art, for a project that sadly never went anywhere. Whatev. I think it looks pretty nice, at least!

Give Her a Hand...

...'cause really, aside from the god-awful job I did on it, it's not too bad a drawing.

Super Dudes

Drawn/inked while waiting for carryout barbeque.

I Didn't Know He Was Going to be So Pale!

For Father's Day, my wife bought us a pair of tickets to the Jim Gaffigan show happening tonight here in Richmond. I wanted to post something having to do with paleness in honor for the great Mr. Gaffigan, but in searching through my archives, I couldn't find much of anything. This Virginia Living illo of an old-timey gent jumping into an empty YMCA pool, from back in the day when members swam naked, will have to do.

The Joy of (White) Sox

The South Siders are in first place and hanging tough!

The Roidin' Rocket

Since he's in the news again for all the wrong reasons, what better time to share this image of Roger "The Rocket" Clemens, voted "Most Unsexiest" by the Boston Phoenix for 2007?

Loser Alert

Listen to your mothers, girls!

Weekly Sketch 7/14

Inks

Carrots Are Bad for You

Now this is a weird one. This ran last spring in the Las Vegas Weekly...I never read the actual story, but it was described to me as being about women who avail themselves to wealthy men "like dangling carrots" in hopes of becoming trophy wives. Or something like that. Anyway, enjoy!