From sea to shining sea

From L.A. is J.DaVey(left) and from New York City is HEAVy. This one is for Craig Lindsey's Power of Soul column in Philadelphia Weekly.

What are you thankful for...

In this weeks Baltimore City Paper. Thanks to Noah for the awesome photos of the Sandy Hut.

After a late night and an early morning....

The J Roddy Walston cd art is done.

From Rap to Radiohead

2 Illustrations for Philly Weekly.

Hair!

Bob Dylan for the Baltimore City Paper

2 Sides of Jill Scott

Jill Scott illustration for Philadelphia Weekly. The article was about how She can take on different roles in film and music.

Another Johnny

People are already starting to reserve the drawings they want to buy so contact me if you see one you like and I'll mark it as yours before the show.

From the wall of Jonathan Valania

This made my day.

Another Johnny

Awesome show coming up...

Davey G's new cd is called Chairman of the Keyboard. Enough said.

Wes Anderson

Jonathan at Phawker.com is interviewing the writer/director/producer Wes Anderson tomorrow and needed a portrait drawn. I've always been a fan of his movies and since I finished the art before the interview, Jonathan's going to give him a print in person. Anderson directed films such as Rushmore, Life Aquatic, etc. but he produced one of my favorite movies The Squid and the Whale. I wanted to throw in images from all of his movies but since there were so many to choose from, I couldn't decide and rather went more simplistic. The tigers refer to his new movie The Darjeeling Limited which I look foward to seeing this weekend.

Another Johnny

I talked to Sarah at the Metro Gallery today and we are definitely having the Night of 100 Johnnys show. This means that by January I have to have 95 more Johnny Cash portraits done. I'll keep posting them as I finish them(probably 1 a day) and if you see one you want to buy, let me know and I can set it aside for you.

Hell is open late so you can eat great....

This is a quick portrait of Dave Thomas from Wendy's for Peter Goode's "Black Metal Fast Food Fight" art show. The alternate title is "What the Fuck is Black Metal" because Dave looks pretty confused in the drawing with his right side up pentagram and Alice Cooper looking cane. The goal of this show is to somehow fuse black metal and fast food themes together. Well I know little about any kind of metal but I love Wendy's so this is what resulted. If it was Ramones Fast Food Fight I would know exactly what to draw.

Now That's Class

This is a portrait of Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo for an interview that will be posted on Phawker.com. He just wrote a new book called Bridge of Sighs that along with much of his other writing, examines the different classes and personalities of characters in small towns. He himself feels connected to the east coast small towns in which he writes.

Waiting to Inhale

It's 1:45 am and I'm finally done working for the weekend. This is a portrait of Devin the Dude for Brian McManus' column in Philly Weekly. After 4 illustrations and playing 2 shows I can finally go to sleep. Who needs to smoke weed when you can work yourself into a coma.

Wave of Protest

I did this for Phawker.com for an ongoing column about the protests in Myanmar. At first I considered drawing 100 monks one at a time in the streets but figured using a wave would illustrate a similar feel.

During some down time...

I thought this sketch would make an ok illustration.

Health Care, Homelessness, and Pool.....

This is an illustration for the Baltimore City Paper about an upcoming event to reaise money for the homeless to get health care. The event is going to be at a bar/poolhall called Bedrock. I wish someone would throw a charity event for me to get health care but I'm just an illustrator. Oh well.

Mr. Ahmadinejad Goes to Town

So I had a day off today and started sketching with a paintbush and ink. I usually use brush pens but I thought I'd go back to the real thing since I finally have a little time to experiment. I sketched Ahmadinejad and thought I'd turn it into something using old layers I had from past illustrations. He turned out looking like something from 28 Days Later.

Hating The Eagles Isn't Just For Music Anymore

This is probably the most frightening illustration I've done for Philly Weekly. This is a second assignment I got on Friday about how ex-Eagles running back Duce Staley freaked out on the writer who at the time had the unfortunate job of photographing Staley. Long story short, Staley and other various Eagles were not so nice and the writer now hates them. I can't say I blame him but I grew up a Redskins fan so I'm a little biased.

Samantha James Rises

I just finished this illustration for Philadelphia Weekly. Every other week I illustrate a column by writer Craig Lindsey called Power of Sould. This week is about electric soul singer Samantha James and how she is planning to strip down the effects and tour with a live band. She has a song called "Angel Love" hence the angel theme. Sometimes I just can't be as clever as I like to think I am.

Out Now - "Name That Republican" trading cards

Last November I illustrated 50 comical portraits of the GOP's finest for Chronicle Books. The cards containing the illustration on the front and a variety of fun facts on the back just became available to the public. You can get them from Chronicle's website or from any bookstore or online store like amazon.com or overstock.com.

Sir Sidney

This illustration is for a chlidrens magazine called Crinkles. This is the first job I've done for them but I look forward to working with Mike Nguyen who is the art director and also puts out Sen Magazine which I contributed to last month. Each issue I'll be illustrating a pencil portrait of a celebrity that they will be spotlighting. This issue they will be writing about Sidney Poitier who I have always admired as an actor. I still wish I was in the band that played at the end of To Sir With Love.

Passion is a Fashion

Here are two posters I just finished for shows here in Baltimore. No disrespect to Christians and Catholics, I am just commenting on the hypocracy that is Mel Gibson. The Witchcraft poster refers to their album titled Alchemist that just came out.

Trouble With Pet Stores

This is a line drawing of the illustration I just finished for Sara Green at Philadelphia Weekly. The column involves racist ignorant behaviour at a pet store. The column's writer Liz Spikol(The Trouble with Spikol) makes a Michael Richards comparison in the story I jumped at the chance to draw Kramer. I originally drew a lot different layers(the cashier, the store, etc.) but Sara and I both agreed that just Kramer would do the job. That's why Sara is awesome.

Here's a recent sketch of Johnny Cash. I'm planning on throwing an art show/music show called Night Of 100 Johnnys where I will have 100 drawings of Johnny Cash for sale while bands play covers of his songs. By the time I'm done with the drawings I will no doubt look like this myself.

Kerouac's "On the Road" 50 Year Anniversary

I recently illustrated this for Jonathan Valania at Phawker.com. If you haven't been there you should definitely check it out. I started working with Jonathan when I was illustrating his column "Hear No Evil" and when he left Philly Weekly I started illustrating for his blog site Phawker.com. Every assignment he gives me is fun to work on because I usually have an interest in the subject matter. This assignment was no exception. I have always been a fan of Beat poetry and to draw Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy for the anniversary of On The Road was very enjoyable.

Welcome to my new blog

To welcome you to my new blog, I am posting an illustration I just finished for the Baltimore City Paper about a book called "Welcome to Baltimore, Hon." It think the art says it all. I promise to not pull a gun on you though.