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Bay Area Graffiti Part 1

Kleenrz Concept Art

1985 Volume #6

Page 22 Volume #6 From Rough to Finished

Bubba G. Scotch

Rest in peace my friend!

1985 Vol.6 PG 24

Belgium/ Paris Trip 2013

Skin

In 1988, a pair of comic artists, Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy released a one off graphic novel called 'Skin'. The story was an odd one, not only that the main character was a skinhead, but one whom was also a victim of Thalidomide. The nickname for these children with these defects was 'sealboys' and it just so happened , most of them were teenagers during the skinhead movement in England of the late 60's.

The comic art was done mostly in a series of pastel pieces, divided into panels. The effect is almost hallucinatory and give it a strange style.

Out of print now, but copies are available online, it was a great one-off I wish they would've continued.

Some Embarassing Logos

See the while list here:

Boots N' Booze 87!

Creature Features

Channel 2 in the bay area (Oakland) was by far my favorite channel as  10 year old, growing up in the Santa Cruz mountains. I didn't always come in clearly (years before the cable-coup takeover) Primarily because this was where you saw 'Creature Features', showcasing all of the best Roger Corman-esque B-moves you can think of.

Around this same time, my brother Joe had sent me a birthday gift which enclosed the card below:

A bit faded now, but the signature reads, "Dear Jimmy, wishing you the horriblest of horrible birthdays and many nightmares to come!- John Stanley" Also enclosed with this card was Man-Thing issues 1-10. Possibly one of the best gifts I ever received.

Don Martin

I'm always struck about how little I hear about Don's work. For me, he had to be one of the biggest sole influences on my illustration. And you can't help but notice his style in Matt Groening Simpsons or Family Guy. His bean-pole characters along with their huge feet endured torture and humiliation alongside a slew of illustrated graphic sound effects, that were as fun to read as the comics themselves.

Don got his start as a printer typesetter, and later was hired by newly founded MAD Magazine in 1956. He ususally ran 2 or 3 strips in each issue, usually with benign titles, that resulted in their protaganist being mauled or beat up in some way.

Don went on to contribute to some various animation throughout the years including this rare and early VH1 promo from the 80's:

Australia Journal Part 1

The World Of Vaughn Bode´

In the mid to late 60's, Vaughn Bode was a true pioneer of underground comic/illustration art. His work centered around 2 main characters: Cheech Wizard, an orange pair of legs with a gigantic wizard hat. And Puck, a simple minded lizard who acted as fall guy.

While this sounds pretty general, his work was some of the most imaginiative and detailed of any at the time. He often placed these characters in various stories and setting, including War Lizards, which involved his characters as soldiers in the Vietnam War. His work was incredibly detailed, and he would often include schematics to explain how his ships and vehicles would actually run.

He passed away in 1975, and his son Mark has kept his work going, as, he's adopted his fathers style and continued the stories rather successfully. His work has been influential amongst filmmakers like Ralph Bakshi and George Lucas.

I first noticed Vaughn Bode's work in graffiti art. Graff writers co-opted his characters into the art, and, they almost became mascots of the subculture. I've painted many Vaughn Bode characters,and, in creating the Quasimoto video 'Bullyshit', as a homage to Vaughn Bode, I had a cameo of Cheech Wizard in the video.

Musical Philanthropy

Amongst a rather ruthless and unforgiving business, you sometimes see great examples of a sort of 'Artistic' or 'Musical Philanthropy'. A good example of this came in the form of a road trip Eothen Alapatt and Chris Manak took back in 2000. Heading up the then fledgling label Stones Throw, the mission was to drive cross country and collect as many rare 45's for an upcoming, now classic, anthology, the Funky 16 Corners.

While they were scouring musty record bins in places like Houston and Tennessee, the shop owners would inform them that some of the original musicians still lived in the neighborhood. This would prompt a get together involving Eothen and Chris with the shop owner, the musicians, and a 6 pack of beer. Then the idea came to them that, why not partner on the anthology, and have the original musicians actually own part of the record, as well as participate in some live promotional performances. It seemed to be a win win for all involved.



I can't help but take away the idea that, as artists, we're here to not only help each other, but to possibly allow each other to thrive and to offer up opportunities what might not have been otherwise. Inspiring stuff!

Milt Kahl Before Disney

A great showcase of some of the legendary animators work before he became one of the '9 Old Men' of Disney:

Thanks to Cartoon Brew!

Meanwhile At The El Nopal Press

The man himself Francesco Siqueiros, proprietor of El Nopal Press. Much thanks to Robert Matsuda:

Very inspiring TED talk!

Kleenrz Album Art

Just got hard copies of this guy. Front and back images below. First LP art I've done in a couple of years: