Monday, April 30, 2007
Nice to meet you.
Recently I got a new domain (www.humanmollusk.com). I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do with it yet, so for the time being I added a second character to the Molluskhead painting I posted ages ago and put the pair up there as a welcome page.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Kipper Kids
The world is divided into two halves, those who know who the Kipper Kids are and those who don't. If you are one of those unlucky individuals to be unfamiliar, well this post should send you on the insane road to the other side.
My first experience with these characters, made up of Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg was sometime in the mid 80's on The Mondo Beyondo Show, the clip posted above. It was one of the funniest goddamn things I'd ever seen and has stayed in my head ever since. At the age of 11 I saw UHF (yeah I was one of the few people who actually did see it in the theater) and there was a cameo appearance of the Kipper Kids. The only time I'd get to see them rootin and tootin around on the big screen. They appeared during the fundraiser for the channel. Then many years go by and in 2004 I discover Richard Elfman's film Forbidden Zone. This movie is a perfect fit for the surreal insanity of the Kipper Kids.
If you have the chance you should check out the dvd and watch the cut out scenes. One of them is a full sequence of the Kippers doing their thing, throwing food on each other and grunting about. At some point one of them starts saying "smokey bacon! smokey bacon!" and they say it back and forth. It is insanely funny to watch.
I'll bet you thought this had nothing to do with comics. No, as it turns out Brian Routh made a comic about the exploits of the Kipper Kids in 1977 titled "Kipper Kids ComiX" which can be viewed and purchased here. You'll see in this comic the Kipper clones which are also running rampant in this clip.
Another point of interest are the songs created by Brian Routh.
And while I find this duo of bizarre characters incredibly funny, they get into such abstract surreal and wildly bizarre scenarios as can be seen in their numerous short films. they are also very artistically inspiring to me. I have plans on making a large digital work that is a tribute to the Kipper Kids. It's still in the floating around inside my head stage but I know it will involve hundreds of the Kipper clones with the original two in some peucliar situation.
Be sure to check out the websites of the Kippers, Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg to see the peculiar arry of things they are up to now.
My first experience with these characters, made up of Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg was sometime in the mid 80's on The Mondo Beyondo Show, the clip posted above. It was one of the funniest goddamn things I'd ever seen and has stayed in my head ever since. At the age of 11 I saw UHF (yeah I was one of the few people who actually did see it in the theater) and there was a cameo appearance of the Kipper Kids. The only time I'd get to see them rootin and tootin around on the big screen. They appeared during the fundraiser for the channel. Then many years go by and in 2004 I discover Richard Elfman's film Forbidden Zone. This movie is a perfect fit for the surreal insanity of the Kipper Kids.
If you have the chance you should check out the dvd and watch the cut out scenes. One of them is a full sequence of the Kippers doing their thing, throwing food on each other and grunting about. At some point one of them starts saying "smokey bacon! smokey bacon!" and they say it back and forth. It is insanely funny to watch.
I'll bet you thought this had nothing to do with comics. No, as it turns out Brian Routh made a comic about the exploits of the Kipper Kids in 1977 titled "Kipper Kids ComiX" which can be viewed and purchased here. You'll see in this comic the Kipper clones which are also running rampant in this clip.
Another point of interest are the songs created by Brian Routh.
And while I find this duo of bizarre characters incredibly funny, they get into such abstract surreal and wildly bizarre scenarios as can be seen in their numerous short films. they are also very artistically inspiring to me. I have plans on making a large digital work that is a tribute to the Kipper Kids. It's still in the floating around inside my head stage but I know it will involve hundreds of the Kipper clones with the original two in some peucliar situation.
Be sure to check out the websites of the Kippers, Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg to see the peculiar arry of things they are up to now.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
THE FUTURE!!!
We watched IDIOCRACY on recommendation from Brother Lupo last night. I felt that it was barely satire, this is already the world we live in, it was just presented hyperbolically. While watching the movie, i realized that this is the world that i've been ready for my entire life! A world full of idiots, chemical weapons, gross marketing campaigns, sex sells, police verbiage & extreme nacho pro-wrestling. I was not raised with a lot of expectations from society, & i've been actively expecting some kind of apocalypse ever since i understood the dinosaur's getting wiped out, so i'm pretty much ready for anything. In many ways, the present is alot stupider than the future as presented in Idiocracy. One example is Wackipedia, which seemed like a good idea for a minute, but then, i realized that it is perhaps, one of the stupidest things ever made. It's supposed to be an authoritative source, but it can be edited at any moment by anyone, usually by people who have way too much time on their hands, you have to source your information, which is pretty arbitrary & there is no telling who is actually writing or editing the articles, given that everyone uses handles & doesn't disclose their actual identity. In the world of hyper-democracy, no one matters! Ultimately, it is going to create an ouroborosised or hamf'd (ham fed ham) effect on information, that is, it will all come from the same source, echo away from itself, get modified, interpreted to serve interests & then be redigested. This will only continue, as is the case with all democratic institutions, until all of the information is the consistency of gruel. Taking this into account, Idiocracy presents a future that is too exciting, because the current trends are towards blandness. These futuristic ideas most likely come from humanity's attempts at understanding evolution & applying evolutionary concepts onto humanity. Alot of the bigger mistakes in recent history come from applying scientific & political theories onto humanity, i'm thinking of things like eugenics, environmentalism, psychotherapy & feminism. The other likely source of this devolutionary notion comes from the idea that we as humans reached the pinnacle of our existence already, whether that was during Greco-Roman times, the Renaissance, the height of industrialism, the fifties, Clinton era liberalism or whatever, & that the only way is down. My feeling is that things are usually the same with humanity, there is a large mass of pretty average people who just need solid culture to keep them on the right track, there are a large number of idiots who just need some help, there are a small number of geniuses who can be dangerous or useful, but are usually a combination of both, & that's a good thing. It is stupid to allow the mass to determine its own fate, because it is ouroborosised, just like Wackipedia. It is also stupid for the geniuses to look to the mass for leadership or direction, also polling the masses in terms of the success of their various projects, because this is not what the masses actually want.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
5 Things I like This week
Luke set the form: I don't know if there are actually five things I like this week, but let's see:
1. E. Nesbitt's "Book of Dragons". I've read some of E. Nesbitt's children's books before; she's very witty, though a little precious. This one, though, is better than all the rest because it is the closest to being completely batshit insane. In one story dragons start appearing everywhere (the first one flies into the protagonist's eye) so the kids go to wake up St. George, and they find him and wake him up, and then he says there are too many dragons and just goes back to sleep again. In another they go to the North Pole (which is actually a big pole made out of ice) and are attacked by sealskin dwarves, which are little dwarves made out of sealskin (naturally enough.) Oh, yeah, and there's a giant ice slide. And polite moths. My favorite though is "Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger," set in the island of Rotundia where "all the animals are the wrong sizes." "The guinea pig, as you know, was as big as our elephants, and the elepant -- dear little pet -- was the size of the silly, tiny, black-and-tan dogs that ladies carry sometimes in their muffs. The rabbits were about the size of our rhinoceroses, and all about the wild parts of the island they had made their burrows as big as railway tunnels. The dormouse, of course, was the biggest of all the creatures. I can't tell you how big he was. Even if you think of elephants it will not help you at all. Luckily there was only one of him, and he was always asleep. otherwise I don't think the Rotundians could have borne with him. As it was, they made him a house, and it saved the expense of a brass band, because no band could possibly have been heard when the dormouse was talking in his sleep." It's like a British Wizard of Oz, totally trippy, yet urbane. What a great book.
2. Lumidee, "Almost Famous". Great R&B album from 2003, I think. Really nice, sparse production and subtle, layered Latin beats. Her voice is charmingly quavery. (She has a new album out now which isn't really as good, alas.)
3. British psych folk -- I've been really getting into this the last month or so. I was already a big fan of Donovan, but a friend lent me a comp called "Gather in the Mushrooms" and I've been checking out some more obscure artists I found through that. I've been listening to Sandy Denny (she sang for Fairport Convention -- some really nice dirges) and Sallyangie (Mike Oldfield's first project.) Do you like this stuff, Robert? It reminds me a lot of shoegazer pop -- fey and dreamy with gorgeous arrangements. Though, y'know, without the really loud electric guitars.
4. Planimeters — Perfect for finding the area of an irregular surface. Who knew?
5. Shameless self-promotion: I've got a bunch of stuff out in the last week or so. An article in the reader about a hipster D&D apocalypse; a short poem about deep-sea fish; an illustration on the Flaming Fire site; and a couple articles in the new issue of TCJ, which should be on shelves this week.
1. E. Nesbitt's "Book of Dragons". I've read some of E. Nesbitt's children's books before; she's very witty, though a little precious. This one, though, is better than all the rest because it is the closest to being completely batshit insane. In one story dragons start appearing everywhere (the first one flies into the protagonist's eye) so the kids go to wake up St. George, and they find him and wake him up, and then he says there are too many dragons and just goes back to sleep again. In another they go to the North Pole (which is actually a big pole made out of ice) and are attacked by sealskin dwarves, which are little dwarves made out of sealskin (naturally enough.) Oh, yeah, and there's a giant ice slide. And polite moths. My favorite though is "Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger," set in the island of Rotundia where "all the animals are the wrong sizes." "The guinea pig, as you know, was as big as our elephants, and the elepant -- dear little pet -- was the size of the silly, tiny, black-and-tan dogs that ladies carry sometimes in their muffs. The rabbits were about the size of our rhinoceroses, and all about the wild parts of the island they had made their burrows as big as railway tunnels. The dormouse, of course, was the biggest of all the creatures. I can't tell you how big he was. Even if you think of elephants it will not help you at all. Luckily there was only one of him, and he was always asleep. otherwise I don't think the Rotundians could have borne with him. As it was, they made him a house, and it saved the expense of a brass band, because no band could possibly have been heard when the dormouse was talking in his sleep." It's like a British Wizard of Oz, totally trippy, yet urbane. What a great book.
2. Lumidee, "Almost Famous". Great R&B album from 2003, I think. Really nice, sparse production and subtle, layered Latin beats. Her voice is charmingly quavery. (She has a new album out now which isn't really as good, alas.)
3. British psych folk -- I've been really getting into this the last month or so. I was already a big fan of Donovan, but a friend lent me a comp called "Gather in the Mushrooms" and I've been checking out some more obscure artists I found through that. I've been listening to Sandy Denny (she sang for Fairport Convention -- some really nice dirges) and Sallyangie (Mike Oldfield's first project.) Do you like this stuff, Robert? It reminds me a lot of shoegazer pop -- fey and dreamy with gorgeous arrangements. Though, y'know, without the really loud electric guitars.
4. Planimeters — Perfect for finding the area of an irregular surface. Who knew?
5. Shameless self-promotion: I've got a bunch of stuff out in the last week or so. An article in the reader about a hipster D&D apocalypse; a short poem about deep-sea fish; an illustration on the Flaming Fire site; and a couple articles in the new issue of TCJ, which should be on shelves this week.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOOOM!
WORLD DESTRUCTION by TIME ZONE
People always ask me what 1909 1977 means. This video tells the story very clearly. 1909 is the year the Futurist Manifesto was written. Futurism is essentially Art Punk from long ago. Snarling Italian reactionaries smashing the history that threatened to strangle their nation. 1977 is the year Punk really echoed around the world. Snarling English kids smashing the stagnant Rock & Roll bloat that had set upon the world in the 70s. Shocking grannies with bright colors, nasty attitudes & fast, cheap & easy to produce pop trash culture. Punk was the only really revolutionary form of music to be introduced, even if it drew heavily on old rock & roll, in intention & execution, it wiped a bit of the slate clean, clearing the way for something like a pop single from Afrika Bambaataa (Hip Hop Zulu Futurist) & Johnny Rotten (True embodiment of the Punk spirit) about armaggedon. It is important to note that what was contained in these two movements was the dynamic seed, violent energy, unrestricted creativity, unrelenting passion, when one tries to recreate the movement, the point is lost. The dynamic energy is the important thing.
DEATH DISCO by PIL
PLANET ROCK by AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & THE SOULSONIC FORCE
BUFFALO GALS by MALCOLM MCLAREN (SEX PISTOLS IMPRESSARIO)
All of this made way for the KLF.
3 AM ETERNAL by THE KLF
People always ask me what 1909 1977 means. This video tells the story very clearly. 1909 is the year the Futurist Manifesto was written. Futurism is essentially Art Punk from long ago. Snarling Italian reactionaries smashing the history that threatened to strangle their nation. 1977 is the year Punk really echoed around the world. Snarling English kids smashing the stagnant Rock & Roll bloat that had set upon the world in the 70s. Shocking grannies with bright colors, nasty attitudes & fast, cheap & easy to produce pop trash culture. Punk was the only really revolutionary form of music to be introduced, even if it drew heavily on old rock & roll, in intention & execution, it wiped a bit of the slate clean, clearing the way for something like a pop single from Afrika Bambaataa (Hip Hop Zulu Futurist) & Johnny Rotten (True embodiment of the Punk spirit) about armaggedon. It is important to note that what was contained in these two movements was the dynamic seed, violent energy, unrestricted creativity, unrelenting passion, when one tries to recreate the movement, the point is lost. The dynamic energy is the important thing.
DEATH DISCO by PIL
PLANET ROCK by AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & THE SOULSONIC FORCE
BUFFALO GALS by MALCOLM MCLAREN (SEX PISTOLS IMPRESSARIO)
All of this made way for the KLF.
3 AM ETERNAL by THE KLF
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Your eyes look like atomic explosions
Some digital fuck offs from today. And those actually are atomic explosions for eyes.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
WEEKLY TOP 5
1. THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM by Kazuo Umezu
I have a sneaking suspicion that those who might've given us translations of material like THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM a long while ago held off because, they assumed, it was just too strange for Americans, especially American comic book readers; it doesn't fit exactly into any genre, as we've known them.This is ostensibly a horror comic with plenty of violence and suspense, but it's full of melodramatic sentiments common in material for younger readers, which THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM is/was designed for ; Confounding to the smarmy ad-man (that I've invented out of whole cloth), I'm sure.
I'm not sure what it took to get them to go forward. I'm sure rabid scanlators played a part, but it may have struck them that outlandish and bizarre concepts are pretty mainstream nowadays.Look at the show LOST, for instance; Magic numbers, sentient clouds of black smog, Polar Bears on a tropical island. Ridiculous, of course, but I love this kind of material when it's done well.
I've always been suspicious of any form of fiction that attempts to represent any kind of "real life expeience" ( Carver, Philip Roth,((internal shudder and groan.))) . If your aim is to cut through to some kind of truth, or raise some indefatigable question concerning "real life", I've always found the most interesting way to get there in fiction is in some construction that kind of forces the issue, in a way; like how a well told joke can cut through minor quibbles and reveal some hidden truth that couldn't possibly have been expressed in another form. And this method totally embraces the very idea of fiction, which , in very academic terms, I'll identify as "making shit up". And why make shit up? Cause it's fun , exhilerating even.
Witnessing or reading the developement of the construction that forces the issue is really fun. It's the ride, pretty much.Vonnegut did this, Kafka, Borges, Dick ( sometimes inspite of himself, I think), tons of Science Fiction does this. Conversly, my dislike for the type of material I describe lends itself to appreciating its opposite- No one is mroe willing to play with the preposterous than the Japanese, for some reason.
An isolated school house is the perfect setting to explore all kids of interesting social questions in the same way. But how to isolate it? - Lift it off the ground in an earth-shaking minute, have it hover in some kind of starkly rendered, phantasmagoric nether-region. That'll do. Will the kids take over the school? Will they find means to leave? How many teachers will go bat-shit crazy?
I'm only two volumes in ( my one complaint about manga is that your average $10 paperback feels like the equivalent to about ten to 12 minutes of a 2 hour film) . My favorite scene so far happens after the teachers have warned all students to never, never go beyond the front gates of the school and into the weird, shifting landscape. A younder student, overcome with greif, desperate to get out, slips through the gate.He runs and runs for a bit as his sister screams for him to return- and then the now tiny figure stops and falls to the ground without a sound. And just lays there. Is he dead? Unconcious. The kids quietly look out at the little body wondering..
I have no idea how this one's gonna go.
It's drawn in a really stark, almost ratty line.It's not pretty, it's not fluid, really, in the way Junji Ito's later stuff is, but it works really well in setting a claustrophobic, grimy mood . From what I can gather from the back of the book- which includes descriptions of each of Umezus' works- this is stark style done intentionally as it's not employed in all of his other works.
(someone translate this Umezu comic, please!)
2. My New Savage Pencil t-shirt, purchased at the Southern Lord shop
He's apparently really into Black Metal right now and it shows.I'm happy to see him doing work for Southern Lord and related bands- it's a good fit.
(clik to engorge)
I've been thinking lately about the potential for becoming a little bit "known" as an artist and what that might take, realistically. It might seem gaucheto write about this kinda thing, I realize, but fuck it.
I've always vacilated between different interests, styles, materials,etc. I don't really have a consistent or recognizable style, I don't think, and I've always resisted sticking with one believing that it would inherently limit me from developing other aspecs of my art. I'm starting to believe it's flat out necessary for me to pursue one that's distinct ; Savage Pencil is so very distinct and he draws stuff that I could imagine being interested in drawing for the rest of ones life. Pretty inspiring.
3. Battlestar Galactica- Aright. I'm sure that a) You don't give a crap about this kind of stuff and never will, b) You've heard plenty about the show already, or c) You watch it and know it's awesome.
It's occassionaly a little drippy, a little ponderous, but Jeez- those space battles look so fucking cool.
4. Ridiculous Grinding Death Metal.
I hung out exclusively with metalhead friends for a few years during adolescence.I still count these guys as friends, but I kind of moved on from it socially ( metal chicks are not my cup, to make a long story short.) but I never stopped listening to metal, mostly death metal.
Friends and girlfriends would ask - 'Do you actually like this stuff, actually?' - Yes and no,I'd say, and then I wouldn't shut up for hours as I explained exactly why I loved Death Metal, no doubt boring them to tears as I cited Medievel Artworks, Pulp Fiction of yore, etc. ( I'm sure I'd bring up Hitler somewhere into hour two ). I'm not going to get into all of it now, but I'll say this; "Musically", I don't 'enjoy' listening to Death Metal, in the same way that I 'enjoy' listening to Thin Lizzy, or Pet Sounds, or early Kraftwerk, but Death Metal almost isn't a musical experience. It’s a sensory experience, I think.
I've also had freinds who were uncomfortable with the violent subject matter of some death metal , but I've always seen this stuff as kind of a cartoony thing. I know I differ here with some of the serious fans out there, and I'm not sure if my perception of it is at odds with the musicians' intentions, but I've always felt that the exagerrated vocals and the insanely fast instrumentation kind of abstracts the violence in a way. For instance, If I were to see a literally interpreted filmed re-creation of , say, a Cannibal Corpse lyric, I'd be grossed-out to the bone, I'm sure ( I can't take realistic gore/violence in a movie- I turned white(r) while watching I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE..).I've never experienced anything like that while listening to Death Metal.
There is also something about this secret, underground world of death metal- full of crazy imagery and cool looking, illegible logos that's really appealing for reasons I can't really explain.I imagined, as a teenager, that these young guys with really long hair, horror art t-shirts with cryptic text on them had some balls to create art that was completely indifferent to social expectations.It wasn't even against anything, it's as though it hadn't occured to them that all of the banal and shitty aspects of everyday life existed, or at least weren't worth noticing. I had no idea where these guys came from. I was pretty sure they were in on some kind of secret; maybe some books I'd never heard of, or movies I couldn't rent at the drug store would clue me in.
I'd also like to draw a distinction here between the classic, awesome death metal of bands like Morbid Angel and Nile and these "ridiculous" bands, bands like Decrepit Birth, Burial and Devourment and a few thousand others .
I've also listened to this stuff for so long that it no longer sounds at all abnormal to me; I play it at mid-volume while drawing pretty often. I no longer respond to it in any kind of physical way, like I did when I was 14 ( didn't music sound better at that age?).
5. CHILDREN OF MEN- Did you guys see this movie? It's pretty sweet.
Be sure to list your top 5 in the comments section!
I have a sneaking suspicion that those who might've given us translations of material like THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM a long while ago held off because, they assumed, it was just too strange for Americans, especially American comic book readers; it doesn't fit exactly into any genre, as we've known them.This is ostensibly a horror comic with plenty of violence and suspense, but it's full of melodramatic sentiments common in material for younger readers, which THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM is/was designed for ; Confounding to the smarmy ad-man (that I've invented out of whole cloth), I'm sure.
I'm not sure what it took to get them to go forward. I'm sure rabid scanlators played a part, but it may have struck them that outlandish and bizarre concepts are pretty mainstream nowadays.Look at the show LOST, for instance; Magic numbers, sentient clouds of black smog, Polar Bears on a tropical island. Ridiculous, of course, but I love this kind of material when it's done well.
I've always been suspicious of any form of fiction that attempts to represent any kind of "real life expeience" ( Carver, Philip Roth,((internal shudder and groan.))) . If your aim is to cut through to some kind of truth, or raise some indefatigable question concerning "real life", I've always found the most interesting way to get there in fiction is in some construction that kind of forces the issue, in a way; like how a well told joke can cut through minor quibbles and reveal some hidden truth that couldn't possibly have been expressed in another form. And this method totally embraces the very idea of fiction, which , in very academic terms, I'll identify as "making shit up". And why make shit up? Cause it's fun , exhilerating even.
Witnessing or reading the developement of the construction that forces the issue is really fun. It's the ride, pretty much.Vonnegut did this, Kafka, Borges, Dick ( sometimes inspite of himself, I think), tons of Science Fiction does this. Conversly, my dislike for the type of material I describe lends itself to appreciating its opposite- No one is mroe willing to play with the preposterous than the Japanese, for some reason.
An isolated school house is the perfect setting to explore all kids of interesting social questions in the same way. But how to isolate it? - Lift it off the ground in an earth-shaking minute, have it hover in some kind of starkly rendered, phantasmagoric nether-region. That'll do. Will the kids take over the school? Will they find means to leave? How many teachers will go bat-shit crazy?
I'm only two volumes in ( my one complaint about manga is that your average $10 paperback feels like the equivalent to about ten to 12 minutes of a 2 hour film) . My favorite scene so far happens after the teachers have warned all students to never, never go beyond the front gates of the school and into the weird, shifting landscape. A younder student, overcome with greif, desperate to get out, slips through the gate.He runs and runs for a bit as his sister screams for him to return- and then the now tiny figure stops and falls to the ground without a sound. And just lays there. Is he dead? Unconcious. The kids quietly look out at the little body wondering..
I have no idea how this one's gonna go.
It's drawn in a really stark, almost ratty line.It's not pretty, it's not fluid, really, in the way Junji Ito's later stuff is, but it works really well in setting a claustrophobic, grimy mood . From what I can gather from the back of the book- which includes descriptions of each of Umezus' works- this is stark style done intentionally as it's not employed in all of his other works.
(someone translate this Umezu comic, please!)
2. My New Savage Pencil t-shirt, purchased at the Southern Lord shop
He's apparently really into Black Metal right now and it shows.I'm happy to see him doing work for Southern Lord and related bands- it's a good fit.
(clik to engorge)
I've been thinking lately about the potential for becoming a little bit "known" as an artist and what that might take, realistically. It might seem gaucheto write about this kinda thing, I realize, but fuck it.
I've always vacilated between different interests, styles, materials,etc. I don't really have a consistent or recognizable style, I don't think, and I've always resisted sticking with one believing that it would inherently limit me from developing other aspecs of my art. I'm starting to believe it's flat out necessary for me to pursue one that's distinct ; Savage Pencil is so very distinct and he draws stuff that I could imagine being interested in drawing for the rest of ones life. Pretty inspiring.
3. Battlestar Galactica- Aright. I'm sure that a) You don't give a crap about this kind of stuff and never will, b) You've heard plenty about the show already, or c) You watch it and know it's awesome.
It's occassionaly a little drippy, a little ponderous, but Jeez- those space battles look so fucking cool.
4. Ridiculous Grinding Death Metal.
I hung out exclusively with metalhead friends for a few years during adolescence.I still count these guys as friends, but I kind of moved on from it socially ( metal chicks are not my cup, to make a long story short.) but I never stopped listening to metal, mostly death metal.
Friends and girlfriends would ask - 'Do you actually like this stuff, actually?' - Yes and no,I'd say, and then I wouldn't shut up for hours as I explained exactly why I loved Death Metal, no doubt boring them to tears as I cited Medievel Artworks, Pulp Fiction of yore, etc. ( I'm sure I'd bring up Hitler somewhere into hour two ). I'm not going to get into all of it now, but I'll say this; "Musically", I don't 'enjoy' listening to Death Metal, in the same way that I 'enjoy' listening to Thin Lizzy, or Pet Sounds, or early Kraftwerk, but Death Metal almost isn't a musical experience. It’s a sensory experience, I think.
I've also had freinds who were uncomfortable with the violent subject matter of some death metal , but I've always seen this stuff as kind of a cartoony thing. I know I differ here with some of the serious fans out there, and I'm not sure if my perception of it is at odds with the musicians' intentions, but I've always felt that the exagerrated vocals and the insanely fast instrumentation kind of abstracts the violence in a way. For instance, If I were to see a literally interpreted filmed re-creation of , say, a Cannibal Corpse lyric, I'd be grossed-out to the bone, I'm sure ( I can't take realistic gore/violence in a movie- I turned white(r) while watching I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE..).I've never experienced anything like that while listening to Death Metal.
There is also something about this secret, underground world of death metal- full of crazy imagery and cool looking, illegible logos that's really appealing for reasons I can't really explain.I imagined, as a teenager, that these young guys with really long hair, horror art t-shirts with cryptic text on them had some balls to create art that was completely indifferent to social expectations.It wasn't even against anything, it's as though it hadn't occured to them that all of the banal and shitty aspects of everyday life existed, or at least weren't worth noticing. I had no idea where these guys came from. I was pretty sure they were in on some kind of secret; maybe some books I'd never heard of, or movies I couldn't rent at the drug store would clue me in.
I'd also like to draw a distinction here between the classic, awesome death metal of bands like Morbid Angel and Nile and these "ridiculous" bands, bands like Decrepit Birth, Burial and Devourment and a few thousand others .
I've also listened to this stuff for so long that it no longer sounds at all abnormal to me; I play it at mid-volume while drawing pretty often. I no longer respond to it in any kind of physical way, like I did when I was 14 ( didn't music sound better at that age?).
5. CHILDREN OF MEN- Did you guys see this movie? It's pretty sweet.
Be sure to list your top 5 in the comments section!
Botticelli's Inferno
I've been obsessed with Botticelli's drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy lately. It led me to discover this really amazing gallery.
Many of the drawings from this series can be found at the bottom of this page and this one.
It's been a huge inspiration for my comic book stuff. There's more drawings that can be found on the other pages or levels of hell displayed on the front gallery page. And this place has introduced me to another amazing artist, Suloni Robertson. Their work can be found as the very colorful and visceral paintings of monsters and mutilated characters at the top of each gallery page. Take a look at some of them here and here. Some of the art reminded me of Clive Barker's recent paintings for his Abarat storyline.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Meet the Ambassadors
Some Aliens I drew just for fun.
Also, digging further into my past, I found these two drawings I did when I was about 3 and 5 years old, which struck me as weirdly similar...
Finally, the Melvins, one of my favorite bands, toured my town last week promoting their new album, which I actually like less than their previous more experimental ones. The concert was brilliant though. They also have a new video which you can watch on youtube. It was obviously done with a rather small budget but it's cool and it's got all the weird shit in it we love so dearly here on EBD:
Melvins - The Talking Horse
Also, digging further into my past, I found these two drawings I did when I was about 3 and 5 years old, which struck me as weirdly similar...
Finally, the Melvins, one of my favorite bands, toured my town last week promoting their new album, which I actually like less than their previous more experimental ones. The concert was brilliant though. They also have a new video which you can watch on youtube. It was obviously done with a rather small budget but it's cool and it's got all the weird shit in it we love so dearly here on EBD:
Melvins - The Talking Horse
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Last of the Big Time Fish-People
Here's the last drawing for the Lovecraft exhibition; more minimal than what I've been doing.
I think the text is actually legible, if anyone bothers to click on it. Otherwise, twill remain a mystery....
I think the text is actually legible, if anyone bothers to click on it. Otherwise, twill remain a mystery....
FINNISHED
I finished a re-jiggered version of an older image for the Finnish Doom Metal guy - He wanted this image specifically.
It turned out pretty well.
If I do anything like this in the future, I'm going to lay down the law:
- I'll do a brand new image, specifically for the poster.
- I need to hear some of the music by the artists I'm advertising.
- I'll do all type.
I don't think the Finnish guy did a bad job with the type at all, but the only way to keep it interesting for me is to do the whole thing from scratch.
It turned out pretty well.
If I do anything like this in the future, I'm going to lay down the law:
- I'll do a brand new image, specifically for the poster.
- I need to hear some of the music by the artists I'm advertising.
- I'll do all type.
I don't think the Finnish guy did a bad job with the type at all, but the only way to keep it interesting for me is to do the whole thing from scratch.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Dragons!
Everything I've been working on lately has been digital and slow going. I'm doing a collaboration with Kristian Olson this month that is going to rock. I'll post examples from that in the not too distant future. But for now, here is something that I've been putting a lot of time into, a weeklong post dedicated to Dragon art.
Hey, Waiter, There's a Cthulhu in my....Eaaaargh!
Here's a couple more Lovecraft drawings. The text for this one reads:
In Ld. Dunsany's "Idle Days on the Yann": The inhabitants of the antient Astahahn, on the Yann, do all things according to
antient ceremony. Nothing new is found. "Here we have fetter'd and manacled Time, who wou'd otherwise slay the Gods."
This was too big to scan all at once, and my assembly skills in photoshop are lame, so if you see bits that seem like they don't fit together, that's probably why.
The text for the next one is:
Autonomic nervous system and subconscious mind do not reside in the head. Have mad physician decapitate a man but keep
him alive and subconsciously controlled. Avoid copying tale by W. C. Morrow.
And finally...I've been doing my best to drag the blog into the dank, watery nether dimension of ironic Cthulhu humor with my post titles, but I figured as long as the issue had been broached, I met as well step up my efforts. Here's a clerihew I wrote a couple years ago, along with some cheesy manipulated clip-art from Illustrator....
Mr. H. P. Lovecraft
Was with hideous frequency shoved aft
On his sea-voyage to Fishguard, Wales
By a Mr. Yog-Shoggoth in top hat and tails.
In Ld. Dunsany's "Idle Days on the Yann": The inhabitants of the antient Astahahn, on the Yann, do all things according to
antient ceremony. Nothing new is found. "Here we have fetter'd and manacled Time, who wou'd otherwise slay the Gods."
This was too big to scan all at once, and my assembly skills in photoshop are lame, so if you see bits that seem like they don't fit together, that's probably why.
The text for the next one is:
Autonomic nervous system and subconscious mind do not reside in the head. Have mad physician decapitate a man but keep
him alive and subconsciously controlled. Avoid copying tale by W. C. Morrow.
And finally...I've been doing my best to drag the blog into the dank, watery nether dimension of ironic Cthulhu humor with my post titles, but I figured as long as the issue had been broached, I met as well step up my efforts. Here's a clerihew I wrote a couple years ago, along with some cheesy manipulated clip-art from Illustrator....
Mr. H. P. Lovecraft
Was with hideous frequency shoved aft
On his sea-voyage to Fishguard, Wales
By a Mr. Yog-Shoggoth in top hat and tails.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Photoshop Prehistory
Rummaging through my old CDs I came across this 10 years old photoshop collage of mine which I had totally forgotten about. It's not very well done but still kinda like it. In the context of the whole art debate following Sean's rant I thought I'd post it here.
And then I also found this quote nicely tying the art discussion to our Lovecraft conversation after Luke's post:
"Art is not what one resolves to say, but what insists on saying itself through one."
-- HPL in a 1934 letter
And then I also found this quote nicely tying the art discussion to our Lovecraft conversation after Luke's post:
"Art is not what one resolves to say, but what insists on saying itself through one."
-- HPL in a 1934 letter
Saturday, April 14, 2007
GHOSTS, DOGS & KINGS CARDS!!!
The preliminary, promotional run of 9 cards is OUT NOW!!! NOW!!! NOW!!! It's yours for a mere $2! That's cheaper than when they will be officially released! These 9 cards will most likely not be run in the same form when the final card line is released! That means... RARE!!! LIMITED!!! WOT!?! BUY THEM!
FRONTS
BACKS
FRONTS
BACKS
Friday, April 13, 2007
Tomb of Lost Lit
I recently discovered this site: Horror Masters , a huge, cavernous warehouse of free, downloadable pdfs of some of the greatest Horror and Weird Fiction ever written, from Lovecraft precursor Lord Dunsany to acolyte/fan-fiction writer made good Algernon Blackwood, to the relatively obscure works of lesser knowns and the lesser known works of the un-obscure.
-Lord Dunsany
-Algernon Blackwood
Clark Ashton Smith remains a personal favorite of mine, owed in no small part to his bizarre artwork, which can be viewed here.
I can't explain properly my new-found obsession with this sort of material. I do know that part of it is the absolute dismissal of the mundane and banal - Lovecraft denies it to the point of refusing to provide any background details, any 'character building' information about any of his (interchangable) protagonists. All of this is eschewed in favor of essentially constructing excuses for these ciphers to experience awesome terror and beauty, so epic that their feeble intellects shatter in the wake. It’s a seemingly pure expression of , or exploration of the only things that interested Lovecraft as a writer and possibly as a man.
And that’s interesting to me; to boil everything away until you’re left with a singular, perfect object ( I think Cthulhu’s brain consists of a single, small diamond). Life isn’t so simple for me, and I know I’m unable to shut out everything I dislike, nor am I able to convert it all into a symbolic screeching chaos that’s bound to render me a babbling idiot ( I’ll get there wihtout that, I imagine.).But, I am able to carry the ideal with me and apply it in certain ways.
-He did like cats..
-drawing by unknown, awesome artist.
-Lord Dunsany
-Algernon Blackwood
Clark Ashton Smith remains a personal favorite of mine, owed in no small part to his bizarre artwork, which can be viewed here.
I can't explain properly my new-found obsession with this sort of material. I do know that part of it is the absolute dismissal of the mundane and banal - Lovecraft denies it to the point of refusing to provide any background details, any 'character building' information about any of his (interchangable) protagonists. All of this is eschewed in favor of essentially constructing excuses for these ciphers to experience awesome terror and beauty, so epic that their feeble intellects shatter in the wake. It’s a seemingly pure expression of , or exploration of the only things that interested Lovecraft as a writer and possibly as a man.
And that’s interesting to me; to boil everything away until you’re left with a singular, perfect object ( I think Cthulhu’s brain consists of a single, small diamond). Life isn’t so simple for me, and I know I’m unable to shut out everything I dislike, nor am I able to convert it all into a symbolic screeching chaos that’s bound to render me a babbling idiot ( I’ll get there wihtout that, I imagine.).But, I am able to carry the ideal with me and apply it in certain ways.
-He did like cats..
-drawing by unknown, awesome artist.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
DON'T YOU WONDER SOMETIMES?
I got to talking to a parent at one of my art classes about art & vision & what it takes to be an artist. Specifically we started talking about how little kids have this big block to conquer concerning their perception of artistic quality & their own output. They never match up at the beginning, you've got to work your ass off to become a good artist, you most likely are born with the brain for it, but then you've got to master expressing your brain & making your hands or whatever work all of these ideas into the real world. The whole time, the outside, mundane world is pressing in on you. Always, it's like a giant, crushing mass of gelatin & hot dogs & spam, all pressing in on you. In a way, it's easier to just acquiesce to this mass of diversified uniformity, to just become part of it. But, to be a true artiste, you have to fight that bastard, & you've got to never stop fighting it, because like i said, as soon as you open your mouth, it starts to push inwards. So, to be a true artist you've got to like fighting, you've got to be egocentric enough to conquer this enormous gelatinous conformity that is always telling you to be like it, you've got to believe enough in your own vision to crush everything that gets in your way, & you can't let alien philosophies impede this. There can't be any other ideas in you besides your own. At the same time, the ideas cannot be literal, but entirely "felt". While this sounds impossible, once you begin to cleanse yourself & increase your own philosophical cohesion to a burning point, you can keep society's infection away from you. In fact, you can begin to project your own ideas into the society & eventually, sway & control the mass. Of course, i didn't go this far with the parent, but if we had been drinking, this conversation certainly would have happened. At the same time, your vision cannot be for its own or your sake, it cannot become a platform or a movement or an institution, because the true artist's work is exactly like the introduction to Dr. Who. It is exploration & communicating what you find.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
DON'T BE AFRAID OF FREEDOM!!!
ZOMBIE SEWER PUNK
Stikboy gave me a sticker a million years ago with a zombie sewer punk on it that said "Zombie Sewer Punks" written in cassette letters. A million years in the future, Zombie Sewer Punks live on. He's drinking the toxic waste out of a broken ZAP! kola bottle.
DOG
It's the dog, partially based on this stupid dog we had briefly called "Jaws" that ate my brother's stuffed dragon & one of my Vaughn Bode comics. I pretty much wanted to kill it.
PAPER HANDS
This girl has magic spells for hands & big Japanese theatrical hair that is probably a wig! Oh man.
In Oronzo related news, my friend Shawn Mediaclast (the man behind the Museum of Unfine Art which is just about the coolest thing around Eugene besides Goblinko) & i were relating tales of being in the Punk scene at the same time, specifically talking mad sh*t about the political climate, & we got to talking about Berkeley & he eventually asked me, "Did you know this guy with Che Guevara on the back of his jacket? He had one hair thing coming off of his head & let me stay at his house, which was the most disgusting Punk house i've ever stayed at (Clark St. House)." I was like, "YOU KNOW ORONZO?!? From Staten Island?" & the answer is & was yes. He said they talked about how there were so few true individuals anywhere & what the hell is up with that. Anyhow, what do you know!? The world is shockingly small for men beyond time.
Stikboy gave me a sticker a million years ago with a zombie sewer punk on it that said "Zombie Sewer Punks" written in cassette letters. A million years in the future, Zombie Sewer Punks live on. He's drinking the toxic waste out of a broken ZAP! kola bottle.
DOG
It's the dog, partially based on this stupid dog we had briefly called "Jaws" that ate my brother's stuffed dragon & one of my Vaughn Bode comics. I pretty much wanted to kill it.
PAPER HANDS
This girl has magic spells for hands & big Japanese theatrical hair that is probably a wig! Oh man.
In Oronzo related news, my friend Shawn Mediaclast (the man behind the Museum of Unfine Art which is just about the coolest thing around Eugene besides Goblinko) & i were relating tales of being in the Punk scene at the same time, specifically talking mad sh*t about the political climate, & we got to talking about Berkeley & he eventually asked me, "Did you know this guy with Che Guevara on the back of his jacket? He had one hair thing coming off of his head & let me stay at his house, which was the most disgusting Punk house i've ever stayed at (Clark St. House)." I was like, "YOU KNOW ORONZO?!? From Staten Island?" & the answer is & was yes. He said they talked about how there were so few true individuals anywhere & what the hell is up with that. Anyhow, what do you know!? The world is shockingly small for men beyond time.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Wise men say only Cthulhus rush into abominable underwater kingdoms
Another drawing for the Lovecraft exhibit; text here says, "Educated mulatto seeks to displace personality of white man and occupy his body."
That's H.P., not P.C.
That's H.P., not P.C.
FINNISH DOOM!
I posted some artwork over at the Southern Lord forums and got some responses pretty quickly, which is flattering. One guy wants art for a demo and another wants a poster for a Doom Metal show, this guy from Finland. I came up with some stuff for him to look at the other night:
-click to enlarge
-With or without the hands?
I hope I left enough room for the guy to add type...
These are rough drafts, sorta. It's great working with the Wacom, being able to change anything at will.
-click to enlarge
-With or without the hands?
I hope I left enough room for the guy to add type...
These are rough drafts, sorta. It's great working with the Wacom, being able to change anything at will.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Some New Card Art
Esposa Batidor
Sandia Extremo
Meela Beela
Also, if you haven't checked out the Goblinko ETSY store, you should totally CHECK IT OUT WOT?
http://Goblinko.etsy.com
Sandia Extremo
Meela Beela
Also, if you haven't checked out the Goblinko ETSY store, you should totally CHECK IT OUT WOT?
http://Goblinko.etsy.com
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