Zettwoch's Suitcase

Golden Arches! The Gilded Age of Logo Design in St. Louis

2012-01-27T08:46:00.001-06:00

This week Leon Beyond takes on a legendary era in local logocraft (above: click to enlarge). Sketches below:

During our research we found this great resource of more current, active Arch-based logos.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

Product Review: Sherpa Sweatshirt

2012-01-25T09:47:00.000-06:00

Red Carpet Season

2012-01-23T11:58:00.001-06:00

Some art for shirt.woot!'s annual award extravaganza, The T-List Awards:

(click to enlarge)

Beware the fashion police!

Cancun Sketch Dump

2012-01-13T10:19:00.002-06:00

I finished my paperback on day two, so had to doodle this comic in the ol' sketchbook instead. Click to enlarge:

Here are some more scenes straight from the beach:

In the Nest of the Piasa

2012-01-06T10:29:00.001-06:00

I've got a two page strip in the new issue of the German/Swiss comics quarterly Strapazin.

The theme of the issue is food & eating, and I served up a re-telling of the "First Midwestern Thanksgiving" dinner.

We follow Father Jacques Marquette's expedition down the Mississippi and his meeting with the local Illiniwek tribes near present day Alton, Illinois.
Gastronomical hi-jinx ensue under the watchful eye of the Piasa.
(Thanks to Chrisoph and the editors at Strapazin, and whoever translated and re-lettered my weird story into German.)

Cats Playing Trivia

2012-01-03T14:19:00.002-06:00

Happy to help my friends at Tenth Life Cat Rescue with this poster for their upcoming, always-fun, trivia night. My first idea was this cat/ball-of-yarn/brain thing, which was kinda gross:

Then I thought a riff on the classic C.M. Coolidge Dogs playing Poker (but with Cats playing Trivial Pursuit) might be fun too:

And that's the direction we went:

I also recently drew this coffee label for a special Tenth Life blend they were roasting up:

In summation, I love cats, trivia, and coffee. And you.

RFT News Quiz 2011

2011-12-30T13:50:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year (THE END) and yet once again I did a bunch of goofy illustrations (and the cover) for the RFT's UNREAL NEWS QUIZ CHALLENGE issue. Here are some of the highlights, featuring some of the weirdest blotter items from 2011:

My palette:

Cover Ideas:

We went with the third one, given that the 'quiz' is basically an exercise in being a Google gumshoe anyway. Tighter layout:

Inked drawing:

Finished vector art (director's cut):

Be sure to take the quiz or else none of these drawings will make ANY sense.

LEON/NOEL

2011-12-21T14:08:00.000-06:00

Two recent holiday-themed AMAZING FACTS & BEYOND strips. See the full strips here and here. Merry Factsmas!

Woot City Mural

2011-12-20T18:49:00.000-06:00

I helped design this 2-color vinyl mural that my pals at Woot affixed to a wall in their digs. See more pictures here.

Also peep this soda machine face I drew a while back.

Woot! 2011 Holiday Gift Guide

2011-11-30T13:34:00.002-06:00

I helped my pals over at shirt.woot! again with art for this year's Holiday Gift Guide.

This year's sale features, for the first time, greeting cards and hooded sweatshirts (pull-over & zip-up):

Long-sleeved T-shirts:

Tote Bags and Aprons:

Enjoy!

Thanks.G.G.iving

2011-11-23T09:11:00.000-06:00

For a story in this week's RFT about GG Allin's musical legacy. Enjoy!

Amazing Turkey... & Beyond!

2011-11-23T08:56:00.000-06:00

Be sure to check out Leon Beyond's take on the Great American Turkey's nutritional and historical legacy at the AMAZING FACTS & BEYOND blog. Gobble gobble!

Family Feud! Melon vs. Gilmore

2011-11-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

Here are two paintings I'm showing at this year's Famous Fictional art show at the Mad Art Gallery here in St. Louis. The theme of this year's show is "FAMILY FEUD" and I chose two of my favorite fictional families to make portraits of: The Melons (from Back to School) and The Gilmores (from The Gilmore Girls).

Some sketches and reference:

I settled on "family crest" kind of images based on the blue blood pedigrees of the two families.

I built the original drawings with vectors in Illustrator:

I traced the drawing on to large sheets of foamcore and painting them as precisely as I could, paint-by-number style. Then I cut the shapes out. Actually my lovely wife did all the exacto-ing.

"The Melons at Grand Lakes University". Acrylic, Gold Leaf & White Out on Foam, 32" x 40".
You may remember this cover I drew for the Gilmore Girls graphic novel last year (still waiting for a publisher), so you know I'm a big fan.

I was excited to get to return to the wonderful town of Stars Hollow and the Dragonfly Inn.

Vector drawing:

Finished painting:

"The Gilmores of Stars Hollow". Acrylic, Gold Leaf & White Out on Foam, 32" x 40". The show runs for the remainder of the month of November, so if you're in town be sure to check it out! There are lots of other great family portraits represented.

Cyclopz Halloween Costume

2011-11-08T18:33:00.000-06:00

My wife was a Unicorn. This picture was taken at the bowling alley (that's why I'm wearing bowling shoes). Sketch:

Shirtoberfest!

2011-10-26T08:23:00.002-05:00

Although I think it's too late to participate in any of the shirt.woot! Shirtoberfest sales, here's a bunch of fall-themed stuff I drew for the festivities anyway. Enjoy!

We combined ideas from sketches #2 and #3 (above) and went through a crazy corn maze to get to the final designs for the frontpage and banner ads. Click to enlarge!

Leftovers for Lunch

2011-10-18T12:45:00.002-05:00

Redbird Fever!

2011-10-17T16:23:00.000-05:00

In honor of my beloved home team's exhilarating and unlikely quest for an 11th World Series title, here are eleven Cardinals-themed drawings from the archives. There are a lot more where these came from, so we'll just have to win a lot more championships. Let's go you Redbirds!

11. History of the Birds on the Bats print.

10. Tony La Russa, classic rock connoisseur

9. Mets are Pond Scum

8. Amazing Facts and Beyond takes a close look at Fredbird

7. Some shoes I painted

6. Best Fans in Baseball

5. Hollywood Jim Edmonds in a hot tub with Fredbird. 'Nuff said.

4. Mike Shannon 'The Moon Man Speaks" print

3. Page from a comic about the 2004 NLCS (published in Not My Small Diary #13)

2. Bob Gibson painting

1. Year-end illustration of last year's Cards. Glad this year's roller coaster is pointing back to the top!

Get Lost + F(o)und!

2011-10-04T20:55:00.001-05:00

We're looking forward to this event on Thursday night (Oct. 6th). Perennial is a really cool local organization and I'm honored to have done the posters 'n tickets 'n stuff for their first big party/fundraiser.

The event will have the usual music and drinks but will feature special a DIY rebuilding/redesigning challenge and other neat upcycling-type activities.

These were my sketches:

We settled on this idea, a sorta county-fair/science-fair theme focussing on the exhibits and process-oriented activities.

I also designed (and silkscreened) some teaser postcards:

These were printed on random bit of chipboard packaging we collected:

I also made some traditional postcards (front and back)...

... as well as the little tickets required for entrance to the event (you have to buy those to see 'em!). Get your tickets here! Hope to see lots of you there! I'll buy you a Perennial Ale.

Dumpin' Knowledge

2011-09-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

Kevin H, Leon Beyond and I have 2 new books available for sale now!

Volume 4 of the collected Amazing Facts & Beyond is called BRAIN DUMP and was compiled and designed by yours truly.

I also screenprinted the covers in day-glo brain pink and dump green. Go buy it for $5 now!

Volume 5 was handled by Kevin and is called FACTUAL HEALING. Go buy it for $5 now!

These are truly Amazing Books... & Beyond.

Fashion Icons

2011-09-17T08:54:00.000-05:00

It's Fashion Week in St. Louis and I drew this menagerie of industry icons to be printed on tote bags for the opening of my wife Leslie's new store. Did I leave anybody out???

Field Guide to Fried Eggs

2011-08-26T09:17:00.003-05:00

Put together for you by our pal Leon Beyond this week.

Sling-A-Monkey!

2011-08-23T10:46:00.001-05:00

Did you play this game I helped make with kids.woot! last week? It's fun! Here's some of the stuff I drew:

Back to School! at shirt.woot

2011-08-15T08:20:00.004-05:00

I drew a bunch of stuff for shirt.woot this week for their big Back to School Sale.

Also, my ol' chestnut the Stay Sharp! shirt I drew way back in 2009 is back in print for the week.

You can buy it here.

For the first time ever shirt.woot is also selling tote bags (but no lunchboxes) this week:

Here were my sketches for the frontpage art for the sale:

We didn't end up using this sweet Trapper Keeper, but I still like it:

Be sure to check out Leon Beyond's special retro-guide to Back to School supplies here!

How Coffee Works / US Patent #597.7311.143

2011-07-21T15:38:00.003-05:00

This was a print project near and dear to my caffeine-riddled heart. 3-colors (black, white & fluorescent pink) on 18"x24" chipboard.

I got asked to participated in a coffee/espresso themed print show at Foam here in St. Louis, and how could I pass that up? I had an idea that was a continuation of this weird thing I made as part of a Devo t-shirt design contest last year:

It would get int the nuts 'n bolts of "HOW COFFEE WORKS", externally & internally...

...from the bush to the brain.

I gathered a bunch of reference, did a bunch of sketches, took apart my old Mr. Coffee, and started drawing all the pieces in Illustrator.

I was having a hard time squeezing all my usual junk -- flames, bulging eyeballs, cross-sections of brains & beans -- into an 18" x 24" rectangle...

...and liked the simplicity of the "coffee helmet" guy by himself, so I made the painful decision to eliminate all my usual junk and so something much simpler for a change. Thanks to my wife bolstering my courage (and giving me the 'US Patent# joke):

While posting this picture I just realized that I mix most of my silkscreen inks in old coffee cans. And I don't rinse them out very well, so you can be assured that some coffee grounds made their way into each and every print.

If you're interested, I believe they've still got a bunch of these for sale for $30 down at Foam (at the corner of Cherokee & Jefferson), otherwise catch up with me later. You'll be able to find me; just smell for the coffee breath.

Pungent Stench Manumaleuna

2011-07-19T06:55:00.000-05:00

Notes taken while creating a new character and participating in an OD&D campaign over the weekend.

Simian Snobs vs. Slobs

2011-07-18T11:48:00.004-05:00

I drew this shirt in celebration of shirt.Woot!'s fourth birthday, happening this week!

Here's some early monkeying around:

My first design had four monkeys going ape, playing off the numerical "4" element of the birthday party:

We ultimately decided there was just too much monkey business going on and simplified the design to the two most primary primates.

You can see (and buy!) the final shirt here.

Hardboiled Pixels

2011-07-14T08:33:00.007-05:00

I worked with my pals over at woot! to draw a bunch of little assets for their recent 'Choose Your Own Adventure' text game / e-commerce opportunity WOOTQUEST: Bullets Over Crimeville.Although all the good stuff is probably already sold out, you can still play the game here.I drew that fancy extruded logo, the clickable arrow/maze gadgets, and these portraits of the seedy denizens of Crimeville you run into during your quest:
I simplified the sketches a bit to read better at 75x pixels:I also drew this sad finalé scene......featuring the classic woot! MacGuffin, the "Bag of Crap":Good luck getting yours, and not stepping in any along the way!

Custom Cornhole Cabinets

2011-07-08T08:52:00.003-05:00

Cornhole

Grill Journal

2011-06-27T10:03:00.001-05:00

Filet Mignon, June 25, 2011.

Tenth Life Buttons & Tattoo

2011-06-24T08:08:00.006-05:00

Here are some little drawings I did for my friends (furry and otherwise) and the Tenth Life Cat Rescue here in St. Louis. Find them at this weekend's Pridefest in Tower Grove Park and get these buttons...... or this temporary tattoo:Cats are on that list of things that I love but have lots of trouble drawing (see also: men's dress shoes, horses, sexy women) but do it anyway.Here's another drawing a did for Tenth Life a few months back:Meow!

Still Life with Wine & Mutilated Stuffed Animal

2011-06-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

Lures Optional

2011-06-10T15:03:00.002-05:00

I'm looking for a power blue fishing hat like this. Bass Pro didn't have one. Where next?

Cicadian Rhythms

2011-06-08T13:25:00.003-05:00

Leon Beyond takes a trip back to 1777 and bugs out. Read it!

STL / RFT Scavenger Hunt

2011-06-03T13:56:00.002-05:00

I drew a bunch of quick spots for this weekend's RFT Showcase Photo Scavenger Hunt.If anyone wants to get any of these images tattooed on themselves, consider them all open-source designs.

The Vumpire

2011-05-30T19:49:00.001-05:00

drawn 5/3/11. Redbirds lose to the Giants, 7-3.

Recent Leon Beyond Experiments

2011-05-26T11:42:00.002-05:00

Assessing the Stickiest Situations

Assembling The Ultimate Branson Show!

Best New Poets 2011

2011-05-23T14:07:00.002-05:00

I believe this Wednesday (May 25) is the last day to submit poems to this year's Best New Poets anthology, of which I drew the cover (above). Here was my sketch and a couple other ideas:

ARTCRANK / Pee-Wee Bike Print!

2011-05-15T17:11:00.008-05:00

This was my contribution to the 2011 ARTCRANK poster show that just pedaled through St. Louis, 4-color (dark brown, red, yellow & silver) screenprint on Ivory Canson Edition paper, 24.5" x 18", edition of 30. Anyone who knows me knows that Pee-wee's Big Adventure is my favorite movie and I was excited to have a somewhat legitimate reason to make this print.

Here was my first sketch, made while closely watching the DVD and pausing every time Pee-Wee's bike was onscreen or a new feature was unveiled:Here's some more screencaps and reference I collected in my research:I started off with a straight side-view vector rendering of the bike, and worked on skewing it to the "lift-off" angle I wanted, as well as turning the handlebars/front wheel.The can see I also figured out the palette swatches I wanted to use, based on these ink tests:I printed out the vector bike and doodled roughly more on top of it:And then doodled a bit more tightly:And then, with the help of my lightbox, eventually made this ink drawing:And then scanned everything and created the final digital art seen here:Here's what the 4 seps. looked like. I make these just by using the 'select same fill color' function in Illustrator and turning the colors either black or white before lazer-printing the transparencies.And here's a much better picture of the final thing from the official Flickr set of amazing ARTCRANK prints, taken by Brian Cummings and Monica Heitz of RGG Photography (www.rggphoto.com)©2011 ARTCRANK™:I'm not sure how many prints are left from the original edition sold at the show, but I've still got these screens and inks in my basement so I make some more if anyone's interested. Drop me a line if so! Tell' em Large Marge sent ya.
Thanks to Charles Y. and everyone else involved with putting on a great, fun show! I'm excited to have been a part of it.

ArtCrank Tonight!

2011-05-12T10:09:00.000-05:00

I'm in this bike print show ARTCRANK that opens tonight at Atomic Cowboy. It should be fun and I'm excited to be a part of it. There are over 30 artists, all prints are in editions of 30 and for sale for $30 each. My poster is a 4-color screenprint; here's another hint at what it deals with:

Laumeier Art Fair 2011

2011-05-06T15:00:00.004-05:00

Buncha drawings done for this year's Laumeier Sculpture Park Art Fair. Postcard above!Alternate program ideas!Map!T-shirt!
Billboard (this is off Hwy. 44 near the Big Bend exit)!

Additional Art!

Root Rot!

2011-04-29T08:15:00.002-05:00

I've got a two-page comic in the cool new forest-themed anthology ROOT ROT from Koyama Press. It was done at the height of my beaver obsession of Fall '10 and the first page is pictured above.
Pick up the book (great cover by Michael DeForge) and see the thrilling conclusion.

Modern Man 2011 Demo

2011-04-15T13:33:00.003-05:00

I'd be way into this demo by new STLHC band MODERN MAN even if they weren't my buddies and I didn't draw the cover. Listen here!
Their first local show is a matinee this Sunday, April 17th at Lemmon's. I'm looking forward to it!I just remembered I meant to draw a sweet necklace on that dude looking in the mirror. Sorry! If you bring me a demo I'll hand-drawn one -- either gold chain or shell variety -- on there for you.

Culinary Cartography

2011-04-14T09:52:00.007-05:00

Here's a cover (above) and map I drew for this week's issue of Kansas City paper The Pitch. The article is a gourmet/local re-imagining of the Country Club Plaza -- currently known for it's chain restaurants, "Spanish" architecture, "Venetian" canal, and fountain full of weird rampaging horsemen -- by the paper's food critic. My starting point for the map:Google map I put together of the area in question:Some of the reference for replacement restaurants I gathered:Rough layouts:Pencil sketch:Lineart, vector background, watercolor wash:Finished map:Cover sketch:
Lineart, white water & clouds layer, watercolor wash:Alternate, more complex version, of the cover. I ended up losing the bacon, BBQ, lobster, wine glass and some other stuff, but it's probably for the better . Thanks Kansas City Pitch!

Redbird #2: 2006-7

2011-04-08T15:52:00.005-05:00

Unfinished & unpublished pages from the ill-fated Redbird #2 I was working on in fits & starts a few years ago. Ink, white-out and homemade zip-a-tone on bristol board:Reference & thumbnails:

Birds on the Buttons

2011-04-03T11:30:00.003-05:00

We're headed to our first game of the season, putting a new button-maker and old proofs from this print to good use. Let's go you redbirds!

Woot! April Fool's Mega-Post!

2011-04-01T07:16:00.010-05:00

My pals over at Woot! have had me drawing lots of weird stuff lately. Here's a weird (and delicious) taste. Shown above is an old-fashioned papercraft gag you can download, print-out, and assemble yourself. Here's what the sketch looked like, and an alternate idea: If hi-tech gags are more your thing, check out this crazy Woot! Bag O' Crap video game I did a bunch of art for, also unveiled today:The idea is based on these shipping icons we developed a while back:And the levels of the game advance accordingly. I won't give EVERYTHING away but here are some sneak peeks at the levels and some of the goofy little animated snails and jittery obstacles I drew. Level 1 / Sidewalk / On "Foot":I love making animated .GIFs. Level 2 / Highway / On Wheels:Level 3 / Sky / Jet Plane:Flying Spaghetti-O's Monster:Level 4 / Space / Rocket Ship:

If that doesn't whet your apetite to play CRAPSHOOT! I don't know what will. Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!

In Search of Opening Day Jitters

2011-03-31T07:53:00.003-05:00

Be sure to check out Leon's Opening Day Baseball and Beyond strips in this week's RFT...... and get a sneak peek into Leon's baseball card collection.Let's go you redbirds!

MY DAD! HOW DOES HE WORK?

2011-03-28T13:48:00.005-05:00

I don't think I ever posted pictures of this magnetized birthday card I made for my WORLD'S #1 DAD a couple months ago. Here were all my little drawings that we printed on sheets of inkjet magnet paper......then cut out and affixed to this sheet of tin:Love you, Dad!

Blue Streak / Lunatic Fringe

2011-03-25T13:23:00.003-05:00

Recent Amazing Facts & Beyond strips: Tbe Great Blue Streak of Trail County, North Dakota. Dispatches from the Lunatic Fringe.

Know When to Fold-In!

2011-02-28T12:12:00.003-06:00

I worked with Leon Beyond to draw yet another Fold-In, this time in honor of Al Jaffee's upcoming 90th birthday.

Talking and Pointing

2011-02-18T09:26:00.001-06:00

Here's how that presentation from the St. Louis PECHA KUCHA evening a I did a couple of weeks ago went. Enjoy.

Happiness is a Warm Hot Glue Gun

2011-02-12T14:56:00.004-06:00

This is a cover I drew for this week's Albuquerque Alibi, illustrating both their annual homemade Valentine's Day Card Contest and a freak southwestern snowstorm.Happy Valentine's day out there, and stay warm!

Valentine's Day... & Beyond!

2011-02-09T08:34:00.003-06:00

Leon explores matters of the heart (and obscure 60's toy construction sets) in this week's Amazing Facts & Beyond.

Forget the Minions, They're on their Own

2011-02-02T08:29:00.004-06:00

Check out this not very informational info-graphic I illustrated for my pals at Woot! for their affiliate marketing program called 'Woot Minions'. Here was the sketch:The whole time I was drawing this I had this song stuck in my head:
In other Woot! related art, here's a soda machine face I designed for their offices a while back. The can pops out under the robot teeth.Keep up the good work, Woot!

Birds of Carbondale

2011-01-30T17:24:00.004-06:00

I'm trying to figure out what all sorts of birds we saw (and I sketched) from the back porch of our cabin. 1: Red-Tailed Hawk 2: Carolina Chickadee 3: Red-bellied Woodpecker 4: Northern Cardinals 5: Tufted Titmouse 6: Redheaded Woodpecker 7: 8: Blue Jay 9: Great Egret 10:Dark-eyed Junco (?)

Come Pecha Kucha with Me! Thurs: 1/27/11

2011-01-25T12:19:00.003-06:00

I'm participating in St. Louis' Fifth Pecha Kucha Night on Thursday night. I also made the poster. Along with several other local fascinators i'll be showing a few slides (20) and giving a short (6 minute, 40 seconds) lecture. Them's the rules.Here are a few sneak peeks from my powerpoint presentation.The event is at Bridge / The Foundation (1004 Locust Street 63101) and is FREE. Get there at 6:30 or 7 to make me feel less nervous or just adjust my bow-tie.Hope to see you there!

In Hot Blood

2011-01-20T12:17:00.006-06:00

I did this cover illustration and 5 interior spots for this week's NY Observer, about the grizzly murder of Portuguese telejournalist Carlos Castro, allegedly by his companion and Portuguese reality-show star Renato Seabra, in a Times Square hotel. Here's Seabra on the model-hunting show A Procura do Sonho (In Pursuit of a Dream):Apparently the couple had seen Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark the evening of the murder:Castro had been gruesomely killed & mutilated with some combination of a TV set, corkscrew, and wine glass on the 34th floor.Here were some alternate cover ideas:Seabra was seen rushing out of the hotel lobby that evening, neatly dressed but visibly shaken and with cuts on his wrist:The scene from Seabra's arraignment hearing, while he is held at a local hospital:Castro's remains being emptied by friends following the funeral, into a subway grate in Times Square, a "place that he loved":

Timely Facts & Beyond

2011-01-19T09:25:00.003-06:00

Hope you haven't missed these recent nuggets ripped from the headlines of knowledge, courtesy of Amazing Facts & Beyond. In this one, Leon Beyond solves St. Louis' recent Smoking Ban.Jerry 'the King' Lawler pile-drove opponents on one of the most expensive Rugs in the Commonwealth of Kentucky:And finally, Leon recaps Top Ten important Dog-Walking related inventions of 2010:

Mary, Mary!

2011-01-06T08:28:00.006-06:00

Here are the paintings I showed in November's Famous Fictional Verses! art show. My characters were Mary, Mary (Quite Contrary) and Mary, Mary (Why You Buggin'?).
Sketches & color list:Some reference:My original vector drawings:Vector art converted to outlines and output to tiles for tracing:The idea was to think of these paintings as 6-color prints with flat, fluorescent & metallic color. Key-color mock-ups:First few color layers down:Another couple:Finished paintings:Acrylic & Gold Leaf on Illustration board, 36" x 34".

RFT's 2010 News Quiz

2011-01-02T14:27:00.004-06:00

A lot happened in St. Louis this year. Take the Quiz here! Some selected scenes to help you cheat:
Alternate cover sketches:

Styrofoam Santa

2010-12-20T09:40:00.002-06:00

Merry Xmas, everybody!

DADT Carnival Sideshow Signage

2010-12-17T11:04:00.008-06:00

This is a series of illustrations I did for my friend & colleague Karin Soukup earlier this year as part of the School of Visual Art's Candy Coated Carnival of Controversy (more info on the background & intentions of the project here). She built an incredible/satirical Don't Ask, Don't Tell sideshow tent and these "freak" posters were set in lightboxes mounted to the plywood walls, with bits of my lettering hand-painted around them. Here are all four characters, along with: sketches I did for each, the inked drawing, the final illustration, and associated signage. Enjoy!
Fodder Frank: Private Pete:Mia the Camo-Tattooed Lady:The Great G.I.Joe-Dini:Here are are a couple of photos in the pieces in action, and there are a few more here.Here was a picture I used for inspiration, taken at the Kentucky State Fair midway, c. 1984. That's me in the blue muscle-shirt and my brother in the red batting helmet.

The Sinking of the SS Sultana

2010-12-10T11:09:00.006-06:00

Check out a new 2-page full-color strip I've got in Brooklyn's comics newspaper SMOKE SIGNAL. It's about the worst disaster, bodycount speaking, to have ever taken place on American waterways, the "wreck" of the civil war-era steamship SULTANA.Here are some research/sketches:Here's a bibliography:Huffman, Alan. Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History. Harper, 2010.
"BLEW UP THE SULTANA: The Cause of the Horrible Disaster Explained at Last." St. Louis Globe Democrat, May 6, 1888.
Rule, D.H. "The Boatburners." Civil War St. Louis. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
"Steamboat Engine Room," Twain Times, Web. 10 Nov. 2010.If you're not in Brooklyn or nearby the Desert Island comic book store, copy of the newspaper (with the beautiful cover seen above by Jordan Crane) can be ordered here. Keep an eye on those boilers out there, friends!

Steamboat Guts! / Cherokee Print League

2010-12-03T11:04:00.005-06:00

I finished reading LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI and made this How-It-Works print. 3-colors (white, brown, fluorescent orange) on Canson (sand) paper, 25.5."x19.5". Here are some sketches:And here's a detail:I'll have these for sale tomorrow at the Cherokee Print League holiday sale, alongside many other great printmakers and operations down there.I also made some smaller, 14"x11" one-color prints of some crowd-favorite Amazing Facts & Beyond strips. These will be cheap and able to assemble into mix 'n' match sets, perfect for any fact-filled, wood-paneled library.
History of Heavy Metal Logos:Origins of the Missouri Float Trip:The Dogzigners:Beards of Beasts:Hope to see you there! We'll also have delicious hot cider & cookies.

New Print: Birds and the Bats

2010-11-23T08:11:00.006-06:00

Here's a new print hot off the press! It's an expanded version of an Amazing Facts & Beyond strip from last year's baseball season, detailing the evolution of the St. Louis Cardinal's famous Birds-on-the-Bat emblem.3-color hand-pulled screenprint on ivory Canson Mi-Tientes pastel paper, 19" x 25". Here was a sketch:Messing around with the 3 inks:The ink drawing & final digital art (Note how much copying and pasting I did of the birds once I had a few good ones drawn):These will be debuting for sale (for $25) this weekend at the Rock and Roll Craft Show here in St. Louis, next Saturday at the Cherokee Print League Holiday Sale, and are available from me directly I reckon. Thanks!

Hippo Hippo Hungry

2010-11-18T07:13:00.005-06:00

Here are a couple of pieces from my hippopotamus phase of summer '10. Above is my one-page comic from the hot new STUDYGROUP 12 anthology, issue #4. It's based on the real-life escaped pet of Columbian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The book is out now, and was edited and with cover art by Zack Soto:And here is a painting I made for my nephew Wally, inspired by a crazy orange ceramic hippo he has on his dresser. Vector mock-up:Finished painting:
Acrylic & fluorescent enamel on wood panel, 24" x 18".

Amazing Creeps and Beyond

2010-11-17T19:23:00.002-06:00

Be sure to check out this week's Amazing Facts & Beyond, in which Leon divulges true identities of history's most notorious Christmas Creeps.

Tel-Tales #1: Cut Lines & Intricate Minds

2010-11-12T07:48:00.005-06:00

My Dad Toots Zettwoch & I collaborating on a new mini-comic series called Tel-Tales. The first issue - - containing a story entitled Cut Lines & Intricate Minds -- is finished and available now! Above: 2-color screenprinted cover, printed on AT-T/Bell Systems punchcard, c. 1983.Toots wrote the story, did rough breakdowns (shown above), and provided reference from his days working at the phone company in the 70's (below).Here were my rough layouts:And here are a couple of examples of how I translated his breakdowns into final spreads in the book:The book is 3.75" x 3.25", with a big center foldout and a wrap-around color cover. The endpapers were inspired by the intricate art-deco metalwork found on the outside of the AT&T building featured in the story:The book is for sale at the Catastrophe Shop, Star Clipper in St. Louis, and will be available at more distros and specialty stores around the country soon.

Beer Eagle Halloween

2010-11-06T15:14:00.004-05:00

(from Leon Beyond's The 66 Year Stink)

Famous Fictional Verses! Mixtape

2010-11-05T11:07:00.003-05:00

Download HERE!

Famous Fictional: VERSES tomorrow night!

2010-11-04T13:04:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow night! Eyeballs will drool. Hearts will melt. Thirsts will be quenched.
Above: 2-color screenprinted poster. Below: sketch.Below: in-progress pixxx of 2 the paintings I'll be showing

Act Fast!

2010-11-01T07:43:00.002-05:00

You have until Noon today, Monday November 1st, to buy my 'Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts' t-shirt, lest it goes outta print forever. The shirt and colors turned out great, as shown on the satisfied customer above. Thanks to anyone who already picked up the shirt, or offered their regional varietals.

Cross-Fader on What Things Do

2010-10-25T13:44:00.003-05:00

Just in time for Halloween, the great online comics site WHAT THINGS DO has posted my behind-the-scenes -of-a- church-haunted-house story "CROSS-FADER". More info on the strip and its hidden mechanics here and here.

Gopher Guts T-Shirt

2010-10-20T08:43:00.008-05:00

Hey Fans of Gross Food Diagrams! I've got a new t-shirt up for sale at Shirt.Woot! for a limited time only. It's another installment in my ongoing obsession with an (apparently obscure) kids' folk song.

The way I always learned it (in Louisville, Kentucky) goes something like this:
♫Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
Rolling Down the Bloody Street,
Mutiliated Monkey Feet
French-Fried Eyeballs,
Dipped in Kerosene
And me without a Spoon. ♫
But I still have a straw! SLLLLUUUUURP!

But I also factored in the possible variants of ♫Itty-Bitty Birdie Feet♫ (in lieu of the monkey's) and ♫Octo-Pus Tentacles♫ in place of the eyeballs. Enjoy!

APE in San Francisco

2010-10-13T11:17:00.004-05:00

I will be in the Bay Area this weekend, hanging out at the Alternative Press Expo -- APE. Come find me to get a get a copy of my new mini-comic, Tel-Tales #1, or any of our recent Leon Beyond compendiums.Looking forward to seeing beloved old pals and burritos!

Feng Shui & Beyond

2010-09-29T11:05:00.004-05:00

Leon's latest Amazing Facts & Beyond is really important for your mental health. Mystical/Geometrical Sketches.
Recommended listening is Metal Health by Quiet Riot.

2010 StL Cardinals' RollerCoaster ReCap

2010-09-26T17:17:00.003-05:00

I've got this big illustration on the front page of the sports section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today, detailing the rise & fall, ups & downs and blow-ups & throw-ups of the 2010 baseball Cardinals. Here's a key so you don't miss any of the grizzly details:1: Albert Pujols, for the most part, being his usual self. 2: Tony LaRuss the "Genius" 3: Chris Carpenter chases the Cy Young award 4: Adam Wainwright also reaches for it. 5: Yadier Molina is still every girl's favorite 6: $120 Million-Dollar Man Matt Holliday worth his weight in sunflower seeds 7: Big Mac's first year as hitting coach 8: Jaime Garcia flirts with the Rookie of the Year award 9: Colby Rasmus seems isolated from his coach and team 10: Ryan Ludwick is traded to San Diego and is missed immediately 11: Apex of the season as Cardinals sweep Reds and regain first place 12: Reds' Brandon Phillips talks trash 13: Cincinnati contends 14: Injuries derail the season 15: Brad Penny hurts his back hitting a grand slam 16: David Freese’s torn ankle means we don't get to hear Pearl Jam at the ballpark for the remainder of the season 17: Jason LaRue’s kicked face concussions mean we don't get to see his moustache again EVER 18: Bill Dewitt Jr. with his hands in pockets 19: John Mozeliak makes halfhearted repairs 20: Redbirds consistently plunging into the muck with terrible teams

Summer's End Doodle Dump

2010-09-21T10:32:00.005-05:00

Council Bluffs, MO. Above: Dinner. Below: Designs for a camping toilet (patent pending):Lake Barkley, KY. Above: Mort the Dog. Below: My Dad & Uncle Doug, Living Room in our Cabin.Dunton Hot Springs, CO. Above: Mountain Vista. Below: Ghost Town, Mystery Outfit seen in Airport (???).

Brides on the Bat

2010-09-07T10:09:00.002-05:00

I painted this sign for our good buddies Dave & Barbara's bachelor/bachelorette bash at the ballpark. The whole weekend was a blast. Congratulations to them again!

Ink Vehicles! Art Show

2010-08-31T20:58:00.005-05:00

I've got an art show here at the St. Louis Artists' Guild opening this sunday, September 5th. One o'clock to 3 o'clock. It's a fancy wood-paneled room that will be chock full of prints and drawings. Whoever can tell me exactly how many hot rods and out-of-socket eyeballs are hanging on the walls will win a piece of original art. Probably featuring a hot rod and/or eyeball.

Pocket Protectors Summer 2010

2010-08-26T08:35:00.002-05:00

These are the shirts I drew and silkscreened for our summer bowling squad, the Pocket Protectors. Thanks to Will Horton for the Iron Maiden font & Bill Keaggy for the ligature advice. Front:Back:
The team, which placed (tied for) fourth in the Saratoga summer Monday night league.

L to R: B. Keaggy, W. Horton, D. Zettwoch, J. Burmester. We'll protect the pocket better this Fall!

Revved Up

2010-08-24T08:30:00.002-05:00

I've got a drawing in this art show of Car Engines at Lula Cafe in Chicago, opening tonight. If you're in the neighborhood, drop by! Thanks to my pal Anders Nilsen for letting me be involved. Above: V8 with Orange Wires, Ink, white-Out & colored pencil on chipboard, 11x14".

Literary St. Louis

2010-08-18T14:32:00.007-05:00

I've got a bunch of illustrations in this week's RFT -- including the cover and a big indexed map -- for a feature story on literary goings / geographical locales / (mostly) unflattering mentions of our fine, hot dilapidated city. It's kinda similar to this ARCH MADNESS map I did, but specially about book 'n writers 'n stuff.
My first impulse was to do a pop-up book, and for a while I tried to make an actual 3D pop-up book that would be photographed:
I had a hard time making that work, with the angles and actual street data, so I went back to the 2D drawing board. I built my map with vectors... Then hand-traced it with a lightbox:I did a bunch of li'l spot illustrations ...and added them -- along with new type and color and everything -- here:
We stuck with the "literary tourist" idea for the cover illustration:
And I drew it.
Good luck, and stay cool out there book fans!

Moon Man back in Orbit

2010-08-04T15:59:00.005-05:00

For what is sure to be a crazy pennant race! I've printed another edition of my Mike Shannon "The Moon Man Speaks" poster for anybody who missed out the first time around. Same spec's as the original: 3 colors (Navy, Red, White) on chipboard, 18" x 24", edition of 100. Feel free to drop me an e-mail for info on ordering. Get up Baby, Get Up! Oh, yeah!

Missilefits Rocket Ideas for Later

2010-07-27T11:48:00.002-05:00

Because I'm sure that I'll lose this bowling scoresheet before next summer, I'm scanning and posting the results of our brainstorming session here.

Seed Saver!

2010-07-26T08:55:00.004-05:00

This is a cover I illustrated for the Albuquerque Alibi, for a feature story on seed saving: The two directions I explored were a mock-montage poster for a fictional action movie... about the art of old-fashioned seed saving, And an excuse to explore my usual love of cut-away/contraption, applied to a decidely non-technical practice. We went this direction:Here were my main two pieces of inspiration/reference:
Initial layout:
Ink drawing:Final, vectorized & colorized drawing:

Missilefits Launch this Sunday!

2010-07-23T15:55:00.002-05:00

Our model rocket club has its big annual launch this Sunday, and I screenprinted these commemorative posters. Inspired by our pal & Missilefits co-founder Andrew, and his notorious duotone car the "Bruick" , the print is white, fluorescent yellow, and metallic purple on chipboard. Grab one at the launch! When you're not hiding behind a tree afraid of our homemade explosives/projectiles.

Tri-Clone T-Shirt in 3-D!

2010-07-21T08:06:00.007-05:00

In honor of shirt.woot!'s 3rd birthday I drew/built this crazy 3-D t-shirt. It brewed with this sketch:Then grew into this blue-penciled version:Once we started getting serious about figuring out how the 3-D would work, I did these tests. I thought briefly about printing the shirt on yellow, hoping the it wouldn't interfere with the red & cyan drawing.Here are all the little ink drawings. I knew it would be nice to have all the flying parts be discrete units seprate from the background.I combined everything, added some halftones, then made two layers of the final art -- one red & one cyan -- and set them to optically multiply. Where the two layers overlapped a rich "black" was created. Then came the labor-intensive phase of creating the 3-D effects by nudging the layers apart.I considered places where the layers were perfectly aligned (like the pure black dots behind the monkey's head) the middle ground. The farther the red layers was moved to the left (monkey's hands) objects would appear to pop forward. Areas where the blue was shifted to the left (monkey's tail) would hopefully appear to recede.I picked this basic technique up from legendary 3-D stereoscopy comics master Ray Zone, who helped me turn a comic for Nickelodeon magazine into an eye-popping affair a couple of years ago. To answer your question - yeah, the shirt comes with 3-D glasses! In fact, I designed those too. Here's sorta what they'll look like:
You can still buy the shirt (& glasses) here! Happy birthday, shirt.woot!

Shop 'til You Drop

2010-07-16T07:33:00.003-05:00

These are a couple of drawings I made for internal employee use in conjunction with the department store NORDSTROM's annual anniversary sale, which opens today. I'm off to buy some True Bahama Storm Rider Bootcut jeans (Loaded Gun Wash) now!

Facts in Fluorescence

2010-07-13T16:30:00.004-05:00

We just finished printing a new edition of Leon Beyond's second volume of trivia strips in 2 vibrating new color combo's: Olive on Traffic Cone & Olive on Electric Pea. Buy it here!

Flying Tigers

2010-07-12T09:53:00.002-05:00

This was a birthday card commission for a friend of a friend of a friend. India ink, reflex orange paint, & silver leaf on watercolour paper, 11 x 14".

Zoe+Kaftan+Banana+Gaga+Papoose

2010-07-09T15:24:00.002-05:00

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Leon in Stereo

2010-07-07T11:13:00.004-05:00

New Leon Beyond Picture Puzzle over at Amazing Facts... & Beyond.

Polyethylene Punch-Out!

2010-07-05T07:41:00.005-05:00

Last week at Shanghai Normal University in China -- as part of EXPO 2010 -- there was an international poster exhibition entitled "Messages to the World! " and I was flattered to participate (although not attend, unfortunately!). Here's my poster, and some behind-the-scenes junk.Plastic polyethylene (mostly low-density, but often high-density) sacks are by-and-large wasteful, ridiculous, terrible, etc. Hopefully by drawing this poster I can at least remember to bring my re-usable sacks to the grocery. A Message to Me! I wanted to do a "How That Works" infographic, and keep it international/pantomime. My sketch:Some reference:Library of Ink Drawings, parts that I thought I would need (I didn't end up needing a sad molar or a pickle flying out of a pickle jar):All my drawings vectorized, rebuilt, colored, textured and designed into place:I really would've liked to screenprint these (and still might), as they were conjured as a 2-color silkscreen, but since these things were being FTPed to Shanghai to save on shipping costs anyway I took the easy way out. Here's the scan of part of an old canvas duffel bag I found in the basement:And here's the finished poster! Click for a larger view.Keep fighting the good fight, canvas tote-bag!

Wilderness Travelogue Doodles

2010-07-01T10:18:00.003-05:00

My Love is like A...

2010-06-24T07:16:00.002-05:00

Lungfish Doodles

2010-06-16T07:21:00.004-05:00

Doodled while listening to LOVE is LOVE (one of my favorite records) by LUNGFISH (one of my favorite bands).

Ripped from the Headlines

2010-06-11T09:16:00.005-05:00

Pro-Wrasslers Drawn From Memory

2010-06-04T08:26:00.003-05:00

Gets Cute

2010-05-27T10:22:00.000-05:00

New Leon Beyond strip on newstands now!