Meat Puppets rock poster

 

finished poster // 12 x 18 // prints available at Boston's SPACE 242 Dec.1st

 Andy and I are going to SPACE 242's Halloween illustration show + costume party, and then Harvard Scare! with some friends on Friday.  We talked about lots of costume possibilities, like Green Hornet + Kato, Nancy Drew + Ned Nickerson, and (my personal fave) Hank + Dean Venture.   I'm not sure why these great ideas fell through, we have a tendency to put off fun things in favor of working.  It'll be nice to get out of the studio!

Your lovely calavera

As my last post was apple-overload, I thought I'd switch to lovely, lovely skulls.

Here is the latest drawing to be made in to rock poster #2.

Can you guess the band it's for?  Probably a tough question since there isn't enough information yet.  (But if you'd like a hint, there will be some white marionette strings added in then it's all done ... )

In my spare time I've been playing the über awesome GRIM FANDANGO - an amazingly crafted game by Lucas Arts.  The design of the characters is just the cat's jammies, and if you can't find the game anywhere, I reccomend at least downloading the fantastic soundtrack - you won't regret it!  ♫♪♫♪

a sampling of my favorite tracks

It's times like this I wish I had some Mexican heritage that would let me in on some awesome Dia des los Muertos celebrations!  Andy and I have long collected Mexican art books and Oaxacan trinkets, so it was really fun for me to go to a specifically Day of the Dead store in Houston, TX last March.  

the mantle in our living room

Skull patches from a store in NYC's Garment District.
These make me want to go to Dead People Academy.

Apple Rock Poster

I'm excited to be a part of SPACE 242's upcoming 90s ROCK show, in which artists are asked to recreate a concert poster from a real event.  Below is the first of 3.

After scrubbing all that was left of 90s music OUT of my mind after high school (Hootie & the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band), I realized I did still have a fondness for certain artists (Nirvana, Veruca Salt, the Meat Puppets, etc...)

Speaking of apples ...

hot cider + caramel mackintosh apples

It's cider season!  We love hot apple cider, and we have it simmering on the stove pretty much all the time here at the apartment.  It's been great since it's been amazingly cold in MA lately.  (I'm getting horrible flashbacks to the 9 month winter last year)

I made this bow out of and old, apple-print sash for my Halloween costume. 
(I'm not sure if I'll use it, we may go as Batman + Robin)
 

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♥ ♥ And a HUGE thank you to all the lovely happy engagement wishes last week!  ♥ ♥

(Which happened in the Big Apple - har har)

 

♥ Engaged in NYC ♥

The Flatiron Building
our spot is now a lovely sitting area

I often wonder how personal I should make my illustration blog. Should moduslotus.com maintain an air of professionalism and only blog about new work and dedication to craft? Well, whatever! Let's not think too much!

Andy & I are engaged!

And I wanted to share that with you ♥

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Friday morning, Andy went to a meeting with some editors at Marvel while I spent a few hours with my great friend Misha.

Misha is one of my favorite people - one of her talents is being a master storyteller - she can begin with an anecdote and have you completely dying in a few minutes. We went to Saint Alps Tea House near St. Mark's for strawberry tea and tiny coconut cakes.

Hanging out in Manhattan with them always makes me nostalgic for my college days at School of Visual Arts - before loans and health insurance! We walked down St. Mark's to Toy Tokyo and then to Cozy's Diner.

After parting from Misha in Union Square, we went to Brooklyn to meet up with Liz Artinian and see Too Art 4 TV! an amazing gallery of illustration works done by people in the animation industry. So inspiring!

Liz took us back to Manhattan to visit Venture Industries. Okay, it's actually World Leader's Entertainment, the fab production studio behind Adult Swim's "The Venture Brothers". She is generous to a fault, and super cool. ★ Be sure to see the season premier of season 4 this Sunday!

Andy and I made our way back to the Flatiron building - the skinny, triangular building in the wedge where East 23rd St. becomes West and Broadway crosses Park. It's our spot. ♥

THE RED BOX : Back when we were dating, Andy and I lived in two different states - NY and MA, and we would meet at the red newspaper box in the little triangle median strip. Now, that area is completely torn up and paved over, and in it's place is a charming sitting area. We bought this print from Ikea, which just serendipitously HAD out red news box in the photo! Now it's above our bed.

After getting some hot apple cider and sugar waffles, we looked up at the Empire State Building together and he proposed! ♥

I said yes, and it's been a full 24 hours and I'm still pretty sure I'm about this thing! Haha, I kid.

TOY TOKYO // St. Mark's Place

Shopping with Misha on 3rd Ave

COZY'S FAMOUS // Waverly Place

Saint Alps Tea Room
on 2nd Ave with Misha

2 ART 4 TV
Erebuni Gallery, Brooklyn

The Chrysler // Grand Central Terminal

Suspiria

an homage to Dario

Have you seen Dario Argento's Suspiria? It's one of my favorite movies, simply because it's intensely colorful and artistically photographed. (And apparently it's going to be remade?...hmm)

Is it genius? No. Sometimes the plot makes no sense and characters are introduced randomly with little explanation, but the cinematography is gorgeous!

the remastered French trailer + international poster art

Jessica Harper, who was also in the Woody Allen movie "Stardust Memories", is one of those actresses that is just interesting to look at - with her large eyes, mature voice and tiny frame, is almost constantly in close-up. The dubbing is strange - since half the actors are German, another half Italian, and then just Jessica speaking English basically to herself.

Joan Bennett is in it too, which is interesting because I first saw her in the 1945 film ★ "Scarlet Street". If you haven't seen it, you should! She plays a prostitute that seeps her way into a man's life only to destroy him. Only now, in the 1970s she is much older but still speaks like a '40s actress who has to say her lines very loudly, since the sound recording was primitive when she was coming up in Hollywood.

Yes, I do love movies and yammering on about them .... anyway! Back to the studio!

I'll leave you with some fantastic music by DJ Shadow to get you ready for Halloween.

Fall Fashion '09 + 森ガール

Here is a recent spread I did for a new street fashion magazine, MASS LOOK BOOK; set to debut in 2010.

I love fashion illustration; not necessarily because I enjoy drawing pretty girls, but textures and patterns are really inspiring. I love the current trend of mori-girl 森ガール in Japan right now. Mori is Japanese for forest, meaning this is the type of girl who grows her own apples, wears a straw cloche hat with a daisy in it and probably raises foxes. Quelle romantique!

♫ I found some music for you to match the mood! ♪
Fuuraibou is Japanese for "wanderer"

Here are some reference points to mori-style,
featuring one of my favorite actresses, Aoi Yuu.

the Moon + the North End

sketchbook page

I used to sit outside on my front lawn when I was a kid and look at the moon.
Now, this area is grown in with lots of briar bushes, weeds and rabbit holes.
Those little lines are the top are telephone wires.

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THE NORTH END

I recently had a great time in the North End with Yuka. The North End is Boston's Little Italy, and I can't believe I hadn't visited before. The harbor is so lovely, especially in the autumn, and the flower boxes drip down the apartment windows.

I have fond memories of exploring Mullberry Street in Manhattan with my bff Misha, watching Yankee's games from an outdoor patio while eating manicotti. But there is something more intimate and old-world about the North End in Boston.
♥ And, Mike's Pastry is there! ♥

a gelatto place on every corner

Paul Revere's house. You can see his garden they've preserved since 1774!

I wake up chilly

24"x18" on matte stock paper

NES LOVE posters are almost gone in my Etsy store. I sold out of Bikes Are Fun this week, and there are only 3 NES prints left.
Mention this blog - www.moduslotus.com at check out, I'll refund your shipping!

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After barely getting over being crazy sick this weekend, Andy & I are participating in Scott McCloud's 24 Hour Comic Challenge. Why? I don't know - we're still stuffy and achy so this is probably a really bad idea.

But we did it last year in just over 11 hours so we're gonna give it another go (secret to success? Work on 6x9 pieces of Bristol board!) My comic from last year (This comic was really poorly executed, 1. I had taught for 6 hours before the challenge started and 2. I was highly emotional while doing it)

Sadly, we have to miss our friend Ansis's 33rd B-day bash in Jamaica Plain tonight. But trust me, it's better we spare the party people a head cold. Happy Birthday, Ansis! You are too cool for school

We are so psyched about fall - it's our favorite time of the year! We went to the beautiful Farmer's Daughter Farm + Green house in Auburn and got a lovely pumpkin.

Then we gave it a lobotamy and baked its brains into a delicious snack.