Go, and never darken my towels again!

BEHOLD the cheerful insanity of the Marx Brothers! You'll LAUGH OUT LOUD at the wacky antics of this celebrated comedy foursome. SEE the delightful mayhem! HEAR the witty dialogue! MARVEL at the costumes and sets!

This poster is the first in a series for Enzian's new Saturday Matinee Classics film festival.

Abandoned Projects, the First

One day I was going through the garage to pull out some things for a yard sale and I ran across a box of dolls from my wife's childhood. Among the dolls was an Eskimo Pie advertising doll. It was just two pieces of printed fabric that were sewn together and stuffed with cotton, or something. A very simply process that left lots of room for design potential. I decided then I'd like to make something like that.

I sat down to ponder and draw and came up with some stuff that I didn't hate — "Devil Dolls" — limited edition hand-screen printed, stuffed dolls. The dolls would be sold on a subscription basis only. For, let's say, $150 you'd get a total of six dolls guaranteed to be in a limited production of no more than, let's say, 50 or 75 each. The dolls, packaged like cheap dime store toys in clear plastic bags with printed cardboard headers, would arrive once a month for six months. The header would have depictions of all the dolls in the series except for the last one which was shown only as a Devil Doll silhouette with a big question mark reversed out of it. The last doll of the series would be a "Mystery Doll." The Mystery Doll would arrive packaged like the other dolls except that instead of a clear plastic bag, the bag would be opaque black and the header would be all black except for a big question mark on the front (secretly I hoped that people would never open the last doll's packaging to see what it looked like).

I worked for a while on some doll and header designs. I even made a few prototypes. It was exciting and fun to think about.

Work from paying clients heated up and I wasn't able to spend the amount of time on this project that it needed. I still like this idea and I hope to revisit it some day. Maybe someday soon I'll have the time pick this up again and actually make it happen.

I've had a few more thoughts on it...

Vinylmation Sea Creatures Series

Powder Blue Surgeon Fish

Raccoon Butterfly Fish

Freshwater Puffer Fish

Giant Octopus

Bottlenose Dolphin

Black Tip Reef Shark

Spotted Eagle Ray

Humpback Whale

Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Brain Coral

Maine Lobster

It was about a year-and-a-half ago that I started designing this series for Disney's Vinylmation™ collectible figures. As an illustrator, it's tough to be working on a project that takes so long to come to market when you can't tell anyone about it. People like to know if you're actually working or if you're just looking at celebrity gossip blogs on the internet. I insist to my friends and potential clients that I'm working.

They ask, "What are you working on?"

I say, "I can't tell you."

They say, "C'mon, you can tell me. Who'm I gonna tell!"

I say, "No, seriously. I can't tell you."

Disbelief sets in. You see that foggy distant veil of doubt spreading across their faces.

See, I have too been working. So there.

I've got some more cool projects coming up.

But...I can't tell you about them.

Transplendent!

Another poster for Enzian Theater's Cult Classic Movies series.

Fresh Squeezed Indies

This drawing I did in collaboration with Jeff Matz at Lure Design has been accepted into Communication Arts Magazine's inaugural Typography issue.

SCREAM! SCREAM FOR YOUR LIVES! THE TINGLER IS LOOSE IN THE BUILDING!

One of the first horror movies I remember seeing was "The Tingler." For a week afterward, I couldn't sleep. I might have been the only third grader with bags under his eyes. My jitters made me look like a nine-year-old heroin addict going through withdrawal. Tough times for a nervous kid.

This scene in particular ruined me for bathing or brushing my teeth.

Anyway, here's my poster for Enzian's presentation of "The Tingler."

I love the DeSoto Theater (or is it Theatre?) in Rome, Georgia. It's a spectacular little French Art Deco style movie house with beautiful cameo-like plaster medallions on the vestibule ceiling and a simple, yet classic typographic charmer of a marquee.

I remember going to see "The Godfather" there - the town hippies sat in the balcony smoking weed. They seemed to enjoy the movie a lot more than I did. Then there was the time I went to see "A Christmas Story." This was the initial release before it became a 24-hour holiday marathon on television. There were four of us in the theater.

By the early 80s, movies were no longer shown there. The Rome Little Theater (or is it Theatre?), a community theater group, took it over and reconfigured it for theatrical purposes - they removed the movie screen, projector and a number of seats. They built a proper stage. Even though the RLT has been growing strong in this location for twenty-five years, time has taken its toll this little theater. There were water leaks which damaged the upstairs offices and the decorative plaster-work in the entryway. There are major cracks on the facade and the lovely wooden slat awnings are rotting away.

Luckily, the community realizes what a gem it has and is taking steps to restore the theater to former glory. Part of this effort is a benefit concert on October 23rd given by blues and rock musician Tinsley Ellis. I designed a poster for this event.