[ t h e y _ w a l k ]

long hiatus; apologies. madhouse trying to get out of town/country for a week and change, first to Houston to see the family (and the Astros lose, ::sigh::), and on to ichs/herps in Montreal. i've been reading on the deeply convincing and disturbing "World War Z," and have been considering the zombie at great length. hence, tonight's production - fueled by House of 1000 Corpses and a bottle of Knob Creek, one last birthday present to myself.



talk went well in Montreal, or so i'm told. the one-liners were savored as always (at one point i likened myself to Billy Mays... nice). specters from the past/A&M popped up, not unpleasantly. i honestly thought that one of them was a post-party-hallucination.

so, success despite the best efforts of my crew to sabotage me with ethanol the night before my talk (read: my birthday and passage into antiquity). despite every "hey old man" message on facebook, i managed to bounce back in fine form. hah!

Jimmy G did use the Zoloft Shark illustration, although that trickster Morpheus and a VIMS party colluded to make me miss his 830am talk. that said, Jim missed it too - i just didn't hear about the rescheduling. the field report: "he owes you something extra fantastic after that. did you hear the laughs the zoloft shark got in his talk? brilliant!"

it was a good week. and i am tired.

shout-out to T. *

[ l e e r ]

i'm afraid that this might be the first piece of concept art for this year's Halloween project. the real version is much larger and has here been resized and set on a black field. the original appears kinda cartoony and stylized.



this is what the sky looked like over Tampa Bay when we drove back across the bridge after the first Astros-Rays game. started to wake up the brooding, pensive little kid in me - we know where this goes.

i may get to visit some Aplysia "sea hares" tomorrow. i am excited.

[ s e c o n d _ g l a n c e ]

long while between posts, i'm aware. kindly consider me appropriately contrite.

hard to get motivated lately... work is frustrating this summer, so i've taken to escaping as often as is possible. bailed with J down to Tampa for the Astros-Rays series a week and change ago, of which we took two (nearly three) for the win. followed that with consecutive stompings of the Rangers and Bandwagon Sox, and my boys are climbing out of the gutter. nice.

here's something unusual and more light-hearted for you. perhaps WALL-E softened my wrought-iron heart. i can't remember seeing a more charming movie in untold ages. it did very cogently convince me that maybe i should have gone to art school seven years ago. i'd probably be intellectually stunted and otherwise warped, but maybe i could have worked at Pixar. now i'm a slacker egghead who scratches around in Photoshop.

::sigh::



greater significance to this one than i'll let on, but it was fun to paint.

it's taken a while... longer than it did last year (the time is 1200am on 1 VII as i type), but Halloween is creeping into my bones. a cold front blew through with the storms today. i can feel it coming.

mmm.

[ t h e _ o l d _ m a n ]

long, rough week. not overwhelmed by faith in humanity at present, and further nettled by other delightful trials as spiteful little life-satellites. consequently, another bit of dark art tonight.



yeah. this guy is fully off to spirit away some village's children. i thought about writing a grim limerick about this misshapen fiend earning a town's trust before absconding with their youth, pied piper style. maybe next time.

will have something more pleasant for your next visit. perhaps fluffy kittens or hamsters.

seriously, maybe a hamster.

[ f a m i l y ] - BIOSHOCK

charming family portrait of a Little Sister and Big Daddy from the unbelievable "Bioshock." it's been admirably vying for my 360-related affections against the colossus that is GTA, and has inspired a disturbing dream or two along the way.



i picked up a perhaps disgustingly awesome tv as a self-congratulatory gift for surviving prelims, and "Bioshock" very much pushes the envelope of terrifying, corrupted art deco near-photorealism. i replayed the intro while E observed. she took several moments before saying, "...wait. You're controlling this?" and was profoundly creeped out by the first, haunted five minutes in Rapture.

one of the best.

[ z o l o f t _ s h a r k ] - for Jim Gelsleichter

my old advisor down at Mote in Sarasota (soon to be elsewhere) hit me with another unusual art request in the name of science!, as he is wont to do. among many other things, Jim studies the effects of drugs and other organic compounds on sharks and rays. for this year's annual ichs/herps meeting in Montreal, he wanted... a Zoloft shark.



funny guy, Jim.
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[ t h e _ r e d ] - for Phil Rossi's "Crescent"

i am a seriously enthusiastic supporter of podcast fiction. last summer in Tokyo, i often spent 14 hours a day at a lab bench. my iPod was my best friend, and i discovered some amazing, free podcast novels by the likes of Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins, Phil Rossi, and many others. i'd be all too happy to talk your ear off about anthology sites as well, if you're interested.

Rossi's "Crescent" is probably my favorite, combining seriously screwed-up and addictive scifi/horror with the best, creepiest audio engineering in the field. Phil is an all-around nice guy (as are many of this first gen of podcast authors), so i sketched up a "bourbon-fueled quick shot" of one of his story's protagonists, Ina, and something nasty she brings on board the station. i highly recommend checking out "Crescent" - it's excellent, free, and Phil's gearing up to start publishing some new fiction next month after a long hiatus.

can't wait, Phil.

here's some of Phil's feedback on the sketch.

/.n