Jimmy Calabrese's Trailer Park Paranormal Investigators: The Sleepwalking Corpse

I was recently commissioned to do the cover art for Jimmy Calabrese of the phenomenal Rock 'n' Roll band Calabrese's short story The Sleepwalking Corpse. It's the first in a series of stories written by Jimmy. Above you can see the original ink drawing I produced for the image. Below is the final coloured version with the text and other important things added. I'm really happy with how it turned out so I figured I'd share it with all of you.
If you are interested in reading the story, and I think you should be it's bad ass, you can pick it up through amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Sleepwalking-Corpse-Trailer-Paranormal-Investigators-ebook/dp/B00HKL7JTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388493821&sr=8-1&keywords=jimmy+calabrese

Nicely framed artwork.

The person who purchased one of my favourite ink drawings at FanExpo 2013 got in touch with me recently to show me how they framed the piece. it is probably the most perfect frame I have seen for one of my drawings. Thanks Kelly, it's awesome.

Merry Christmas 2013

POD made me do it!

More David Cronenberg / Bodymindchange.ca riffing.

DEATH TO POD! DEATH TO BMC! MAX RENN LIVES!

Reserved for POD™

Agroup of my pals and I are really looking forward to our chance to serve as hosts for  BODYMINDCHANGE.CA POD (Personal On Demand) technology.

"Those aren't maple trees..."

Just a weird reference to one of my favorite jokes in the movie "Father's Day" from the insane Canadian film group Astron-6. They're the guys behind "Manborg" and "Biocop." I've been digging what they've been doing since I saw the "Biocop" trailer before "John Dies at the End" earlier this year.

#PODLOVESYOU

The many moods POD™

Cronenberg Evolution / Visiting BMC labs

What happens when I try to take a trip in the Seth Brundle Teleport Pod with David Cronenberg
according to Bartok labs.

So yesterday Leigh and I went to Toronto to check out the David Cronenberg  Evolution exhibit for my Birthday. We've been playing along with the Body/Mind/Change ARG that's being run in conduction with the exhibit so we thought it would be fun.
Outside the exhibit there is a little DNA testing booth set up by Bartok labs. It takes a picture of you to analyze your DNA unfortunately David Cronenberg must have been playing with the camera because some of his DNA seems to get mixed up with yours resulting in the machine being confused and mixing your DNA resulting in what you see in the image above. I hope they get the machine cleaned so  you can get a pure analysis of your own DNA.
Inside the exhibit you can see props and various other artifacts from the entire filmography of Cronenberg showing the evolution of his subject matter and style of film making. I've only really watched his earlier horror flicks so it was pretty interesting seeing what he was trying to say in those movies and how these themes progressed and changed throughout his career. You weren't allowed to take pictures through most of the exhibit but you could visit the bar from Naked Lunch and get your picture taken with a Mugwomp.

Leigh and I having words with the weirdo. He's kind of a creep.

The tour through the exhibit ends with three short films from Cronenberg. One was about a woman who wanted her breast removed because it was filled with wasps, one was about an old actor who thought that film was killing him, and the last was called "The Last Jew in the World Commits Suicide in the Last Cinema in the World." That one was pretty self explanatory. It is presented as a news story covering the event. The last jew was played by Cronenberg and it was surprisingly darkly funny. I think it was about Cronenberg's thoughts on how crummy film is becoming now cinemas are becoming neglected. Either way I enjoyed it the most.

When we were done with that exhibit we headed up stairs to check out BMC labs. to see how our "POD"s were progressing.

me and the pods.

There's a virtual version of the Evolution exhibit in that area. If you can't afford to go to the Evolution exhibit you can check out some of the displays on computers in the back of BMC Labs. It's cool but not  as cool as being right up close to those things. If you are playing along with the ARG you definitely need to go to BMC Labs. It's fun. The volunteers are dressed like lab techs and show people around the POD production facility. In one corner there is a set up of three TV screens. Me being the kind of person I am immediately sat down and started fooling around with the control console in front of the TVs. Eventually I asked the tech if they knew anything about the security footage. They cryptically responded "Oh, you would be very interested in that." So we sat down and played with it some more. There's a clue there for the ARG but for the life of me I couldn't find it. Hopefully someone will and tell me what we missed so I can feel like an idiot.

Leigh playing with the security footage.

On a side note, we've been interacting with the game on twitter. At one point we mentioned that we'd be heading to the lab. The BMC labs ended up contacting us through twitter asking when we'd be going. Eventually they asked what we'd be wearing. They sent us a weird cryptic video on Instagram. and DM'd us on Twitter asking if we smoked. I said no. They then asked if I wanted a cigarette. I said sure. They then told me that smoking was not allowed at BMC Labs. A few hours later they posted a tweet about some recommendation engine and asked if it was socially positive. I sent them a DM asking if BMC was socially positive and they suggested that some questions were better asked in person because the answers weren't possible in 140 characters. While we were in the lab we asked one of the techs if BMC was socially positive. The tech's attitude changed and she said "I think we live in Over stimulated times" (this conversation was eerily similar to an exchange between Max Renn and Nicki Brand in Videodrome) and walked to the front desk. She returned with an envelope and handed it to us. This is what was inside the envelope:

You may recognize that as something I drew last week. Only now they've printed it out and it seems Nicki Brand has burned it with a cigarette. I am not sure what any of this means but it was a great blurring of lines between game and reality. 

If you are a fan of David Cronenberg, Videodrome, or just weird reality bending games you should join in on the Bondy/Mind/Change fun. It's creepy and will make you feel like you need a shower but it's really interesting.

Body/Mind/Change Labs: POD

BMC Labs in conjunction with the TIFF's David Cronenberg EVOLUTION exhibit are giving prople the opportunity to test drive some new biotech implant that's designed to enhance your life! check out the BMC website for more details. I just really felt like taking a shot at drawing the POD device.

Happy Halloween from Nahum Gardner's farm

The Stopped Dead Season Four, two episode update Walking Dead Spoilers

I've gotten a few requests to continue the Stopped Dead graphic I did for the National Post last year. 

I'll warn you now there's going to be spoilers.

It can't be helped.

If you aren't caught up on the show then please don't continue past this sentence, you have been warned.

Dead By Dawn: Thirteen Nightmares, coming Halloween 2013

The new album from the English horrorbilly band Dead By Dawn. Cover art by me! The album will be  available on Halloween through iTunes and Amazon. You can find some of their music at Reverbnation and there will be videos to be found on Youtube. They're also on twitter @dbdofficialuk.
Dig ’em, I do!

Late, But Not Too Late Halloween 2013 Plan!

Hey gang,
This year for Halloween I've decided to post some of the Monstars that I haven't posted to the blog yet over on the Andrew Barr's Monstars Blog. I'm hoping I'll get some monster drawings done for this blog too. I'll at least get a pin-up done for Halloween itself.
I'm going to be at the Unplugged Convention at the end of the month. Oct. 26-27 to be precise. I haven't done that convention before but I'm looking forward to it. Although from the look of it I'm going to be the face of horror at that con. If you're in Toronto that weekend swing by the convention pick up some art and say, "hi!"

Tall Man

Just found this old (I believe it's a) screen print I did of the Tall Man from Phantasm from back when I was in college. I still think it's pretty cool.

Happy Friday the 13th!

 

Quick sketch of Jason "Mama's Boy" Voorhees. Done while eating lunch. And since it is Friday the 13th what better excuse to draw him.

Prince of Darkness

Everyone seems to be having fun doing those minimalist / mondo type posters for movies so I figured I'd give it a try. That's my take on a poster for one of my favorite John Carpenter Flicks, Prince of Darkness. You know what I learned while doing this? Wrong. No, what I learned is, it actually is pretty fun to do this mondo poster thing. I might do a couple more when I've got the time. 

Fan Expo 2013: Post mortum

The set up of the table I shared with Leigh

So, FanExpo 2013 has now ended. It was a pretty good year. As usual I shared a table with the magnificent Leigh Young. We were extremely fortunate to be bookended by two other fantastic artists. Matt Ryan, on our left (if you were looking at our table):

One of the few times Matt wasn't at his booth

I ended up picking up his print of a bunch of cool movie werewolves (Chaney Jrs. Wolfman, the American Werewolf in London and Teenwolf) eating the one from Twilight, trying to figure out an appropriate place to hang that. To our right was Sabrina Parolin:

You do not take pictures of ladies at their table unless they are in cosplay, creeps.

She had a bunch of fantastic horror art. I ended up grabbing a full set of the monster stickers she brought, they're pretty boss. I really want to see some of her horror embroidery in person. Cons are always more fun if you've got fun neighbours, this is the first year we were bracketed by the fun, entertaining people who did art we enjoyed looking at. Usually you're lucky if you have one neighbour who you enjoy sitting next to for four days (or even 2 days as so many cons seem to be.) Even more amazing it was the first con either of them attended and they seemed to know all the proper con-etiquette! (They didn't sit in front of their table, they didn't sit on the floor in the middle of the area between the two rows working whatever it was they were selling, never had more than three people in their booth space, didn't let their friends block their neighbour's tables while talking to them, didn't try to scam power from people who paid for it, never looked bored or desperate when there wasn't a crowd in the row.) I hope if I'm ever at another con they're at I'll be in the same set up as this.

The atmosphere of the con was a little weird year this year since they had utilized the entire Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and made the bizarre decision to house all the celebs in their own little autograph area in the north building and put the entirety of the rest of the convention in the South Building. For the most part this eased up the congestion normally encountered on the convention floor. But it meant the there was no way for anybody to  know how busy the autograph lines were nor which celebrities were actually available for autographs. Especially since FanExpo made the great decision to only have announcements telling us that the show floor was going to open in 2 hours, the show floor was about to close in 15 minutes, or that the show was closed and everyone should finish their purchases and leave.

I did manage to catch Phantasm director Don Coscarelli at the Rue Morgue booth. I got him to sign one of my Tall Man prints.

We discussed the merits of releasing a full cut of Phantasm 1 ("Only the Phans would be into seeing that. It wouldn't be a very good movie. There's a reason editing exists.") At which point Little Miss Risk (who was in American Mary, I think, I haven't seen it yet) commented on how funny it was that Coscarelli was so candid about his film making.  Whether or not the whole thing was a dream ("We shot four endings, two are in Phantasm, one is in Oblivion and one hasn't been seen.") He was very evasive about the existance of any footage for Phantasm 5 ("We have to do one.") There weren't many people around when I got his autograph so I got to have a pretty decent chat with him.

He ended up asking for a copy of the Tall Man to give to Angus Scrimm so of course I gave him an extra one.

Don Coscarelli with my Tall Man

I also managed to catch Lloyd Kaufman (director of Toxic Avenger) on the last day of the con as he was about to leave (never knew when or where he was thanks to the lack of announcements.) He signed one of my Toxic Avenger prints: 

LLoyd Kaufman, as classy as you'd expect!

He seemed to like what I drew, told me to tweet a picture of it and he'd make me famous. 

Lloyd with two ladies who come to my table every
convention I've been to where Troma has a presence
I don't think I've ever gotten their names but they are
hilarious and awesome.

Chatted with Mike Mignola  for a short while on Saturday, he didn't seem that keen on doing big conventions anymore. Said there were too many people which makes it hard to control everybody. I over heard a terrible story about him having a problem getting to a panel he was supposed to give. You'd think the Con would take care of their guests, especially their guests of honour, make sure they can get where they need to get to when they need to get there. Sadly this wasn't the first time I've heard a story involving a guest being miss handled (another one involved a person who was supposed to have a panel not being allowed into the con and just going home.)

As for cosplayers, there was the usual mix of characters from cartoons I've never heard of, characters from video games I've never seen, out of shape super heroes, people wearing less clothes that they probably should be wearing, little kid Indiana Joneses and male princess Leias. Didn't take many pictures of them 'cus the booth directly across from me was for something called Gay Nerds so every picture looks like I'm labelling the cosplayer a Gay Nerd. I did take this one of the most awesome Joker costume I've ever seen.

She could actually peel her face off!

She had all the hooks and strings and stuff like in the comic but she left them off while she was wandering the con because it made peeling the face off difficult and it was more fun to creep people out by doing that. There's a Doctor Strange I've seen a few years in a row now that I think is the most amazing Doctor Stranges, I'd take a picture of him but I think in most peoples view I'm digging his get up ironically. In all seriousness he is exactly how I like to imagine the real Doctor Strange would look. I'm sure if you've been to Fan Expo you've seen him. He is AWESOME.

Got to catch up with a few people I see every con, which is always fun. DM from TheAvod.com swung by and we discussed how Elysium is a remake of Johnny Mnemonic with dust, a theory I came up with while discussing the movie with another of my con pals earlier in the day. I demanded that she watch the Laid To Rest movies. We discussed movie making with a friend of hers from the accountants perspective, which was more hilarious than it sounds. Never could find my pals Sara Deck or Dan Soelberg. (My sister did, bought one of his books) The craziest thing is, Alan Graves, the guy who put together the Zombook, which I have a piece in, dropped by the table, he's from England (and has a very strong french accent) just to say "hi", make sure I got my copy of the Zombook and to buy one of my art books. It was nice to put a face and voice to the name. If you don't have a copy of the book you should get it, its full of awesome zombie art from an awesome list of artists including me.
 It seems no matter what's on the map there are times where people and their tables are just invisible. I found Mike Rooth before the show started, went looking for him once the people were let in and I never could find him again. I had already found him once that day! WEIRD!

Overall the show seemed to go well for almost everyone in my gang. I look forward to seeing if there's any changes to the organization of the thing next year. I'll probably (86% sure) do it again.  I'm also planning on hitting another con or two in the coming months in Toronto so you might have a chance to catch me at one of them if you are hoping to pick up one of my art books (if I've got any left by then or any of the Monstar prints.

OK enough of this. Gotta do some art to put up here for all the people who have just discovered this blog after picking up a card at the con!

And if you missed it  the New art book is now available through Etsy: HERE!

BRRRRROOOOCKK LESNAR!

Dunno why, but I felt like drawing Brock Lesnar. Don't judge me.

It's almost that time.... FANEXPO 2013

The Talisman of the Three Eyed Skull

A reproduction of the strange talisman originally described in the pages of the infamous book, "Notchordamnatchoz." The book claims The skull with "one eye for seeing, one eye for looking and one eye for watching" will protect the bearer from harm from the creatures thought to roam the spaces between what is known and what is unknown.
I have prepared 25 copies of this talisman to be included with the first 25 copies of my new art book, The Unnatural Order of the Three Eyed Skull which will be available at table A70 in artist alley during FanExpo in August. If you are interested in making sure you can get a copy of this book drop me an e-mail or tweet me to let me know.

This is the first time in I don't know how long that I produced any art through lino-print. I had forgotten how much work it was. In the end I think it turned out pretty well. You end up with som pretty interesting textures in the final that are hard to get in any other media. I've always preferred screen printing when making prints of my work but I don't really have the space required for that kind of thing. one day I hope to get back into it but until then everything's going to be printed digitally or the occasional lino print.

Here's what the thing looked like while working on it:

I'm really looking forward seeing the whole package put together (book, print and little band that holds the print in the book) should be pretty cool.

The Talisman of the Three Eyed Skull part 2

Here's the second stage of printing. One more and the talisman shall be complete!
A complete talisman will be included with the first 25 copies of my new art book which will be available for the first time at FanExpo Canada in August 22–25.
I've already carved up the third and final plate for this image and should be printing it today. I'll post the final version once they're all printed.
here's what the plate looks like.

Wish me luck!

The Talisman of the Three Eyed Skull part 1

Here's a little work in progress image of the print that will be included in the 25 copies of my new black and white art book which will be available at the 2013 FanExpo in Toronto. I'll post each stage of the print as I complete it. so you can see what it looks like in the end.

this is what the next stage of cutting looks like:

Unnatural Order of the Three Eyed Skull: sneaky peek

What you see here is a sneak peek at the cover of the 100 page, black and white, hard-cover art book I've put together for the 2013 FanExpo in Toronto. I'm making a limited run of these, probably 25 of 'em. Each one will come with a block printed ward against monsters which should protect you from about 13% of the fiends you will discover in this book. How do you defend yourself from the other 87% of things found in the book? I don't know. Maybe by buying a copy of the art book? Sure, that's it.  Buying this art book is almost guaranteed defence against the monsters depicted in the art book. Maybe.

I figure the book's going to retail for $25, if you're interested in pre-ordering one to pick up at FanExpo drop me an e-mail. If you want to buy one at FanExpo, I'll be in artist alley table A70. If there's any books left after FanEx they'll be available through my Etsy shop.

The terrible message of the hooded figure...

While listening to "Welcome to Night Vale" I was visited by a strange hooded figure who whispered in my ear a horrible secret. If you are not already listening to the Night Vale Radio podcast, you should start right now. It is amazing and horrifying and beautiful.

Croach the Tracker? (from Sparks Nevada: Marshal on Mars of the Thrilling Adventure Hour)

Here's my take on the character Croach the Tracker, he's a native of Mars (which is what I designate it) you can here about his adventures by listening to the Thrilling Adventure Hour, which is something I insist you do. It is great fun.