IF Submission - "Phoenix"

My Illustration Friday submission for "Phoenix".

Original Randy Glass Illustration

This is an original, hand signed illustration of Napoleon Dynamite drawn by Randy Glass. Randy Glass is best known for his Wall Street Journal portraits. His work has HUGELY inspired me since the early 90's. As a result I submitted his web site link to drawn.ca which later was picked up by boingboing.net. From there his web site traffic went through the roof... long story short we began corresponding and lo and behold he surprises me with this framed original drawing. Blown away is an understatement!

If any one has even a passing interest in pen and ink illustration be sure to visit his web site:
Randy Glass Studios

Recent Illustrations

Here are a few recent illustrations completed for work. I don't know what it is but I enjoy illustrating food products.

*** people have commented my vanilla wafers look like brown eggs... blasphemers!! ***

Josh Leo Caricature Logo

I was recently asked by Vloggie Award Winner, Josh Leo if I'd illustrate a caricature of him for use on his new Wandering West Michigan video blog. I happened to have some free time available so here's the final result.

Found Stuff - 2006

I've found some odd things this year. An inflatable ball & chain in a corn field, a hand carved knife, and on a separate day, an ipod shuffle near a hospital driveway exit.

**I turned the iPod Shuffle into the police. No one claimed it after 120 days, so I claimed it and gave it to my mom, who uses it all the time.***

AMPLI-FIRE!!!!

Recently I decided to get a guitar to see if I had any musical ability. I've never been drawn to try anything musically oriented but have always felt that maybe I had some latent talent. Well with winter coming on, I thought why not spend the next few months immersed in learning the guitar. So after a good deal of research I found the guitar and amplifier in my price range. Fortunately the local guitar shop had plenty in stock. So this afternoon I picked up the guitar, amplifier, extra strings and a how to play guitar DVD. I got home, watched the DVD chapters on guitar tuning and using an amplifier. It all looked pretty straightforward so I plugged the guitar into the amplifier....... maybe I should say I plugged the guitar into the AMPLI-FIRE!!! because as soon as I plugged in, it immediately started SMOKING... so while hustling to take it outside I realized the ampli-fire wasn't the only thing that went up in smoke... so too went my musical aspirations.


**The guitar shop offered to exchange the amplifier but I wasn't at all feeling confident with the brand. So I decided to put my musical aspirations on hold... I think I'll stick to my art.**

IF: Might

Sort of a digital sketch built from ovals and circles.

Skater Doodle

Just a quick saturday night doodle...

Art Trade with Jelene!!

Art trades don't get any better than what Jelene sent my way! Jelene sure knows how to ship her paintings too. The 30 minutes it took to unwrap them only added to the excitement. Thanks Jelene!!!

Be sure to check out more of her work right here!

Macaroni on Masonite

Going back to my artistic roots.

New T-Shirt Design!

Here's a new t-shirt design for my cafepress shop.

Mini-Bike "Mayhem"

Saw these two guys taking laps around a parking lot at a local county park. Five minutes later the park ranger kicked them out. Too bad because I wanted to get more footage.

Art Trades Ready to be Shipped!

Here are some recent acrylic paintings waiting to be sent to their new owners.

If anyone is interested in an art trade feel free to email me.

Birthday Cake Characters

Here's a recent illo I created for a Birthday Cake ice cream flavor. It was a fun little project and the client was very happy with the final "product".

Another Vicksburg (Michigan) Oddity

I saw this sign while returning movies to the renatal store late one night. Fortunately the sign was still in place the next day allowing me to get a photo.

The sign reads: "When the bobber is hanging out from my mailbox please take my mail."

I applaud whoever created this sign... my mail often gets "forgotten" too.

IF: Quiet

My Illustration Friday submission for the "quiet" topic. Thought I'd try doing a pencil drawing for tonal values then incorporate Photoshop for the color.

IF: Phobia

My Illustration Friday submission for the "phobia" topic.

IF: Change (of address)

This is a pen and ink illo I did many years ago for a series of change of address cards.

Lunch Box Farm - IF "Farm" Submission

This is a pen and ink illo I did many years ago. It definitely fit illustration friday's "farm" topic.

Recent Oddities

Gas Station Troll

a snowman just chillin' (I'd love to know the story behind how he got there.)

This struck me as a bit odd.

This guy wanted to ride across the river... with his wife and baby on the back. The river was too deep and there was no exit point.... but he sure was tempted.

Guerilla Art - Vicksburg

Here's a batch of guerilla art I placed around Vicksburg (Michigan) this evening. Since I place my art at night it's tough to get decent photos after they're placed.

KZooLakes.com Almost Live

In early June I got this crazy idea to videotape all the public lake access sites in Kalamazoo County and post them online. In addition, I thought I'd put together a 30 minute public TV program with that footage as well. Reason being, when I first started kayaking a few years ago I'd wished I could see what the local lakes looked like before going.

So over the course of two weeks I was able to shoot most of the lakes' public access sites. Then it took another 3 weeks to edit the footage into a 30 minute show and and 2 minute video clips for the web.

Then I experimented with trying to create a "real" KZooLakes.com website (ie not using blogger). After a week of absolute frustration trying to modify wordpress and joomla to accept embedded youtube videos and changing header graphics I gave up and went back to blogger. Ahhhhh.... much easier..... clunky, but way easier. I also setup a cafepress shop and created a slew of lake specific tshirt designs.

I still have some cleanup work to do on the KZooLakes.com site but I'm pleased to say it's "live".

Go Check it out: http://www.kzoolakes.com/

Kickin' It with Dry Ice!

As you know the design studio where I work occasionally has to photograph food products. Sometimes these food products are packed in dry ice... we're not ones to miss an opportunity to have some fun, so we grabbed a trash can and filled it with water. Then Cory (my boss) broke out his soccer (football) skills and proceeded to bicycle kick the dry ice pieces into the drink. Results: A lot of rolling fog and a lot of fun!

Of course don't try this at home (although trying this at work is encouraged)... but not without gloves and your bosses supervision.










This is Cory after eating some spicy Schezwan Chicken.

IF: "Sticky" Fingers (and Toes)

My contribution to Illustration Friday's "Sticky" topic. Inked with a Sharpie marker. Color and "sticky" added in Photoshop.


Original Sharpie Drawing.

IF : Rain

My contribution to Illustration Friday's "Rain" topic.

Illustration Friday - Dance Submission

My contribution to Illustration Friday's "dance" topic.

Inked with a Sakura pigma brush pen and colored in Photoshop.

Cornstock 2006 - Guerilla Art

Today was the Second Annual Cornstock Music & Arts Festival held in Scotts, Michigan. To commemorate the event I created nearly 50 original works of "guerilla art". Normally, I leave my art in public places for people to find. Today, I thought why not take them straight to the people. So I opted to place them under various wiper blades.

(I included contact info on the back of each piece... in case anyone is wondering)

***Side Note***
Congratulations to my buddy Robert Beardsley (event organizer) for a successful second year!

New Batch of "Guerilla Art" - Vicksburg

Here's a new batch of "guerilla art" placed this evening. Hopefully the individuals who find these will enjoy them.

Hot Air Balloon Recovery

This hot air balloon drifted over the tops of the trees in my yard. Thinking it may be landing I followed it a few miles until it landed in a swamp behind a golf course. (The Angel's Crossing Golf Course in Vicksburg, Michigan).

Memory Sketches

The last couple days I haven't been bringing my camera wherever I go. Wouldn't you know it, I've encountered some really "classic" incidents. As a result I decided to do some "memory sketches".

The first incident: While searching Wal-Mart for the elusive 4th season DVD set of Northern Exposure, I noticed a very relaxed urban youth chillin' with some tunes while cruisin' the aisles.

The second incident: A guy's son drove the riding mower partially up a tree. Apparently the kid was ok because the entire family was laughing, taking photos and videotaping the after affects of the incident.

Needless to say it's time to start bringing the camera again.