The Tribute to Judd Apatow Show

For the past few years I've thought about how awesome it would be to be a part of a show at Gallery1988. Finally that goal was realized when I was asked to participate in the "Tribute to Judd Apatow Show" that opened at the Melrose location last night. Judd Apatow himself was there as well as Seth Rogan. Sadly, no I was not there but being a part of the show that included artists that I'm big admirers of was one of the biggest treats I've gotten this year.

"The 40 Year-Old Virgin" is still one of my favorite Judd Apatow films and Andy's obsession with old action figures really spoke to me. For a while I've been wanting to paint Andy as an action figure from the late 70s complete with packaging reminiscent of "The Six Million Dollar Man" figures. 

The piece, titled "Bionic Andy," is acrylic and mixed media on 15" x 20" illustration board and is for sale at the Gallery1988 Melrose location. The Judd Apatow tribute show runs through the end of the year so if you're in LA, go check it out!

Also I was honored that G1988 also featured my piece on their Instagram feed! 

L|td. POP! 2 Show — Best Bat Buds

I was thrilled when I was invited to be a part of L|td. Art Gallery's POP!2 Popular Culture show. Above is the print that I submitted titled "Best Bat Buds." I really can't explain how I came up with the idea of two Caped Crusaders from different eras hanging out drinking beer — it just happened. I'm really glad that idea just popped into my head though, it was just too good not to draw!

The prints are 10" x 12", printed on archival luster paper and a limited edition of 10 with 1/10 being sold framed. 

The POP! 2 show opens tonight at 6 p.m. at the L|td. Gallery in Seattle so stop on by if you're there and check out all the amazing art! More info about the show can be found here.

Really wish I could be there myself! If anyone happens to see my piece there, please take a pic of it and send it my way — I'll post it here and give you credit!

James Bond Illustrations for The Star Tribune

I recently got asked to an assignment I just simply couldn't say no to — draw all the Bonds for a feature in The Star Tribune. As a life long Bond fan, this was a blast to work on.

Mike Rice, Features Design Director at the Star Tribune, hit me up with the opportunity to do that and a few spot illustrations to round out the package. Above is how the front page of the section looked. Below is the jump page that ran inside.

Mike did an amazing job designing the package and helping make my illustrations pop on the page!

Here's a few of the illustrations close up (click to make bigger):

If you're interested in reading the articles, you can check it out at the Star Tribune's website.

Are You Afraid of the Art? Show at Gallery 27

When Gallery 27 in Chicago invited me to their "Are You Afraid of the Art?" Nickelodeon tribute show, I just couldn't say no. That was easy. Trying to decide what to do for it was hard.

I grew up on Nickelodeon programming, starting in the early 80s when all they had were old TV reruns and Canadian exports they aquired like "You Can't Do That On Television" and then continued watching through the mid 90s when they introduced Nick Toons and ground breaking shows like "Pete & Pete."

While I had ideas for 3 pieces, I only had time to do two, so I did one from each end of the spectrum of my Nickelodeon watching expierence. 

The first one, above is a lovely portrait of the character Barth from "You Can't Do That On Television." It's a 9" x 12" digital piece titled "Duh, I HEARD THAT!" — his signature line after the kids in the burger shop would tease about "Who do you think's IN THE BURGER."

The next piece is a tribute to Powdered Toast Man from "The Ren & Stimpy Show." It's  9" x 12", ink, ink wash and Copic Marker on paper and is titled "LEAVE EVERYTHING TO ME!" 

I had plans for a Pete & Pete Mr. Tastee piece to round out the food theme I was going for, but just ran out of time. Maybe I'll get around to it someday.

The show will have it's opening reception tonight (Nov. 2) from 6 - 10 p.m. If you happen to be in Chicago and love classic Nickelodeon, go check it out! More info about the gallery can be found here.

Update: Both pieces are now up for sale on Gallery 27's site. You can purchase Barth here and Powdered Toast Man here!

Recent Magazine illustrations

Over the summer I worked on a few illustrations for a couple of magazines that are currently on newsstands. The first one above was for Boca Raton Magazine and was for a story about the upcoming Presidential debate that will be held at Lynn University in Boca Raton.

The University loved this illustration and asked to use it on the main poster that will be put up all along the campus and handed out to attendees of the debate.  

I had a lot of fun doing the second illustration for the article peppering notables like Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and others throughout.

The next set of illustrations I did for an article in Salt Lake Magazine about Twi-hard moms and the obsession with teen literature. 

The Hunger Games vs Twilight illustration was particularly fun to do. Poor Edward, not much he can do but bite stuff. ;-)

Both issues are on newsstands in Utah and Florida through the end of the month. You can read the Twi-hard Moms article here and the Presidential debate article here. 

Ltd. Art Gallery's "B: A Tribute to B-Movies Show"

I'm really excited that I was invited to be a part of Ltd. Art Gallery's "B: A Tribute to B-Movies Show" that will have it's opening tonight in Seattle! A lot of great artists will be a part of this show and I couldn't be prouder to be in the mix with them.

It was tough trying to decide on what to do for it but I decided to go with a portrait of one of my favorite actors who got his start in a popular B-Movie — Steve McQueen from "The Blob." The piece is 9 x 12 inches, painted with Gouache, India ink and ink wash on watercolor paper.

If you stop by the gallery tonight or while the show's up and take a picture of it, please feel free to send it to me. I'll post it here and give you credit for the pic!

_______________

UPDATE

Levi Hastings, another amazing artist who participated in the show, was kind enough to take a pic of Steve at the opening for the show last night. 

Thanks Levi! Be sure and check out his website to see his art and his amazing "Death Becomes Her" piece that's also in the show! 

___________________

UPDATE #2

The "Beware of the Blob" piece is now up for sale over at Ltd. Art Gallery's website! If you'e interested, you can purchase the piece here!

Monsters, Movies & The Dude Opening

Wow. That's the best way for me to describe the amazing turn out for my solo show Wednesday night. I am extremely humbled by all the old friends and new fans that turned out to look at my stuff. Also a big thanks to everyone who purchased my work, I'm extremely grateful to all of you.

Here are a few photos from the opening. I've dedicated a page on my website that I'll update with more photos from the show sometime this weekend so check back on there soon!

I'll be appearing on CBS KUTV-2's morning show Monday, Oct. 8 around 7:20'ish promoting the show so if you live in Utah, set your DVR's for it!

Again, thank you for everyone that turned out and if you couldn't make it, the show will be up all month long at the IJ & Jeanne Wagner Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City.

Having a conversation about my "Young Frankenstein" pieces with cartoonist Pat Bagley.

It's Darren Ewing in 2-D and 3-D!!

My artwork stretched all the way down the length of the hallway.

My wife Nicole and I in front of her favorite piece from the show.
I think it might have something to do with Chris Hesmworth being in it.

Monsters, Movies & The Dude solo show

Karloff: Frankenstein's Monster — 9" x 12" Gouache, ink and ink wash on Bristol Board

This month, starting today in fact, my solo show titled "Monsters, Movies & The Dude" will be up at the IJ & Jeanne Wagner Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City, UT.

The show will run from October 1 through the 30 and will be located at the gallery on the second floor lobby of the community center. The center is located at 2 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City.

Lugosi: Dracula — 9" x 12" Gouache, ink and ink wash on Bristol Board.

An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 3 from 7p.m. to 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Refreshments (BEER!) and treats will be served as well.

The Dude or 'What the @#$% You Talking About?' — 9" x 12" digital print on paper

The show focuses on my love of popular culture in film and television. To celebrate October, there will be a large selection of new portrait studies of classic Universal and Hammer Horror characters and "Young Frankenstein." There are also several other horror movie inspired pieces, including drawings, paintings and retro movie posters of some of my favorite horror films.

There are also a select number of other works as well featuring the Indiana Jones films. "The Big Lebowski," "The Avengers," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Doctor Who" and "Harry Potter."

The original painting I did for Bryan Young's "Operation: Montauk" book cover will also be on display.

Everything but the "Operation: Montauk" piece will be for sale in the gallery and a portion of the proceeds for each sale goes to the JCC.

So if you happen to live in the Salt Lake area, I would love it if you could stop by the JCC for the reception or anytime this month to see my work up close and personal.

The Cabin in the Woods

One of my favorite films of the year, "The Cabin in the Woods" came out today on video. So I thought what better day to reveal the retro throw-back poster I painted honoring it for my upcoming solo show.

It was painted in acrylic on 20" x 30" illustration board and the text was added digitally. The original painting and a 24" x 36" digital print of the finished movie poster that you see at top will both be for sale at my show. Be sure and click on the pic if you want to see it a bit bigger!

When I was showing progress pics of it on Twitter it even got approval from actors Fran Kranz and Anna Hutchison! 

The show will feature a lot of new pieces honoring classic and some modern movie monsters and horror so more will be revealed in the next couple of weeks. 

Opening reception for the show will be at the IJ & Jeanne Wagner Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City on October 3rd from 7 to 9p.m. 

The show will run from Oct. 1 - 30. The show and reception are free and open to the public.

Mutant and Proud

Last week my latest piece for Planet-Pulp went up. This month is their X-TRA Epic X-Men show so I decided to do a piece from my favorite X-Men film, First Class. Jennifer Lawrence was great as Mystique and I thought her line would make a great propaganda-ish poster. 

Solo Show in October!

Big and exciting news! I'm proud to announce that I will be having a solo show in October at the I.J. & Jeanne Wagner Jewish Community Center gallery in Salt Lake City! 

The show will run from October 1 to October 30 and will feature not only previous works but a lot of new ones as well. Above is a sneak peak at a pair of "Young Frankenstein" pieces I completed last week for the show. 

Since the show is in October, I thought it would be fun to have several pieces be themed around some of my favorite classic monster and modern horror movies. 

Also there will be original line drawings from the JCC Summer Camp guide that I did in the Spring on exhibit and for sale.

There will probably be a reception, but haven't pinned down a date for it yet. I will update the blog when more information is available. 

I've got a lot of great ideas for new pieces for the show so I gotta get crackin'!

Kitty Ditties & Pretty Ladies Sketch Cards

I recently did my first set of sketch cards for a trading card series from the awesome and talented Katie Cook called "Kitty Ditties & Pretty Ladies." The trading cards (put out by 5FINITY Productions) consists of pin-up girls with cats drawn by a lot of talented artists. 

I did 16 cards for the set and now I can finally show them off. The sets came out recently but they sold out just as soon as the pre-orders went out a few months ago. 

If you are interested in getting one of my cards though, a couple have already turned up on ebay from collectors. Check them out here and here. 

It was a fun project and can't thank Katie Cook enough for inviting me to be a part of it.

Playing catch-up, AGAIN

Wow, time has really flown the last few months. I've managed to keep my main site and other social media outlets up to date except for my poor neglected blog. 
So, it's time to catch up and here's a few notable things I've done the past few months:

In March I helped create this mailer for the Salt Lake City's Jewish Community Center Summer Camp guide. I illustrated it and helped design it to look like an old comic book. It was a lot of fun and got a lot of good feedback from it.

Made up a James Bond "Thunderball" poster for Planet-Pulp's James Bond show and a retro '70s poster for "The Silence of the Lambs" for a poster competition — which I didn't win, but that's ok. It was an idea that had been swimming around in my head for a while and the contest was a great excuse to finally execute it.

I drew a couple of cool movie illustrations for the Salt Lake Tribune — as well as designed the pages. One was for "The Hunger Games" review and the other for the review of "The Avengers." The little hand out art just didn't give the pages the punch it needed so I took it upon myself to go above and beyond what was required for those covers.
They were both a lot of fun to work on but unfortunately the week after my Avengers cover came out, me and 8 others got laid off from the paper. I'm still looking for a full time job so if you know of anything, let me know.
The original art for both the Hunger Games and Avengers pieces can be bought over in my store.

And speaking of my store, you can finally get a print of my Ron Swanson drawing! It's only $10  + S&H.

I also did a quick portait of Sir Christopher Lee as "Dracula" in honor of his 90th Birthday; Sam Elliott as "The Stranger" from "The Big Lebowski" for Planet-Pulp's Mouth-Brow Stache Show; and Slave Leia for Planet-Pulp's Star Wars show.

Finally, the biggest thing I've done recently is the book cover for author Bryan Young's latest novel "Operation: Montauk." The novel is a really fun sci-fi pulpy read and has everything in it, as you can see. It was a dream project for me and was so right up my alley it was ridiculous. I can't thank Bryan enough for bringing me aboard for this. 
Above is how the finished 15" x 20" acrylic painting turned out. After scanning in the painting though, we decided to change up the color of the background to make the central image pop a little more. Here's how the cover of the book looks:

You can purchase the paperback version over at Bryan Young's store here or the e-book versions at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.


Also Bryan is selling special edition prints of the painting at his book signings. Be sure and check out his blog for list of appearances and pick one up! They're 13" x 19", signed and numbered by me and are $15 each.


And besides all this, I've done a few things I can't show off yet. I've stayed a busy boy and despite the hardships, I can't wait to see what else this year has in store for me. I will definitely be posting more regularly...hopefully. ;-)