JAMES - i'm psyched to finally post this. It's a 1978 Raleigh Record Ace that i custom painted for
Renaissance Bicycles, a local company that specializes in customizing and restoring vintage bikes. Bryan at Renaissance took the finished frame and tricked it out to make it a serious track bike.
the bike is for sale by Renaissance - here's a link, and it lists all the equipment specs:
www.renaissancebicycles.com 
when Bryan first contacted me, we talked about possible design directions, and i did some sketches. this is what i came up with.
when i got the frame, it had been stripped of it's original paint and decals and a nice white primer coat had been applied. i mapped the whole thing out with a pencil and an eraser - my body was twisted in and out of that thing trying to get just the right angle to draw on it. i wanted all the tentacles to attach to the head in the front, and keeping track of all the tangles was quite a challenge.
when i got it just how i wanted it, i rubbed it down with alcohol and painted it with enamel paint. the kind you use for sign painting. in retrospect, paint markers may have been an easier way to go, but there's no way i would have gotten some of that texture and flow without the thick enamel paint. but damn, those fumes killed!
i did use paint markers for the black outlines and the white bubbles, and for the lightning bolts on the rims. i'm super proud of how it came out, and i had no idea Bryan was planning to dress it up so nicely. this thing's a monster.
TOM - Here is this weeks illustration for New York Press. It's about a guy's frustrating experience with a hot girl who doesn't want anything to do with him, but keeps inviting him over because she loves the attention.
TOM - Recently, I was finding myself hitting a bit of an artistic wall. I've been doing alot of art"work" lately, but unfortunately not enough digging through my head late at night to see what I can find, then spewing it out on the page. Last week though, I had one of those nights and over the course of the following couple days, I nursed this image along. I took alot of joy in slowing down and experimenting with drawing techniques, Photoshop coloring, and incorporating type into the piece, which is something I've been fooling around with in my sketchbooks recently. I also allowed myself to loosen up conceptually, resisting the urge to try and create something that would appeal to a certain group of people or potential clients, and rather try and make something that comes as directly from my head and straight on to the paper as I can. Maybe it's the weather starting to get cold here in NYC, or the days getting shorter, but I think this drawing might have something to do with missing the summer. After coloring it though, there's something about the colors and the way the letters turned out that are reminiscent of Christmas, which might have something to do with the unavoidable influence this time of year has on someone, for better or worse.
Here's the black and white version. 'Till next time!
