About Windhammer

Created to accompany Rob Weychert's article in the second issue of Fray magazine, detailing his Regional Air Guitar Championship win in Philadelphia.

About Benjamin The Newborn

This is one of the early full page spreads from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, depicting the newborn geezer. Though the original was a monochromatic watercolor, what we have here is the two-color version created for the book.

One of my favorite things about this scene really is the inclusion of a tag indicating the newborn's name, which as you may remember, is quite similar to the practice of tagging a corpse's toe in the morgue. While Fitzgerald mentions the tags on the newborns in the original text, the metaphor didn't really hit home for me until I actually had to draw it. The same thing happened to me when I read The Outsiders and realized Sodapop was actually a human, rather than just a really important beverage.

About The Digesters

These folks are featured in the Digest section on The Morning News. It's a pretty good example of how the literati like to hang around together in groups, usually to exchange witty barbs. For example, one fellow would say something like "Winnifred, your cheeks are frightfully pale this evening — was your heart too cold for the blood to stick around?" To which Winnifred would likely reply, "Droll as ever, Stefan. It's a shame the only organ you have worth mentioning is made by Casio." And so it goes until one of them commits suicide.

For a better view of The Digesters, try looking at this larger, non-cropped image.

About Hebra and Shebra

You ever think about how funny looking Zebras are? I mean, look at those things... they're covered in stripes for some reason!

Notes

In Spring of 2008 I revised the background of this, making it more yellow. It was too pink. I really thought it would help those Zebras find love again, but I guess it didn't work.

In the Fall of 2007 I was contacted by good friend and militant designer Rob Weychert to provide illustrations for a book he was designing. And while the opportunity to work with Rob is temptation enough, the real convincing factor was the content itself.

Written by Howard Mann, Business Brickyard is designed to help you reconnect to the passion and principles fundamental to running your own business. Having gone into business for myself in 2004, I was all at once comforted, enlightened, and enthralled after reading that first early draft — my own copy of the book now sits at arm's length away, ready to help support me in times of business crisis... or in case I forget how to draw a harpoon. Both happen surprisingly often.

About Manda

There's really nothing more warm and cozy than Panda fur. Luckily for them, this is about the only way to get a Panda Fur sweater.

About Ladger

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Penghim

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Manther

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

About Eagirl

One-fourth of a set of limited-edition letterpress prints released by Coudal Partners for their Swap Meat Holiday Exclusives.

In October of 2007, Matthew Sutter and I began playing a game of My Team, Your Team online. What is My Team, Your Team? Well, basically...

Player 1 draws a character with a power. Player 2 then draws a character whose power cancels the power of that previous character. Repeat.

Featuring guest artists, a slew of dastardly heroes and villains, and more illustrations than you can shake a stick at, The Superest has even inspired countless movie deals, as well as comic books and television shows. Or wait... it's the other way around. Sorry.

Well... you still might enjoy visiting anyway.

Additional Notes

Interested in Matt's and my original My Team, Your Team game? Check the article out here.

In 2007, the good folks at AIGA New York asked if I'd like to design one of the wrapping papers for their Holiday Party/Fundraiser. Being quite the holiday enthusiast, I agreed, and put together a snazzy wrapping paper depicting four of the many cultural iterations of Santa Claus.

More on This Paper

For a better look at these paintings, and for the stories behind each individual Santa, check out the article Four Clauses.

About Red-Handed

Drawn for the recently re-launched Fray Quarterly Magazine, for their Busted! True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act issue. It was either draw this hand, or submit the shockingly true story of how I invented the nickel.

You see, back in the twenties, the US only minted pennies and dimes — but most bordellos charged five cents or more. So it seems ol' Warren Harding got it in his head that...

Subsequent Appearances

The hand has been recently seen on baggage.

Pigs, in general, are stupid animals. Well, stupid in comparison to humans. Though humans, in comparison to super-computers are kind of stupid.

Some of those Jeopardy Champions are pretty smart, though. I'd love to be one of those guys. Though they probably get rather pompous and tiresome to spend time with, since they're probably always trying to remind you how smart they are.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I care for smart people. Now, a smart pig would probably be great to spend time with. One just smart enough to have a conversation without any Jeopardy-type trivia. Or, in the case of the smart pigs from above, just smart enough to help you save your money.