studioespinosa

Take Action NOW! / Act�a YA!

2008-05-07T17:54:55+00:00

Congress is rushing these bills through to a floor vote. The House will start marking up their version of the bill at 2:00 today; the Senate will do so tomorrow. To try to stop this bill, we first need to slow down the race to get it passed.

Take Action

Non U.S. artists please go here for a sample letter and the U.S. agencies to contact.

Artistas que no sean Estadounidenses pueden ir a este enlace donde encontrarán un ejemplar de carta para el Congreso y una lista de agencias Americanas para contactar.

5 de Mayo

2008-05-06T14:54:25+00:00

Last night, at the New England Gallery of Latin American Art (NEGLAA) was the opening of Chingasos, a multi media art event about legendary Mexican pugilist El Chango Verde (El C.V.) created by my good friend Raul Gonzalez and members of Los Cinco Milagros. I love going to East Boston, it's a mini Latin America over there, but yesterday at the gallery, with the music, the people in Mexican costumes, and the colorful images, I felt like I had really crossed the border. Awesome show Raul! Felicitaciones!!

El Chango Verde, one of my favorite paintings.

I took the interns with me; They got a little crazy with the tequila those kids.

El artista Raul Gonzalez (left) and his amigos

That cactus almost glows in the dark, is so bright!

L is for Linzie

2008-04-29T13:42:04+00:00

ABDCDEnjoy Miss Hunter!

El Malpensante

2008-04-21T22:04:20+00:00

Here's a cover I just finished for El Malpensante, my favorite literary magazine from Colombia. It was inspired by this beautiful song by John Frusciante and by the madness of a couple of books I'm reading.

Welcome to Second Grade

2008-04-19T18:06:43+00:00

Ex Dark Horse Comics knight, Phil Amara invited me yesterday to talk to his students about cartoons, comics, the power of dreaming and the joy of drawing. Phil teaches second grade at Curtis Guild public school in East Boston (think Jackson Heights, Queens NY) and among many latino kids in his class we counted three from Colombia which to me was extra bonus points. Man, did we have a blast!!!? they asked great questions, had very smart comments the best part for me was that I don't think they even blinked during my entire presentation.
Thank you Phil and thank you second grade for a wonderful morning!

Friday Pencil Fiesta GREAT News!

2008-04-18T21:59:23+00:00

Due to last Friday's success, our Pencil Fiesta will be featured in a separate section of Drawger and it will be happening not every week but on the last Friday of every month, so we all have time to recover in between margaritas. Good old Zimm is backstage setting up the piñata, so once again, thanks to him for encouraging us to play around and do this kind of silly experiments. We'll let you know as soon as things are ready and you can pencil out the official opening in your calendar.

Keep on drawin'

Priceless

2008-04-16T14:05:54+00:00

From time to time I get some really nice e-mails and letter from kids (or from very kind parents) telling me how much they love Sushi Pack and the fuzzy feeling I get in my heart is pretty special. This one in particular was worth a post: It came from my talented buddy Cade (age 5) from Oregon. Apparently, Cade has turned into a Sushi super-hero 24/7 which reminds me of making my mom nuts about my obsession of having to go to bed with my Zorro costume on (every single night).
Thanks for making my day, Cade. Enjoy the print!
Suuuuuuushi Roll!!!!

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty

2008-04-14T13:43:00+00:00

Friday Pencil Fiesta

2008-04-11T13:49:47+00:00

All the entries from the First Pencil Fiesta have moved to it's own spankin' new venue. Next show will be held on May 30th. Until then!

Friday is for pencils

2008-04-04T20:46:38+00:00

I opened my mouth + you ate my tongue

La Petite Morte

2008-04-02T19:42:07+00:00

My dear amigo Dunlavey just got my brain going thinking about an animation... I'm on the storyboard but here are the main characters I did this morning, El Señor Amor & Doña Muerte (or is it El Señor Muerte y La Señora Amor?)

From Rob Dunlavey:
Thanks Leo. I'm happy to take a small measure of credit for your creative endeavors.
Now, these characters and their situation: I like that Death and Love appear to be fairly equal in status and strength --as people. Death looks like a hard working stiff who can only rise so far up the ladder. He gets pulled down by his need for Love and the requirements of his vocation. He is fatalistic and his ambition only rises so far. Love, on the other hand, is dreamy and light on her feet but is also inevitably realistic and earth-bound. So maybe in your treatment they have one fantastic go-round to try to escape the clutches of fate and class. Maybe they transcend this story --which is an old old story. Good luck.

What's that GREAT Gilbert and/or Jaime Hernandez graphic novel? "Love & Rockets: Life of Luba" where Luba goes to the city alone and takes up with a man but she has a secret thing going on with Satan. It's a page-turner.

The Splunk is officially out!

2008-04-01T16:51:08+00:00

Last saturday we released the beastly Splunk into the wild... kids that couldn't wait any longer for him!
We did a little talk and then signed copies of Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk at the Children's Picture Book Festival in Belmont.
Among the group of speakers was our friend James Kaczman who presented his latest Lucky Monkey Unlucky Monkey (a gorgeous book indeed!).

Thanks to the cool kids at Sandboxworld for the post about our first book and to Melissa Steward for doing such a great job with the festival. Get more kids into books, yeahhh!!!! Comics 4 kids, double yeahhhh!!!! Break away from TV, triple yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!

PS: Sorry for being MIA for so long, Drawgeroids, but I needed some serious time away from the computer.

Go to Hell!

2008-03-28T17:38:36+00:00

And I will meet you there

Computer Art

2008-03-04T15:12:21+00:00

I love when computers take over and do unexpected things with my artwork. The example above happened while tinkering between Illustrator and Streamline when I was creating the illustration of Dice-K for the Boston Globe. The computer gave me about five random versions and this one was my favorite. it was like the machine was presenting me a round of sketches for me to pick from.
While staring at the bizarre results I remembered something I wrote years ago:
"In today's world humans and computers have merged so close together that it would be absolutely impossible for us to live without them; Without the humans."

Krafty

2008-02-21T05:07:12+00:00

what a song + what a video

What If

2008-02-18T22:48:30+00:00

I need some feedback before an important move, kids:
Since I first started in this field I've been solving editorial assignment in a very tight style and I guess it's because the use of Illustrator and also because I was educated as a Graphic Designer and not as an illustrator. I feel I want to leave the vector look for my licensing ideas and have for editorial+advertising something with the very personal look of my Sketchattack gallery.
I have a portfolio almost ready to upload at Illoz but any word of wisdom or suggestion before I do so, would be appreciated.
Gracias.

Go get your bag, girl!

2008-02-11T16:49:36+00:00

In my latest post from December I showed bits and pieces of four illustrations I developed for a handbag series produced by the Littlearth. The bags are now available through their website and I have to say that I'm thrilled with the way they all came out. Littlearth's quality and attention to detail is amazing, not to mention that they are environmentally conscious and terrific people to work with.

My Colombian War

2008-02-05T03:20:41+00:00

Today, as thousands of Colombians protested in marches organized all over the world against FARC, the terrorist group that under a fake mask of socialist ideologies has killed and kidnapped innocents for more than four decades, I felt a little more at ease with my own self.
Wait, that sounded kind of dense so let me back up a bit:
For the past couple of months I've been reading My Colombian War, A journey through the country I left behind, a very haunting book written by Silvana Paternostro, a Colombian-born journalist based in New York, who's articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review and Newsweek. Her book, a great source of history and political information (not to mention an eye opener to the brutality and violence that has become everyday's bread in my country) was also a mirror to my own identity -or my lack of it- since it shows Colombia's situation from the point of view of the expatriated, the critical and annoyed expatriated that has managed to put him or herself in a very uneasy limbo that doesn't allow a sense of belonging here nor there.
Half way through my reading I had the idea of drawing something on the cover and then later send it to the author, but I didn't really wanted to illustrate anything specific from any chapter. The need to do something on the cover grew stronger and stronger but I forced myself to read slowly so not to miss a word.
Right after attending the demonstration here in Boston, I got home, read the epilogue and drew without thinking. The image that emerged from my pencil was of a fertile, fertile but wounded woman laying on the ground, seen her children, the children that she cannot feed or take care of, kind of floating around her. I got the acrylics and painted over my drawing as fast as I could, swallowing tears but with an enormous positive feeling: There has to be an end to every sickness and this one cannot be stealing more lives, there has to be an end to suffering and change should take place. Today, although I know that change could take a while, I felt faith.

Sketchattack!

2008-01-29T21:44:50+00:00

Seven new images in the Sketchattack gallery.

Paprika

2008-01-18T21:05:36+00:00

I fell in love with the opening credits but the whole film is brilliant.

My Pantani Mid Winter Ride

2008-01-13T19:30:41+00:00

A doodle from 1998 when Il Pirata won Le Tour de France

Marco Pantani and I were born the same day, January 13th 1970. Sadly Pantani died four years ago of a cocaine overdose; I'm still pedaling. Since I don't feel I can blame our fragile human condition for its addictions I still consider him an inspiration and decided to do a ride in his honor every year on this date. Today's ride started at 5:30 am and for more than half of the time it was pitch black and insanely cold. The water in my water bottle froze along with my toes and my forehead but my heart remained warm for the entire trip. happy Birthday Marco.

PS: And happy birthday to my illustrator friend Laura Osorno, My brother-in-law (also Leo), my buddy Karl and Annette in Barcelona.

Feed the Kids good music, yo!

2008-01-11T23:15:03+00:00

Medeski Martin and Wood's latest album Let's go everywhere is up there with They Might be Giants' great tunes for kids. Clever lyrics, killer beats, and best of all, they don't talk down to children, nor sing to them with annoying high pitch voices . MMW is one of the most innovative contemporary jazz trios and their latest trip is worth buying, even if you don't have kids. The cover art rules, too.

A Cocinar! (updated)

2008-01-09T21:32:46+00:00

I went to buy ID Magazine to see Staake's place in it and reading through the reviews I discovered 1080 Recipes, a great book with recipes from all the regions in Spain that's finally being published in English. Two doors down from the news stand, at a little bookstore, I found it and bought it. It's a beautiful publication and it comes garnished with the coolest illustrations by the great Javier Mariscal. I recommend you buy it and get a nice bottle of Rioja to go with it.
Enjoy, Buen Provecho, Bon Profit, Bo Proveito, On Egin!

PS: Here's a link with the artwork that David Flaherty just sent me.

Yuriy Norshteyn

2008-01-09T03:03:40+00:00

Click here to see the film Ezhik v Tumane and here and here to watch a documentary about this great Russian animation master.
Spasibo, Dima!

Control Freak Art

2007-12-18T15:00:03+00:00

Okay, a little bit of time to catch up with Drawgerland. Since I cannot post the entire images yet, here are some bits and pieces of one of the latest (and nicest) projects I've done this year. As you might imagine it involves total freedom and a really respectful and totally cool client to work with. The challenge for me with this series was figuring out how to execute the final pieces since lately I've been very pleased leaving my pencil lines as part of the art. I really didn't want to do it all digital but the more I played around the more I realized that I could have great control (more like super picky anal control) if I was to work them out in Illustrator (which is my weapon of choice when it comes to the computer). I even did all the effects without jumping into Photoshop in case I want to blow them up Dumbo size taking advantage of a vector program. Some of the details will be printed rather small (like the dandelions) but I had fun constructing them in a very mathematical pattern sort of way. I also realized that total freedom is something hard to get used to and that if you are very tough on yourself, things can get pretty nuts to the point of never wanting to go to bed or developing dual personalities (wait, who said that?).

What is Art

2007-12-16T15:36:08+00:00

Many thanks to Julia Talcott for sending me this video. I have a better perspective about Art now.

The 2 minute doodle

2007-12-13T22:43:08+00:00

It's being insane; Deadline after deadline finishing all the stuff that needs to be done before the end of the year... aggghhhh. No time to sleep, no time to nothing. Here's a fast doodle of a necessary break I just took with my son to shovel the driveway and play a bit with the snow.
Life continues.

Back to Comics II

2007-11-27T14:45:42+00:00

One more page done for the Graphic Design magazine from Colombia Proyecto Diseño. I decided to change the drawing style for the conclusion of the story just because I was craving some pen and ink. Capitán Orejas and his archenemy (secret crush) Metropol Bunny are inspiring me to do a longer comic and I started to doodle some new ideas.
To the left, a detail of Metropol's gang stealing my version of a Yoshitomo Nara's paintings.

King in a Box

2007-11-13T20:44:40+00:00

While looking for a lost comic book through a bunch of boxes I found one with a cover by fellow Drawgeroid J.D.King and if I'm not mistaken I think I got it from Peter Kuper when he was my teacher at SVA.
I know, this isn't really an article but I felt like sharing. C'est tout.

The Element of Surprise

2007-11-06T14:07:01+00:00

Constantly, I like to look at street art as an example, not because of its own content necessarily but because I admire what their creators do to catch your eye in the middle of environments sometimes as overwhelming as Time Square. These two examples are my latest favorites: The one on top, a picture from Amsterdam that plays with your imagination in a very powerful way and the second a shot from the Trevi fountain in Rome, taken when a "vandal" turned the color of its water blood red in front of hundreds of tourists a few weeks ago; After the outrage Romans declared that the fountain had become invisible to their eyes and that this act made them admire it again.

I think that element of surprise is something that has been forgotten in our world of illustration; A world that lately has turned more vibrant but still remains rather passive and sometimes too predictable (Hanoch, this doesn't apply to you). Can we think out of the box -or the magazine- and try to create or recreate new things based on illustration? What can be a good challenge and better yet, are we looking for one?

The Monsters of Crescent Street

2007-11-01T14:32:04+00:00

Year after year, the cool folks of Crescent Street in my neighborhood go all the way with Halloween. My favorite part is the kids' drawings of monsters they project from house to house and the giant video at the end of the block flashing fast images of kids making faces. Here's some pics from last night.

Is this cool or what?

Ghosted Sofia with projected Drawings. Spooooky!

The devil was there too, of course.

This is a still from the video. I'm trying to upload it to YouTube but I'm having some problems. Rats!

And these are Ben's Pumpkin + Sofia's Pumpkin. Now, where did those kids hide their candy?

Mom, I'm on TV!

2007-10-27T18:14:27+00:00

A few years ago while having lunch at my local sushi restaurant in Harvard Square, I was struck by a wasabi bolt and started doodling characters based on sushi names from the menu. It seemed kind of strange to me that nobody had done a series of raw fish characters and I was pretty sure that after googling a couple of names I would discover no one but many (To my surprise there was none, at least in the US). So I kept exploring and doing more drawings about this concept and by the time we were preparing material for our first Licensing Show I had a preliminary version of Sushi Pack: A group of five brave, very bizarre, very smart and very active characters who just happen to be five pieces of sushi that came to life through a series of extraordinary events.

At the Licensing Show the idea was picked up by Jeffrey Conrad (senior VP of American Greetings' creative studio) and the Pack started to be developed as an animated series with an insane group of geniuses including AG's creative studio, DIC entertainment and toon veteran writers, Tom Ruegger and Nicholas Hollander (Pinky and The Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs).

So here's the big news: A week from today, Saturday November 3rd at 9 AM, Sushi Pack will air on national TV as part of the KEWlopolis block on CBS.

Please somebody pinch me, because I still cannot believe this is happening. We have watches all of the first episodes with our kids and seeing their faces, hearing them laughing and thinking that pretty soon hundreds of children will be watching them too, gets me all chocked up.

A big gracias to you and your team, Jeffrey, for believing in these bite-sized morsels of justice and getting them ready to serve. This dream would've never happened without you, amigo.

Go, Sushi Pack!

Akinori Oishi

2007-10-24T14:28:08+00:00

I became aware of Akinori Oishi's work last year while attending the Pictoplasma conference in Berlin. The sensibility and simplicity of his creations shocked me, mostly because they reinforced the concept of how much one can do with a very limited use of graphics and colors. Of course size matters, and everything Oishi does gets produced or displayed at unexpected proportions (XXL or XS)
Here's a link to The Character Ride which be part of Pictoplasma's upcoming Animation Festival and also a link to his blog. Be sure to snoop through his Exhibition section.

Good luck with the Festival, Peter + Lars + Anna

Sketchattack!

2007-10-19T02:12:31+00:00

Normally I don't carry a sketch book with me when I travel but I'm getting a little better with that. Here's a new gallery called Sketchattack! with some of my latest traveling doodles (still, a few of them on napkins and such). They were done between two days in New York (10.16+10.17) and my latest trip to Colombia (9.18-9.25).

It's a book!

2007-10-12T18:41:50+00:00

The first copy of our first children's book "Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk" arrived today from the publisher. We died.

Kings of Leon (reloaded)

2007-10-11T14:25:16+00:00

I've never seen Kings of Leon in concert but if I ever do, at the Orpheum Theatre, and if I get drunk with Belgian beer, I would feel a crazy need to draw them this way. Not with crazy lion tails like Wacksman suggested. Hell no, that would look just too weird.

Ride, Kids!

2007-09-15T22:37:49+00:00

Number one of a series of illos for Bicycling for a program created for elementary school kids on the importance of healthy eating and staying active. Besides enjoying this kind of assignments in which I have to draw BMX stuff (and kids), I really wanted to be involved with this campaign because our kids bike pretty much everyday to school and we see how much that really helps them.
It's Junk Food Nation out there!

Back to Comics

2007-09-13T19:19:49+00:00

Here's a one page comic adventure I just finished for a design magazine in Colombia. I'm planning to render the second part of the story with a very different style, kind of loose and a little messy. Not sure yet.
Bob, do you notice there's no purple?

Society of Illustrators Poster

2007-09-07T17:39:10+00:00

I'm so glad that The Society went for an artist like Carlos Nine to do this year's beautiful poster. Although pretty much unknown in the U.S., Nine is huge in Latin America and Europe and I remember growing up seen his books and illustrations everywhere.
A couple of years ago I spotted the guy at the Angoulême comic book festival and had the chance to talk to him a bit and thank him for all the great things his work has given me.

Introducing such artists into our spectrum expands the way we can understand the world of illustration, so again, bravo to the Society of Illustrators for doing so.

The Man With The Movie Camera

2007-09-06T04:23:34+00:00

Look at this beautiful cover and tell me you don't want to buy the album? I came across this gorgeous design while looking for some old fashion camera reference (for an illo I'm doing) and for a second I remembered the joy of buying vinyl records only because of the cover. That's the way I discovered Oscar Peterson, Art Blakey and many great electronic bands like Stereolab and Spiritualized.
The music behind this latest find, Cinematic Orchestra, is also fantastic. Now I guess I need to buy the album to figure out who did the cover. Viva el diseño!

Re-creating LeToy

2007-09-05T14:47:08+00:00

Madrid-based collective, LeToy, invited me to participate in their logo project Re-Inventa LeToy, and this one is my design (Since I'm in a "green" state of mind I decided to recycle the background from an old illustration but with a whole new pallet).
Their current roster of artists includes Jon Burgerman and my super talented friends Charuca and Laura Osorno.

Look Up, See Art

2007-08-29T00:57:58+00:00

These two screens in the heart of Harvard Square had caught my eye in the past, but for the first time tonight, I had the chance to park my bike for a few minutes and have a taste of great art.
Lumen Eclipse is a pretty cool media art project; Both, the outdoor experience and the website are worth some of your time.
The piece I saw this evening is called Daily by David Ellis, but the whole archive is packed with beautiful work.
I also recommend Moonlight in Glory by Trollbäck+ David Byrne+Brian Eno, Pistache by Valerie Pirson and one of my favorites, Roundscape by Power Graphixx. Enjoy.

Tank Girl Revisited

2007-08-27T22:18:00+00:00

Since Jamie Hewlett is so busy with the opera Monkey and Gorillaz, and seems to have forgotten about TANK GIRL, I decided to do a version of one of my favorite comic heroes. I better finish it up, right?

Take the kids to the Aquabats

2007-08-21T15:24:57+00:00

We're taking the little ones to their first rock concert this saturday here in Boston (Thank you Jon-Gabba-Gabba for the ticks).
The Aquabats are also playing in Coney Island, Phily and NYC.
Check out their tour dates and while at it, listen to Hot Summer Nights... It sooo awesome!

I LOVE Lucy

2007-08-18T18:11:52+00:00

From very unique character design to brilliant writing, Lucy is pure evil!

Drawing Music

2007-08-15T13:51:28+00:00

One of the hardest things to draw (at least for me) are bicycles and musical instruments. Both are extremely organic and complex, in a way very moody. If you mess up with the perspective or the angle a tiny bit, that little mistake always looks huge. Here's an article I illustrated for Edel Rodriguez last year about the return of small home concerts, along with some of the sketches. The final came out a little too tight for what I really wanted but at least I didn't mess up the cello (I think).
The other color illo was for a blues/jazz/coutry music festival.

Gondry the Dadaist

2007-08-11T15:46:35+00:00

watch

Sfar Again

2007-08-05T18:15:39+00:00

I've posted a couple of things in the past about the great Joann Sfar, but this video I found via Drawn! is just too much -being the encounter at the beach kiss my favorite part. Enjoy.

Eleven Clowns

2007-08-03T14:51:17+00:00

No signs of life drawings yet (I better start looking in some drawers instead of in my hard drive). I did find this poster I designed for a crazy movie called 11 Clowns. I sculpted the clown with one of those eraser thingies, made the jail bars with cardboard, then took a lousy picture on my drafting table... wait, this isn't even illustration! Or is it?

Literary Mothman

2007-08-03T12:15:39+00:00

Looking for some figure drawings in my computer I found this cover I did for a great literary magazine from Colombia called El Malpensante. At the time I was working with my very unforgiving vector lines and it was refreshing to do something this loose.

Baru

2007-07-30T23:27:12+00:00

Long before moving to Cambridge I used to come up here from New York to visit The Million Year Picnic: A very small comic book shop in the heart of Harvard Square that in its best days (before the Euro got so strong) used to import an insane amount of gorgeous books from Europe. It was there where I discovered my favorite comic book of all times and simultaneously one of my favorite comic book artists. The book, a manga size, black and white chunky brick, contains the most amazing storytelling and pacing I've ever seen. It's called L'Autoroute Du Soleil by Baru. It forced me to take french classes to be able to read it and understand all the slang and I guess now I've read it about twenty times. L'Autoroute won for best album at the prestigious Angoulême festival in 1996 and best foreign album at Lucca in 2001.
Baru's amazing drawing skills and composition which you can find in all of his books are simply majestic and have influence my illustration and comic work a great deal. If you are a bit curious about Baru, you should check out Road to America, which was published in english by Drawn and Quarterly.

A spread from L'Autoroute du Soleil

and another one,

and one more,

one from Les Années Spoutnik,

one from Sur la Route Encore,

this one from Road to America,

and one more from the same book.

Here's Baru's drawing on the ground at the Centre National de la BD in Angoulême,

And one of moi eye to eye with my hero's creation.

Deck's done

2007-07-20T21:29:33+00:00

Here's my deck for the 555 Gallery show (many thanks to Don Kilpatrick for the invitation). I'll post the process as soon as I'm done grilling some eggplant.
Happy friday, everyone!

Okay. here's some pics of my not so innovative process. The only thing that was different for me was to take the Dunlavey approach and look at some of my sketches before starting doodling on the board with opaque pigment markers.

The red book is a limited edition of Radiohead's Amnesiac. I listened to that album over and over while painting the board (mixed some Spoon and Interpol but they didn't feel right).

Even before choosing the right colors I painted some areas to get an idea of the composition and how much detail I was going to add at the end.

Once I had picked my five colors I started to fill in the big areas.

After that part was done, I was ready for fine lines and little details here and there. NOT my favorite thing to do, I get very tense doing those fine lines with a brush.

Close up shot. As Laura O pointed out, I wanted to leave some open spaces to let the wood grain show through.

And here's another view from a different angle. Voilà!

BMX Love

2007-06-15T15:56:54+00:00

I'll be posting as I add color to this piece.

()

2007-06-14T20:05:04+00:00

Once there was a fake 3D robot with a ladybug, a monkey and an elephant inside...

NINJAMAICA

2007-06-09T21:24:53+00:00

"Never before has a superhero had a HIGHER mission, discovering the secret of his own identity."

Perhaps one of the characters I like the most from what we have created at the studio is Ninjamaica. He and the rest of the members of the cast are just so much fun to draw!
We'll be pitching this idea at the Licensing Show in a week and we are keeping our dreadlocks crossed it gets picked up.

Here's his backstory:
Herbie Standish, a young Jamaican singer, is rescued from a shipwreck and inducted into a secret sect called J.A.K.A, Jah's Ass-Kicking Alchemists, which promotes positive vibes through herbal exploration. As part of his indoctrination, Herbie's DNA is experimentally infused with THC, creating Ninjamaica, a stealth fighting agent with a perma-high, ensuring his coolness under fire, but also some short term memory loss and a nasty predisposition to the munchies. On his first mission, Ninjamaica is abducted by The Man (The Mon), a rival organization that advances blind conformity and bad television by suppressing individuality. The Man attempts to deprogram Ninjamaica, but gives up and dumps him somewhere. That's where the story starts...

A detail of Indigo (he's my fav), the bass player's name is Spliff and Armando is the drummer of this street reggae band that performs at Jamaica (Queens) subway station.

505

2007-06-08T21:29:40+00:00

One more charater study for my comic. This one is inspired by the Arctic Monkeys.

I'm going back to 505,
If its a 7 hour flight or a 45 minute drive,
In my imagination you're waiting lying on your side,
With your hands between your thighs,

Stop and wait a sec,
Oh when you look at me like that my darling,
What did you expect,
I probably still adore you with you hand around my neck,
Or I did last time I checked,

Not shy of a spark,
A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark,
Frightened by the bite though its no harsher than the bark,
Middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start,

I'm going back to 505,
If its a 7 hour flight or a 45 minute drive,
In my imagination you're waiting lying on your side,
With your hands between your thighs,

But I crumble completely when you cry,
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye,
Im always just about to go and spoil a suprise,
Take my hands off of your eyes too soon,

I'm going back to 505,
If its a 7 hour flight or a 45 minute drive,
In my imagination you're waiting lying on your side,
With your hands between your thighs,

Chrysalis Portraitus

2007-06-06T05:06:58+00:00

Garage Band

2007-06-06T02:15:13+00:00

Not the software, the comic (or graphic novel) by Gipi. Just go and buy it. They don't translate the good ones very often.

Gipi is the creator of Notes For a War Story, best book at Angoulême in 2006.

Walter Vasconcelos

2007-06-04T04:31:36+00:00

One of the most original illustrators I've known is in the spotlight at Illustration Mundo.
Bravo meu amigo!

Paper and Scissors Rock!

2007-06-01T12:47:06+00:00

I'm jumping on the engineered paper wagon with this post, Bob.
Shin Tanaka is one hell of a designer.
This picture is from the All City Style trains he customized for my buddy Klim, but there's plenty of other wonderful and simple creations in his website.
Enjoy!

More REALLY GOOD News!

2007-05-22T23:27:22+00:00

The Coca-Cola/Espinosa products are out at the Coke stores and I'll be down in Atlanta on Thursday signing stuff at their headquarters (Any Drawgers in Georgia?).
Harmony was a character Laura and I created for them based on the 70's jingle. Coke gave us total freedom and I even chopped their logo in little parts to create the head piece.
Fun, fun project.

American Illustration

2007-05-22T13:04:25+00:00

This is the firts time my work has been chosen to be in American Illustration (the book, not the site) and I still can't believe it. Hmm, now that I think about it, I guess I only submitted stuff once before.
I will have two pieces from The Dragon Tamer series and this one too, which I'm quite surprised about since working with 3D objects in a kind of "professional" way is new for me.
That's it. Just wanted to share the good news.

Family Jewels

2007-05-15T18:35:38+00:00

These are some of the cool things I found at my mom's place during my last visit to Colombia:
A copy of the Digital Show 1996 catalog from the Society of Illustrators. Perhaps the one and only time the Society has done something solely for digital art (did I get that fact right?) and the first time I showed my work there. I think the only time, hmmm... whatever.
Nancy Stahl, Lou Brooks and the one and only John Hersey were among the jurors. There was art by Bamundo, Flaherty, Bartalos, Pamela Hobbs and a bunch of other great ones.

A book from my grandpa who then I guess belonged to my dad, about modern architecture. The illustrations in the book are killer.

A drawing of mine from when I was eleven. BMX was the thing and I had my entire room covered with drawings of all the jumps and tricks I couldn't do. I was good but, you know, my bike was too heavy (yeah, right).
More to come.

Dunlavey Ripple Effect

2007-05-15T14:04:15+00:00

Chasing out the Demons

2007-05-10T03:02:03+00:00

A doodle I had in my head during my ride today. For the past few weeks I've been dealing with the death of a friend while working like a dog on the children's book. This morning, on my bicycle, I was able to erase the pain. It's gone for good. Life continues.

I survived Colombia

2007-05-08T04:18:13+00:00

Hi kids, I'm back but only physically (and not even). The night I came back home I sank into coloring mood to be able to finish my book Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk which I just delivered to the publisher; It was about eight days with only sporadic siestas here and there. Totally insane. I lost about ten pounds just by staying glued to the computer.
The trip to the old country was that: A total trip. I gave a lecture at my university and three of my favorite teachers were sitting among the students (I almost choked), gave another little talk at a design gallery and an interview for TV, about comics and illustration. I know, total rock star, heh, heh.
I also did this great collaboration on glass with the amazing Laura Osorno and Felipe Rubio at one of the coolest bars in Bogotá.
I had some time to do my favorite thing, which is looking through old stuff at my mother's house. This time she allowed me to keep a couple of my dad's architecture books and some of my drawings. I wanted his chess set but I guess that was too much to ask for.
C'est tout 4 now.
Missed my Drawger.

Oldies Volume 2

2007-04-09T16:20:21+00:00

I'm leaving for Colombia at the end of the week so I guess this will be my last post of the month. It has been a longtime since my last visit and I can't wait to see those green mountains again and to show my kids where I'm from.
This character is a study for a comic I did a few years ago about the civil war that has devastated my country for the past forty years. I used type to convey all the different interests that are mixed in this horrible conflict and that are interwoven so tightly that it's really impossible to identify who is who. Money, drugs, false ideologies, other governments, corruption, all of them have played their role against my people.
Things are a little better and hopefully there will be an end to the madness one day.

Mornin' Art

2007-04-08T17:05:13+00:00

Maybe it should be Moanin'.
This sketch just happened in between Art Blakey and morning coffee.

Take this, Advertising!

2007-04-08T02:04:33+00:00

Catch the Credits

2007-04-06T13:30:21+00:00

Before the You Tube era, I once bought a movie only to watch the credits over and over again. The first time I saw them it was like being trapped inside a Saul Bass moving poster.
The effect is not the same as seing them at the theatre with great sound and all, but at least you get the picture.

Catch Me if You Can Opening Credits

Wake Up Boston, Matsuzaka is here!

2007-03-30T12:41:37+00:00

Go out and get your morning coffee and a copy of The Globe. Rob Dunlavey already did that and sent me a couple of pics of the front page. Man, how could I say no to an assignment like this!
GO SOX!!!!

Now, I need to catch a train to New York. See you all later!

(For the curious minds, the japanese text on the left reads Green Monster, which is that huge infamous left field wall in Fenway Park)

The Oldies

2007-03-25T00:39:26+00:00

Next month I'll be giving a lecture at my alma mater in Colombia (the country, not the school), and I'm dusting off some oldies of mine for the presentation.
I've always loved seen how much you mutate and learn with experience, how much you improve or to say it in a better way, how closer you are of been who you really want to be.
Hey, enough existentialism and get ready to see a lot of old stuff.

Okay, here's another one. But I think, Edel's right and it makes sense to start a gallery. I'll get to that.
This one was a full page newspaper ad for Automobiles Renault welcoming the year 2000

Scooter Mama

2007-03-16T00:16:38+00:00

A creative director from San Diego contacted me last week about getting a print for his office from an illustration I did a long time ago. I was flattered to hear somebody describing the piece almost perfectly and decided to pull it out and update it a bit before sending it to him. Gitana Pop was inspired by a picture I saw of my mom in the 60s wearing a really cool scarf on her head. She never had a scooter but I first heard the words Vespa and Lambretta from her mouth. I remember her stopping in the street and pointing out at Vespas, telling me how much she liked them. On my mom's last visit, I took her around Boston on the scooter and we had a blast. She giggled the whole time like a little kid.

You see the Gitanes reference, don't you? Well, back in the day my mom also smoked a lot but she quit more than 20 years ago. She looked way cool, though.

Misaki Kawai at the ICA

2007-03-14T15:55:48+00:00

Kids, really, come to the ICA. This new museum has totally refreshed the art world in this very conservative city. I'm addicted to it!
Misaki Kawai will be here with one of her dreamy installations this month. Do not miss it! Need a place to stay? m ICA sa es su casa!

The Night of the Bunny

2007-03-14T04:02:38+00:00

While Edel takes care of our endangered New England Cottontail Rabbit, I'm here working on another fragile species: The Amsterdam Bunny. This one might die from too much clubbing and partying.
Definitely not good news for the echo system.

Comics for kids

2007-03-12T14:53:02+00:00

Former editor for Dark Horse Comics, Phil Amara came over for brunch this weekend and we talked about the beauty of comics and how important it is to put good work out there for the kids. My son Ben was hooked to Captain Underpants (a very inexpensive an funny as hell paperback comic book) and that opened his appetite for chapter books. Of course Captain Underpants is still a favorite and now we are reading the spanish version, ¡Capitán Canzoncillos!
Doesn't it sound like a good Drawger Project? Sloan, Allen, King, Hitz, Smith, Staake, Taxali, Wax, I mean everybody, all in one great comic book?

In the picture: Ben reading the Scatterbrain anthology, published by Dark Horse. Check it out, That's Zimm's work in there!

Baglione

2007-03-08T16:32:58+00:00

From the entire street art movement, Herbert Baglione from Brazil is by far my favorite. Perhaps because of his design background, Herbert has a great sense of composition and use of the space.
Here's a link to his site (which is packed with great illustrations and paintings, gorgeous calligraphy and even furniture design) and his blog.

Cariocas, não percam sua exposição Fabulosas Desordens em Rio de Janeiro

The Ugly Legal Text

2007-03-06T14:06:33+00:00

In a perfect world, creative minds would not have to worry about all the copyright crap, but since a lot of people have asked me about the legal text under my header, I feel that I owe an explanation:
In the past month I have encounter a couple of cases in which people have felt a bit too "influenced" by my work and literally taken pieces of backgrounds or reinterpret whole scenes, particularly from my very personal work.
Sure we all benefit from the influence of other artists (that's why we go to museums and read books, right?) but the idea is to put things in a blender (yes, we can use your brains to THINK and not only to store data) and produce our own interpretation.

I'll be glad to show examples if anybody is interested in a healthy discussion.

Tekkon

2007-03-06T03:55:53+00:00

While our mainstream animation Western world can't seem to snap out of the (boring) Disney format, The East mesmerizes its audience with films like Tekkon.
Here's the trailer, the japanese site and some yummy visuals from the pilot.
I really can't wait any longer for the english version.

Dig Art Tonight

2007-03-01T16:52:40+00:00

Boston's Weekly Dig's Best Covers of 2006 opens tonight and I have a piece in the show that has also been featured in their handsome calendar.

Free Admition + Open to the public + it's not even cold outside. It doesn't get better than that.

Come and join me for a beer or three ;-)