Thursday, October 15, 2009

Hot Rods & Eyeballs & Comics

I'm honored to have some strips in this year's Best American Comics book published by Houghton Mifflin, edited by the esteemed Charles Burns. Included is my strip SPIRIT DUPLICATOR, which was originally published in Comic Art #9. In addition to those strips I also had the honor of illustrating the books' endpapers, so I drew this long crazy highway scene filled with people reading comics. It allowed me to indulge my twin obsessions of Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth style hot rods and bulging eyeballs, taking them to their logical endpoints.Ink & watercolor, 30" x 10". Click for a larger view!I designed the drawing to have the explosion bleed of the edges of the endpapers, containing the wreckage within the book.Speaking of hot rods, I found perhaps my earliest work on a drawing of a dragster, framed and hanging in my parents' basement. It looks like by brother Jake (age 5) drew it, and I (age 3) colored it. I remember making this exact drawing all the time. That blue thing is the driver's head a in a helmet sticking out.
And speaking of eyeballs, here's a picture of me at St. Louis' Laumeier Sculpture Park next to Eye by Tony Tasset.

7 comments:

Brett Von Schlosser said...

that eye ball sculpture is the best sculpture ever.

Bob Flynn said...

Wow, congrats, Dan! Those endpapers look fantastic. Will have to pick it up.

And man do I need to come back to St. Louis and see that eye. Double wow.

Unknown said...

Nice stuff Dan. Is it weird to have one large blue eye and a normal brown one? CAaarRRRaaazZZyyy!

Katie O'Malley said...

eye'm impressed

Jessica said...

congratulations! you deserve it!

leslie said...

yes!!! flippy eyeball picture!

Matthew Frederick said...

way to go dan!