How Coffee Works / US Patent #597.7311.143

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

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

Simian Snobs vs. Slobs

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

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

Cornhole

Grill Journal

Filet Mignon, June 25, 2011.

Tenth Life Buttons & Tattoo

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

Lures Optional

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

Cicadian Rhythms

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

STL / RFT Scavenger Hunt

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.