Unicorn Skull Finished!

("Unicorn Skull" Plaster 2014)

It's finally finished! My lovely unicorn skull. I just needed to smooth over the texture, paint it, and go over it all with a shiny gloss coating. This is going to look great on a bookshelf or a mantle piece somewhere. The perfect macabre decoration for any study, library, haunted mansion, laboratory, or little girl's bedroom. Im still wondering if I should add glitter....

I got this great old metal gear to use as a stand. I'm not sure what the gear originally came from, some kind of machine. All I know is it's solid steel and is REALLY heavy. Probably not good for a wall shelf but it should be okay on something sturdier like a book shelf or mantle. It makes an interesting juxtaposition between the feminine pink color and the heavy dark metal. I also appreciate how the skull looks like it's wearing some kind of frilly black neck brace.

Unicorn Skull

("Unicorn Skull" 2014 plaster & cardboard)

So Ive been working on this process of building plaster replicas of animal skulls. I've done a few so far and Im really starting to get the hang of it. I start by making the skull shape out of cardboard, styrofoam, tape, and wires. Then when I have the basic shape down, I just go over it with plaster gauze. How fucking great is plaster gauze?! Love that stuff.

Anyway, this was the first horse skull I've tried so far. Im pretty exited about it. It's not quite finished yet though, It needs a bit more plaster here and there (notice the bottom teeth aren't finished) and then I'm going to paint it. I usually just go over each skull with a thick layer of off-white paint, it's mostly just to give the surface a smoother texture rather than looking all paper mache. However, since this is a unicorn skull and all, I'm somewhat tempted to go over it in pink or purple and cover it in glitter... hmmmm.

Oh and incase anyone was wondering the horn is actually just a seashell.

Snowman Skeleton!!

So these are just some basic blue prints for a new idea I had the other day. I want to weld together a snowman skeleton. It would be sort of like a metal scarecrow. One end will stick into the ground and I'll pile snow up around the rest of it like a regular snowman complete with metal top hat and arms. BUT as the days go on and the snow begins to thaw, the steel skeletal form beneath (which will be covered in rust at that point so as to look extra creepy) shall be revealed to all! It's guaranteed to slowdown all passers-by and frighten children of all ages! =) I cant wait to get started!

Love Bears

One of my favorite teddies to date A few years ago I bought a cheap red hooded sweatshirt from a department store, XXL, cut it up, and made a handful of these little guys to sell. I'd like to make some more one of these days, maybe around valentines day. Not sure I'll use shards of aluminum as teeth next time though... not very safe.

Kitty

("Kitty" 2014, Photoshop)

Look I drawed a kitty =)

Horror Huggies; The Movie

("Disney's Horror Huggies" 2012 Paint & Photoshop)

There is no actual Horror Huggies movie, but how friggin' cool would that be? Am I right? I'm just a big fan of 2D animation, particularly classic Disney style. I wanted to make an illustration telling a narrative of some toys trying to get out of a toy store. I used a similar process that Disney animators use. The background is painted as one layer. The painterly quality makes it sort of blurry and not as sharply rendered as the characters, which helps them stand out from the background. It's a pretty common trick in photography and painting as well as animation. I then drew the characters on a piece of tracing paper, uploaded them to my laptop, and colored them in in Photoshop. The outlines, instead of just black, are all darker versions of what ever color the character is. The bear is outlined in dark brown, the bunny in dark purple. This helps the character look cleaner and more like part of the scene, while still clearly being 2D. I've always been interested in animation, although I don't think I would have the patience necessary to make cartoons. That stuff takes a LOT of work. But it was nice to see what Horror Huggies might look like in a cartoon form. 

The idea here was to draw the soul of an abused and forgotten toy rising out, sort of breaking out of a shell. I think I would like to do another piece like this with more of a background to add to that narrative, but at the time, I thought it would be best to concentrate on the three creatures. 

I decided to give each one a primary color, blue, yellow, and red. Partly to separate them from each other, but also because that specific combination of colors is a very common pallet used in plastic children's toys, and I so it seemed entirely appropriate given that these things are rising out of a broken toy.

Antisocial

("Antisocial" 2014. Photoshop)

There isn't much to say about this picture. It's a simple enough message. I wanted to do an illustration of a child being protected by their imaginary friends, lashing out with these make believe monsters. I sketched out a few variations of this idea, and I'd like to work on some of the others later on. I think my favorite part is probably the cooties buzzing around the above. It was fun trying to picture what cooties would actually look like.

Crocodactyl or Pterodile

("Crocodactyl or Pterodile" 2014, Digital)

In my library there is a very large book of reptiles I got when I was a kid. Every once in a while I flip through it, as well as a number of other volumes full of pictures and illustrations of animals, to find ideas for interesting things to sketch. One day I decided to take an already deadly and terrifying animal, and add wings to it. I like bat wings, they're fun to draw and they lend a sort of nightmare like quality to anything you draw them on. Thus was born this thing which I have yet to choose a name for. As you've probably figured out, I'm stuck between either Crocodactyl or Pterodile. I kind of like Pterodile best I think

I started with a basic sketch, then once I had a clear idea of what I wanted, I made a larger more detailed drawing, (seen below) then I cut up that drawing into smaller pieces, scanned each piece into my computer, and then put the pieces back together again in photoshop (see below again) then I colored it in. I did a similar project a little before this one with a dragon's head. If I have not posted that already I will most likely do so soon, but for now you'll just have to settle for a big crocodile with bat wings. 

(Aimee Self Portrait, Photoshop, 2014)

In a world of amateur selfie enthusiasts a handful of interesting or inspiring photos do occasionally make it onto the various social media websites. Every now and then when a friend of mine posts a particularly nice facebook photo, I ask for their permission to use it as a reference for a sketch or portrait piece. When my friend Aimee posted a photo of her holding a small puppy, I thought it might be fun to draw her holding something more ridiculous.

Portraiture is not my greatest strength and I spent a few days making sketches of the face until I had it right. After that it was a matter of taping the face to a piece of cardboard, placing some tracing paper over it, and sketching various backgrounds, bodies, and scenarios. I knew I wanted to draw her holding something ridiculous and I liked this version the best, so I scanned it onto my mac book and got to work.

It was a fun little side project, and good practice for portraiture, which is a handy skill to have. Aimee was very please with how it came out, as was I =)

"Playtime" Break Down

( "Playtime" 2014, Photoshop )

Some of you may have heard of this new online role playing game called League Of Legends (LOL for short). This piece was inspired by Jinx, one of the characters from this game.

HERE is a fantastic music video of her and her kick-ass theme song played by the group Djerv. It is one of my absolute favorite songs now!

After seeing this video and admiring the Harley Quin-esk novelty of her weapons, I was inspired to design my own colorful weapons of fluffy destruction! so I purchased a cheap plastic shotgun and set to work on painting and decorating it. (see below)

The end result wasn't bad, but it looked a bit more handmade than what I was going for. In the end, I took a few photos of it, and decided to use it as a reference for an illustration piece instead. 

I was much more pleased with the illustration than the original gun. I ended up taking the gun apart and saving bits and pieces of it (the bunny, the teddy head, the pink ribbons, etc.) for future attempts.I do have some soft plans to work on making some rubber ducky grenades of my own, but I have no strict plans as of yet.

Zombie T-rex Self Portrait

That's right! I located my lost password for this account and am back online! My apologies for the lack of posts. I will be posting regularly again from this point on into the foreseeable future, I have a lot of projects and photos to share with you all, so buckle up! And what better way to kick off my return than with this epic portrait of yours truly riding an undead T-rex?

("Science Bitches" Digital Piece 2014)

Generally. great art is made to convey powerful emotions and important messages to people. It is a medium through which all artists can communicate with the rest of the world... most of the time. Sometimes, you just get an idea for something awesome that you really want to draw! This was one of those times. Who among us has never wanted to ride a giant zombie dinosaur at some time or another?

This piece was colored in Photoshop but the I worked from an original sketch. Above is the finished outline after the sketch was scanned into my computer and traced over in Illustrator. Below is the original drawing that I scanned to start with. Here we see the transition from rough draft, to finish sketch, to final copy.

Professor Maskell's Eccentric Circus (in color)

("Professor Maskell's Eccentric Circus" 2014, Photoshop)

Once again HERE is the link to the song that inspired this poster!

Here it is, finished and in color! I am very excited about this. I've always wanted my own circus, or amusement park, hell I'd even settle for my own creepy looking ice cream truck, and while this is only fake poster and does not refer to any actual circus currently in existence, it's still pretty fucking neat! 

With finals coming up this week I have a lot of studying, reviewing, and memorizing to get to, but I just couldn't concentrate knowing that this poster was just sitting there unfinished. I think once this semester is finished I might start working on a series of circus related promotions. Post cards, flyers, tickets, coupons, etc. Then maybe one day, when I have an eccentric circus of my very own, I'll have all the design work finished ahead of time.

Professor Maskell's Eccentric Circus!

First things first HERE is the song that inspired this poster. The image really isn't complete without background music.

Excellent point, random viewer! It does seem a bit plain, doesn't it? It needs color, LOTS of color! Dark purple, acid green, blood red, fiery orange, etc! Unfortunately this semester has not quite ended yet, and since I have been working on this poster for most of the time that I should have been studying for finals, I'm probably going to take a break at this point, and start coloring it in later. But rest assured, I will be posting the finished product on this blog as soon as it's ready!

Until then, just listen to the music, and imagine how fantastic it would be if I had my own circus!

Venom Care Bear

("Venom Bear" 2014, Photoshop)

Are Care Bears still relevant at all, or is this a bit dated? I suppose it doesn't really matter. Even if the young people have never heard of care bears, they'll still get a kick out of seeing a big cuddly Venom.

For those of you who don't know what a care bear is. This is them.

Did you listen to it? Wasn't that just the most sickeningly innocent thing you've ever heard? (shudders) Now you know why I had to draw this. Care Bears have had it too cute for too long.

For those of you who don't know, this is what is known as a "mashup" a combination of different genres, themes, styles, or characters that would not ordinarily be put together. It is impossible to spend much time on the internet without seeing examples of these. Salvador Dali illustrating Alice in Wonderland, Disney characters drawn as Star Wars characters (or visa versa), Hello Kitty as a zombie, Marvel heros battling DC villains, the list goes on and on.

(original sketch)

Horror Huggies; so cute, it's scary...

It may or may not surprise you to learn that I am a big fan of horror movies. I don't much care for the kins of horror films that are just about some guy who kills people in an abandoned house for fun. I prefer movies about monsters, aliens, ghosts, zombies, or any other strange imaginative antagonist. Some of my favorite horror films are about evil toys- Chucky, Demonic Toys, the Puppet Master series. Every horror movie about killer toys starts off the same way, a montage of someone building the horrible toy, with creepy music playing in the background. I have a small workshop set up in my parent's basement (gangster right?) and it's full of the kinds of sketches, and tools, toy parts, and sketchy florescent lighting that would be perfect for such a creepy montage, so I decided to make this video, as sort of a personal spoof on those movies I enjoy so much.

The music in the background is form what is probably my all time favorite evil toy movie, Dead Silence.

Enjoy

I apologize for the pixelation on the video. For some reason Blogspot.com would not upload the more high quality version of the video, so I had to upload a cheaper one. HERE IS A LINK to cleaner version of this video.

Why Do I Do It?

Some of you may be asking, why I, or anyone else for that matter, would put so much time and effort into a  fine arts career when there is so little, if any, job security in that field. Well, I do it for two reasons. 1. Nobody was kind enough to warn me about the lack of jobs until after I got my associates degree, and 2. I LOVE ART. I fucking love god damn, mother fucking art! Like for realz, yo. I can’t even. And here’s why...

God Complex

If you can draw, you have a power. In fact, during the Renaissance, artists were often considered superior, and more virtuous than normal people, because they possessed the gift to portray the heavens, saints, angels, Christ, etc. Artists have the power to create stories, characters, anything they like. Any ideas I have I can manifest on paper or in sculpture. 

If I want to see a crab creature with the head of a cat? 

Voila!

What if I wanted to see President Roosevelt fighting off an army of Predators in the name of freedom?

MY WILL BE DONE!!

Communication

If I told you to picture a bear unicycling in a tutu while juggling dynamite. What you picture in your mind would be VASTLY different from what I see in my mind. What kind of bear would you think of? What color unicycle? Did I mean the long red dynamite sticks, or the round black ones with the little fuses?

However, when I show you this..

You know exactly what I’m thinking

(For future reference, you should always picture the little black round ones)

It's like trying to tell someone about a game/book/movie you really love, when you know it would be so much easier to just show it to them.

Art gives people a way to express ideas that they do not have the words or the understanding to express properly.

Boredom

I have often said “If I wasn’t an artist, I’d be an arsonist.” and sometimes I even believe it.

There is so much boredom in the world. That has been made even more noticeable over the years thanks to cell phones and ipads and all other technologies that are almost specifically designed to help us battle every day boredom. Every time you see someone texting or browsing the web on their pone or other devices, that means that person is bored.

I on the other hand am hardly ever on my phone. Those of us who like to draw, can battle boredom with just a pen and a scrap of paper, which are just as portable, just as distracting, and significantly cheaper than a cell phone.

See this? 

That’s Clifford The Dog battling Godzilla. Why? Because algebra is boring!

The Rush

Above all of those reasons. The main reason I stick with painting, sculpting, drawing, etc. is because I am, quite literally, addicted. 

There is no rush, no high I have ever experienced that can compare to the euphoria that comes form taking your ideas and successfully manifesting them in a painting, a sketch, a sculpture, particularly in a sculpture. The closest thing I could compare it to would be a warm, relaxing, wine buzz.

A great work of art is a constant reminder of your power, your skill, your creativity. A successful work of art will keep your ego strong, and keep a smile on your face... at first. After a while, you need more, more successful paintings, more great sculptures. You need to feel that rush again, to feel that pride and that self worth. It does not have to be a success in other people's opinion, only yours, but the more you make, the more difficult it will be to impress yourself over time. I’ve spent so many sleepless nights working on sketches and sculptures that were not finished, not good enough. It is my drive, my purpose, and my obsession, and I would not trade it for any other addiction on Earth.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

("Easter Bunny" 2014, Photoshop)

"Fair well, my children! I must return now to my own dimension, but I shall return next Easter to lay my delicious candy eggs on all of your lawns!"

I apologize for my lack of posts over the last couple of weeks. My laptop was being repaired and I could not access my photos. Nor could I use programs like Photoshop, which means I couldn't make any new illustrations for a while (dependence on technology is the one downside to digital painting) BUT I have returned, and I shall be resuming normal posts from now on. HUZZAH!

I shall start with this new illustration, which I finished just after Easter. This is most likely the most colorful thing I have ever done, and I'm quite pleased with it. I do not actually celebrate Easter, but I do admire a holiday that is so obsessed with bunnies and candy, and there's no better time of year to stock up on stuffed animal parts! Every shelf of every store is over stuffed with fluffy toys, and they're prices go down substantially right after Easter.

In case you couldn't tell, this bunny is actually a copy of the big blue bear from my other illustration "Day At The Circus" BUT before you call me lazy and unoriginal, not that I could really argue against that, take a look HERE and see what other illustrators are known for copying the same characters multiple times.

Just Add Skulls!

Back when I was first starting out as a creepy toy maker, I learned very quickly that the best way to make an interesting and faintly disturbing looking toy was to remove it's head and replace it with a skull. It's incredibly simple and not terribly imaginative, but the results are always fun to see. This particular rabbit I won at a carnival/rave that was being held one warm summer night, on the deck of an old battle ship in Salem Massachusetts. Fire jugglers, glow in the dark wands, face painting stations, and scores of people dancing and grinding underneath two enormous tank barrels! I popped a balloon with a dart on my first try and won the aforementioned rabbit, whom I immediately named Raziel.

 About a month or so later, I was on my way to a Halloween party, for which I had been asked to bring some of my toys for decoration, and as I was packing a few popular favorites, I found Raziel sitting next to one of the many plastic skulls I had recently bought (I stock up on them every year around Halloween) So I quickly grabbed my scissors and my glue gun and within 10 minutes I had new and improved Raziel.

Smiley

("Smiley" 2013, fleece and aluminum)

"Hello Clarice."

This was a custom bear, made for a friend of mine who is a particularly large fan of the Batman villain, Joker.

This is far from the first toy I've made with sharp aluminum teeth. Pointy metal jaws used to be a staple in all my toys. I stopped using it as much, not because it was unsafe (there is no sweeter irony than making a cuddly toy that can not be cuddled) but because the only way to get aluminum teeth to stick to a bear is with a hot glue gun, and since many of the teeth I made were quite small (unlike this example) it was VERY tricky to glue the teeth in place without getting glue stains all over the fabric. Of course, the toys I make do have a sort of hand-stitched quality to them and that's completely intentional, but glue stains on fabric is much different than sloppy stitching, or button eyes, or torn and patched fabric. There's something artificial and tacky about glue stains.

Anyway, Smiley here is one of my absolute favorites and incidentally, has no glue stains. He's made of fleece which is a great fabric for making toys if you ever feel like giving it a try. It is not only soft and easy to sew, but it's surprisingly firm and holds it's shape, which is why Smiley's grin holds so well on his face.

Remember kids,

Smile and the world smiles with you.

Dragon Slayer

("Dragon Slayer" 2014, Photoshop)

Every time I look at this picture, Whitney Huston's iconic "I Will Always Love You" starts playing in my head... not the whole song of course just the main chorus.

"AND IIIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOOOVE YOOOOoooOOOUUUUuuUUUU!!"

I don't really have much to say about this picture. It's just a fun, silly illustration I thought you would all enjoy.

Bear-napped

("Bear-napped" 2013 acrylic and ink)

Why does everything I love get carried away by demons? This is why I can't have nice things!

The struggle is real.

If you've looked through a few of my previous posts by now, you've probably noticed that most of the illustrations I post are done in Photoshop. This is due to several reasons. My laptop is portable and so I can work on Photoshop anywhere at anytime. There is no mess or clean up with Photoshop, and it allows me to highlight and change colors and settings faster than with traditional painting. However, despite my appreciation for Photoshop, there is something about traditional painting that I find very enjoyable. I love the amount of control I have with the brush, and the random blends and textures that I get by mixing and applying paint directly can't be imitated using photoshop. Before I had digital programs, I did all my illustrations with acrylic or water color, then did the outlines and details with ink. Now, when I do traditional paintings like this, I go over the paint with ink and copic markers. If you enjoy illustration they are a great tool to look into, though they are expensive.

Painting with acrylic is something I enjoy doing once in a while, and once I get the paints, brushes, water, easel, etc, set up, it can be very relaxing. In fact, I am planning on doing a speed-painting video (like this one) for this blog soon. I'm going to start filming it next week. Hopefully I can get the painting finished in one afternoon and have the video edited in time to post it the same day!

Garden Gnomes Are Evil

("Vermin" 2013, Photoshop)

Of all the plastic and ceramic creatures in the world of lawn ornaments, the garden gnome is by far the shiftiest and least trustworthy of them all. With their beady little eyes and their pointy hats, they stare out at you, smiling as if they've just secretly poisoned you. 

I've never trusted lawn gnomes, which is why I have never used Travelocity. Anywhere a gnome wants to send you can't be good.

It is also why I drew this picture. Some may look at it and immediately assume that the zombie rodent is the monster, but the smart ones will know that the real villain is the one carrying the beast, and smiling absently as if nothing is wrong...

Tea Party

("Tea Party" 2013, Photoshop)

This is another example of a doodle that ended up becoming a finished illustration. 

Once again toys, tea parties, and general wonderland-ocity are abundant, and once again I have put a little bow tie and top hat on a teddy bear. I will not stop until real bares everywhere take the hint.

Side note, I am working on a real version of this chair in my spare time. If it comes out well enough I may make a whole set.

Bunnysaurus

("Bunnysaurus" 2013, plastic)

In my studio, I make a point of keeping boxes and boxes of random toy parts within reach of my work desk. Doll heads, teddy bear bodies, action figure limbs, jars of stuffed animal noses and eyes, etcetera, etcetera. That way, when I'm working on a new project, or if I just feel like making something but don't have any ideas, I can just pick up a couple of body parts and hold them up to one another and see what looks comical or strange enough to work. In this case I held up a bunny head to the body of a dinosaur and thought HELL YES! Then grabbed a length of plastic tubbing from another box I keep full of various hardware parts. I still have the rest of that rabbit and the head of that dinosaur lying around someplace. I suppose the obvious thing would be to attach the dinosaur head to the bunny's body and make them a set... but I'm pretty sure I could find something more ridiculous to put on a bunny's body.

In any case, this amalgamation certainly came out wonderfully.

It's A Napkin Holder

("Napkin Holder", 2013 Steel and copper)

Many people have asked me where I get the ideas for the small furry creatures I make. The truth is I just catch real ones from an enchanted forest and stuff them. This is one of the many humane traps I use.

MOM- "Oh my god. Is that a bear trap?

ME- "It's a napkin holder. I made it for you in sculpture class. Careful it's very sharp."

MOM- "but I.. what.. why do we need a new napkin holder?"

Me- "To protect us from bears."

MOM- "What happened to the old napkin holder?"

ME- "Bears took it."

MOM "There are no bears in Holbrook!"

ME- "Not anymore... you're welcome."

MOM- *frustrated sigh*

Have A Seat

("Have A Seat" 2013, wood and steel)

As I mentioned in my previous posts, tea parties and toys are a common theme for me, and what kind of low rate tea party would I be throwing if I didn't have proper Pee-wee Herman-esk furniture?

The over all theme of this piece isn't exactly original for me, but the work I put into it differs greatly form that of earlier sculptures. This was one of the first things I made using a proper sculpture studio and professional grade tools. For example, those spider legs are made of old windshield wipers. That's not a new idea. I've made at least 3 other sculptures using that same idea before, but the first time I simply stuck the wiper pieces to a metal rod with hot glue (they fell off after a few days) the next few times I tried epoxy glue with similar effects. This was the first time I had the chance to weld the wiper parts to steel rods. There's a lot of welding work on this piece actually, the two metal rods that make up the neck of the chair are welded into the wooden body on the inside, and the other end is welded to the back of the heart on top, which is also made of steel. There are metal hinges attached to the top of the seat cushion so it can be opened and used as a compartment, and the whole thing is welded onto a non-stick pan that I used for the base.

And the whole thing is perfectly scaled to seat a lot of the toys I make, which makes for some interesting photos.

Baby Oiks-a-lot is ready to party.

Little Mermaid

"I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad." ~ Ariel

This is rare for me. I don't often make things with a serious message, but  I just couldn't resist this time. 

I was watching The Little Mermaid on TV because I'm a gigantic nerd and Disney movies are always entertaining no matter how old you are. Anyway, right around the part where Ariel and Flounder are in that cave where she keeps all her human junk, she said that line, and of course I immediately thought of all the oil spills, all the plastic bottles and styrofoam, all the garbage bags and the soda can rings and god knows what other hazardous crap we're always dumping here and there, and I wondered what her collection would look like if she collected the kinds of things that people usually dump in the ocean, not sunken treasure or historical artifacts, but just regular common garbage. And of course, what better way to rip at your heart strings than by killing off the lovable sidekick. BAM! Right in the childhood.

Taking Notes Is Important

("Criminal Law Notes" 2013 ballpoint pen)

Taking notes is a great way to learn.... but doodling is a great way to fight boredom. I did fully intend to take notes, hence why I put a title on the top of the page.. but I'm afraid I quickly lost interest. Or perhaps these are my notes, but written in a strange hieroglyphic language that nobody else understands. 

More Tea, Mr. Cthulhu?

Tea parties and stuffed animals are very common themes in my illustrations. Even more common is the idea of small children in the company of by giant monsters. Children are small but they have big ideas. They constantly surround themselves with make-believe stories and imaginary characters, and that is how I like to draw them. Children also help to change the context of these pictures. If I just drew a giant grinning teddy bear or giant monster it might be considered negative and creepy, but by adding a happy child, the feeling changes. The monster becomes a protector, a friend. It takes on the air of a big brother or a guardian. This combination of big and small makes for a powerful emotional response. Like a gorilla playing with a kitten, it these gentle giants give off a feeling of fun, and peacefulness. I am planning to work on a few other illustrations like this, but with monsters actively protecting children form danger, bullies, or perhaps just other, less friendly monsters.

One of my hopes for after college is to find work illustrating children's books. 

Time for Tea

("Time For Tea", 2013-2014 multimedia sculpture)

What time is it? It's time for tea!

As you might have guessed this is not one of the pieces that I built from scratch. I bought the tea set, and the white gloves, and the clock was salvaged form an abandoned building. My dad works in construction/demolition, and every now and again he'll bring me something random and awesome from an abandoned house, in this case it was the head of a grandfather clock!

Interesting side note, some of the gears on this piece are bent slightly. This is because I opened the clockwork mechanism without bothering to learn about how they're put together. Apparently clocks have these crazy things called main springs which wind up tighter and tighter inside the clock as the gears turn. They are made of strong, thin metal coils with rather sharp edges... you can probably guess where this is going. I opened the clock work mechanism and the springs SHOT out, slicing many my fingers open. I'm all better now, but I still have some serious trust issues with clocks.... Despite my fears, I sallied forth to finish this piece, fingers trembling only slightly as I worked. 

The arms are made of mattress foam wrapped around a skeleton of thin steal rods which are welded to the inside of the clock. They're sturdy but still posable if I ever want to change the position.

The most common question I get with this piece is "How did you make the black gunk poring out of the teapot?" It's actually just hot glue form a glue gun, I painted black after it dried.

I do plan to take more pictures of this piece now that it's completed and mounted on my wall. My bedroom has horribly tacky striped wallpaper that makes an excellent background for it.

The sad thing is I keep looking up at it when I need to know the time, and then I remember that it's not a real clock anymore. I'm considering cutting out the picture of the globe on the clock face and putting a small working clock in there, but that's a job for Future Nick.

This week on MTV's Cribs

("Mount Mourning" 2013 Photoshop)

So I see you have discovered my secret layer. Mount Mourning! Located on the upper west side of Death Valley, this 136 room layer is equipped with the latest in evil technology. Complete with newly refurbished dungeons, acid pool, and a gorgeous view looking over scenic Doom river, this  magnificent layer makes castle grayscale look like a cheap blanket fort. It is the epitome of evil swag.

BFFs

("Best Friends Forever" 2011, Photoshop)

FIRST THINGS FIRST! I forbid any of you to look at this picture without this song playing in the background! 

Okay now that that's over, play THIS song next. It fits really well I promise.

Wasn't that just grand? You're welcome.

There isn't too much to tell about this piece. I was watching that new King Kong movie with Jack Black and what's her face, and I was watching the scene where King Kong is beating nine colors of shit out of the giant T-rexes and I was just thinking how nice it would be if they could all just get a long and be friends. And now they are =D That's the wonder of art.

If you have any suggestions for of other frolicking tunes, feel free to post them in the comment section!

Mr. Bunnsy

("Mr. Bunnsy" 2013, felt and cotton fabric)

I dare you to come up with a less creative name than that! Do it. You won't.

As I mentioned before some of my toys are made entirely from scratch. This is one of them. I used to call it an "Octo-bunny" which did sound a little better but then some smart ass had to point out that it only has 6 tentacles and now I just dishonest calling it that...

The idea for bunny-pus came form a trip to the fabric store where i found the black faded fabric i used for 4 of his 6 limbs, the stripped fabric is from a striped tank top someone gave me. I love using black and white striped fabric but it can be tricky to find. This toy has 3 different layers. The top layer obviously is the fabric, but underneath that, each limb is covered in soft mattress foam, and underneath the layer of foam is coper wire which allows the limbs to bend into any position. That means i can have Bunny-pus hang form the ceiling fan, wrap around a lamp post, or just prop him up on a shelf. Right now he's wrapped around a fan in my studio. 

Bunny-pus is definitely one of my favorite toy projects. He has that perfect combination of cuddly yet creepy.

Teddy Jaws

("Teddy Jaws" 2013, Multimedia with fabric & plastic)

We're gonna need a bigger toy box.

Some of my toys are hand stitched, completely from scratch. This is not one of those. The teddy bear was part of a collection of old stuffed animals given to me by a good friend. I have boxes and bags of hand-me-down stuffed toys in my studio which is really convenient if I have the afternoon off but no specific projects to work on. This was one of those times when I just picked up a bear at random, and held it up to various toy parts and pieces of junk that I have lying around. Eventually I held the bear up to this plastic shark's head and though "Yup" and reached for my hacksaw. I also have a collection of random bow ties to pop onto finished toys. I had been saving that striped one for a while, but I think it works really well.

This piece really sums up my the theme of most of my work. If you've seen the other posts in my blog, you've probably picked up on the pattern on taking something cute and cuddly, and twisting it into something creepy and strange, or vice versa.

In this case, a body that says "Hug Me" and a face that says "Feed Me"