This weekend in Portland is a very special weekend: this weekend in N. Portland is Geek The Halls, a small 2-day geeky art show, put on by the PDX Browncoats. I’m very excited about this show, as this is our first official year showing there. (We were supposed to be there last year, but I got pretty sick right beforehand and couldn’t make it. It promises to be a ton of fun with a lot of the local nerd herd being in attendance, so if you’re in the area, please swing on by. This is also the second-to-last (maybe the last, depending on the application of another show) show we’ll have this year, so help make it a good one to end our season.

So, last week I debuted our FREE SHIPPING SALE that’s going on right now until 12/9 (GET ON IT!), where all you have to do is buy a poster, pendant or book and I pay your shipping. It’s all taken care of, couldn’t be easier. This week, I wanna debut some new products! YAY! As some of you know, Ashlie and I recently went crazy and bought another button  machine. It’s bigger than the old one, which means I can put arts on them that I couldn’t put on the tiny 1 inch buttons. WHICH IS EXCITING (shut up, it totally is), because it means I can do THIS:

Click me! Click ME!

Me Too! Click!

ROBOT BUTTON PACKS! I’m really excited about these. The picture really don’t do them justice. The buttons themselves are 1.5 inches across and each pack comes with 4 buttons. They are pretty durned cool, if I do say so myself.

So, those are neat. Onto the artworks for this week: This week, I got an itch to draw a new Propaganda style art piece and thought, “you know who’d be cool on a propaganda poster? DOOM.” So here he is. I like the idea of Dr. Doom as a world-dominating bad-guy, who thinks that he’s the only person in the world who can fix all the world’s problems, if only he were running EVERYTHING.

The Bots Buttons and the Doom print will be added to the stores after this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled!

Sorry I’m late this week. I’m getting prepped for Portland Comic Book Show this weekend and I lost all track of time! I’ll try not to make a habit of it. If you’re in the area tomorrow, you should definitely swing by and check out the show. I’ll be there at tables 123 & 124 hawking my wares and sketching all day. I may have some special guests stop by and lend their sketchery as well, so make the trip!

So, remember last week when I mentioned a “special announcement” for this week’s blog? No? I am disappoint. Go back and re-read it. I’ll wait.

All done? Good.

So, this week, I am proud to announce that beginning Tuesday, 11/29/11, I will be the official illustrator of a webcomic called Urban Wild from Craigmore Creations! Ah! How cool is that!? Urban wild follows the adventures of Lorry the Raccoon and her woodland friends as they make a living in the urban jungle. I’m really excited about this! Most people don’t know this, but when I was in college, in addition to Graphic Design and Art, I also wanted to study Conservation/Game Biology. I took some classes, but opted not to go for the second degree because of the additional math requirements. Science, and animals and biology in particular, has always held an interest for me. So this project really marries a lot of my interests into one awesome package.

So for today’s art post, you guys and gals are getting an exclusive art preview! Yay! Let me know what you think! And remember to check out Urban Wild when the new season starts on 11/29!

Thing one: I recently quit my dayjob to work full-time at Monkey Minion Press. So, I am now a full-time minion. Which is both freeing and scary. Freeing because it means no more 1.5 hour-long commute on the bus every day, no more office, and all my time can be devoted to MMP and making new things to give you all. Scary because now I no longer have an excuse not to get new things done. Scary because I now have to rely on my ability to drum up work and new customers to pay the bills. But, if I didn’t think that I had the support of my minions, I would never have taken this step. So, I know we can do this, you and me.

So, since I quit my job, like I said, I’ve had time to make new stuff. New STUFF! And I gotta say, I’m pretty proud of the new stuff (If you follow me on twitter or on Facebook, you may have seen this). First up, October 30, 2011 is Women of Wonder Day (formerly Wonder Woman Day). As in years past, I decided to do a drawing for the charity auction. They opened up the rules this year to allow more than just Wonder Woman, but drawing Wondy for this just seemed right.

So, that’s it for this week. I’m going to try to start updating this thing at LEAST weekly, so check back next Friday, and see some more new stuff and a Contest.

HELL YEAH!! Portland Nerds are AWESOME! This year’s STCF was fantastic. When I moved here, I was saddened about the lack of a “real” comicon here in PDX, given the prevalence of comics creators and publishers here in town. That sadness is largely assuaged, now. STCF 2011 is well on it’s way to becoming the comic show that PDX needs.

The weekend started off well, with Ashlie and I getting to the con center Friday night after works to set up our table. As we were working, a couple from down the way was setting up their table and realized they had no way to hang their 6′x4′ banner. Being from LA, they had no car and no real idea of how to navigate the labyrinthine streets of DT PDX to find a hardware store for PVC Pipe, despite the convention floor director’s best attempts to explain it to them. Immediately, Ashlie (being awesome like she is) offers them some of our extra pipe, since we wouldn’t need all of it for an 8 ft. table. She then proceeds to build them a free-standing banner stand that they can sit in front of. Because she’s cool like that. Having made new friends, we set about putting up our display and went home to finish packing for Saturday.

Saturday morning comes and we hit the convention. (Can I just say how awesome it is to have a convention that’s easy to get to?) We finish set-up and they open the doors. Now, let me say this: PDX people don’t like to get up early. I don’t blame them. So, I wasn’t at all surprised that there wasn’t a mad-rush of people waiting outside the doors like Black Friday shoppers on speed. It was slow until about noon. Then it turned awesome. PDX nerds aren’t as voracious as their Seattle or SanDiego counterparts. We’re more methodical and deliberate. We like to talk to the artists and learn about their artwork. That doesn’t stop us from buying, tho. Oh no. Early in the morning, Jim Demonakos from Emerald City Comicon stopped by and chatted for a minute, happy to be at a con that he wasn’t working at. LOL About halfway through the day, I was approached by a bubbly young lady who identified herself as being with the Dangerous Kids podcast, and asked if I’d be interested in doing an interview later on. Being a camera/media whore I, obviously, said “Hell yes!” A little while later she came back with Switch, the host of said podcast and we did a little chat about art and Portland and stuff (Which I will post in the “Press” page when I find the link). After the recorded part, we talked about the possibility of my doing some work with them, and he went back to awesoming up the con floor and I went back to work. Some of our fans from South Oregon came up for the show and stopped by the booth and we made plans to eat dinner after the show closed. After that, the booth was set upon by pirates. More specifically, it was set upon by Captain Ragnar “Redgoat” McHaggis from Portland’s premiere pirate crew, PDXYAR, who stopped by to talk to me about having reached 104% of their kickstarter goal, to fund the building of a pirate ship. (If you follow me on twitter, you know that I’ve been promoting this as much as possible) It was, in a word, GLORIOUS, to meet this man and his beard. After that, we had pirates around the table off and on all weekend which was fantastic. After the show closed, we went to dinner with the Klamath Krew and Ashlie and I went home for sleepies.

Sunday was awesome. It started off awesome in that the show didn’t open until NOON. That gave Ashlie and I time to get some breakfast at Kenny & Zukes in DT PDX (pastrami gravy & biscuits, OMG) and wander around the Pearl for a bit before leisurely heading to the convention. the show started off brisk, and then went in surges (I imagine based on the panels going on at the time) for the rest of the day. I met another awesome pirate, the famous buccaneer balladeer, Master Dingo. He too, was glorious (and quite dapper) and a very pleasant fella. I then wandered the floor for a bit, and picked up some books, and chatted a bit with another super nice guy, Brian Meredith of Microbrew Comics and Emerald City Comicon who was tabling at the show selling his 11-year old daughter’s awesome comic, as well as his own comic anthology (both of which you should pick up). After the show, we went out to dinner with a couple of friends of ours, which nicely capped off our weekend. Bone tired, we drug ourselves back home and crashed. Thank you to EVERYONE who came out, and to Indy at STCF for having us out. We will be back next year, and I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

Coming up (very, very quickly) next on the crazy convention horizon is SakuraCon in Downtown Seattle this weekend (April 22-24). I know, we’re crazy for doing 2 cons 2 weeks in a row, but how else are supposed to support our growing eating habit? We’ll be in Booth #503 all weekend, so stop on by if you’re in the area. After that, I’ll be at Free Comic Book Day on May 7th at the Beaverton Things From Another World from 4-7 pm singing, sketching and basically doing whatever.

BTW, I’m sure you noticed that the Store links in the sidebar are gone. WP-Ecommerce borked completely over the weekend and I can’t get the asshats that own it to help troubleshoot. So, I’m in the process of moving everything into my Storenvy site (in the sidebar). If there’s something you want and it’s not up, let me know and I’ll make it happen.

Find US here!

It’s that time again – CONVENTION TIME! This time around, the show is Stumptown Comics Fest right here in the Western Comics Capital, Portland, OR.

This will be our first time at SCF, so I have no idea what to expect. We’re right by the entrance, though, so that’s pretty freakin’ sweet. When you enter the doors, turn right and you really can’t miss us. But, just in case you’re a visual learner, I’ve made you a map. See you there!

You LITERALLY can't miss us.

It’s been a while. I’m sorry. Other than being insanely busy working on projects that are nowhere near being done, there hasn’t been much to report recently. That is about to change, however. This weekend (Oct. 24, 2010) is Wonder Woman Day here in Portland. Wonder Woman Day is a charity fundraising event that benefits Bradley Angle and other domestic violence-related charities. It’s been going on annually for the past 4 years, and I’ve been donating artwork for the past 2. It’s a great cause, and the guy running it, Andy Mangels, is a great dude. I have a piece of art in the auction (which is available for online bidding here).

Here it is. It’s 11×17 on canson bristol board. Drawn with Copic Markers and white acrylic ink.

Related to this: I’ve been invited to be an Artist Guest for this year’s WWD event! How cool is that?! I’ll be there all day signing, sketching and schmoozing all in the name of charity. If you’re in Portland or the surrounding area, I should see you there. If not for me, do it for the charity. The charity!

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On a more reflective note; those of you who know me or have been following my aristic exploits for a while, know that I spent some time in Phoenix, AZ doing some photoshop work for Steve Rude. (I also was a model for one of the characters in his fully-painted story from Nexus 100. If you find which one, I’ll sign your copies at the next show you see me at) I didn’t know much about The Dude before that. The comics I read as a kid came from the corner 7-11 and they didn’t carry much beyond the normal Marvel/DC fare except Spawn. I only learned of his artwork through my work with the Phoenix Comicon, working as a guest liason. However, during the time I spent with Steve, I got to know him, his family and his art pretty well, and Steve became a teacher of sorts to me, giving me impromptu painting and art lessons when time allowed. I’ve been proud to call Steve a friend and mentor since. Well, time passes and circumstances change. Steve and his family have fallen on hard times. Their house is about to be lost due to bank foreclosure next month, and they can really use our help. This isn’t a call for donations, but a request that you go look through Steve’s online store, and if something tickles your fancy, buy it. Don’t wait. All of Steve’s work would make an excellent holiday gift for a comic nerd in your family.

That leads me to this sketch. I did this last week, inspired by the guys over at Comic Twart. I’m thinking about selling it to raise some cash to give to Steve to help out. What do you think I should do? Let me know in the comments on Twitter or by email. I’ll let you know what I choose by the end of the week.

I have more San Diego Comicon News!

As I may have mentioned before, I’ll be at Small Press table n-13 and as I said in my last post, I will be taking a few of my Star Wars Recruitment Posters with me, so if you want one of those get to me early.

Wait till you guys see some of the stuff we have planned for SDCC. We’ll have some crocheted chthulhu hats, and we’re making Zombie Brain Jewelery. Those are pretty sweet. We’ll have previews of those up soon.

*** On PREVIEW NIGHT ONLY I’ll be doing free blue pencil head sketches until my hand gets tired. Whatever character you want, but if you want something obscure or super specific, bring reference. These won’t be full commissions, and must be picked up on preview night. ***

I’ll also be doing sketch card and larger commissions all weekend, Inked ($15 for a sketch card, $25 for a 9×12) or Grayscale Copic Marker ($20 for card, $40 for 9×12). I’ll be keeping it to a limited number, so get to me early and get on the list.

Also I’m kind of excited to announce my very first limited-edition print. I wanted to do something with some of San Diego’s most prominent landmarks and, of course, Zombies. I’m only making 100 of these total, ever. They’ll be 12×18 and will cost $20.

Nothing new here recently, just hunkered down trying to get ready for the insanity that is San Diego Comicon. I’ll be at table n-13 in Small Press selling my art and books. I’ll also be doing sketches. On that note, I will have limited numbers of my Star Wars prints , but they won’t be on display, so if you’d like to buy one, come by on preview night and ask. If you’d like to be sure you get one, buy one from my website www.monkeyminionpress.com with a note indicating that you’d like to pick it up at SDCC. Wait till you guys see some of the stuff I have planned for sdcc. We’ll have some of the chthulhu hats, and we’re making Zombie Brain Jewelery. Those are pretty sweet.

Also of note is that next Wednesday, July 14 is Draw Night for all you Portland, Oregon people. It’s the last Draw Night before SDCC, so if you gave something you need another set of eyes on or just want to hang out and relax beofre the big show, swing on by! We’ll be at the Original Hotcake House on SE Powell Blvd. from 5:30pm till roughly 9:30, but you can come and go as you please.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=UTF-8&gfns=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=original+hot+cake+house&fb=1&gl=us&hq=original+hot+cake+house&hnear=Portland,+OR&cid=7531118273992274256

Welp, I think that’s everything right now. See ya laters!

D

Been a few weeks since I posted last. I apologize. The holidays/end of the year rush have been keeping me on my toes. In the next year, I’m hoping to change some things, though.

First up, I plan to post at least every week if not more. I’d like to start doing a sketch-a-day kind of deal where I can do a post about a sketch I did over my lunch break, or some preliminaries of whatever project I happen to be working on. I’m hoping that this constant sketching and drawing will help me to more easily define a style. I’ll take some suggestions over my twitter account periodically as to what I should draw for your amusement. I plan to start this on January 11, 2010. I’ll make announcements on my twitter and facebook fan page as it comes closer to time.

Second, this year, I hope to start my very own Ustream artcast. I’ve got the account, and I’ve downloaded Camtwist so feasibly I could do digital work and stream it, but I know a lot of people are more interested in my sketch cards and hand drawn art, so I need a camera for that. Perhaps, I’ll run a sale later to get myself a camera? (Wink, nudge)

While I’ve got ya here, I may as well show you this. A little bit of a step-by-step on how I created a recent commission.

Now that you’ve seen that, here’s the final image:

WOO!

Also, just wanted to let you know, Ashlie (the other, less public half of MMP) has gotten our Etsy page up and running! Be sure to go over there and let her know that you appreciate her hard work by buying something or adding us to your favorites! www.etsy.com/shop/monkeyminion

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Whassup everybody, so glad you’re here. It’s Dane-i-o puttin’ the flow back in your ear.

So this past weekend was the Portland Comic Book Show. This was my second year in attendance as an artist, and I just got 2 words: AWE. SOME. The show was straight up great. Even for me coming into the show with less than 2 hours sleep beforehand, it was a great show. People came, they were excited to be there, & they wanted what we were selling (and more besides, I had to promise to get a Supergirl print made LOL). I did a few sketches, and took part in my first Jam sketch (with Ron Randall & Randy Emberlin, no less!), and drew my first Alien xenomorph (on the jam). That was pretty cool for me. Hopefully I didn’t bring down the overall quality of the piece too much. Met some crazy MST3K fans, too, which was super-sweet. Great show, great fans. I’m already looking forward to next year.

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The march to 10,000.

So, it looks like I am SLOWLY creeping up on 10,000 page views on my deviant art page. Crazy. It’s kinda weird how it works, and I still don’t know how it happens. But anyway, 10,000. It’s kind of a big number, but not to important. However, 10,001? Now, that’s an important number. (Not really, but pretend, ok?) So, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m going to have a contest for the 10,001st pageview. If you open my page and see that you are the 10,001st viewer, take a screenshot and send it to me via note. That person will win a custom Personal Sketch Card commission from me of whatever character you choose (preferably characters with an established look, if you have your own character and have pics, that’ll work, but I’m not designing a character from whole cloth).

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Well, that’s it for now.
D