About Hebra and Shebra

You ever think about how funny looking Zebras are? I mean, look at those things... they're covered in stripes for some reason!

Notes

In Spring of 2008 I revised the background of this, making it more yellow. It was too pink. I really thought it would help those Zebras find love again, but I guess it didn't work.

In the Fall of 2007 I was contacted by good friend and militant designer Rob Weychert to provide illustrations for a book he was designing. And while the opportunity to work with Rob is temptation enough, the real convincing factor was the content itself.

Written by Howard Mann, Business Brickyard is designed to help you reconnect to the passion and principles fundamental to running your own business. Having gone into business for myself in 2004, I was all at once comforted, enlightened, and enthralled after reading that first early draft — my own copy of the book now sits at arm's length away, ready to help support me in times of business crisis... or in case I forget how to draw a harpoon. Both happen surprisingly often.

About Manda

There's really nothing more warm and cozy than Panda fur. Luckily for them, this is about the only way to get a Panda Fur sweater.

About Ladger

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Penghim

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Manther

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Eagirl

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

In October of 2007, Matthew Sutter and I began playing a game of My Team, Your Team online. What is My Team, Your Team? Well, basically...

Player 1 draws a character with a power. Player 2 then draws a character whose power cancels the power of that previous character. Repeat.

Featuring guest artists, a slew of dastardly heroes and villains, and more illustrations than you can shake a stick at, The Superest has even inspired countless movie deals, as well as comic books and television shows. Or wait... it's the other way around. Sorry.

Well... you still might enjoy visiting anyway.

Additional Notes

Interested in Matt's and my original My Team, Your Team game? Check the article out here.

In 2007, the good folks at AIGA New York asked if I'd like to design one of the wrapping papers for their Holiday Party/Fundraiser. Being quite the holiday enthusiast, I agreed, and put together a snazzy wrapping paper depicting four of the many cultural iterations of Santa Claus.

More on This Paper

For a better look at these paintings, and for the stories behind each individual Santa, check out the article Four Clauses.

About Red-Handed

Drawn for the recently re-launched Fray Quarterly Magazine, for their Busted! True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act issue. It was either draw this hand, or submit the shockingly true story of how I invented the nickel.

You see, back in the twenties, the US only minted pennies and dimes — but most bordellos charged five cents or more. So it seems ol' Warren Harding got it in his head that...

Subsequent Appearances

The hand has been recently seen on baggage.

Pigs, in general, are stupid animals. Well, stupid in comparison to humans. Though humans, in comparison to super-computers are kind of stupid.

Some of those Jeopardy Champions are pretty smart, though. I'd love to be one of those guys. Though they probably get rather pompous and tiresome to spend time with, since they're probably always trying to remind you how smart they are.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I care for smart people. Now, a smart pig would probably be great to spend time with. One just smart enough to have a conversation without any Jeopardy-type trivia. Or, in the case of the smart pigs from above, just smart enough to help you save your money.

I was asked by the good gents at Clearleft to create the graphics for 2007's dConstruct Conference, centered on User Experience. Being a user myself, and having experienced a variety of things in my life, both pleasant and unpleasant, I wholeheartedly agreed. Eventually, we settled upon the elaborate toaster seen on the bag, as well as its simpler cousin, on the shirt. For a while we considered actually building the toaster, revolutionizing the toast industry, but in the end we felt it might jeopardize one of the most time-honored duties of the butler, and decided to destroy the schematics. Progress is a double-edged sword.

About Mantelope

I sure wouldn't mind having a pair of those shoes. They look comfortable. More comfortable than those hooves, at least. But, I'm not going to start badmouthing hooves here. It's just not an appropriate venue.

In the winter of 2006, web designer and author Andy Clarke asked me if I was interested in doing some character work for the new incarnation of Stuff and Nonsense. "What I'd like," he said, "is a sort of mod character on a scooter. Can you draw eyes?"

"Sure," I replied, "I draw eyes all the time."
"Good," he said, "This guy will need eyes."
"On his face?" I said.
"Right."
"I follow. With a nose in between?"
Andy gave a pensive pause, "Is that what you usually do?"
"Generally," I replied.
"Let's do that, then," said Andy.

And so our conversation went for nearly 4 hours, slowly building the character of Ace Face, the scooter-riding gent gracing the front page of Stuff and Nonsense. Soon after finishing the Ace Face character, Andy asked if I'd be interested in illustrating his badge.

"What's a badge?" I said.
"My logo," he replied, "I'd like it to look like some of the British Motoring Association badges from the 50's and 60's."
"The 1950's?" I asked.
"Look, do you want the job or not?" said Andy, obviously exasperated.
"Can I use Red?"
Andy nodded slowly, and with a sly grin said, "Is there any other color?". Then we combined our power rings, and the logo was magically finished!

An Interesting Sidenote

Andy also printed up actual Stuff and Nonsense badges, and put them up for sale. Which I think is just pretty darn neat. Maybe I can design rocket boots for him, he'll create a bunch of them too!