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.
Friday, October 14, 2005
The Blot Show!
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!
