Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sketches of Fishtown # 74 - Under the Fireplug

Work Work Part 1

Aside from teaching and doing freelance, I also hold down a job as an ad designer at Merion Matters.  Merion is a company that publishes Advance News Magazines, which are  trade magazines for the various medical industries.  Every now and again, I will get an illustration assignment instead of just designing ads.  Here are a few that I've gotten over the past year:
© 2009 Merion Matters
© 2009 Merion Matters
© 2009 Merion Matters
© 2009 Merion Matters

Monday, July 6, 2009

WEEN Gig Poster - Port City Music Hall


Being a big Ween fan, I was once again very siked that they asked me to do a poster for their sold out July 10 show in Portland. Shaky and Ralph over at Awesome Dudes Printing are going to be printing these up for me. I did the original drawing (aside from the Ween logo) in pen and ink. Then I did the layout in Photoshop. I think Photoshop is swell for designing screen prints, because using separate layers for the screens works perfectly for previewing what the design will look like.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Fishtown Cartoonist Video 2006


Back in 2006, a film crew from J6 Entertainment, led by Ed Roy, came out one day and followed me around. They were filming a short piece for a show on the Hallmark Channel called "New Morning". They sat in on one of my Saturday Cartoon Camps at Shissler Recreation Center, then hung out with me at the apartment. In spite of the fact that I look pretty dorky (there's nothing that can really be done to change that), I'm still kind of proud of this piece. The kids are awesome and members of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society came out to help too.

Keep an eye out for Melissa Lomax, Tom Whalen, Dave Perillo, Roger Petersen, and Amanda Morton.

Remembering Megan

These past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. There has been an awful lot going on. Even though it has been a couple weeks, I wanted to take a minute to remember Megan Miller. Sadly, the one year anniversary of her passing was a couple Saturdays ago. She was way too young and WAY too good.

I got to know Megan very little in the past few years. She was an awesome wife and daughter, a writer, an artist. She particularly liked to work with stickers as I recall. One thing I could tell about her though is that she had an amazing capacity to love people. Megan hugged big. She made people smile and laugh. She affected people in the way that I wish I could. She seemed to be very sensitive, perceptive and understanding. A great listener. And even though she was tiny in stature (at least compared to an old grizzly like me), she walked, talked, and greeted people with great confidence.

Megan (blue) and her best friend Concetta (purple) were co-owners of AMBLE Gallery in Northern Liberties. Unfortunately, the gallery is no more. Over the past year or so, Concetta has become one of my best friends. I don't think I've ever had a friend that I've grown to trust so much in so little time. But for some reason, it feels natural. We look out for each other. For Christmas, our friend Lindsy asked that I draw a portrait of Concetta and Megan. I agreed but only if Lindsy would collaborate. I drew the picture above on sticker paper (in tribute to Megan) and colored it with ink and marker. We later fastened it to a photo that Lindsy took, then gave it to Concetta for Christmas. I posted this here because this is how I like to remember Megan - smiling. I really regret not knowing Megan better. But I am glad I got to know her the little bit that I did. I know I am much better off for it. Click here for a link to her website.