RFT News Quiz 2011

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

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

Woot City Mural

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

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

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

Amazing Turkey... & Beyond!

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

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

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

Shirtoberfest!

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

Redbird Fever!

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!