Processing

A few months ago...

2011-10-21T19:54:00.000+09:00

A few months ago, I showed a few close friends of mine some of the sketchy conceptual drawings that I was working on for my new book. It fell from the wall today, so I thought it was as maybe a message that it wants to be shown. It shows off a trio of three of the more fantastic characters from my story in a conceptual style.

2dCloud: Motherlover

2011-10-17T09:47:00.000+09:00

Some friends of mine from Minnesota, the 2dCloud Studio aka The Good Minnesotans, are making an anthology of some of the most unique Minnesotan cartoonists out there. It's a Kickstarter project, so there are some amazing gifts for contributors!

For $10 you can not only fund the project and help build momentum and steam for further projects, but you can get a copy of the book when it comes out around time for the Minneapolis Indie Expo on November 6th and 7th in Minneapolis.

Click on the link and support some amazing local cartoonists!

New Show in Japan

2011-08-17T18:54:00.000+09:00

It's a small show up at a small cafe called, The 203 Cafe, in Okayama. It's showing off most of the drawings I did in Minneapolis last summer. I'm waiting to attend with Mako this weekend before taking any photos. Here the postcard for the show:

Little by little

2011-07-19T23:46:00.000+09:00

I've been nervous about showing my new project, but I'm ready to start showing it a little bit at a time.

Goldfish Love

2011-07-15T13:51:00.000+09:00

This piece will be submitted to the MN Love Anthology being put on by The Good Minnesotans at 2D Cloud. The black and white piece was colored later in Photoshop.

Growing into the Future

2011-06-23T03:58:00.000+09:00

Here are two pages of my digital submission to Just Add Ink. I am a Minnesotan, so I wanted to participate in the anthology, however, living in Japan would have made the show quite difficult for me to attend and get ready for. So, this is only going up on the blog! Please make sure to check out the show when it opens on August 5th, 2011 at Altered Aesthetics in good old NE Minneapolis!

The second item here, is a poster done for my buddy, Renny Kissling, and his band, Robots From the Future. Renny makes comics, music and is also a member of Tall Club Minneapolis and Austin Chapters. Go check out Robots From the Future on July 2nd at the 331 Club in NE Minneapolis!

Dream Geography

2011-05-25T09:29:00.000+09:00

In mid 2010, I illustrated a small 2 page comic for a great friend of mine who is a writer in Minneapolis, Ted Anderson. The premise for this was comic was based on a dream that Ted had involving a woman, just before the tsunami on December 26th 2004 that rocked the Indian Ocean.

A big thanks goes out to Ted for being one of the first people to ever giving me a paying comic gig. It gave me the confidence I needed to grow as a freelance artist and I can't be thankful enough.

New Japan Sketches

2011-05-07T18:13:00.000+09:00

It's been a while... here are the goods:

The first two were made at the Okayama National Gardens. While the third was made in Oshima during a brief visit to Mako's folk's place. The final one was made this afternoon by the river not far from our apartment in Okayama.

I've been working on my graphic novel and getting to show a few things to some friends to get some comments. I'm not posting any images from it until a good amount of pages are done, but I can say that it's going well.

My friend, TJ Nasti, will be selling some of my books and posters at SpringCon on May 21st and 22nd in Minnesota at the State Fair grounds in St. Paul, so be sure to come by my table and get some new pirate treasure.

On Wonderful Things, Sketching and Fighting in Streets

2010-12-27T05:25:00.001+09:00

I didn't get to watch It's a Wonderful Life this Christmas, so I'll have to make one.

This is the 3rd time that I've lived in Japan. This time, it's a little different because I'm living with my wonderful wife, Mako. We're about to go back to her home and visit her folks for the New Year. Before that, I thought I'd recap on some wonderful things thus far.

This robot drawing was made by my friend, Tommy. Tommy is a child who I was lucky enough to spend many nights drawing with. He's surrounded by good people. He's the little man wearing a tuxedo in my wedding photos. Super proud of him. His mother is one of the strongest people I know, always an example of responsibility and how to live for others. My good friend, Andrew, showed me how to set an example and how to be a father and drastically influence lives for the better.

This painting was made by my close friend and mentor, Natalia. I met Natalia at a small state college in northern Minnesota. She taught me how to draw, paint and print. She's always set an example of how one should approach the arts, not just on the canvas but in all aspects of life. She's that wonderful teacher that we've all had that never gets enough credit and tries harder than Atlas to hold up the world. She's pretty wonderful.

I'm not a big fan of Catholicism, but my dear Grandmother was. She was an example of never ending love and had the biggest heart of anyone I'd ever met. When she passed away in 2007, I received a few little trinkets that reminded me of her, but the one object that I really wanted was a plaque that she had on the wall, The Prayer of St. Francis. I think St. Francis is more commonly attributed to peacefully living with animals, but he's also a universal pacifist. I say this prayer often.

Optimus Prime is something from my childhood that's always been a symbol of fighting for what's right and makes me reflect upon good times. He's also a TRUCK that turns into a ROBOT. Thanks goes to Ed Moorman for picking this up at a con for me.

Tthe graphic novel is well on it's way. I'm keeping pretty close to the chest until I've got a stack of inked comic pages, but I'm about an inch thick stack of paper deep with character designs, locations and drawings. I'm currently finalizing the script.

Here are some daily warm up sketches before working on my graphic novel.

My brother and I heard about an opportunity to make a weekly comic strip about video games and we thought we'd submit a comic and see what happens. If you like Super Nintendo games where you fight in streets, then this is for you. We'll see what happens with this strip, but for now it was nice working with my brother, drawing in a completely different manner and making a color strip.

Yeah, life's full of wonderful people and things. Now, I just need to play some more soccer...

Happy Holidays!

Planet Posters

2010-12-02T11:48:00.000+09:00

I received a request to have a copy of the cover of my book, Processing, but I thought it'd be silly just to send a copy of the cover when the real interest of the request was the planets Jupiter on the cover and the idea of "processing." So, I ended up making new posters out of the planet painting series. I like them better this way than when they were in my altered book.

Design Process for VFOG

2010-12-01T11:39:00.000+09:00

I've never really shown too much of my process before, so I thought I'd take a chance to show how I design. This particular project is for a client that's been with me almost since day one. The band is a hardcore heavy metal band called, Vessels For Our Ghost.

This project had many different parts which had to combine for the whole identity of the band. This includes, a triple fold CD insert front and back, text and logo, myspace page, CD design, CD area behind the CD and behind the jewel case, merchandise and even a design for a drum. It was a big project.

I'm showing the final products first and then showing sketches and ideation periods. Before that though, I'm showing the custom text made for the boys. I tried to use a nasty aesthetic to show what the band feels like and to contrast some of the more precise imagery used in other parts of the project.

Logo for the band:

Logo for the album:

When I first was working on the project, all that we really had to work with were some ideas that the boys had felt were important to the project. After hearing the list of what they were looking for, "political," "dark," "elegant," and "antique," I said, "Why don't we make this look like dirty money?" They liked the idea and I set forth to do a ton of research.

The final product of the front of the CD triple fold insert:

Close to the final product sketch:

One of the layers that I wanted to have in the front of the triple insert. When doing the research on many different kinds of money, I noticed that none really had any kind of military presence. I felt that it was pretty important to this project considering what the boys described to me, and to me, money and war are twin brothers.

They agreed, I went ahead and inked the vehicles. They really liked the world in the back, but compositionally it just didn't work for the front of the triple fold insert, so I said that I'd use it on the back where the lyrics would go. I love drawing and inking machinery so this was a really fun part of the project.

All forms of money in the world have complex areas that try to prevent fraud and, if done well, increase the overall composition and effectiveness of the design. If you look really close at new dollars, they have these little tiny pink and blue hairs throughout the money, I wouldn't be surprised if they're a verifiable security measure. I love texture and so does money, so we put it in there.

Here are some of the earlier stages where I'm just gathering ideas to show the boys and see what they responded too. I'm more concerned with themes and types of imagery at this point.

More ideation showing what some potential layers will look like. They liked the symbol to the right and we made use of that in many pieces of the project.

These were some of the final test sketches for the final layout of the triple fold out insert.

These are a lot of potential layouts influenced by the layouts of actual international money. Once I had done enough of these quick sketches, I felt like I had a handle on the "gesture" of currency and I combined many elements that I liked into the above sketches.

Here's a quick bit of design principles shown to the boys to see what colors that liked, what types of imagery from the money that they liked and to see if it might inspire them to think of more ideas.

This is the final product of the back of the triple fold insert. There were lyrics here too, but I removed them because I only wanted to show the image. You can see how the triple fold insert front was the starting place of the whole project. I knew that once we had that down, we'd be able to make the rest of the project follow along.

Final product for the CD design:

Sketch for the CD design:

This is the area underneath the CD inside the CD case:

This is the back of the CD case with the track listings:

This project was a doozy. It was open ended so it took a great amount of communication between me and the band. They were really great about telling me what they liked and didn't like, which is absolutely necessary for a project like this and helped me get to a better final project. They've been doing well in the hardcore music scene and I wish them the best of luck in the future!

Experimental Comic: Texas++

2010-11-26T10:21:00.002+09:00

In January of 2009, I attended the Walker Art Center Multiples Mall and I had a new silly book for sale. Craft was really not my goal, telling a silly story in a new manner was. It was based off of a diagram in my Borland C++ Graphics Programming book. The original diagram was a drawing made on a computer with 1992 MS Paint-like technology. The diagram was of two different computer mice that were specifically for graphic programming. One mouse had 4 buttons, while the other had 16. Imagine 16 buttons! Anyway, I made that diagram into two of my favorite characters.

4-button cursor Sheriff and 16-button Skully McShootface:

I then made a really small format 64 page graphic novel. Each page is roughly the same size as a trading card. I printed 25 of these little books, sold them all and then never printed more. When I printed the book, I wanted to try an experiment and draw every cover. So, I signed the back and sketched out one of the characters on the front. My folks have a copy of every one of my books, but I had to steal this one because I didn't even have a copy.

I reformatted it for the web to show 4 book pages per web image. Oh, there's also a bonus hand made note in each book that is part of the story. You'll see. So, without further ado, Texas++:

Trip to the dentist

2010-11-23T13:31:00.001+09:00

I really don't recall the last time that I was at the dentist... at least 4 years ago. Longer probably. Health care is a pretty new concept for me too. Japan has it right with National Health Care and people not being afraid to go to the dentist or doctor. I write down my dreams every morning and often have really terrible dreams about my teeth. I think my dreams were trying to tell me something.

Before going to the dentist, this photo realistic drawing of me was made. Obviously, I'm terrible anxious to go to the dentist.

Another photo was taken. The smile in question:

The tooth in question: It's the one with black spot. Please divert your eyes from the nose hairs.

Riiburu Dentist:

Happy Sean at the dentist:

Woman avoid the oncoming x-rays, and laughing at me about to be zapped.

This thing took a full panorama of my teeth. It was so nice that it even sang me a little song as it zapped me with x-rays. Seriously it had a little jingle that went with it. The sign directly in front of me said to stay still, so I tried with everything I had to not laugh.

Do you remember that scene in Total Recall when Arnold takes that thing outta his nose? This was a little like that:

I was so excited to see the X-ray.

This dentist was the man. He told me that facts and got me outta there in less than an hour. I paid a little bit of scratch and the rest was covered by Japan's National Health Care. Lovely.

Now back to more normal matters:

Nuclear Twilight

2010-11-17T10:27:00.000+09:00

I recently got an e-mail asking about whether or not I'm selling copies of it. I hate telling people that I'm terrible at setting aside time to print and sell my stuff, so I've decided to start putting up books on my blog along with my normal jib-jab.

When people at the cons point to Nuclear Twilight and ask about it, I usually tell people that it's the biggest downer in the world. In the last page it says that it was made after visiting the Hiroshima Peace Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. One of the first moments that I shared with Mako's family was at the spot in Hiroshima where only 300 meters above, the bomb exploded. Her father made sure I knew the importance of the spot. It hit me like the moon crashing into the Earth. I couldn't shake the dread for a while and I had to somehow work it out of my system.

Nuclear Twilight was that catharsis.

I made this book when I was mainly working in my old C++ Graphical Programming manual, so there's a ton of text all around the images. Sometimes the text helped the story at almost a scary level. I don't do too much of this style anymore, I work in this manner when my main focus is illustration though.

The main focus of this book was how shitty I felt that as a nation we had done this. There's a ton of stuff that our American history books don't tell us about the choice to drop the bomb. Like, the fact that it was never debated whether or not it was going to get dropped, it had been carefully planned and cities were off limits to fighter bombers. We wanted the cities to be pristine so that we could later evaluate the damage in the clearest manner, but... that's another discussion for when I return to Ukashima in 2011 and wrap up that whole project. There should be a new Processing after that...

Now and then

2010-11-14T01:12:00.000+09:00

I've had some good conversations about nostalgia.

In my opinion, nostalgia is a great thing. It's a longing for something from the past. I've talked with people who hate it, like it's a bad memory from their past. I always wondered, "What's so wrong about processing your past in the present?"

When I was a kid, I used to be absolutely obsessed with Transformers. They were these amazing things that were way cooler than Hot Wheels, they weren't soldiers killing real people like G.I. Joe and technology was really appealing to me. My older brothers, had some Transformers, but it was mainly this thing that was already in the past me by the time I knew that I loved them. I would search at garage sales and always hope that I would find one. When I broke my arm when I was 4, I wasn't allowed to play soccer that summer, so all I did was draw and draw and draw.

While cleaning out my parent's basement, I found stacks of old drawings. This inspired me to reflect upon my current ideas and wonder why they were so appealing. So I made a few drawings to process that:

As a kid, I loved the stories that surrounded these characters. I was so interested in their imaginary world, that I would draw the characters in all kinds of imaginary places. I was interested in the idea of them.

When I grew older, I become more fascinated in the connection between the imaginary world and the real product that was being sold. When it comes down to it, it's a product. I love how different the final product was from the characters that would show up on the TV and in comics. I love how blocky and non function the toys are, especially compared to my ideas of them when I was a kid.

I made tons of these drawings as a kid:

When I found these old drawings in the basement of my folks place, I had some moments of nostalgia. I wondered what it was that I found so interesting and inspiring about these toys and characters.

Sometimes, it feels like it was the amazing illustrations that went along with them that could take a child and sculpt a whole different world in their minds.

Sometimes, it felt like it was the individual characters that had an amazing writer named, Bob Budianksy, who took something as foreign as transforming vehicles and robots and turned them into characters that were relatable and unique.

It might have been the way that these characters transcended different kinds of media, like cartoons, comics, books, illustrations, cards and toys.

It might have been the sheer volume of how many different characters were created.

It might have been the reflections from ancient myths that existed in their creation.

Even may have even been as simple as their inspiring design.

What I really think it is, is reflected in this drawing made when I was no older than 3. Maybe even 2. It's favorite drawing that I've ever made. I can't think of a way to reduce this any further to convey that this is a Transformer who reflects the image of man.

To me, this is what nostalgia is all about. I was super inspired by these toys and characters and I'm grateful for all of the people who put their heart and souls into creating them. I whole heartedly accept this nostalgia.

Lonely house artist

2010-11-10T09:26:00.000+09:00

I've been lucky to have a bit of time to post these mornings. Usually, I wake up, make Mako's lunch, might do the laundry, and then drink coffee. Everyday I get a little bit closer to feeling like a lonely housewife. I've even got dinner ready by the time Mako gets home, sometimes the food even gets cold because she's working late at work.

The rest of the time is mine. Sometimes I get to sketch, but I mainly focus on two things.

The first, is to study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. There's 5 levels, and 1 is the most advanced. Level 1 is the goal. I already feel really comfortable speaking, reading and writing Japanese, but there's always further to go. I have a strong sense of civic responsibility, so acutely learning the language and contributing to the culture is really important to me.

The second, is to work on my new book. It involves a doctor. That's all I'm saying. Hopefully pages by 2011.

Time to utilize that time between laundry and dinner.

My NWBA hat gives me special powers...

2010-11-06T09:34:00.001+09:00

A week before returning to Japan, my brother left for Italy. Now, many know my brother, Ian, but if you don't I should explain that he's a professional wheelchair basketball player. Right now, he's in Rome playing pro wheelchair ball like some kind of gladiator.

Before he left, we were sorting through all of the stuff he was leaving behind. I saw this hat and immediately requested to have it.

It's a special day for this artist, 25 years ago on November 6th, 1985, I was born. When I was 8, my brother had a basketball tournament somewhere in the boonies in Minnesota. It was also my birthday. So, my family took me to a Pizza Hut where we celebrated my birthday. I received a Transformers Generation 2 Tank Megatron. (Steve Lieber has some really funny stories about this toy) I loved it, but the real present was that I began my love of wheelchair basketball.

I was really lucky to have spent a few summers in the company of some of the most inspiring people that I'd ever met.

Now, we need to put aside all of that bullshit that people think about someone in a wheelchair overcoming a disability. That's not what this is about. That sympathy never helped anyone. This is about olympic level athletes and the influence they had on me.

When I was younger, I didn't have the skill to feel comfortable enough to begin drawing something that was so close to me. So, when I was older, I returned again briefly to do some sketching and drawing. Most of the first series is done in the University of Whitewater Wisconsin, the mecca of wheelchair basketball. Seriously, olympic level basketball is commonplace there. Everyday, 7 games.

The Whitewater Warhawks Wheelchair Basketball team practices in a gym called Roseman. I started drawings here to just get used to drawing wheelchairs and their equipment. This next wheelchair belongs to Matt Scott, who's now playing pro in Turkey.

I was super bummed when they told me that the only two days after I got there, that they would all be leaving for a Olympic training camp in Alabama. Well, it just wasn't meant to happen this time. I wasn't about to ask all of the players for an hour or so to do a drawing of each one. So, I went to as many practices as I could and did tons of sketching then.

I drew these little gesture guys while they were playing, and while they were making fun of me for not playing. Sometimes they wouldn't have even numbers and they'd get me to play. I am only decent at wheelchair basketball for about the first 10 minutes that I play, then my skinny noodle arms get tired and all I'm good for is blocking someone. That's not even skill, I'm just tall.

I also wear baseball batting gloves when I play. I get so much shit for that. I used to play often during the summer, but my hands became nothing but blisters. These guys don't even get blisters anymore. They have hands that could smack a gorilla and make him act right. The example that I tell people to demonstrate how important what it feels like to play wheelchair ball is this: You're biking downhill at 16mph and you decide to stop your tires, not with brakes, but with your hands.

So, everyone left for the Olympic training camp and I had a few more adventures in Wisconsin that I'll address later in the post. However, about a year later, I got to revisit drawing wheelchair basketball players. This time, it was with a team that my brother and his good friend, Mike Bauler, coached into multiple championships: The Minnesota Courage Center Rolling Timberwolves.

I drew this fellah, John, while he was subbing out during a scrimmage. I bet he was dying to get back into the game.

This next player, Guthrie, is a monster on the court. That super thick neck is no exaggeration. I kept looking back to the drawing and him just to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting the size of the neck. You basically have to cheat to stop this guy.

Ziggy! Again, drawn while on the bench during the scrimmage. I had seen him about a week before with a David Beckham looking mohawk. I was really looking forward to drawing it. Maybe next time...

I had played in a few pick up games at Courage Center with some of the older Minnesotan Basketball players and younger Rolling Wolves. Rose was luckily on my team. I was mocked one time about playing wheelchair ball, when my buddy, Jeremy Campbell, said that watching me play ball was like watching poetry in motion. Meaning, I'm not good at ball handling. (I'm a soccer player) It's true though. So, during the pick up games at Courage Center, I'd often dish the ball to Rose to finish what I couldn't and score us a bucket. I affectionately called her "Buckets."

I made most of these sketches in a sketchbook that I display at cons, so maybe a few of you have seen them. These sketches were made after everyone left for the Olympic training camp. I had gone to Madison with some friends and walked State Street and ate sushi.

While there, my brother and his two friends, Meah and Machiko, decided that, after I got back from the bathroom, it'd be funny to not speak to me the whole time. I kept asking, "What's so funny?" So, I drew what I thought of them. The next image is the layout of a room of a bar that I was in. I got a lot of shit for that too.

On the left side, is the famous Roseman water fountain. There is something honestly amazing about Roseman water. It's an amazing feat of human engineering that every other water fountain around it tastes terrible, but this tastes like spring water. Perhaps the best water that I've ever tasted. Ask around.

If you look at the drawing above and to the right and the drawings below, you'll see some drawings done by Jeremy Campbell and I. I had never know about the way that someone could write boy and draw a boy. I loved it. We continued on it the best 8th grade manner that we could below.

This leads me to the hat I'm wearing as I write this now. NWBA National Champions 2007. I wear this hat all the time, and it does make me feel like I have special powers. Whenever I put it on, I remember all of the times I spent with these boys. It also makes me think of my love for wheelchair basketball. It is a foundational love that I've had ever since I received Megatron for my 8th birthday at that Pizza Hut.

It is a huge source of inspiration to me and an example of how to live. On my birthday, I wanted to talk about how I approach my ideas and how they are born. I think, sometimes, you need a hand full of blisters to really get to something good.

Prism People

2010-11-04T09:50:00.000+09:00

These are the painted figures that I've mentioned in previous posts. I was actually inspired to make the robots after making these little guys. I wanted to make a set of figures that were as simple as possible and make a comic to accompany them which would make the characters of the figures very complex.

I penciled all 128 pages of the comic, but in the end decided that my heart was really in the drawing and not in being my own little toy company. Where would the time come to ink and color and make multiples of a 128 page comic?

I've had a good friend of mine offer to help me finish the project, but I just couldn't commit to a large project like this after making my decision to focus on illustration and drawing. I was happy just knowing that I did write 128 pages of comics that did make the characters more complex and that I did make a set of 8 of them.

I call them Prism People.

Baby White - I think of light being a child compared to the darkness of space, and Baby White acted as such.

Yellow - Yellow was the intellectual with ego to spare.

Orange - A very delicate actress who performs plays that Blue writes.

Red - Harsh and emotional, often acting out irrationally.

Purple - The expressive artist caught between others' relationships.

Blue - The writer who feels he's entitled to expression and acts selfishly causing sadness.

Green - The man in the middle keeping delicate friendships together.

Mama Black - The calm and collected Mother who has seen it all.

Here are the thumbnails for all 128 pages of Prism People. Take a closer look to see the stage where Orange acts out Blue's play at the beginning. By the end, Blue has chosen to use Purple in his next play, instead of Orange. This causes the balance in their community to sway and relationships amongst everyone are tested.

These are the houses of the Prism People. I tried to make the houses based off of the shapes and patterns that I chose to use in the Prism People's designs.

Baby White to Mama Black.

Mama Black to Baby White.

While making these figures, I was in pretty rough times in my life. I was already living off of nothing and multiple clients were jerking me around about payment, one of my brothers was recovering from cancer surgery and it felt like no one believed in me. I even had a very close person in my life straight up laugh in my face about my goals in life.

When times like this happen and you know that you've got something inside of you that needs to express itself, it makes itself known in the art. Prism People was about how a community of people move on and positively grow when faced with change because of artistic expression.

I was told by a wonderful professor of mine at MCAD, Kenji Akagawa, that if even one person believes in you, then you are lucky. Sometimes, that person is you.

Nano Books

2010-11-02T08:34:00.001+09:00

Here's another part of the Nano line of stuff I was intending to put out a while ago. These images were actually made into a little tiny books. I got to show them to a few people at Stumptown 2010, but never did sell them. Again, the city series is of North East Minneapolis.

I found something a little bit closer to my heart that I had to work on and the Nano stuff went by the wayside. I still need to post images of the little painted figures that were part of the Nano line too...

Modern Shark Rox

2010-11-01T09:54:00.000+09:00

I've been following these boys for a while now. Modern Shark is a collective of New York based musicians. They put out a ton of free music and make hip hop minus the guns and bitches. I have heard them rap about using a harpoon though.

Nano Robo

2010-10-30T13:10:00.001+09:00

About 6 months ago, I spent about 2 months designing and producing toys for various projects of mine. I made prototype robots like these fellahs and some other painted figures that I'll have to post soon too. Before returning to Japan, I made 5 different robots based on the same design using patterned paper and pieces of wood.

I call them Nano Robos. Each one is about 2 inches tall.

The original prototype was much more crude but it still functioned. I put it away for a while to do some commercial jobs and when I came back to it I was able to add a few improvements. The original prototype had a rigid spine and neck, while the new version has a torso that rotates around the spine and the head rotates around the shoulders. It's basically made out of a lower half and upper half, with the upper half rotating on the lower. They're quite sturdy too.

I also gave the green design guns.

Team Green wins!

I've debated selling these online, but can't justify spending the time. Drawing is really where my heart lies. I just happen to be the son of an engineer so sometimes I can't help my love of design. I've made a couple other types of toys like these along with the painted figures. Maybe if I can find a scanner I'll post some of the 128 page trading card-sized comic that goes with the painted figures.

New Drawings and the 2010 MCAD Art Sale

2010-10-28T22:05:00.000+09:00

I've been saving an update to this blog for a while now. I've been crazy busy with settling back into living in Japan and finishing up a lot of commissions and a set of 25 drawings of Minnesota.

Some of the 25 drawings were made while up north by Ely, they mainly deal with the flora of the north woods. The other 20, were made mostly in North East Minneapolis, a place that I called home for 2009 and 2010.

During the process of making these, I was investigated by a wolf, approached by mormons who told me to go to the website and had many early mornings drinking coffee with a great friend in North East Minneapolis. I'll truly always be nostalgic for North East and the great people who live there.

This set was originally made for the 2010 MCAD Artsale, however a very dear mentor of mine sympathized with my want to not sell the original images, on the other hand, we both understood my want to visit the dentist.

Just before returning to Japan, I had to decide whether or not it was the drawings or the dentist. I hate to say that I kept the drawings. I really wanna go see the dentist, but I felt so guilty after selling my series of animal drawings last year at the 2009 MCAD Artsale.

So, this year I'll be selling some posters of Star Wars characters, colored versions of my animal brush drawings and a Megatron poster. Pick one up if you get a chance! The Artsale is a great way to help the starving student artist community in Minneapolis!

I might be putting these images into book form with a few others that I haven't gotten to scanning yet. I wish drawings scanned themselves. Seriously, it's 2010 and my images don't scan themselves. This is not the future I dreamed of.

I also made some small toy robots... photos up next time.

MCAD Artsale 2010

2010-09-14T04:45:00.001+09:00

It's the most futuristic sounding MCAD Artsale to date. Here's a taste of the stuff that I'm getting ready for it. I'll probably be leaving for Japan before the sale, so it's all gotta get ready before I take off. I'm going to miss doing portraits. I really loved meeting all of the fun people and drawing some people multiple years in a row!

I'm in a pretty transitional time in my life, so it's been hard to put time into scanning and sharing my work these days. A lot of stuff is hush-hush too, but there's some fun stuff I'll share soon. Promise.

Omega Supreme

2010-07-30T02:47:00.000+09:00

While drawing with my buddy, Ric, I decided to go a little nostalgic and draw a Transformer toy. I like drawing the toys because they're always so akward and boxish. This is a toy that was like a foot tall and turned into a tank, a battle station and a rocket. My 8 year old self is going crazy. The toy's name is pretty sweet too: Omega Supreme.

Married!

2010-07-23T06:21:00.000+09:00

On July 17th, 2010, I married a wonderful girl named, Mako. We're very happy and excited to spend our lives together. We'll be going to Japan in about a month and half to work and live there for the next few years. Thanks to everyone who made it to our big day and shared it with us! We feel so lucky to have friends that make us smile and feel so humble!

Kids Again

2010-06-23T09:20:00.000+09:00

More kids in snowsuits, getting ready for the next big project.

Meow

2010-06-22T11:43:00.000+09:00

Just did a sketch painting of a cat to get ready for an upcoming commission.

Kids Plus Plus

2010-06-14T23:17:00.000+09:00

I'm working on a new project with an amazing script. I've been kept busy doing the thumbs and breakdowns, but I took some time to do some quick sketching and inking to get a feel for the illustrative qualities of the characters and mood.

Urd, Ard and Bar

2010-06-11T05:53:00.000+09:00

They's dumb.

Momma Nature

2010-06-10T09:08:00.000+09:00

Good Minnesotan 4!

2010-06-05T02:50:00.000+09:00

The 2dCloud Studio is up to it again with their 4th Good Minnesotan! They have really stepped up their game this time with a Kickstarter.com account to gather funds and offer sweet prizes to all of those who donate. I offered a small limited edition print of my monkey as a prize to those of donate $15 or more!

My story for the GM4 is an experimental abstract sequence called, "The White Dot."

After SpringCon 2010

2010-05-20T03:52:00.000+09:00

I've been busy shifting gears since SpringCon is over now. I had a great time with Ed Choy Moorman, Eric Schuster and Mako. I sat next to Anna Bongiovanni, Evan Palmer, Renny Kissling and at one time Doug Mahnke.

Mako took a few photos for me. Starting with this one...

I have no idea who this is.

Terry Beatty, Private Investigator. Make sure to check out his Darkseid versus Orion.

My friend good friend, Andrew, brought along another friend of mine, Tommy. I'm drawing him a robot in his sketchbook. Tommy has donated quite a few fighting robots drawings to my collection of awesome drawings.

My whole row of fellow Minneapolis artists did sketches in Tommy's sketchbook too. Thanks goes out to Ed Choy Moorman, Eric Schuster, Evan Palmer, Anna Bongiovanni, Renny Kissling, Mako, Will Schar, Terry Beatty and Jeff Parker for their contributions!

Tommy and I are actually collaborating on a project for Zine Fest. Watch out.

I hate to say that this might be my last SpringCon for a while, since it looks like I'll be living in Japan within the next year. Next up is Zine Fest with Dan Olson, then the Minneapolis Indie Expo, MIX and finally Madison Zinefest 2010 in October.

I've gotta say thanks to all of the amazing people who came by and picked up a book or a poster. I'll be posting some new work soon. I'm in the middle of quite a few projects. Once I finish those up, I'll be working on my personal projects again.

And now, some parting sketches.

Megatron pencils

SpringTron

2010-05-13T21:50:00.000+09:00

So. SpringCon is coming up this weekend, the 15th and 16th at the State Fair Grounds. I've been working a little slower since doing that whole driving for 4 days with my brother to Portland thing, so I decided to draw Megatron. I also finished some other Star Wars inks in Portland and I've included those too.

Stumptown Photos

2010-04-30T23:29:00.001+09:00

So, my table mate, Ed Choy Moorman, found one of our usual very sensual photos from Stumptown on the internet, check it out here. I pondered whether or not there were any other photos like this... and well, there weren't any as sensual as those ones, but there surely are photos where I look really weird across the board. Let's enjoy some of them shall we?

Here's myself on the right, with Joshin Yamada on the left. I had a ton of fun chatting with this fine gentleman. No joke, I didn't have this cat vest before coming to Stumptown. I told a guy that I was really jealous of his vest, and without any hesitation he took it off and gave it to me. The least I could do was trade him a poster for the vest. Badass. Watch out SpringCon, the vest is coming. Thanks goes to Bill Mudron for the photo!

Here's my Superman-esque looking brother on the right. He is actually constructed entirely out of uranium and is worth trillions of dollars.

The PDX Pipeline was nice enough to photograph some stuff from my Borland C++ Visual Graphics Programming Manual. I'm working to finish the book sooner rather than later.

Next year, I'm looking to bring a camera and also not look so weird. The vest will be a permanent addition though, until it finds someone worthy to have it again. A sweet beautiful cycle.

Post-Stumptown

2010-04-28T10:46:00.000+09:00

My brother and I just finished the 30 hour car ride home from Portland. We had a great time at the Stumptown Comics Festival. I'm absolutely exhausted after the drive, but I wanted to take some time to give a huge thanks to all of the people who supported us in getting out there and making it a great time.

So, a huge thanks goes out to Alison, Sheri and Mike Stump for housing Ian and I, and for all of the great laughs and the ketchup!

I had some amazing people stop by my table and help make Processing++ a success and actually sell out of it. I would like to thank Bill Mudron, and Joshin Yamada for picking up some books and making me feel so welcome at Stumptown!

Also a huge thanks goes out to Asif and Paul for their great conversation and support! You guys were a blast!

I wouldn't have even known about Stumptown or figured out the difference between my ass from my head without the amazing support from the members of the Periscope Studio.

Last but not least, Ed Choy Moorman, has continually been a phenomenal table mate and friend who I look forward to tabling with at The Minneapolis Indie Expo in August!

Portland Wars

2010-04-22T01:56:00.000+09:00

I'm about to jet out the door to leave for Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon, on April 24th and 25th. I'll be driving out there with my brother and sharing a table with Ed Choy Moorman. Alison Stump is being incredibly kind and letting us stay with her for the trip, seriously, thank you Alison! For Sumptown I did a lot of Star Wars stuff, some color animal posters and a little zine with Ed! Alright, I'm running out the door. See you in Portland.

This will be a small little thank-you for anyone who buys stuff from both of our tables. Bless em.

Flyswatter

2010-04-04T12:55:00.000+09:00

I was recently asked about how my work influences other aspects of my life.

Has my work ever turned cathartic? Yep.

Most of the great work that I'm attracted to has been cathartic. My favorite painter of all time, Rembrandt, is a great example of that. He painted so many self portraits in a time when people wanted an illustrated painting from the bible or a painting of themselves, not a painting of the artist! Who wanted a portrait of someone else in 1650? No one! He painted because he needed to paint. Towards the end of his life he really had nothing else but painting. Sure did make some great paintings.

This image revolves around some people I've observed, roughly two years ago, who literally had to do nothing to help someone, but instead they chose to actively hinder someone. That drives me crazy! This goes out to all people who are dealing with that special terrible someone.

Work

2010-03-27T07:12:00.000+09:00

I've been working quite a bit lately and it's been keeping me at the drawing table. I've got some conventions coming up, so I've felt like I have a lot of short term goals to strive towards lately. I'm really excited to be going to Stumptown, April 24th and 25th in Portland, with my New Jersey/Chicago buddy, Ed Choy Moorman. Ed and I should also be sharing a table together at the upcoming Minneapolis Indie Expo (MIX), on August 21st.

Between Stumptown and MIX, I'll be at the Minneapolis Zinefest 2010, July 10th, sharing a table with my fellow Conspiracy Cartoonist, Zine Supreme-ist and assistant editor of the Michelle Bauchman comic, False Witness, Dan Olson. Then in October on the 2nd, I'll be at the Madison College Library for Madison's Zinefest.

Commercially, I've been designing and illustrating for a band called Vessels for our Ghost, VFOG. They've been keeping me busy illustrating a Triple Fold CD Insert for their new album, "Inscriptions," and designing their whole identity and CD graphics.

I illustrated some comics for Sigrid Ellis, including Cool Kids and Life Interrupts, while also illustrating pages and designing characters for Ted Anderson on the projects Orphans, Being Human and Dream Geography.

These projects ranged from a whole 40 page book to character designs and test pages for a proposal. Here's a whole hodgepodge of images from those projects.

First up is Life Interrupts

I began working on Orphans around November of '09 but never showed any of it, here it is.

Right after Orphans, I began working on Cool Kids.

I also did illustrations for a card deck with the characters from Joe Gillette's Party Food. Eric Schuster also did cards for the deck and organized a whole roster of artists to contribute as well.

I've got some other stuff on the horizon for the cons that I still shouldn't talk about, but there will be some updates soon enough.

Megatron at the gunshow

2010-02-27T02:29:00.000+09:00

So, my buddy gives me a job setting up and taking down tables at a gun show. Yes, a gun show. I'm not a fan of guns, but I do think that Megatron is one of the best villains ever. While other characters turn into a car, a truck or an F-22, Megatron turns into a gun. He was designed to kill.

While this isn't the exact gun that Megatron was designed from, it is a Walther, like Megatron. The more I think about his design, the more I love how conhesive it is. Not to mention, that he wasn't even a Transformer at first. Megatron was a toy from another toy line in Japan called, "Microman." The toy actually shot bebes and there was a toy based off of a Browning pistol too.

Megatron became the character that he is because of a writer named Bob Budiansky, who designed the personalities of the Transformers. In short, Bob Budiansky created some great characters. Also, in short, I got paid for taking down tables and drew a gun.

Ol Dusty Trail

2010-02-20T11:59:00.000+09:00

While I was in Japan in the summer of 2008, I was lucky enough to meet up with some people that I hadn't met for years, namely members of the Suzaka Rotary Club in Nagano, Japan. I had two different host families that had generous Rotarians as members, but there were also people who just made sure that I was having a good time. One of these people is pictured below, Nagata-san.

Fire and Thunder Swords

2010-02-11T04:01:00.000+09:00

I did some character drawings for Steven Newell's animation. The characters are Steven's and the animation should have a book that has more drawings from other artists of the same characters. I look forward to it. I had a lot of fun drawing the ant eater that has a whole in him.

War Machines

2010-02-07T04:20:00.001+09:00

A few years ago I did some illustrations for a band in the Minneapolis Hardcore scene called Vessels for Our Ghost. It was a bunch of fun and one of the best jobs I've had to date. I'm doing more work for the band plus designing their whole identity. I'm having more fun this time around. These are the images I that I cooked up yesterday for the album art.

M1 Abrams Tank

F-22 Raptor

Chopper

Battleship

Frozen Finger

2010-01-31T03:23:00.000+09:00

I spent some time outside in the snow again. This time it was during four ridiculously cold sessions outside around the 331 Club in NE Minneapolis drawing the nice scenes.

I love drawing outside and from life and had always wanted to do some drawing outside in the snow. Well, during these sessions I had to frequently stop to warm my fingers and make sure I still had toes. Anyway, here they are. Thanks for looking.

Forest Lake Fishes

2010-01-23T02:00:00.000+09:00

I really enjoyed making this small diagram for Forest Lake Pets about how to safely put your new fish into it's new home.
Remember kids, only you can prevent fish tragedy. Always roll down the top of the bag, add an extra cup of water from the new fish tank, and float the bag in the new tank for 15 minutes.

Snow Drawing

2010-01-07T08:01:00.000+09:00

Walking around in the snow and drawing in the somewhat
nicer afternoon weather in Minneapolis.

Thumbscapes

2009-11-20T13:44:00.000+09:00

I'm very interested in inherent design. This means that an inherent trait of a phenomenon will give a designer an inherently matching quality which can be expanded upon and designed. Now that I've lost everyone, let me say that I made landscapes out of my thumb prints.

Processing Thumbs

Sticker Logo Illustrations

2009-11-17T16:35:00.000+09:00

During Halloween I drew portraits and sold books at a show called Tripolar, in Rogers, MN. Shortly before the show I finished coloring a piece done for the owners of Mix Beat Productions and Sub Sonic Sound, two of the companies who organized Tripolar. Each company received transforming robots designed to match their company's original logo and image.

Processing Mixbots

Conceptual Sketch

Mix Beat Productions - Blender

Sub Sonic Sound - Amplifier

Color Mixed Beat Productions Sticker Images

Colored Sub Sonic Sound Sticker Images

These two robots should be printed on stickers and found all over the city some time soon. Thanks to Mix Beat Productions and Sub Sonic Sound for one of the funnest gigs I've had yet.

MCAD Art Sale 2009 Pieces

2009-11-16T11:40:00.000+09:00

This year for the 2009 MCAD Art Sale all of my pieces follow a natural theme of mostly animals with one sea shell. They're all for sale when the sale starts on Friday the 20th and last until Saturday the 21st. I've always wanted to draw all of these animals and had never made it a priority until the pieces were due for the sale. It was a joy making these.

Processing Animals

Shark

Cheetah

Snake

Hippooptamus

Iguana

Gorilla

Sea Turtle

Rhinoceros Beetle

Sea Shell

Frog

Goldfish

Elephant

Betta Fish

Monkey

Rhinoceros

Red Elk

Crab

Giraffe

I'll also be doing free portraits at the sale on the first floor on Saturday morning.

A Look at Life

2009-11-14T08:28:00.000+09:00

After painting the planets my investigation felt like it was lacking something. It made me think about life and it's connection to space. The Sun fires life into our space and the Milky Way is our Sun's house. Life is systems within systems and one house within another.

Processing Life

Our Galaxy

Our Sun

Welcome to Processing

2009-11-13T08:43:00.000+09:00

It's a new start. I have been working on many new projects and look forward to sharing them with the web community. Between self publishing and selling my art book, Processing, to putting hours and hours into a project for Ted Anderson, I have a lot of explaining to do.

The term, "Processing," has always been very important to me. It's that balance between conceptualizing and construction that's always interested me. A year ago, I spent a week processing space and geometry. A series of paintings followed.

Processing Planets

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

I was never a boy scout.

2009-10-14T02:10:00.000+09:00

The Pink Hobo Gallery in North East Minneapolis held a show with artists making pine wood derby cars and I submitted a wooden transformer I named, "Super Goformer." I had a great amount of help making the car with my buddy Jeff Nygaard. We both had a pretty good laugh when we saw it on Fox News. Poor Mr. Goformer, he wasn't goformed properly and he'll always be laughed at by the other goformers...

I heard that the show is going on the road to another place, so I'll have to wait a little bit longer to get Super Goformer back.

Fallcon '09 was great! I had so many great experiences this year and honestly need to thank all of the wonderful people who stopped at my table! I was very lucky this year with sales and kind people. Fallcon is also all volunteers, so thanks to them too!

For those of you who are looking to get ahold of me after Fallcon please e-mail: tallseanlynch@gmail.com

Update presented by Spider-Man

2009-06-25T03:14:00.000+09:00

Hello. Things have been luckily crazy busy.

Moving. Printing books. Jobs. Spider-Man...

Many many new projects over the horizon. Ravens. Robots. British Robots. Wheelchairs.

When I fully move into the 2d Cloud studio, I'll be doing web work for them and myself. Books will actually be able to be bought online.

Last, but not least, Comics Worth Reading was kind enough to stop at my table at Mocca and chat me up about programming and Robots and write a bit about it for their time at Mocca!

Mocca!

2009-06-04T18:55:00.000+09:00

Work has been luckily keeping me busy and Mocca is calling. I hop on a train tomorrow with Mako and arrive in New York on the 5th. Mocca is June 6th and 7th in New York City at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan.

I'll be in good company at Mocca tabling with The Good Minnesotans (Raighne and Megahn Hogan), Nic Breutzman, and Ed Moorman! If you're in the area or are a Minnesotan living in NYC, come out and see our table! We have all kinds of books ranging from the Xeric Award winning Ghost Comics (Edited by Ed Moorman, Yearbooks (Nic Breutzman = pictures, Raighne Hogan = colours), Manny Plus Bigfoot (Megahn Hogan) and my newest jib jab called Processing.

You know I wrote this because I used the word jib jab. No terminator voice modulation here. While were on it, Terminator: Salvation was only acceptable because Terminator 3 suckedddd.

I speak only in Eggs of 3 Minutes

2009-02-28T05:29:00.000+09:00

I was recently at a book fair in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center. It was an amazing show and I was blown away at all of the quality work that is produced in the Cities. 3 Minutes Egg was walking around doing interviews with artists and showing off all of the goods. I have a segment at the end of the video on the February 26th post. Enjoy!

Umm yeeeaaaahhhhhh...

2008-12-11T11:39:00.000+09:00

... that's right.

Jib Jab

2008-12-01T14:41:00.000+09:00

While up late drawing, these two little guys were born.

In a fight, I think that Kahn Kerr would win, but I really want the shaman monkey to win in my heart of hearts.

Too Good to be True

2008-11-01T03:11:00.000+09:00

This is real folks. I've gotta thank my pops for finding this in the paper.

It's been hectic getting my website ready and getting art made for the MCAD 2008 Art Sale. Check out my newly designed and updated website at tallsean.com

Soon, I'll be back on that comic wagon getting personal projects and project proposals ready to submit and sell. I've been doing some collaborations too, when those are ready for the public I'll post some images here. Take care and thanks for looking.

Post Apocalyptic Nuclear Fallout

2008-10-27T16:55:00.001+09:00

I'm doing some final touch ups on the comic that I worked on during the 24 Hour Comic Day, Nuclear Twilight, and I thought I'd share a page:

Rocketfuel Fall Christmas Teaser

2008-10-26T07:56:00.000+09:00

It's been a while.

First, I've got to say thank you to everyone who read and commented on my blog when I was doing my shenanigans in Ukashima. The support and interest from everyone means the world to me. I learned so much, still remember everyone and have all of the art securely fastened inside of a manila envelope so that it may age like fine wine.

Secondly, be proud to have lived through the worst president ever.

Third, I've got quite a bit to report on, including returning from J-Town, selling books and meeting people at Fallcon, participating in 24 Hour Comic Day and beginning my new sketch adventure in The Borland C++ Programmer's Guide to Graphics. All will be revealed soon, but until then enjoy these little treats:

Remember, only you can prevent literacy... forest fires. Thanks for looking.

Suzaka, Hiroshima and Sour Milk

2008-07-23T00:18:00.000+09:00

When I was in Japan as an exchange student from 2002 to 2003 I would walk to Garyu Koen all the time. Recently, when I was back in Suzaka of Nagano Prefecture, I met with every one of my families and people who knew me around town. Every one said one common thing, "He would always go for long walks at night to Garyu Koen." The name Garyu means "Sleeping Dragon," and Koen means, "Park." We all know that the 1998 Winter Olympics were in Nagano, so there's more than enough snow here, and when it snows at Garyu Koen, the small mountain within it looks like a dragon sleeping in a blanket of snow.

There are two bridges in Garyu Koen, one is pictured further down this post, but the one shown above is a smaller red bridge. I drew this from the larger white bridge which transverses the center of the lake at the park.

It had been roughly 5 years since coming back to the park. I noticed that there were very large amounts of giant koi and turtles swimming in the lake that weren't there before. I laughed when Mako started clapping, claiming that it would attract the fish and turtles. I teased her in English and then the two Japanese business men who were right next to us started clapping and the fish and turles started to show up. Mako won.

Here's a quick sketch of the white bridge at Garyu Koen:

I wished that I would have had more time to spend at Garyu Koen, but when you live in someone else's house, you have to obide by their rules and the man who let me live with him, Nodaira-san, mentioned in my previous post, is a very bossy person. In fact, he is the boss of two companies in Suzaka. In fact, it's hard to go somewhere and find someone who doesn't know of him or owe him a favor. I find it strange when I can get into a taxi and simply say, "Nodaira," and they know where to take me. He is a very busy man who always used the imperative form of verbs to tell people what to do.

He understands interesting things and has acquired many interesting things, yet he did not know what it meant to simply go to the park and enjoy it and because of that, I was not allowed time to enjoy it. It's a tricky situation when you want freedom yet depend on others... The only real thing I can say at the end of the day is, "Thank you."

I left Suzaka on the 18th to stay with Mako's aunt and uncle and their ten year old child, Yuutarou. I saw this genius playing with an abacus and if you have not seen someone skillfully use an abacus, I recommend that you search for it on YouTube immediatly.

We were both a little shy to meet each other and talking to each other was hard at the beginning. So, I thought maybe I could get to know him better by drawing Ultraman for him.

After this drawing we spent the next couple hours playing 2000 J-League Soccer on his Play Station One. Oh, the nostalgia! We played the hell out of a game that is literally translated as the "Game of Life," which is exactly like the American version except with spooky Japanese photo realistic paintings all over the board and many different interchangeable game boards and parts. He always won. We played every night.

If anyone reading this is familiar with the cartoon and comic character, Doraimon, they may be familiar with the spinoff baseball comic call Doraibase, as in Doraimon Baseball. I drew Yuutarou and his younger cousin, Ryohei, each a drawing of Doraibase. Again, I've gotta say that I love the kids.

When I was waiting at his aunts house I found a pair of guardian dog statues that I mistook for Komainus. I love the textures, the shapes, the rhythms and everything about them. I could spend a life time drawing them. How ironic that I didn't have enough time to draw the other one...

Mako and I had a whole day to spent in Hiroshima. It was hot and filled with really depressing sights. When I first in Hiroshima, about 2 months ago, I stood at the exact spot that the bomb was dropped. When I returned this time, I spent roughly 3 hours in the Hiroshima Peace Park Museum reading captions, looking at photos, walking into exhibits explaining nuclear warfare and it's consequences and wholly regretting that I am an American.

In America, we say that we dropped the bomb to end the war sooner, but there were many more reasons that we dropped the bomb and many details left out of our explanations of history. For example, Japan was the initial target from the get go, yet, not one city was established as the target. So, the US and Britian, narrowed the choices down to a few. Routine bombing was not permitted in these cities because if the bomb was to be dropped, they wanted to be able to accurately asses the amount of damage that was dealt. Then when the war was winding down and the US and Britian feared that if they didn't act soon then Russian would also get spoils from Japan, they decided to bomb Japan without warning to prevent the Russians from also having a say in Japan.

I really wish that everyone could have seen the giant models of the cities and the giant amont of destruction that it caused. One of the remaining buildings was made by a Czech architect and still is standing today. It's called the Atomic Dome:

The modern structure in the back is one of the lights for the Hiroshima Baseball stadium in the background.

In America, I've never met a Jehova's Witness. While in Japan, I've met four. This time, they had incredibily bad timing. While drawing the dome they approach me, seeming like nice interested Japanese women, but soon the conversation turned to converting me into a Jehova's witness just as it started to rain. That rain continued on and off through out the day. Finally when the rain seemed to stop, I started drawing the castle in Hiroshima. It started raining again. I really didn't care though. In fact, it was quite liberating not caring and drawing in the rain. Check it out:

Two days later, I returned to draw Hiroshima Castle on a dead lawn which I was told I couldn't sit on.

The final image of this post is of one of the many people who love to stare at foreigners in Japan. Mako informed me of his gazing eyes and I looked at him and looked away. I repeated until we decided that he was indeed creepy and something should be done. So, I asked her how she felt and she said that she really didn't like him, and that was enough for me. As I drew him, everyone on the train looked at my drawing and then looked at him. Looked at my drawing, then looked at him. My drawing, him. Drawing, him. Just before he got off the train we showed him the drawing and he smiled. Then Mako told him that he shouldn't stare at us like we're in a zoo. It was great to see his smile turn sour with shame.

The final text on this post is some really shitty sad news: It's being discussed and decided upon as I write this as to whether or not my project in Ukashima will be able to continue for too many reasons to count. The problems are as superficial as a George W. Bush speech in places and as complicated as counting grains of salt in other places. I really hope it can continue but it seems like it will have to stop. Find out next post: Same tall time, same tall channel.

Ｎｏｄａｉｒａ！

2008-07-16T18:43:00.000+09:00

I had four host families when I was in Japan as a Rotary Exchange Student from 2002-2003. It's been five years and finally I've come back to see my families again. I've been staying at my fourth host family's house, the Nodaira's, since coming back to my host town, Suzaka. Nodaira-san has been my best model since coming to Japan. He he is:

I'll be back to drawing Ukashima soon. First I'll be making a stop in Hiroshima to see Mako's cousins and hopefully make an appearance at a school to teach a bit of English. I think I'd like to teach them how to use the most versatile word in the English language: shit. They really don't have "swear words" here. I love don't have "swear words" here. I love it.

But more importantly, while in Hiroshima I'll be visiting the WW2 Memorial Park and Museum. I've already been to the exact site where the bomb exploded above the city and it was spine chilling. I feel a pretty large responsiblity to go and pay my respects again.

Peace.

On the Run

2008-07-05T19:20:00.000+09:00

Wordlite:

Sketched from the bottom of the Kintaikyo bridge on an overcast day. It was so cloudy that the castle on top of the mountain could barely be seen.

The island of Miyajima and it's gate are considered to be a National and World Treasure. This is one of my favorites from the day Mako's family, my brother and I spent the day there. Tame friendly Deer roam the island too.

This bird is trained to fish for people. It dives into the water, catches a fish in it's mouth, swallows it, then regurgitates it. Then we eat it.

So, Mako's father came into the house and placed this beetle on the floor. I stopped eating my lunch and starting drawing it. They're called Kuwagata and are one of Japanese children's first pets. He now lives in an empty sushi try full of scraps of paper and a bit of honey on a paper towel.

Ameripanese

2008-07-02T01:03:00.000+09:00

Before this post even gets to the guts of it, I've got to share this monkey picture I saved from the trash.

But yeah, it's been a while. Let's clarify some things and begin the updates:

I'm staying with my girlfriend, Mako, and her family, the Homuras. Their house is on the island of Oshima. I'm drawing in a different island called Ukashima where I'm living wth Mako's Grandma and Grandpa. It took quite a while to get back to Ukashima to draw because Grandpa had been sick and is actually still in the hospital. He's soon going to get out and back to maintaining his orange fields. When I did get back to the island the whole island was incredibly busy because of the new fishing season, which I'll explain later. For now, enjoy this next cartoon kid with a healthly dose of your irregularly scheduled blog.

Upon returning to Ukashima, I started out by resuming my portrait hunting. I knew that the people who lived next to Obachan were never there, but that day they were. Upon knocking, I found two old women. This first women was really out going and had recently lost her husband. I drew her right in front of the shrine to him. I really can't tell you why, but she thought that it was very important to talk to me about how sad it was that Bruce Lee died. Yep.

I had to basically yell at the next woman from almost a whisper's distance because she was so deaf. She also was the foreshadowing of the trend of this week: People not wanting me to draw them. I begged her to let me draw her because she was so intriguing to me. She had a wicked sense of humor too. She told me again and again that I couldn't draw her. So, I just started to draw her, and then she became very curious. I think it's my favoirite portrait since beginning this project. After finishing the portrait she was very humble and very happy, almost to tears, because I spent the time to draw her and thought that she was important enough to draw.

It's hard to put my finger on it, but I find that most Japanese women live in a way that they make themselve subordinate to men. I've had many discussions with people about this, and usually the conversation ends as soon as I ask the hard questions. The role of men and the role of women have been well established from a long time ago. I think that Japanese women are getting braver and stronger, but there is still an air of helplessness. I'm all about accepting other cultures and learning what they value and how they think, but I've never felt more alone in my life before this trip to Japan.

In my previous visits, I was trying to learn about Japanese culture and how to act. During this trip, I have the mindset of being an individual seeing other people as individuals and it makes me sad to see how these women have been manipulated since they were very young and since generations before that. I don't even feel American anymore. I feel like an individual.

These next three men are part of the reason why the island was so busy and why I was only able to do 15 portraits in a week. Everyone was so busy helping the fishermen that they didn't have a combination of time and energy to let me draw them for 5 minutes. It's Iwashi fishing season meaning that the fishermen go out fishing at 5 am and the women and their wives work in a factory which packages the fish until roughly noon. Everyone is now tired.

After drawing the two previous ladies I was told that I should head to Taki-nechan's place to eat some Iwashi sashimi, which is a tasty delicacy, and all of the fishermen were in there. Noon thirty. Smoking. Drunk. Noon thirty.

They had just been out for the first day getting Iwashi and they were celebrating the day's catch with the rest of the people helping the fishermen. I know and have drawn most of them. So, when I entered I was welcomed and drew three men. The man on the left was a good friend of Mako's Grand Uncle, and we became good friends over a lot of booze. He was a very funny dude who kept saying, "Michael Jackson. C'mon baby Yeah baby YEAH BABY!" Pure gold.

For one day I decided to switch up the materials that I was using and try some new methods. On this day, I met 10 people. 8 people told me, "no."

On the subject of people telling me, "no," the man in the middle was a reminder of one of the reasons why Ukashima people tell me, "no." So, I draw the man in the middle, I've previously drawn the man's three kids. There's a grandpa, grandma and a mother in the house too. I've met them all. The grandmother won't let me draw her, and she thinks that it's a compliment that she won't let me draw her. In her perspective, she doesn't believe that she's good enough for me to draw her. This is because they value objective cultural good looks so much that she thinks I couldn't possibly see her beauty. Beyond that, it's an even bigger compliment if she doesn't let me draw her family either.

The girl in the middle of the next set was really great. She is a 15 year old girl who I was told was good at drawing cartoons and comics. She draws very well. She also knows that her brother who loves to break stuff and shoot people, dogs, cats, random cars and whatever he fancies with a BB gun, is annoying and not like her. She knows that people from the island aren't like her either. I'm not surprised that she wants to be a comic artist! She had the most conversationally dynamic responses of anyone from the island.

The predeeding drawings were done in the times when no one could be found to draw. People always asked me if I draw scenery and landscapes and I tell them that I do, but I don't draw them now because I'm working on my project of drawing the islands people. Well, after long hot days of walking around the island and not finding anyone I decided to draw what I wanted.

This changed everything.

The people who were genuinely interested in art, seeing their own portraits, foreigners, expanding their island life and the people who were outwardly friendly were quickly drawn. Seriously, within spending 14 days on the island I drew 50 people. That means, finding them, introducing myself and finding the connection between them and myself, talking to them about their lives, usually drinking some coffee or tea with them, finding out connections about why the island is the way it is and the least of all drawing them. Drawing does not take much time, but this is not all about the drawings either.

So when there was a giant increase in shy people, busy people and people straight up telling me, "no," I starting drawing other things. Some of them have something to say about the island, while some of them are simply things that caught my attention.

This is the first of many:

From a bridge over looking some vegetable fields and people farming them, I spotted that truck. That truck must be the most popular vehicle in Japan. Hands down. Further down the post is another drawing of the truck with a larger explanation.

Next up is the location where all of the fish that the fishermen catch goes. It's called Kakoba. Inside are about 20 old ladies who work in a factory that seriously pumps all the fish into the factory via tube.

From this drawing the fishermen's union can be seen on the far left, the fishermen's boats and a few apartments. While I was drawing this, two of my Ukashima Elementary School friends brought me 4 fish that they caught. I donated them to the Ukashima starving cat population.

A sweet bike:

On the way to play Soccer with the kids at Ukashima Elementary School, I saw this bug. It made me think of my buddy Spencer who also appreciates bugs. It has long hairs and because of that is called Kemushi, Hair Bug. It didn't move until I was done drawing it.

So, after playing Soccer with the kids they asked the teacher if I could walk home with them. I was not expecting this, but it was fun catching crabs, playing catch with a baseball and using bamboo leaves as a whistle. They ask really funny questions too. One of them mischeviously asked me if I knew what a "penis" was. He was shocked to hear that it was English. Before leaving on the walk back to the village, I drew this wonderful machine of machines: the Suzaki "Carry."

Like I said, it's the most popular vehicle in Japan. If you come to Japan, you will undoubtly see them every where. This particular vehicle shows a lot about the people of Ukashima. Look at the front: there's no license plate. They could care less. Why? Because there are no police on the island. None. They never come there either. I wish America had more of that. In the back there is a large aparatus that holds water to irrigate the farms.

This truck is at least 20 years old and is still working regardless of the large amounts of rust. The people of Ukashima basically work until they die. If they don't work, they get sick. After they're done working in the factory for 7 hours, they go work in the mountains for another 4 or 5 hours. While it may seem not that impressive at first, they make every single meal by themselves. For an American reader, please consider how many times you eat out per week. Now consider not being able to eat at a restraunt and how much time you save by eating at a restraunt. On Ukashima, I have not yet found a restraunt or something similar.

This next drawing is actually a self portrait. I drew it while standing in the middle of the road while looking at these spherical mirrors that are on most corners so that the drivers can see what's coming around the corner. I once heard my Russian mentor, Natalia, say that a drunk person could drive down an American road because they're so wide.

Once I returned to Oshima to be with Mako's family I showed them my portraits and other drawings which inspired my to draw Mako's mother:

It also inspired Mako's mother to draw me:

Before I said this everything changed when I started drawing things other than people. I continued to draw the things I wanted and I realy enjoy drawing. Since I didn't get the chance to draw many people, when I returned back to Oshima I wanted to draw everything. I began walking around Oshima and making location drawings. I met soooo many people by doing this. The greater thing was that I wasn't out searching for them, but I was found by them.

In the set shown above, while drawing the bottom left location, I was approached by 8 people. One of them walked out of his barber shop, down 3 blocks down the street and began having a conversation with me. He asked quesitons like where I was from, how long I was here, why I can speak Japanese, where am I staying. When I told him that I was staying at the Homura house, he said he knew Mako's father and for me to tell him that he's very good at golf. He also told me that he was an art student and then eventually became a barber because his parents convinced him that he could make no money.

The man came back again, with the art that he made in art school. The man could draw. They were classical drawing studies of still lives and copies of the head of David and such. He told me that he loved Picasso and that the line of 45 degrees is the line that human being really enjoy. I told him that he should read Kandinsky because he's got a lot to say about that. Then he went back to his barber shop.

I was chuckling when he came back a third time holding a puppy in his arms. He wanted to see how the drawing was turning out and I think that he thought the puppy wanted to see it too. His name is Nakano-san and he is awesome. He invited me to come to his barber shop to visit him again and I plan to do just that.

While making the fourth drawing in the set displayed above, the Oshima Elementary School let their students out for the day. Many of the students said a friendly hello to me. Many old ladies walked by. They always wanted to see what I was drawing. I showed an old women my art and she thought that I was giving it away. It broke my heart when I had to tell her that I wasn't giving it to her and that I needed the drawing.

While speaking to the old woman, one 6th grade girl was just kinda lingering around looking down at the ground and I asked her if she was okay and she immediately began asking me questions. I showed her all of the drawings that I had on me, and then I answered more questions for the better part of 20 minutes. I'm usually impatient when I'm drawing because I like to be drawing and not distracted, but I always talk to the kids. They are so important and vital and maybe if I talk to them they'll want to think more artistically and differently about who an artist is. I was flattered when she asked for my autograph. I told her that I wasn't famous, but she said that it jsut wouldn't do without an autograph. I thought that I could sketch something for her, so, I asked her if she liked animals. She said like 20 different animals. I was surprised when she told me that she liked snakes, so I drew her a snake on a piece of newsprint.

She asked if I'd be here tomorrow and I said that I won't be in the same spot, but I'll be drawing and if she can find me I'd be happy to take her along. She said thanks and ran off to her house. She returned in 10 minutes and this time with two of her friends in the 2nd grade. She told them I could draw animals and that I'd draw animals for them. So, I drew one a cat and the other a dog. Then one of the mother's showed up and I chatted with her for a little while until another mother showed up. I'm usually pretty bad about bringing a camera and taking photos, but I asked if I could take their photos and they were happy to comply. Here are those photos:

All three of the girls:

All three girls with their drawings:

All three girls with their mothers:

As soon as I told the mothers that I'd like a photo with them and the kids they started to run but I snapped a quick photo before they could escape. After chatting with them for a little while longer, I discovered that one of the mothers was actually the father of Matsumura-san from Ukashima! He was shown in a previous posting, but here he is again:

Here I am again:

I've been quite a busy boy lately. Like my previous post says, my brother is in Japan with me. We've been traveling and I've got some new stuff from that to be posted soon. Before publishing this post I'd like to say again how great it is to draw and support the kids. It is honestly times like that which remind me why I became an artist in the first place. Peace.

I love me some Star Wars

2008-06-28T21:14:00.000+09:00

I hope you do too. I almost cry when Japanese people tell me that they've never seen Star Wars. I can't think of one thing that I can't relate to Star Wars. Anyway, soon there will be updates ranging from Ukashima portraits to Oshima location drawings. My brother is also coming to Japan tomorrow! Much love.

Kiddies, Sketches and Oshima

2008-06-19T00:01:00.000+09:00

So, top right is my bro Ryan, middle left is Ian and bottom right is your's truly. Even though Ryan has a soccer ball on his shirt, I've gotta brag because I have an elephant on my shirt. I love Elephants. Beyond cute aesthetics, this is actually the photo that I show people when I tell them that I have two brothers and one of them will be coming to Japan. Classic gold.

Getting back to the kiddes, this next set of portraits has two little boys in it. I have never met any children as intersting and as fun as these kids. Their father, who will be drawn on Saturday, drives the ferry going between Oshima and Ukashima, so I talk to him often and was incredibly anxious to draw his family.

The one on the left, Shinji, is in 5th grade and the one on the right, Uta, is in 6th grade. Interestingly, the elementary school only has 12 kids, so both of the 5th and 6th grades are in one class. These boys get along so well and compliment each other prefectly. While drawing Uta, Shinji would put on a circular blue scuba mask and say, "I'm looking at Sean. I'm gonna watch what he's doing." Then hide in a large plastic container with a blanket over it and look at me through the blue scuba mask. We watched Wallace and Grommet cartoons while they were being drawn. They would tell me to watch their favorite part coming up in just a few seconds about every 20 seconds. When the Wallace and Grommet sheep cartoon character named "Sean" came on screen they went wild.

I was so excited when they started to draw me! I wish I had smaller versions of these drawings to keep in my wallet! First up is Shinji's drawing of me:

Next is the drawing Uta did of me:

Before leaving Ukashima I went on a really long walk while it was raining. Carrying an umbrella, I walked for roughly an hour and a half down a road with all sorts of abondoned buildings, construction vehicles and shrines. However, what really grabbed my attention were the crabs! My home base is in Minnesota and I haven't seen crabs until I came to Oshima. They love the rain and were out in full force. I love to watch them and study how they move sideways.

After these drawings were made I came back to Oshima to be with Mako's family for a little while. Mako's momma has a huge interest in English and tries as hard as she can to learn new phrases and Mako makes sure that she gets it right like a Russian Olympic gymnastics coach. During one of these sessions I did some sketching...

I was intending on returning to Ukashima after 3 days so I could continue my project and play soccer with the elementary school kids on Wednesday, but when I called to confirm this with Mako's Grandma she had some sad news for me. Grandpa wasn't eating much and he had go to the hospital tomorrow. There's no hospital on Ukashima so she came to Oshima and Mako and I met here there to give her support. She told us that Grandpa is denying that he's sick and she's just getting a check-up.

I'm intending to go back on Saturday morning. I've got some pictures that I've still gotta get off of my camera, but in the meantime I drew some sketches of the area around Oshima.

I'll leave you with a little monster.

A Very Tall Post: J-Town

2008-06-16T23:27:00.000+09:00

I think this fella is a good place to start. When I returned to the island to draw the people again I was simply had to start asking people if I could draw them and I found this man. His name is Shinmura-san and I met him while he was using a weed whacker outside of his house. I did not know him. In fact, I've gotta say that until recently I didn't really know anyone besides the few people I drew before. Shinmura-san was a huge step on the way to my goal.

He was a pleasure to draw. After drawing him, I asked him if I could draw the rest of his family and he kinda laughed a bit. This is where I began to learn some very important facts from Shinmura-san.

Chuckling he said, "You can ask, maybe my kids will say yes, but my wife doesn't even like to have pictures taken of her." I kinda shrugged this off as another obstacle to overcome. Yet, as of this posting I've drawn 50 people and displayed most of them, but I've really met around 70 people. 20 of them, usually old women, won't let me draw them as if my pencil would take their soul.

The other fact I learned involves the connection between Shinmura-san and the next portrait. The next man is also named Shinmura-san. Now, if you look at my previous posting about Ukashima, you'll see that there is another person named Shinmura-san. They're all related. Like most of the island. Seriously. This next portrait is the nephew of the Shinmura-san on top. His mother was posted in the previous post.

The strongest ally in convincing a person that you should let them draw you, is to tell them what kind of connection you have to them. I tell people that I'm living in the Kawakami house and then see that I'm not some tall crazy foreigner, I mean, I am a tall crazy foreigner, but just crazy enough for them to let me draw them.

This next man is the oldest person in the village that I've been drawing. He is also of the Kawakami family. I was told that, "His ear is very far away." You could always tell if he was there because you could hear his TV down the block. So, I was basically yelling at him and things still weren't crystal clear.

I was so used to speaking to old people that I actually scared the shit out of the last lady in the next set because I shouted into her house and she was only a few feet away.

Taki-nechan is absolutely awesome. She has two shops in the Tarumi village and has one of the biggest hearts I've ever encountered. She supports the stray cat population on the island too.

Taki-nechan is also the sister of Obachan whose cooking just below here. I stopped using the Burnt Sienna, pen and white paint method of doing portraits here.

I experimented for a day with the tan colored paper with both pencil and pen until I switched to the oldest of old schools: paper and pencil. The first paper and pencil 5 minute drawing was this man:

Matsumura-san is a fisherman that I see almost daily. I was afraid to bother him, but when he found out that it'd only take 5 minutes he complied and it was a great drawing in the morning to get me going. The next man was across the street. It's one of my favorites.

After drawing this group of Ukashima Tarumi locals I got a little bit braver and ventured farther into the village where the houses are surrounded by orange fields on the mountain side. For some reason I decided to go into one house and it ended up being a cousin of Obachan's and she actually used to live there! I drew them for maybe ten minutes and chatted with them for about an hour and a half.

My lady Mako came back to the Ukashima and she introduced me to her other relatives who grow a fruit called "Natsu Mikan," which is like the combo of a grapefruit and a mandarin organe. They poured me some juice from the fruit from their field and it was the best juice I've ever had.

After that we headed to the Yamamoto house, where I drew three brothers who I'd previously met before at the Elementary School where I introduced myself and taught a bit of English. I drew their teacher as well and I'm glad it turned out well because the kids were excited to tell their parents about my project on the island.

This woman wouldn't let me leave her shop without taking 240 yen so that later I could buy a juice from her vending machine. Do any other foreigners think it's funny that a juice is named Calpis?

When I met this next man, he was at least 75 years olds and was as healthy as a young man. He imediately addressed his missing eye and told me that he was born that way. He called it his "little eye." We talked about everything from my brother's situation of being in a wheelchair to having American troops in a base close to the island.

Soon, I'll post some drawings from my sketch books and some drawings that two little boys did of me! I've been working on a new cartooning style as well. Things have been developing so fast that it's been hard to update my blog as quickly as I'd like to. If I don't get back to anyone for a while it's because I'm on an island where they still have rotary phones and every drives a boat instead of a car. Peace.
sean.

Yi Soon Shin

2008-06-07T09:54:00.000+09:00

Yi Soon Shin is a Korean war hero who fought the Japanese more time than he has fingers and toes and never once lost. I submitted these images as examples of my work, hoping to get a job. He dug the work but was looking for a different style. Best of luck to him and I hope you guys enjoy the images.

Super Awesome Fun Island Time

2008-06-06T21:26:00.000+09:00

This is the place where I'm calling my home. It's in the Kuka section of the town and island called Oshima. The bottom floor is a shop where things like seaweed, small dried fish, dried octopus and other sea prodcuts are sold. This shop sells the 7th best small dried fish in Japan!

This was drawn when the sun was just coming up and I saw the neighbor putting out food for the birds... among other things... Has anyone seen the site Neighborhole?

My project for the summer is to draw people from the island of Ukashima, just off of the cost of the island, Oshima, where I'm staying. The population is roughly 260 people and I want to draw as many people as possible. They're incredibly busy and sometimes just giving me a half hour of their time is a feat in itself. This woman is the kind woman who let's me stay at her house and occasionally draw her.

When I wasn't around I was told all sort of things that explain quite a lot about the nature of the island. This woman is roughly 73 years old, so she was born into a completely different world. Many of the women on this island were absolutely afraid to death of having their portraits drawn because many of them were told that they were not attractive and would never get husbands. This woman was told that her family would buy her a house and teach her to sew so she could attract a husband.

While drawing Shinmura-san on the left, a seriously, seriously, srlsy, 2 inch bee appeared and scard the shit out of me. The first thing they told me to do was not to run and of course I ran. Ya Oba-cahn, in the middle, is the sister of the woman above here and just showed up for breakfast at my house and I drew her with bonnet and all. I caught Takoya Oji-chan just as he was getting out of the shower and drew him in his natural environment of sake and cigarettes. He was a complete pleasure to draw and it hurt me to say that I wouldn't be able to drink with him that night.

This is the grandfather of the Homura family who's house I'm living at. I've never met any of my grandfathers, which seems to be a typical pattern everywhere. When I asked the widowed grandmother if I could draw his picture she smiled and said that he'd be happy to see the drawing.

After returning to Oshima for what was going to be a breif break from drawing at Ukashima, I was told that things were too busy on the island and they're like to have some more time before I'd come back. I've been taking up other projects as well in the meantime and hopefully will be able to return either tomorrow or the day after. In order to keep my self from getting out of art shape I did a portrait of Mako as she was just about to fall asleep.

Minnesota to Russia: The MN Zoo's new exhibit.

2008-06-05T00:09:00.000+09:00

I should start by saying that the MN Zoo has no idea this is coming their way and no money is being traded here. I've been working on this design for a while and I finally have a colored and version that I'd like to share with you guys and the zoo. If bears could read, I'd show it to them too. This started as a simple design that just kept growing and growing. I really loved the subject matter and kept thinking of new ways to integrate the design. I have been in Japan for about 4 weeks now and I've been working on it as my labor of love every night but the design actually started about 2 months ago and still isn't quite yet finished.

I've been interested in Russian motifs since being influenced and taught by my art mentor, Natalya, who is the real Russian deal, and from reading an amazing story illustrated by John Paul Leon and written by Brett Lewis named, The Wintermen. Every one of these letters is different and is roughly about the size of a letter size sheet of paper. For the Russian letters I used different motifs from Russian architecture. I had the most fun with these two letters:

I used to spend hours at the zoo drawing the animals and had always wanted to make some art for the zoo, so I was really inspired to work on these drawings with my audience being children. My goal was to make a child just as excited as I was when I was at the zoo. I've been way excited to see exhibit since first hearing about it on the MN Zoo website. As of this post, the exhibit will open in 2 days, 8 hours, 20 minutes and 6 seconds. Check out the site to see how long it'll be before you can go to the exhibit.

While working on the text designs was more than enough work, it was not actually where the design started. My intent was to apply the text designs to photos that I took of custom Matryoshka Dolls of three of the exhibits: The Grizzly Bear, Leopard and Sea Otter. When apply the text to the photos I'll post the final images, but for now I'll leave a teaser of the Grizzly Bear.

I've been working on much more than that though. Coming up soon will be images of my initial sketches of the people on the island of Ukashima in Yamaguchi, Japan, and the sketch the I'm thinking of submitting to a request for a comic artist. Peace.
sean.