AIGA INK OFF!

Just rattling off a few new posts on this fine Monday morning. I recently took part in AIGA's Ink Off event, where I took on local comic book artist Matthew Allison in a "battle to the illustrator death." Holy shit guys. I've never done live art before, let alone timed competitive live art. Normally I'm under the impression that an hour isn't enough time to do anything. But when your brain is whirring, and your opponent is flying through some familiar characters, there's nothing left to do but sling some ink, and fast! You can see the final product while I'm talking, got some good shading in just before the buzzer.

Ink Off! Ice Cream Social from AIGA Colorado on Vimeo.

KAIJU PROJECT UPDATE

Here are a few recent commissions from my ongoing Kaiju Project. I've added a couple of new slots on my store page if you're interested in getting a custom kaiju of your own. They've been labeled "temporarily sold out" for a few months while I've been on hiatus, so snap them up while you can. Check it out, someone commissioned a Pubear kaiju! Hell yeah!

He Was Never The Same After That...

acrylic on wood panel (INQUIRE)

Illegal In Japan

acrylic on wood panel (SOLD)

Play Me Some Cactus Music

acrylic on wood panel (SOLD)

They Never Could Find Words

acrylic on wood panel (SOLD)

The Parasite

acrylic on wood panel (SOLD)

2010 SKETCHBOOK

I finally got around to scanning and putting together the 2010 Sketchbook section of my website this week! Almost forgot to do it, I've been so slammed between working and planning my wedding. Only four months until I never think of napkin patterns again people!!! You have no idea what that means to me.

Maybe I'm not posting enough sketches on this "sketch blog," because most of this stuff never ended up here until now. I'm posting little snippets and thumbnails like these more frequently on my twitter account if you'd like to keep up with that.

Enjoy all 18 pages of my 2010 Sketchbook at josholland.com

VIVA LA ART! KAIJUS + COMMISSION INFO

Been keeping super busy since flying solo. It feels so freaking great to not wake up and have to commute anymore. I'm getting more sleep than I've had in a decade, and the bills are getting paid too. So far, so good! One thing I'm trying to do in my free time is figure out a way to make promotional projects that can benefit non profit organizations and charities for the giving season.

I created these 2 new Kaiju paintings for Viva LA Art, as part of my ongoing Kaiju Project. The pieces will be auctioned at their Art Drinks & Music event, Saturday November 20th. All proceeds and donations will benefit CoachArt, a non-profit organization giving personal art lessons to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

I'll be kicking out a few more of these for an IndyInk show in December, and have a few more commissions in the works too. I have slots open to do just a few more custom Kaijus guaranteed in time for Christmas, so if you're looking for an affordable framed piece of custom artwork order yours soon. ALSO, I'll be doing a big sale on Black Friday if there's anything you've had your eye on. At 50% off, I imagine some things will sell out. I'll keep you posted!

Everything I Touch, I Destroy

acrylic on wood panel

A Turning Point

acrylic on wood panel

MONSTER ENGINE COLLAB

Just finished up a piece for Indyink's Monter Engine show. If you're not familiar with The Monster Engine, here’s the big idea. David Devrie takes children’s drawings and works them into fully rendered paintings, maintaining the wildly imaginative and ininhibited essence of the original drawings. David will have some work in the show, as well as Denver’s finest and their equally brilliant pint-sized partners.

Upon being invited to participate in the show, I realized that I no longer know any young kids. Scrambling to come up with something, I posted to my Twitter and Facebook accounts looking for an imaginative youngster to collab with. My buddy Markham "Shitty Kitten" Maes (One of my favorite local artists) came to my aid.

Meet my new drawing partner Lilly Maes, age 5. With a father like Shitty Kitten, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She's got an amazing imagination, and made me a handful of awesome drawings to choose from. This was so much fun.

This one was my favorite out of the bunch. As Lilly describes the scene, the girl is happy because she wants to eat the ice cream monster. I'm sold. According to Markham, this was one of her first attempts at using Photoshop. I think we've got a future illustrator on our hands.

I toyed with David Devrie's technique of using the child's exact shaping to render a ralistic image, and decided that it wasn't working for me. With just a week to get the piece out, and a full schedule to work around, I decided to take Lilly's scene and reimagine it in my own style. This was the chosen thumbnail.

Fleshing out the thumbnail design, I added a few elements of my own to continue the vintage manga look I've been working with as of late (speedlines-a-go-go!). The Japanese writing dictated the title of the piece "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." This was an intentionally shoddy translation, as Japanese translated into English often makes me laugh. I like to wink back at the Japanese with my work sometimes, all out of love of course.

The final digital file was then transferred onto wood, and the corners roughed up to resemble a tattered manga book cover. I'm happy with the final result.

Lilly putting the finishing touch on "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." Thanks so much to the Maes family for all your help!

GO SPACE DINO!

Taking on the theme of RGB VS CMYK, my thoughts immediately moved to comic books. Here is an entire industry that hinges on printed materials and a collector's market, one that could never make a complete translation to a digital format. The ability to hold something in your hands, to smell the fresh newsprint, to get ink on your fingers, to buy two and keep one pristine, to wear something out with repeated use and love, all of this is impossible with rights-managed digital files.

Future generations will not miss print as we will, having never grown up in our world of convenient disposability and waste. But there's something about holding some ancient thing in your hands, looking at it as nobody had before, the wear and patina of age transforming the ordinary into treasure. It's sad that this will surely be lost eventually.

(Space Dinosaur: Defend History Against Unknown Future)

RGB VS. CMYK

Illiterate Magazine is hosting a print show titled "RGB VS. CMYK" on Friday, August 21st @ Space Gallery. All limited-edition prints will be under $50 so get them while they last.

I've been pushing the old .05mm around all weekend, and just finished pencilling this manga inspired piece. My hand is killing me. I'll finish this up tomorrow.

PROMO FINITO!

Just finished this one up. On to the next!

PROMO PROGRESS SHOT

Got my pencil layers down crispy, time to bring it home.

SKETCH#024

So I meant to add Lockheed to the Shadowcat sketch the other day. Started looking up some info on the most inexplicable X-men cast member ever and was blown away at the level of back story that exists. Turns out he's super intelligent but just can't speak English, he's a spy from another planet, he was exiled to Earth, and he's very selective of Kitty's relationships with men (he approved of Colossus apparently). What?! And here I thought he was just a little purple bit of kid's marketing magic in 'Pryde of the X-men'. I think he even had the voice of slimer making little cutesy dragon noises. That guy got a lot of work back then huh?

X-man 7.5/8

SKETCH#021

Variations on an idea.

SKETCH#020

When I sit with paper and pencil, and no ideas, this is what comes out of me. Little shape driven character doodles. I could cover the world in this stuff. Easy.