Zettwoch's Suitcase

Monument to the Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 21:45:00 +0000

I'm a couple of weeks late on this, but here's a drawing/collage commemorating the 60th anniversary of the placement of the final keystone piece of the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

Every year in our class we watch the classic 1967 documentary MONUMENT TO THE DREAM (along with some anicillary videos) and do a 'visual note-taking' exercise. Those lead to a large collaborative in-class poster assignment. This year I made my own.

"Making the Sandwich". Aluminum foil, construction caper, tape, ink & whiteout on paper. 24"x18".

St. Louis' Last Toynbee Tile

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:22:00 +0000

5-color screenprinted homage to the last "Toynbee Tile" in St. Louis (RIP), located downtown at 8th and Market. Asphalt gray, White, Bright Blue, Yellow and Jupiter Red hand-printed on 19.5"x 12.75" concrete gray paper. Edition of 50. Get one here!

Around the edges of the tile is a short history of the mysterious tiler, along with a strictly theoretrical DIY guide to the process of creating and gluing your own piece of street art. Here's an even more theoretical comic I (with the help of Leon Beyond) drew about the same tile:

Drink Along with THE SWIMMER

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 20:24:00 +0000

"He seemed to see, with a cartographer’s eye, that string of swimming pools, that quasi-subterranean stream that curved across the county..."
I've recently become obsessed with the 1968 Burt Lancaster movie THE SWIMMER and keep returning to it. The original John Cheever short story is worth digging up, as well as the full screenplay by Eleanor Perry. There are lots of deep theories and angles to dive into, but I jumped into the shallow end by doodling the (mostly alcoholic) drinks of the film in my sketchbook.

There's symbolism poured into each of these beverages, and I'd be tempted to organize a screening with the full menu if it weren't for the final libation, the "bullshot".

I'll probably draw more fan art for this strange movie, and advance my own pet theories (hint: CAVEMAN), but for now, proceed safely through whatever holes your neighbors dig in their backyards.

Shrewsbury Lanes July 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:07:00 +0000

Paradise City

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 15:42:00 +0000

I did a 2-pager for this cool comics anthology HANKERIN' FOR RUINATION, a loose set of 'covers' of every song from the album Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses.

I covered the final song on the 'G' side Paradise City. Get one here! Here are some thumbnails and reference collected during my research.

I took some inspiration from the Koreshan Utopian Community...

...as well as J. Wimpy Wellington.

Have you read the great Wimpy intro strip by Kevin H?!

Thanks for checkin' it out!

NW Arkansas Sketchbook June-July 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 18:39:00 +0000

July 4th Comic

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 20:57:00 +0000

BubblesCon '25 Sketchbook

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 04:44:00 +0000

Sketches done during BubblesCon '25. Thanks to Brian B. for the great show (and the sketchbook and pen). Good to see everybody!!

Vote for a Bookmobile!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 16:17:00 +0000

I had the honor of working with a bunch of cool kids to design one of the new bookmobiles for the Saint Louis County Library. If you'd like to vote for one of their designs you can fill out a paper ballot at any county Library or do it online on the Library's Instagram Page. Here are full versions of the 3 final designs (click for a larger view):

The process was pretty similar to how clients work with illustrators in the 'real' world. I told the kids about the mission of the bookmobile and how it works. I handed out sheets of paper with templates of an empty bookmobile vehicle, along with lots of pens, markers and crayons. I also helped them think about "design goals" : big, bold concepts that would work well if you saw the Bookmobile cruising down the street from a distance along with details that would be fun to see up-close if it was parked in front of your school. It was really fun seeing what the kids came up with!

Common themes started to emerge: books and reading (of course), dragons and fantasy realms, nature and animals, sports, etc. The only theme I started to discourage was "food". We all got a laugh out of people thinking the bookmobile was a food truck and disappointed there would be no hot dogs on board.

I was very impressed at the range of ideas from very detailed compositions to more abstract, colorful designs. And I was surprised at how well kids started to build on their peers' concepts from previous workshops, making the designs more collaborative and inclusive of many different contributors. I'll be excited to work on final art for any of the concepts up for voting, and I'll do my best to fulfill the visions of all the kids who attended the workshops!

Birds of Puerto Vallerta

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 05:09:00 +0000

Some sketchbook pages from a recent Spring Break Trip! Add these birds to the ones I saw in 2019:

Lunar Eclipse 3/14/25

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 00:10:00 +0000

Redbird #7 "Around the Fish"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 16:18:00 +0000

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Hot off the press: 3rd edition of Redbird #7 Beach Swamp Travel-Log, released last year, available now. 40-page 4.5" x 5.5" mini-comic about a roadtrip I took with my wife and kid to Jackson, Mississippi, Gulf Shores, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana. Play the game "Shark or Decorated Souvenir Shed," traipse around the world's largest hydrological model, learn how to make cocktail sauce, and enjoy a big centerfold map with laffs along the way. Screenprinted covers, xeroxed interiors.

There's some good New Orleans / Mardi Gras / Fried Fish content in here.

Dan Zettwoch, Redbird #7 Back Cover, 2-color screenprint on French "fuse green" construction stock.
I also really got into Paul Klee while working on this issue, particular his notebooks and this painting, "Around the Fish", which I covered on the back of my comic.

Paul Klee, Around the Fish, 1926. Oil + Tempera on canvas mounted on cardboard.
Of course in St. Louis Mardi Gras means: Fish Fry Season!

More greasy goodness coming on Zettwoch's Suitcase blog soon!

You See It When It Sees You!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 19:01:00 +0000

I love this exercise from Lynda Barry's great book MAKING COMICS called "You See It When It Sees You".

I do it along with my students in MFA IVC every Spring. Here are the last few:

It's a fun way of combining concrete writing, still-life drawing, imaginative writing and self-portraiture, all on one sketchbook page.

Lynda's "X-Page" diary method makes for an interesting page layout, forcing us to write and draw in non-linear triangular wedges instead of the usual top-down journal method.

Toys, action figures and little tchotchkes with personality for make for good subjects, but I find that I enjoy drawing and inhabiting strange 'boring' objects better. It was fun writing from the POV of a KILZ can.

Try it yourself with an object around your house! (I have also stolen Lynda's preference for cheap composition books for my classroom planning and sketching).

Between the Pages Sketchbook Show

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:29:00 +0000

I'm honored to be a part of this show happening now at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

It's a show of artist and illustrator's sketchbooks, some behind-the-scenes glimpses into the nitty and gritty of our process/processing.

About 15 years ago I settled in a nice sketchbook practice, mostly thanks to the lo-fi ritual of making my own super-cheap / semi-disposable booklets out of copy paper and silkscreening scraps.

They end up being a mix of notes, lists, doodles, preparatory sketches for client work, bird drawings, DIY diagrams, collaged trash,

and the occasional 'nice' on-site illustration.

I've got more to say/write about "sketchbooking." And I'm currently working on a publishing project compiling some of the more finished drawings and comics from these tattered booklets, trying to capture the feel and work out the private vs. public aspects. But yeah, more soon!

In the meantime, if you're in Central Missouri check it out!

Special thanks to Cydney Cherepak for including me in the show!

Year of the Snake

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:35:00 +0000

Styrofoam Relief Printing

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 16:41:00 +0000

Did you know that can make lo-fi relief prints using old styrofoam plates? A wonderful student of mine Jillian Ohl hipped me to this. Wipe off that baked-bean residue, trim it down to a flat section, and grab a sharp-ish tool of your choice. Roll up with ink like you would a lino-cut.

(This method is good for things other than skulls, too.)

DIY Sleds of the 1950s

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 17:17:00 +0000

We've been sleddin' a lot lately here in the midwest and I got my Dad and Uncle Doug to reminiscing about the preferred downhill modes of transport in Louisville, Kentucky's West End, c. 1955-65.

Top sketchbook spread by me, these sketches by Don "Toots" Zettwoch. Jan. 2025.

Below is my Xmas Card from 2006 (2-color screenprint), remembering my generation's favorite "sled": the gigantic monster truck inner-tube to pile on. I'm not sure where my Dad procured these giant donuts -- i'll have to ask him to do another sketch.

It's all downhill from here.

Be careful on the slopes! Watch out for that kid lollygagging at the bottom of the hill!

Schlafly Christmas Ale 2024

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 15:55:00 +0000

The 2024 Special Release Christmas Ale. Illustration and package design for my friends at Schlafly.

A couple of alternate designs:

Sketches:

And the one we went with:

Original lineart:

Display at Schnuck's:

Merry Christmas!

Punta Cana Sketchbook Dec.'22-Jan.'23

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 21:17:00 +0000

New Print! Beautiful Jim Key

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 19:41:00 +0000

Hot off the press! Here's a new print about The Most Wonderful Horse in the World, Jim Key.

I had started a comic about Jim years ago and decided to compile all the research and info into one jam-packed day-glo screenprint instead.

I also read this wonderful book by Mim Eichler Rivas.

Thumbnails:

Bigger sketch and final lineart:

Some ink tests:

And the final print!

Cream, Gold, Black and Fluorescent Green ink on chipboard*, 14x22". Edition of 65.

No horsin' around, buy one here.

Happy 3.14 Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 13:56:00 +0000

For explore St. Louis . Other StL food illustrations: St. Louis Style • Slinger • Toasty Ravioli

Eye of the Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:17:00 +0000

3-color screenprints on glitter-gold cardstock, 1-color envelope on red vellum envelopes. Have a good 2022!

Atlas Moth & King Cobra

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:46:00 +0000

These silkscreened prints are now available online at my shop here. Here are some process pics, from thumbnail sketch to final screenprinting.

I was partially inspired to make the print by one of my favorite films, the documentary Atlas Moth (the sequel to the equally great Driver 23).

Look Back and Laugh

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 18:55:00 +0000

Support Your Local Brewery

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Z.) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 17:02:00 +0000

I've been drawing these maps of local breweries for The St. Louis Brewers Heritage Foundation for a while now. The most current -- updated toward the end of Summer 2020 -- is still available as an 24"x18" print through their shop here. Hopefully all of the breweries are still open and ready to sell you some suds.

I've generated a big pile of inked drawings over the years while working on these: brewery logos, tiny slices of STL architecture + scenery, and lots of hand-lettering:

Here's a glimpse into my sketchbook, "where ideas come from". You can see here for the 2020 update I was really trying to figure out how to do a a Beer Goggles / 2020 Vision thing:

Thankfully I went with the STL flag sorta theme/color scheme instead.
Here's what the previous version looked like, 2018-2019:

And here's an even earlier version, which I detailed years ago on this blog:

I've gone back to this book over and over for visual reference and inspiration, St. Louis Brews: The History of Brewing in the Gateway City.

You can see here where I was trying to rip off the Carondelet Brewing Co. style lettering:

Anyway, I've drawn a lot of other beer stuff too, like this timeline of the history of Beer, this bottle design I did for a special-release Schlafly beer, and all these technical renderings for Draft beer installers. Drink responsibly!