The installments of Fox Head Stew continue to come out fast and furious! I’m really excited about the last few installments, it’s all rather new artwork and it’s  pointing in the direction of where I want to be heading with my new work. The addition of some digital effects and more mature subjects force [...]]]>

The installments of Fox Head Stew continue to come out fast and furious! I’m really excited about the last few installments, it’s all rather new artwork and it’s  pointing in the direction of where I want to be heading with my new work. The addition of some digital effects and more mature subjects force everything into a new, fresh space.

What have you been missing?

Ch. 12 – The Block Cocks perform

Ch. 13 – Dee Fantasizes (pictured below)

Ch. 14 – Dee’s Date

Yesterday and today I’ve been painting the next installment of the comic, working on some neat dreamscapes. I set up the camera and filmed a bunch of the process, performed a video interview on myself and now I’m editing together a short video for it. It makes me feel like a little kid again: spending my weekends drawing fantastic things and making videos. I guess that’s a sign that you’re doing it right.

Sometimes we become the things we draw. I’ve never been very good at keeping it straight, whether my eyes grew bigger due to my drawings or whether I draw that way because it’s how I look, but more and more those lines get blurred.

I’m sketching a lot more lately, and I’m telling myself that once I finish off FHS I’ll go through my sketchbook and make larger, finished pieces from all these ideas. I post some of the sketches on tumblr, little beacons of ideas and linework to the masses. I enjoy responding to movies and TV with my own renditions, here we have Apartment 23, Avengers and Albatross, along with an abstract  iPhone doodle. I was trying to get myself to draw the whole Avengers crew, but that might take a little while. Those guys are so muscley I hardly know where to start. But drawing pretty girls is pretty ok!

New Fox Head Stew tomorrow! Follow me on twitter for updates!

<3 j

As I’m wrapping up the painting for the last chunk of pages from Fox Head Stew, I find myself starting to plan my next epic story. But no! I must stop! I have promised the people that are closest to me that I will NOT do this right away! Once you get [...]]]>

As I’m wrapping up the painting for the last chunk of pages from Fox Head Stew, I find myself starting to plan my next epic story. But no! I must stop! I have promised the people that are closest to me that I will NOT do this right away! Once you get addicted to constantly being within a giant project, it’s really hard to think about what you’d do if you weren’t stuck in the middle of a giant graphic novel. I’ve been starting  smaller projects to ease myself into a new mindset. My fashion obsession has led me to design some patterns, like the one above! Who wouldn’t want a pug dress, or a jacket lined in pugs? I am obsessed with the idea.

But the real question is: what comes next? I’ve tried doing nothing after work, just veg out and watch movies on my laptop. I’m obsessed with watching movie trailers. I am, in particular, obsessed with the trailer for Prometheus. So, before I knew it, I was drawing sketches of stills from Prometheus. With this came the haunting realization that I am actually quite adept at drawing and coloring digitally for fun:

You’re just lucky I’ve convinced myself that I have to paint the last pages of FHS in watercolor, or else the final sequence would all be digital. Sure, I’ve done things like that in Weird Fishes, but I’m really, really trying to stay somewhat consistent these days. However, this marks a new chapter in digital work for me, it’ll most likely leak into animation if I don’t keep it in check.

That would be horrible.

It’s all a matter of keeping the traditional media alive within any format you go into. It’s all about the drawing, the feeling. Whether it’s textiles, comics, paintings or films, there’s a character with a story and an action with a meaning. It can sometime seem trite to reflect on pop culture, but if you don’t reflect on the world around you then you’re too wrapped up in your own little micro drama. And if you can find a way to reflect objectively and sensitively with your own vision rather than absorb passively, then I think that’s the meaning of art, right?

Soon enough, you may become a part of the pop culture yourself.

-J

Hey! There is a new episode of Fox Head Stew for your reading enjoyment over at MTV Geek! This is one of my favorites because you finally get to meet Bunny Boy’s new band: The Block Cocks. They are everything wonderful and wrong about indie music today, and they are your new favorite garage band.

Hey! There is a new episode of Fox Head Stew for your reading enjoyment over at MTV Geek!
This is one of my favorites because you finally get to meet Bunny Boy’s new band: The Block Cocks.
They are everything wonderful and wrong about indie music today, and they are your new favorite garage band.

If haven’t read Fox Head Stew yet, you’ve got ten (short) parts to catch up on! Here’s your links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.

It’s been a Mad Men-themed week for me. My obsession started on Sunday at a premiere party for the new season, and I’ve been re-watching it throughout the week, and have French pop songs blazed into my memory. I gave a presentation on Dyna Moe and contemporary pop illustration to my coworkers, and then [...]]]>

It’s been a Mad Men-themed week for me. My obsession started on Sunday at a premiere party for the new season, and I’ve been re-watching it throughout the week, and have French pop songs blazed into my memory. I gave a presentation on Dyna Moe and contemporary pop illustration to my coworkers, and then found myself doing my own Mad Men illustrations. Sure, it’s already been done in a spectacular way, but I can’t get resist the iconic shots, the memorable storylines, and the fashion. I didn’t think they could top the current cast, but Megan Draper has become an absolute favorite of mine in just a short time! Her dresses, and her singing! So great.

I’m a big fan of the deconstruction of all the Mad Men fashion that you can find at Tom and Lorenzo.

Darling Joan has changed a lot since we last saw her, hasn’t she?

Working on the next installment of Fox Head Stew, we’re up to Part 9 already!

I’ve been a huge fan of Mondo’s designs since last season of Project Runway, and his latest collection does not disappoint at all! The rorschach dress is absolutely killer, I want one. A lot.

If you didn’t catch it last week, I did an interview with Tim O’Shea over at Robot 6, read it here.

I’ve been a huge fan of Mondo’s designs since last season of Project Runway, and his latest collection does not disappoint at all! The rorschach dress is absolutely killer, I want one. A lot.

If you didn’t catch it last week, I did an interview with Tim O’Shea over at Robot 6, read it here.

I took part in a tarot-themed gallery show that a bunch of my artist coworkers put together, we randomly picked tarot cards and I got “The Empress” Lovely!

The “Oh, No! Tarot” show will take place at Public Works on Sat April 7th.

For the first time in months, since the big push to get Fox Head Stew ready to broadcast on MTV Geek, I’ve started to sketch just for the fun of it. It’s a relief to let go of the pressure to draw something for a purpose, and this weekend I feel like Charlotte Free [...]]]>

For the first time in months, since the big push to get Fox Head Stew ready to broadcast on MTV Geek, I’ve started to sketch just for the fun of it. It’s a relief to let go of the pressure to draw something for a purpose, and this weekend I feel like Charlotte Free is one of the most striking models out there right now, so I drew a bunch of runway sketches of her.

She is one of those girls that makes me feel like my drawings have come to life. If you have any doubt about that, check out this video of her new ad campaign. Total dreamy little rebellious girl with a chiseled beauty of a face. She can pout like a badass. They put her in some pretty good clothes, too.

I’ve been obsessing over David Bowie lately as I’ve been reading “Bowie in Berlin” and watching way too many live videos of him from the era. We need more Bowie, all over the place. Also, I reviewed this book and a few others for a “What Are You Reading” feature over at Robot 6. There’s something pleasing about reviewing druggy popstar books and fashion manuals on a comic book website that often features superheroes. Big thanks to them for inviting me on this week. But that’s me: ever-questing to combine rock, fashion illustrations and comic books in the same room.

In comics: new Fox Head Stew pages go up tomorrow at MTV Geek! We’re getting into the new, juicy storyline that nobody’s seen yet.

Coming next: my tarot-themed Empress painting!

-j

Part SIX of Fox Head Stew is up on MTV Geek right now. It’s one of my favorite sequences I’ve drawn with Bunny Boy, a little bit of angst and a little bit of street magic. I always love those moments when you can’t tell if someone is a crazy bum or one of the most [...]]]>

Part SIX of Fox Head Stew is up on MTV Geek right now. It’s one of my favorite sequences I’ve drawn with Bunny Boy, a little bit of angst and a little bit of street magic. I always love those moments when you can’t tell if someone is a crazy bum or one of the most enlightened people you ever met. Who knows?

I haven’t talked about the Culture Club show yet!

The whole thing went over very well, it was spontaneous and wonderful: I’d seen my friends in Hiking play a show last year and knew they’d fit with my artwork perfectly, but hadn’t seen them play since, and, when we thought about it, we decided it was best that way. I got to hear their new material right onstage with them, and they got to witness my live art on the spot, too.

We played on the big stage downstairs at Public Works, and I ended up on a ladder painting on the wall behind the band. They sounded wonderful, I fed off their energy and reflected it on paper, the audience was afraid I would fall, and meanwhile pages of my comic were being projected on all the walls around us. It was pretty thrilling and cathartic to paint on stage, and it was somewhat strange as my drawings of comic characters playing instruments projected over the faces of Hiking, reality and fantasy blurring in just the right way.

Huge love to Evan, Veronica, Hubert, Camilla and Josh for performing! To Darragh and Britt for DJing. To James for making the whole thing happen, Tyler for filming and support. To Noise Pop, Culture Club and Public Works for supporting the show. And everyone that came out, thank you! We will do more. Ideas for making it even crazier and more visual and immersive are being discussed.

Sometimes I wonder why I feel exhausted, and then when I remember, I can’t help but smile.

While last year I went completely mad and reviewed [...]]]> Noisepop this year was hectic and wonderful, fulfilling and exhausting. Along with putting on my live art show, I got some passes and, persuaded by James Sime, Noise Pop and SPIN magazine I followed up onlast year’s coverage with some new sequential art reporting of musical acts.

While last year I went completely mad and reviewed 4 shows, I only did 2 bands this year: The Fresh and Onlys and Disappears, who opened for them. You can read the comic over at SPIN’s new website (HERE) along with a bunch of other great comic reviews by bay area comic artists.

As much as it’s cool to be hosted by SPIN, the comic is pretty much unreadable on their site, so check it out, I’m posting it right here:

This marks a new collaborative project with Tyler, as he shot the video footage I drew from, and added the words to it as well. I’m happy with the results! My dream job would be going to shows, documenting, and publishing comic reviews. Is it possible? Probably not. But it’s fun, and Disappears put on one of my favorite performances I’ve seen in awhile, so quite a good night.

This weekend we edit video and post more Noise Pop coverage!

EDIT: The show starts at 4pm for an hour-long DJ set before Hiking plays. Also rumors of a special guest.

I’m still a bit jetlagged from my 2-week visit to New Zealand, but I have [...]]]>
Excited to bring my idea of a live art and concert event together on Saturday! You can RSVP to the facebook invite HERE.

EDIT: The show starts at 4pm for an hour-long DJ set before Hiking plays. Also rumors of a special guest.

I’m still a bit jetlagged from my 2-week visit to New Zealand, but I have heaps of photos to share and some really cool videos from Camp A Low Hum (by far the greatest music festival I’ve seen) along with beautiful jungles, hills and beaches.

If you’re in the SF Bay Area, do try to come on Saturday!

MTV has put back on the design I made for them last year, and it looks like I’ve pretty much made mtv.com/geek my home!

You’ll recognize this week’s pages if you’ve read Dee’s Siren Song. I’ve integrated the pages that I could into this story, and I’m reworking a handful of them at the moment. Next week’s [...]]]>

MTV has put back on the design I made for them last year, and it looks like I’ve pretty much made mtv.com/geek my home!

You’ll recognize this week’s pages if you’ve read Dee’s Siren Song. I’ve integrated the pages that I could into this story, and I’m reworking a handful of them at the moment. Next week’s chapter is going to be fun to look at side-by-side.

Yesterday I took the 15-hour trip down to New Zealand and I’m currently bunking in a little victorian in the middle of a tropical jungle. The place is blowing my mind, and I’ve only had a chance to wander around on foot in a jet-lagged state so far. I’m venturing into the botanical gardens today equipped with my camera, and will post some pictures shortly!

Comics and jungles oh my…

Oh, and mark your calendars for Saturday, February 25th when I’ll be back in San Francisco and putting on a live art show, book reading and more as part of Noise Pop Culture Club! It’ll be at Public Works from 5:30-6:30, here’s the info. My friend’s fantastic band HIKING just confirmed to perform while I draw something big and impromptu to their music. They are one of the more exciting performances I’ve seen in 2011, and I am stoked about the collaboration. This is my second year I’ve collaborated with Noisepop and the legendary Isotope Comics, here’s Jame’s exciting coverage of it over on the Isotope website. So many good times!

-Jamaica