Vrrrrooom!

Here's a poster series for the upcoming 'Cars 2' that I had the cool opportunity to help out with. I think you pretty much know by now that I'm a HUGE fan of anything retro and travel, so when the idea came up of doing a series that combined both of those things, I jumped at the chance to contribute in any way possible. Working with the creatives at the Disney Studio and Pixar Animation is always an inspirational and creatively challenging experience. I definitely learn a ton from those guys and the collaboration produces really cool results. Hopefully, you'll start to see these out and about next month.

There goes Astronaut Jones!!!

This is a bit late, but Gallery 1988 had a show dedicated to comedy. Each artist was assigned a different comedian and it was up to us to translate them in our own unique style. I've been a fan of Tracy Morgan ever since he was 'Hustle Man' on the Martin show so I was pretty damn excited when i was paired up with him. One of the few times I've pissed my pants watching television was when Tracy busted out his 'Astronaut Jones' character on SNL. It's a really simple sketch but the endings were always killers. I think I knew immediately that I wanted to do an "Astronaut" piece. This was done old school style, with acrylic paint on a wood panel. It was fun to paint again after living life on the computer for so long. A HUGE thanks to whoever ended up purchasing the painting. Your contribution to the 'Eric Tan art supply & framing fund' is greatly appreciated!

Shoot the Duck!

Here's my entry for Gallery 1988's 'Multiplayer' video game-themed show at their new Venice location which opens Saturday, January 15th.

I think my passion for video games really sparked up again when the Nintendo Entertainment System was launched. My brother and I snatched up the system that came with ROB the robot and two games, Gyromite and Duck Hunt. As cool as the idea of a video game-playing robot and spinning gyros balancing on red and blue buttons seemed, we immediately came to the realization that Gyromite was damn near impossible to play. We ended up throwing the robot aside and pounded on the red and blue buttons with our fists in frustration. You can finish that game pretty fast that way!

Most of our time was then devoted to Duck Hunt. There's no better way to get kids into firearms by making shooting things fun with a game like Duck Hunt! We spent endless hours shooting green and pink ducks, white clay targets, and throwing the actual gun at the condescending dog when he'd laugh at you for missing. So when it came time to create a print for a video game that held fond memories for me, Duck Hunt was a no-brainer.

I always had the idea of creating a practice target featuring the duck from the game that I'd actually shoot at a range. Putting a bullet through your own art is kinda sacrilegious, but this is one case where i thought it was appropriate....and unique. My friend Danny let me use his 9MM handgun at a gun range and i went to town on about half of the prints. I hit a few bullseyes here and there but I found out that the real thing is way harder than the video game. Unlike the game, you can hit the ducks at point blank range by putting the gun directly on your TV.

Here's a video of me at the range. If you notice, I flinch after the first shot. That's a result of a scorching hot shell hitting me in the head. Yup, it definitely is a much different experience than that video game! Hope to see you at the show!

Happy Holidays!

Every Christmas, I design a card for all of my coworkers. What started out as a sweet and cheery idea 8 years ago has turned into a progressively sicker smorgasbord, year after year. The recent ones have all involved urine, a direct rip-off of my coworker George, who seems to plant every caricature he draws in a pool of their own pee. Here's to George and to all of you who follow my demented blog. Happy holidays!!

Zombies!!!

Sorry for the massive delay between posts. I haven't visited my own blog in so long that I forgot the password. My own blog kicked me off! The good thing is, The delay has everything to do with being hard at work on a number of cool film-related projects that you'll start to see here very soon.

I'm a HUGE fan of films that have a very 80's feel to them. I just have a thing for crazy 'full-can-of-hairspray' hairdos, super-tight acid-washed jeans, blinding neon checker patterns, and soundtracks featuring Huey Lewis and the News. 'Return of the Living Dead' is a horror pic that fits perfectly into that 80's aesthetic, minus Huey Lewis. It actually feels more like a comedy sometimes which is why I probably like it even more. If you're looking for an entertaining, laugh-your-ass-off zombie film that wreaks of the 80's, definitely check this little doozy out.

Here's a poster for 'ROTLD' that I did for Mondo in which I tried my best to channel loud 80's rock gig posters. It's available in both regular and glow-in-the-dark versions. Check 'em out here!

Lil' Loompa

For an upcoming custom vinyl show at Gallery 1988's San Francisco location, we were once again asked to create something based on a favorite cult film of ours. As you can tell from the Oompa Loompa, I was a HUGE fan of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.' I must've seen that film as a kid 30 times. Everything about it was so unique - from the insanely vibrant visuals, to the catchy but creepy songs, to the 'a little dark for kids' storyline. Something about that film worked so well back then and still holds up to this day. My favorite characters were the Oomps Loompas cuz they were cool-lookin', they worked their asses off in that factory, and they took us through the story in an entertaining way through their songs. Here's my tribute to those little devils.

I started with a blank vinyl called a 'Symbiote', created the facial features, hair, and 'mint' base with resin, and then painted the little guy with a combination of acrylic and aerosol paint. I would've liked to create an entire army of Oompas but unfortunately there's only one available at the show. It opens September 4th for all the folks who live up in the Bay Area. You can also see the show online after the opening here.

Ooooh!!

Here's the 2nd Customizable vinyl I just finished for Mindstyle. This time around, we got the opportunity to sculpt and paint over our very own blank Alien from the Toy Story series. To be honest, I didn't have a very clever angle here, I just wanted something that could hang out with the Tiki Stitch I created about a year ago. Stitch seemed a bit lonely on my coffee table so I created a friend for him, Hula Alien.

Hula Alien's eyes and torches are resin, and his 'skirt' is actually a real hula skirt that I chopped down to size. ALOOOOOOO-HAAAAA!!!!!

Crazy 4 Cult!

Game Reviews - E3 2011

The fine folks at G4 were nice enough to cover the 'Crazy4Cult' show and interview me about the 'Welcome to Hill Valley' print. It's kinda cool to have this captured on video cuz quite frankly, I barely remembered being interviewed. My cousin and I got smashed before the opening and stumbled upon an open bar next door at Golden Apple Comics before this interview took place. Enjoy the clip, there's a lot of cool art and interviews in it, even Mr. Mallrats himself, Kevin Smith. Oh yeah, there's also a drunk Filipino guy in it, wearing an SD hat who struggles to put two words together. (That would be me!)

Remixing the Magic

Here's something you may remember from a past post that's now available as a print, both on paper and on stretched canvas. Originally, my Sleeping Beauty poster was created for the "Disney's Art of Princess" book which came out last year. Although my daily duties as a designer have everything to do with boy's driven properties like Cars and Toy Story, I was stoked to get to work on something like this. Growing up on a steady diet of classic Disney animation will tend to do that to you. I definitely have fond memories of films like Peter Pan, Snow White, Jungle Book, and all the rest of them. Sleeping Beauty struck me as a kid, not so much for the story per se, but because I dug the design and look of the film, especially Maleficent - as a human and as a dragon, the castle, and all the amazing backgrounds. Eyvind Earle is a mad genius and it really stands out as one of the most beautiful animated films to look at. I hope you dig my tribute to this artistic classic! You can check out the print info at Acme Archives.

Are you telling me, that my mom, has got the hots for me???

It's been a loooong time since I've posted anything. Completely changing up your art style for a project will do that. This is the piece where I attempted a different style than I'm used to. It's a bit subtle, but it's a tribute poster for one of my favorite films of all time, Back to the Future. Being a huge fan of Mad Men-type retro advertising, I thought it'd be fun to create my very own magazine ad promoting the town of Hill Valley, circa 1955. I wanted to make it as convincing as possible while still hinting at the influence of Marty's visit to his future home town of the past. I'm not sure that even makes sense, but you kinda get the picture. The Delorean is pretty obvious sign, but there's also one subtle hint that Marty was there. Can anyone guess what it is?

Having collected a bunch of ads from that era, the only way I could really sell the idea was to paint the scene just like they did way back then. Since I'm used to vectors, and pen tools, and pathfinders, it really was a challenge to get this to look the way I wanted. I haven't painted anything like this since high school so I definitely was rusty and it took about 5 times as long than the usual poster takes me. But I'm glad I went through it. Although it was an arduous experience with tons of mistakes, it really became a relaxing process and a new challenge.

When my friends saw this laying on my desk, their initial reaction was "where the heck did you find that?", which was exactly the reaction I was looking for. It was good to try something new and not to rely on all the things that are automatic or predictable. As a great man once said: If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything! I hope you dig it as much as I enjoyed making it!

The poster is limited to 150, signed and numbered, is 24" wide by 18" high, and will be available at the Crazy for Cult show starting July 9th at Gallery1988.

Time Flies...

My friend's daughter, Liv, was surfin' the ol' web when she stumbled upon this crazy site. Since I have really bad short-term memory, I sometimes forget what I actually have worked on in the past. It's fun to find something like this online to remind me of the projects I've been fortunate enough to have been a part of and to and reassure me that all the effort we artists put in can inspire people from all over to follow your career. Special thanks to Danny Outlaw for doing a much better job than I ever did collecting and organizing my artwork. I owe ya a beer Mr. Outlaw :)

CLICK HERE!!!

This is Just A Test!

Ok, this is just one element of many that makes up a poster I'm working on that's a "tribute" to my favorite film of all time. Can you guess what it is? There aren't too many flying Deloreans out there so the answer should be a cake walk. I have in mind what I'd like the rest of the poster to look like and I'll start to post more elements as they are created. This is merely a study into how I'm thinking of painting the thing and I guarantee it will change in the end. I'm researching 1950's American Advertisements for this one so it might be a little more rendered and painterly than a lot of the previous stuff I've done. I hope you're as excited as I am to see the final version! Check "back" here for "future" updates. Yup, that's my lameness shining through! I'm just gonna make like a tree and get outta here...

-E

BINGO!!

If you're an artist or designer, you've undoubtedly been asked by a family member or friend to whip up some cool invitations in a day or two for a party happening in a day or two. Thank God for Illustrator templates!! All kidding aside, I always try to help out a friend in need and try to make each and every wedding invite - or business card or letterhead or logo or ad for the pee-wee baseball booster club catalog - personal. I always have fun with these 'personal' projects because there isn't a whole lot of pressure involved and I always get a kick out of their reaction when the project is done. You can guess at my excitement when my mom asked me design an invite for my grandma's 90th birthday. Not only is it a very rare and special occasion, but my grandma is also probably the harshest critic I've ever met. She barely likes anything! My whole goal was to prove her wrong.

My first step was to look at her life and make a list of all the things that are in it. The one thing that really gets her blood circulating is gambling. If she's not at a bingo hall (hence the bingo card theme), then she's hitting the slots. She always seems to have a deck of cards in hand. Another thing, make that 12 things, that surround her are her kids. Yup, you heard right, this little 4 foot, 8 inch hobbit of a person popped out 12 whole kids! That's them scattered out on every other square. While raising all of them, she worked in her own dress shop as a seamstress. That's where the needle and thread come in. Lechon, a Filipino food which is basically a roasted pig, is her favorite food. She also enjoys scrap-booking and collecting photos so that's why the album is there. The rest of the bingo squares are filled in with stuff grandmas need like medication and canes. Oh yeah, the plastic bag (or suitcase) is what she uses to carry her clothes and personal effects around because every month she rotates living between her kids' homes. I call it a 'hobo' bag.

When her kids saw the invitation, wild laughter filled the room! I guess they thought I really nailed her personality, especially the gambling part. They got a kick out of seeing themselves captured in little icons too. I won't lie, I did give myself a pat on the back for a job well done. It wasn't easy because of all the kids' faces and it took a lot longer than expected. There's no way my grandma wouldn't like it, was there?? As I approached her, card in hand with my chin held high, I couldn't help but think she'd be proud of her grandson.

Well, judging from her so so reaction, I'll have to wait for her to turn 100 to get another chance to knock her socks off with my artistic ability. She really didn't like the whole gambling angle and wanted me to remove the slot machine, the card suits, and the word 'BINGO' from the top of the invite. Hey, it may hurt to have a mirror pointed at her exposing her little 'addiction' but I really didn't think it warranted a "no thanks" and a "do-over", especially cuz I put in so much effort and did it on my own free time. It's not like everyone who knows her is unaware of her habit. Little does she know that 100 of them have already been mailed out and it's posted on my blog for all to see! Happy 90th grandma!!

Welcome to the Terrordome!

UPDATE: The Tyson/Douglas print can now be purchased here.

Okay, if you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember a Mike Tyson something-or-another post I made about a year ago. Well, here's where that project ended up. And no, I hadn't exactly worked on it nonstop for that entire year. This, my friends, is a case of what they call 'procrastination'. While I did have plenty of other projects in that time span, I really am worthless without a deadline, and so I always screw myself and wait til the very last minute to turn it in. I seriously need to take a time management course or something.

If you follow boxing, or sports in general, you're well aware of the shocker that took place in the heavyweight division 20 years ago. 'Iron' Mike Tyson was as close to a sure bet as we had ever seen in the ring. He was an undefeated and indestructible superhero who would annihilate everyone who stood in his path. NO ONE gave his opponent, James 'Buster' Douglas an ounce of hope that fateful night in Tokyo. When something impossible happens in front of your eyes, it's something you'll remember forever. Mike Tyson's defeat changed not only the landscape of the division, but the rest of his life as well. That's why I decided to capture this historic event for my contribution to Gallery1988's 'The Greatest Moment in Sports' show which starts March 4th - 26th.

The 'Manga' look was influenced by the fight taking place in Tokyo. I was definitely inspired by video games like 'Street Fighter' when it came to the action. I highlighted their trademark moves (a la Ryu's Fireball or Guile's Sonic Boom) with Tyson's uppercut and Douglas' jab. All the Kanji was written by my coworker, Chisato. I believe the upper left says 'Final Battle', the stamp on the upper right says 'Iron', and the red headline type says 'War'. She does have a sense of humor and knows I can't read or write a word in Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if she screwed me on the translations. Oh well.

Like the Battlecat poster I finished last month, this really is a departure for me from a style standpoint. Lots of inking and a ton of mistakes made this a lot more time-consuming but a whole lot more fun too. Anything new is always a challenge and I'm never sure how it'll turn out in the end, but I hope you like it.

The poster itself is a 3-color silkscreen printed by the fine folks at D&L Screenprinting. It's pretty damn HUGE at 24" by 36" and there's 100 of them that are signed and numbered. I'll post prices as soon as that's figured out.

Lost Update 2

UPDATE: THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAITED AND REFRESHED OVER AND OVER THROUGHOUT THE DAY. UNFORTUNATLEY, ONCE I GREENLIT THE SALE, IT SOLD OUT IN ABOUT 5 SECONDS. DUE TO THE PAYPAL DELAY, A TON OF OVERSELLS GOT THROUGH. I WILL DO MY BEST TO GET THE INITIAL 28 PEOPLE THEIR PRINTS ASAP AND I WILL GET REFUNDS TO THE OVERSOLD CUSTOMERS ASAP. I APPRECIATE ALL THE MESSAGES FROM THOSE TELLING ME HOW LONG THEY WAITED. BEING A FAN WHO ALSO FOLLOWS THE PRINT DROPS OF HIS FAVORITE ARTISTS, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT IS PUT INTO WAITING AND THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF NOT GETTING ONE OF THE PRINTS. I WILL DEFINITELY SEE IF THE POSTER CAN BE RELEASED IN SOME OTHER FORM (LIKE THE TYLER STOUT LOST REPRINT RELEASED AT THE GALLERY OPENING). THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWED THIS PROJECT AND I'M DEEPLY SORRY THAT I COULDN'T MEET THE DEMAND.

Ok Losties, sorry for the delay but "The Crash" will finally go on sale this Thursday at random time here . The price for the print is $200.00 USD. Since I only have a few left, only one will be allowed per person and any multiple orders will be canceled and refunded. Shipping is $10.00 U.S. and $15.00 USD everywhere else. Make sure your Paypal shipping info is updated. Thanks to everyone who patiently waited and checked in. I just wish there were a lot more to go around.

And yes, Thursday meaning "California Thursday".

Thanks,
Eric