Happy Holidays Dudes!

In celebration of Christmas being a few days away, here's a little doozy to get you in the holiday spirit. So place another log in the fireplace and snuggle up with your loved ones. Ahh! Now, where the crap are my happy pills?!?!

Aloha from California?

As random as my mom can be, my dad loves sticking to a set schedule. It's a wonder that they get along at all. He's meticulous at everything he does, especially when it comes to his gardening. He's like a cross between Thomas Edison and Al Bundy. I never knew pineapples grew anywhere other than Hawaii, but my dad made it a mission of his to create his very own California pineapples.



My dad got the idea about 7 years ago, and I have no idea how he did it, but through research, experimentation, and a whole lot of patience, my dad was able to grow his very first pineapple 2 years later.



He took me through the process over the weekend and I learned a whole bunch of stuff that I never even considered. The "seed" is actually the top of the previous pineapple. You know, the spiky, leafy, things.



Once the top is soaked and planted, the leaves grow into a huge bush that's about 3 feet high. About 7 months later, a bud forms at the end of a stem above the center of the bush. That bud looks like a miniature pineapple. It then grows for another 5 months til it gets big and orange like the pineapples we're used to seeing. How bizarre is that? If you think about it, that crazy thing grows from the top from the original pineapple. It's like having a baby grow from your hair or something.



The pineapples are now ready to pick! My dad says they're as sweet as any you buy from the supermarket. My mom wouldn't try one if you paid her, she just rolls her eyes. I give my old man a lot of credit for sticking with something for so long and getting it right, despite zero support from the Mrs's. Unfortunately he didn't pass that attitude to me. I sleep all day. His 1 pineapple total from 5 years ago has now ballooned to 26 this year. Way to go dad!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

My mom was nice enough to visit me at the office last week. Here's a picture of her next to one of the Ratatouille posters in the lobby. She looks happy enough and we were having a nice day, but things took a turn for the bizarre about 2 seconds after I shot this. Every now and then, the craziest, far-fetched, and completely random idea will pop into my mom's head. Thank god it's wasn't passed on genetically to me (or was it?). In this case, she decided all of a sudden that she wanted to take the poster with her. I immediately told her that she was completely nuts and I think they'll notice if it's missing. That thing's like 10 feet tall for crying out loud. She responded by lifting the thing off the wall from the bottom to see how it was hung. I had no idea why she wanted it since there is no space in her house to hang it, let alone any way to haul it back with her to San Diego. I stood there stunned. She asked me to help her unhinge it and I thought I was gonna throw up. About 20 minutes later, as I lay motionless on the floor, she fortunately gave up on the idea when she found out we had a Starbucks in the cafeteria. Funny thing is, the sight of my 5' mom trying to wrestle a 10' poster off the wall was worth it alone. I had a good laugh after I got over the terror of it all. What i didn't tell her was that a security camera was pointed right at her the whole time. That's gotta be some ridiculous footage. If anything, it could prove my innocence in court while mom sat in jail for stealing company property. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Play Ball!

Now that the baseball season is in full swing, I thought I'd dig up a little project I completed last season. Being from San Diego, the Dodgers were always our bitter rivals. Mainly cuz they would kick our asses every year. Everything Dodger blue made my stomach turn, but putting that hate aside was easy when they asked me if I wanted to design their mascot. As far as I know, they've never really had a true mascot, so the opportunity was one I could never pass up. I'm also quite the sellout, especially if it involves free seats behind 1st base. That mascot became Ebbett, a trolley that ties in their storied past as the Brooklyn "trolley" Dodgers. Now if they could only find a way to make him into a big, fat suit that runs around at games.

The Fun Team

There are two sides to our creative team at work, character artists and designers. I fall into the latter category. In meetings, I've noticed that the designers like to fold their arms and comment on everything, while the character artists like to quietly look down into their sketchbooks and draw caricatures of EVERYONE in the room. They always seem to have a smirk on their face while doing so. I decided to take a stand and do as the character artists do because frankly, they look like they're having a lot more fun. During a recent meeting, sketchbook in hand, here's what I came up with. I wanted to do something nastier, cuz it seems to be a qualification for a lot of their caricatures, but the two folks pictured have the power to fire me so I played it safe. I discovered that it was waaaaay more fun than having to fold my arms and talk! Oh, and on their coffee breaks, the character artists like to rip on everyone who happens to walk by. I LOVE THESE GUYS!!! By hanging out more and more with them, I hope I get to be a nasty SOB too!..and better at drawing stuff.

RATS!

Every now and then at work, I get the opportunity to design posters for the animated films Pixar and Disney creates. For Ratatouille, we used A.M. Cassandre's vintage french posters as our main inspiration. It's always a surprise where the finished product ends up, and this is definitely no exception. The atrium on the Pixar campus is an amazing and inspiring spot one you step through the main entrance. An immediate sense of creativity flows through that place. With the posters, I'm just glad to be a part of that, even for a few weeks or so. Once the film opens, I'll be sure to post them HUGE so that you can actually see them.

Much thanks to Stephane Kardos, an unbelievably talented artist from our U.K. team, for contributing his amazing posters as well.

Who likes video games?!?!?!

Rich and I will be part of iam8bit group show this tuesday at Gallery 1988. We were able to see a bunch of the pieces on saturday and there's a lot of amazing stuff. And most importantly, there will be beer there!!!! Not just any old beer, FREE beer!!!! See you there!

Not as easy as riding a bike.

I'm slowly starting to finish a couple of paintings for gallery shows this month. One is the 8-bit show at Gallery 1988 in Hollywood and the other is for an A.P.E. related show at 1988's new gallery up in San Francisco (these 2 are for that show). It's been kind of a weird/ frustrating/ insomnia-inducing experience for me. But it's also been some of the most fun I've ever had! My last painting before doing these is dated 1996 (You can visibly see the rust!). Back then, I painted a lot. Graphic design & college then took over and so did the computer. Now I might sketch out a poster idea or a character but before I know it, I'm on that crazy computer again. The thought of painting again was as scary as jumping outta a plane. Didn't know how much I missed it til my coworker Rich convinced me to grab a brush and jump. Thanks for the push dude!

Fun with silkscreening!

I apologize for not posting stuff for a while. I was drunk. Here's some silkscreened prints I created for a two-man show last year. The concept deals with advertising posters for an institution populated by kids with mental "gifts". They're not necessarily super-powered, they just have these unexplainable, and for the most part problematic quirks. This was the first time that my studiomate/coworker Rich Tuzon and I tried our hand at silkscreening. And it is also our last! j/k. It was quite the challenge of trial and error. In the end, it was also the most rewarding experience. We finally got through it with the help of enough alcohol to kill a small bear. Enjoy!

Someone wake me the hell up!

The whole point of this was to share my art with everyone, get feedback from all of you, and motivate myself to get the creative ball rolling. I've been very impressed and inspired by my friends/coworkers and the amazing work on all of their personal blogs. Unfortunately for me, my creative ball outside of my day job is about the size of a peanuttle and it doesn't roll very far. And to top it off, typing these few lines has made me very, very tired. I'm getting a beer. I promise I'll post something meaningful in the not too distant future. A word of advice before I go: Don't hold your horses.