ANNIE WU

I'M LIKE HALF-WOLF.

2011-12-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

I've been following the new season/series of Misfits... I don't know if I'm watching because it's genuinely good or because the new guy's face is, somehow, the best thing ever. Seriously, Joe Gilgun's facial expressions are amazing. So, on Friday, during a break from drawing other stuff, I did a quick sketch of his character and the quick sketch turned into a full-color Rudy Wade. There you go.

The first two seasons of Misfits are on Hulu for American viewers. The third, which features the new guy, will start streaming later this month. Here, have another Joe Gilgun picture and a song that Misfits totally ruined for me, LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!"...

OH GOD THERE'S INK EVERYWHERE.

2011-12-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive! I'm trying to get things done and be a productive human being! I actually made and ate squash today like I'm a real person! Madness.

New work will be coming in a bit, but I just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I've updated my shop with a few originals, including the one pictured above. Also! Since I won't be doing cons for a while and that's typically the only time I offer sketch commissions, you can grab a one-hour sketch from the shop. Details inside. I will only be able to take on, like, four or five, so this is a pretty limited thing. I don't know when it'll happen again.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll get my shit together and share something new soon.

EATING DOLPHINS AND HANGING OUT WITH LADY-SINGERS.

2011-09-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Parks & Recreation and I had a somewhat rocky beginning, but I believe those early obstacles allowed us to strengthen our relationship to be what it is today. Seriously, I'm a big fan now. I'm totally gonna be Ron Swanson when I grow up. Or Jean-Ralphio. I don't know, there are a lot of factors to consider... Mainly how douchey I become (most signs currently point to Jean-Ralphio).

I oh-so-cleverly used tonight's season premiere as an excuse to draw some Jean-Ralphio and Tom. I don't think Jean-Ralphio does ties, but I liked the way I drew that hand, so I left it.

What's that? You want another drawing of Ben Schwartz? Well, that's a strange thing to request, but I guess I could upload this other sketch I did while watching "Jake & Amir" videos. I know a lot of illustrators have taken to doodling Nick Offerman/Ron Swanson pics -- AND FOR GOOD REASON -- but I submit that Ben Schwartz/Jean-Ralphio is equally fun to draw. I think it's the hair.

Aaand that makes three updates this month with actual new artwork. I'm really determined to keep this blog alive, even when I can't post my professional work. We'll see how long I can maintain this stupid go-getter attitude. "Oh-ho-ho," she laughed knowingly.

"Jean-Ralphio" count: 6

PROHIBITION ERA PSYCHEDELIA.

2011-09-16T14:06:00.000-04:00

I did a guest comic thing for Warren Ellis's Three Panels feature. Above is the full-size third panel, which I had to crop in a weird way to keep the writing legible at 640px on Warren's site. Click here to see the full comic. My friend Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi also did one.

I've been thinking a lot about this concept over the past few months. I had "PROHIBITION ERA PSYCHEDELIA" scrawled repeatedly in my notebook and those words regularly bothered me, so I eventually forced myself to draw this, just to get it out of my brain so I can never think about it again. I think my exact words were "Deliver me, inky exorcism." And yay! I'm free. Now I can get on with my life. I guess.

Oh, these are some pictures I threw on Twitter and Tumblr while I was working. This actually strayed pretty far from my typical process. I usually use pens more than brushes or digital linework.

And this is how I look after staying up 'til 6AM last night for no good reason.

Okay, back to real work.

THIS CROP MAKES ME LAUGH.

2011-09-07T15:38:00.004-04:00

I bet you're rolling your eyes at me if you also follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, because I've been going on and on about this... But it's my first printed comic work, so LET ME HAVE THIS MOMENT.

Okay, so, basically, I illustrated a short story in the penultimate issue of House of Mystery (#41, out today). I may have had too much fun doing it -- I got to sneak in a robot with a hand grenade! And used fight scenes as an excuse to study clips of Mac from Always Sunny! Also, I showed the cover (by Esao Andrews) to my mom on Skype and she screamed. There's your stamp of approval. Thanks to Greg Lockard, Matt Sturges, Shelly Bond and the folks at Vertigo.

I can't wait for you guys to see what else is coming up. I just need to learn how to work faster and stop nitpicking at every line and maybe cut down on these very time-consuming ham + cheese toasties.

Oh, and speaking of ham and wanting all of it, if you've already seen Patton Oswalt's great new special, you may enjoy this silly sketch I did while watching it this Monday.

STREAMING FLAXEN WAXEN.

2011-08-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

Here are two portraits for "Hairy Baltimore," a book featuring interesting coifs of various folks around the city. Illustrator Alex Fine is putting together this exhibit/book for the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and the Baltimore Book Festival, and he asked me to be one of the twenty illustrators to provide the forty doodles. And you know I can't resist drawing some bitchin' locks.

... "Some bitchin' locks"?

I'm super-curious to see what reference photos the other illustrators were assigned.

I also got a haircut recently, but I don't know how to style it properly so it just kind of looks like a black cat flattened itself out and mounted my skull.

THERE WAS A WHIP INVOLVED AT ONE POINT.

2011-07-24T23:12:00.000-04:00

I attended Dr. Sketchy's NYC for the first time and enjoyed a bit of Zorro-themed drawing. I had a weird moment during the session when some sort of, like, lost memory resurfaced and I suddenly remembered that I actually watched a LOT of Zorro when I was a kid. Y'know, the old black and white series. It used to be on the Disney Channel until the early 2000s, I think. I had really forgotten all about it until I was in the middle of drawing the model's mask for the third or fourth time.

Said mask was not on the model during this pose, as he had passed on his hat, cape and mask to his topless co-model lady (not pictured). His black blouse-y puffy shirt just disappeared altogether though, which was maybe for the best.

Some more substantial updates to come. Soon. I mean, I think. I've got some stuff I need to finish. I'm being pulled in ten different directions right now. We'll see. UGGGH GET OFF MY BACK GEEZ.

I SPECIALIZE IN LONG-HAIRED LADIES WITH WEIRD GLASSES.

2011-06-24T20:19:00.001-04:00

This is part of something I've been working on with M-Edge for the past few months. This specific illustration was for a custom iPad jacket, sent to Rachel Zoe. We later got word that she loved the cover, which is always pleasant to hear. There's a feature on The Zoe Report today, where you can see the final product.

M-Edge makes some damn spiffy covers, by the way. They've got a new thing called MyEdge where you can design your own e-reader jacket. Once I finally get around to killing a weak-looking person in a secluded late-night subway car for their iPad, I'm so totally going to make a super-cute cover.

ART FOR JAPAN.

2011-06-22T21:56:00.002-04:00

Just a very quick post to let you all know there are about four hours left to bid on the original inks from my punk JLA illustration. This is all part of the big ART FOR JAPAN effort that has been going on for the past few months and all money goes to AmeriCares for Japan relief. I've been linking this on Twitter a lot and I just remembered I didn't blog about it, which is a bit terrible. Sorry. There are plenty of other great listings for the campaign here. I got a creepy-cool tote bag a few days ago.

I'll have a proper update soon. I'm dealing with a few different projects, one of which was just announced -- a short story in Vertigo's 'House of Mystery.' Additionally, I moved to New York a few weeks ago, and I'll be disappearing to London in about nine days. So things have been and will continue to be a bit... interesting. This guy has been my Twitter avatar for a long while, if that explains anything about what's going on in my brainbox.

THIS WON'T MAKE THE 24-HOUR NEWS CYCLE.

2011-05-02T12:06:00.001-04:00

There hasn't been much activity in my shop in the past few months, but I've just done a massive update and I'm re-launching it. You can now browse original art, prints, bigger prints, a handful of postcards, and even t-shirts (sort of). Most things are in very limited quantities, including prints.

I think I'll only be able to keep the shop up until the end of the month, when I'll mostly likely put the whole operation on hiatus again so I can focus on moving. I hope something strikes your fancy. If you've got any questions, feel free to e-mail me or use this weird form thing.

BILLIONS IN THE DOUBLE-SIDED TAPE INDUSTRY.

2011-04-25T12:48:00.000-04:00

I drew this thing for a thing that's going to be at Dragon*Con. Although I will not be attending the convention this summer, I am contributing a small illustration for the fan-run People's Republic of Venture table. This is a slightly edited version of the final piece. More details at a later date. It's gonna be cool.

Oh, did you hear that Venture Bros. has been renewed for two seasons? And will also have a long-form special? Yeah? Yeah.

In other news: My weird girls from 'The Birds: Twins' are going to be featured in the upcoming SPECTRUM 18. I'm very honored to have my work accepted again ('A Dead Sheriff In Little Wichita' was in 17). Here's the full list of artists.

WILL IT EVER CLOY?

2011-04-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

Above, a cover illo from the zine I sold at MoCCA. I was looking at a lot of pictures from The General while drawing it -- Buster Keaton's long black hair was all, like, fuckin' luxurious and shit.

And now, have a few con sketches that I did and actually remembered to (sloppily) document.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table. A lot of familiar faces, a lot of new friends. And if you ordered postcards from me, I promise the second half are going out in a few days! I'm going up to NYC again tomorrow to start looking for an apartment, but as soon as I'm back, I'll pack and label the rest to ship out. Besides, I probably wouldn't get these addresses right when I've got moving anxiety screaming through my skull.

I'll leave you with this tattoo from a gent named Toni from Sweden. Pretty cool, man. Pret-ty cool.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE ILLUSTRATORS FROM QUITE A LONG WAY AWAY.

2011-04-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

The Society of the Okay is going to be at MoCCA Fest in NYC this weekend! Table D6. Here's a super-quick group portrait so you know who to look for.

From left to right: Emma Rochon, Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi, me. That's EXACTLY what we look like. All thin and 2D and hastily rendered. YEP. Here are the group portraits Emma and Ariyana did.

A massive, massive thank you to all who bought postcard packs and hassled your friends into doing the same. I will have the remaining five-ish accompanying me to MoCCA Fest, sitting nicely with my prints and newly printed zines/mini-books. Here's the bellyband I settled on, by the way. I typed it in as dummy text but then decided it was stupid enough that I wanted to keep it.

MOCCA PRE-ORDER DEETS.

2011-03-31T16:09:00.005-04:00

So. I'm going to be at the MoCCA Festival in NYC from April 9 - 10 with Emma Rochon and Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi, as The Society of the Okay at table D6. Among other things, I'll have postcards for sale! But if you can't make it to MoCCA Fest, the postcards are also in my online store.

It's the first time we're doing MoCCA and, while I want to make sketches available, I'd like to try and spend more time interacting than drawing at this con. Let's give this a go... PRE-ORDERS. I ink up something nice-nice before MoCCA and you can pick it up from my table at the convention. Easy.

I don't anticipate a flood of requests, so I'm accepting pre-orders until April 6th. My 2011 con pricing is $20 for inks on 9x12 Bristol. Level of detail is this-esque, but probably a bit more because I'll be drawing at home without rush. I'm asking for payment through PayPal but if that doesn't work for you, we can figure it out via e-mail.

I have no more convention plans for the rest of 2011 (or the near future, honestly -- not as anything other than a fan/attendee, anyway) and Artists Alley adventures are the only time I do commissions at this rate.* If you are interested and will be attending MoCCA, please contact me at anniewuart [at] gmail [dot] com.

... I think that's it. Thanks, and hopefully I'll see you soon!

* I've been getting some requests for other sketches to be mailed out and, unfortunately, I can't do those right now. I can offer con sketches for cheap because they're done within the tiny window of time I've set aside to prepare/attend the con anyway and they're picked up in-person. All other individual commissions fall under other rates and I currently don't have the time to give them the attention they require since I'm also freelancing full-time. I'll make a big, obnoxious announcement if/when I start doing those again. Promise.

EVER CIRCLING SKELETAL FAMILY.

2011-03-23T16:31:00.003-04:00

A few months ago -- for god knows what reason -- I made some dumb joke about David Bowie running a fat camp. Last night, these notes resurfaced and I decided to work off a sugar high (and practice my cartooning) by turning this idea into a fake pitch. The Thin White Duke's fat camp. God, it's so stupid, but this is what happens at 4AM.

Ultimately, I only got as far as two characters. I couldn't even bring myself to ink and finish the fat little campers because they were just too ridiculous. I can tell you they all had baggy white t-shirts with the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt, though. Anyway. Here's David Bowie as the director of a fat camp. And this is his adorable assistant, Jackie -- I'm sorry, I had to.

Now that I've gotten those drawings out of my system, here are a few reasons why such a kids' show could never, ever exist: A) It's David Bowie and he's too good for this nonsense, and B) it's hard to animate so much milk and cocaine.

SILENT FILM MAKE-UP FOR EVERYONE.

2011-03-01T22:36:00.002-05:00

I'm going through some sort of Buster Keaton thing right now. I initially typed out a whole big post to explain but it later seemed silly -- maybe even a little redundant, if you've followed my work for a while -- to share. Let's just say I like deadpan.

Also? Buster Keaton was fun. To. Stare at. All right, maybe I included that last one just because I thought it was funny... But look! He even holds his own against Mr. David Bowie. That's not easy.

Edit: Ah, looks like my guest page for The Gutters webcomic just went live. This is the first time I've ever drawn something for someone else to color. It's weird! I mean, obviously, it looks great but this is certainly something new. Thanks for letting me participate, guys. I hope my lines weren't a nightmare to deal with. Anyway, the rest of you, please enjoy Charles Xavier's "dat ass" face.

WHEN SPIDER'S AWAY.

2011-02-12T11:58:00.002-05:00

I was asked to contribute a piece to the upcoming Transmetropolitan art book, benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and The Hero Initiative. It's still too early to reveal the full illustration, so here's a tight crop/preview.

The Kickstarter campaign for this ends on Monday night. If you're interested in ordering a book, stop thinking about it and just do it. I mean, c'mon, look at that crazy list of artists. And bonus Darick Robertson and Warren Ellis? Really, now.

Oh. And I've discovered that, for someone who renders hair like a crazy-person, Channon's super-layered mane is both a joy and a nightmare to draw. In hindsight, I could have picked Spider Jerusalem to save myself the trouble. But that's not a very good exercise in self-hate, now is it.

IT'S FULL OF SECRETS.

2011-02-04T11:41:00.001-05:00

Small illo I worked with on-and-off shortly after the first image from the Spider-Man reboot was released. Yes, it's me using Spidey (and portrait practice) as an excuse to draw Andrew Garfield's magnificent, giant hair.

I FORGOT I HAD INKY FINGERS AND RUBBED MY EYES.

2011-01-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Atomic Books is a super-cool shop that I have enjoyed since my early days in Baltimore, so I was pretty jazzed when they asked me to illustrate their new gift card.

The first design I submitted (pictured below) was scrapped because the cards couldn't do full-bleed and it was a little too comic book-y for the store (which carries a lot more than comic books). My intention was to use the cropped comic as just a way of better integrating the store's name and atomic logo, but I can totally understand why it didn't work out. The thing I drew for Strand was mentioned as a new reference point, so the final ended up sort of rhyming with that.

"Rhyming"! I really just wrote that. That Annie Wu, what a douche. Anyway, I'm not sure when the cards with my design will be available, but I'll be sure to do another post when I find out.

In other news, I've opened up commenting to more users. I think a Google or Blogger account used to be required, but now OpenID and LJ and Wordpress and a few others are supported. Yay. Oh, I also desaturated my entire site design because even dark purple eventually felt like too much color for me. So if you want to go look... Do it.

THE GIRLS WHO CROSS THEIR LEGS.

2011-01-11T13:44:00.000-05:00

I'm low on art I can share, so here's an old, old redesign of Starbucks's two-tailed siren, from my Sophomore year. It seemed appropriate to finally upload, now that Starbucks has changed up their logo. They've dropped their name from the design but kept the siren lady spreading her fish legs apart. And if you've never noticed it, now you can't unsee. You are welcome.

What else has happened since my last post?... I've been named one of Newsarama's 11 creators to watch in 2011, so that's pretty neat. I also did some interviews, including this one. And I'm going to have a piece in the upcoming Transmetropolitan art book, which is currently raising funds over at Kickstarter, so please take a look and pre-order.

FLOPPY MOHAWKS AREN'T CANON.

2010-12-02T02:47:00.000-05:00

The current Remake/Remodel challenge on Warren Ellis's Whitechapel: Making a poster for Malcolm McLaren's 1977 Justice League film (don't worry, that didn't actually happen). It seemed appropriate to turn the JLA into a punk band for this. Design-wise, I suppose mine doesn't necessarily fit the period, but my focus was really on the figures/costuming. I love re-interpreting characters and making up fake bands, so this was fun to do during breaks from other work. There are a few bits I especially enjoy, like Wonder Woman's stockings and Batman's t-shirt. And for some reason, the idea of Aquaman not being able to hold his alcohol was really funny to me. I don't know. Oh, and I scribbled a JLA logo thing for the occasion.

In hindsight, I should have done a color sketch first because I was working with set schemes. The left side of the drawing turned out kind of heavy on the red. THANKS A LOT, FLASH.

NO EYES, JUST EXPOSED BRAIN MATTER.

2010-11-26T00:26:00.000-05:00

Spectrum 17 is out now! Check out that link for a list of places to purchase. I got my copy in the mail a few days ago and it's lovely, full of illustrations and new book smell. My featured piece, 'A Dead Sheriff In Little Wichita', rests opposite a rather scary (but wonderfully done) image.

Also, I modified my site so that it serves as a blog/portfolio rather than just a blog. If you've been following these posts via some RSS thing, you may enjoy taking a look at the site again. The portfolio sections are carefully organized (and updated), whereas my blog is just anything that I'm not too embarrassed to post. Links have been updated too. And I drew this quick self-portrait for my About page, because I look straight-up unfriendly in photos. I swear my face is just like that.

SHALLOW GRAVY.

2010-11-22T01:53:00.005-05:00

I just finished the Venture Bros. season finale. I'm afraid if I start talking about it too much, I'll only get super-excited and not be able to stop (it's a problem). So I'll just say I loved it. A lot.

There's a lot of VB stuff on this blog, but I wanted to make something to celebrate Season 4. So here's a sort of nod to the early days, when the twins were mostly just dopey boy adventurers. Dean and Hank are a lot more than that now, of course. VB has always been a very funny show, but the evolution of the characters and their whole universe is really incredible. Above and beyond what one might expect from an animated series.

... You should probably just watch it if you haven't already. And start from the beginning. Otherwise you're just askin' for trouble.

Updated: I felt bad because there are a bunch of people ending up on this post after searching for season finale music info. So here is the list of jackets Shallow Gravy sings about before dialogue kicks in... Yellow. Strait. Smoking. A full metal. Flak. Leather. Varsity. Also, the song that plays at the end of the episode is Pulp's "Like A Friend." And yes. I lost my shit when it started. Maybe even more than when I heard the band's getting back together in 2011 (YESSSS).

PARADISE CIRCUS.

2010-11-06T19:07:00.002-04:00

Super-quick one. I was listening to Massive Attack's "Paradise Circus," and this is what happened. I'm also currently dealing with a mild obsession with crosses. Not for any religious reason. But whoever designed Jesus's brand identity did a really nice job. I appreciate it.

WHERE IS MY FORMAL GAUZE?

2010-10-22T00:47:00.001-04:00

I've been busy. But to prove that I'm still alive, here's a quick sketch of a girl who needs a cheeseburger. I think it's going to be a while before I can share what I'm working on, so I'll make a serious effort to keep the blog somewhat regularly updated with other things. It's for you that I'm doing this.

MEAN WOMEN AND DISEMBODIED HANDS.

2010-09-18T16:55:00.003-04:00

ELLE/TRESemme's "Dirty Little Secret" finale is now online! All ten episodes are available on the official website and YouTube. And I think the last of my DLS illustrations is in this month's issue of ELLE. Go stare at them or something.

Each of my drawings was shown for probably all of two seconds in the actual series, so I made this collage to share some of my favorites. Also, I know my personal love for dead-eyed deadpan results in limited expression in a lot of my other work, so... Look! Other expressions. Note that this is just a very small selection of the -- seriously -- hundreds and hundreds of things I drew. It was a lot of work but I think the final product looks cool. The animation team did an amazing job of making my drawings look more exciting than they really are.

SPX went well. I'm going to be at NYCC (Oct. 8 - 10) next, but I'm mainly just walking around. Unless you or someone you know has an Artists Alley table and wants to share. For real, let me know. I'm polite and wear clean clothes.

DON'T BUY A TARDIS.

2010-09-01T09:22:00.000-04:00

"... BECOME A TIME LORD AND THEY GIVE YOU ONE FOR FREE."

Over on Whitechapel, the current Remake/Remodel challenge is to design the 13th Doctor. To be honest, I'd really like to see an older Doctor lead one of the revival series. Back when they were still looking for an 11, I was hoping they'd cast someone like Bill Nighy (I mean, Nighy ended up in the last series anyway, which was cool).

This character isn't exactly meant to be Bill Nighy, though he was my original inspiration. I'm thinking... Older, even more flamboyant (I imagine his outfit changes colors every episode but it remains in that combination). Flashy, a little snarkier than the other guys. Maybe the Doctor feels the need to turn up the energy when he finds himself in an older body. Nighy, specifically, is twice as old as the current Doctor but he still has an incredible energy and way of carrying himself that is immensely entertaining. Similar snake-like movement and posture to, say, Jarvis Cocker.

... Okay, I really like Bill Nighy. In other news: This comes into your room and watches you sleep at night, before burrowing into your ear.

I THINK SOMEONE SNEEZED ON ME AT THE CON.

2010-08-31T11:40:00.004-04:00

Baltimore Comic-Con is over. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and the folks that dealt with my super-awkwardness when I wandered up to say hi. I did some sketches and, unlike last year, I remembered to document the work. I mean, they're shitty phone pictures but that's better than nothing, right? So here are some things I drew...

Clockwise from the top left: Phantom of the Paradise (um, Phantom of the Paradise), The White Stripes, Watch and Ward (The Venture Bros -- returning Sept. 12), space chick, the Order of the Triad (The Venture Bros -- did I mention it starts again Sept. 12) and a punk rock Storm (X-Men).

Next up: Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, September 11 - 12. I'll be at table C3, hustling my wares.

THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR CHEST AREA.

2010-08-26T14:45:00.005-04:00

AHH. Baltimore Comic-Con is this weekend, and I will be in the Artists' Alley with Emma Rochon and Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi. We registered under The Society of the Okay, so that's how we'll probably show up in the program. Come find us at Table A214, because we can only amuse ourselves for so long. Here's the map. We're facing the lobby, so... I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

I'll be sketching all weekend. There will also be a variety of prints, a small selection of original art and these "Poison In Her Well" t-shirts, which are also available in my shop (same price, just plus shipping). Black ink on black American Apparel tees for extra-classiness. Available in XS - XL (unisex, size chart). Some sizes are ridiculously limited, by the way, especially XL.

The black print on black fabric is difficult to capture in a photograph, but the variation in texture (shininess of the ink against the fabric) creates a really cool, subtle effect. ~~I made a video to demonstrate but quickly decided I didn't want to upload fifteen seconds of me just spinning around.~~ Fuck it. Here's a crappy video for you to watch.

A SIAMESE CAT OF A GIRL.

2010-08-14T13:41:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the limited updates. It's been pretty go, go, go with ELLE's "Dirty Little Secret" series (s-so many ladies to draw). I think I failed to mention that there are exclusive illustrations in each issue of ELLE (at least for a few more months), so you should check those out. Yes, I realize I'm terrible at promoting myself.

I pulled a few late nights to get some new things going as well, including the pictured shirt design. As you can see, it's a design-y version of my "Poison In Her Well" poster. Printing this week. Black on black American Apparel shirts.

Oh. And SDCC happened. It was an exhausting but completely amazing event: I met some great new people (including acquaintances that had previously only existed in the digital realm), visited friends, fangirled, promoted my work, talked business, spent too much money... Even my day of mindless post-con recovery/wandering was wonderfully derailed by an impromptu visit to the WildStorm offices. Thanks to everyone who made my first SDCC a great experience.

And the conventions just keep coming. Next: Baltimore Comic-Con, August 28 + 29. Details soon. I promise.

FIND ME IN SAN DIEGO, GET DOODLES.

2010-07-21T01:21:00.004-04:00

Here's the deal. I'm packing for my first San Diego Comic-Con. I just found these ladies. Their inky skeletons, I mean. I have a game for you. If you find me at the convention and are the eleventh person to give me a Sci-Five, you can have the original inked art for this piece. Only one try per person, so Sci-Five carefully.

So. Find me. I'll be occasionally updating my Twitter if, for some reason, you were really desperate for that art and wanted clues to my whereabouts. I look like this.

Mid-SDCC update: OH MY GOD. I UNDERESTIMATED THE CON. IT IS A BEAST. Okay. It is obvious I will never make it to eleven in this environment. I can't even find the people I'm looking for and most of them are at stationary tables.

WHO WANTS PIZZA ROLLS?

2010-06-23T10:43:00.000-04:00

"Dirty Little Secret" is currently three episodes in, so be sure to check out all the crazy drama that has been going on (it only gets crazier; I've read the scripts).

Work for the series has been taking up all my time, save for a few afternoons where I force myself to shake the creeping threat of atrophied legs by wandering around a bit. I really wanted to quickly doodle something else, so before bed last night, I managed to sketch Dr. Orpheus. He's my favorite-favorite. And sometimes fan art is just easier.

Oh! And this year, I will be attending San Diego Comic-Con for the first time. It was a ridiculous, last-minute decision, so I'm still not sure what's going to happen. I think I'll mostly be showing up at parties, looking for food and agonizing over whether or not I shook someone's hand too firmly. Anyway. Updates later.

CAPTAIN CABINETS TRAPPED IN CABINETS.

2010-05-24T12:57:00.007-04:00

Final piece from the comedy portraits part of my thesis. To be honest, I'm not even that obsessed with the actual Mighty Boosh show (my two favorite episodes are all from the first season) but I absolutely love the dynamic between Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Also, that's supposed to be a giant gorilla hand in the back. Not sure if it reads 'cause I decided to get wacky with the coloring.

That's it for thesis work. Thanks to my thesis group members in Metallica (whatever, I thought using a pre-existing band name for our group would be hilarious and it is, so shut your mouth) for all their hard work and feedback: Michael Clayton, Noel Hernandez, Viktoriya Tsoy, Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi, Emma Rochon. Additional thanks to my studio professors: Oliver Munday, Rachel Salomon, Allan Comport.

I just added a bunch of original art to my shop (big pieces too!). Every penny from my sales is a huge help toward all the weird stuff coming in the next year, so an Internet high-five to those who have already supported me. Update: Sold out! I even sold my last shirt. You guys are fucking amazing. Thank you.

Also, don't forget that the first episode of "Dirty Little Secret" premieres on Elle.com tomorrow! I read all the scripts a few days ago; this series is going to be a lot of fun. If you're confused about what these words mean, check out my post about this project.

ANGEL TATTOO SINKING BENEATH HER BELT.

2010-05-20T10:17:00.003-04:00

I was coloring this and then the above line from Bat for Lashes's "Sarah" popped into my head. My response was, "Yeah, sure, why not." Arbitrary religious tattoos are becoming a thing in my life.

So, yeah. Another piece for the fashion illustration half of my thesis. Clothing inspired by this post on withasianstereotypes (I love this blog, but beware the auto-play).

UP TO SOMETHING.

2010-05-19T00:49:00.001-04:00

A shot of my display in the Commencement exhibition before I tore it down. I graduated on Monday, finishing up four years of studying Illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art. My classmates are some of the most stunningly talented young artists out there today, so I hope you all hire the shit out of them. No, seriously. Really make them suffer with that work load and then aggressively try to tend the wounds with money and praise.

And for my first announcement as a legit, full-time illustrator... I've been working on a project with ELLE Magazine for a while; this is a screencap of the site that just went live today. It's like a motion comic/animated webseries hybrid called "Dirty Little Secret", and I illustrated all the characters. I wish I could also say I wrote it and did all the awesome animating and backgrounds, but I'm not that good at multi-tasking. The trailer is online; the first episode premieres next week. There's also a short video interview on the site, showing a little bit of my process. I haven't been able to get through the first ten seconds without cringing at the sight of myself and closing the window, so I don't know if it's any good.

Note to self: Stop eating cookies at all hours.

ALL THESE BITCHES CHECKING OUT MY BRITCHES.

2010-05-08T19:58:00.003-04:00

Hey, remember that thesis thing I was doing? Well, I just finished up my last week of school (ever), so I had to bust out a few more pieces.

Even though the second season of their TV show wasn't super-great, I really love Flight of the Conchords. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement were one of the first duos I thought of for my thesis, so it had to be done. I sketched this piece before any of the other ones, half-inked it and then left it to die because I wanted to proceed in a different direction. But time quickly ran out and I had to sheepishly revisit it, apologizing for my illustration-infidelity the entire time. For this piece, I was going for their naive, unassuming sex gods angle. Subway car, wide-eyed fangirls, underwear. You know. That whole deal.

What, that brings my comedy portrait series to a total of two pieces? I swear I'm not a slacker. I've got things to show you. Soon. Ish. Maybe.

Also, I'm finally selling some original art in my store. First up, the inks for my first The Birds illustration... Details here.

YOU'RE TURNING INTO A PENGUIN. STOP IT.

2010-04-28T20:36:00.004-04:00

In my pathetic excuse for a heart, I hold a tremendous fondness for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Like, I'd get into it, but it's truly embarrassing how much I love this stuff. Y'know... Turning point in my childhood. If you haven't read the series before, I urge you to pick up the first book (it's the best).

Even as a kid, I felt that the Hitchhiker's Guide books deserved more than the goofy-cheesy cover treatments they often received (heh, I threw away the dust jacket on my all-in-one volume because the naked book was better). So, for our latest Typography class assignment to redesign book covers, I chose the first three in the series. I wanted something fun and subtly retro but also sophisticated. Some progress was tracked on Twitter, if you care.

THIS IS MOSTLY WORDS.

2010-04-23T23:04:00.007-04:00

First! I recently received an amazing set of handmade sketchbooks from Mark Grambau and Mel Chao. Mel makes these leather, softcover books and, holy wow, they're so damn nice, I think they'll motivate me to get back into this whole sketching thing. Plus, the paper's really great so I think I'm going to try out more ink sketching. This drawing is my first in the book, just something quick because I don't like dealing with an empty sketchbook. It's intimidating.
And a few bits of news... My poster for "A Dead Sheriff In Little Wichita" will be included in Spectrum 17. It's an honor to be in such fine, fine company, so I'll be pretty excited to see the book when it comes out in November.

Also, my design for Strand didn't win their contest but I'm one of the twenty finalists. Not too shabby. The winning and finalist pieces will be part of a show at SVA some time in June, I believe. They're also online here. I'm just excited that people like R. Sikoryak and Adrian Tomine looked at my work for even a second during the judging process.

Also, also, some friends told me that my Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick illustration was on [adult swim] a while ago. It was kind of a nice surprise the morning of my birthday (yeah, I'm 22 now). It's been running all week and, as always, BumpWorthy was on the ball and uploaded the clip a few days later. Watch the bump here, and marvel at the, like, ten seconds that my work lingered on [as]. Hey, this kind of stuff makes me giddy. Don't mock me.

And... I think that's it. For now. I graduate in less than month, so I need take care of all the nonsense associated with that.

SEE, I CAN STILL DRAW EYES.

2010-04-13T16:20:00.002-04:00

So. I was asked to create a banner for an e-mail to Art Directors, inviting them to come to our illustration department's end-of-the-year showcase (Seniors show off portfolios, chat with ADs via Skype... It's quite cool). This was one of the toughest assignments I've had in a while, having less than a week to come up with something visually interesting and friendly/inviting (not my area of expertise). I also had to somehow express the relationship between art students and ADs at Showcase. Of course, my brain immediately spit out numerous concepts about panic and the desperation of recently graduated students but, okay, no one wants to hear about that, let alone see it on an invitation.

My professor and department chair both reacted positively to the Venture Bros. piece I did a few weeks ago and we pushed it in that direction. I was really hung up on making everything happy and inviting at first, which resulted in a mediocre piece that didn't look like my own. Then I scrapped everything and started over, tossing the happy-go-lucky tone and just doing what I wanted to do (I mean, while keeping most of my weird tendencies in check... No one has an eyepatch or anything). In the end, I came up with a piece I actually quite like, and I hope the ADs dig it too.

In other news, I attended MoCCA this last Saturday and had a blast. I was around for only about five hours but I caught up with old friends and met so many great people. So worth the exhaustion. Holy crap.

WELL, I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY.

2010-03-31T11:47:00.003-04:00

This is for The Strand's tote bag contest, which I didn't know about until a few days ago. I dug through the other submissions and I seriously doubt I'm going to win, but if you take a peek at the list of judges, then you can probably understand why I wanted to get my work in anyway. Oh, and obligatory song... Roxy Music's "The Strand."

I also did this in-class typography exercise, quick handlettering for Cam Jus, a DC-based DJ. He asked our professor for something like the Coca-Cola logo, so I considered script from vintage, hand-painted signs instead of just riffing on the Coke logo. I think it turned out nicely for an hour's work. Thanks to my professor, Oliver Munday, for tuning it up and making it vector-nice.

SEAGULLS SCREAMING KISS HER KISS HER.

2010-03-20T11:46:00.003-04:00

I've been working all through Spring Break, so I thought I deserved to dick around with a nonsense piece of artwork for a few hours. I did this little exercise last night. While watching 'The Birds' the other day, the crows collecting in the playground reminded me of the hordes of sour-faced burn-outs that head to the swings to smoke after school. Yeah, I don't know why my mind works that way. Anyway. I thumbnailed a few fashion-y illustrations inspired by this. Titles that were entertained included: "Surly Salad Days," "Goth Recess," "And Twiiiiins" (I apologize profusely for that last one). I may turn this into a series to do in my tiny pockets of free time.

What's that? An excuse to post music? All right. Both these songs have somewhat creepy, almost voyeuristic birds (so I had them on loop). I should start a collection with this theme. And sell it on TV, a la "Buzz Ballads." Here are XTC's "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" and Pulp's "Birds In Your Garden."

The response to my first piece for thesis has been really amazing. Thanks to everyone who has been sharing it. I'm planning on doing at least four more from my long list of duos. Flight of the Conchords is already in progress, so maybe they'll be posted next.

PRESENTED IN GLORIOUS EXTRA-COLOR.

2010-03-11T17:33:00.004-05:00

I had a lot of fun with my "Quarter 'Kee and Bastard Pistol" thesis, but I wanted to use this semester's project to gently nudge my brain out of its comfort zone and satisfy some rather unrepresented categories in my portfolio. I decided to take on a series of portraits (rather than my usual improvised characters) depicting duos in today's comedy scene (no Laurel and Hardy, sorry). I also wanted to do illustrations that would appeal both to those familiar and unfamiliar with the real-life subjects. Y'know, something to intrigue the uninformed but also reward the hardcore fan. This meant sprinkling in a lot of inside jokes, which I hope will be fun for you guys to see.

The first in my series is one of my favorite working creative teams, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, the minds behind The Venture Bros. They're probably one of the more atypical duos to choose for this series. But I really like them. And this is my project. So there.

LOOK OUT FOR THE TELEPORTING CYCLOPS.

2010-03-09T19:46:00.003-05:00

In Typography class, one of our first major projects was to design an event poster for a lecture, play, musician, whatever we wanted. The only real rule was that the focus of the poster had to be type (imagery was allowed but couldn't be the focal point). I was listening to a lot of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, their improv alter-ego (serious thanks to both Zoetica Ebb and Ales Kot for bringing them to my attention). Both band names have plenty of lovely letter forms for me to draw and stack (two Zs!), so I chose one and went with it.

The poster, printed at 18x24, looks nice. It went through infinite revisions to get to something I felt confident in; the exhaustive, mildly annoying process was partially documented on Twitter. Anyway. I'll shut up now. Have some music.

Oh. Yeah. Thesis things. Those are, uh, on the way.

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT BULLET HOLE.

2010-02-16T18:08:00.001-05:00

I was cleaning out my studio flat file and saw this fellow. I totally forgot to share this one last semester. Originally, this piece and the line art that eventually became my shirt design were supposed to be elements in one of my first thesis posters.

The two faces were a very subtle detail flanking a larger illustration in the middle, but this proved to be too much digital manipulation for me (I try not to edit too much in Photoshop, just color). Since only half of their faces were supposed to show through ever so slightly, I didn't bother to make their faces look terribly different and decided to focus more on their sleepy eyes and lightly sneering, partially parted lips. I was also thinking about making him a shirt as well but it would have cost a pretty penny to print both designs.

In other news, I was sorry to hear about Alexander McQueen's death. He was one of my go-to designers when it came to putting together outfits for that fashion illustration class I took last year. Even if you don't typically pay attention to the runways, looking through his collections is always great inspiration. Incredible, incredible work.

ONE TWO ONE TWO THREE FOUR.

2010-01-21T18:19:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned how excited I am for Edgar Wright's film adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O'Malley? Because I most certainly am. Here's a Kim Pine drawing I sketched during class today. I've done a lot of doodles from the SP universe but this is the first that has turned out at least kind of, sort of okay.

And yes. I said "class." My final semester of college began this week. So... we'll see how that goes.

THEY MAKE JETSON CAR SOUNDS.

2010-01-04T02:39:00.002-05:00

A super-quick piece for this week's Remake/Remodel challenge over at the Whitechapel forum. Ace of Space was a character that used some space goodies from a crashed UFO to help him fight Nazis. Obviously, a 1940s take on a Shakespearean classic. I did this drawing during a break from coloring other drawings. Trust me, I'm well aware that I need to get back on board with my other hobbies.

Also, obligatory reference to the new year. 2009 has easily been the craziest year of my life, and I'm sensing that most of this self-same crazy has bled over into 2010. Thanks for putting up with me for a year, folks. Here's to another.

THE PROSPECTOR'S 20-ACRE TERROR GARDEN.

2009-12-14T14:04:00.003-05:00

Here's the last poster from my thesis. With this one, I wanted to play a little more with lighting than I had in the other posters and also draw lots and lots of shoes. This title went through an incredible number of revisions, but I think it became stupidly epic enough to be the final movie in the Adventures of Quarter 'Kee and Bastard Pistol series. Spoiler alert: Quarter 'Kee dies in this one.

... Or does he? (Yeah, he totally does.)

Thanks to my professor, Rachel Salomon, and fellow thesis group members, Emma Rochon, Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi, Rosemary Davis, Noel Hernandez, for their help throughout the semester.

THE SKELETON 'KEE'S MIRACLE TONIC.

2009-12-13T16:34:00.003-05:00

I shared this illustration a few months ago, as it was the first one I completed for thesis. Since then, I've tweaked the coloring a bit and added lettering.

This is another villain piece, an extra-sleazy conman. The formula for a well-dressed embodiment of religious insincerity is simple: Take a white guy in a suit, drop a variety of Christian imagery, and then arbitrarily add Native American gear and a miracle tonic labeled "not at all deadly." Give him a cartoon baddie moustache and blackened lips for good measure. And yeah, I used "'Kee" again because "Skeleton 'Kee" was too cheesy to resist. Quarter 'Kee threw a series of comical tantrums upon hearing about this guy.

Quarter 'Kee shirts are on the verge of selling out; the last few have been added to my shop. I'll be shipping them out before I go on Break next week. Thanks again to those who bought shirts from Comic-Con, Art Market or when I carry them around inside my trenchcoat.

THE OUTLAW OUTPOST.

2009-12-12T14:39:00.003-05:00

Third in my series of posters for thesis. Villains. Twin bounty hunters. Sweet jackets and boots. Perpetual scowls. Easily triggered bloodlust. Eyepatches. An accident that ensured their permanent grumpiness and need for Quarter 'Kee and Bastard Pistol's demise.

Oh, and a tree with lots of paper on it.

POISON IN HER WELL.

2009-12-10T20:35:00.003-05:00

I imagine that The Adventures of Quarter 'Kee and Bastard Pistol started off with a single film and, after it totally made bank in the cinema, the creators decided to expand it to a series. Inevitably, they had to bring in a love interest/pair of legs, so I used my second poster to introduce Lady Gunpowder (I also considered "Baby Gunpowder" or something equally ridiculous), who is like a weird mish-mash of a Native American princess and an outlaw schoolmarm.

I decided to go for something a little more iconic and pay homage to this Fistful of Dollars poster, which I like quite a lot. Also, Poison in Her Well was one of the goofier, awkwardly sleazy titles at the top of my list of brainstormed film names. Of course I had to use it.

A DEAD SHERIFF IN LITTLE WICHITA.

2009-12-09T14:44:00.006-05:00

I previously explained the thematic goals behind my thesis (I was pleased to see that my words resonated with writer Chris Roberson), but perhaps I should break down more specifics. From the start, I wanted to fake-develop a series of buddy cowboy action flicks, pulling more influence from the mid-century little kid fascination with "cowboys and Indians" than historically accurate information from the old West. I also wanted to include wild one-shot characters, fashion-conscious costuming, and a bit of the casual sleaze and political incorrectness found in exploitation films. Oh, and I wanted to hand-letter a bunch of really stupid/epic names for the movie titles. These are all things that I love exploring, so it wasn't difficult to tie together.

That's how the Adventures of Quarter 'Kee and Bastard Pistol came to be. Pictured is the poster for the first film in this five-part imaginary series, A Dead Sheriff in Little Wichita. It's not my favorite, but it's done. So there.

So, why does scrawny Quarter 'Kee have a skull permanently painted on his face? Why is the rebellious sharp-shooter Bastard Pistol's version of alarm read like low-level disinterest? It's up to the audience to fill in the blanks; all I offer are the visual clues. Again, feel free to refer to my explanation from a few weeks ago in case you're still confused why the hell I'm doing this, but I promise no understanding. As usual.

SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR THE LADIES.

2009-12-04T22:19:00.001-05:00

The ladies of MICA's burlesque troupe, The GalHaus Revue, asked me to create a poster illustration for their big performance, coming up in January. Really, how could I say no? Despite the fact that my sketchbooks are filled with leggy girls that look like they belong on Bond's arm, it was weirdly challenging creating the right kind of image for this poster, all the while keeping it design-friendly. This particular figure went through an infinite number of incarnations and costume changes; it was kind of ridiculous. Designer Justin Lloyd fixed up the whole thing real nice-nice, really made the poster pop.

Also, I will be emceeing this self-same burlesque show, so if you want to see me probably act like even more of an idiot than I usually am and make an audience really uncomfortable, come on down.

In other news, I've been hammering away at my thesis because everything's due in, like, a week. Occasional, crudely shot progress photos have been appearing on my Twitter. If I don't die this weekend, I will post finals soon.

JUST FRIENDS.

2009-11-25T15:55:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago, Patricio Oliver asked me to contribute a piece of guest art for his graphic novel, Maurice in Love. Illustrators (including a few certified People I Know: Jordie Bellaire, Sam Bosma, Daniel Krall, Kali Ciesemier) were asked to re-make some of the panels in the book, which follows the love life of a British single fellow named Maurice. I received a copy the other day, and the guest art looks marvelous with Patricio's also marvelous illustrations. Do the math. That's double the marvelous. I really wish I had more time to put into my piece, but I'm still very pleased to have been able to participate.

Also, I've finally opened up a store where prints are available for purchase. I'll have shirts and a few more things online after MICA's Art Market is over. Also, also, I gave my blog a little face lift and a new color scheme, so go on and take a peek if you've been following via a feed reader for a while.

New business cards and postcards are also on the way. Art directors, be prepared to find these under your pillows (I prefer a more hands-on approach than direct mail campaigns).

A STRICTLY DEATH-ONLY DIET.

2009-11-14T22:38:00.002-05:00

Just a quick one today, gang. This is my contribution to the Harry Potter-themed zine that Alyssa Nassner has been organizing to sell at the upcoming MICA Art Market.

I swear, I wanted to stay away from the dark characters and draw two of my personal favorites, Fred and George, but I just couldn't handle all the smiling. I also made a tremendous effort to stay away from illustrating teary-eyed Draco Malfoy, despite my natural inclination to draw sad-looking but impeccably dressed men. Bellatrix Lestrange was kind of a spontaneous thing, but the deadline was coming up, so I just let it happen. I played around a little with textures and the B&W restriction, though I think the lace and fishnets dated her outfit. At least now we know what Bellatrix would have looked like if she were in an ethereal goth rock band from the 80s.

KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER.

2009-10-21T22:21:00.004-04:00

Senior thesis. I am right in the thick of it. I'm doing a series of 18x24 posters for films that don't exist. My project presentation to the class included me rambling about the freedom to play with stories that exist with little to no larger context, as well as a barrage of material from Kevin Dart's "Yuki 7" project, The Venture Bros. episode "Escape To The House of Mummies Part II" and the Grindhouse trailers. Basically, it's all just an excuse for me to design ridiculous characters and make up as many crazy standalone scenes as I want without consequences. The stories only live and breathe within these posters, and the viewer fills in the (massive) gaps with their own imagination. I'm going to pretend that kind of makes sense.

More details about my thesis when I'm feeling slightly more coherent, as I need a good deal of energy before I can talk about cowboys and 60s sleaze. In the meantime, take a look at my first completed poster illustration (text will be added later), featuring this snazzy fellow. Do not be fooled by his masterful and almost-sexy way with words! His lips say, "Try my miracle tonic" but his facial hair screams, "I will tie your girlfriend to the railroad tracks."

I ALSO ACCIDENTALLY YELLED AT A KID.

2009-10-20T09:45:00.003-04:00

Baltimore Comic-Con was a few weeks ago, and I had a swell time with Emma Rochon and Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi at our Society of the Okay table. To look occupied (because I seem extra-unapproachable when I'm just sitting there, glaring into the middle distance), I drew Molotov Cocktease, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and Triana Orpheus, and, surprisingly, they all found homes. It was great. I neglected to properly document most of my drawings, but you can see Mol below and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch above, kind of, sort of. I did Venture Bros. characters because their outfits are burned into my brain, though I admit I did text to confirm which side Mol wore her eyepatch.

Even though I only managed to walk through the floor once that weekend, I got to meet artists and writers that I greatly admire. I'm going to go ahead and pretend I didn't weird them out too much. There were also people that said that they were already familiar with my blog/Twitter, so hello to you guys too. It was great putting faces to usernames. Thanks, everybody. You have no idea how pleased we were about the response.

I was holding off on selling prints and shirts online to make sure I'd have all sizes available at the con, but that's over now, obviously. For those of you who are interested in buying any of the three pictured prints (digital, 8.5x11) or a shirt (American Apparel unisex XS - L), just throw me an e-mail (hidden away here) and hopefully we can work something out. I'm also putting together materials for my school's upcoming Art Market and finally putting things in my Etsy shop, so availability/sizes are limited.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must re-watch the Venture Bros. season premiere for the thousandth time and then do that "glare into the middle distance" thing I'm so good at.

I GENERALLY STAY INDOORS.

2009-10-13T11:55:00.007-04:00

I never thought my first editorial work would be for a sports publication, but, then again, my psychic powers have always been lacking. I illustrated the cover and several portraits for this month's Lacrosse Magazine. I'm sure you've noticed that most of my artwork consists of women, and when I draw men, they are imaginary and/or extra-gaunt. So, being faced with the challenge of drawing so many portraits of male athletes was kind of daunting.

However, when AD Gabriella O'Brien and writer Matt DaSilva told me about their idea, which consisted of crazy superhero-esque portraits of lacrosse's finest faceoff masters, I was pretty excited. Too cool, right? I have seriously lucked out with assignments so far. This was also one of the select few issues that would go to their younger audience (in addition to the regular subscribers), so I took that into consideration. It ended up being a lot of fun, and the interiors look fantastic, thanks to Gabriella's work. I still can't believe they trusted me with the cover, which consists solely of my illustration and hand lettering. Thanks to Gabriella and Matt for a great experience!

In other news, Baltimore Comic-Con was a success. An inevitably obnoxious post to follow soon.

SPOOKS AND LADYKILLERS.

2009-10-06T00:19:00.004-04:00

I was scanning sketches for... An ashcan? Mini-book? Mini-comic sans comics? It's a few Xerox'd pages, folded and stapled so that it resembles a book. Whatever that's called. Anyway, I was flipping through my last few sketchbooks for things to scan and I came across this piece, drawn a few months ago. It was a pencil doodle that I had, for some reason, accented with some matte medium. I liked the way the resulting texture looked in the scan, so I figured I'd post the full drawing and a super-close detail shot too.

I'll get the skull faces out of my system eventually.

Also, there have been questions about purchasing my Comic-Con things. My plan is to bring the full stock to the con first, because I have no idea what sizes/items will be popular and it's just smarter to have as many options as possible. Afterward, if I have time, I will re-assess the situation and re-print things as needed. In the case of shirts, I may even be able to take orders so I can get a solid idea of what sizes are needed. Sound good? I hope so, 'cause that's what I'm doing. Just keep an eye on the blog for updates, as always. Thanks. UPDATE: And here it is. Details about purchasing.

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR MY AWKWARDNESS.

2009-10-04T21:25:00.002-04:00

Don't worry, this is the last reminder. Baltimore Comic-Con is this weekend. I will be at Table 114, with my friends and fellow illustrators Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi and Emma Rochon, under the name "Society of the Okay." If things go according to plan, there will be prints, buttons, minibooks and I will have some newly printed shirts. Should you care to find me, just look for this surly creature (the angry face is natural, the purple hair is not) and these t-shirts...

I wear shirts from cartoons because I am an adult. Also, the tees I'm bringing are grey on grey and printed by the fine folks over at Squidfire, on American Apparel. Yeah. Stick with me and you won't need any more of that Fruit of the Loom nonsense.

Oh, and this is my 100th post. Whoo.

CLASSIEST WAY TO WEAR A BOLO TIE.

2009-09-15T01:02:00.011-04:00

A first look at my project for Senior thesis. This is just a small part of it; I think I'll explain it all once I get the actual first bit done. If you can see the tags for this post, you're probably already thinking, "What the actual fuck?" Skip to the end...

This is a shirt design that I hope to get printed in time to sell at Baltimore Comic-Con (Oct. 10 - 11; more details later about what table I will be awkwardly hiding behind). If I can work out a plan that won't stress me out, I'll also sell them online. At the moment, I'm still trying to decide a few things, including the color scheme (I wanted black on black, but the skull detailing makes any print that isn't dark-on-light very weird... Now, I'm thinking maybe grey on white or black on grey?) and order size.

If you'd like to help with this last part, please do me a favor and let me know what size you would order (American Apparel brand tee). You can do so in the comments, on Flickr, on Twitter, on the street, whatever. Obviously this isn't a commitment, I just want a better idea of which sizes will probably be in higher demand and order accordingly. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

And here's a small sample of the Moo mini-cards that I ordered a few weeks ago. Amazing quality, as expected. Since I haven't designed a proper business card yet, I wanted at least something to carry around at SPX and Comic-Con. If you look closely, you can see a few pieces that I haven't posted online. The bits of those illustrations that I actually liked were small enough to fit on a card. So there we go.

CONFESSION OF A WHITE WIDOWED MALE.

2009-09-09T23:40:00.001-04:00

Alternate title was "Picnic. Lightning." In case you didn't know: I kind of, sort of extra-like Lolita, both the Vladimir Nabokov book and the Stanley Kubrick movie. In fact, I also love the audiobook version, as read by Jeremy Irons, because, as I once so giddily mentioned on Twitter upon my first listening, it sounds like Scar reading Nabokov to me.

When I stumbled across news that the site Venus Febriculosa was hosting a competition to create a book cover for Lolita (for kicks), I figured it was a good excuse to pick up my brush for something not for school/work. After doing assignments in school for The Virgin Suicides and The Snow Queen, I've discovered that I really enjoy doing book covers, especially when I get to combine hand lettering and graphic design with my illustrations. So, I had fun with this, even though I think I made Humbert Humbert (and his almost-glowy, predator eyes) way more attractive than he needed to be.

And I will end by saying if you have only seen the movie or if you have only read the book, then you definitely must experience the other. Lolita (Lo. Lee. Ta.) herself is all right, but HH is really the one to study.

THIS IS MY CASUAL WEAR.

2009-09-01T15:56:00.008-04:00

My contribution to this week's Whitechapel Remake/Remodel challenge. This character is The Flamingo, a former colonel who goes around, doin' stuff with his service revolver, airplane, and vast super-knowledge. Really, that's about it. At first I was going to do something a little more action-packed, but, as usual, I reverted to drawing an eccentric, bookish loner.

Also, I've been slowly editing the list of artists on the side of my blog, so it's worth checking out if you haven't seen it in a while and you generally like what I like. I think the two newest additions are Joe Quinones and Mark Weaver (from whom I just bought two astronaut-amazing prints and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival).

In unrelated, more exciting news: Venture Bros. returns October 18. You have been informed.

I DON'T KNOW, THEY JUST DO THAT.

2009-08-18T11:35:00.016-04:00

Prepare to OD on nerdiness: The Venture Bros. and Scott Pilgrim. Bryan Lee O'Malley posted a quick prompt to do something with a drawing of Scott on Flickr, and I decided to try it as a little exercise. I wasn't planning on posting it here, but I figured it'd give me an excuse to link to The Venture Bros., Scott Pilgrim and the Scott Pilgrim movie. I hope none of these are news to any of you, but, you know, just in case.

Also, last night I attended a Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore session. My left-handed drawing didn't turn out as nice as last time's, but I liked my one-minute sketches and my final 20-minute pose. If you've never been to a Dr. Sketchy's drawing session, you should find a branch near you.

Now, if you don't mind, I have work I need to do and a sun to avoid.

WAY OH WAY OH.

2009-08-09T11:59:00.008-04:00

There's been a lot of black and white since I posted that Click Rush design from May, so here's a little something I made last night to bring back some color.

Jordie Bellaire (fellow art nerd from high school, now RSAD illustrator) invited me to join the new Doodles & More Sh!t blog. This week's theme is Egypt, which I was all about in first grade. I mean, I still like ancient Egypt but, damn, my friends and I were hardcore for Tut back then. Anyway, I used this as an excuse to do something both pin-up-y and historically way-inaccurate (underwire bras were not invented until Egypt became a province of Rome).

This is actually a quarter of the initial illustration, because I was inking with a brush again (unfamiliar territory) and didn't care for the rest of it. So, to make the best of the weird, horizontal cropping, I've turned this into a wallpaper. I even included one for iPhones. In fact, they get more midriff and mummy. Just pretend it's a gift to my readers for suffering through my ramblings and sporadic posting. Now, select your size:

1024 x 768 / 1280 x 1024 / 1440 x 900 / 1920 x 1200 / iPhone

I ALWAYS FORGET TO CLEAN THE BRUSH.

2009-07-23T21:15:00.010-04:00

Forgive me for this lengthy absence. I know it's Summer and I should probably be lounging around in a sweet smoking jacket, eating Cheetos and constantly updating my blog with cheese-dusted drawings. But I'm not. I've been playing sort-of counselor at MICA's Pre-College Summer program, as well as Teaching Assistant-ing an illustration class. It. Is. Non. Stop. The highly intense month-long program ends this weekend, and I still have yet to shake the weirdness of a bunch of high school students relying on my feedback and supervision. Yeah. Me. Terrifying.

Since I can't really concentrate/work on anything super-substantial during class time because of my divided attention, I've been casually practicing my technique with brush and ink. I'm feeling a little bit more confident, but, holy wow, the wonkiness of the lines is killing me. On the plus side, I have been blazing through this new sketchbook. Here are some pages. So... That top one is a quick ink sketch of my foot. This is the kind of nonsense I wear. Black patent Oxfords, black trousers, black & white striped socks. Dangerously feminine, I know.

The above image actually consists of three different pages from my sketchbook. As you can see, in addition to my usual pencil sketches of girls with weird sci-fi guns, I have been doing some hand lettering practice. The words for the page on the far left popped into my head as I was watching the students perform in the talent show. Sometimes weird phrases just float through my brain and I have to put them down, even when they have nothing to do with anything. I swear. No one was doing slam poetry. Or lines. Really. And the last page is a drawing of a plastic dog and some text from one of the assignment prompts in the illustration class. I don't feel like explaining it, so draw your own conclusions.

... Ah-haha. Draw.

In other news, I hope everyone at San Diego Comic-Con is having an incredible time. Actually, I know they are, because the endless giddy Tweets are bumming me out. You lucky bastards.

OH, REAL DROWNERS.

2009-06-17T16:44:00.006-04:00

How absolutely mortifying! Showing up at the party with the same make-up.

I hadn't touched my sketchbook since the Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore session I attended last month, and I could sense the pathetic thing was feeling a little neglected. I let myself sketch for an hour or so before bed, but I only made it through three and a half pages. Yeah, I'm a little rusty.

Not much else I can share at the moment. Uh... I really like people with painted skull faces. And I also really like Suede's "The Drowners".

There. Yes. End transmission.

LIKE SOME KIND OF CHAIN REACTION.

2009-06-14T14:00:00.005-04:00

My blog header insists that this is an illustration and design blog, so I figure it's about time that I post some actual design stuff. Even though I'm an Illustration major in school, I like to take Graphic Design classes too, the most recent one being a Typography course. One of our assignments last semester was to make a little booklet using one type family and a single body of text. I chose the ever-lovely Futura and the beautifully painful lyrics to Pulp's "Sheffield: Sex City." It's an old, old song from the band's early days, more spoken than sung by Mr. Jarvis Cocker (by the by: NYC show on July 30!). We also had to cut some squares out of a magazine and then use a selection of the random pictures as our images in the booklet. I got a lot of ladies, so that worked out. Above are two of my favorite spreads.

In Illustrated Book, where my Snow Queen project initially started, we were only required to do the illustrations (cover, interiors, end papers, etc.) so I decided to combine it with my Typography final, which was to do the text for a book of our choice. It ended up being a lot more work than I expected, but it was nice to have a full product in the end. This is an example of a completed spread, complete with extra-fancy hand-drawn flourishes.

My Typography professor occasionally uploads classwork, and you can see a few examples of my projects, including the full "Sheffield" booklet and more pages from my Snow Queen book, in this Flickr stream.

Oh! And I went to the MoCCA Festival last weekend. It was interesting, even though I awkwardly avoided eye contact with everyone and ran away after only a few hours. Really, I'll get this whole "human interaction" thing down eventually.

A CONTAINER OF ACID GREEN CRAZY.

2009-05-28T10:46:00.010-04:00

As a little break, I spent a few hours putting this together for the current Remake/Remodel challenge on Whitechapel. For some reason, I decided a good way to take a breather from the art I was working on would be to do... more... art. I don't know. Anyway, it was pretty fun to work on a guy's costuming and get a little crazy -- but not too crazy -- with the DIY look. This fellow is Click Rush, the Gadget Man. First of all... Click Rush. Come on. Secondly, he's a crime-fighting inventor who loves the color brown and takes orders from a sass-mouth toad. A toad. Mind you, this is a comic originally from the 1930s. Lastly... Click Rush. Read more about this extra-weird character and see other illustrations by visiting the R/R thread.

Also, I added a few more artists to my links section. I have hundreds of artists' sites bookmarked but the ones on my blog are part of the handful I always revisit when I'm in an artistic rut (in other words, half of their page views are from me). I'm not going to point out which ones are new because I want you to see them all. Ha! Dick move!... of kindness.

Also, also, I hope you all have been following Edgar Wright's daily photo/video posts on EdgarWrightHere.com. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is going to be ridiculous. I honestly can't wait. I mean, for fuck's sake, look at this.

ALWAYS SLEEP WITH THE KNIFE.

2009-05-24T23:54:00.003-04:00

Ah! I forgot to post these other illustrations from my Snow Queen book. The first is the little robber maiden, looking all sneaky and extra-prone to stabbing you in the face. You may recognize her from this earlier character design. Maybe not. The second image in this post is the super-bored princess that has read every newspaper in the world.

You've now seen three of seven interior pieces posted on this blog. That will probably be it. I'm confident your imagination can come up with something much cooler than I did for the remaining four.

Also, if you're interested in occasional in-progress pictures and updates, there's been a bit of that going on my Twitter, @anniew. I'll still post sketches every once in a while on the blog, but if I feel like showing a half-colored piece, that will be a Twitter sort of deal. Following me is also a fun way to track my decline into madness and find out what I had for lunch.

REAL LIFE AWAITS US.

2009-05-21T11:01:00.010-04:00

Click the image for a larger version. Do it. For serious.

Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain (1973) is an assault to the eyes with a story that barely holds everything together. Ancient perverts with glass eyes! A room full of cake-faced Jesuses! Half-bearded men showering you in milk from their screaming cat tits! So yeah, it's pretty much one of my favorite films. My Illustration Concepts II final was a series of magazine ads for the movie. I chose interesting but not super-aggressive images because I wanted something to intrigue, not necessarily shock. The end products are kind of okay; I would have liked to have more time to clean them up. I enjoy the images as a group more than standalones, so that's how I'm presenting them. Here's the trailer, in case you're super-curious:

These were my studio professors for the past year, if you guys are interested in taking a peek at their work: Deanna Staffo, Brian Ralph, Daniel Krall, Ted McGrath, Jeremy Botts (my one Graphic Design teacher this year), Allan Comport (actually, he's an artists' rep; his site is an interesting business resource, as is that of the company he works with, Shannon Associates). Thanks for not failing me.

Also, congratulations to the Class of '09. I got this for you.

SHE DON'T MAKE FALSE CLAIMS.

2009-05-07T09:51:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed doing the Virgin Suicides book cover last semester, so when I had to design something for my Snow Queen jacket, I decided to revisit ridiculous hair. I swear I'll back off the swishy hair eventually, but doing that kind of linework with a good DVD or podcast playing in the background is my pathetic version of stress relief. Please note that this piece is meant to be folded almost in half around a book; there's no spine treatment because the book I actually constructed is too thin for it (ideally, this would have been a super-heavy, epic hardcover made from endless layers of actual snow and sheets of ice, but I settled for one of those small, hand-made paperbacks with lovingly hand-torn pages). There's also a bit of hand-lettering in the title because I picked up some gothic calligraphy in Typography class. Thumbs up.

In other swishy hair news, I submitted the aforementioned Virgin Suicides piece to American Illustration, and it has been accepted to their online Tribute gallery. The collection of "Chosen" pieces will be up in November, I believe. Congratulations to everyone that made it into the gallery or book. Double thumbs up.

Classes are over, kids. Next up, Senior year. Crippling doubt and self-loathing at the ready!

FIND THE TWO FLIRTING FLOATY GUYS.

2009-04-23T15:05:00.011-04:00

Hey! Remember these fancy-looking guys? They're the mirror trolls from the Snow Queen series I'm doing. This is my first completed chapter illustration, so I thought I'd let you folks see the overall "look." I may go back in and add more tone later; I'm not sure. Suggestions welcome. And please, please click through to view the bigger version. That's the only way to see all the excruciatingly detailed parts I lovingly addressed, especially in the trolls' outfits (created with items from my own closet, apparently).

I'm in the middle of multiple massive projects, so while the posting may be light right now, expect to get smacked in the face with non-stop updates soon. This is assuming that all goes according to plan and I don't hate the end products, forever protecting them from the judging eyes of the Internet.

In unrelated news, I had an excellent birthday weekend in New York. I must plug the band I saw, Weep, which is fronted by one of my personal heroes, Doc Hammer (I mean that in the most genuine, un-fangirly way, though despite my very best efforts when seeing him in person, my nervous laughter sometimes kicks in anyway). The music was even better live and, let me just say, the audience saw some tattoos most fans are probably not even aware of. All in all, not a bad way to enter Year 21.

WEIRD ANSWERS.

2009-04-04T08:25:00.008-04:00

For you! A quick sketch from a few weeks ago and some reading material.

Mr. Chris Arrant recently interviewed me for Newsarama's Up & Coming series. Check it out. And sorry to those of you that have seen me link to this wherever I have a presence on the Internet. It's really your own fault for being my friend.

In the interview, I mention this year's Baltimore Comic-Con, which I don't think I've brought up anywhere else. Well, a few friends and I will be in the Artists' Alley for the first time, under the group name "Society of the Okay." No, it's not much of a society, but our last names (Rochon, Suvarnasuddhi, Wu) don't really lend themselves to any sort of fun formation. Anyway, keep October 10 and 11 open if you want to see me look confused behind a table, in a place other than a classroom.

My Snow Queen project is also mentioned, but there aren't any images. I was ready to scan some more for this entry, only to remember that everything's currently in non-photo blue. Those will have to wait.

There's a variety of other interesting things coming up. All shall be revealed in time.

KEEP IT COMING.

2009-04-01T23:30:00.002-04:00

More fashion illustration stuff. Our assignment was to depict a vice and its complementary virtue in fashionable theatrical posters (meant to be displayed side-by-side). I got Wrath and Patience and, after trashing a lot of other ideas, I came up with this. It's a little disagreement between psychotic Ira and super-chill Patientia (Latin, get on it). These were both printed out at 18"x24", which looks pretty nice, despite the fact that such a size magnifies each and every mistake of my 9"x12" originals. Some of you may remember I also did a vice and virtue assignment back in Sophomore year, with Lust and Chastity. It's very strange for me to see how much my work has changed in less than two years.

I was listening to this Radiohead cover of Carly Simon's James Bond song, "Nobody Does It Better", almost non-stop through the final stages of this project. It was kind of ridiculous and a little embarrassing. Anyway, here it is, in case you've never experienced this amazingness.

Also, the last half of March seems to have blinked into non-existence, because it's somehow April now. Did you know? This is the part where my brain explodes and I start bleeding from the eyes. More news later. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps.

PHASERS SET TO STUN.

2009-03-09T13:16:00.003-04:00

Lame title, I know, but it had to be done. At least I didn't use PON FARR-OCIOUS. It's a long walk, though it would have explained why LadySpock is looking a little sassier than usual.

This is for my Fashion & Lifestyle Illustration class. Each of us were assigned a different upcoming movie and had to create a related fashion spread using current runway fashion and female models. Luckily, I got Star Trek, which I secretly super-wanted in the first place. I immediately decided to draw a LadyKirk and LadySpock, so that was pretty easy. The flailing redshirts came later in the process, but they were still a lot of fun. Kirk and Spock are too busy looking hot to pay attention! And their crew is dying! Hilarious.

Obviously, I took some liberties with the ship's design and pulled some inspiration from the Star Trek: TOS too. For example, Chris Pine's Kirk seems to be wearing mostly grey and black in the movie, so I referred to William Shatner's mustard top instead. Oh, and I added bangles around their wrists instead of those rank braids that always reminded me of bad bricabrac.

Kirk and Spock are wearing Meadham Kirchoff and Alexander McQueen; Kirk has an additional Shipley & Halmos jacket and that black piece over Spock's dress is from Gucci. I think the redshirts are all wearing Fendi and Miss Sixty. If you're having some difficulty working with modern costuming, a good resource is Style.com. Just click through their runway photos; they're really fantastic. There's the option of sorting by model, so you can spend an entire afternoon staring at Jessica Stam and only Jessica Stam. I mean, if that's what you're into.

Also, hello to new visitors from the blogs of Rafael Soldi and Warren Ellis, both fine, beautifully creative gentlemen that deserve your fan-love and attention. Hello, hello.

DOES THIS WASHCLOTH SMELL LIKE CHLOROFORM?

2009-03-01T19:00:00.007-05:00

I have so much work to post right now, I can't upload it all for fear of it CRUSHING THE INTERNET. I hope you don't mind if I share only select things from the past few weeks.

I'm in a class called Illustrated Book right now, and it basically breaks down as a semester-long project in which we pick a book and then, well, (re-)illustrate it. I chose Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen (designs shown are the Robber Maiden and the floaty mirror trolls). I remember it being my favorite fairy tale when I was little, though I don't know why, because it's extra-dreary, not particularly action-packed, and there wasn't a Disney version. Anyway, I was initially anxious about having to work on one thing for an entire semester, but now I'm pretty excited about how this is going to turn out. I'm planning on using pencil for the entire thing, which I haven't done before. Hopefully this will help me make the characters a more eerie and stylish than I have seen them in other books and allow my drawings to retain some of that energy that often gets lost during the inking process.

Also, I mentioned in my previous post that the Charm City Roller Girls used my "Let Them Eat Skate" illustration for their March poster (Art Director: Katy Clark; Design: Craig Lammes). Well, here it is all fancied up and ready for brawling. I swear, going to see live roller derby for the first time was even better than I expected. I'm not sure if this is because roller derby is awesome in general or because the CCRG did so incredibly that night. Regardless, I'm definitely going again.

Also, also, completely unrelated to illustration... Saturday night, I went to see Patton Oswalt record his new special in DC. That guy doesn't get nearly enough recognition, especially for his stand-up. He's my favorite comedian and I think if you check out his performances or read his blog, you'll enjoy him too. Here's a fanvid someone made for a routine that never gets old.

... Yeah, I just wanted an excuse to use that line from his act as my Title.

MUST BE SOME TOROS IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

2009-02-18T14:04:00.002-05:00

I'm mildly embarrassed about that title, but I couldn't think of anything better.

For my Illustration Concepts II class, we had to put a spin on an old myth or folk tale. This is Theseus as a matador, after conquering a massive minotaur. Obviously, Theseus is cool enough to get away with just a bloody nose, a mussed collar and a model-scowl. In my previous post, you can see a sketch for the other myth I was considering (human/cyborg Hermaphroditus).

In other news, the awesome Charm City Roller Girls and their art director, Katy Clark, are using my "Let Them Eat Skate" illustration for an upcoming poster. I'll upload the final poster after I see it at this weekend's bout, which I will be attending as a first-time viewer. Check out the Charm City Roller Girls website for more details and Flickr for some completely insane photos of the girls in action.

Lastly, two of my pieces were accepted by the Society of Illustrators Student Competition. The Interrobang group shot and the Virgin Suicides cover (second image) will be in the exhibition and catalog this year. This was my first time entering and I don't really know what to say about this, so I'll leave it alone for now, for fear of sounding like an idiot. Congratulations to everyone that got in (see: MICA peers; all institutions).

MILITARY DECORATION ON A FUR COAT.

2009-02-12T18:22:00.003-05:00

Surprise! Sketches. Lots of pencil and no real explanations as to why both ladies have their heads tilted at similar angles. I guess the left one stemmed from having Rocky Horror Picture Show on the brain because I'm playing Magenta in an upcoming shadow cast production. It's going to be interesting, since I'm the type that wears knee-high socks under pants for maximum protection against ankle exposure. And the lady on the right has an eyepatch because I gave up on fixing her eyeshadow on that side. I grant you full permission to create an infinitely cooler background story; it won't be difficult.

And this was for a myth re-telling assignment. I originally wanted to do a cyborg version of the Hermaphroditus myth (cyborg in lieu of a nymph, obviously), but the professor told me to go with my other sketch, which depicted a massive minotaur and Theseus as a super-surly matador. So this Hermaphroditus sketch probably won't become any more realized, unfortunately. Fingers crossed the Theseus illustration won't be too horrible to share online. I should note that I'm currently coloring it and Theseus has magenta tights. Gather your own conclusions.

By the way, did you know I'm on Twitter? 'Cause I am (@anniew).

BABY ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWERS.

2009-02-04T19:49:00.003-05:00

I'm taking a fashion/lifestyle illustration class this semester, and our first assignment was to illustrate a location and appropriate designer clothes on some sexy people. Fair enough. I chose the NYC sewers because I'm a complete idiot. It was between that or mod England in the 60s and I went for the most unsexy of all unsexy places, but whatever. It was a challenge.

I did four illustrations in all but I only liked these two. The first features a 2007 Alexander McQueen and a bunch of dead goldfish, the second has two surly looking people wearing an odd mix of designers, plummeting through the pipes with a not-so-baby alligator. I was super-excited about this assignment and wish I had more time to work on it, but I got sick over the weekend and wasn't up to drawing anything pretty in my snotty state.

And now for a bunch of news regarding comics: I finally started Runaways and finished the first three volumes with record speed. It was a lot of fun, just like everything else Brian K. Vaughan does (I'm convinced the man saved Lost; bow to him). I then read the first four volumes of Scott Pilgrim, which were fantastic. I'm incredibly excited to see what Edgar Wright can do with the movie version of this.

I'm also feeling kind of down about not going to New York Comic-Con this weekend because I've gone for the past two years. If you see any people you know I extra-like around the convention center, please make them feel uncomfortable for me. Give some of those [adult swim] guys a completely uninvited, jaunty lapdance, bellow a dirty joke in Huttese to every slave Leia cosplayer you see, do what you gotta do. Just make the folks around the Javits Center feel like I'm still there, weirding people out. I'd really appreciate it.

DREAMING OF ELECTRIC BUTTERFLIES.

2009-01-08T18:55:00.003-05:00

The New Yorker is doing their Eustace Tilley contest again so I thought I'd give it another shot (I entered my SoHo Eustace last year).

No other particularly interesting items to report at the moment. I apologize.

BACKGROUNDS ARE HARD.

2009-01-03T00:02:00.006-05:00

I recently joined Warren Ellis's Whitechapel, mainly because I wanted to participate in the Remake/Remodel threads (Project: Rooftop doesn't happen nearly enough). This is my first entry, a redesign of The Black Angel. Her original outfit was more Catwoman than lady-aviator, so I tried to pull in that direction a little more. I gave her goggles, a scarf, and a sort of modified bomber jacket one-piece. Her old outfit has an interesting collar, so I tried to echo that. I also stole her old boots, because they were interesting and must have been very effective in kicking Nazi ass. Fun Fact: This is my first piece entirely inked by brush. I think it looks more fluid than my pen ones, though I miss the resulting scratchy texture of the paper.

Also, I finally registered a proper domain. AnnieWuArt.com currently redirects to this blog, but I hope to have a "real" portfolio there soon. Huzzah for business cards with a respectable URL.

And finally... Happy 2009, everyone. I know what I have to do this year and I'm looking forward to challenging -- and inevitably disappointing -- myself with these comically high expectations. Hey, it's the only way I get anything done.

LOOKING SURLY, EATING COOKIES.

2008-12-23T19:08:00.004-05:00

In case you haven't heard, it's the holiday season, a time when creepy guys show up at your door with weird messages about how their wasted heart will love you until you look like a busted up page from National Geographic's Giza spectacular. People also do less creepy things during the holidays, like be nice. I thought I would give that a try, by linking to some fellow MICA students/recent grads and some of their works. These people have given my site link love, commented here, provided helpful school advice, made interesting work and/or threatened me with a hot butter knife until I made this post. I will leave it up to you to figure out which goes in which category. I'm sure I missed people, and for that I'm super-sorry, but this was compiled in one evening. Forgive me.

Alissandra Seelaus: Cryptozoological adventures for kids. You will be jealous you're not best friends with Nessie too. Also, Alissandra does daily drawings about her life. Also, also, she is one of my roommates so you may see an adorable nugget person version of myself in a few of those drawings.
Alison Marks: Robot in twelve different wigs. You didn't know that was a dream of mine to see this, did you? Of course you didn't, it was a secret. Her show idea also sounds like something I would watch.
Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi (This is a shared blog; Ariyana's posts are labeled with "AS"): Hot, sticky buns. It's what you did and did not expect, but I promise you'll be hungry afterwards... Or repulsed, I'm not sure.
Emma Quinn: Sailor with tentacles playing not one, but two accordions. Goddamn. Look at him go.
Hannah Ahn: Pretty ladies and white birch trees, two things that are inherently pleasing to look at.
Hitomi Mori: Baltimore roller girl. All of her characters' have the most interesting outfits.
Noel Hernandez: He somehow managed to include man-booty and bratty little girls in the same post without doing something horrible with it. He also works with a lot of different materials, which makes me feel extra-awful about clinging to my ink and Wacom tablet.
Kali Ciesemier: Pretty ladies and monsters are another inherently pleasing combination. Noticing a pattern here? Bonus: I saw one of her illustrations in a magazine I was flipping through on the plane the other day and ended up spilling ginger ale on myself while trying to get a better look. Smooth operator.
Kristina Diggs: Scene chimera. First of all, how does a person come up with something like a scene teen chimera? Secondly, how is it possible to sculpt it so adorably?
Lindsey Muir: I always had a sneaking suspicion this is what graphic designer's hearts look like. There's also a lot more stuff on her Flickr, including this great re-design stuff for the Maryland State Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped.
Mark Grambau: Stephen Colbert punches Hitler in the face. This is pretty old, but I still think it's hilarious.
Marissa Lanterman: Map of a moment with a lot of great details and notes. She's another one of those traditional illustrators that makes me feel terrible about forgetting how to hold a paintbrush.
Nancy Muller: Great gouache sketchbook work. Yet another person that, through just existing, reminds me that I can't paint traditionally.
Rachel Dougherty: The Grasshopper and the Ants. Classic fable, except now infinitely cooler than the version that was in your Girl Scout handbook.
Rose Davis: NASTILE. I chose this simply for the last image. I won't spoil it for you.
Sam Bosma: Shadow over Innsmouth. Probably one of the most stylish series of HP Lovecraft illustrations you will ever see. Also, I will admit that I initially accidentally typed "HP Hovercraft", which I can only assume is some sort of advanced Firebolt. Also, also, if you got that joke, you should feel very sad about your life right now.
Tiffany Shih: Pretty ladies and JHU doctors. Smart choice of subject matter by another one of these graphic designer people. Pshht. What's up with that?
Tyler Parker: Alan, the plush deer. Adorable? Yes. Tyler also does collage work, which is well worth a look.
Zak Greene: Extra-adorable sequential art. And by "extra-adorable", I meant "kind of horrifying." I'm still working on my visual storytelling, so I appreciated this.
Yvonne Weng: Baltimore posters and pretty things. Another graphic designer with a penchant for patterns. I often awkwardly stare at her desktop wallpapers.

The second part of the giving has to do with you, my dear reader. I have gifted you with all these new sites to visit. Now, please visit these blogs and enjoy them and leave lovely comments and link to them and submit them to your favorite art sites. It's completely free, obviously, and you also get to pat yourself on the back for making an artist feel good about themselves.

This is where I say something really snarky and mean, but I'm too lazy because I'm full of cookies and candy canes. Have a good holiday and all that.

INTERROBANG: XI, RICK.

2008-12-20T10:45:00.004-05:00

These are the last two main characters from my Interrobang project.

This is XI ("Eleven" or "Elly"). She plays synth and theremin and designs all the crazy on-stage visuals for the band (the example I gave was a giant steam-powered Monkey King at Interrobang's last Beijing show). I had a list of things I wanted represented in the band, and on the list was unnatural hair color, mohawks, electronics, glasses and stripes. Somehow, all of those things got pushed on Elly, which I think makes her that much cooler. And yes, I just had to get a theremin in there.

This guy is Rick. Just Rick. He's the lone guy and a bit like a mix of Scooby, Silent Bob and Jonathan Coulton (mainly for how I imagine he would sound... and the exaggerated version of shaggy hair). He doesn't talk very much, usually speaking up only to offer some final words of wisdom or sing a soothing song. Rick is the bodyguard, manager, driver, cook and drummer. Female drummers are marvelous, but the visual of rotund Rick behind an equally round bass drum tickled me, so I had to do this.

Yup. That's it. This project was a lot of fun; it made me consider a career in character design and concept art a little more than I have in the past. I'd love to get an internship in video games or animation, so maybe now is the time to get on it. My teacher suggested Harmonix ("Rock Band") in Boston and my friends that interned for The Venture Bros. in NYC said I should apply, but the idea of working with that show makes me anxious at a comically high level. If anyone has any other recommendations, please don't hesitate to share, because I don't actually know what I'm doing.

INTERROBANG: AMPERSANDY, VINNIE.

2008-12-18T20:17:00.002-05:00

More from my Interrobang project. I lied when I said I would only post one character at a time, obviously.

This first lady is &Y, or Ampersandy. I wanted another ridiculous punctuation-related name, so I gave it to the lead singer. Since I'm obsessed with people painting their faces, especially with skull designs, I let her sport a Darren Spooner/Misfits look. There also needed to be a redhead and someone with a cape. That's right, "needed." Ampersandy loves grammar, punctuation, flaunting her massive vocabulary and utilizing over-elaborate sentence structure. She also prefers Roth to Hagar.

This second lady is Vinnie, the bassist. She's supposed to be Lola's best friend, just because I think such ridiculous opposites should be friends in real life. Vinnie likes vampires, reading, and baking cupcakes. I was originally going to name her Sid, but a "V" name eventually won. Also, I think I'm going to cut my bangs like that in a few weeks, just for kicks.

Classes are done. Off to Florida for Winter Break. Remind me to bring sunscreen and stuff to do color studies.

INTERROBANG: LOLA.

2008-12-16T15:35:00.005-05:00

This is a continuation of the Character Development assignment that I posted about most recently (see: G-G-GHOST PORTRAITS!). I decided to call the show Interrobang‽, since that's the name of the band and all. And yes, it must always be pronounced with shock, like, "INTERROBANG?!" I've been dying to use that stupid word since John Hodgman kept talking about it on his blog a few months ago, and I felt the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point would be perfect for these mystery-solving rocker chicks. I'll be posting the designs of the individual band members one at a time, because that allows me more room to get tragically long-winded when I want. Awesome. Here's Lola, the lefty guitarist and resident girly-girl.

Since the band isn't really pop-rock (more like Bauhaus and The Cure than Josie & The Pussycats, in my mind), I had to find a way to appeal to the girlier members of the kid audience, and Lola was the best way to do it. Her trademarks are her old-timey powder make-up, flapper dress, and combat boots. She's adorably forgetful but her optimism gets the band through even the spookiest of mysteries. I also made her best friends with the super-goth bassist, because kids shouldn't be afraid to befriend people that are different and arguably better dressers.

In other news, I found out that there's a word for my favorite shoes. "Winklepickers." I feel like drawing some self-portraits, so perhaps those Winklepickers will make an appearance in the near future. Assuming finals don't completely kill me... which is a very silly assumption indeed.

G-G-GHOST PORTRAITS!

2008-12-08T19:03:00.004-05:00

Click to view the larger version. Seriously. Do it. Everyone else is.

I'm just taking a quick breather from doing all my finals. Only a few minutes ago, I wrapped up this ridiculous illustration for my Character Development class. We're doing pitch packets for TV shows and I decided to develop a kids' cartoon. I think I originally described it as a cross between Bauhaus and Scooby Doo. Anyway, it's evolved a bit, but it's still about a gang of mystery-solvin', rock music-playin' chicks. I think I'll post more details and the character designs once I'm done coloring them, but enjoy this plus-environment piece for now. I was going for a sort of Scooby gang running scene thing, complete with typical spooky portraits with moving eyes. Something like that.

I don't know what I was thinking, drawing such a massive thing in such little time. At least it turned out all right, and it looks like a cartoon I would have watched as a kid. More children's TV shows should have theremin-playing girl-geeks with tinted glasses and green mohawks.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must study for my massive Psychology exam and attempt not to self-diagnose as I go.

HISTORICAL LADIES.

2008-11-25T21:16:00.006-05:00

For Character Development, we had to design a toy and then an illustration for the packaging. I'm not sure how this happened, but I started drawing a semi-futuristic Joan of Arc action figure. This is what would go on the packaging. The drawings I did for the toy design aren't particularly interesting, as it's just a really bored-looking Joan of Arc.

I suppose it could be considered an elaboration on my Joan of Arc from last year's Narrative Illustration course, if only because of the hairstyle similarity, but this time, it isn't a direct illustration of the historical figure. I tried to merge the intricate layering of armor with robotic construction, resulting in a kind of, sort of android-y thing (she's supposed to be all machine from the neck down). This hides a lot of the joints and articulations in the toy. She also has a reconstructed, bionic eye (I guess) and can produce fire from her hands (just the character, not the toy itself, even though that'd be totally awesome). I feel like I blacked out for part of this because I'm looking at the finished piece and I don't know how I came up with it. I also scribbled down a note that her head can detach to be a flash drive, because I really like those fancy, designer thumb drives and I thought this would be a kind of hilarious exaggeration. Her bionic eye could flicker when the flash drive is working.

... Again, I must have blacked out, because I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving, people. I need to get some rest.

ETA: Also, also... this from Ken Plume.

LET THEM EAT SKATE.

2008-11-12T13:03:00.005-05:00

This was a poster assignment for the Charm City Roller Girls and a continuation of the roller girl design from last week. There's a lot of blank space (including on the cake), but I was keeping any potential poster text in mind. The little guys along the bottom were a lot of fun to draw, but that chandelier was a nightmare. Remind me never to enter the chandelier illustration industry.

In other news, have I mentioned how much I like this video?

... I use "in other news" a lot.

PLAYGROUND LOVE.

2008-11-06T20:35:00.004-05:00

For Illustration Concepts, we had to pick a book and then re-do the cover. One of my favorite novels, Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides, quickly sprang to my mind, and after a long back and forth with some other books I adore, I decided to just go for it. It was tough to capture the tone of the book, as Eugenides's voice is so peculiar and I felt like I could never do it justice. Originally, I had an idea in which the design elements would not-so-subtly hint at the first death, but, again, the tone wasn't there. I figured this final product was the best I could do, and I think it's all right. The coloring wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be; I was trying to go for an overall sense of a rosy afterglow but I also muted things for a bit of a nostalgic, aged feel. I got feedback from some of my classmates and now I feel like I didn't make the bandages around her wrists prominent enough. Some people thought I did just a random pretty girl with tacky jewelry, even though it's a direct reference to one of the sisters. Oh, well.

Here are the final illustration and the flattened image with the design elements. For the front cover's text, I borrowed the look of my Bat for Lashes poster from last year. What can I say, I really like Century Gothic.

I listened to Air's score for the movie a lot during this project. Those first five seconds of "Playground Love" just seal the deal for me. I also highly recommend Jeffrey Eugenides's second book Middlesex, and you all should read it. I think I actually like it more than The Virgin Suicides.

KILLER QUEEN.

2008-11-02T12:22:00.006-05:00

In this Character Development assignment, we had to do a roller girl design for the Charm City Roller Girls. I'm not totally sure how I feel about the final piece, but it's better than my last few assignments. Working out the color scheme was absolute torture (I mean, more than usual) and trying to strike a balance between frills and tough girl punk was weird. Next week, we have to put our girl in action, in some sort of context. I'm sure I'll have carpal tunnel by the time I'm done recreating those stripes.

I pulled inspiration from Marie Antoinette (note the neck and cake) and the totally period-inappropriate video for Adam & The Ants' "Stand and Deliver" (note the stripes on both the face and the dress). I have no explanation for the fetal skull action on her wig-helmet, but, yes, that is a wig-helmet. The rat was thrown in for Baltimore-ness.

Hey, an excuse to post an Adam Ant video? Don't mind if I do.

A WHOLE LOT OF SUPER-SIGH.

2008-10-21T21:23:00.003-04:00

Apologies to those of you who have been weeping non-stop because of my lack of updates. I'm afraid I'm not too pleased with any of my recent work, so I haven't posted any of it. I haven't even been sketching that much, which is rather unfortunate. Here are a few pages from my sketchbook. The dates have no meaning, I just like having my sketchbook characters record what date it is. And no, I'm not a smoker.

A few weeks ago, I attended the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda and it was crowded. Crowded and fun. Usually, when I go to things like this, I avoid eye contact with people at tables and don't say anything to anyone. However, this time, I made myself chat and mingle and I think it turned out all right. I mean, my social awkwardness was still at dangerous levels, but at least it wasn't functioning at maximum. Thanks to the lovely readers that stopped me to say hello; those little chats were a very pleasant surprise and, contrary to what my expression probably implied, very welcome. Additional thanks to all the illustrators that put up with me when I freaked out. I think the worst part was when I lost my mind in front of Kate Beaton, but she was still nice enough to do a wonderful drawing of Caligula, my favorite historical figure, in my copy of her mini-comic. If you're into hilarity and/or history, you should definitely, definitely check out her blog, and if you're into sleaze and delusions of grandeur, definitely check out Caligula. I heart him a lot, a lot. If I lived in his time, we would party. And then he'd probably slit my throat or something.

Also, John Hodgman's new More Information Than You Require is out and everyone should buy it. I've only read the first chapter or so, but it has already made me laugh out loud in public too many times. Guaranteed hilarity.

Also, also, I'm making buttons for my school's art market. If I have some left over, I may put them up for sale here. I'm just saying, so you all have enough time to compile a list of people you hate enough to gift a set of Annie Wu buttons for the holidays.

BIG RED.

2008-09-29T00:49:00.005-04:00

This one was for my Illustration Concepts I class. We were given the assignment to take an action scene from a well-known fairy tale and place it into a different time period. Like half the class, I chose "Little Red Riding Hood", even though I had desperately, desperately tried to find some way to do "The Snow Queen", my favorite fairy tale. I was quickly reminded that particular story isn't so much action-packed as it is super-dreary. Anyway, I did a weird little twist on the piece and instead of having the classic Woodsman Plus Axe vs. Wolf scene, I wanted Red to fling the stone-filled wolf into the river (honestly, I haven't read it in a while, so I may have come across a weird version in my childhood). I have no idea where the Mexican wrestling stuff came from, but the mask/hood thing just worked and there it is: Big Red against the Big Bad Wolf. Also, I kind of surprised myself when Red turned out nothing like Tex Avery's.

Speaking of scantily-clad ladies... The results from Project: Rooftop's Vampirella ReVamp contest are up and, as it turns out, I'm a finalist. I didn't get a top three prize, but I got a critique from the judges, which was nice enough (I must defend physics-defying underboobies for the first time in my life, because if Vampirella's universe can keep her business together in that classic tissue and dental floss costume, she can certainly pick up some double-sided tape and deal with underboobies). Check out some other entries!

Oh, I actually ended up staying in New York City for the majority of the weekend, so I missed the Baltimore Comic-Con. I still plan on attending the Small Press Expo, unless something more epic comes along and pulls me from the state again. I'm not sure what will keep me away from seeing Jillian Tamaki and Kate Beaton, though.

GO TEAM NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRIT THINGY.

2008-09-21T22:34:00.007-04:00

Oh. Hi. I'm back. In a desperate attempt to distract myself from this year's excruciatingly embarrassing Emmy Awards ceremony, I'm posting my latest Character Development assignment. We were told to create a team of 3 - 5 characters, differing in as many ways as possible. The first team I thought of was the Fantastic Four, which consists of on skinny guy, a curvy lady, a big fellow, and a floaty dude. After throwing the elements of the Thing and the Human Torch into one weird entity, I went with that basic dynamic. I was making up this team's story as I was drawing and I've decided that it's a half-dead cowboy (more of this kind of stuff), a psychic Native American princess (I tried to make her curvier than my usual ladies, keeping some of Douglas Lovelace's loose drawings in mind), and a wise-cracking ghost chief (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin of Home Movies fame). Together, they're treasure hunters, targeting mainly battlegrounds and graveyards. That sounds like a solid Saturday morning cartoon that you'd never let your kids watch, right?

In other news: Baltimore Comic-Con next weekend, followed by the Small Press Expo the weekend after that. So many illustration geek get-togethers, so little time. Please do say hi if you see me at either of these events! I enjoy meeting fellow artists, contrary to what my socially awkward conversation skills imply.

THEY COULD SMOKE BACK THEN.

2008-09-15T18:05:00.003-04:00

Wow, I'm still alive! Sort of! Skipping to the end of a rather lengthy and uninteresting run-down of the school year so far, enjoy this ink rendering of a sad air hostess from the 60s.

It's a piece for my Character Development class, which sounds like it should be geared towards children with self-confidence issues but it is actually a character design course taught by Brian Ralph. The only prompt we were given was "The Only Survivor" and since I've been wanting to draw vintage flight attendant uniforms since I saw this collection, it seemed like a prime opportunity. I should also note that I borrowed heavily from the technique I used for my Hellboy piece and I'm slowly getting more confident in working this way. Now if only I could do the same thing with gouache...

V FOR VAMPIRELLA.

2008-08-27T01:01:00.004-04:00

I did this redesign of Vampirella for Project: Rooftop's Vampirella ReVamp contest. This was a bit weird, because Vampirella's outfit really hasn't changed much over the years, apart from the fact that it shrinks in size. So, I had to keep the collar and physics-defying under-boobies for basic recognition. Anyway, this is my first entry in any Project: Rooftop contest, so we'll see how that goes.

In other news, I'm back in Baltimore, living in a new glass house and clutching a fistful of stones. Classes start next week. Oh, and Comic-Con is coming to town next month. Let's see if I grow a pair and talk to people this time.

I SPY.

2008-08-04T23:40:00.001-04:00

With the new school year drawing nearer and nearer, I'm trying to get in some last minute practice with my inking and digital coloring. This was a quick piece inspired by the movie Lust, Caution, which I finally saw the other day. I loved the rich colors and costumes, which beautifully mixed Eastern and Western styles. Think, wearing a sharp qipao under a well-fitted, classic trench coat. Amazing.

More stuff coming soon. Probably. Eventually.

IT'S LIKE THAT PRODIGY SONG.

2008-07-13T14:04:00.003-04:00

The "Let Them Eat Pancakes!" Hellboy show at Überbot was great, and I enjoyed seeing work from artists like Erik Jones and Jason "Stuntkid" Levesque. I'm not particularly good at mingling, so, to anyone that approached me that night, I apologize for my maximum social awkwardness. I swear, I can communicate like a normal human being, but only when given ten to fifteen second pauses to fully organize my thoughts. Anyway... My ink drawing of Liz Sherman will be on display for the rest of the month, so check it out and then buy lots of wonderful things from the store. The site has posted all the pieces from the show, too.

I have another project on the horizon. More details if/when I finish.

YEAH, IT'S OKAY.

2008-07-06T19:26:00.004-04:00

Enjoy this quick doodle I did today, prompted by this activity. It's a conversation between present-day me and super-little me. I was a fairly cute kid, so what happened?

In other news, I finally turned in my piece for Überbot's Hellboy art show, "Let Them Eat Pancakes!" (July 12th, 7 - 10PM). If you're in the area, check it out and watch me anxiously shift my feet in the presence of works by people like Phil Noto. See a full list of artists and details here. And then when I reveal my drawing next week, buy it. Do it.

IT'S NO SPAGHETTI JESUS.

2008-07-01T23:21:00.002-04:00

I just finished up my Barbarella piece. I think it's ready for submission, but I'm going to let it sit for a few days before I turn it in, just in case I suddenly decide to make it, like, totally purple or something. Hey, I don't know. It could happen. The text in the background is from the opening scene of Barbarella. Fantastic song and soundtrack.

Upright Citizens Brigade Season Two and lots of Supercool kept me company through most of coloring.

BARBARELLA PSYCHEDELLA.

2008-06-26T23:57:00.002-04:00

This is a new Barbarella piece I started last night while watching Persepolis (and because I was sick of looking at my previously mentioned Hellboy piece). Seems almost kind of inappropriate to draw sleepy-eyed space babes while watching a movie like that, but... Well, I really have no excuse. For what it's worth, Persepolis was totally amazing. As for Barbarella and her hidden sweetheart, Pygar, they are going to be submitted to "Crazy 4 Cult." No idea if I'll get in, but whatever. It's an excuse to draw more fan art.

My pen nib died partway through inking so a lot of this was done with a thin brush. I've never inked with a brush before, so it was interesting. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I kind of miss the scratchiness of taking pen to paper and those little surprises when the nib catches and clicks, sending specks of ink flying. Happy accidents and whatnot.