What she looks like

When I wrote Wanton, the character was vividly imagined, created by my subconscious, in a dream.

I describe her in the text:

 

Blood-red hair cut just past her jaw line, brushing her long, slender neck. Big eyes some strange color I could never put a name to. Full lips in a perpetual sneer. Her teeth were a little bit crooked (most of these things I noticed only later). Early 20s, probably ten years my junior, but with something in the eyes that seemed much older. 

Later I add that she’s tall (half a head shorter than our narrator, who described himself as a big man so he’s something north of six foot.  Hey arms are sleeved with tattoos, as well tattooed flowering vines covering hips and sides. 

Several years after I wrote it, I bought a book called Naughty and Nice: The Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm (an incredible book by the way, by one of my favorite comic artists of all time; out of print now, but I’ve heard a re-release is coming — EDIT: here is the re-print

 

In any case, when I first opened said book, there was Wanton looking at me, straight out of my mind’s eye. 

the tattoos are not there, of course, and hair color; but imagine before she was heavily covered. Wanton’s blond, naturally, hair a honey color. But we know she dyes it, red in the story. So imagine this is a black hair phase, pre-tattoos. The pubic hair would be blond, of course, but again, easily imagined. 

I’ve actually tried to get my Timm to draw my version of this girl (it’s been impossible to reach him thus far). At some point I hope to find someone who can transform this for me, digitally, or even re-draw it in something like Timm’s style. 

Alas I no longer have the book, for some reason, so can’t get a higher resolution image. Until the book is reprinted, this will have to do. As best I can present it, this is her. 

 

 

 

Bruce Timm Naught and Nice page 87

Thank you, Ben.

My friend Ben Prisk just dropped this wonderful thing on my Facebook wall.

He’s an amazing artist, and an amazing man; I have yet to meet him, but one day soon.

I love this drawing.

20131127-020906.jpg

 

…And yes, day-after-tomorrow (Thursday) is my birthday.

 

 

 

new favorite artist – Christoph Mueller

Last June I picked up an amazing t-shirt after following a link from Boing Boing. Not so much because I’m into cigar box guitars (sure, i love ’em, but i don’t play well enough to need to own one), but because the design blew me away. It’s my of my favorite t-shirts. My friend Cuddy […]

Last June I picked up an amazing t-shirt after following a link from Boing Boing.

Cigar Box Nation

Not so much because I’m into cigar box guitars (sure, i love ’em, but i don’t play well enough to need to own one), but because the design blew me away. It’s my of my favorite t-shirts.

My friend Cuddy asked me where to get the shirt (because he *is* into cigar box guitars. Alas, Cigar Box Nation doesn’t seem to have them anymore.

However, in digging up the original link, I found Christoph Mueller‘s site (the guy who designed the shirt, above).

If ever there was an artist who shares my aesthetic, it’s this guy. He’s simply amazing.

Check out his galleries. It’s all fabulous; his portraits of R Crumb and Bukowski alone are things I’d kill to own. His drawings of muscle cars, his logo designs, his crumb-esq women; they’re all just amazing.

The thing that made me compleyely love him, though, is his playing card designs.

You can’t buy these; they’re a concept he hasn’t actually done yet. If they were for sale I’d have them already, i don’t care what the cost.

He gave me permission to share a couple samples; the ace-of-spades designs, and my personal favorite, ‘lost at sea’.

These are beyond fabulous, and I must have them.

 
 
 
 

Aces of Spades

Lost At Sea Ace

Categories: art

Join or Die

I think I’m in love with Justine Lai. This is a bit of her ‘Join or Die’ series. In her words: “In Join Or Die, I paint myself having sex with the Presidents of the United States in chronological order. I am interested in humanizing and demythologizing the Presidents by addressing their public legacies and […]

I think I’m in love with Justine Lai.

This is a bit of her ‘Join or Die’ series. In her words:

“In Join Or Die, I paint myself having sex with the Presidents of the United States in chronological order. I am interested in humanizing and demythologizing the Presidents by addressing their public legacies and private lives. “

(you can read the whole statement here)


join_or_die_justine_lai.png

Art for Arts’s Sake

Thirty-four student artists from public schools throughout the county were honored when their work was accepted for display at the COE. Their work—selected from 280 submissions—now will hang alongside more than 600 other pieces that have been collected in the past 12 years.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has been, for the past twelve years, been building an impressive collection of children’s artwork. I wasn’t aware of this until recently though.

From the SCCOE web site:

Thirty-four student artists from public schools throughout the county were honored when their work was accepted for display at the COE (County Office of Education). Their work—selected from 280 submissions—now will hang alongside more than 600 other pieces that have been collected in the past 12 years. We welcome visitors who want to stroll through our hallways and view the creations of our talented students.

My daughter Olivia was one of those selected this year. A month ago, we attended an unexpectedly moving awards ceremony, at which educators and major Bay Area arts figures spoke about the importance of art in both education, and life.

This year’s winners are here, and below is Olivia’s piece, which now hangs in the main hallway in the SCCOE building (click to see larger).

Yeah. Dad’s proud.

The real me

Well, i wasn’t sure it was possible to reduce a person’s essence, the totality of what makes them them in a few brush strokes. Bit it kinda seems like cartoonist Doug Shannon does a pretty good job. This guy was at a party I went to saturday (a Bar Mitzvah, actually, which was a unique […]

Well, i wasn’t sure it was possible to reduce a person’s essence, the totality of what makes them them in a few brush strokes.

Bit it kinda seems like cartoonist Doug Shannon does a pretty good job.

Karl Caricature Web

This guy was at a party I went to saturday (a Bar Mitzvah, actually, which was a unique experience for this california gentile), and of course I had to shoulder kids out of the way and say do mine next. The best thing is to watch the guy doing this, seeing which people he reads and captures instantly and who he does not. It requires not just a particular cartooning talent to do this nonsense, but also a certain intuition about people. We all have varying degrees of how well we read faces and body language; some people just seem to have an extra gift.

Life on the Ocean Wave, FINALLY

I’ve been trying to lay hands on these images for ages. Finally, as I said, skin stories is out on DVD. What this means is that the image that I’ve long, long wanted to use as a design source for my tattoo backpiece is in my hands. Now all i have to do is decide […]

I’ve been trying to lay hands on these images for ages.

Finally, as I said, skin stories is out on DVD. What this means is that the image that I’ve long, long wanted to use as a design source for my tattoo backpiece is in my hands.

Now all i have to do is decide who. And there are only two artists i know who can do this justice, and who i wanna spend months with working on it. My friend Klem, or my friend Freddy (sorry, that links to a stupid flash thing, click on ‘artists’ – but it doesn’t work on Safari).

But here’s the image in three pieces. I might later try’n stick these together in one but it doesn’t matter, this is enough to take to the shop.

Finally.

I’ve posted a mini version previously – below is the whole thing, and here is the verse that inspired it.

Read more “Life on the Ocean Wave, FINALLY”

Skin Stories DVD

Skin Stories, a brilliant film by Emiko Omori and Lisa Altieri-Sosa, is finally available on DVD. This is a video I’ve talked about before, an in-depth exploration of tattooing in the south pacific, with a particular focus on tattooing in New Zealand’s Maori culture. It’s the best film i’ve ever seen on tattooing, largely because […]

SkinstoriesSkin Stories, a brilliant film by Emiko Omori and Lisa Altieri-Sosa, is finally available on DVD. This is a video I’ve talked about before, an in-depth exploration of tattooing in the south pacific, with a particular focus on tattooing in New Zealand’s Maori culture. It’s the best film i’ve ever seen on tattooing, largely because it eschews the usual focus on the outrageous (‘look at these crazy people who tattoo their faces!’) and simply tells the story in the voices of people who wear tattoos.

I’ve been waiting for this to come out on DVD for two years; both because I wanted to own it, and because there’s an image in it that I need to take to my tattooist so we can begin work on my backpiece.

It’s a bit on the pricey side; it’s coming from hawaii, and it’s not something that’s going to sell thousands of units, so I forgive them. But for those who’ve been waiting to get hold of this (that may be only me), it’s about damned time.