Logo

Now that the end of the year is upon us, it's time to get things in order, and seriously back up all of the work from the past few months. Nothing like starting the new year with gigs of free space.

And, it's about time to be designing the GZA book cover. I have a few I'm playing with, but, one logo in particular im liking.



J

Flyers Pt 1

A various assortment from over the years.

Merry Christmas!

Joe Sacco

I ran across a new, beautifully bound version of his 'Palestine' series. I have the paperback, and, wished I'd had waited to grab a copy of this new release.

It documents the authors stay in the West Bank as a journalist, and, is a great, honest depiction of the life there (He'd go on to publish his account of a safe area in Bosnia, and, an Iraq volume is in the works).

The Latest Print (Finished)

As well as the latest victims..Some of the folks who I've been working with for some time.

James

Balloons and words

I've been sifting through numerous fonts, and trying to find 'the one'. There's a ton of options, but, I'm drawn more toward the hand lettered looking, european styles. A lot of old euro comics had this sort of casual 'upper-lower' case style font. The one I'm using here is called 'Chronicle' Here's it is in use:



I'm doubtful about usage rights for this, but, I'm at least hoping to find something similar.

Ike!

Sad to say, but, Ike's left us. Aside from the horror tales of his years with Tina, the man was a prolific producer/musician. Sometimes these guys' bad behavior sadly eclipses any other contributions they might have made.

I had a chance to meet Ike years ago at a party. The party had about 12 guests and was held at Ron Hightowers house (if you need to, look him up). There were an assortment of characters there including actress' from Ron's movies, Ike, Lady Of Rage and a young Big E Smalls, right before 'Ready To Die' had came out. It was an odd small group, even stranger that two young guys from a graffiti magazine were there.

I was in town with a much younger friend, Nate, and was worried that he wouldn't have fun at the party, as, i don't think he'd ever even been out of San Francisco.. I turn around, and Nate is talking it up with Ike at the bar, and the two of them are carrying on and on about something, I'll never know. It was like the two had been waiting to meet all their lives.

Anyways, Ike's passing made that story come to mind.

Cards!

So, the studio has official Xmas cards this year (after being lame and not doing them last year). These were a little more elaborate in that the were made using acetate with hand painted backs.

The first batch just went out. If you'd care for one, hit me up here with your info.

James

The End

...but not quite. It's a bit surreal reaching the final page of this project, but, it's by no means the end. Now comes the touch ups, approval, and finally, inking. As was written on here before, inking is the REAL job when it comes to illustration.

Chris Ware

Enough has probably been written on this man, but, I've re-discovered his books. It never ceases to amaze me the incredible quality and quantity he's done. He got his start contributing to RAW magazine out of Chicago, a monthly comic compilation featuring various artists.

Chris's stuff has been published in about 2 dozen books, and a couple sketchbooks (which I've heard he's not too proud of, but, nonetheless amazing). His work tends to be pretty downbeat, all the while compiled in a classic, ultra detailed format, complete with his own custom ads and hand typography.


I also discovered a piece of animation he produced from the This American Life TV show (on Showtime). It's a pretty brilliant story-telling using his work: