Be sure to check-out Michael Nordstrom Garamania blog, it’s the one-stop source for all things Garamon filled with innumerable amounts of fun info and pics by what may be the worlds biggest, most dedicated Garamon fan!

Below is my contribution to the show. From initial doodle to finished painting.
8″x8″ Gouache w/custom letterpress mat.

You can also watch it on VIMEO

Here’s the first trailer for the Fun-boy “Battle in Space” desktop game I’ve been working on since last year. I initially thought I’d be creating a really simple linear game, but I couldn’t help myself and just got really carried away with it. It’s become a labor of love and a homage to Sci-Fi and the B-movies I love not to mention an incredible adventure in developing my first game.

Big kudos to my friends Will and Scott who have been invaluable in the optimizing, gameplay, action script programming and all around consulting. We’re finally in the alpha stage of the game so I’ll be posting sketches, development and teasers clips of the actual game play throughout the next few months along with more trailers.

BRACE YOURSELF!

Painting detail

my youngest daughter made me a tiny, tiny old school pirate’s hat,
it just needed the skull and crossbones

I had a lot on my mind when I began doodling this piece.
Mortality, fatherhood, memories, regrets…Kimba, Rocky & Bullwinlkle.

In just a few weeks my “Chew on this!” show opens at Rotofugi in Chicago.
Although I’ve participated in several group shows over the years, this is my first solo exhibit graciously hosted by Kirby and Whitney Kerr at their new Rotofugi Gallery.
Martin Hsu will be displaying his wonderful artwork at the gallery as well.

For the past year or so I’ve been busy preparing for the show, drawing and painting like a fiend. Ideas for illustrations/paintings I’ve been wanting to take further than a thumbnail and new ones, were suddenly coming to fruition. It’s been such a refreshing break for me to just create without restrictions, that’s probably been the best part so far.

I’ll have a variety of pieces in style and technique and I’ll be debuting three letterpress prints, one screen print and lots of paintings done in gouache. Most of the paintings are 6″x6″ and 7″x7″ along with some larger ones. Being my first show, I wanted to go all out so I designed a blind-stamped, letterpress mat for all the small paintings, specifically for the show. Beautifully printed by the always great “Cranky Pressman“, the subtle blind stamp really added another level of design to the work.

Time’s a flying by and I’m still working on some final pieces along with a seven foot plush (?!?!?!), but I’ll be sharing images and showing the progression of some of the work up until the show.

Looking forward to meeting folks in Chicago!

As we drew the strings made of sinew back, all our bow’s limbs creaked from the strength of our pulls. Their sounds were a futile harmony, for no matter how many arrows of hope we showered the sky with, they never seemed to reach or phase our impenetrable targets.

Our enemy’s massive army began flanking our position. Lit only by their own fiery red torches, the soldiers appeared as demons pouring out endlessly from the depths of an evil darkness unknown to man. Their mass almost encompassed every inch of the field’s acres, swarming on us like Siafu ants converging on their prey.

We swiftly retreated down a small hill and gap between the legions of soldiers flanking us and reached an enormous, ancient wall of stone. On the other side, the Pine Forest and our escape. Only working together as links in a chain would we be able to scale it. Argus, sensing our need for time to climb it, turned and leapt towards the hordes approaching. His vicious bark and growls kept them at bay, all they could see was a glistening of their torches on his pitch black shiny fur as he streaked by them back and forth, dodging their spears and swords.

I laid flat on my stomach on the wall’s gritty top, my arm stretched until it’s bones almost separated, burning with pain, my hand quivering as I gripped the hand of the last young warrior, and slowly lowered her down the other side of the wall. I turned back towards the battlefield and whistled for my Argus to return but he was nowhere in sight. My heart sank with dread.

As I watched the main squad of soldiers come over the hill I spun my legs over the edge of the wall, holding my self up on it’s scraping top by my forearms. It was at that brief moment that I witnessed the blind blood-lust of our enemy. The main and flanking squads screaming, trampling over the earth’s innocent soil  towards each other, failed to realize they were one and the same army. Just before I gripped the wall’s edge to drop to freedom, I caught a glimpse of our enemy destroying itself, drowning in it’s own blood.

We ran through the dark forest with only the moonlight guiding us. Trees flashed past us like sentries frozen in time. All we could hear was our heavy panting and the leaves rustling and sticks snapping below our swift pace. Argus darted along side of us and I clenched a choke of relief and happiness inside my gut. As we continued running in silence, my son, daughters, wife and I glanced at one another and felt each of our owns elation of being alive once again.

The dim light of a city ahead pushed us to continue farther. A path at the end of the forest led us to a cobblestone street, lined with oak trees, old fashion street lamps and three story brownstone houses decorated with small wrought iron fences and gates. All of their arched, elongated windows dark with the silence of a family’s peaceful sleep.

As we walked together, the smell of salt in the air permeated our senses and we smiled for the first time in a long while. When we reached the end of the street we could hear the sound of subtle waves splashing on the shore. We finally made it to the ocean as the sun began to rise from it’s horizon, and took our shoes off to feel the sand’s comfort on our bare skin.

Sneak peek from Wonder Woman picture book coming this spring.
Even the gods don’t stand a chance!