Studio times 2

Magic Show + Post-it Show at Giant Robot

Hey all!

Two things coming up. I have a piece in "Magic Show" which opens this Friday at LaunchPad in Brooklyn, NY! The opening reception is also a fundraising effort to benefit the space, so if you're in Brooklyn, come out for some home brewed beer and visual performances, including a magic show! Tickets are sliding scale and can be purchased here.

It's that time of the year again! If you are in LA, this is your chance to buy affordable post-it art from your favorite cartoonist/illustrator/artist. Over 200 people participating in this year's Post-it Show 8 at Giant Robot! If I was there I would totally go but I won't be in LA until February, stay tuned for those details in a future post!

some post-its!

more post-its!

BCGF!!!

 

I'll be at Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Fest this weekend in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY! BCGF marks my last show of 2012, and I've already started planning my next year, so stay tuned for that news. 

 

Find me downstairs where I'll have on my table the last batch of Nature Nurture zines plus a bunch of prints. I'm at table D20, next to Nobrow Press table. This is one of the more highly anticipated festivals of the year and I'm so excited!!

APE next weekend!

APE is next weekend! If you're in the Bay Area don't miss this. I'm tabling with my buddy Jon Vermilyea and I'll have fresh copies of Nature Nurture, available in 2 color covers:

And only a handful of copies of my other screen printed books:

And a bunch of festival exclusive prints. It's gonna be an awesome weekend! Don't miss out. :)

SPX + new zine!

It's been a while since my last update but I've been busy working on my new fully silkscreened zine and I'll have copies available for SPX this weekend!
Here are some photos of the screen printing I've been doing over the past couple weeks:

 I went in to print shop right when it opened for the school year and it was real nice because nobody was there. 

 Some mushroom prints on the rack.

 Part of my inspiration for determining the palette of the illustrations is the growing popularity of risograph printing. I purposely limited myself to 2 colors for a lot of the book because of it and I'm really happy with the results.

 Bone folding paper. Also, the zine comes in 2 different color covers!

 One of the last steps after stapling, putting it through the guillotine. (the weird looking water bottle is filled with coffee in case anyone is curious....)

Finally, Small Press Expo, here I come! This will be may first time exhibiting at SPX. I've attended previous years and it's loads of fun. I'll be tabling with my friend, the very lovely and incredibly talented Jess Ruliffson, find us at table D12. I also booked a hotel room which will be jam packed with old and new friends. Like every year, SPX will make hanging out in Bethesda a crazy good time like no other. So stoked!!

Studio times

Sometimes I am at the studio working until the wee hours of the morning. Here's what the place looks like at night.

 My desk is the messiest, most cluttered of them all!

Yep.

I can never get tired of this view (from our studio window)

Also the show "Waking Up in a Tutti Frutti Hat" opens tonight! At Alternative Cafe in Monterey, CA.

4th of July

4th of July on my Studio roof. Photo by Deo.

Waking up in a Tutti Frutti Hat

I have a couple of pieces in a show at Alternative Cafe! The show is called "Waking Up in a Tutti Frutti Hat", curated by my friend/studio mate Aya Kakeda. The show will feature a bunch of illustrators/cartoonists/artists that also make books, along with the artwork on the wall they will also carry books by all the artists!

These are the new prints I made for the show. The print with the rooftop scene is the most detailed screen print I've attempted so far, and it wasn't easy! (printing the line) Even in the humid weather.     

The gallery will have copies of "hot + cold" and "Find my Light" The opening reception will take place Friday, July 13th at 7PM. Check out the Facebook event page. The show will remain on display throughout July and beginning of August.

Here are some process photos from the print shop.

 After printing blue, pink and yellow.

 Preparing 2 colors for gradient effect.

 After printing transparent gradient.

 Test scraps.

 "Follow Me" print.

 Printing line.

"Rooftop" on the racks.

New studio!

I just moved into a shared studio space in Greenpoint! We are dubbed Tinderbox Studio and I share the space with 5 other very talented people, some of them I had the pleasure of hanging out with in Portland back in April.

My desk, all moved in! I didn't have any chairs at first but the wicker chair we found while wandering around in Greenpoint and Chris was trying to get rid of the office chair but now I'm using it. :)

 Pretty big space.

 Aya and Chris working in the studio.

 Started to decorate my desk a little. Some separation work.

 The move to the studio wouldn't have gone as smoothly and quickly without the help of some friends, Megan provided a rental car and driving skills combined with Ian's ability for lifting heavy things. We went out for Polish food after the move.

Extravagant meal! The "Hungarian pancake" (that crepe looking thing) is waaaaaay more ridiculously bigger than how it looks in this photo. The pork shoulder cooked in honey was also amazing!

Got some happy hour beer after moving and devouring Polish food. So happy to have a studio space to go to and work, I'm predicting it will be a very productive summer. :) I've got the Fall season festivals to think about, after all. Get ready for new things!

CAKE in Chicago!

I'm heading to Chicago next weekend for CAKE fest! I'll have all my latest books and prints, find me at table #53. It will be my second time visiting Chicago and I'm really excited. I'll be participating in a panel discussion on Saturday about silk screened comics! The panel is called "Low Brow, High Mesh".  We will discuss the screen printing process and talk about how the practice can inform our narrative/art. Be sure to check out all of the panels going on over the weekend, there are so many great ones. CAKE is going to be awesome!!
Also, I am moving into a shared studio work space in Greenpoint this weekend! This way I'll spend a lot less time being holed up in my room. More on that later.

Travelogue #2: Toronto

I had a blast in Toronto! I had just a day and a half between going from Portland to Toronto after a red eye flight back to NY (!) but it wasn't so bad, I think the jet lag worked in my favor. Anyway, here are some photos from the trip-

I took the 12 hour bus with my pal Megan, getting through customs this time around went by quicker and felt less nerve wrecking than what I'd experienced in the past. When we got there we were greeted by our Toronto friends, Irme and Taylor. The next day we went to the Toronto Zoo where we got to see a lot of animals up close. It was awesome!

The gay penguins were there! We also got to see the new baby lion cubs, Simba and Nala (jk!) But in all seriousness, they were adorable and definitely up there among the favorite animals we saw there. The polar bears were also addictive to watch, there were 2 giant ones and a cub. Both the big bears started wrestling in the water at the end of the day and I couldn't keep my eyes away!

The day after that, we took a road trip to Niagara Falls while stopping at a couple of wineries along the way. There was one winery that was a unanimous favorite of ours which is Konzelmann Estate. I really enjoyed some of their barrel aged oaky reds and they had a late harvest dessert wine, "Vidal" that I found surprisingly great. (I'm not usually into dessert/ice wine, but this one is just right- not too sweet)

Here we are observing the rainbows at the falls! It was quite a majestic moment. The negative ions in the air made our hairs fly up.

Spent Sunday at TCAF where I got to say hi to a bunch of cartoonists, some I've been continuously encountering from going through the same festival circuit which is always nice. Afterwards, Megan and I decided it would be good for us to eat a wholesome Vietnamese dinner. This is when I had Bun Bo Gio Hue for the first time (beef and pig knuckle noodle soup!) and it was amazing. Later on, after several drinks we went out to search for poutine at midnight and Pizza Pizza was the only thing open, so we thought "What the hey! might as well indulge". The next day, we got real poutine from Smoke's Poutinerie, the double pork (bacon + pulled pork) Yesssssssssss!

On our last day, after sharing a modest box of Smoke's fine poutine for lunch, (of which we couldn't even finish and I kept in my bag only to discover it again back in the States) we had a decadent last meal before hopping onto the bus ride home. We picked up a bunch of live lobsters and steak from this awesome Asian supermarket, T & T. Megan and I stocked up on pickle dill potato chips and ketchup potato chips because we felt our friends back home need to try these things! They also had dessert tofu which comes in a variety of sweet and fruity flavors, of course we had to try the maple caramel flavor. It was so good! All in all a very memorable trip. :)

Travelogue #1: Portland!

I had an amazing time in Portland! Here are some photos highlighting the trip:

 I traveled with Aya and Sara and had the best time! We had our first breakfast at Gravy, a favorite of mine since my first Portland trip. The roads were covered in cherry blossoms, it was gorgeous that weekend.

 We got together with Aya's studio mates/friends (Rabid Rabbit crew) and took a trip up the mountains to Timberline lodge, the lodge that appears in "The Shining"! It snows 11 months out of the year and we got to play in the snow and have a snowball fight in April. :)

 We then went to Edgefield where we hung out in front of the Little Red Shed (turns out to be a liquor shed/bar!) After warming back up in front of the fire pit, we got happy hour beer and tots and watched a $3 movie at McMenamins Theater.

To start Stumptown weekend off, we went to another favorite of mine for breakfast- Pine State Biscuits! Saturday started off a little slow at the festival but on Sunday it got a lot busier (to my surprise.) We also spotted the most adorable dog outside a vintage clothing shop right by our hotel! :))))

A trip to Portland isn't without a trip to Voodoo doughnuts! Anyone who knows me knows I'm not really a sweets person but I was curious about the Bacon Maple doughnut (from watching Anthony Bordain devour one on No Reservations) We ended up giving in to Rogue's Bacon Maple Ale to go with the doughnut, it was worth it!

We went to the after party at Pony Club gallery on Sunday night where we were able to catch the Ghost Show before it went down. The next day, I got to hang out with Kinoko! We had delicious vegetarian at Paradox Cafe and she gave me a tour of her school, PNCA. Afterwards I had really yummy warm cocktails at Tea Zone with the incredibly talented Angie Wang. It was the perfect last day before catching my evening flight home before heading to Toronto. Coming up- Travelogue #2: Toronto!