Buy this book while you can!

The second drop from Red Flag Publishing is now being hustled in pamphlet style. Available now for a limited time exclusively at the top secret and very exclusive comics buying club known as IndyPlanet

Red Flags vol. 2 brings with it three complete and shocking tales told in an anthology of traditional comic book genres- funny animal, crime and zombies. Sure to send waves of pleasure down your spine as you witness it's forbidden contents! History, propaganda and censorship, identity and reality, religion and ignorance, perversion and faith- NOTHING is off limits! Contents may be shocking and disturbing unless you are "hip to what's up on the scene."

New takes on horror comics: RED FLAGS. Consider this your last warning!

$3.99 • 32 pages • Heavy stock • 100% satisfaction assured • No refunds 

WARNING: Possession of this book may be a crime in some states,
municipalities or foreign countries (consult your legal counsel)

Beyond Thunderdome

A friend asked me for some art for his pool league team which is called "Beyond Thunderdome" and wanted a picture of Mad Max in a bar fight doing great injury. Not sure how well it will show on a one color t-shirt but I obliged....

Words of wisdom

"I was thinking, one of the things that can drag you down as an artist is thinking it should get easy eventually. You think I'd know this but I always suprize (sic) myself at how it is always hard work."

– Brandon Graham

Words of wisdom

"I think it is about obsession. I really embrace my obsessions. I think it's important. The thing that won't go out of your mind, that's what you should make art about. It doesn't even have to make sense."

– Paul Pope (in a discussion with Dash Shaw & moderated by Robin McConnell)

A new look

If you're visiting you may see some weirdness as I tired of the old look and am trying out some new ideas.

Something from my sketchbook I might not have ever posted...

Award winner

The Community Papers of Michigan just honored one of my designs at their annual awards banquet. Receiving top honors in its class was this October 8, 2009 front page to the Battle Creek Shopper News...

 

Photo by Doug Allen of artist Joe Taken

CD design

Lately I've been doing some work for Hydro-Phonic Records. The sludge and doom metal label just started up but have already put out some amazing looking vinyl works of art. Just one example...

Most of the albums so far have been re-issues. So on my end it's mostly been grunt work and consulting as bands already have art they want to use and well-established logos, but hopefully soon I'll get a chance to do more drawing and design work as the label moves into more first releases, merch and live shows. With such beautiful records and more coming quickly I've no doubt that more people will start paying attention to what Hydro-Phonic Records is doing and I'll get increased chances to create cool images and help some bands get noticed.

Here's something I worked up sort of on spec to warm up and show off what I could do...

R.I.P. Frank Frazetta

It's almost too hard to pick just one image to sum up the power of Frank Frazetta, and yet they all do. Particularly what I liked about Frazetta's work was once I really started looking at it, beyond just the cool bad ass imagery that caught my eye as a youth, was how well he used color, composition and mood. Most fantasy artists never progress beyond the desire just to paint cool things. Frazetta really used warm and cool colors to create a dynamic composition, depth and a focal point that your eye keeps landing on every time you looks at the painting. Just look at that image and tell me your eye can keep from stopping on the man riding the flying creature. The subdued and cool greens and pale ochre-ish yellows on the man and the lizard are surrounded by an intense abstract lava flow of bright red, itself surrounded by a pitch black border that contains the image. Like any good artist, the more you look at a Frazetta image the more you can keep looking...

Gig poster

Hydro-Phonic Records is putting on a FREE show May 14 at Mulligan's Pub in Grand Rapids, MI. Line-up includes Black Pyramid, Let the Night Roar, Balboa (MI), Bullpig and Mountain Goat. I did the poster art for it...

Albino Warrior

Wanting to do a drawing with a '70s fantasy vibe, I called this piece Albino Warrior when I scanned it in, thinking I'd keep his skin white. I ended up going with a purple and yellow color scheme since I've been trying to keep a restricted palette and went with keeping his pants and the glow of the sword white. Somehow the pants ended up looking very Disco so it ended up looking pretty '70s even if not n the way I'd originally imagined.