Grooves & Sound

With most music purchases now being in the form of a convenient button click, records are becoming more and more obsolete. If not almost completely obsolete to most people. I have to admit, it's addicting, you press a button and you get sound almost immediately...but what kind of sound? I could get all whiny and write a whole blog post about the sound quality through a digital recording versus the sound quality of a vinyl record, but I'll spare you the rant...for now.

Up until a few months ago, all of my records from when I was a kid were packed away in milk crates. It was an obsession I had as a teen. Growing up in a youth subculture fueled by music, you just had vinyl-and lots of it. I collected everything from early punk, oi!, hardcore, reggae, ska and rocksteady. Bands and musicians big and small made it into my collection, from Sham 69 and Desmond Dekker to local bands like Agnostic Front and Sheer Terror. When I listen to those records now, I remember a time as an angry, snotty kid, sitting in my room with my Doc Marten boots and shaved head, scribbling pictures and drawing show fliers for local punk shows.

Not much has changed sixteen years later *cough, cough*...

Anywhoo-We recently got a new record player-which has not only been a money pit (I have to catch up on all these years I wasn't buying records!), but an absolute joy. Sitting in our living room with no TV, no distractions and just listening to records has been bliss. Being really into Jazz, BeBop, R&B, Garage, Surf, Rockabilly, Blues, Motown, Northern Soul and Latin, this enables me to find TONS of stuff on vinyl that I just can't get anymore on another listening format. The sound is impeccable, the instruments sound clear and alive (esp. w/Jazz records on vinyl!). I really cringe at the thought of buying another itunes song!

Another thing I started to take note of is the album cover art of the 50's and 60's. I've always loved the work of guys like Jim Flora and knew they had contributed a great deal of fantastic art to music fans years ago. But when I really started to dig deeper, I came across some fantastic stuff! The color, illustrations and photos on these record sleeves are just fantastic, from both a design standpoint and an illustrative eye. It's something that's really getting lost with purchasing online music-you don't have that beautiful record sleeve in your hands. I wanted to post some pictures of my favorites so far! Hope you enjoy and GO BUY A RECORD PLAYER, it will change the way you listen to and appreciate music.

Summer, already?!

How it's already the end of June is totally beyond me-these past few months have flew by so quickly! This past weekend Rob and myself took a much needed break from work and a drive to some neighborhoods outside of NYC to look around at houses. While we enjoy the convenience of living in NYC, we feel it might be time to pack it up and move to a quieter place. The neighborhoods here are changing and we've changed quite a bit since living here for years. As a result, the thought of owning our own house, having trees, fresh air and plants around us is really appealing. Keep your fingers crossed for us! 

In the meantime, spring has flown by and now being the end of June, we've got SDCC right around the corner! We'll be out there doing the convention on foot-no table this time around. We're excited to see all of our friends and comic book family out there, and look forward to meeting new friends, as we always do each year we attend.

So, lots of things happening since my last blog entry! Last weekend Rob and myself were invited up to Midtown Comics (our favorite comic shop here in NYC) to do a fun podcast. You can check out the podcast here. We also recently got our first Cintiq screen-which has been both fun and intimidating! I'm trying to learn the basics with the hopes of being able to color appropriate jobs digitally. It's a HUGE adjustment and something that I'm trying to stay patient with, but I'm starting to feel pretty confident using this as an art tool. 

On the work front, I'm finishing up the last issue of a project I've been working on since February called SOMETHING MONSTROUS, written by Steve Niles and R.H. Stavis! IDW will be putting out the first issue in the Fall and I'm pretty excited, as it's the first long thread with substance I've worked on. I really love working with Steve, he's a really great friend and a super talented guy. It's been nothing short of an honor to be working with this team on this book! More news on this in the near future! 

I'm also illustrating my third and fourth picture books, one of which is with writer Carolyn Crimi (author of "Boris and Bella", "Where's my Mummy?") for Dial Books. I love her work in children's publishing, so it's been a treat to illustrate something written by her! 

Needless to say, the next few months will me total mayhem (but a really exciting kind of mayhem!). Aside from work and personal painting projects, I will be taking on a really limited number of commissions for the month of August-so if you've been wanting one, now is the time to contact me through my website! xo

Little Lotta!

I really heart Harvey comics so much! Here's a Little Lotta commission piece I cranked out last week for the lovely Erin, Owner of Alter Ego Comics in Marion, Iowa. I might have to paint a Little Dot soon (she's my fave!) Thanks, Erin! 

Lucha Love!

Photo comics have become a recent obsession of mine. These photos and collaged images on yellowed newsprint are so appealing to me, something about them is so kitschy and bizarre. While Lucha libre and classic Mexican horror films featuring these masked men have always been a huge love of mine, when I came across these SANTO picture comics, I flipped. It was everything I love wrapped up in one little book. Bliss! I've scanned in a few images to post up here, just incase you've never seen these before. I can't wait to get my hands more issues!