"Thirty Years Later" Now Open

"The Predator" is the 3-D cut paper piece I made for the "30 Years Later" show, celebrating the films of 1987, which is now on exhibit at Gallery 1988(West) through August 12, 2017. Visit in person, if you can.

Coming July 21st

Mad Scientist #32

Issue #32 of Martin Arlt's excellent magazine, Mad Scientist is now available. It's a mere $8.00, including shipping, and can be ordered here, where you can also view the contents of this issue. I created a cut paper portrait of Boris Karloff in The Black Cat which can be found within this issue.

Star Wars - The 40th Anniversary

The movie now known as Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, turns forty years old today. Back when I saw it in 1977, it was just Star Wars. It feels like we were just celebrating it's 30th Anniversary, something I actually did with a month long examination of the film which you can scroll back through by visiting my posts from May, 2007.

The Grim Gallery Turns Six

My companion blog, The Grim Gallery, turns six years old today. If you have any interest in monsters, be sure to check it out.

Derry, Maine - 1957

For the Stephen King show, now on exhibit at Gallery 1988 (West), I told myself I wasn't going to do anything related to It. My decision had nothing to do with my feelings for the book (it's one of my favorite King novels), but because I figured Pennywise would be getting a lot of exposure in the show. However, when this idea occurred to me I had to do it.

The tower in the background, which features prominently in the novel, is based on the Thomas Hill Standpipe in Bangor, ME, which is the actual bit of architecture that King used for the Drrry standpipe in the book. In fact, if you visit the actual site, you'll find that the entire location is pretty exact to how it's described. I took liberties with the setting though.

The boy in the piece is actually based on a photograph of Stephen King as a boy and seemed like the perfect trusting, innocent little boy unaware of the horrors of the world (or those he'd later create).

I did try to give Pennywise the silver clown suit he wears in the book, but it just didn't look right. I ended up going with dark blue because the blue connected to the boy's clothes, only much darker, giving them a relationship. I don't think I need to go into any of the other symbolism in the image. It isn't subtle. I'm actually really happy with how this one turned out.

I Am the Doorway

The Stephen King show opens at Gallery 1988 (West) tomorrow night. I have two pieces in the show, including "I Am The Doorway" shown above.

My piece is 3-D cut paper and obviously based on the initial paperback cover of Night Shift with art by Don Brautigam (shown below with it's die cut outer cover).

Brautigam (1946-2008) created the covers for the paperback versions of some of King's earliest books, including The Stand, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, Different Seasons, and Cujo (as well as numerous other books and well known record album covers as can be seen here.) Even before I'd ever read a Stephen King book I was drawn to the covers. As far as I'm concerned none of the covers of subsequent editions has come close to recreating that sense of the uncanny that Brautigam's covers brought to King's works.


The covers for Night Shift and The Stand resonated with me the most, and I'd initially planned to recreate both of them, but time and life had other intentions.

Friday...

What Lies Ahead.

Here's a couple images that have stayed with me since first encountering them on the cover of paperback books quite some time ago now. They are also influencing some stuff I'm working on for something happening in April. Stay tuned to find out what.

It's Rondo Time

The 15th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards are happening now, and if you are a fan of classic horror, feel free to voice your opinion on the best of 2016  by voting here, where you will find the complete ballot of all nominees in all categories.

RIP Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt was an inker for Marvel, DC, and Disney in the 80s onwards. He inked a number of the Scooby-Doo stories I wrote. You can read more here.

Ask Me Anything #61

It's the first Monday of the month and time for "Ask Me Anything."  Ask me anything you want.  Anything except what is happening with the Milestone relaunch, because I don't have an answer for you beyond "it's still moving forward."

Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49,  #50,  #51, #52 , #53, #54, #55, #56,  #57,  #58,  #59, and #60.

Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Thirty-Three: Celebrating 33 Years of the Independent Spirit & Sundance Film Festival

If you are attending the Sundance Film Festival be sure to stop by the Kimball Art Center to check out the current exhibit, "Thirty-Three: Celebrating 33 Years of the Independent Spirit & Sundance Film Festival" which runs from January 19, 2017 - February 12, 2017. Curated by Independent filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock and Jensen Karp and Katie Sutton of Gallery 1988, the show features some major contemporary artists. I'm honored to be a part of this and sharing wall space with some folks whose work I love. Thanks to everyone involved for having me.

You can learn more here.

Ask Me Anything #60

This "Ask Me Anything" begins with the new year, a time of new beginnings and a hopeful look forward. Ask me anything you want.  Anything except what is happening with the Milestone relaunch, because I don't have an answer for you beyond "it's still moving forward."

Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49,  #50,  #51, #52 , #53, #54, #55, #56,  #57,  #58, and #59.

Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

At the Sundance Film Festival

I'm honored that filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock has chosen my cute paper portrait of Joel and Ethan Coen to be part of "Thirty-Three: Celebrating 33 Years Of The Independent Spirit & Sundance Film Festival" to be exhibited, in conjunction with Gallery 1988,  at the Kimball Art Center in Park City Utah. The show runs January 19, 2017 - February 12, 2017, during the Sundance Film Festival.

If you are attending the Sundance Film Festival, please check it out. There are some amazing artists participating.

For more information please check out the Kimball Art Center's website, or this article from The Salt Lake Tribune. 

Random Objects In My Office

I haven't posted any random objects from my office in ages. Here's one now. This is a poster of the Wolfman that I got from a box of Honeycombs as a kid. I've always loved this image. It glows in the dark, too.

Joel and Ethan Coen

Here's my cut paper portrait of the Coen brothers for the show dedicated to the filmmakers and their films which opens tomorrow night at Gallery 1988 (West).

Opening Friday...

A multi artist tribute to Joel and Ethan Coen opens this Friday at Gallery 1988. I'll be previewing my piece here tomorrow.

Ask Me Anything #59

This "Ask Me Anything" closes out the year, a time of looking back and a time of pondering what lies ahead. Ask me anything you want.  Anything except what is happening with the Milestone relaunch, because I don't have an answer for you beyond "it's still moving forward."

Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49,  #50,  #51, #52 , #53, #54, #55, #56,  #57, and #58.

Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Now on Kindle

While it has never been collected in a trade paperback collection, for those of you who may have missed it, the first five issues first series of Midnight, Mass. is now available to read on Kindle. Amazon has many other comics I've written on Kindle as well. See the links below.