I'm lost in hedgerows at night, the further I go the more I get lost. Till eventually I'm in a dead end of thorns and briers. Even the way I came is grown over. The hedge comes alive and a majestic woman rises up, she just keeps rising until she stands above me nearly 8 feet tall. Her body made of twisting vines and thorns, alive fighting each other to reach to the moonlight.
Indignantly she looks down at me and says:
"I am the Queen of Thorns"
At that same moment the branches around her head snap to attention and quickly form a magnificent crown and then just as quickly unravel to continue their mission pushing upward.
"I have a sister who is made of glass, you will meet her soon."
Then in slow motion her long fingers reached down on my shoulder. I noticed little details,like bugs moving in between the vines that made up her arm.
"She will cut also, but be gentle"
As her hand touched my shoulder I could feel the thorns.


I awoke to my cat, clawing into my shoulder.

Ryan McGinness

75 days

Obi-Wan never told you

I don't know what's weirder, the fact that someone named a breed of Iris after Darth Vader, or the fact that I want to plant these around my apartment.

The Darth Vader Iris


There is also a Skywalker Orchid and a Darkside Iris, apparently flower breeders are big Star Wars fans, who would have guessed.

I've been a big fan of illustrator James Jean. Sometimes it's a little too obvious in my pictures, I need to tone it down a bit. Here's a two page spread he did for Best Life magazine, about a guy that was obsessed with Star Wars, no it wasn't about me.

We all see death before our eyes

Polish artist, Zdzislaw Beksinski found murdered.
Multiple stab wounds

"We all see death before our eyes," Beksinski said at a recent opening of his work

Odd Nerdum, Giger, and Beksinski are the only modern painters that when I first saw their work,I saw my nightmares. As if they had propped up an easel in my dreams, voyeuristic, surrealstic.

With my computer being down, I had been planning a return to oils. Just last week I was studying Beksinki's work. Owing a lot to Friedrich, Dhurmer, and Knopff yet being subtle and original.

Not many people know of Beksinki's work, so here is a mini gallery. I remember many of these dreams, perhaps you do too.

Click for larger version

RIP HAL 9000

Well my hard drive is dead. I bought him in 2001 and kept with a HAL desktop theme for years. I've lost so much stuff....Remember kids, backup files..blah.
Daisy...Daisy.


A really moving Muppet film, well worth checking out.
Click here


After a lawsuit about Ford misleading the public on the safety of SUV's, the settlement led to a campaign with cg and mechanical monster called esuvee...just odd.
http://esuvee.com



I can see future commercials in the series, with this nasty looking Muppet on steroids guzzling gas and then polluting the environment with it's emmissions.

and finally...

So my home computer is down again. I wonder how many times I've said that on this blog.

In the mean time, enjoy a still from yet another weird Japanese McDonalds commercial


And click here to see
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Trailer.

Telemarketers get really confused when you try to sell them art

My version of engadget, retro style

1929 AEG Vampyr
Leave it to the Germans to come up with a vacuum cleaner called The Vampyr.
"I vant to suck your dirt".
Apparently a modern version of this model is still being made.

More cool pics at:
http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/weimar/alltag/rationalisierung/

The weird thing about a blog is, you are never really sure how personal you want to be about it. To be truly interesting it should be personal, but do you really want to write about all your fears and doubts in so much detail that it lays there dissected on the table for anyone to see? It's a dilemma.
So when my grandfather died, I didn't feel comfortable writing about it, too personal and affected me in a way that was more difficult than I would imagine.
But then Kelly Freas and Will Eisner died and I felt the need to write about two people I really didn't know. It's safer. I'm just glad I knew my grandfather and can remember all the fun times I had. He will be missed.
Enough of that....
When I was young my parents would go to this little hole in the wall bookstore in Alexandria. They would spend forever there. To pass the time I would look at the old sci-fi paperbacks, studying the covers imagining the stories held within. So many of those covers were done by Kelly Freas. It's no stretch to say he was one who made me want to do illustration. He passed away the other day. He will be missed.



I came late to discovering Will Eisner. I missed The Spirit when it was popular. But when I was first starting college I discovered Comics and Sequential Art, the book Will Eisner wrote on the secrets of sequential narrative. It opened a whole new world to me on how to read comics. It led me to reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and made me dream about making comics. He's the only person I can think of that has an award named after him that someday I want to win. He passed away the other day. He will be missed.

Life can be difficult.

No Christmas cards this year from me.
instead
A collection of Edward Gorey Chritmas cards.



Peace.

As some of you know, lately I have been riding a lot on my 1949 Schwinn. Often these early morning bicycle excursions are filled with things I would never see driving around Richmond. My new favourite sight is a white plastic bag that has been caught high up in the branches of a tree.
At first glance though it looks more like a wedding dress. And each day the tree bride's dress becomes more and more tattered. Their love weathering, birds making nests, winds and storms
Okay, not sure why I told you about that.

I've been reading the Lemony Snicket books lately. Each one gets better and better. Or should I say miserable and miserabler.
A weird compulsive order that I've developed is I have to create bookmarks for every book I read. Make that a disorder. Often books I have, don't get read because I don't feel like drawing up a bookmark. But Snicket is an exception and I've already created two bookmarks...I'll need to stop myself before I create all eleven.
Here is the first one....Count Olaf from the Reptile Room.



And yes it is a lot like my myspace picture, last post.

A little housekeeping, (A little boring)
First off, I've been having trouble with modems, email etc.
My former email of nekokaiju23@aol.com is no longer valid, so please contact me at the gmail address up above.
Also for some reason paul@nekokaiju.com email is currently down so please email me again at nekokaiju@gmail.com if you have emailed recently...Blah.

I forgot to mention this when it came out, but the Fantasy Flight booster packs for the Call of Cthulhu game shipped in November. So if you feel like owning a piece of my art in card form, then pick up a pack of Unspeakable Tales from your local games shop. Maybe you'll get lucky and get one of my images. I'll have some scans up soon. I have heard that some people collect cards with the artist's signature on it, so just email me about it and I'll give you the details on signing cards. (yes email me at nekokaiju@gmail.com also.)

Been pretty busy lately. I did some coupon designs for the museum and am working on some coat of arms projects.

Here is a little photo manipulation I did for my myspace entry,

And here is a Greek/ Victorian commission I did. Yes very Alma Tadema, Goodward inspired.


So Godzilla turns 50 this year,I really should have mentioned this before on the blog. Hmmm, maybe I did.
Anyway just the other day the big green guy got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, joining the alumni of Gipsy Rose Lee, Mickey Mouse, Fay Ray, Boris Karloff, Michael Jackson and Claudette Colbert. I real high point for Kaiju everywhere.

But at the same time Godzilla has hit one of his lowest points in his career. Just the other day I saw a commercial of him hawking Immodium D. Oh how far the mighty have fallen, from titantic battling of the Smog monster to fighting the mundane battles of loose stool.

So hopefully the old saying, "If you see Doug Wilder walking down the street while you are drinking coffee then you are destined for happiness" is true.

A day late...
Modem problems

Today was a bad day.
I didn't realize the museum could be so taxing. A mailing had gone out late, so many people called just to complain, and me being on the frontline of the art wars, got to be yelled at repeatedly by customers, and all I could do was say I was sorry for something I didn't have a thing to do with...fun.
And bill collectors calling me up, reminding me that I owe them money. Like I could forget. I've tried to forget, but that doesn't work. So that in mind I think they call just to make you feel bad. "You owe us money and you don't have it, loser"
Just not necessary.

Japanese McDonalds commercial (just click)


Terryl Whitlatch, Star Wars artist has a new project, The Katurran Odyssey.
Can't go wrong with ring tailed lemurs. (again, just click)


And because I feel like it, more Julie Newmar (sorry nothing to click for her)

No more leafblowers!

More Star Wars Marketing madness coming next year



Gigantor live action teaser trailer

So Spectrum 11 is out. Here is a step by step look at the making of the cover
Is this the kind of step by step thing you would like to see on this journal?

Personal goal of mine to be included in Spectrum 12 next Nov. Wish me luck.



And because I sympathize in the hatred of leaf blowers, the fabulous, Julie Newmar


I'm a little surprised I didn't get any comments about my Fett animated thingy..hmm.

Just a quick little experiment




Animated test, might take a second or two to load.


Comments?

A Good Day

One of the benefits of renting is it forces you to go to the local laundromat. A coin operated nirvana of entertainment. My particular laundromat is decorated with beach scene wallpaper, so you can drift away in your imagination to the outer banks with the background hum of washing machines and the sounds of the Samurai Showdown arcade game (Blood curdling screams and Japanese music).

All the machines are Speed Queens, I like to think of them as the royalty of washing machines as opposed to really fast crossdressers.

So I am surrounded by female monarchy, but the true Queen of the automatons is the Bride of Pin-Bot pinball machine. She beckons with a digitzed voice calling out to give her life. The machine is an incredibly sexist creation, Your goal to shoot your ball into her mouth to give her speech and then into her eyes to give her sight. The graphics consisting of a rocket between her mechanical thighs. All the while she laughs or encourages you. This particular machine is worn from years of use and machine love.

So that is the place I was going to this morning. As I walk across the street a car pulls up on the sidewalk. An old man gets out and as I watch what he's doing, half his car blocking the walkway, he gives me a dirty look and walks away. An amazing parking job and I get the dirty look. I go in and and precede to load my clothes. On the radio is the elusive Richmond 80's radio station. The one I can't pick up in my car but the laundromat picks up perfectly. Eye of the Tiger comes on and the Bride of PinBot calls. Amazingly on one play I get the high score and on 50 cents I play until my clothes need to go in the dryer. A high score and I hear safety dance, it's amazing the small things that make you happy.

So the new trailer is out.
Yes the trailer for Dawn of War Another fine short by those folks at Blur Studios (If you haven't already, download the Rockfish video a few posts back)This time it's the game intro to a Warhammer 40K game. Generally my experience with Warhammer is the annoying Games Workshop employees jumping on you as soon as you enter the store. It's like some cult of red shirted fantasy players. But this video will sell you on 40K more than any of those devotees. The animated Dreadnought will make you want to form an army and go out and get those orcs. A great short.

Of course another trailer came out yesterday...Yeah that one.
Here is a sticker giveaway I designed for those wacky Atlanta Star Wars fans.


And mmmm, Lava Berry Explosion Pop-Tarts

Never trust a Kitty over 30

Art Spiegelman, creator of Maus: "Everything I know I learned from comic books, and I wasn't surprised that aliens had taken over our government..."


Goths for Bush

And for equal time:

Satanist for Kerry

And if you are tired of politics check out this slideshow of , Hello Kitty's Birthday

Happy Halloween

Current Mood: secularly hallowed
Current Music: Dresden Dolls

Last minute Halloween Costume ideas,
The always popular
Space Mutant Milhouse
Okay maybe not that, Everyone does Space Mutant Milhouse and as I always say, there is nothing worse than two or more Space Mutant Milhi at a Halloween party.
Perhaps this thing whatever it is from a Finnish Convention site

Maybe this?

I thought about this outfit...
(Not really, just a really weird picture, not a thumbs up, it's the peace sign when dealing with anime, how bizarre)

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on my journal before, but 2004 is the 50th Anniversary of Godzilla
yeah that one is too complicated.
Here is a really easy costume, just need to get a friend to draw all over you, Henry Rollins

Or you could go with the just plain wrong and politically incorrect

Happy Halloween

So last night I went to the Halloween event at the museum. It's the kind of event you need to have a date and a drink. I had neither. Seeing a Hindu Goddess, Poe and the Raven, Cleopatra, the usual suspects of cheerleaders, devils, and zombies was a surreal experience as they roamed the halls past the paintings of Warhol and Monet.
It was nice that at least 80 percent of the attendees were in costume.
Also nice that many of the costumes were art related. Everything from a Tiffany lamp to Frida Kahlo with mandatory uni-brow. A Georgia O'Keefe painting, an Anubis statue, and even a Caligula. Next year I'm going to have to get a group together to go...and have a drink.

This has been around for awhile but if you haven't seen it Rockfish a CG animated short is lots of fun. Brought to you by those fun folks at Blur Studios.
Quicktime, takes a while on dial-up.

Speaking of 90's British pop groups(Okay I wasn't really but I did say Blur)
Rumours persist that the lead singer of Pulp will be involved in the new Harry Potter soundtrack, now that John Williams is no longer working on it.

And here is the final label I made for Bygones Halloween window display.

So far no more creepy dreams. Well unless you consider a dream about my computer locking up creepy.
Here is another label for the Bygones Vintage Clothing store Halloween display.


Speaking of Halloween, here is the Japanese ad for for the PS2 Nightmare Before Christmas game. Just thought it was cool.

A Dream last night

I'm walking in a pine forest. In the distance are houses all painted black, black shutters, black siding, black doors, and black windows.
The ground is covered with dry brownish reddish pine needles. It's very silent.
I walk through the forest till I come across a strange striped cat climbing a tree, she looks at me and seems to smile. I realize she's moving towards a nest. I try to shoo her away trying to save the chicks or eggs that have been left in the nest. The cat ignores me. Climbing higher. I hesitate. Not sure if this is the natural order of things, perhaps I should not get involved. It's still eerily quiet. I decide to stop the cat. Just then she gets the nest down. I walk over slowly not want to see the carnage of the baby birds but still compelled. And then I see in the nest the cat holding her kitten in her mouth. The nest filled with her litter, pecked to death.

I woke up crying.

Well a lot of time has passed, But here is my final say on this year's DragonCon.
The best part of D*C is being with friends.
Riding with a friend in the forever roadtrip, taking out the random shoe on the road, Seeing guys sing Bon Jovi songs at truck stops, chatting up the rest stop maintenance men, getting so car crazy, that even a gas station attendant asking if you have gas is more hilarious than a Simpson episode.
Or seeing another friend who convinces you to participate in crazy Star Wars events and even a Buffy prom night. Having fun you never thought could be possible.
Carol, Sherry, Jeff and Elizabeth thanks. DragonCon won't be the same in the future without you guys. Just maybe I might convince you to go again.

Speaking of Jeff here is a plug for his new documentary, InkSwell. It's his slant on the current world of Indy comics . It features interviews with Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese, Dork), Bob Burden (Flaming Carrot, Mystery Men) and James Kochalka (Monkey vs. Robot) click FADproductions for more information.

So be careful what you write to Neil Gaiman it might end up on his blog. Yeah that's me sounding like some gothic Richmond travel guide on his Saturday, October 23 journal entry

I have a lot on my plate lately so expect several updates in the coming days.
My entry in to the Conceptart.org Thunderdome contest I will show here first, A step by step look into my submission to an art director, The unveiling of my Oz and Genesis projects and a first look of my paper models opening my online store of goodies.

In the meantime here is a look at a label I created for a Halloween display in Carytown. The vintage clothing store Bygones has a window display of a gypsy fortune teller and I created three labels for the potions and elixirs that surround her.
I'll post the other two before Halloween.

DragonCon prt 3

After a panel at DragonCon I talked to Dan Jolley author of a Star Wars Tales short story and Voltron.
He assured me cool stuff was coming up with Voltron. I think he could tell it was a tough sale. But we seemed to get along pretty well and he introduced me to some guys that work in the studio with him. All cool guys and got a great portfolio review. Lots of helpful ideas. I am hoping to work with them in the future.
Good people.
Here are some more random pictures. A really cool Alien table for sale, misc costumes and a lesson; goth guys shouldn’t wear mesh shirts.





My final DragonCon report tomorrow.

DragonCon part 2

Well this just in, I made Star Wars.com Bantha Tracks a second time! This for the Mr. Star Wars contest...even got my name in there with the picture.
(hyperspace subscription needed)
I made these Revenge of the Bith stickers to hand out to people just for fun. After an interesting talk with X-wing author Michael Stackpole, I gave him one and he seemed practically giddy. Turns out he has a scrapbook of weird Star Wars things from his journeys and this was going in it. I would love to see that scrapbook.

Well there is a disturbing trend in Star Wars costuming that was very evident at DragonCon this year, Click for large image.


Great wookie costume and yes that is Jango on a scooter next to psuedo-Lucas

Yet even more DragonCon Tales and pictures tomorrow

DragonCon

Well I got sick and really didn't get to talk much about DragonCon this year, so here is a little recap.
Unlike past years there weren't as many art directors there. The convention seemed smaller, but with more people. I learned I need to get more black and white images in my portfolio and possibly some pirates. Voltaire really liked my portfolio and the ChiChian sketch I made for him. Who knows perhaps I'll work on his RPG in the future or something. The surrealism seemed less intense this year, maybe one does get used to riding with elves and superheroes on the elevator. So when you get talked into trying out for Mr. Star Wars it almost seems normal. Almost.
Mr. Star Wars is great fun. Basically Star Wars improv meets a pageant. Very funny. Except when you are the one in the spotlight trying to be funny on demand, on your knees, as an ewok.

But apparently I enticed some of the judges with tales of my Japanese SW condoms, unopened, still in their original packaging, because I received the Scruffy Nerf Herder Rogue award...I do look scruffy looking.

Here are the winners of the Masquerade, Dr. T's band from the Muppets, amazing costumes.


Here is me with a Radar look alike, unfortunately we seem to be posing for different cameras....Whatever I'm looking at, I seem happy.

And here is my first appearance on Star Wars.com. It was for a Star Wars panel and the head of Bantha Tracks took this picture of the audience. I'm the one in the far back row with the black shirt...Okay really I'm so far back I'm about 2 pixels...But I know I'm there. So now I can say I've been on Star Wars.com, maybe soon I'll have artwork there...more than 2 pixels worth.

More DragonCon tales and pictures tomorrow.

The Dark Tomorrow

Some of you know I had started work on an online comic. It was to be a pulp comic for only 10cents a week. Called Dark Tomorrow it was to take place in a retrofutristic 1939 Berlin. The hero was to be a female pilot with a robot sidekick, fighting mad scientists and other pulp fodder. All in a muted grey palette, German expressionism angles with dirgibles and monsters. Then Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow... As soon as I saw the first sneak peaks my heart sunk and Dark Tomorrow went on hold. Last weekend I finally got to see the movie and a little relief, came over me. It was a different concept with similar tone and look, but still different. So next year after all the Star Wars hoopla, I plan to reintroduce the Dark Tomorrow...
But with a different name.

So that is where I’m coming from when I enter the theater excited to see something close to what I’ve been dreaming of. And Sky Captain doesn’t disappoint from the opening sequence of the Hindenburg III docking at the Empire State building it’s a 30’s future dream come true. Every scene comes straight from an Amazing Stories or Weird Tales cover. The movie becomes a game of recognizing every reference, from Godzilla to 1138. Even the Wizard of Oz sneaks in there several times. The movie looks great. But sometimes all this looking for Waldos takes you out of the story. The actors filmed this all on blue screen and it feels it. They are separate from the action, stilted. There is never any sense of danger or an Indy Jones style rollercoaster ride.

I want when that P-40 dives, the feeling that maybe the wings are going to come off, rivets popping , engine roaring. Just think of those 30’s, 40’s backscreens of couples in a car at night. You never feel as though those headlights behind them are going to suddenly crash into them. Sky Captain has this problem with everything, giant robots should terrify, not just look cool. I think about Jurassic Park (yes that movie has problems) But there are times the CG dinos really feel like they are bearing down on you. Is it the fact there is more of a set? I don’t know? I just couldn’t relate to the danger and it reminded me of the SW prequels.

Is this a problem with the digital backlot? It should work though, because animation still allows you to identify with characters and feel their emotions. Think Bambi. Perhaps directors need to approach filmmaking differently now with digital. I just don’t know.

And then the story is just a pastiche of ideas with the witty banter lacking oomph and there isn't enough tension between Gwyneth and Jude Law. Instead Gwyneth seems just whiny and not enough of the strong female of Katherine Hepburn or even the female lead in the first Indiana Jones. Though it is fun as they travel around to exotic locales solving this mystery, and finally meeting Sir Laurence Olivier. The Wizard.

But despite my criticism overall I really enjoyed Sky Captain and hope there is a sequel, there is so much potential for this first time director and concepts. An amazing freshman effort, I just wanted a senior project.

It Be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Avast ye maties, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrr!!!!
I've already worked in a couple of Aye's and arrs in to me work conversation. No one appearing the wiser. Those bunch of land lubbers and bilge rats.

Arrr!!! Shiver me timbers.
Tomorrow I'll have me review of the flick Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. That way you can read it my mates without any references to barnacles or how jolly it made my roger....
man does that sound wrong.
Arrr....

I'm sick,
will post later.