Mark your (Cat) Calendar!

Tenth Life's Hepcat Carnival!, Sunday May 6th at the Gramophone in St. Louis.

Velveeta Viscosity: A Study

I illustrated this chart for The Dallas Observer's The Never-Ending Cycle of Queso Enjoyment. Enjoy!

DZBB

Out soon!

Cheap Bastard Does Dallas

Here's a bunch of stuff I drew The Dallas Observer this week, for this hilarious and informative article: THE CHEAP BASTARD'S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EATING LIKE A TOTAL CHEAP BASTARD IN DALLAS. The piece involved a cover (above), a bunch of gut busting interior charts, and a centerpiece designed too look like a cheap-o puzzle placemat your kids (or you) would color and spill jalapeño ranch sauce on. Early sketch:

Tighter Sketch, based on ideas by The Cheap Bastard herself:

Finished art:


Having never met The Cheap Bastard, here's how I pictured her:

Rough Cover Layout:

Final drawing:

The I busted out out my crayolas and leaky coffee mug to add some verisimilitude. Oh, and SPOILER ALERT that's not actually a jalapeño ranch stain -- it's garlic mayonnaise.

Here are some info-charts that show up along the way. Again, TCB gets all the credit for these. Sketches:

Hi-Tech data-soaked renderings:

I encourage you to check out the full article, especially if you live in the Dallas area or are planning a visit. As for some really behind-the-scenes stuff, here's how I was envisioning The Cheap Bastard character before I knew she was a lady. Cheap Bastard, Aristocrat Hobo:

Cheap Bastard, The Frugal Gourmet:

Cheap Bastard, Restaurant Rascal:

Enjoy!

New Print: World Series GAME 6!

Just in time for baseball's opening day, here's a new 3-color screenprint hot off the press (UPDATE: all 3 editions have sold out!). It commemorates last season's thrilling penultimate game, Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, which saw the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Texas Rangers in a see-sawing nail-biting 11-inning affair.

My initial idea for the print was to use as a centerpiece the game's dramatic Win Expectancy Chart, which maps statistically the game's ups and downs (and a given fan's emotional state) at any given point.

Other things I wanted to include were a view of Busch Stadium, some funny vignettes of key moments throughout the game, assorted li'l fun facts, and a huge in-your-face title. For a long time, you'll be able to say "GAME 6" and a Cardinals' fan will KNOW.

I was looking at lots of old fruit advertising for inspiration:

And here's an early digital mock-up:

And sketched directly from my DVR recording (which I refuse to erase), here are some sketches of the funny vignettes, part highlight part in-joke, alternately sad and triumphant:

Ink tests:

A tightened-up digital mock-up:

And all my ink drawings I would have to squeeze in to this thing:

And final digitally separated art:

Time to coat, burn & print. A peek at my exposure station:

And a close-up of the final printed piece. I think I managed to squeeze everything in except my wife and I having heart attacks in the bleachers.

"Game 6: The Greatest Game of All Time!" 3-color screenprint on Canson Edition paper, 28" x 22", edition of 150.
JULY 27, 2012 UPDATE:
I'm officially sold out of the 3rd (and likely final) printing. Thanks to everyone who ordered and had nice things to say about the print, let's hope that we have more memorable games this season to memorialize.
Thanks again for the interest, everyone! Let's Go You Redbirds!