Treehouse of Horror!

I drew the cover to this year's Simpsons Halloween spectacular comic book, The Treehouse of Horror. Look for it at your local grocery, newstand, or specialty shoppe next week! I won't be there, but if you're gonna be in Los Angeles on Tuesday, drop by the FAMILY store and gallery to see a bunch of the original art and get a copy signed by Sammy Harkham (editor), Jordan Crane, Tim Hensly, Matt Groening, and others. More info here and here.
In the meantime, here were some alternate sketches I did:Anyway, everybody should check out the comic. I think they usually have 'em at 7-11. I've seen a bunch of the stories and they're really weird and awesome, including stuff by my STL pals Kevin H and Ted May.

Museum of Leftover Masterpieces

New art/historical Amazing Facts & Beyond. Y'know what? Ballpoint pen on styrofoam is great sensation. I want a sketchbook with flat styrofoam pages.
Above: Lemmon's Pizza Box doodled on by me and L. Earle Townley

The Royale

Above: Sketch drawn from the back patio of The Royale in St. Louis, which partially depicts a mural (below) that my pal Jerome painted based on an envelope doodle I drew.

Finger Lickin' Good

Leon posted a new Amazing Facts & Beyond strip about the lost (and found) loves of midwestern fast food magnates!

Chicago Sketchbook

Footnotes. Panel 1: Olafur Eliasson, Exhibit, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Panel 2: Glamorama, Papi Underwear, song playing was actually It's Raining Men (of course), not Let's Hear it for the Boy Panel 3: Castevet, Burger King Crown Panel 4: Chicago

Shirt.Woot B-Day Bash

You'd be crazy to miss the good times to be had at Shirt.Woot's 2nd birthday party tomorrow night at the City Museum. Plus you can get this poster I made (all in one piece).

Emberley Galaxy!

There's a new book out from Red Panda Comics called Emberley Galaxy: A Tribute To Ed Emberley that I've got a 6-page comic strip in:Ed Emberley -- along with Commander Mark Kistler -- was the most inspiring and instructive drawing-teacher-from-afar I had as a kid. He made lots of wonderful 'how-to' books, including two of my favorites the Big Orange and the Big Purple Drawing Books.
Emberley uses a step-by-step approach in which drawings are 'constructed' through an assembly-line process. A skeleton is erected then layers of raw lines shapes and squiggles are added sequentially. Emberley's drawings are angular and cartoony, as well as 2-D and diagrammatic - evidence of their the process in which their built. There's no doubt this style has influenced how I "build" drawings, mechanically and aesthetically. Above: "Running Fox" from The Big Orange Drawing Book. Below: Recent cut-paper fox I made a pop-up card. Another thing that was always really appealing to me about Emberley's books was the sheer density of the drawings. The world he creates is really fun and crammed with weird details. But there was an underlying graphic logic to his world - it makes sense that an orange gorilla named Buttercup lives alongside a purple 70's conversion van. Above: "PICKUPS" from The Big Purple Drawing Book. Below: Poster I made for a pal's business.Given the drawing style - which resembles elaborate erector-set directions more than traditional art instruction - and the overall consistency of his creations, it seems appropriate that Emberley's most famous book and an upcoming documentary are entitled MAKE A WORLD. In my story, characters from Orangeland are gearing up for a big battle against their foes from Purpleville, and Emberley's motifs of construction and deconstruction become more than just teaching tools. Check out the book for the exciting conclusion!Above: excerpt from my Emberley Galaxy story. Below: excerpt from my comic IRONCLAD.Thanks for everything, Ed!

Fall Fashion Trends

Leon Beyond breaks down all the upcoming Back-to-School fashions for you in this week's Amazing Facts... & Beyond!

Redbird Wino

Since it's been a couple of weeks and the scent is (almost) totally gone, it's probably safe to post this doodle outta my sketchbook.

Origins of the Missouri Float Trip

Last week's Amazing Facts & Beyond explored tips, trick & trivia associated with the traditional travels of inland tributaries, the recreational "Float Trip" down the river. The strip is based on a painting by one of my favorite artists and Missourians George Caleb Bingham called The Jolly Flatboatmen from 1846.I've been interested in the exploits of frontier whitewater raftsmen for a while - here's a panel from my comic Gone Fishin' (from Comics Comics #4), intended as an anarchic take on Caleb Bingham's restful and idyllic portraits of flatboat life.:Here's an old painting of mine, from a series of historical Louisville (KY) images, featuring the folk-hero / terrorist Mike "King of the Keelboats" Fink:And here's an unfinished / unpublished version of a drawing I was working on for the cover of my upcoming comic book: I was halfway through inking my Amazing Facts comic last week when I remembered that my idea to pay homage to George Caleb Bingham in a local newspaper strip was ripped off entirely from my friend and teacher D.B. Dowd, who did the same in his wonderful graphic novel The Frame Job which was serialized in the St. Louis Post Dispatch in the late 90's: Sorry/thanks, DB. At least my jolly floatboatmen weren't in port.

Campin' Sketches Aug. 1-3, 2009

Ballpoint pen & colored pencil, drawn at the Powder Mill campgrounds outside Eminence, Missouri.

Warped Miasma

The Ol' Vans Warped Tour is heading through St. Louis this weekend, and the RFT put together this first-impression bordering on free-form-poetry field guide to all 63 (!) bands playing. I made this drawing to go along with it. Can you spy with your little eye brokeNCYDE?!? I've crazy cartoon crowd scenes ever since I was a little kid, probably because of those Mad Magazine 2-page spreads that contained what seemed like hundreds (probably more like dozens) of sight-gags.

Pie

Leon talks gross food and dead animals (again) in this week's installment of Amazing Facts & Beyond. Pictured: Stargazy Pie

DIY AC

We just posted another one of our manly infographics up at Manolith. This one's about how to jerry-rig your own lo-fi air conditioning unit out of stuff you might have lying around your basement. More info here.

Here were my rough thumbnail sketches:And here was my more detailed sketch:And here's the whole thing. Keep cool out there!

Mighty Men & Monster Making

Last night at Drawing Club we made a bunch of these 'exquisite corpse' type characters, inspired by this awesome toy we all had a little kids.I cut a bunch of the iconic yellow, orange and red polygons out of colored cardstock, showed up, chowed down on some pizza, and then we all went to town. Sorry for the crummy snapshots. My digital camera is the same vintage at the Mighty Men & Monster Maker.
Anyway, until I build and upload a Flash Module allowing you to build your own, here are a few more randomly generated characters:

Lawnscaping: Clips 'n Tricks

Leon is really on a roll lately. New strip up today, bricks 'n mortar, clixxx 'n mortar.