Here’s a free app that features lots of nifty artwork by yours truly!

We don’t have an iPad, but I have to clear the screen of drool every time I hold one. Anyway.

Check it.

xm

i’m thrilled to announce my first show of artwork in a long while. nat swope at bloom press and i have been producing prints together for a few years, and this will be a showing of a few of the work we’ve produced together (among other things). the show will be at bloom press, 2310 telegraph avenue, in oakland, on may 3, from 6pm – 9pm sharp. i hope to see your shining faces there. the image below is a preview of one of the prints that will be available.

xm

greetings from the Land of Oaks! There’s lots of things afoot here (I can’t tell you about them quite yet – but soon), and I’m taking advantage of my Spring Break time to catch up and say hello.

First of all, I helped to produce a groovy set of snakey stamps for the Elsewhere Philatelic Society‘s Chinese New Year event..

.. and here’s the gocco-printed postcard that went with the stamp.

Check this poster design I did for this sweet couple gettin’ hitched this year.

A good deal of my time lately has been spent at my alma-mater, CCA. I’ve been teaching a Digital Tools class for the Illustration Department. I was asked to produce a Thank You card for visiting lecturers. I’ve had lots of great visitors to my class : Jim Winters, Beth Dean, John Mattos, and Gordon Studer have all dropped some wisdom in the student’s heads. Here’s what I came up with for the card:

I drove up to Mendocino College to teach a screenprinting workshop for my dear friend Susan Gross’ printmaking class:

and the results were fantastic!

And, finally, a cover illustration I did for Bay Woof magazine:

Ok, my Peeps. Enjoy your Springtimes!

xxm

:::: your moment of zen ::::

new ways to market your illustration

the art of illustration

winsor mccay – little nemo

do the scariest thing first

barry mcgee & margaret kilgallen

lynda barry & technology

gary panter interview

fellow who built a traincar in his basement

burma superstars

ny times opinion pages

the institute. the institute trailer.

powers of ten

disney’s journey to mars : 1957

mr. wertz @ the sfcb

gary panter’s sketchbook

Sister Corita’s Rules for Students and Teachers

What is Art

ICON 7 Keynote Speech

noah purifoy : joshua tree

23 envelope

steampunk octopus

hank rollins

one minute movies

in the street

secondhand sureshots

andy kaufman

john cleese on creativity

speed levitch

five of the images I created for the new Camper Van Beethoven release “La Costa Perdida” have been accepted by the 2013 jury to appear in Illustration Annual 54, the May/June 2013 issue of Communication Arts.

Exciting!

xm

the new Camper Van Beethoven record is out today, and it is, indeed, a goody goody. The package design and illustrations were done by yours truly. You can stream the whole thing here, and you can buy yourself a copy here. I recommend getting a “hard copy” of the CD, since that will give you the full sensory experience of owning the record (as opposed to having these little pop gems lost in the “shuffle” of your playlists).

Go ahead, treat yourself. Buy the CD from your local music purveyor, wait for it to arrive, pour yourself a frosty beverage, put the CD on, find a comfortable place to sit and listen, and relax. Listen to each track carefully, noting your physical reaction to each song. You might get distracted. That’s ok. Sit back down, and listen to the next track. And so on. See? Feels good, right?

Do you know Camper’s older musics? You might start with Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty. This is a good collection. If you like that one, you’re ready for Cigarettes and Carrot Juice, a box set of their early records. Key Lime Pie is another favorite. Listen, it’s all great. Trust me.

You’ll find me at The Rickshaw Stop on February 16.

xm

Hope your Chrissmess is lovely and warm!

Thanks to Mick Hodgson and Ph.D, a Design Office.

xm

I just updated the portfolio page with images (and posters) created for Camper Van Beethoven, FastFab, ALO, The Artisans Gallery, Papergirl SF, and the Hollywood Laundrette.

Take a gander!

It’s been a busy time (what else is new?). I’m finishing up my first semester as a professor at the California College of the Arts. It’s been super challenging and fun ; the best assignment (so far) was a Harold and Maude poster I assigned my 20 Digital Tools students. We’ve had John Mattos, Beth Dean, and Jim Winters as speakers. We’ve covered Photoshop and Illustrator, and we’re finishing the class with InDesign. Looking forward to Spring Semester!

xm

p.s. Up next: the end-of-year poster for Camper Van and Cracker. And sleep. Possibly some sleep.

so much is going on. So. Much. Is. Going. On.

First, there’s this: Mac @ ARCH Art Supplies asked me to design a poster for Papergirl SF, a “a community art project that distributes submitted art pieces by bicycle, freely and at random, to people in the streets of San Francisco, American paperboy style”.

Here’s a lovely little video of the poster getting printed. These posters will be distributed free this Friday night at the DeYoung Museum.

Monster Illustration has reared up its ugly (but lovable) head from a long slumber. See what Marcos, Hugh and I are up to here at the brand new Monsternosh : a site for Illustrational Inspirations.

I’m working on the new Camper Van Beethoven album packaging right now. The record is called La Costa Perdida. Have I heard the record? Yes, and it’s their best record since Key Lime Pie. I can’t wait for you guys to hear it. In the meantime, here’s “Camper Van Beethoven” and “La Costa Perdida” in Hebrew:

כמפר ון בטהובן
camper van beethoven

לה כוסתה פרדיטה
la costa perdida

Here’s this year’s Campout poster. It’ll be available on my site after the Campout.

This summer I worked with my friends Babs & Steve at Hard Boiled Industries to make an e-Book version of Dog Dreams. Get it on iTunes! You can have me read the book to you and say the word “hurtling” 100 times in a row. Fun! The post below (the video of me at the SFCB being goofy-looking) is included as part of the e-Book, so you can watch me pretend to make prints on the Vandercook again and again!

What else. Oh, it was a lovely, lovely summer. Spent the 4th of July weekend with our good friends Earl & Samuel in Port Costa. Stayed at this beautiful old hotel : these spots (without strip malls) are hard to come by in the Bay Area. Did the yearly family trip to Tahoe (this was our 24th year ; we’ve somehow managed not to kill one another), and prepared for my teaching gig at CCA. I’m teaching Digital Tools to 20 students in the Illustration department. There’s only been one class thus far, but so far, so good.

OH MAN. Also! In the “Cool Stuff I get in the Mail” department: Chris Rathman sent me a Plastic Bead version of the Space Bear from this year’s Campout Poster! Behold!

Thank you so much Chris!

xm

behold! The kind folks at Hard Boiled Industries made this promo video for the San Francisco Center for the Book and Dog Dreams as part of what will be the eBook version of Dog Dreams. Neet!

(And, I’m not joshin’ when I tell you I hope to see you at the Center making your own books soon!)

xm