The Art (and Random Adventures) of Eric Tan

Brak!

2012-01-14T22:53:00.000-08:00

Taking an occasional break from your day job is essential in order to clear your mind and return with fresh & exciting ideas. When I take breaks from the office job, well, I still find myself creating even more art for galleries and stuff. Okay, let me get more specific here. I'm talking more about the posters I design during the day, and the additional ones created for galleries and magazines in my free time. After years of working in that two-dimesional, rectangular format, I really look forward to trying different mediums and breaking out of the box, if you will. Sculpting is that something that feels just as creatively challenging as designing a poster, but completely different and freeing at the same time. For the Adult Swim tribute show at Gallery 1988, I broke out the Magic-Sculpt, carving tools, and paint to create my very own Brak tiki mask!

After dabbling with Super-Sculpey for years to create little sculpts of random stuff, I was turned on to Magic-Sculpt which is more of a resin. The beauty of it is that it's a lot more durable than Sculpey. Unfortunately, it hardens on its own in a few hours which leaves you a lot less time to perfect your sculpture. But after a while, you just learn to work quickly and plan out what you're gonna be able to sculpt realistically in that short amount of time.

I start with a quick sketch and then build a rough 'skeleton' with foam and a glue gun. The resin gets really heavy, really fast, so the foam helps to keep the overall weight of the sculpture a lot more manageable.

The resin is then mixed and sculpted directly onto the foam. I'll work on one section at a time such as the forehead, brows, and eyes and let it harden before i go onto other parts. Believe me, I'd rather carve a tiki mask out of actually wood, but I suck with saws and would probably cut a finger or two off, so resin is the safer option for me. After the sculpt is complete, I'll airbrush the base coat of paint then add in the detail touches with a brush. Those are bamboo shoots that make up his headdress.

That's a quick summary of my sculpting process. I really do find myself feeling like a kid playing with Play-Doh on a project like this. It definitely is a nice change of pace from the 2-dimensional work. And no, there wasn't any particular reason why I made Brak into a tiki god other than I thought it was random and funny. See, I'm not as conceptually heavy as you may think ;)

Ok, now back to the poster thing....

Long Live the King

2011-12-29T10:47:00.001-08:00

Being creatively inspired and motivated each day is one of the greatest things about working in the same environment with other artists . I'm lucky enough to work with people who love collaborating and energizing the rest of the group by initiating fun personal projects that are a nice break from our daily duties.

Eric Hutchison, a fellow artist at Disney came up with a cool idea to create our own stylized piece based on one of Disney's famous villains. These interpretive pieces would eventually go into a hallway gallery on campus which showcased each artists' take on a familiar foe. I chose Scar from The Lion King.

Since I LOVE combining imagery and typography, you can probably guess what I chose to do. That's right, another movie poster (yawn!). My take on The Lion King is from Scar's standpoint, as the one who will do anything to be king. Therefore the tone is a lot darker as Scar's presence looms over the kingdom.

A project like this, which really has no limitations and reflects our own personal style is always exciting. Seeing where the other artists took their chosen villain was really inspirational. Although we all work in the same office on a lot of the same projects, we definitely keep our own individual aesthetic and personalities going. Hopefully we get to do more of these in the future.

Happy Holidays Everybody!!

2011-12-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Every December for the last 10 years or so, I've created a holiday card for everyone at the office. What started out as a silly joke, featuring a gingerbread man eating parts of other ones, has gotten progressively worse over time. The reaction I get from coworkers is usually an 'Oh no..' as I hand it to them, an uncomfortable look at the card, then a 'What's wrong with you???' reply. Some may say that I've been this twisted all along, but I'd like to believe that they've gotten worse as I've gotten older and my dementia kicks in.

I find creating the cards to be my favorite project all year. I enjoy the challenge of squeezing even more sickness outta this brain and it's one of the only things I get to do that doesn't involve clients, art directors, buyers, and movie studios...wait, I enjoy those challenges too. Okay, I'll admit, I think I love working on these things so much because of that precious moment when I show my grandma the card, she takes a look and realizes that her grandson is an idiot, then she smiles uncomfortably and hands it back to me. I'll say "But grandma, I made it for you!", then she'll just pat me on the head and roll away. I live for those moments!

Have a happy holidays everybody!

D23 Interviews Me!

2011-10-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Disney fan site, D23, recently visited me at work for an interview. They quizzed me about everything - from my creative process to what my favorite Disney films are. If you read all the way through, you'll basically feel like you spent way too much time with me!

Check out the interview here.

Total Garbage!!

2011-09-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: The 'Eerie Eric' painting is now on sale HERE.

As a kid, there wasn't anything as cool to me as baseball cards, comic books, action figures, Mexican candy and Garbage Pail Kids. They really did define childhood and when I see any of those things, I'm instantly brought back to those days. I think the combination of the Mexican candy and GPK cards really affected my brain and shaped the twisted sense of humor that I have now.

Gallery 1988 had the awesome idea to ask a bunch of artists to re-interpret their favorite Garbage Pail Kids. I always liked the werewolf know as 'Eerie Eric' for obvious reasons so I chose to work on him. Instead of working digitally and doing the prints I usually do, I decided to pick up a paintbrush and acrylics and do it old school just like they would have in the 80's. I found painting to be such a nice & relaxing change. When I think about it, I'm in front of the computer pretty much all week, so breaking away was a good thing. With my version of 'Eerie Eric', I paid homage to the original by using the same elements such as the moon, the trees, the bats, and his bone. I changed it up a bit by giving him a tuxedo shirt, a little bat bow tie, and more of a distinguished gentleman type of attitude. That's the part of me that I added. I'm not necessarily as suave, but I try. The painting itself is 8" by 10" and is painted on oak. My friend Mike helped shred the frame and I got the bronze nameplate from a trophy shop.

Be sure to check out the show if you can. It starts September 2nd.

Tiki Stitch Meet Lava Stitch

2011-08-14T20:27:00.001-07:00

One of the projects I've worked on in the past that gets the most "Hey do you have any more of those???" is the Tiki Stitch that Mindstyle released a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I think that one sold out. Fortunately, they released a 2nd "Lava" version that I finally got to see at this years San Diego Comic-con. "Lava" Stitch is an exact replica as far as size and detail, the only difference is that's he's painted this crazy lava rock black. He looks a bit more menacing, in a Darth Vader sorta way which I like. You can get this devilish guy over at Action Figure Express.

Propaganda Time!!

2011-07-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wired posted the 1st look at a series that was assembled under as much secrecy as a S.H.E.I.L.D. operation. Captain America: The First Avenger flies into theaters in the states this week, just in time for the annual San Diego Comic-con. Mondo, who has a booth for the very first time at said convention, will release these at some point, as well as a wicked vintage set by Olly Moss, and an insane one-sheet by Tyler Stout. I truly admire the work of both artists, so it really is amazing to be included in this series.

This is also a ridiculously awesome project for me. My brother, my cousin Jeff, and I started collecting comics when we were grade school kids and have been attending the con for almost 20 years. After flipping through all the Marvel books, I'd try my best to draw all the different characters - from the Avengers - to Spidey - to the X-Men. It was definitely a goal to work on these characters one day so when this project came about, I actually reverted into a total fanboy. I really never thought I'd get the opportunity and I really hope I made the most of it. It really is a childhood dream fulfilled.

Visit the Mondo booth #433 if you can make in to the Con. The Captain pieces are priced at $80 for the set of two 18-inch-by-24-inch screen prints that will be sold in a limited edition of 220.

McFly for Sale!

2011-07-10T09:00:00.001-07:00

A HUGE thanks to everyone who traveled to Gallery 1988 for the Crazy4Cult opening. It's always cool to see that show come together and enjoy the different interpretations of all the cult films. For those of you unable to make it, the show is now online at Gallery 1988. And you can also purchase my 'In George We Trust' print HERE.

The Crazy4Cult book is also available (that's me holding it) on their site. It collects work from the previous 4 shows and is a pretty wicked read if you ask me.

In George We Trust!

2011-07-05T19:36:00.001-07:00

Another summer means another Crazy 4 Cult show at Gallery 1988. In my most unoriginal move ever, I paid tribute to the same exact film I did last year, Back to the Future. Yes, I LOVE the movie that much!

While watching it for the 257th time, something hit me. After George McFly knocks out Biff and dances with Lorraine at the prom, a couple next to them insists that the now-popular George runs for class president. I thought to myself "would George actually run??", which led to "if he did, what the heck would his campaign poster look like????". And that's where this little poster idea was born.

In my mind, George would never look as confident and as comfortable as Barack Obama might in the Shepard Fairey poster. Nope, he would look as if the photographer yelled "Say Cheese!!" while he was fixated on cheerleaders practicing at the other end of the gym. His hair would be straying all over the place because he had just run to the shoot after being 20 minutes late. The quote, which Marty took from Doc and relayed to George while they were hanging clothes, would still be fresh in his mind. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I think way too much about this stuff.

With so many cult films to choose from, I swear my BTTF kick is probably done after this and I'll come up with something fresh next year. Oh wait, I suddenly have the urge to create something Biff-related. Say hi to your mom for me!

'In George We Trust' measures 18" by 24" and is a 3-color silkscreen print from D&L Screenprinting. It's a signed & numbered edition of 200 and will be sold starting Friday, July 8th at the gallery. I hope to see ya there!

"Snap" 'em up!

2011-06-23T21:19:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who's already sent me pics of the Cars 2 'retro' campaign. It's really cool to see how many different places these things have be posted. Here's a pic of the prints that are up for grabs. I have 2 sets of the 4 prints and they are all scribbled on by yours truly. They are actually larger than I even thought they were (18.5" by 27"), so they'd make a nice addition to any room/garage/cubicle/bar area. Keep sending the pics in to get the chance to own one of these. See the previous post for all the info and keep snapping away! ;)

The Last Cars Post (I Swear)

2011-06-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

I never ever thought the Cars 2 campaign would get around as much as it has. Friends have been e-mailing me about different places where they've seen them. It made me want to gather as many photos as I can of them out in public. For me, stuff like this doesn't happen very often so I definitely would like to create a personal photo archive to capture this experience.

This is where you guys can help. And I'm willing to part with a few of my Cars 2 mini-posters (I have 2 each of the 4 different international cities) for the effort. All I'd really need is a shot of any of the 4 posters you see above, anywhere you find them in public (Just like the one of above, I'm that little dot). Only one photo per person/e-mail address will be accepted & I'll count only the entries received before 12PM Pacific Standard Time on July 30th, 2011. The 8 winners will be drawn at random and all photos I receive will strictly be used for my personal archive and/or blog. All winners will be notified via e-mail.

Send jpegs to eric.tan.scavenger@gmail.com, along with your first name and the location where it was shot. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with! Thanks in advance for the help!

The Cars Show

2011-06-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

That's me in the middle of one of the coolest places on earth, the atrium at the Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. They were nice enough to hang up the Cars 2 posters I had worked on along with my coworker Stephane Kardos and Pixar's Harley Jessup, John Lee, and Craig Foster. When you enter the Pixar campus, you can immediately feel the creative energy in the air. There's tons of development art, maquettes, and huge statues of many of their beloved characters everywhere you go. It's quite an honor for me to visit the place where all of those amazing films are generated and it's an even bigger honor to have something I worked on hanging up anywhere in their building, let alone the main area. Amongst my daily duties at work, the posters are definitely the most difficult and time-consuming projects. I believe this particular series stretched over 4 or 5 months. They also are the most fun because they combine everything I like to do - layout, illustration, and typography.

When we started the project, we knew that there had to be 12 individual pieces, rendered in different styles, that had to hang together in harmony. When I hear they're printed and ready to be hung, I always tend to panic a little because I never know if it will work, or look like a confusing mess. When I walked in to see them this morning, I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief and thought they actually looked pretty cool as a series. The idea of having Italian, Japanese, British, and vintage Spy designs as inspiration worked! Just when I could enjoy feeling that they were finally up and I was completely done, I got word that they may need a whole new set for their next film. Oh well, back to the drawing board. ;)

Monster Cars!

2011-06-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

When i was 15 or so and on vacation in Los Angeles, I remember asking my parents to drive by the Disney studio in Burbank. I just wanted to see Mickey's Sorcerer hat which pinpointed the exact place I wanted to someday work at, Disney Feature Animation. I worked tirelessly on my drawing and painting all throughout high school so that I could get into a good art college and hopefully one day, into Disney. What I didn't find out til I took animation courses in college was that I was HORRIBLE at it! I have A.D.D. which also means I can't stick to something for very long and the slow animation process really took a toll on me. To this day, I have the utmost respect for all the amazing animators out there because it really is a special set of skills they have. With animation not being a realistic option, I decided to pursue a whole different type of art.

My major in college switched to Graphic Design. I had taken a few classes in Junior College and really enjoyed them. The projects were just as challenging and the turnaround seemed a lot faster. It really did satisfy my interest in illustration and typography and I instantly gravitated towards poster design because it completely integrated the two. I was content within the world of Graphic Design, but I was also a little disappointed that my childhood dream of working at Disney was drifting further and further away.

I lucked out one afternoon in my Editorial Design course when my instructor, Carla, asked me what my goals were after I finished college. I told her about my early goals of working at Disney and how I didn't believe that was possible anymore. That left me a little lost until she mentioned that a former student of hers worked at Disney Consumer Products as a graphic designer. I was completely blown away because I didn't even know they had positions within the company that involved what I was now learning in my design courses. She immediately connected me with her former student, Marcella, and I started working at DCP a week later.

To say I was thrilled to make it to the Mouse House was an understatement. I wasn't really sure at first what I would be working on, but I just thought that if I stick to it and work really hard, I'd make it onto the Disney lot for a tour of the place I dreamed of working as a kid. That was about 12 years ago, and since then I've been very fortunate to work on products for all of the Disney and Pixar films that have been released throughout the years. The fun I had designing posters in school has translated into the ones I've created for all of the Pixar films, starting with The Incredibles. I've been extremely lucky to work with all of the talented people within my company and we've all been blessed to get to do our childhood hobby as adults.

The Disney Lot has always been a special place for me because of the memories I has as a kid, driving by on the 134 and wondering what amazing stuff was going on within its walls. Nowadays, every time I walk around it to get to a meeting or a screening, I definitely get a sense that to be a part of it is an amazing & magical thing. I feel very fortunate to be there and it definitely puts a smile on my face every time. The old animation buildings, the water tower, the gigantic sound stages, and of course Mickey's sorcerer hat which sits atop Feature Animation - they all are as cool now as I thought they were when I was 15. Yesterday, I was walking along one of the busy corridors between the sound stages towards the commissary. On the way you pass the massive billboards that promote Disney and Pixar's latest and greatest films and shows. In a million years, I would never expect to see what I did on those walls, the Cars 2 series that I worked on a few months ago. I was completely floored.

As a kid, you can sometimes have these wild dreams of what you want to be when you grow up. After watching Jungle Book when I was 5, the only thing I ever wanted to do was to work at Disney - in any capacity. I remember even wanting to be a ride operator at Disneyland. I guess I just never stopped working towards that goal. When I saw those Cars posters, I felt a sense of relief - that all that hard work paid off and I was on the same lot I had always wanted to work on, staring at these 25 foot posters that had been on my little computer screen for all those hours. I also thought of how many 15-year-old aspiring artists who were just like me will pass by them, and be inspired to create their own art and maybe even want to work at Disney one day. I'd tell those kids to work their little hearts out while continuing to have fun and live life. I'd also tell them to hurry up!!! Considering my workload these days, I can definitely use the help!!

Yahoo!

2011-05-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

Yahoo was nice enough to rate the Cars 2 Posters I got to work on as one of the summer's best film posters. It's always awesome to get noticed and I'm just relieved that it wasn't in the '5 worst' list. In all honesty, I kind of like the Harry Potter poster, even thought it was on the 'worst' list). Thanks to Ricardo and Sue for the heads up. To check out the rest of the list CLICK HERE!

Even More Cars!!!

2011-04-19T07:58:00.001-07:00

Two more Cars 2 posters were launched online the other day. The 'spy' poster, which probably has the most elements of the series, was the quickest one to complete. That's the complete opposite of how things usually go but it was the last I completed of the series and by that time I felt I had a better handle on the characters and the painting technique. It's inspiration came from looking at Bob Peak and Robert McGinnis posters. They had such a great style and design aesthetic to everything they did.

The London poster, like the Japan race poster in a previous post, are my favorites of the series. I tend to gravitate toward simple, bold graphics or the 'less is more' mantra of design. I also like the look of red on a white background too!

In the end, there were 11 posters we worked on in the series and it was definitely the most challenging yet because of the multiple characters, settings, and genres. The various paint styles were also something I had to really push myself to learn. Continuing to grow and progress is always a good thing and I'm very fortunate to be asked to work on as cool a project as this was. I already can't wait for the next one!

Get That Rascally Rabbit!

2011-04-16T01:28:00.000-07:00

Here's my contribution to the 'Required Reading' show which opened last night at Gallery 1988. 40 artists were each given a literary classic to interpret in their own style. I was fortunate to get 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', a book that i remember reading over and over as a kid. Being one who suffers from A.D.D., it was always a tolerable read for me because it's one of those rare books where you can dive in at any point and not feel lost that you didn't read anything prior to that scene. The whole world within it was so rich and whacked out, and i could read a random part then put the book down and run down the street or sleep in the grass and feel completely fulfilled. I was a weird kid! The cast of unique and memorable characters and the amazing illustrations by John Tenniel would inspire me to break out the crayons and try to draw my own Cheshire cats and Tweedle Dees and Tweedle Dums. When it came to coming up with the concept for my poster, I knew i had to capture a world that was swirling out of control and highlight Alice's journey into this crazy abyss. The tea label idea for the book's title came about because I was also working on a freelance gig for a friend who just happens to sell her own line of teas. It seemed very fitting because the tea party was one of my favorite parts of the story.

The print, titled 'Follow Hobson: A Tribute to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is named after my coworker Carrie, whose last name is Hobson and who our team just happened to nickname the 'white rabbit' for her ability to quickly hop past everyone when they do their long runs (my team is a bit weird too). The blue version has a run of 100, signed and numbered, and the pink version has a run of 50. They are both 18" by 24" and were screen-printed by the fine folks at D&L Screenprinting.

....And More Cars!

2011-04-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here's two more Cars 2 posters that were launched online a couple of days ago. These were a blast to conceptualize and work on because Japan is so rich with iconic imagery and a unique artistic style. The 1st one was influenced by a combination of Japanese film posters and manga while the 2nd poster used more of a minimalist, graphic approach. Special thanks to my friend Stephane Kardos who helped to render the awesome trio of racers.

Cars, Cars, and More Cars!

2011-04-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

Cinemablend posted 3 more posters from the Cars 2 series. Of all the Pixar posters I've gotten the amazing opportunity to work on, the series for Cars 2 was definitely the most challenging. With The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-e, and Up, I was able to keep a consistent look throughout each series, so once the stylization of the characters was approved it was then easy enough to concentrate on the themes and layout for each. Cars 2 was an entirely different story. With its multiple settings, characters, and themes, we knew that one style would not suffice to capture the scope of the film. Everything from minimalist Japanese design - to vintage Italian racing posters - to spy film graphics, were used as inspiration to create the series. Pixar has always been amazing at compiling tons and tons of reference material for each film and it was a life-saver when it came to nailing down the 'authenticity' of these. For me, challenging = fun, and it was a blast to switch back and forth in design aesthetic and rendering style. I definitely learned a lot of new tips and tricks within Photoshop on this project. A special thanks to Harley Jessup and Jay Shuster for their sage-like advice in getting these to where they are.

Bloody Good Food!

2011-04-07T22:44:00.001-07:00

Vanessa, one of my good friends at work, always keeps me up to date on the latest and greatest restaurants and dessert joints around town. She's a definite 'foodie' who gets irritable during the hours between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I tend to throw snacks on her desk before meetings just so she won't scream at everyone once the meeting begins. Her intense passion for food is only matched by her intense passion for picking at her fingers til they bleed. I have no idea what that behavior is about, but I do get a kick out of counting how many band-aids she uses in the span of a day. I love creating personal cards utilizing my sick sense of humor for my friends, so when it came to Vanessa's birthday, I wanted to capture her passion for food....and band-aids. The 1st one is inspired by French food posters and her addiction to sweets. The 2nd one involves her love for Korean tofu soup. I may have gone a little overboard on the bloody fingers featured in the cupcake poster. And I may have been too nice with just the one band-aid in the tofu poster. On an average day, Vanessa's fingers look somewhere in between the two. If you're lucky enough to meet her one day, I'd pass on the handshake and just give her the old 'fist bump'. Better safe than sorry! ;) Happy Birthday Vanessa!!!

Vrrrrooom!

2011-03-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a poster series for the upcoming 'Cars 2' that I had the cool opportunity to help out with. I think you pretty much know by now that I'm a HUGE fan of anything retro and travel, so when the idea came up of doing a series that combined both of those things, I jumped at the chance to contribute in any way possible. Working with the creatives at the Disney Studio and Pixar Animation is always an inspirational and creatively challenging experience. I definitely learn a ton from those guys and the collaboration produces really cool results. Hopefully, you'll start to see these out and about next month.

There goes Astronaut Jones!!!

2011-01-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

This is a bit late, but Gallery 1988 had a show dedicated to comedy. Each artist was assigned a different comedian and it was up to us to translate them in our own unique style. I've been a fan of Tracy Morgan ever since he was 'Hustle Man' on the Martin show so I was pretty damn excited when i was paired up with him. One of the few times I've pissed my pants watching television was when Tracy busted out his 'Astronaut Jones' character on SNL. It's a really simple sketch but the endings were always killers. I think I knew immediately that I wanted to do an "Astronaut" piece. This was done old school style, with acrylic paint on a wood panel. It was fun to paint again after living life on the computer for so long. A HUGE thanks to whoever ended up purchasing the painting. Your contribution to the 'Eric Tan art supply & framing fund' is greatly appreciated!

Shoot the Duck!

2011-01-14T09:40:00.001-08:00

Here's my entry for Gallery 1988's 'Multiplayer' video game-themed show at their new Venice location which opens Saturday, January 15th.

I think my passion for video games really sparked up again when the Nintendo Entertainment System was launched. My brother and I snatched up the system that came with ROB the robot and two games, Gyromite and Duck Hunt. As cool as the idea of a video game-playing robot and spinning gyros balancing on red and blue buttons seemed, we immediately came to the realization that Gyromite was damn near impossible to play. We ended up throwing the robot aside and pounded on the red and blue buttons with our fists in frustration. You can finish that game pretty fast that way!

Most of our time was then devoted to Duck Hunt. There's no better way to get kids into firearms by making shooting things fun with a game like Duck Hunt! We spent endless hours shooting green and pink ducks, white clay targets, and throwing the actual gun at the condescending dog when he'd laugh at you for missing. So when it came time to create a print for a video game that held fond memories for me, Duck Hunt was a no-brainer.

I always had the idea of creating a practice target featuring the duck from the game that I'd actually shoot at a range. Putting a bullet through your own art is kinda sacrilegious, but this is one case where i thought it was appropriate....and unique. My friend Danny let me use his 9MM handgun at a gun range and i went to town on about half of the prints. I hit a few bullseyes here and there but I found out that the real thing is way harder than the video game. Unlike the game, you can hit the ducks at point blank range by putting the gun directly on your TV.

Here's a video of me at the range. If you notice, I flinch after the first shot. That's a result of a scorching hot shell hitting me in the head. Yup, it definitely is a much different experience than that video game! Hope to see you at the show!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-23T10:00:00.001-08:00

Every Christmas, I design a card for all of my coworkers. What started out as a sweet and cheery idea 8 years ago has turned into a progressively sicker smorgasbord, year after year. The recent ones have all involved urine, a direct rip-off of my coworker George, who seems to plant every caricature he draws in a pool of their own pee. Here's to George and to all of you who follow my demented blog. Happy holidays!!

Zombies!!!

2010-12-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the massive delay between posts. I haven't visited my own blog in so long that I forgot the password. My own blog kicked me off! The good thing is, The delay has everything to do with being hard at work on a number of cool film-related projects that you'll start to see here very soon.

I'm a HUGE fan of films that have a very 80's feel to them. I just have a thing for crazy 'full-can-of-hairspray' hairdos, super-tight acid-washed jeans, blinding neon checker patterns, and soundtracks featuring Huey Lewis and the News. 'Return of the Living Dead' is a horror pic that fits perfectly into that 80's aesthetic, minus Huey Lewis. It actually feels more like a comedy sometimes which is why I probably like it even more. If you're looking for an entertaining, laugh-your-ass-off zombie film that wreaks of the 80's, definitely check this little doozy out.

Here's a poster for 'ROTLD' that I did for Mondo in which I tried my best to channel loud 80's rock gig posters. It's available in both regular and glow-in-the-dark versions. Check 'em out here!

Lil' Loompa

2010-08-25T11:59:00.001-07:00

For an upcoming custom vinyl show at Gallery 1988's San Francisco location, we were once again asked to create something based on a favorite cult film of ours. As you can tell from the Oompa Loompa, I was a HUGE fan of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.' I must've seen that film as a kid 30 times. Everything about it was so unique - from the insanely vibrant visuals, to the catchy but creepy songs, to the 'a little dark for kids' storyline. Something about that film worked so well back then and still holds up to this day. My favorite characters were the Oomps Loompas cuz they were cool-lookin', they worked their asses off in that factory, and they took us through the story in an entertaining way through their songs. Here's my tribute to those little devils.

I started with a blank vinyl called a 'Symbiote', created the facial features, hair, and 'mint' base with resin, and then painted the little guy with a combination of acrylic and aerosol paint. I would've liked to create an entire army of Oompas but unfortunately there's only one available at the show. It opens September 4th for all the folks who live up in the Bay Area. You can also see the show online after the opening here.

Ooooh!!

2010-08-03T16:54:00.001-07:00

Here's the 2nd Customizable vinyl I just finished for Mindstyle. This time around, we got the opportunity to sculpt and paint over our very own blank Alien from the Toy Story series. To be honest, I didn't have a very clever angle here, I just wanted something that could hang out with the Tiki Stitch I created about a year ago. Stitch seemed a bit lonely on my coffee table so I created a friend for him, Hula Alien.

Hula Alien's eyes and torches are resin, and his 'skirt' is actually a real hula skirt that I chopped down to size. ALOOOOOOO-HAAAAA!!!!!

Crazy 4 Cult!

2010-07-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

Game Reviews - E3 2011

The fine folks at G4 were nice enough to cover the 'Crazy4Cult' show and interview me about the 'Welcome to Hill Valley' print. It's kinda cool to have this captured on video cuz quite frankly, I barely remembered being interviewed. My cousin and I got smashed before the opening and stumbled upon an open bar next door at Golden Apple Comics before this interview took place. Enjoy the clip, there's a lot of cool art and interviews in it, even Mr. Mallrats himself, Kevin Smith. Oh yeah, there's also a drunk Filipino guy in it, wearing an SD hat who struggles to put two words together. (That would be me!)

Remixing the Magic

2010-07-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here's something you may remember from a past post that's now available as a print, both on paper and on stretched canvas. Originally, my Sleeping Beauty poster was created for the "Disney's Art of Princess" book which came out last year. Although my daily duties as a designer have everything to do with boy's driven properties like Cars and Toy Story, I was stoked to get to work on something like this. Growing up on a steady diet of classic Disney animation will tend to do that to you. I definitely have fond memories of films like Peter Pan, Snow White, Jungle Book, and all the rest of them. Sleeping Beauty struck me as a kid, not so much for the story per se, but because I dug the design and look of the film, especially Maleficent - as a human and as a dragon, the castle, and all the amazing backgrounds. Eyvind Earle is a mad genius and it really stands out as one of the most beautiful animated films to look at. I hope you dig my tribute to this artistic classic! You can check out the print info at Acme Archives.

Are you telling me, that my mom, has got the hots for me???

2010-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything. Completely changing up your art style for a project will do that. This is the piece where I attempted a different style than I'm used to. It's a bit subtle, but it's a tribute poster for one of my favorite films of all time, Back to the Future. Being a huge fan of Mad Men-type retro advertising, I thought it'd be fun to create my very own magazine ad promoting the town of Hill Valley, circa 1955. I wanted to make it as convincing as possible while still hinting at the influence of Marty's visit to his future home town of the past. I'm not sure that even makes sense, but you kinda get the picture. The Delorean is pretty obvious sign, but there's also one subtle hint that Marty was there. Can anyone guess what it is?

Having collected a bunch of ads from that era, the only way I could really sell the idea was to paint the scene just like they did way back then. Since I'm used to vectors, and pen tools, and pathfinders, it really was a challenge to get this to look the way I wanted. I haven't painted anything like this since high school so I definitely was rusty and it took about 5 times as long than the usual poster takes me. But I'm glad I went through it. Although it was an arduous experience with tons of mistakes, it really became a relaxing process and a new challenge.

When my friends saw this laying on my desk, their initial reaction was "where the heck did you find that?", which was exactly the reaction I was looking for. It was good to try something new and not to rely on all the things that are automatic or predictable. As a great man once said: If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything! I hope you dig it as much as I enjoyed making it!

The poster is limited to 150, signed and numbered, is 24" wide by 18" high, and will be available at the Crazy for Cult show starting July 9th at Gallery1988.

Time Flies...

2010-05-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

My friend's daughter, Liv, was surfin' the ol' web when she stumbled upon this crazy site. Since I have really bad short-term memory, I sometimes forget what I actually have worked on in the past. It's fun to find something like this online to remind me of the projects I've been fortunate enough to have been a part of and to and reassure me that all the effort we artists put in can inspire people from all over to follow your career. Special thanks to Danny Outlaw for doing a much better job than I ever did collecting and organizing my artwork. I owe ya a beer Mr. Outlaw :)

CLICK HERE!!!

This is Just A Test!

2010-05-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is just one element of many that makes up a poster I'm working on that's a "tribute" to my favorite film of all time. Can you guess what it is? There aren't too many flying Deloreans out there so the answer should be a cake walk. I have in mind what I'd like the rest of the poster to look like and I'll start to post more elements as they are created. This is merely a study into how I'm thinking of painting the thing and I guarantee it will change in the end. I'm researching 1950's American Advertisements for this one so it might be a little more rendered and painterly than a lot of the previous stuff I've done. I hope you're as excited as I am to see the final version! Check "back" here for "future" updates. Yup, that's my lameness shining through! I'm just gonna make like a tree and get outta here...

-E

BINGO!!

2010-03-21T20:25:00.001-07:00

If you're an artist or designer, you've undoubtedly been asked by a family member or friend to whip up some cool invitations in a day or two for a party happening in a day or two. Thank God for Illustrator templates!! All kidding aside, I always try to help out a friend in need and try to make each and every wedding invite - or business card or letterhead or logo or ad for the pee-wee baseball booster club catalog - personal. I always have fun with these 'personal' projects because there isn't a whole lot of pressure involved and I always get a kick out of their reaction when the project is done. You can guess at my excitement when my mom asked me design an invite for my grandma's 90th birthday. Not only is it a very rare and special occasion, but my grandma is also probably the harshest critic I've ever met. She barely likes anything! My whole goal was to prove her wrong.

My first step was to look at her life and make a list of all the things that are in it. The one thing that really gets her blood circulating is gambling. If she's not at a bingo hall (hence the bingo card theme), then she's hitting the slots. She always seems to have a deck of cards in hand. Another thing, make that 12 things, that surround her are her kids. Yup, you heard right, this little 4 foot, 8 inch hobbit of a person popped out 12 whole kids! That's them scattered out on every other square. While raising all of them, she worked in her own dress shop as a seamstress. That's where the needle and thread come in. Lechon, a Filipino food which is basically a roasted pig, is her favorite food. She also enjoys scrap-booking and collecting photos so that's why the album is there. The rest of the bingo squares are filled in with stuff grandmas need like medication and canes. Oh yeah, the plastic bag (or suitcase) is what she uses to carry her clothes and personal effects around because every month she rotates living between her kids' homes. I call it a 'hobo' bag.

When her kids saw the invitation, wild laughter filled the room! I guess they thought I really nailed her personality, especially the gambling part. They got a kick out of seeing themselves captured in little icons too. I won't lie, I did give myself a pat on the back for a job well done. It wasn't easy because of all the kids' faces and it took a lot longer than expected. There's no way my grandma wouldn't like it, was there?? As I approached her, card in hand with my chin held high, I couldn't help but think she'd be proud of her grandson.

Well, judging from her so so reaction, I'll have to wait for her to turn 100 to get another chance to knock her socks off with my artistic ability. She really didn't like the whole gambling angle and wanted me to remove the slot machine, the card suits, and the word 'BINGO' from the top of the invite. Hey, it may hurt to have a mirror pointed at her exposing her little 'addiction' but I really didn't think it warranted a "no thanks" and a "do-over", especially cuz I put in so much effort and did it on my own free time. It's not like everyone who knows her is unaware of her habit. Little does she know that 100 of them have already been mailed out and it's posted on my blog for all to see! Happy 90th grandma!!

Welcome to the Terrordome!

2010-02-25T23:27:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: The Tyson/Douglas print can now be purchased here.

Okay, if you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember a Mike Tyson something-or-another post I made about a year ago. Well, here's where that project ended up. And no, I hadn't exactly worked on it nonstop for that entire year. This, my friends, is a case of what they call 'procrastination'. While I did have plenty of other projects in that time span, I really am worthless without a deadline, and so I always screw myself and wait til the very last minute to turn it in. I seriously need to take a time management course or something.

If you follow boxing, or sports in general, you're well aware of the shocker that took place in the heavyweight division 20 years ago. 'Iron' Mike Tyson was as close to a sure bet as we had ever seen in the ring. He was an undefeated and indestructible superhero who would annihilate everyone who stood in his path. NO ONE gave his opponent, James 'Buster' Douglas an ounce of hope that fateful night in Tokyo. When something impossible happens in front of your eyes, it's something you'll remember forever. Mike Tyson's defeat changed not only the landscape of the division, but the rest of his life as well. That's why I decided to capture this historic event for my contribution to Gallery1988's 'The Greatest Moment in Sports' show which starts March 4th - 26th.

The 'Manga' look was influenced by the fight taking place in Tokyo. I was definitely inspired by video games like 'Street Fighter' when it came to the action. I highlighted their trademark moves (a la Ryu's Fireball or Guile's Sonic Boom) with Tyson's uppercut and Douglas' jab. All the Kanji was written by my coworker, Chisato. I believe the upper left says 'Final Battle', the stamp on the upper right says 'Iron', and the red headline type says 'War'. She does have a sense of humor and knows I can't read or write a word in Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if she screwed me on the translations. Oh well.

Like the Battlecat poster I finished last month, this really is a departure for me from a style standpoint. Lots of inking and a ton of mistakes made this a lot more time-consuming but a whole lot more fun too. Anything new is always a challenge and I'm never sure how it'll turn out in the end, but I hope you like it.

The poster itself is a 3-color silkscreen printed by the fine folks at D&L Screenprinting. It's pretty damn HUGE at 24" by 36" and there's 100 of them that are signed and numbered. I'll post prices as soon as that's figured out.

Lost Update 2

2010-02-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAITED AND REFRESHED OVER AND OVER THROUGHOUT THE DAY. UNFORTUNATLEY, ONCE I GREENLIT THE SALE, IT SOLD OUT IN ABOUT 5 SECONDS. DUE TO THE PAYPAL DELAY, A TON OF OVERSELLS GOT THROUGH. I WILL DO MY BEST TO GET THE INITIAL 28 PEOPLE THEIR PRINTS ASAP AND I WILL GET REFUNDS TO THE OVERSOLD CUSTOMERS ASAP. I APPRECIATE ALL THE MESSAGES FROM THOSE TELLING ME HOW LONG THEY WAITED. BEING A FAN WHO ALSO FOLLOWS THE PRINT DROPS OF HIS FAVORITE ARTISTS, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT IS PUT INTO WAITING AND THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF NOT GETTING ONE OF THE PRINTS. I WILL DEFINITELY SEE IF THE POSTER CAN BE RELEASED IN SOME OTHER FORM (LIKE THE TYLER STOUT LOST REPRINT RELEASED AT THE GALLERY OPENING). THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWED THIS PROJECT AND I'M DEEPLY SORRY THAT I COULDN'T MEET THE DEMAND.

Ok Losties, sorry for the delay but "The Crash" will finally go on sale this Thursday at random time here . The price for the print is $200.00 USD. Since I only have a few left, only one will be allowed per person and any multiple orders will be canceled and refunded. Shipping is $10.00 U.S. and $15.00 USD everywhere else. Make sure your Paypal shipping info is updated. Thanks to everyone who patiently waited and checked in. I just wish there were a lot more to go around.

And yes, Thursday meaning "California Thursday".

Thanks,
Eric

Lost Update

2010-01-21T20:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the Lost fans who've been patient and checking in for updates on the poster. I've been trying to get it out asap, but hardcore deadlines at work and the fact that they're sending me to Hong Kong for several days next week will delay it just a wee bit longer. I'd like to be in the states for the sale just to make sure nothing goes wrong and you get the goods on time. I've definitely read all of the recommendations and I'll announce a set date but make it a random time. That seems to be the popular choice. Just make sure your Paypal mailing addresses are up to date. I'll post the site when I return the 1st week of February along with further instructions. Again, thank you to everyone who's checked in and supported the project. And I apologize for not getting the poster out sooner. Your loyalty to the show and enthusiasm for the posters have made me really wish it was an open run that everyone could get their hands on. Here's to hoping another Lost poster series happens.

Cheers!
Eric

Grrrrrrr!!!

2010-01-06T20:41:00.001-08:00

January brings yet another "Under the Influence" show thrown by the fine folks at Gallery1988 . This time, the subject matter a ton of amazing artists will pay tribute to is He-Man and The Masters of the Universe! I had a lot to draw on for this one cuz frankly, He-Man - along with Transformers, G.I.Joe, and Robotech, ruled my childhood. My room was filled with these crazy action figures. I never had the fortune to get a hold of that badass playset known as Castle Greyskull, but we did have Battlecat, the 2nd best thing about that toy series! By far, he was the fiercest looking character and I knew I had to do my own interpretation of that ferocious feline when it came to my piece.

I know what you're saying, "That poster looks absolutely NOTHING like your other stuff! What the heck happened????" Well, that "flat, simplified" look that came from working on 'The Incredibles' poster series & that I've used a lot over the past few years didn't quite seem fitting on this occasion. The 1st thing that came to mind when I decided on Battlecat was the idea that he looked like a samurai warrior with that head dress and armor. I ran with it and gave it the whole traditional Japanese scroll treatment. Instead of blocky shapes, I broke out a brush and some ink. It was quite liberating not having to vectorize this time and I hope it doesn't completely disappoint those who prefer the style I usually do. Don't panic, I'm pretty sure you're see more of the 'flat' stuff down the road.

For those of you who might actually dig this one, the show starts on Friday, January 8th til the 29th. The dimensions are 14" wide by 30" tall and it's a lithograph printed on some pretty thick, textured paper. It's a signed and numbered edition of 123. I believe it also goes on sale online after the opening. By the power of Greyskull!!!!

The Crash

2010-01-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hey Lost fans,
I'm not sure if I've ever gotten more inquiries about a project of mine than the Lost poster. As a HUGE fan of the show myself, I can totally understand it. It's such a cool show and the poster series was an amazing collection that celebrates the final season of an instant classic. It was an honor to be included among artists I look up to, and my mind was completely blown when I saw the Lostargs fan poll that voted my contribution 1st! I'm glad I was able to design something that hopefully captured what that show means to me and a special thanks to all who voted and have been following the poster series. I wish I could've met all of you who actually showed up at Gallery 1988 on opening night. That was a very impressive turnout!

The good news is, I do have a few posters left for sale! The bad news is, I have a ridiculously crazy deadline this month that will keep me from getting the posters into tubes and out to you right away. The usual 9 to 5 job is actually more like 8 to 9 these days and I hope you guys understand and bear with me at least for the next couple of weeks. I assure you that I will post a date, time, and web address on my blog once I get everything sorted. Thanks to all those who've dropped me a line and contact info. Unfortunately, I've received more requests than posters available so instead of leaving anyone out, I thought I'd sell on a 1st come, 1st served basis like many of the other artists have. Sorry there are not enough to go around. I collect a lot of things myself and I know that crappy feeling when I miss out on something I really like, or something that simply completes the series. Just check back in every now and then and I'll do my best to get you "The Crash". I do appreciate your patience in all this.

Thanks,
Eric

Ah-lowwwwwww-ha!

2010-01-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

The awesome folks over at Mindstyle actually produced that Tiki Stitch I sculpted a few months back as a vinyl you can buy! As a guy who's way more comfortable doing 2-D stuff and struggles creating anything dealing with dimensionality, you can bet I was shocked when I got word that it was being made at all. Their artists did an amazing job creating a dead ringer of the original, and at 10" tall, it's nearly as big as it too. They even got the leis and spear perfect! So if you're looking to add some Hawaiian-themed magic to your living room, study, or in my case, the bar, be sure to check back with Mindstyle this February. Ma-haaaaa-lo!

Come Out and Plaaaaayyyy!!!

2009-12-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to get asked by the guys at Mondo to create my very own 'The Warriors' poster. It was a blast to go back and rewatch this cult classic several times. It's definitely late 70's in look and feel, but the story, action, and excitement hold up pretty damn well! It's that rare throwback that was working on all cylinders and strands the test of time. I don't think a better street gang movie has since been made. Although 'Menace II Society' was pretty bangin' in its own right. The poster itself is HUGE at 24" by 36", and at an affordable 30 bucks, hopefully a few of these things will move so I can get asked to do another cult classic poster such as my personal fave 'Born in East L.A.'!

Get Lost!

2009-12-14T20:49:00.001-08:00

If you're around the greater Los Angeles area between Tuesday, December 15th and Christmas Eve, be sure to check out the Lost Underground Show at Gallery1988 . All 16 Lost posters will be on display as well as a bunch of Lost-inspired paintings and drawings. I was fortunate enough to get to be one of the lucky 16 artists chosen to create a poster and as a HUGE fan of the show, the pressure was on to do something that captured all my die-hard fanboy excitement. I never thought the poster series would reach this amount of sold-out-in-seconds craziness and get me into the Entertainment Weekly with Sandra Bullock's lovely mug on the cover. Nutso! It's been an insane ride and it's gonna be even cooler to see them all under one roof. I hear there's already a line in front of the gallery...and it's 24 hours away! I'll hope to see you behind that hatch, Lost in a sea of fans just like me!

Yup, Them's Princesses!

2009-10-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started designing posters, I've always had this goal of creating my very own versions for all the animated Disney films. Those classics have had such an impact on my art and my career, that I wanted to do it almost as a tribute to the importance
they had on me as a kid. Disney Consumer Products had a cool idea going when they decided to ask a bunch of internal artists to put their artistic spin on the Princesses for a book that was just released, The Art of Disney Princess. You can almost guess immediately what I wanted to do with my pieces. Yup, MOVIE POSTERS!!!

Little Mermaid came out when I was in high school and reinvigorated the entire Animation studio which influenced me to want to get into field that as a career. Although I found I didn't have the chops for animation, it led me down the path to my current position with Disney and it'll always be one of those films that reminds me of how I fortunate I am to end up where I did.

Sleeping Beauty was just an amazing piece of artistic vision. The look of the film made an impact on me as a kid and I remember trying to draw the Maleficent dragon over and over with less than stellar results.

It was an honor to get to 'remix' two of these classic films and I seriously hope I get to do more. Check out the book if you happen to come across it. It's definitely worth taking a look at all the amazing Princess translations my fellow coworkers created.

Lost!

2009-09-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

Although I was glued in front of the television all through childhood and my teenage years, watching such gems as Silver Spoons, Alf, Small Wonder, The A-Team, and Saved by the Bell, my career kinda got in the way once I became an adult and my prime time viewing hours were reduced to about an hour and a half a week. I'm not quite sure how I stumbled upon the 1st episode of Lost (maybe it was subliminally planted in my head cuz I work at Disney), but I've been hooked on it since the premiere, and it's become the one show that I do watch religiously every week. The combination of an original premise, an amazing cast of characters, and the ever-growing feeling of never knowing where the story is taking you have all made it the most addicting show I've seen in years - well, at least since Charles in Charge went off the air anyway. So you can believe my fanboy freak out when I was asked to contribute a Lost poster to a series of 16 that are celebrating the show's final season. Each of the artists were given a particular theme from the show and mine was simply called "The Crash." After re-watching the pilot a few times, I realized that the episode follows the plane crash through Jack's eyes. That's where the concept for my poster originated. With Jack as the central figure, all that surround him are the characters and events that fill his storyline - from the love triangle, to the fight for leadership against Locke, to his family ties to Christian and Claire. I used the crash theme as the catalyst to Jack's arc of the series. The color palette is directly pulled from the Oceanic Airlines logo and Dharma logo acts as a 'stamp' that lets you know who's responsible for all of this craziness. It was definitely an honor to be asked to put my spin on the one series I gladly invest in each week. I hope all you fans of the show dig it and I definitely can't wait to see how the story ends.

Check out the rest of the Lost poster series at Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear .

Say Cheese!

2009-07-29T17:17:00.001-07:00

I've been lucky enough to work with a bunch of classic Disney and Pixar characters over the years. It's definitely one of the highlights of the job and the sheer amount of characters we have keeps things interesting. I mainly work on all the Pixar and live-action film properties so the chances to work with Mickey are slim to none. Fortunately, a project came along where we got to reinterpret that classic Mickey pose that's on all those vintage tees. I based it on the first random thought that popped into my head so I made his feet into cheese and had him take a big bite outta his left foot. There's not much of a concept here other than I was hungry at the time.

Anyways, enough about me, how hot is the model, Kathy?!?!? She definitely makes my Mickey look a whole lot better. In fact, you're probably like "what Mickey??" Thanks to my coworker/photo enthusiast Ryan for the awesome shots. Check out the rest of his wonderful work at RyPhoto . Cheese!!!

Home Sweet Home!

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

For anyone planning to attend this year's San Diego Comic-con, I'll be signing all them Disney/Pixar posters at the Acme Archives booth (5429) on Friday at 2pm to 3pm. Hope to see y'all there!

Reppin' tha 626

2009-07-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

What happens when you're given this:

and you throw in resin, a dremel, an x-acto chisel, a bunch of paint, some fake flowers, twine, bamboo shoots, plastic mini-coconuts,and a whole lot of beer into the mix and lock yourself in a windowless room for 2 weeks? Well you get this little guy here:

A bunch of the artists at work were invited to transform a "blank" vinyl Stitch into their very own version of the crazy rascal for the Experiment 626 vinyl project which will be shown at the upcoming D23 convention in Anaheim, California. The vinyl is actually pretty big so it was definitely a challenge to complete. I wanted to tie whatever i did to the film's story and setting so I chose to make my own Stitch Tiki Idol. His huge helmet is based on the one worn by the Hawaiian king, Kamehameha. There's a styrofoam block in crest and resin was sculpted over it. All the other added elements (eyes, nose, teeth) are also resin. The wood grain was created by carving directly into the vinyl with a linoleum block cutter. My coworker Tiffany, was nice enough to assemble the lei's using a bunch of fake flowers.

Although it took a lot longer than anticipated, I really got a kick out of working on it every day. There was something cool about stepping completely away from the computer and getting to work with real materials and paint again. That, and just locking myself in a room with all that beer was cool little bonus too. Now I gotta sleep off my alcohol/paint fume/resin particle-induced headache before moving on to the next project.

Queen Gigi

2009-07-08T20:20:00.001-07:00

I'm very fortunate to work with a family of talented folks who inspire the hell out of me every day. From the veteran character artists who have seen and done it all, to the designers on my team who immediately took me under their wing and taught me so much of what I now know, to the fresh energy and ridiculously advanced skill of the young interns - there's rarely a day that goes by when I don't learn something new and exciting from them. All of the people I admire at work have not only the amazing technical skill but a love for what they do every day, all while being 100% humble. It really is a quite infectious environment. Not only do we have the fortune of working with a surplus of creative talent, but we are surrounded and supported by awesome project managers who make sure we're organized and on schedule. Frankly, they also keep us from losing our minds when deadlines, meetings, and requests pile up.

After all these years at Disney, I'm finding that inspiration not only comes from the artists and designers (or creatives as we call 'em), but from all the other folks who surround us and keep us in line. I guess I'm just in awe of anyone who is just flat out unbelievable at whatever they do, no matter the skill or profession. The 'queen' in the playing card above is the definition of one of those people. That's Gigi, our Project Manager for the last 3 years. To say that she did an amazing job in that span of time would be an understatement. Not only did she do what PM's do best and solved all of our problems at work but she did the same in our lives as well. Her door was always open if you felt like venting, laughing, or in my case, telling dirty jokes and annoying the hell outta her. What she had to deal with on a daily basis - from juggling projects, to dealing with all the other groups in and out of the company, to making sure we were sane at work and in life was truly inspiring to watch. I know that the example she set definitely rubbed off on a lot of us. Eventually, I think we wore her out with our drama and she has since moved up to Pixar. Seeing as how we can be a bunch of babies every now and then, I really don't blame her, but in the end, we're all lucky to have had her for as long as we did. Not many people like her come through life that often.

Ok, about the card - Gigi was nice enough to lend us her house to use as our poker hall. Even though she didn't play, she still ran the show and kicked us out when we got annoying enough. She has a total of 3 kids - well, one real kid and two corgis who are perched in each arm. Gigi's drink of choice is a Cadillac Margarita (and lots of 'em), hence the crazy double fist action. The card, which is the size of an actual playing card, was her going-away gift from me. I also included a letter with all the dirty jokes I forgot to say just for good measure. The cool thing is, we still get to see her up at Pixar every now and then. I've already got a few new jokes up my sleeve for the next time we meet!

Them Dogs Can Talk!

2009-05-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the rest of the poster series I created for Up. I finally got to see the finished film and to say that I loved it would almost seem like an understatement. It absolutely blew me away which says a lot because one of the perks of working with Disney and Pixar is getting to see the film at various stages of production. To get that access is amazing but at the same time, it's difficult to see the final film with fresh eyes. More often than not, I find myself concentrating on the changes they made rather than the film as a whole. I knew early on that Up was a special film. Even in early storyboard form, it already had all the strong emotional and comedic elements. I guess it was so good that even after round after round of screening it, it really held up and continued to grow and resonate more and more with me. I can't wait to see it again...for the umpteenth time. It's definitely an honor to get to work on a tiny part of the awesomeness called Up.

More UP!

2009-05-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another poster from the Up series. This one features the villain in the film, Charles F. Muntz. The look and tone of the series all came from this one. It was the first one I started and it was the first to get approved. After you get one under your belt, the others fall into place a little more smoothly (knock on wood). I seriously can't wait to see the final film!

That House can Fly!

2009-05-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Over the 10 or so years I've been at this profession, one of the cooler moments definitely came when I got to work with the filmmakers on the style guide for Up, the latest Pixar film. It's always an honor to get to see one of their awesome creations come together from initial story pitches and character sketches, to animation tests and final renders. It takes years and years of hard work and long hours for them to get to the hour and a half or craziness you see on screen. With anything I do for them, I really hope to put in as much effort as I can to do justice to their film. As long as I've been working with them, the pressure's always on to create something that they can appreciate.
With Up, I got to work really closely with their Character Artists Ricky Nierva and Albert Lozano. They went out of their way to make sure I got to the essence of this film and its characters. You definitely can see the passion they have for everything they do and it's inspiring to see. Even Director Pete Docter would always be on hand to throw overlays on top of my individual poses and let me know if i was doing anything out of character or not in line with the story. They have an innate attention to detail and i got a kick out of hearing how they justify everything they do in the film. It was such a positive learning experience and I surely hope I get to do it again.
This time around, I ended up with 6 posters and about 12 character poses for the guide. Here's one Acme Archives offered as an exclusive print at the San Diego Comic-Con last year. Hopefully, I'll get to post the rest as soon as they are made available to the public.
Now, I'm headed over to Party City to snatch up every balloon they have so I can float over the Miller Beer factory and drop into one of those huge pipes into a beer vat. Yup, that's a good way to go.

She Talks in Her Sleep

2009-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Of the three Indy films (I haven't watched the 4th yet), I've seen The Last Crusade the most times by far. I think it would have to be my favorite because the relationship between Indy and Henry Sr. is so damn hilarious. The film has all the awesome qualities that makes the series so great: ridiculous action sequences, exotic locales, unbelievable treasure, the vermin of choice, and a hot chick, but the bonus element in Crusade is the side-splitting banter between father and son. Their facial expressions alone are worth watching it over a few times. Especially Henry Sr.'s face when Indy finds out his father also slept with Dr. Schneider.

With the Crusade poster, I also tried to keep the series consistent with a lot of the same criteria I used in the 1st couple of posters. Among them include the limited color scheme, the big head at the top right, the chase scene on the bottom right, the logo down below, the filmed in color banner, and a background silhouette of one of the key settings. I wanted to play up the love connection between the Joneses and Elsa because it plays an important part of the plot so Indy and Elsa are almost equal in scale and you can also make a visual "triangle" between the three characters. Because it's my favorite on the Indy series of films, I really wanted to get as much as I could into this one. The story is dense and so is this poster in comparison to the previous two. I certainly hope you guys dig it!

This poster should be available soon from Acme Archives .

No Ticket!

2009-03-01T22:07:00.001-08:00

Ok, this may not look like much at 1st glance, and it isn't, but this here's the beginning of a poster that I've gotten a ton of inquiries about. Yup, that'd be Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the 3rd in a series that I had no idea would even sell. I'm sure glad that the others went over pretty well and I thank all of you who have been waiting around for this one. Hopefully you'll dig it as much as the 1st two and the knowledge that the 3rd one is now on its way will keep the 'where the F is it?' e-mails at bay. The time line on this is a month or two because of prior obligations, but I'll be sure to post the progress as soon as I get into it.

Because it's in chicken scratch form, here's few of the details in the layout: HUGE Professor Henry Jones Sr., Indy galloping on horse, Elsa holding Grail diary, the Grail knight, the Grail tablet, the zeppelin, fighter planes, tanks, the Castle Brunwald, and a bunch of baddies. In the end, the poster composition and color scheme is very similar to the 1st two and should sit side by side with 'em quite nicely. Enjoy!

Welcome to the TokyoDome

2009-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of rough drawings for an upcoming poster (no, not Indy, but more on that later) based on a memorable moment in sports. My dad may be the biggest boxing fan I know and he would always get excited for any bouts that would pop on the television, especially the major championship fights. Unlike today, back in the late 80's and early 90's, the heavyweight division was amazing to watch. This was due, in large part, to the unstoppable force known as 'Iron' Mike Tyson. I don't remember ever seeing anyone who annihilated the opposition with such ease than he did on his undefeated road to the heavyweight championship. Anyone who faced him never had a chance and they were considered lucky if they survived the 1st round. We followed his every bout with such anticipation and the expectations of a quick, devastating victory. That all came to a crushing end on February 11th, 1990 when the undisputed champion put his title on the line in Tokyo against a journeyman named Buster Douglas who wasn't even given one iota of a chance. What happened was something I don't think anyone who saw the fight will ever forget. For the first time ever, the invincible force was made to look like someone who was a mere mortal. I guess it was like finding out Superman was only human. Tyson was never quite the same after that night and a lot of terrible things took a hold of his life, but I'm glad I can still remember the energy and excitement he brought to the sport way back when.

The plan with these drawings is to create a good, old-fashioned fight poster with a twist. The fact that this historic night took place in Tokyo led me to come up with an anime look for the artwork and the use of Japanese typography for all the editorial to create a unique angle on what we traditionally know to be a fight poster. I'll be sure to post the early layouts of the poster design.

On a side note, I've been getting a ton of inquiries on the Indiana Jones series, namely the 3rd poster. I do have a layout in mind and hopefully it will get done fairly soon. It's just a matter of getting on the same page with the vendors and working something out. I'll keep you posted, hopefully sooner than later.

Hey Ladies!!

2009-01-10T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Beastie print is now available online here . Thanks so much to everyone who made it down to the show and picked up a copy! You're the illest mother@#&*=+$ from here to Gardena!!

Rhymin' and Stealin'

2008-12-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

I finally finished up that Beastie Boys poster over the weekend. Notice how there were 3 comps a few months ago but there's only one final? Well, a few factors kept me from reaching my goal, mainly prior obligations to a Disney book and downright laziness. I also wasn't happy with where the New York and L.A. versions were going. They just didn't seem unique enough so I scrapped them about halfway into the process. After all this time, I still have trouble putting everything that's in my head together on the page successfully. In the end, the "Fly to Tokyo" print, based on the Intergalactic video, became a combination of old TWA/Braniff Airways travel posters and Japanese toy robot packaging. The final size is pretty big (18" x 30") and is printed litho style on some nice textured parchment. They'll be available at the Beastie show at Gallery1988 from January 8th - 29th. Check out their bloggy blog here .

Getting Away With It

2008-12-07T12:55:00.001-08:00

My artist friends are able to fill loads and loads of sketchbooks with sketches and caricatures of complete strangers out in public. I have no idea how they accomplish all that work without getting caught staring. I've been drawn (brutally in some cases) many times by these guys so I'm almost immune to the uncomfortable notion at being stared at while I'm minding my own business. I've been in fear to try to do as they do in public because I always have the feeling that if the subject catches me, I'll either be socked, slapped, or be called a pervert or a pedophile (according to subject). Anyways, more power to my artist friends for doing what they do. Here's some sketches that I did get away without being caught. These are a few of my coworkers from the Disney office in London. As you can see, I have a much kinder heart than some of my artist "friends" who either draw me as an alien or butt naked.

Sketch (and Pub) Crawlin' in the U.K.

2008-11-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Never having left the states (except for a few muy caliente nights in jolly old Tijuana), I really didn't have a clue as to the magnitude of all the surroundings I would see in Europe. Photos don't really do any of them justice. With all the historic architecture around, you really do get a newfound sense of what amazing things people can accomplish. Especially with something massive like the colosseum in Rome, your mind is completely blown just trying to comprehend what the hell went on during that build. With sketchbook in hand, I ventured out to capture everything I saw as I traveled. These are sights I saw during my weekend train journeys in and out of London. I have no idea where the flying objects started, but I had fun carrying them throughout each sketch. Upon reflection, those soaring symbols may have come from my never-ending dreams of flying above the world, with peaceful thoughts of hope sprinkling my panoramic memories just as stars fill the vast night sky...oh wait, judging from the last sketch, them flying objects were completely inspired by beer.

Cheese!

2008-10-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick sketch in Photoshop. We were given "orange" as a theme for an art wall in our kitchen area. When i thought of artwork hanging in the kitchen, I immediately envisioned cheese. Maybe it's cuz I've been stealing someone's string cheese outta the fridge for like the past 3 weeks. Hey, if no one is complaining, what's all the fuss? Anyway, I always thought that one of the strangest home videos I've seen are the ones filming someone sleepwalking and going into the kitchen. Although they're in a total daze, some of them can open the fridge and even make a sandwich! I don't know if I believe they're really asleep cuz some of those sandwiches look better than the ones I make awake, but it's pretty amazing to watch nonetheless. My mind works in strange ways as you can see. Now I'm hungry! Where's that string cheese??

Fun With Cintiq!

2008-09-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, when I moved out to London, I didn't get to take the Cintiq monitor from work with me. Once you get used to that thing, you really do suffer when you have to revert back to a mouse or a tablet. I think it's called being spoiled. For me, I just got really slow at everything. Fortunately, they finally got all these new Macs and a Cintiq at our London office so I was able to jump back on it for this quick little project. We have these informational signs with a blank open space that are going up in each department and I was asked to come up with something for our team. This came from by all my trips on the tube to and from work. You do get an interesting mix of business people, punk rock teenagers, and families on those trains. The kid represents youth and all that Disney magic (I also snuck in an Arsenal scarf). Although the adults are all serious in their dark business attire, they still have hits of red to show that they haven't completely lost what the kid has.

Time to Get Ill!

2008-09-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

The Beastie Boys have been around for almost 25 years. Think about that for a sec. Who in music lasts that long and continue to make music that doesn't completely blow?? Tough one huh? Kool Moe Dee? Nope. JJ Fad?? Na uh! Gerardo??? Think again mi amigo! I've always dug this group and the fact that they can stay relevant and continue to do what they do for the love of it all. It's a great honor to get to create some posters for a tribute show which drops some time in January. My inspiration came from the cover of the License to Ill album. Y'know, the one with the plane? It's gotta be one of the most memorable album covers I've seen and I thought that a series of travel posters featuring that plane would be fun since they've been all over the globe and have influenced so many while doing so. I chose Brooklyn (obviously), Atwater Village, cuz they had a studio there and recorded my favorite album in it (Paul's Boutique), and Tokyo, cuz the visuals and costumes in that Intergalactic video are hilarous and it definitely reminds me of their later years. Each of the posters tie heavily into the music videos they created (which are some of the best videos ever!). Check out that Beastie Anthology DVD if you haven't already. With the option to hear remixes and watch different angles of each video, I think it's one of the only DVD's out there that made full use of all those angle and sound options. A for effort! Only reason it isn't an A+ is cuz them License to Ill tracks ain't on there :( Anyways, I hope that you can get a good idea of where these are going and I'll post updates as soon as I start on the final artwork. Now, what's the time?????

Still at Work

2008-08-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

I'm fortunate enough to be a very bust artist these days. That's the good part. Unfortunately, that means while even on vacation, the work comes with me. One bonus, it sure does beat the view from my office of a Glendale back street. This is off the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Yes, that's my gross-ass foot on the left.

Game Over

2008-07-21T22:50:00.001-07:00

Here's the final version of the Duck Hunt trophy plaque for the I am 8-bit show. I'm not the most experienced sculptor in the world but I'm glad I went through the all the challenges that came with this project cuz i learned a whole lot of valuable lessons such as 1) don't forget to wear a mask next time when sanding resin. I'm still coughing up dust. 2) Don't look directly into a clogged airbrush tip when the compressor is plugged in. My left eye is now glittery pink. And 3) Stick to making posters. Those are a walk in the park compared to all the drilling, bending, sculpting, masking, sanding, priming, and painting involved with a 3D piece. My appreciation for sculptors has grown big time. All in all, I'm just glad I got through it and can't wait to do it again...with the help of a C&C machine!

ROB the Robot

2008-07-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Another year brings another I am 8-bit show. This time around, I chose to pay homage to the first game my brother and I ever played on the Nintendo system, Duck Hunt. Our system also came with ROB the robot and Gyromite. If you ever attempted to get that robot to work, you can see why we popped in Duck Hunt first. I remember that game being such a mindf@#* at the time cuz the gun actually worked when you aimed at the screen and shot. Them graphics also kicked Atari ass! We were in heaven! Almost immediately, all our grades dropped in school and we couldn't wait to be old enough to get our gun licenses. Thanks Nintendo! As you can see, I created a hunting trophy out of it with a dead duck head. I haven't sculpted anything in forever so it's taking me longer than expected to complete. The duck is still missing a few features like eyelids, that nostril band, some extra feathers, and of course, paint. I'm also using a new sculpting compound called MagicSculp which is a resin mixture that hardens in a few hours and is pretty damn strong. I like it a lot thus far. Much thanks to Mike 'The Bike' Eaton who used his mad woodshop skills to craft that duck foot plaque. Now, where'd I put my Tech 9? $10 says I can cap that Pabst Blue Ribbon can off the hood of that Chevy.

Wall•e!

2008-06-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Check out Acme Archives for the Wall•e posters.

i09 posted a nice write up on the inspiration behind these pieces. Check it out! Just one clarification: I'm not technically a "Pixar artist." Not sure how that happened but if you can get by the title, you'll be fine.

The Wonder Years

2008-06-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

I was a pretty happy kid. With a spring in my step and a big, fat smile on my face, there was nothing that a 50/50 bar or some Mexican candy couldn't cure. Whether we spent an entire day skateboarding at the school or bodyboarding at the beach, life seemed so damn fun and carefree. Growing up in laid-back, sunny San Diego doesn't hurt either. With all this happiness around every corner, you would think it would be reflected in my artwork from way back when. Maybe paintings of unicorns and happy trees. Haha, not so fast mi amigo! Here's some illustrations I dug up from a children's book I put together when I was a goofy - and very twisted - teenager. From what I remember, it was a little non-fictional doozy about the day our rabbits got massacred by a pack of wild dogs. Yup, that fuzzy little fella's getting his arms ripped off. Where did it all go wrong?

You Call Him Dr. Jones, Doll!

2008-06-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here's the completed Temple of Doom poster. I ended up adding a bunch of elements that tied it more into the Raiders poster such as the logo, the limited color scheme, the large 'head' in the upper right, the little 'filmed in color' banner, and the action scene at the bottom right. I figured these changes would make a more cohesive series in the end. Throughout the design process, I constantly move things around to find that balance. Short Round and Willie moved from right to left, top to bottom, and I even seperated them where she was on the upper right and he was at the bottom where the mine cars are. After all these years, I still don't get it right the first, or second, or third, or even fourth time. And that is why I'm an alcoholic!

The Temple print should be available soon at Acme Archives.

The Man, The Myth, the Legend!

2008-06-01T23:28:00.001-07:00

Man I look really young in that picture! I looked like I was ready to conquer crap! What the hell happened?? Where did it all go wrong?? This was actually taken about 6 years ago when I was still 20 something. That 's Sadao Miyamoto, or Miyasan, as we at Disney called him when he worked with us. He's now happily retired and playing golf out in Granada Hills. Although I only worked with him for a couple of years and we barely could understand each other (he spoke japanese to me and I don't know a lick of japanese), I'd have to say that he pretty much changed the way I look at life and art forever.

When I was a kid, drawing and painting was an amazing escape. I could remember spending hours and hours drawing cartoon characters in my room and never ever getting tired or bored. That changed once I got to art school and was surrounded by people who were ultra-competitive and a curriculum that was ultra-demanding. The schedule we had left little time for a breath of air. It really became work and I somehow lost the passion for being creative and having fun with it. Out of frustration, I tried looking for a job halfway through school and fortunately I landed a freelance gig at Disney Consumer Products.

My first desk at Disney was across from another designer named Yumi (who amazingly - after a bunch of re-org's and building moves - still sits next to me). She was one of the few on our team who spoke fluent Japanese. Every now and then, a gentleman - with a huge grin and a funny laugh - would visit her and they would tell stories in their native language and laugh up a storm. This was Miyasan. I knew he was a character artist on our team who had worked on cool projects like Tarzan and Lion King. She also said he was an animator in Japan. Talk about an understatement! (More on that later) Yumi was kind enough to show him some of my work and he reacted positively to some stylized stuff I had done on Monsters Inc. and Lilo and Stitch. All of the work I had done was digital and he hadn't quite wrapped his head around the computer yet. Every so often he would stop by to watch me trace out a character in Illustrator, taking notes on a pad while doing his best (with Yumi as a translator) to ask questions about the process. "I will learn" and "thank you" were a couple of things Miyasan would always say before he left for the day.

Although the gig at Disney really rejuvenated me in many ways, I was still at school the other half of the day so I can't say that I was totally cured. Seeing someone like Miyasan, who was energetic, happy, and still willing to learn something new, started to give me a new perspective. He was in his 60's and yet he seemed like he was having a blast! How the heck was he still enjoying this 'work' after doing it for so long?? It was beyond me, but then again I was kind of a sleep-deprived, cranky a-hole back then who took everything way too seriously. Somehow I knew that if I wanted to have a career like his, I had to stop looking at everything as work and find in it what I enjoyed so much as a kid.

The defining moment came one day when Miyasan was kind enough to bring in his portfolio of the work he accumulated during his career. I had only known the work he did for us at Disney but I remembered Yumi telling me he was an animator in Japan for some time. I was hoping to see some of this 'animation'. What I saw left me speechless and people ALWAYS tell me the shut up. Growing up, my main influences were Disney animation, comic books, and Japanese anime, namely this show that was called G-Force here in the states. I grew up on all the shows and books that featured this team of heores who flew around in a bitching spaceship dressed in bird costumes. It was the best thing ever! So you can imagine my fanboy freakout when Miyasan opened his portfolio and the 1st few pages featured his drawings of the initial design of all of the main characters. He was the animation director on that!!! I was floored. And that was just the beginning. He was an animator on Astroboy and a director/designer on about 20 other shows I used to watch as a kid. Page after page brought me immediately back to my childhood and those days that I had all the passion in the world for being creative. The guy who created all this stuff that influenced me to want to be creative as a kid sat in an office just down the hall, and I had no clue! It all came full circle. I would later find that he taught animation in Japan and had a bunch of amazing students who are leading the anime industry today. He came to the states to work at Disney and then to eventually retire and play golf.

With Miyasan, I got to see the blueprint of a successful career - make that a legendary one. And he did it all with a smile on his face, just glad to be doing everything he was doing. He has touched so many people with what he has done (me included) and it really makes me feel fortunate to do what I do for a living. I may not reach as far as he did (can anyone?), but I now know that something I do now can have an impact on some kid out there who happens to love drawing and painting. I can safely say that after seeing his portfolio, every day at work has been a breath of fresh air. On his last day at Disney, I passed by his office to say bye one last time. The space was empty except for Miyasan, the drawing table, a piece of paper, and a pencil. Even on the day he retired, he was still drawing away! I thanked him for all he had done for me and he simply smiled and handed me this:

Thanks Miyasan! See ya at the links!

Hola!

2008-05-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

VisualMente, a South American visual arts site wrote up a neato story on me. I haven't been able to translate it yet, but I hope it's a complimentary one. Peep it! With gas prices so high, and the fact that it F's up my passion for demolition derby, I'm now gonna find the nearest mosh pit and bust ass!

Tuzon Jr., Kicking A$$ & Taking Names

2008-05-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

My buddy/coworker Rich Tuzon is part of a group show that opens this week at Gallery 1988 in Hollywood. If you're into fine artistic fun made with acrylic paint, wood panels, and a whole lot of pad thai, be sure to check it out. He ain't bad! In fact, I have a monkey he made hanging on my wall. Go for the paintings and stay for the open bar!

Wall•e World

2008-05-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

For the upcoming release of Wall•e, Pixar is all decked out with film development art and standees from the film. They were kind enough to use those posters I did way back to line both walls. My first reaction after seeing them up was shock, then I picked myself up off the floor and felt kinda dizzy. Fortunately, they had this bench smack dab in the center where I could get it together. That's me in the middle there with Wall•e & Eve. It's quite the honor to get to work on all these projects. I never thought I'd get close to doing anything this cool. Just as I started to get all sentimental or whatever, I found this fat ball outside and immediately tried to roll into a bike rack on their front lawn. I don't think they're inviting me back anytime soon.

No TIme for Love Dr. Jones!

2008-04-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here's my initial sketch for Temple of Doom. Of the 1st 3 films, it's the one I've seen the least so I had to go back and watch it a bunch of times as a refresher. As a kid, I remembered it as being my least favorite of the series, but It's pretty kick-ass when you're older and haven't seen it for a while. So much is packed into it. At times, it might feel a bit segmented and even rushed once the action gets going in the mines, but it's still better than 98% of the films they make nowadays. Them 80's were a glorious time! Thanks for joining me in "Tanner at the Movies." Steer clear of that popcorn "butter" dispenser. That stuff ain't made from nature.

Cue John Williams

2008-04-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

I finally finished up that Indy piece for Acme Archives. My idea here was to create something that looked as if it came out when the movie took place, circa 1936. I was heavily influenced by Mexican film posters from the 30's & 40's. They had that western/dramatic/action feel nailed down. Check out that Cine Mexicano book if you can. Them dudes sure knew what they were doing way back when. Now that I'm done, I think I'm gonna hitch this port-a-pottie down the street to my truck. It's already on wheels so it should be a pretty simple procedure. I might even cruise the 101 during rush hour and charge a buck and a quarter for pit stops. Adios amigos!

Check out IndianaJonesShop.com for info on the piece.

King Taco

2008-03-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

It seems like I'm designing poster after poster nowadays. It's not that I'm complaining or anything because they're a ton of fun to do. Guess my problem is the more I do, the harder it is to come up with something new. But I guess if it were always that easy, it probably wouldn't be that satisfying in the end. A great example of that is that Police Academy where they go to Russia (#6, i think). Talk about a letdown. Anyways, here's an Indiana Jones thumbnail of a poster that's due in a week. I'll post the final hopefully soon.

I Need Sleep!

2007-12-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

I finally finished up that X-men poster over the weekend. It was quite the honor to get to work on these characters that I've followed since I was a kid. In the end, it became a combination of the stuff I did for Incredibles and them old German film posters. Hope it works! Now I'm gonna get a big cheeseburger and 8 tacos over at Jack in the Box with this $5 I found in my pocket.

Stan the Man

2007-12-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

I tend to hibernate in the fall, hence the no posting for a long ass time. But I finally snapped out of it and I'm now working on a piece based on my favorite super-heroes, the X-men. What's not to like about them? Outcasts, kinda weird lookin', crazy effing powers!! They're like the rock stars of the comic book universe. What really intrigued me about them is that they all live in that mansion. Not to be all pervy, but imagine the crazy mutant sex stories that those walls could tell. Anyways, I've always dug those UFA German cinema posters, especially the Metropolis ones. Using them as inspiration, I sketched up a little comp on a napkin. They're all gonna be sporting their retro uniforms and it's gonna be like 3 colors max. I've cheated it a bit by including Wolverine and Storm. They came later in the series, but I like 'em and it's probably my one and only shot at working on the X-men so what the heck, right? Don't I sound just like a fanboy? The piece is due in a week so I'll be sure and post the final soon. Go Chargers!

Breakfast is Served!

2007-10-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my box for the Cereal Killers book. Fortunately, I found doggie treats that looked just like the cereal I had in mind. They even came in those funky colors that I had going in the rest of the design. We did a whole heck of a lot of food packaging projects when I was in art school but I never got to work on one since. Can't believe it took this long...and it's kind of a fake one. Why the hell did they make me take sooooo many food packaging classes?!?! Just kidding. They were fun and I'm sure that knowledge will kick in once I get to work on my dream project which is to design beer packaging! Speaking of beer, I think I'm gonna go get s#!+faced! Cheers!

Baby Steps

2007-10-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

I only got into "art" cuz you can wear shorts to work (guess I could've been a lifeguard too, or the Crocodile Hunter). My real ambition was to invent crap. I truly believe that inventors are the unappreciated geniuses of our society. They don't just sit there content with the way things are. They're more like "F the b.s.! I'm gonna make life easier...for everyone." That's such a daunting task and it must take balls the size of watermelons to actually go through with. With that in mind, I decided to muster up what courage I have, screw the "art" thing for a while, reach for the sky and invent something. Call me crazy but I think we're all capable of inventing something pretty f-ing sweet. We just need watermelon balls. Here's my 1st attempt. I call it "The Turbonator Jr.!" Does anyone happen to know how to set up a paypal account?

Presto!

2007-09-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to get down to San Diego over the weekend to see the folks. My dad, as busy as ever with his garden, couldn't wait to show me all the stuff he's grown. Over the past few months, his garden has gone nuts. I saw everything from a giant habanéro pepper to a spiky orange melon that's from some island I've never heard of. It's like some surreal fruit and vegetable zoo back there. I also got to see the progress of the magic pineapples I wrote about 5 months ago. They're f-ing HUGE now! He's got 5 of them that are ready to be harvested. The fact that the fat pineapples are able to balance above the center of the plant with the support of a skinny stem was amazing to me. Unlike my mom who swears he uses deadly chemicals to grow these sons of bitches, I cannot wait to try one of them! Dad says they're way better than those ones you get from the market. Mom just rolls her eyes when he says that. I'll let you know what they're like in a future food review. Way to go dad! Keep fighthing the good fight and don't let mom crap on your parade!

First Crack

2007-09-23T23:14:00.001-07:00

Here's my 1st attempt at the layout. Lazy Eric, who usually sketches something out, decided to take a nap, screw the sketch and just hop on the computer to start the design. What should have took 2 seconds with the sketch, took about 2 whole days cuz I found myself moving shapes around, with no clear idea, just praying some miracle would happen. Isn't there some filter in Photoshop that designs stuff for you? Not a good lesson kids! Sketch it out 1st! There are still a few things missing. The cereal itself is gonna be photographed and dropped in. There's gonna be a knocked out zombie wrestler leaning against the turnbuckle. All the colors are also temp. I have the damndest time getting the colors right with everything I do. Because of this, don't expect another post anytime soon :) Time for another nap!

The 2nd Course

2007-09-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

Here's some progress on the Cereal Killers project. The wrestler is all vectorized and I've sketched out a new, more form-fitting logo. I'm usually a little more structured than this, meaning that I've completed a thumbnail that shows where everything fits. Unfortunately none of that has happened on this project cuz I've been watching too much Sunset Tan marathons on E!. That show is a train wreck that I can't quite look away from. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this one. I just hope everything comes together smoothly. The colors will change and so will whatever initial layout I come up with. Once I think of something, I'll be sure and post it...but only after Sunset Tan.

The Start of Something

2007-08-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

The majority of my artistic creativity occurs alone in the car. When I think about it, that's the only time I'm away from phones, televisions, computers, video games, people, and everything else that can distract me. I have no attention span whatsoever and suffer from rampant a.d.d. When I'm in that car with nothing else to do, I'm almost forced to think of what I'm gonna be working on that day and how I'm gonna go about doing it, just to stay awake. In L.A. traffic, that usually gives me a good chunk of time to get a whole lot of thinking done. When I get to the office or the drawing board at home, the conceptual part is done and I zone out and get those ideas down on the page. I suck at thinking & creating on the spot. Guess I'm premeditated in a way. I'll start with a thumbnail, then pencils, scan that sucker in and vectorize it in Illustrator or paint it in Photoshop. I can't go straight to the computer. Guess I'm a little old school too. Although almost everything I do now goes through the computer, I still have to draw it out. Even logos and typography. Here's some initial pencils I've done for the Cereal Killers project. The goal is to create a spooky cereal box cover. Mine involves zombie Mexican wrestlers! It'll change a bunch over time (I've already changed the name to Bone Crunchers) and I'll be sure to post the progess. Now hit the road!

Rats Invade Red Bank!

2007-08-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

For all those lucky folks who live near Red Bank, New Jersey, make sure to stop by the Cel-ebration Gallery. Their current show features the Ratatouille posters Stephane and I created. Check out that Rat cake!

Here's Wall•e!!!

2007-08-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a set of Comic-con promo postcards I designed for Wall•e, the upcoming Pixar flick. Notice the similarities between these and the Incredibles posters from an ealier post? For inspiration, the guys at Pixar once again pointed me in the direction of those Disneyland attraction posters. They are in LOVE with those posters, which is fine cuz I am too. Just to differenciate these from the Incredibles, I added a 50's advertisement twist. Writer/director extraordinaire, Andrew Stanton was kind enough to send me an autographed set. To see HUGE scans of these, visit Kung Fu Rodeo.

Aloha from Comic-con?

2007-07-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, you get to work on a project that comes together just the way you hope it would. No road blocks, no rejections, and barely any headaches. This rarely happens, and when it does, it kind of gives you hope that for a split-second you somehow knew what you were doing. It also takes working with creative folks who have a ton of enthusiasm and are open to new ideas. For comic-con this year, I got to work with Chris Sanders, of Lilo and Stich fame, on his very first vinyl figurine based on one of his hula girls. My job was to create the packaging for it. I submitted 3 ideas - a tiki hut, a pineapple crate, and a pinapple can (she sits on gigantic pineapple). The last option had a metal pop top and bottom just like a real food can, and a die-cut window for the vinyl. This was the 'anything goes' idea I like to throw in that usually is the priciest and most difficult to make. It's also the one that never gets picked. Guess my surprise when Chris said he wanted to go with it. The vinyl is amazing and I hope the packaging compliments her. It's definitely one of the coolest projects I've had the opportunity to work on. If only every gig was this easy! Hopefully there are more down the road. Be sure to check out Chris' site for updates. This is the final version of the comic-con limited vinyl and its packaging.

That's Incredible!, Part 2

2007-07-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the rest of the posters from the Incredibles series. The bright colors and flat shapes were inspired by the Disneyland attraction posters you see when going through the tunnels at the entrance of the park. Even when I was 6, I remember thinking those things were amazing, so getting to reference them for this project was a thrill in itself.

That's Incredible!

2007-07-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a series of posters I created as a tribute to my favorite tv show growing up - That's Incredible! What's not to like? Unbelievable human feats, mind-bending oddities, rubik's cube-solving f-ers, and the amazing team of John Davidson, Kathie Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton? Vikings QB Fran f-ing Tarkenton??? Without the uni, he looked like a regular dude. But damn was he a gamer! Anyways, For the past 2 Pixar films and 2008's Wall•e, I've gotten the fortunate opportunity to design poster series' for use on products such as apparel, trading cards, giclee prints, etc. Hopefully, they let me continue this with their future films. They are definitely a challenge from concept to completion. They're also the most fun I've ever had at work. The first series was for The Incredibles, my favorite Pixar film. Here's a few of them. Hope you dig 'em!

Summer Catch

2007-07-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

With the summer months come sunshine, warm weather, and most importantly - vacations. My most memorable summer vacations involved waking up at the crack of dawn and heading down to the lake for a relaxing full day of fishing with dad. I think i was about 5 or 6 at the time. Rarely did I ever catch anything but it was fun nonetheless. While lazily drifting down the lake, dad would give me wonderful talks about current events, his own chilhood adventures, and how chicks are a pain in the ass. Once I grew older and got bored and frustrated with never catching anything, those fishing trips became a thing of the past. In its place came video games and underage drinking. Now that I'm older, I do think about them often. Everything just seemed so innocent and easy back then. Now I bust my hump everyday fighting traffic, paying bills, and taking all kinds of crap from chicks. Here's a pic of me and my old man during happier times.

More Rats!

2007-07-10T09:51:00.001-07:00

& here's the rest of 'em...

Rats!

2007-07-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Here's larger versions of my Ratatouille posters. Once I can find the sketches and reference under my desk o' crap, I'll post the process of how these are created from beginning to end. Enjoy!

Greetings from Yosemite!

2007-06-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

My friends Steve, Kelvin, Rich, Boom and I took a hiking/camping trip up to Yosemite over the weekend. As you can see in the photo, the mountains, trees, and lakes are some of the most beautiful and majestic around. You can almost smell the pines can't you? Ignore that funky border above the scenery and the pillow on the bottom left. I'm still trying to figure out Photoshop. Fortunately, I do have a bunch of better photos that I will be posting when I run out of things to watch on tv (How bout that Maury Povich? Paternity tests, teen sluts, makeovers, and fat babies-what's NOT to like?).

In the meantime, here's a photo of me and pretty much all I did the entire trip.

Cousin Kenny, My Idol!

2007-06-07T19:29:00.001-07:00

My cousin is a one-man-party and the coolest guy I know. He's always got a beer or some happy smoke close by and he once knocked out a small bear during a camping trip. If anything, he's taught me not to take B.S. from nobody. Last I heard, he's doing a stretch at county. He should be out soon though. I'll keep a few cold ones in the fridge for you cuz!

Happy Holidays Dudes!

2007-05-24T08:09:00.001-07:00

In celebration of Christmas being a few days away, here's a little doozy to get you in the holiday spirit. So place another log in the fireplace and snuggle up with your loved ones. Ahh! Now, where the crap are my happy pills?!?!

Aloha from California?

2007-05-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

As random as my mom can be, my dad loves sticking to a set schedule. It's a wonder that they get along at all. He's meticulous at everything he does, especially when it comes to his gardening. He's like a cross between Thomas Edison and Al Bundy. I never knew pineapples grew anywhere other than Hawaii, but my dad made it a mission of his to create his very own California pineapples.

My dad got the idea about 7 years ago, and I have no idea how he did it, but through research, experimentation, and a whole lot of patience, my dad was able to grow his very first pineapple 2 years later.

He took me through the process over the weekend and I learned a whole bunch of stuff that I never even considered. The "seed" is actually the top of the previous pineapple. You know, the spiky, leafy, things.

Once the top is soaked and planted, the leaves grow into a huge bush that's about 3 feet high. About 7 months later, a bud forms at the end of a stem above the center of the bush. That bud looks like a miniature pineapple. It then grows for another 5 months til it gets big and orange like the pineapples we're used to seeing. How bizarre is that? If you think about it, that crazy thing grows from the top from the original pineapple. It's like having a baby grow from your hair or something.

The pineapples are now ready to pick! My dad says they're as sweet as any you buy from the supermarket. My mom wouldn't try one if you paid her, she just rolls her eyes. I give my old man a lot of credit for sticking with something for so long and getting it right, despite zero support from the Mrs's. Unfortunately he didn't pass that attitude to me. I sleep all day. His 1 pineapple total from 5 years ago has now ballooned to 26 this year. Way to go dad!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2007-05-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

My mom was nice enough to visit me at the office last week. Here's a picture of her next to one of the Ratatouille posters in the lobby. She looks happy enough and we were having a nice day, but things took a turn for the bizarre about 2 seconds after I shot this. Every now and then, the craziest, far-fetched, and completely random idea will pop into my mom's head. Thank god it's wasn't passed on genetically to me (or was it?). In this case, she decided all of a sudden that she wanted to take the poster with her. I immediately told her that she was completely nuts and I think they'll notice if it's missing. That thing's like 10 feet tall for crying out loud. She responded by lifting the thing off the wall from the bottom to see how it was hung. I had no idea why she wanted it since there is no space in her house to hang it, let alone any way to haul it back with her to San Diego. I stood there stunned. She asked me to help her unhinge it and I thought I was gonna throw up. About 20 minutes later, as I lay motionless on the floor, she fortunately gave up on the idea when she found out we had a Starbucks in the cafeteria. Funny thing is, the sight of my 5' mom trying to wrestle a 10' poster off the wall was worth it alone. I had a good laugh after I got over the terror of it all. What i didn't tell her was that a security camera was pointed right at her the whole time. That's gotta be some ridiculous footage. If anything, it could prove my innocence in court while mom sat in jail for stealing company property. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Play Ball!

2007-05-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Now that the baseball season is in full swing, I thought I'd dig up a little project I completed last season. Being from San Diego, the Dodgers were always our bitter rivals. Mainly cuz they would kick our asses every year. Everything Dodger blue made my stomach turn, but putting that hate aside was easy when they asked me if I wanted to design their mascot. As far as I know, they've never really had a true mascot, so the opportunity was one I could never pass up. I'm also quite the sellout, especially if it involves free seats behind 1st base. That mascot became Ebbett, a trolley that ties in their storied past as the Brooklyn "trolley" Dodgers. Now if they could only find a way to make him into a big, fat suit that runs around at games.

The Fun Team

2007-04-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

There are two sides to our creative team at work, character artists and designers. I fall into the latter category. In meetings, I've noticed that the designers like to fold their arms and comment on everything, while the character artists like to quietly look down into their sketchbooks and draw caricatures of EVERYONE in the room. They always seem to have a smirk on their face while doing so. I decided to take a stand and do as the character artists do because frankly, they look like they're having a lot more fun. During a recent meeting, sketchbook in hand, here's what I came up with. I wanted to do something nastier, cuz it seems to be a qualification for a lot of their caricatures, but the two folks pictured have the power to fire me so I played it safe. I discovered that it was waaaaay more fun than having to fold my arms and talk! Oh, and on their coffee breaks, the character artists like to rip on everyone who happens to walk by. I LOVE THESE GUYS!!! By hanging out more and more with them, I hope I get to be a nasty SOB too!..and better at drawing stuff.

RATS!

2007-04-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Every now and then at work, I get the opportunity to design posters for the animated films Pixar and Disney creates. For Ratatouille, we used A.M. Cassandre's vintage french posters as our main inspiration. It's always a surprise where the finished product ends up, and this is definitely no exception. The atrium on the Pixar campus is an amazing and inspiring spot one you step through the main entrance. An immediate sense of creativity flows through that place. With the posters, I'm just glad to be a part of that, even for a few weeks or so. Once the film opens, I'll be sure to post them HUGE so that you can actually see them.

Much thanks to Stephane Kardos, an unbelievably talented artist from our U.K. team, for contributing his amazing posters as well.

Who likes video games?!?!?!

2007-04-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Rich and I will be part of iam8bit group show this tuesday at Gallery 1988. We were able to see a bunch of the pieces on saturday and there's a lot of amazing stuff. And most importantly, there will be beer there!!!! Not just any old beer, FREE beer!!!! See you there!

Not as easy as riding a bike.

2007-04-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly starting to finish a couple of paintings for gallery shows this month. One is the 8-bit show at Gallery 1988 in Hollywood and the other is for an A.P.E. related show at 1988's new gallery up in San Francisco (these 2 are for that show). It's been kind of a weird/ frustrating/ insomnia-inducing experience for me. But it's also been some of the most fun I've ever had! My last painting before doing these is dated 1996 (You can visibly see the rust!). Back then, I painted a lot. Graphic design & college then took over and so did the computer. Now I might sketch out a poster idea or a character but before I know it, I'm on that crazy computer again. The thought of painting again was as scary as jumping outta a plane. Didn't know how much I missed it til my coworker Rich convinced me to grab a brush and jump. Thanks for the push dude!

Fun with silkscreening!

2007-04-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not posting stuff for a while. I was drunk. Here's some silkscreened prints I created for a two-man show last year. The concept deals with advertising posters for an institution populated by kids with mental "gifts". They're not necessarily super-powered, they just have these unexplainable, and for the most part problematic quirks. This was the first time that my studiomate/coworker Rich Tuzon and I tried our hand at silkscreening. And it is also our last! j/k. It was quite the challenge of trial and error. In the end, it was also the most rewarding experience. We finally got through it with the help of enough alcohol to kill a small bear. Enjoy!

Someone wake me the hell up!

2007-03-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

The whole point of this was to share my art with everyone, get feedback from all of you, and motivate myself to get the creative ball rolling. I've been very impressed and inspired by my friends/coworkers and the amazing work on all of their personal blogs. Unfortunately for me, my creative ball outside of my day job is about the size of a peanuttle and it doesn't roll very far. And to top it off, typing these few lines has made me very, very tired. I'm getting a beer. I promise I'll post something meaningful in the not too distant future. A word of advice before I go: Don't hold your horses.