Phew! Thank you voters!

Charles meets Barack Obama

What a GREAT touching video:



Vote!

Tagged by Laurie...

These are 2 images resulting from typing in "Tagged" (one from Corbis and the other from Google). I like that the guy is getting tagged out in the face. Good stuff.

Here we go:

1. What are your nicknames?
Lots from Laini (and several we've sworn to secrecy, so...). Here're some of the ones I can share that have been assigned to me throughout my life for various reasons: Rev, Randy (the name, not the British slang), Monkeyboy, and Smokestack

2. What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD?
VHS was "Above the Law" starring Steven Seagal.

3. What is your favorite scent?
Apple pie

4. What one place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back to?
The Amalfi Coast (or Venice...or Rome)

5. Do you trust easily?
Nope. There're too many ninjas outside in the bushes for me to let my guard down (not to mention that I think my dog's a double-agent for the Commies)

6. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
This question took me 2 hours to ponder, so...

7. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Politics. Racists.

8. Do you have a good body image?
Sure (but only to a point). Why? Do I look fat in this?

9. What is your favorite fruit?
Mangoes (my wife's converted me. But a freshly picked nectarine is an AWFUL close second).

10. What websites do you visit daily?
The Daily Kos, Salon, Newsarama, Grow Wings, eMusic

11. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Politics (but that's not anything new).

12. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Incredibly friendly (when she's not kicking asses and taking names. Right Laurie? :)

13. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
"I Wanna Be a Sheep" by Ezra Furman and the Harpoons

14. What's your favorite item of clothing?
Any one of my Threadless or Gama-Go t-shirts

15. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?
Meh. (the "treats" are a whole other story however...)

16. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground?
I'd look around, step on it, kneel down like I'm gonna tie my shoe, pick it up and tuck it away and run like the wind! (Although I've gone so far as to return stamps to the post office counter when I found a bunch of them outside in the parking lot, so who knows...)

17. What items could you not go without during the day?
Wife and dog not withstanding I'd have to say coffee (I should make it clear that "coffee" is a VERY distant 3rd place :)

18. What should you be doing right now?
Drawing. Thanks for the distraction Laurie!

Me vs. a Velociraptor (and the AFL-CIO vs. racism)

I tried to MOSTLY tell the truth, but I may have given myself too much credit on a question or two -- don't think I'll ever know for sure though (thankfully) -- anyhow, this was the result:

I could survive for 1 minute, 44 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Oh, and MUCH more importantly, this speech is one of the most powerful and encouraging that I've seen on racism in my life. Maybe there's hope for our nation to turn the page on racism after all:

Marco Polo

A couple of months ago I got a great call from the always stylish and always charming Laurent Linn (Art Director at Simon & Schuster). We've chatted several times at various SCBWI functions but haven't ever had the opportunity to work together...until that very welcome phone call/job offer to work on the book cover for a really fun upcoming teen novel about a young Marco Polo! Since I can't go into the plot details of the novel, I'll just say that the "released" info about it can be seen here. Also, I can't show the cover in it's entirety just yet either, but below is a snippet from it just for teaser-sake.

What a great experience working on this project has been! Thanks to Laurent and everyone involved!

My art (okay, and Laini's book too) in Germany!

We received news about this months ago but a little promo package just arrived showcasing Laini's book coming out in Germany! We're VERY excited about this and our fingers are crossed for more foreign rights in the future. Thanks Penguin team for making this happen!

RADIOHEAD (!!!)

OK, so I know I posted this art before, but my AMAZING wife Laini and I just went to see them live last night because she bought tickets for us as an anniversary gift to me a few months ago and ZOWIEEEE! was it was fanTAStic! Here is a video from last night (though not recorded by us -- we didn't bring our camera -- but we were VERY close to the stage in the pit area (HUZZAH!) And it was the calmest "pit" I've ever been in at a concert, but we definitely didn't mind. I suppose we're getting old, eh? :)



They played so many of my favorite songs, and came back for two very extended encores, but I was still hoping for "House of Cards" and "Karma Police" before they wrapped for the night -- sadly I didn't get my wish (guess we'll have to see them again sometime!) While they did play a few older songs, they mostly stuck to tracks from their last two albums (I'll bet SOMEwhere out there somebody who recorded "Bodysnatchers" caught my scratchy-voiced scream of joy when ol' Thom started to strum the opening (geez I love that song!). Anyhow, great to finally see them live as I've been a fan since The Bends.

Thanks to the internet, I found their set list from the show. I think it's accurate if memory serves:

15 Step

Reckoner

Optimistic

There There

All I Need (see video from last night above)

Pyramid Song

Talk Show Host

National Anthem

The Gloaming

Videotape

Lucky

Faust Arp/Tell Me Why (Neil Young cover)

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Climbing Up The Walls

Dollars and Cents

Nude

Bodysnatchers

FIRST ENCORE

How To Disappear Completely

Arpeggi/Weird Fishes

Idioteque

In Limbo

Street Spirit

ENCORE 2

You And Whose Army

No Surprises

Everything In Its Right Place

Oh, and I recommend that anyone who attends a concert at the White River Amphitheater: just plan on napping in your car for a couple of hours after the show while you wait for the traffic to clear out (which we did) instead of getting stuck in a line of unmoving cars (for 2 hours!). Sheesh, I'm glad we got some sleep instead of trying to leave right away. I should add that the wait in the parking lot didn't even begin to spoil the 2 and a half hours plus performance they put on (did I mention ZOWIEEEE! ??)

We also had a GREAT time hanging out with some dear SCBWI and other creative friends before the concert:

Thanks for coming to lunch guys! We loves ya! :)

And a HUGE thank you to our friend Nina for the tour of the Wizards of the Coast offices! WOW that was cool!

A great day indeed.

And now...back to work for me!

Richard K. Morgan books

So I'm reading the very good sequel (BROKEN ANGELS) to the very good ALTERED CARBON and Laini snagged my newly purchased stand-alone novel by him (titled THIRTEEN) and now she's really digging his big-brained writing too. There's no flying through his writing as it's extremely dense, but thoroughly enjoyable. Check it out!

The above clipping is some preliminary/concept/style-sampling work from a much much larger piece for an upcoming book that I'm working on out in 2009.

Ever have one of those days?

Okay, so it's actually been a great day and a great week, but that title just seemed too good to pass up for this piece that I'm working on for White Wolf :)

Happy weekend all!

Jim

Kidlitosphere 2008 Conference (t-shirt design!)

I did this design for the aforementioned conference. Click here for more info about this second annual conference coming up in September in Portland, Oregon. And click here for an AWESOME design that Laini did!

Ciao!
Jim

Bow-chicka-wow-wowww-Pt. 2 (and a dude with a spear)

Lock & Load

Bow-chicka-wow-wowww!

Hmm, wasn't sure how many "w"s to put in that last warble sound effect. Too many? Not enough? Hmm. Feedback welcome.

Anyhow, here's a snippit in progress (prior to inking and watercolor washes) for a White Wolf 1970's werewolf hunting piece for one of their upcoming RPG books. COOL! Sideburns baby! YEAH!

Gaming cards

A couple of clipped portions from larger pieces I'm doing for some White Wolf gaming cards.

Golfer...ASSASSIN!!!

Another piece for White Wolf but I added some tones to it just for fun (seems to be a pattern for me, yes?).

The Office

I've been finishing up a few of the White Wolf pieces today while listening to season 4 of The Office on Hulu.com (a legal & free collection of a bunch of TV shows online) and while I really liked the season every week this past year, I freaking LOVE it now. It's weird how the "No way! That's ridiculous!" moments when we watched them the first time made me just lose it today. Geez, so many laugh-out-loud moments. Absolute genius.

...a little bit later & still in progress...

I decided to use these White Wolf pieces to experiment a bit (I hope the A.D. doesn't mind!). Digging it so far...

White Wolf art clipping (in progress...)

Again, part of a bigger piece with a tone slapped on cuz I thought it looked kind of cool. I'll post the full finished piece when I'm done...

Tattoo design

This is a picture of one cool dude. His name is Kyle, and while we've never met, I can attest to said "cool"ness because of his kind online support and words over the past almost 4 years. When Laini and I had THE DROWNED published by Image Comics in 2004, he was quick to contact us to express his enjoyment of what we'd created and even put up some supportive message board threads on various comic book sites publicly praising the book -- like I said, cool guy!!!

We've touched base here and there over the past few years and a few months back he hired me to design this tattoo for him (as seen in the surprisingly awesome "Constantine" movie). The symbol is called "The Sulfur of Perfection" and is used with very cool results in the flick.

Anyhow, I know that others have gotten tattoos of my work, both by hiring me (awesome!!) or by swiping designs (still very cool) but to further along Kyle's "cool guy" rep, he followed through and sent me a pic of the tattoo once he got inked. LOVE IT! Thanks Kyle!

**(If others "out there" have gotten tattoos of my art and are reading this, feel free to e-mail me photos of the results! It's a cool honor indeed and I'd love to see them!)**

Werewolf art snippit

Just a quick post with a snippit from a larger piece for White Wolf. Don't worry, the paramedic being chased gets away in the end. (But, he was scratched by the werewolf, so...)