One of the best things about The Black Keys is that Aziz Ansari always introduces the Black Eyed Peas. Then he says that the Black Eyed Peas cancelled and some band was able to fill in last minute.

Funny thing, I was about to illustrate the BEP. But I don’t like them, so here’s this image of The Black Keys instead!

I remember two years ago I was obsessed with Aziz Ansari, and now two years later, he’s starring in movies, gracing the covers of magazines, and becoming an art critic. Complex Magazine scoured the internet and came back with their top 5 most interesting pieces, and mine made it into #4. Check it out at minute 0:54! (you can even see it right there on the video image preview!)

I’m glad that he actually responded positively to my illustration. But I was hoping to make him cry over it.

Here’s the process to that piece! (Update: Oh no! I lost the final image artwork! It must have happened when I redesigned my website. Thank god I updated my website before Complex did their search.)

CASE STUDY: The Last Nerve: A High Tea Poetry Brawl
I took on a project recently through my good friend Katelan, talented writer and art director who I will work on any project with forever. She’s got a great sense of design, knows me and my work really well, and can cultivate the best out of me. And speaking as an illustrator, that’s really what you want in an art director.

OBJECTIVE
Provide illustration of a punk-Victorian lady to accompany press materials for a poetry tour. Materials include press releases, brochures, etc.

CASTING THE RIGHT GIRL
In a similar fashion with Accomplice Wine, I had to find the perfect girl for this campaign. I was a lot more free with finding a look, and experimented with so many different girls.  Haircuts, clothing, bone structure, etc. I looked for classy, punk, Victorian, Circus-tones, modern yet vintage. These were adjectives that seemed to conflict with each other and needed to be married.

I was stuck on certain girls and certain haircuts, as you can see in the sketches. I don’t consider myself a fashion illustrator, but I love drawing clothes a lot, especially on girls. So it was tough for me to settle on one look when there were so many possibilities (I guess that’s why girls take so long to get dressed before a date!). I pulled looks from people I know personally, friends from college, girls I was too intimidated by to talk to. When you go to a school with very fashionable women, there’s a ton of possible looks to choose from.

I did one test I was very unpleased with. So I went back, reworked, found some clothes and accessory combinations that I made the outfit a little bit more interesting. I found a combo that provided lots of opportunity for spot blacks and wound up with everything I wanted. When I went to ink it, I tweaked some make-up, her expression, and brought more bosom into the picture.

KATELAN’S GENIUS
So with my part in the can, all I did was wait for her to do her thing. It makes me love collaborating when you get such good results in the end. Here’s how it came out, in action.

They look stunning, made me reevaluate my own illustration and how it works with the rest of the elements. The resulting image is stunning and I love how she integrated it with the rest of the design (making the inks blue! Genius!). You can download pdfs of the press releases here, or just look at them HUGE. If you like her work, make sure you comment, or better yet, send her a tweet.

Some notable episodes include Conan O’Brien, Dan Harmon, Louis CK (part 1 and 2), Nick Kroll’s El Chupacabra, Judd Apatow, Bob Odenkirk, Dave Attell, and so many more. Marc has also gotten a lot of attention for interviewing Carlos Mencia and Dane Cooke, calling them both out on their joke-stealing. I am a big fan of the podcast and I am so happy with his success, because he’s put in so many years trying to make it. Much love, Maron.

I am graduating soon! I created these postcards to send out to my family. I also sent out copies of “Luke Holds Off”, too, which I hope were well-received. In other news, the impromptu gallery show went well! A lot of friends and comedians came out to show their support. For such a last-minute show, it was a huge success. Everyone drank my beer.

I was actually against making this poster at first. Then I realized, I’m not Chinese, I wouldn’t be offended at all. So I went with it. Nick Brown is an interesting character and pulling from this joke was a no-brainer. It was the most visual one I could come up with. You’ve got to come to the open mic to get a chance to see what this joke is all about. And the other reason you may want to come: This may be my very last performance in Savannah EVER!

the costuming was stolen from Gene Yang’s stereotypically Chinese caricature Chin-Kee, from the book American Born Chinese. Yang is an important voice in the Asian-American comics community, and I just had to take his lead with the costume.

Well this weekend I’m off to FLUKE is Athens, a small but really fun convention in a beautiful city. A lot of my friends will be in attendance. It’s held at the 40 Watt this year, which is going to be a new experience so I hope it becomes a regular venue.

I sat down and drew this illustration. It’s an image that’s been in my head and it felt so good just to put it down and get rid of it. I come across these weird compositions in my head, and though that makes me sound crazy, it’s true. All artists have a vision of what they want to create, and one of those visions is something they didn’t even imagine as an illustration first. Just an image that needs to come out out of them. Well, it’s out. Now I can go back to focusing on printing and folding comics for the upcoming conventions. Much love!

I love this show we do at Tantra. I get a breathable 20 minutes to explore jokes, and really set my own pace. And I get to hang out with a ton of stand-up friends. It’s a nice dark room to do comedy in, and all the performers usually have a ton of fun doing it. Chris Davison produces a cool show, so I’m sure it will be a night of everybody at the top of their game.

This poster was interesting to put together because its essentially two images. It’s kind of a comic in that way. I don’t usually design comedy illustrations this way, but with a different show should come a different design style. The last show at Tantra featured artwork from the awesome Julie Collins, and I knew I had a high bar to surpass. If you already know you’re attending, join the Facebook event!

The same week on Friday March 4th, I’ll be opening for King Rich at the Bay Street Theater.

Do you like comics that are in color? I hardly do any, but I did one for the latest issue of District Quarterly. The theme was food, so I drew some inspiration from life and got down to making delicious meals for myself to eat. Then I drew. That’s a fun process to create comics to: eat then draw. Pick yourself up an issue and check it out, or read it on the District Quarterly website here.

I gotta thank my girl, Katelan. She did an amazing job as editor for the past three issues, finding it in herself to publish my work in them. Not gonna lie, she’s got fantastic taste. In art, words, AND food. She’s going to my editor one day, when she’s tearing up the magazine industry and she needs some spot illustrations in GQ and Esquire.

Now, if you want to skip the whole reading the magazine in a flash player, you can read my comic page by clicking this link.