The People vs. George Lucas

This looks fun, if not anything else. I don't know if we'll ever see it though. Their website was launched in 2007 and still says that it's coming soon to a theater near you.

Instinct - Illustration Friday

Sometimes something just feels right… or wrong…

Intuition is the ability to know things without reasoning or inferring… simply put… you just know something to hold truth. Right now our economy is a mess. We know this. We can't help but knowing this. Everywhere we go we are told how bad things are. And while it may be true, I think most of what we are dealing with is greed. Unfortunately, due to the Bush bailout and the Obama stimulus package those who created this mess don't have to live with the consequences of their greed. The banks and financial institutions who got more and more creative in their interpretation of the laws and basic good sense are now the happy recipients of our money. The automakers who refused to look at the big picture and keep mass-producing SUVs and trucks are facing ruin and the gift of our money. Then there are our neighbors who made a bundle flipping real estate… who bought way more than they could afford… who drive those big SUVs because we are Americans dammit and have the right… the stock traders who drive Wall Street with rabbit's feet and fly balls…

And through it all… good people suffer… hard working people lose their jobs because someone higher up in the food chain got greedy or lazy or just plain stupid… people who made good decisions and saved and didn't double and triple mortgage their houses to buy a new car or take a trip now get to pay the mortgages of our neighbors…

And through all of it… our intuition tells us that this is all very, very wrong… does anyone have an answer?

Friday Battles

Coudal Partners launched a serious Friday afternoon diversion last year with the very special Layer Tennis. Every Firday, it pits two creative types against each other in a design battle with a writer providing colorful play-by-play on the action as it happens. The basic premise is that the competitors swap a file back and forth in real-time with only 15 minutes to add their own touch. Most of the work is down in Illustrator and Photoshop and that only makes sense since Adobe has become a sponsor this year. The match lasts for ten "volleys" and after much commentary from the guest writer and the Season Ticket holders a winner is declared.

This week pits Mitch Ansara (Space Sick) against Rod Hunting with pLAYER-by-pLAYER commentary by Matthew Baldwin of defective yeti.

It's fun… it's raw… and it shouldn't be missed!

Understanding Comics

Celebrate

Gong Xi Fa Choi!
Holding a part time job and starting a business is a lot of work… and time… especially shifting back and forth between the two. The good news is that the freelance clients have been knocking on my door and I haven't yet had time to hang my shingle out… and that is reason to celebrate indeed!

The artwork above is my second woodblock print. The first one I did was a year ago for our annual Chinese New Year card. That one was cut from a cedar tree that I cut down in our front yard to make way for a couple of live oaks. This year, I added another layer in the red "O". The "O" for a lot of reasons… ox, O'Connell, the hope that our new president brings… I cut this year's wood blocks from a camphor tree that came down during Tropical Storm Fay. I carved both pieces back in January and my thumb is still numb!

I did a limited run of 75 prints. I do have a few left… if you are interested… I'm interested in a possible trade…