GRUMP TOAST

The Return Of The Curse Of The Blobberns' Tomb Of Mystery

2012-01-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is the last batch of these sons a bitches...for now that is! Soon I'll be posting some actual, honest to goodness comic pages. To this you might be saying, "No way. New comic pages from you? It can't be." Well to that I say "Fuck you. You just wait and see, ya puke!" Stay tuned my little chickadees.

Blobberns Never Say Die!

2012-01-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

Couldn't get enough the first time? Well get your fill now with the newest batch of these lovable fucks!

In other news, I've finished the script and thumbs for the newest Asphalt epic. Starting today I will begin work on the pencils. Oh these are exciting times we live in, people!

Meet The Blobberns!

2011-12-28T09:59:00.001-08:00

I want y'all to meet some friends of mine. Exploding out of the pages of my sketchbook they come in disgusting droves right into your computer. They're that new-fangled pop craze that's sweeping the nation known only as The Blobberns. Ain't they cute?!?!?!

"What that's it?!" Don't worry. There's thousand more Blobberns just waiting to appear on your screen to give your eyeballs the sweet loving you deserve. Woof!

Misery Loves Company And Hip Hop

2011-12-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Here's a design I did for my friend, Seattle rapper Griff J. This superhero character is off of Griff's EP, Miserable Heroes. Soon to be seen on t shirts everywhere. Misery!

Drawn Out Storytelling "Online Dating" Part Three

2011-11-16T15:59:00.001-08:00

The final segment in Adam Newman's thrilling tale of online dating for Drawn Out Storytelling. This girl turned out to be the best date out of all the others. Things got pretty hot and heavy for her and Adam. How hot and heavy you ask? While performing oral sex this date vomited, cleaned her self off and then finished the blow job. Quite the trooper! I'm really proud of this final sequence. Puke!

Drawn Out Storytelling "Online Dating" Part Two

2011-11-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

As promised here's more online dating madness from Adam Newman's story from Drawn Out Storytelling. These are the next two dates Adam encountered. Date #2 had a busy schedule and was hardly ever there. While Date #3 was nice at first but became very inquisitive as the dates continued. Enjoy!

Drawn Out Storytelling "Online Dating" Part One

2011-11-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Recently I've been working on a another piece for the Drawn Out Storytelling. This time I've been paired up with Adam Newman for the D.O.S. show titled The Masks We Wear. So if you're in the New York tomorrow definitely check the show out. The story I worked on is about Adam's ventures into the mysterious world of online dating. Each date is shown as they represent themselves online and how they actually appear in reality.

I'll be posting more of these shortly. Also I had a nice review from the wonderful comic critic Rob Clough. Check it out!

First It Controls Your Mind...

2011-10-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

Ahoy! Here's an awesome piece of fan art I received from one of my talented school chums, Jon Fine. Apparently after Jon finished watching David Cronenberg's classic Videodrome he couldn't help but draw James Woods' chest vagina. What Jon also couldn't help was adding in that charismatic lil' scamp, Toast of Grump Toast fame! Oh lordy am I flattered! I couldn't help but color this one in myself. Long live the new flesh!!

Gender Bendin' Up Round The Bend

2011-09-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hay-lo Buckaroos! Nymphonomena (the anthology I was part of back in my CCS hay day) is making it's way back...WITH A VENGEANCE! As you read this us Nymphonomenites are working towards completely redrawing and repackaging our work of comic beauty. But this time in full color! Below is a redrawn two page spread of my character's descent into cinematic insanity. The original was a one page, six panel layout of the two characters watching TV. BOOOOOORING! Now it's a searing pink roller coaster ride into madness. Enjoy!

Just Another Lost Boy Missing His Neverland

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

After a month of radio silence...I'm BACK! Hey everybody. I have been busy getting my life together now that I'm back in Seattle. So far so good. I'm working full time and have found a place to live blah blah blah. But how is my life as a cartoonist shaping up? First off, you can now purchase the first and second issue of Grump Toast at these fine Seattle locations: Elliott Bay Books, Left Bank Books and Zanadu Comics. Also, starting mid September I will begin an internship at the prestigious Fantagraphics. All in all things are looking pretty positive. So let's get to the meat and potatoes of this post!

If you haven't heard the news, Hurricane Irene has caused mass amounts of flooding which has hit the town of White River Jct. and CCS hard. It's a good thing the school has such an awesome team of students and faculty to swoop in and work miracles like this. I'm glad the comics were saved and no one was seriously injured. But all this destruction has really got me pining for the days when I attended CCS. I desperately miss the school, faculty and all my fellow students. SIGH. Shortly after graduating a few of my classmates and yours truly went out and got class tattoos. We each decided to draw our own ink bottles. I got mine on my drawing arm. Check out this sweet gang tatt.

Now just to be totally sentimental and mushy here's a track listing of a mix I made after my first year at school. This particular mis is about myself discovering and attending CCS. SIGH. Enjoy!

1. Iron Man Intro

2. Candyland Part 1 - Soul Postion

3. Viva! Sea-Tac - Robyn Hitchcock

4. Story Of An Artist - Daniel Johnston

5. Put On Your Sunday Clothes - Michael Crawford

6. You Can Have It All - Yo La Tango

7. This Is Your Day - The The

8. Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass - Buck Owens

9. Many River's To Cross - Jimmy Cliff

10. Im Abendrot - Gewandhousorchester Liezpig

11. Red House - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

12. Love Theme (Squeezit And The Chickens) - Oingo Boingo

13. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

14. Death Of Vilensky - The Billy Nayer Show

15. Everyone's A Loser - I Monster

16. Deep Down - Mike Patton

17. Big Baby - Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

18. Good Times A Goo Goo - Bran Flakes

19. Goo Goo Muck - The Cramps

20. I Wonder - The Bubble Gum Machine

21. Reel Ten - Plugz

22. Bad Taste - Michelle Scullion

23. The Song Is Familiar - Funkadelic

24. What'll We Do - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltstin

25. Let's Get Known - The Unicorns

26. When I Paint My Masterpiece - The Band

Guess who's back?! Asphalt's back and ready for some fuckin' action! I've begun work on a new Asphalt story that is sure to drunkenly please. Here's a sketch of the outcome of Asphlat's newest misadventure. Rock!

Drawn Out Storytelling "Cool Kids" Part Two

2011-07-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I've been super busy lately trying to get myself settled in Seattle. So this is going to be a quick post on the continuation of my contribution to Drawn Out Storytelling. Enjoy it won't you?

Be back next week with something entirely different and heartfelt. What?! You'll see...

Drawn Out Storytelling "Cool Kids" Part One

2011-07-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Alright! Here's the second story I did for Drawn Out Storytelling. This is a story by Seth Lind and is about his experience being invited into the inner circle of the cool kids. I had a lot of fun with this one due to the fact that they wanted each picture to look METAL! It also gave me a reason to listen Metallica as much as I want. Below are the portraits of the cool kids and my interpretations of their nicknames. METAL!

More drawings of this story to follow!

Drawn Out Storytelling "Unkillable"

2011-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Recently I've been working on Nisse Greenberg's project Drawn Out Storytelling. This project is a live show where performers tell stories with artist accompaniment. I was asked to draw two stories the first being Brad Lawrence's Unkillable. For this I was asked to create a mural of the entire story. While Brad performed the story a camera would be roving around different aspects of the mural. To top it off there's also live band performing! Yeah! Here's the mural:

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! But to really see it in it's full glory here's a video of the live performance. I'll be posting my illustrations of the second story shortly. So stay tuned!

The Colors & Sounds Of Asphalt Monroe

2011-06-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Guess what? It's the 50th post! YAY! We've come a long way, baby. For this monumental post I'm fully dedicating it to everyone's favorite angry drunk Asphalt Monroe. First off, I've been wanting to color Asphalt's mighty bar fight in Memory Sloshed for quite some time. So I did! While drawing this I used a set of fighting style cards (as well as stills from Kurosawa films) to base the drawings on. The fighting cards had figures in red showing the moves step by step (day by day). I wanted to try and emulate this while coloring these fight scenes. Check them out won't you?

Oh man! How cool are those?! To round off this Asphalt extravenganza I've included the second Asphalt soundtrack. I think it may be the best soundtrack I've done yet. But I'll let you be the judge of that. Hit it!

1. Revolution - Herbie Hancock

2. Taking Care Of Business - Vic Ruggiero

3. Kriminal Theme - Les Maleditus Sound

4. The Man With The Foldback Ears - Fred Lane

5. Night Moves - F. McDonald

6. I'm Gonna Catch You - Gene Page

7. Misty - Johnny Mathis

8. Necronomania - Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab

9. Drunkard's Dream - Circus Contraption

10. Apotheke - Goblin

11. I Morti Si Svegliano - Marcello Giombini

12. Every One's A Winner - Hot Chocolate

13. Under Pressure - Nick Ingman

14. Tu Mens - April March

15. Escape - Roy Ayers

16. Prisoner Of Love - Bo Diddley

17. If You Don't Want My Love (Instrumental) - J.J. Johnson

18. Valarie - Frank Zappa & The Mothers

19. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart - Ukulele Orchestra Of Britain

20. Who Is She & What Is She To You - Madelaine

21. Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile - Isaac Hayes

22. The Show Must Go On - Leo Sayer

23. Man With A Harmonica - Ennio Morricone

24. A Town Without Pity - Gene Pitney

25. Ending (Sword Of Vengeance) - Hideakira Sakurai & Kunihiko Murai

You know I really don't plug my Nerds For Reel podcast that much. I started it with my film friend Andrew Takahashi and now our buddy ol' pal Robert Persinger has joined. I'm not as dedicated to it as my comics but I have a lot of fun recording these. If you have a spare hour and wanna hear three nerdy dudes laugh and chat about movies give it a listen. Otherwise enjoy not having fun.

Drawings From Days Gone By

2011-05-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

Here's some old pages from a sketchbook I used to keep. This is back when I was using color and quoting Black Sabbath. I used to be pretty rockin' back then. Special thanks to Alaina Lincoln who found, scanned and emailed these to me. Enjoy!

Find A Map And Get Lost

2011-05-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well it's official! I'm a graduate from the Center For Cartoon Studies! Oh YEAH! Not only that but my entire class graduated which is a first for the school. So all in all we rocked the CCS thesis year! The graduation ceremony was on Saturday and it was spectacular. There was dancing, laughing, crying, a beautiful speech from Francoise Mouly and a diploma designed by Aaron Reiner. Here's a video of the entire ceremony. It was quite a whirlwind of emotions and even now it's hard to believe I'm done at CCS. It's truly a sad but joyous time in my life. Here's some photos my work being showcased at the school.

Also my classmate Josh Kramer has taken the liberty of setting up a blog about our senior showcase. Be sure to check out everyone's artwork. It's all great! As of right now I have several different projects on the horizon but am taking a little time off to relax. But I'll soon be posting some new doodles and old sketchbook pages. So stay tuned!

Hey Thesis! You're Done Suckah!

2011-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

BZZOW! My thesis project for CCS is finally complete! After 9 months of writing, drawing and packaging I'm finally done! Phew! For my project I decided to package the first two issues of Grump Toast in cardboard toasters! I constructed these out of recycled beer and cereal boxes. Then I wrapped em' up in aluminum foil. It was a process that took 3 days of carboard insanity. Ingenious? Maybe. Frustrating as all holy Hell to make? Oh indeed. But it was all worth it! Check it...

In other news Nymphonomena (last year's CCS anthology I was involved in) was listed at number 14 on the Comics Journal's Top 25 minis of 2010. This couldn't have come at a better time because us Nymphonomenites are about to embark on our third reprinting! Oh what exciting times we live in! Wheee!

Pinky Palms in "Birthday Your Way" Part Three

2011-04-25T10:51:00.001-07:00

(Note: After the second page down the single images are actually a 2 page spread. Also, the last page doesn't have any of the grays I put in. Just imagine a room full of gray blood splattered everywhere. Enjoy)

The End! Hope you enjoyed it. I was recently interviewed by Komo 4 news about my movie podcast. Check out the smart things I say!

Pinky Palms in "Birthday Your Way" Part Two

2011-04-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

To Be Concluded...

Pinky Palms in "Birthday Your Way" Part One

2011-04-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all you beautiful people! I'm been super busy lately what with my final due, shows, knife fights, etc. But I've come up for breath to give you my comic goods! First off let's talk about MoCCA! It was a great weekend of hucking comics with these fine people...

(From Left to Right: Beth Hetland, Josh Kramer, Pat Barrett and Yours Truly)

While there I was selling these...

Yes it's true! Grump Toast Issues 1 and 2 have arrived! The second issue cover needs a couple of tweeks but that's it. Grump Toast did pretty well at MoCCA which is always a nice feeling. In the near future I will be putting up a store so the world can start buying my comics, prints and shirts. The future's looking reeeal good!

In the meantime here's Pinky Palms in his latest misadventure. Enjoy!

To Be Continued...

A Quick One While He's Away

2011-03-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I'm busy gearing up for MoCCA festival which is a little over a week away. I plan to debut both the first AND second issues of Grump Toast there. After MoCCA I'm going to be putting up a store on this fine blog so anyone can start buying my comics! Oh excitement is brewing!

Alright I think it's time for a brand new Giggleton story! It's a two-parter! Both parts will be featured in the second issue of Grump Toast. Enjoy!

Oh those funny animals will never get it right! Haha! Next up is another edition of Film Toast! Here's our lil' buddy Toast...

Now here's Toast as some of it's favorite movie icons! See if you can guess who's who!

Answers (starting at top left) - Leon: The Professional, Divine: Pink Flamingos, Rollergirl: Boogie Nights, Dream Sam Lowry: Brazil, Columbia: Rocky Horror Picture Show, Kid: House Party, Phantom: Phantom Of The Paradise, Dwayne & Belial: Basket Case

Asphalt in "Trip Dogs" Part Two (Re-Drawn!)

2011-03-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

Here's the original post for comparison. Enjoy!

Asphalt in "Trip Dogs" Part One (Re-Drawn!)

2011-03-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

First I just wanted to say R.I.P. to Nate Dogg who passed away due to stroke complications. This man's voice always brings me back to my childhood summers spent playing around the neighborhood listening to Warren G on cassette tape. What a sad loss to hip hop.

Anyway. Here's the first Asphalt story I did last year for my CCS final. I changed Asphalt's appearance and a couple of scenes. For reference take a look at older Trip Dogs post.

Me! Me! And Some More Me!

2011-03-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's been quite some time since I've posted any of my autobiographical comic Monkanonee. This strip (named after my childhood nickname) acts as an introduction to each issue of Grump Toast. Recently I redrew the very first Monkanonee strip. The second page doesn't have any grays but I think it still looks fly.

Next up is the Monkanonee strip for the second issue! This is half based on a dream I had and half on Lamberto Bava's film Demons. If you haven't seen Demons do yourself a favor and watch it NOW! In the meantime check out this comic banger...

Recently I've ventured into the world of podcasting with my good buddy Andrew Takahashi. We do a podcast devoted to our love of films called Nerds For Reel. It's basically Andrew and myself trying to talk about movies but constantly getting each other waaaaaay off topic. It's been an unstructured blast! So far we've done two episodes but more are on the way.

Stay tuned for the Asphalt revamp!

Unfortunate Face in "No One Rides For Free" Part 3

2011-03-01T12:11:00.001-08:00

The End! This was one of my most gruesome stories. But don't worry. There's so much more ghastly shenanigans I'll be bringing into this world. Recently I was digging through some old sketches and I found this character sketch of Face and possible future Faces. I think Lumberjack Face will be next!

Soon I will begin posting the very first Asphalt story in all of it's redrawn glory. Let the excitement begin!

Unfortunate Face in "No One Rides For Free" Part 2

2011-02-21T14:08:00.001-08:00

To Be Continued!...

Unfortunate Face in "No One Rides For Free" Part 1

2011-02-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

What did I say? What did I SAY?! For quite some time I said I would be posting the brand new Unfortunate Face story. WELL HERE IT IS!!! And by that I mean the first three out of ten pages...and they still need the title and grays to be added in. But besides all that hoo-ha it's done! Enjoy the first tasting!

EGADS!!! What is that womanly shadow that Face is approaching?! Tune in next posting to find out! Since I feel like this post is a little on the small side I'll post the track listings for the Unfortunate Face soundtrack. This is the hardest to endure mixes just in it's sheer creepiness. Regardless it's still DAMN good!

1. Mad Puppet Laugh's - Goblin

2. Tragic Kettledrums / Eyes Gouged Out!- Herschell Gordon Lewis

3. Spider Baby - Fantomas

4. Fear - The Ventures

5. The Forest Of No Return - Sun Ra Arkestra

6. Trash's Theme - SSQ

7. Devil's Masquerade - Syrius

8. Automatic Writing - Joseph LoDuca

9. Experiment Number 6 - Lemon Jelly

10. Ode To My Employer - Circus Contraption

11. Then There Were 2 - John Murphy

12. Tuff Ghost - The Unicorns

13. Sighs - Goblin

14. Who Is She? - I Monster

15. Killing - Claudio Simonetti

16. Clifford's Mustache - D Styles

17. TV Set - The Cramps

18. Pink Cigarette - Mr. Bungle

19. Ghost Song - Air

20. No One Lives Forever - Oingo Boingo

21. Give Her The Axe - Joseph LoDuca

22. Running Scared - Roy Orbison

23. Apoteosi Del Mistero - Morte Macabre

24. Night Of The Hunter (Remix) - Fantomas

25. Gardener - John Boy Walton

26. Always See Your Face - Love

27. Mad Puppet's Laugh - Goblin

Fan Art! Gibsy Bartender! Soundtrack!

2011-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Phew! It's been a crazy, busy, productive couple of weeks for me. I've finally finished the inks for the Unfortunate Face story. So now I just gotta digitally clean it up and it's DONE! Also I've begun work on re drawing certain stories from the first issue of Grump Toast. After I get everything redrawn I'll repackage it and a brand new Grump Toast will be BORN!!

Last week as I came into the studio I found this awesome fan art from the wonderfully groovy Betsey Swardlick. Why it's none other then Pinky Palm's best friend Gibsy Bartender...in a dress!

Seeing this prompted me to think more about Gibsy. Who is Gibsy Bartender? Well for one, he's a bartender. But much deeper than that...he's a really good bartender. Here's a portrait of the Bartender family.

Since we're on the Pinky vibe I'll post the track listing to the very first Pinky soundtrack!

1. Warning - Blood Freak

2. One O'Clock Jump - Frank Sinatra With Count Basie

3. What The World Needs Now - Sammy Davis Jr. & Buddy Rich

4. Flight Of The Foo Birds - Count Basie

5. Mack The Knife - Bobby Darin

6. Boogaloo In Room 802 - Willie Bobo

7. Little Darlin' - The Diamonds

8. Chances Are (1950s) - Johnny Mathis

9. You Belong To Me - Dean Martin

10. Nut Rocker - B. Bumble & The Stingers

11. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo - Louis Armstrong

12. Twilight Time - The Platters

13. Sing The Kids - Sesame Street

14. Innocent When You Dream (78) - Tom Waits

15. Reprise - Medeski, Martin & Wood

16. Feelin' Kinda Sunday - Nancy Sinatra

17. Whirlybird - Count Basie

18. Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison

19. If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Bake A Cake - Eileen Barton

20. Anything Goes - Cole Porter

21. Comic Strip - Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot

22. Intoxica - The Centurians

23. Too Drunk To Fuck - Nouvelle Vague

24. In My Dream - Screamin' Jay Hawkins

25. Nickelodeon - Circus Contraption

26. Sleepwalker's Serenade - Count Basie

27. Darn The Dream - Miles Davis

28. Stardust - Nat King Cole

29. Sammy's Closing - Sammy Davis Jr. & Buddy Rich

30. Tie A Yellow Ribbon - Perry Como

Stay tuned for more soundtracks and new comic pages!!!

In my down time...

2011-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Here's some sample pages from my sketch book. These are all little doodles drawn during school, laundromat, funerals. Ya know, the usual places.

Unfortunate Face's new tale will be seeing the light of day soon. I promise you that!

Cinematic Toast Followed By Asphalt Tunes

2011-01-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

What's up everybody! I have recently returned from my winter break in the wonderfully gloomy Seattle. It was a great stay full of friends, family, fun, yadda yadda yadda. Now that I'm back in Vermont it's time for some serious comic work! Right now I'm in the final stages of a brand spanking new Unfortunate Face story (and a horribly disgusting one at that). In the meantime I did a fun little side project. Remember that little homicidal scamp, Toast? No? Well here he is...

Well I decided to redraw Toast as different characters from some of my favorite films! I drew them all from my memory (which is pretty poor) so some aren't exact renditions. But I had a friggin' blast doing it! Try and guess which ones are which! There's an answer key at the bottom of this post...

In addition to this side project I have also began making soundtracks for my different characters. These are basically CD length mixes that portray central aspects of the character's life and personality through music. I'm pretty damn proud of how the Asphalt soundtrack has turned out. I have no idea what (if anything) I will do with these soundtracks. Here's Asphalt's track listing:

1. It Begins - Herbie Hancock

2. Bajo Tierra - Alejandro Jodorowsky

3. Down In The Hole - Builders And The Butchers

4. The Sicilian Clan (Ennio Morricone Tribute) - John Zorn

5. Jockey Full Of Bourbon - Tom Waits

6. R.I.B. - Goblin

7. There He Is Again - Gene Page

8. Misty - Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet

9. Just Because - Roosevelt Franklin

10. L Isola Del Gatto (Versione 2) - Marcello Giombini

11. Nights On Broadway - Bee Gees

12. Attila: Chi Dona Luce Al Core? (Verdi) - Orchestra Of La Scala

13. All Night - Screamin' Jay Hawkins

14. Experiment In Terror - Henry Mancini

15. Land Of Go - April March

16. Ice Cream Song - David Hess

17. Hot Potato - Circus Contraption

18. Confunktion - D. Richmond

19. It Don't Happen Overnight - Chuck E. Weiss

20. Electric Blue - Danny Edwardson

21. Cherries Were Made For Eating - Asei Kobayashi

22. Daydream - Bernard Wystraete

23. Sometimes I Wish I Had A Gun - Mink Stole

24. Loving You Girl - John Schroeder

25. How Could I Be Such A Fool - Frank Zappa & The Mothers

26. Music People - Jack Mayborn

27. Sunny - Boney M

28. Hill Of The Skull - John Satriani

29. Bluesbuster - Pacific Gas & Electric

30. The Ecstasy Of Gold - Ennio Morricone

31. Truck Turner End Theme - Isaac Hayes

Jeepers! It's a great soundtrack I assure you. As soon as I put the final touches on both Pinky and Face's music I will post the tracks. In the meantime, stay tuned for Face's latest, disgusting morality tale. Yay!

ANSWERS (From Left To Right): Toxic Avenger, Beetlejuice, Marilyn Monroe, Lone Wolf & Cub, Man With No Name, Marty Malt (Dark Backward), Three-Boobed Alien (Total Recall), Robocop, Battle Royale Student, Tommy Wiseau (The Room), Ernest, They Call Her One Eye (Thriller)

Asphalt in "Untitled Drunk Shenanigans" Part 3

2010-12-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

THE END!

Asphalt in "Untitled Drunk Shenanigans" Part 2

2010-12-19T12:58:00.001-08:00

To Be Continued...

Asphalt in "Untitled Drunk Shenanigans" Part 1

2010-12-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

What did I tell ya?! Here it is! The first four pages of the untitled Asphalt epic! This is also my first venture into the wonderful world of grays. So it's all kinds of exciting! Enjoy!

To Be Continued...

Fan Art! Monty Style!!

2010-12-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

I'm so close to being done with the brand new Asphalt epic I can taste it. And it tastes damn good! In the meantime I thought I'd post some bitchin' fan art. These come from my friend, roommate and colleague, Jacob "Monty" Montgomery.

Here's Asphalt at his dirtiest...

And here's some shockingly cute Pinky and Asphalt...

Thanks, Monty! Be sure to stay tuned THIS WEEK for the glorious return of Asphalt!!

Too Funked To Funk

2010-12-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

I've been bad and have fallen off the blogging band wagon. But (and I know how many times I've stated this) I am back to keep this blog a rolling!!!!

Recently I've had my busy hands in many different pots. Let's talk about em!!!

Last week I had to give my thesis presentation to the entire CCS faculty and student body. It went very well! Check it out HERE! Along with the presentation I also had to create a poster to showcase my thesis. I decided to make the main image all my characters and myself at a diner. Check it out!

So that was busy project number one! The next is my involvement with The Puppet Tree. In order to graduate CCS I must have 60 internship hours. Luckily I met the wonderful Anne Legunn who runs Puppet Tree. At first she told me I'd be painting sets, designing logos and cleaning the studio. However when it came time for someone to don a heavy vulture puppet costume Anne asked if I would step up to the challenge. And I did! And here I am playing lead vulture for many groups of children at the VINS Raptor Center.

At least now I know if cartooning falls through I can become a professional vulture.

Next up we have my Professional Practice final. To successfully pass this class I have to create something that will help me in my career as a PROFESSIONAL CARTOONIST!!! So I decided to make promotional items such as shirts, buttons, stickers, etc. Here are a couple of sticker designs...

And here's my shirt design. It's a green design on a black shirt. I think it's going to look spiffy!

Besides all of that I've been putting the final touches on an Asphalt story, working on a new Monkanonee and Unfortunate Face, and producing a portrait for this beauty of an anthology.

Soon I will be posting the entire Asphalt story as well as other goodies. So stay tuned!

A Ghastly, Sexy What Have You

2010-11-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

One night while hanging out with Nick Patten and Denis St. John we decided to push our comic skills to the limits of our own sanity. We would each make a one page disgusting, horror comic in one hour! GASP! Here's what I came up with.

In other news, some of the ladies of CCS got together and made a sexy calendar depicting each other in very scandalous situations. It was only a matter of time before the CCS men came along and made a calendar of our own. Since there are way too many guys at CCS we put two men to a month. So we were broken into teams of two. Within those teams we would come up with an appropriate setting for our given month and then draw one another. I was paired with the manly Kevin Uehlein for the month of March. Here's what we came up with..

I bet this picture gets you all hot and bothered. But wait there's more! More manly months can be found here!

Soda Jerk'd

2010-10-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been hard at work on a brand new Asphalt story (I'll be posting pages soon). Because of this I don't really have anything new to post. But I got something old and kickin! This is an assignment from my first year at CCS. The assignment was to pick four words randomly and use those words to further the plot. My words were inner, back, bile and pain. It's a disgusting doozy! Enjoy!

The Return of Giggleton Holocaust!

2010-10-11T14:18:00.001-07:00

Unfortunate Face in "After Hours" Part 2

2010-10-04T08:51:00.001-07:00

Unfortunate Face in "After Hours" Part 1

2010-10-02T13:14:00.001-07:00

Wowee Zowee!

2010-09-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Since beginning my Professional Practices class at CCS I have come to realize I really don't use my blog to the best of my ability. So...I made a sweet new banner for the site! Yeah! Check it! I think it really spruces up the place. There will be more changes to come so be on the look out.

In the meantime here's a preview of an upcoming Asphalt story. I won't give too much of the plot away but it involves Asphalt drinking some very tainted booze.

Also, here's a CCS perspective assignment from last year. I used this as a secondary cover to the reprints of Grump Toast I did for MICE. Enjoy!

Pinky Palms in "Swingin And A Helpin" Part Two

2010-09-29T07:25:00.001-07:00

Pinky Palms in "Swingin And A Helpin" Part One

2010-09-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

More to come!

Here We Go Again!

2010-09-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well now it has been quite a while since my last post hasn't it? I would love to say it was because I was fast at work on brand new illustrations, it was not. After my first glorious year at CCS ended I went back to Seattle and had a summer blowout extravenganza! But now I'm back in the wonderful White River Junction and ready to start working again.

As of right now I don't have anything new to show so here's an update of what I've been up to.

I submitted a story to the third issue of the Werewolf! anthology which should be debuting at the upcoming MICE convention in Boston. When the time is right I will be posting the entire story.

I've started my second year at CCS and am now working on the second issue of Grump Toast. So far I have a new Pinky Palms that will be finished in...oh let's say sometime next week. I will also be posting that.

I also just got my very first review on Journalista! And it was good!!! Wa-Hoo! Here's the link.

Well I believe that is it for now. I'll be blogging more of my projects as they are finished.

Asphalt in "Trip Dogs" Part Two

2010-04-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

And now for the exciting conclusion...

Whoo-Whee! Wasn't THAT fun?! More stories to come!

Asphalt in "Trip Dogs" Part One

2010-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

To Be Continued...

Return Of Pinky

2010-04-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work on the very first issue of Grump Toast and it's nearly done! Here's a few pages from "P.S. I Kill U" starring everybody's favorite lounge singer, Pinky Palms!!!

I will be posting more of this story and others in the following week. So stay tuned!

The Toast Begins!

2010-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been good about updating but for good reasons! I have been busy with the final project for CCS which is... anything we friggin' wanna do! Yes! I have decided to take all the comic knowledge I have obtained this year and spew it out into a project I've been thinking about for a while. Grump Toast! I always imagined Grump Toast being an anthology of stories much like the great Eightball or Yummy Fur. So I have furiously set to work on it. I have five titles that will be featured in the first issue of Grump Toast. There will be three longer pieces (6 to 7 pages) which are Pinky Palms (see previous update), Unfortunate Face (silent horror), and Asphalt (action-ish). Then the two shorter pieces (1 to 2 pages) will be a diary comic like strip called Monkanonee and a miscellaneous strip called Hrrk! Here's a sample of a finished Hrrk! page.

The only other thing I have to show is a couple of pages from Asphalt. Asphalt Monroe may look like a hard boiled detective but really he's just a bum. Asphalt lives out of his car, drinks heavily, finds missing dogs for extra cash and hates everyone and everything. Here's a sample of an unfinished page that I'll probably re-work.

Most of the story will involve Asphalt drinking, crying, brooding and further alienating himself from society. But he will fall into some action type plots. Like..oh i dunno.. fight a SHARK with a BASEBALL BAT!!!

Oh hell yea! Anyway, I'm still working out all the kinks in each of the stories. But I'm really excited about finally creating Grump Toast. I will be posting more as I complete more.

Notes From Class

2010-02-26T07:33:00.000-08:00

Come On! Read!

2010-02-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Our latest CCS project was to create a dummy for a kids book. I had a really hard time trying to come up with a good idea for a kid's book. In the end I used one of my joke ideas I had come up with during the brainstorming process. I'm not sure what kind of audience this is for and it's pretty morally ambiguous. But it is what it is! So without further ado...

The story follows our plastic bag and styrofoam cup heroes as they move to the Real Big City where they encounter the thoroughly disagreeable Canvas Bag and the very snooty Canteen. Yet in the end they find kindred spirits with the lonely Global Warming. They all move into a trash can together and spend the rest of their days singing and dancing together. Yay! I think they could be the Frog and Toad for the new generation.

Dearest Of Dear Diaries Part 2

2010-02-22T07:52:00.001-08:00

Here's some more of those zany diary comics.

What's That I Hear?!

2010-02-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

As soon as the second semester began at CCS we were thrown into the gigantic Golden Age project. We were each put in groups with different themes and advisors. The goal was to make a 1952 full color comic of our given theme. I was put into the superhero group (yessss!) with Paul Karasik and Alec Longstreth as advisors (double yesssss!). Here's what we came up with.

The premise is that Earshot is a boxer by day, vigilante by night. Earshot has super hearing which he uses to fight crime with his boy sidekick Sonar. In our group we were put into pairs to create a 10 page story for Earshot and Sonar. Here's the splash page for myself and Jesse Durona's story about Earshot facing the hideous Earwig! (Note: There is text missing. So don't complain to me about it. I already know)

Group Photo! (Paul Karasik, Jon Fine, Beth Hetland, Alec Longstreth, ME!, Jesse Durona, Corey Middleton and Carol Thompson) We didn't leave each other's side for the two weeks we had to complete this project. Surprisingly no one wanted to kill anyone. Hooray!

This group photo was taken just before we started printing. We're all a little delirious due to 2 weeks full of work, little sleep, work, lots of coffee, work, pizza and more work.

1952 comic industry, you just got slammed. BLADOW!

The Singing Talent Of Pinky Palms

2010-02-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

After many CCS projects I was ready to do something of my own creation. But I didn't want to make some huge life long comic. So I decided I would make a short, stream of consciousness story. I gave myself four panels on each page and used characters I had doodled in my sketchbook. While listening to Sammy Davis and looking over my sketches I came up with the character of Pinky Palms the world's coolest lounge singer. I will definitely be making more Pinky stories because... well look at him! Here's a few pages to indulge.

Dearest Of Dear Diaries

2010-02-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

During the last semester of CCS we had to make a one page diary each week. Here's a sampling of some of my better ones.

It's Been A Long Time

2010-02-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

Being busy with school and other of life's hiccups has led me to neglect this poor blog. But that is coming to an end TODAY! From here on out I will be regularly posting anything and everything I can. Here to start off this monumental post are parts of my CCS anthology project Nymphonomena: A Retrospective.

The theme for this anthology was different stories surrounding a fictional gender bending, romantic, scifi rock opera from the 70s called Nymphonomena. I contributed two stories. My main story is about an overly obsessed fan being pushed to the limit of sanity. The second story is the origin of how the idea for the movie came to be. Enjoy!

Grynch - Chemistry EP

2009-08-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

One of my very good friends John (aka Grynch) is one of Seattle's newest and biggest hip hop artists. He asked if I would help him design the cover for his newest EP.

I think the cover came together pretty well. Plus the music is awesome.

Epic Movie Day!!!!!

2009-08-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

My time in Seattle is coming to an end. But I want to go out on several bangs. The first bang will happen tomorrow in which I will be hosting an all day movie marathon for my friends and loved ones. Movie nights have been a constant hosting of mine for the past couple of years. I have carefully selected movies I have been wanting to watch and know others have been dying to see. I was so excited planning it that I made this flyer:

A great time to be had by all!

Giggleton Holocaust!

2009-08-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Giggleton Holocaust was my first full length comic. It was a homage to Looney Tunes, Battle Royale, Shallow Grave, and of course Cannibal Holocaust. It was a very messy experience. It took a full years worth of anger, frustration, and coffee...lots of coffee. I didn't possess the knowledge or tools (I was using a piece of paper as a ruler for most of it) for creating a comic. But I did it! Yaaaaaaay! Here's the first two pages:

Perhaps you had better start from the beginning.

2009-08-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this with several pages from my most coveted sketchbook. Enjoy!