Happy Holidays from Tom & Mona & Sam!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Check out my friend: Kathleen Lolley
Another friend,
What can I say about her artwork? I just saw a preview of the show and I'm left a bit speechless. Whenever I try to write about an artist I really really like, I lose my vocabulary for describing artwork and I'm left just babbling the words "amazing" and "beautiful." But Kathleen's new paintings and drawings really are amazing and beautiful. If I had a lot of money, I would've bought nearly the entire show today and I would've taken them home and hoarded them in my little house so I could look at them all the time... But lucky for you- I don't have a lot of money... and I'm not a very good thief... So, her artwork is still hanging on the walls of the
The show opens Friday, December 9th, from 8-10 pm
at
Hollywood, CA 90028
The show will be up through January 15th and then all of her wonderful paintings will have new homes, 'cause I'm sure it's gonna sell out.
Unfortunately Miss Lolley will not be in town for the opening, but she might be making another L.A. appearance in a group show I'm curating in March. More details about that will come soon!
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Check out my friend: Gin Stevens
My good friend, Gin Stevens, has an art show opening this Friday at the
His work is evolving. The new series uses a much more lush, almost painterly, sand-paper scratchboard technique that he tints with watercolor. His subject matter has matured as well. He has moved beyond the realm of illustration to a more expressive, individualized vision of narrative portraiture. The new work is a series of tattoos and tattooed people. No longer is he merely illustrating a narrative story, but rather telling you the story through a stark image of a hand, foot, face or torso that is covered in years of history. The tattoos of his subjects are steeped in personal symbolism which give Gin's new series a self-expressive touch that I haven't seen in the past.
This is Gin Stevens biggest, and most impressive show yet. I highly recommend everyone checks it out this month.
December 2nd through Jan 1st at
Opening reception Friday, December 2nd, from 8 to 11 pm
4633 Hollywood Blvd. (in the back of the Wacko store)
Los Angeles, CA 90027
More info at the La Luz de Jesus website:
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Two Premieres this week!
If you register (it's free) with Channel Frederator, you can login, vote, and make comments about the cartoons.
You can watch the episodes online, but now I'm tempted to go buy one of those ipod things... I'm also happy that Episode 5 includes Le Building, a really cool short French cartoon that came out last year. Also Berd and Skwerl is rather funny, but I really love the surprisingly wonderful way that bird is animated.
2) Friday night is the premiere of the new Nickelodeon cartoon "The X's"! I've been a background painter on this cartoon since around episode 3 and it's been a lot of fun. I've only seen 2 episodes so far, but I thought they were very funny, and the stylish design of the show is pretty original. The hilarious
Friday they will air 3 episodes back to back in prime time.
Friday, November 11, 2005
The Incredible Shrinking Art Show
I'm in a agroup art show in Long Beach, CA this month. Opening reception is Saturday, November 12th, from 6-10 pm at the
Check the 
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
New York Report...
I'm back from a great, but too quick, trip to New York City. I saw lots of great things, ate lots of great vegan food, and got to walk around that beautiful city holding hands with my best girl, Mona.
On the first day I was on my own, and I spent it by going to see some art. I met up with my friend,
I had a delicious, but expensive, vegan lunch at
Anyway... the Ware show was great... but even greater was the
I tried to go to the Odilon Redon show and the Pettibon show while there, but I just didn't have enough time... 
As I mentioned last week, I went to the city for the book release party of American Illustration 24. The party was fun, but unfortunately I didn't know anyone, and there wasn't really much of a way to know who anyone was. At some point a nice girl named Anika took pity on my lonely state and introduced herself. She then introduced me to her boyfriend 
At the party, they were projecting the images on the walls. They went by pretty fast, but I did manage to get a picture of my paintings projected behind the sea of people. I'm really glad I went to the party, but I'm disapointed by my lack of ability to meet anyone while there- flashbacks of Junior High School dance parties where I was always a wallflower. I did meet a few nice people there, though.
The book looks great, and I'm really happy to see my paintings in it. I received three pages (pictured below)- two of them are full pages of my artwork! There is a lot of other interesting art in the book, but I haven't had time to really go through it and pick out my favorites. It should be available for purchase on the 
Mona arrived and we got to spend all day saturday wandering around the city together. We had a delicious vegan brunch at a little cafe (can't remember the name) in the East Village. We went shopping in SoHo at the vegan shoestore 
We did our one tourist duty and went to the Empire State Building. We had no idea that it's turned into a Disneyland style attraction where you have an endless maze of lines, gift shops and photo booths to trap you into spending tons of money. As they parade you through the labrynthine line, at one point they unexpectedly stop you in front of a cardboard cutout of the building and take your picture. We didn't really know what was going on, and the picture came out kinda hilarious, so we had to buy it. 
We finally made it to the top. The weather was perfect and we had a beautiful view of the whole city (see picture at beginning of post). After that we trekked down to Greenwich village in hopes of finding a cool bar to hang out in, but it seems that the area has been overrun with touristy crappy restaurants and sportsbars. So, instead we went back to the East Village for some yummy vegan dessert and wine at
Thursday, November 03, 2005
New York- here I come!
I'm off to New York City for the Book Launch Party for American Illlustration 24! I'm really excited to be included in this book (that's the cover on the left) and to have an excuse to go to NYC for the weekend. I've got my New York Vegan Restaurant Guide ready to take me to all the delicious veggie-places in the city. I hope to see the Odilon Redon show at MoMA and the Chris Ware show at Adam Baumgold gallery. 
I can't wait to see the book, see all the other artists who are in it this year, and see if my paintings look good in print. Four of my paintings (including the one to the right) were accepted into this book. I don't know what to expect at the Launch Party, but I'm hoping to meet some of the other artists and people involved in the illustration world.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
San Francisco Lecture...
I just realized I never followed up on my
Check out my friends: Part 3
How can I even begin to tell you about
She's the bestest, most creative, most prolific, most bestest cartoonist ever! I love her work. I don't even know how to talk about it. Her style achieves effortless perfection that is both quick and expressive but also technically beautiful. The content of her work is both cute and devious and balances that line between being accessable and thought provoking at the same time.
Lark is the creator of the series Mr. Boombah and Long Tail Kitty, as well as countless other comics and stories. You may have seen her work in recent issues of Nickelodeon magazine or on the cover of
Friday, October 14, 2005
The Blot Show!
My visiting artist show and lecture at The University of Tulsa went really well. I managed to make it through my first gallery talk without making too much of a fool of myself. I'd never given any kind of lecture before, and have managed to avoid talkingabout my art for most of my life. But, I guess it's inevitable that you have to do something like this someday...
Though I was really nervous about talking, I was lucky to have my interview with Rich Fisher for the local NPR station, 
Then, that afternoon, I gave my gallery talk to about 50 students and teachers and other Tulsans who came out for the show. I was still a bit nervous, but I managed to babble on for another 30 minutes, or so. Many students had questions, and a few other attendees, including local artist Tom Pershall, had some interesting questions and things to say about my art. I should have prepared a little better for the event, but I guess i managed to wing it pretty well. I'm glad that my first experience as a visiting artist was at my alma mater, where everything is familiar. Some of my old teachers and friends were there, and it made the whole thing a lot easier and even a little bit fun... And now I have to go give another lecture next week at the San Francisco Art Institute. 
The show looked great... I took a bunch of pictures before the opening, but unfortunately, many of them came out a bit blurry (I don't know how to use my mom's camera i guess). The gallery's lighting is so good it makes my paintings look better than they really are. And I was really happy to see that my comic pages looked good on the wall. Normally I'm not much of a fan of comic art hung in galleries, but I think it came out pretty good. 
Thanks to Teresa and Mary for helping to put the whole thing together. Thanks to David and Steven for doing a beautiful job of haning everything. 
And a huge thanks for my old prof, Virgil, for making this show happen. Unfortunately he didn't get to come to the opening because he had surgery the day before. But luckily I got to go visit him at his home while I was in town.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Check out my friends: Part 2
Okay, this guy isn't an artist, an animator, or a cartoonist... I'm sure anyone who would be on my site probably already knows him, but I thought I'd post about him anyway...
About 10 years ago I was at a diner called Village Inn in Tulsa, OK. I went to the men's room to wash my hands, and there I found a guy who was washing a Conan action figure in the sink and laughing. He then looked at me, pulled a string in the back of the Conan figure and it started rapidly moving it's arm as if it were masturbating. The man holding the doll started laughing hysterically and ran out of the men's room. I was a little disturbed and thought perhaps the guy was a bit challenged.
A couple of weeks later I met this guy again, and it turned out to be Greg. He wasn't retarded or crazy, just a guy with a great, though sometimes warped, sense of humor. We soon became best friends and were inseparable for all our years in Tulsa. When I moved to San Francisco, he moved to L.A. and began working at Disney as a systems administrator for their websites. When I finished school in S.F. I moved to L.A. and he helped me get my job at Disney.
A couple of years ago he started his blog,
Check out my friends: Part 1
Taking a cue from my pal, Patrick, I'm going to start regularly featuring some of my friends and other artists who I think deserve more attention. I'm gonna post about them in no particular order, so there's no favoratism or anything... Some of them are artists, some cartoonists, some animators, some are all of the above... 
Anyway... Since I'm taking the idea from Patrick, I'll start with him.
Currently, Patrick is working as a background artist and character designer for a new Nickelodeon cartoon: The X's. He aslo got me on board and I'm proudly working, with him, on my first T.V. cartoon. Though Patrick is working primarily as a background artist on this show, his real strength is in character design and caricatures. He recently published his first hardbound sketchbook that serves as a great portfolio of his range of talents. He's also been working on developing an animated series featuring his own character, Whaleboy.
One of the things I've always admired about Patrick is his constant drive and hard work ethic. He never stops... And he's always working in his sketchbook. And now he has a new
Patrick has been a HUGE help to me in my freelance career. Most of the freelance work I've found, in the last 3 years, has come through him. I owe this guy so much, he doesn't even know. He has always been a great friend, an inspiration, and an enourmous help to my career. Check out his
Monday, October 10, 2005
Back from Tulsa
So, I survived my first time as a "Visiting Artist" on my trip to the University of Tulsa. I had a great trip, saw a lot of friends (some I'd forgotten) and had a good show at the gallery. My interview by Rich Fisher, on NPR's Studio Tulsa, went really well. I think I pulled off the Gallery Talk okay- there were about 50 people there, and I babbled on for over 30 minutes about my art.
I'll post pictures of the show and the opening in a couple of days. Until then you can enjoy this shot of a new chain of convenience stores in OK. The Kum & Go where you Pay at Pump. 
Monday, October 03, 2005
iwilldestroyyou.com updated!
I've finally managed to get the comics section of my site put together. There are lots of sample pages of several of my comics, previews of upcoming projects, and many other miscellaneous comics-related things. And links to where you can get them.
More to come in the future!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
shows, interviews, lectures... YIKES!
I'm giving 2 lectures and an interview this month!?!?
First- I'll be interviewed for the
Second- I'll be giving a gallery talk at the University of Tulsa's Alexander Hogue Gallery before the opening of my show next week. The talk is on October 6th at 4 pm. The opening follows from 5-7 pm.
Third- One of my professors from the
So... now I have to figure out what the hell to say.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Links...
I finally figured out how to add links to the sidebar of this blog. It's still in progress, and I'll be adding more of my friends and sites of interest as I think of them. Please check out all my friends' stuff.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Ottawa Report!
I'm back from the
It was a helluva week. I saw a lot of amazing animated films and met a lot of really cool people. It was scary and nerve racking to see my cartoon on a big screen, and left me feeling a bit humbled. But I feel inspired and determined to learn more about animation to make my own films better. Anyway... here are my thoughts on some of the highlights of the festival... Warning- I'm not really a good writer, just giving a sortofa book-report on what i saw.
Let's start with the Feature film category...
It was a big disappointment that all three of these films were really really bad. I think they should not have given out an award for Best Feature this year. If I had to choose one, I would’ve given the award to the Estonian film,
The judges decided to give the Best Feature award to
Now on to the stuff I liked… I liked most of what I saw. It was a really strong festival overall with a huge range of styles and talents. I left feeling really happy and inspired at all the amazing stuff being made in the animation world.
Now onto my own category- Music Videos. I didn’t win, and I didn’t expect to. I feel so lucky to have had the chance to show
The New Media category was of a much higher calibur than last year (in '04, my cartoon
One of the biggest surprises for me, this year, was the experimental, abstract films. Normally I’m not a fan of experimental, abstract films, but this year surprised me with several stand-outs. Curse of the Voodoo Child by Steven Woloshen,
The most hilarious film has to be Bob Log III’s Electric Fence Story by Sebastian Wolf and Tinka Stock- what can I say about this? Apparently Bob Log III is a real person who has a lot of hilarious tales of drunken mishaps. This one, about a failed attempt at cow-tipping, was made into a short stop-motion animated film.
And the unintentionally hilarious
Top favorites:
Chestnuts Icelolly by J. J. Villard- there’s just something about this punk-rock animator that’s just perfect in my opinion. I really can’t describe what it is about his films, but they’re just perfect in every way. Raw. Angry. Funny. Ugly. Beautiful…
Meaning of Life by
Biggest Disappointment: The Moon and the Son by
And on that note, I’d like to turn to my absolute favorite of the festival. Which actually is an immature, amateur student film. But it’s just so perfect and wonderful… It’s not the best made film, and it really doesn’t have that much animation in it. But it really struck a chord in me. Bow-Tie Duty for Squareheads by Stephen-Flint Muller reminded me of the kinds of films my friends and i made when we were bored on a Sunday afternoon and decided to wander around town with a video camera… but we weren’t nearly as ingenious as these kids. These kids inventively poke fun at billboards, signs, buildings, streelights, and whatever else they see around town. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s one of the most genuinely charming, hilarious and heart-warming films I can ever remember. I could watch it over and over again and always find something new to love about it. If I could only choose one of the many amazing films I saw last week, and make everyone in the world watch it, it would be this one.
There were many other enjoyable films I'd recommend to everyone, including:
Also
I could write more about all these films, but this post is getting long already... so I'll wrap this up...
So, to end this, I wanted to give a HUGE thanks to Chris Robinson and everyone else who work to organize the festival. And a big thanks for accepting my film and giving me the opportunity to come up there, see it on a big screen, and spend a whole week watching awesome cartoons. I also wanna thank all the cool people I met and hung out with all week-
Saturday, September 17, 2005
iwillestroyyou.com updated!
I finally got around to updating
several areas of my website.
1) The animation section is now up
2) New illustrations added to the
magazine and album cover sections
3) New paintings added to the
2005 art gallery in the art section
i hope to have the comics section up
within a couple of weeks.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
art for disaster relief...
I'm horified by what's happening in the country right now.
Many artists are organizing there efforts
to make art for disaster relief.
Basically, you buy a piece of art,
and the money gets donated to a disaster relief fund.
check out these links:
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Oklahoma!
I'm getting ready for my show in October.
The University of Tulsa (where I got my BFA)
has asked me to have a show in their gallery.
Half of the show will be paintings
and half of the show will be comics.
Should be interesting to see how
it is received in OK.
Opening October 6, 2005
@ The Hogue Gallery
University of Tulsa Art Dept.
2935 E 5th Street
Tulsa, OK 74104
The show runs through Oct 28th.
Animation World Network!
I was interviewed by Joe Strike for
his article "Animating to Memorable Music Videos"
Among all the others featured,
he asked me all about my video for The Muffs.
Friday, July 22, 2005
O' CANADA! ...again!!!
Q: What could be better than spending a week in Canada with nothing better to do than watching cartoons?
A: Getting to do it again!
Last year
My music video for The Muffs' "Don't Pick On Me" was selected for the Music Video category for the OIAF '05- YAY!!!
Here's the list of animated music videos I'm up against:
Die Toten Hosen ‘Walkampf’ / Andreas Hykade / Studio Film Bilder / Germany
Mad Action ‘Smile’ / Jonas Odell / Filmtecknarna / Sweden
The Muffs ‘Don’t Pick On Me’ / Tom Neely / I Will Destroy You Cartoons / USA
Phoenix Foundation ‘Hitchcock’ / Reuben Sutherland / Joyrider Films / United Kingdom
Rheostatics ‘The Tarleks’ / Justin Stephenson / Trace Pictures, OZ Media Group / Canada
Xploding Plastix ‘Joy Comes in the Morning’ / Scott Friedman & Joe Ledbetter / Exhibit A / USA
It's a competition (and i won't lie- it'd be cool to come home with an award), but I'm just really excited to go watch a lot of cartoons. There's so much great animation going on in this world, but no one ever sees most of it outside of festivals. Last year i
This year, I'm looking forward to new films by John Canemaker and Henry Selick and special programs about Gary Panter's work on Pee Wee's Playhouse... but those are just the guys i've heard of- I know I'll see a whole lot more amazing stuff while i'm there. I can't wait.
for more info check out the
Friday, July 01, 2005
Don't Pick On Me
I'm really really happy to announce that i have finally finished my first music video.
It's a fully animated video- written, directed, and animated by me. It's for the song "Don't Pick On Me"
by one of my favorite bands:
I hope that we will be able to get it up online somewhere soon.
update: The video is now up on the Muff website. Check the "Muffs Media" section and go to "Videos." to watch it!
Drawn!
YAY! I check the Drawn! blog every morning for a little inspiration. They've got a great eye for good illustration, animation, etc and they post about it all the time.
Well, today i found myself on there. YAY! Thanks for the link!
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Sacré bleu!!!
If you live in France, and you want to hire me to do animation, you can now find me at
Mr. Hyde is a production company that represents 50 young, independent film-makers from around the world. I'm extremely excited to be a part of this. I may soon be directing commercials for French T.V.!
Thursday, April 07, 2005
AI24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just found out I was selected to be in the American Illustration 24.
If you don't know about this book, it's an annual, juried competition for illustrators.
I'm shocked, but extremely excited that I got in this year.
Other names, that I recognize, in the book with me this year: Gary Baseman, Oksana Badrak, Calef Brown, Chester Brown, Evah Fan, Tomer Hanuka, Peter Kuper, Michael Kupperman, Eun-Ha Pak, Jeff Soto, Rallph Steadman, Mark Todd, Gary Taxali, Adrian Tomine, Esther Watson, and about 300 other artists.
The book comes out in November!
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
A.P.E.
I Will Destroy You Comics will be at APE this weekend (April 9th and 10th).
I have joined forces with Jesse Reklaw and Flash Pham's
I have one new mini comic called "Henry & Glenn 4-Ever" debuting at this convention.
This mini-comic is the first published work of
The Hobo booth will also have an art gallery with lots of original art by lots of artists, including me.
So come on by the Hobo booth and fill your bindles full of good comics, art, and t-shirts.
Check the
It's Time for a Kartoon Kocktail!
Kartoon Kocktail will be happening on April 8th in San Francisco.
This is the 2nd annual collection of independent animation curated by Jesse Reklaw and Stefan Gruber.
I'm not showing the Muffs video, as i planned, because it's not finished yet.
BUT i have created a 1 minute animated intro for the festival that i think is very funny.
In addition to that, there are several great cartoons and animated films showing this year.
Please come out, have a Kocktail, and watch some Kartoons this Friday!
For more information, and the location, visit the
BEST SELLER!!!
"Lost In The Grooves" edited by Kim Cooper and David Smay
and illustrations and cover art by ME!
The book is now #10 on the L.A. Times paperback/nonfiction BEST-SELLER LIST!!!
Check out the last page of March 27, 2005 Book Review section.
It's also already in it's second printing.
If you don't have a copy, head over to
your local independent bookstore and get one!
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
2 Art Openings This Weekend...
My artwork will be featured in TWO group shows opening this weekend:
1) I have 1 painting in La Luz de Jesus Gallery's annual group show: "Everything But the Kitschen Sync." Featuring over 100 artists including famous people you've heard of like Gary Baseman, Daniel Peacock, Souther Salazar, Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, Gin Stevens... and people you haven't heard of, like me!
Opening reception:
Friday, March 4th 8-10 PM
4633 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
2) I'll be showing 15 tiny paintings at Harmony Gallery's "Divine Messages" a group show curated by Anne Marie Grgich and Dave Jones. This is a large group show of miniature artwork featuring 29 artists.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, March 5th
8-10 PM
5911 1/2 Franklin Ave (at Bronson)
Hollywood, CA 90028
I hope to see you there.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Hey, LOOK AT ME!
Amid, over at Cartoon Brew,
Monday, February 07, 2005
Graphic Classics: O. Henry
I just received a copy of Graphic Classics: O. Henry
I adapted and illustrated "A Strange Story".
I'm really proud of what i did with this story,
so please go buy a copy and check it out now.
The book also includes great adaptations by
Johnny Ryan, Rick Geary, Michael Slack, and many more.
For more information on the book, or to order your copy
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Big Site update!
I've finally been able to get all of the "illustration" section redesigned and updated on my site.
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