I’ve been meaning to hop back on the blog since I got back from Renegade Austin in May and here it is the week after Renegade San Francisco. Doing two out of town shows in one summer has been a bigger pain than I anticipated and I don’t mind saying I came up short on both occasions. I think I covered my expenses(travel etc.) in Austin but I got my head handed to me in San Francisco. Came in guns a blazin’ and got creamed, you remember the end of Butch and Sundance right? Like that.

I’m over it but I bitched up a storm about it of course you know all about that if you follow me on twitter or facebook. As per usual all my caterwauling is all in good fun, I use my twitter account as free therapy, dumb joke depository, shit talking sounding board amongst friends and lastly a venue to dispense news on new prints/design and such. It’s synced straight to my facebook, I rarely check in on facebook itself.

If I wasn’t counting on making my rent money in San Fran it wouldn’t have been as big a deal to me, I don’t want anyone who came out to Renegade San Francisco or anyone involved with Renegade to feel slighted by anything I said….well, except the DJ. The DJ was spinning a mix tailor made for Kindergarten nap time, I mean you go to a Grocery Store and they at least play something with a consistent tempo. Keeps people engaged on what they came to do, introspective Neil Young or sad bastard Leonard Cohen slow jams are counterproductive to say the least. That DJ was not helping the atmosphere….though I like Wings as much as the next guy.

Jesus, speaking of bringing the mood down…to the bright side we go! I hung out with Tyler and Michelle Madsen of Love Nail Tree in San Fran, after meeting them initially in Austin. We’re going to try and collab on some shirts in the future, excited about that but god knows when that will see the light of day, fall probably. Anyway we saw Dinner for Schmucks the night before I flew back, fun times.

Also in San Fran were the usual poster suspects but I’m not going to list all the Two Rabbits, Kevin Tongs and Nate Duval‘s of the world, they’re all overrated anyway. ZING! LOLZORZ but working my booth myself I didn’t get out and mingle at all really, I think Regan Smith Clarke the shirt designer from Boston is the only non-poster new person I met. His buddy helping him at his booth looks like a young Seth Romatelli from the Uhh Yeah Dude podcast…anyway Regan Smith Clarke, solid guy. Traded him a print for a nice Tank Top. Oh shit, I also met the dudes from Fuzzy Ink, they make shirts too. Nice guys, met them while drunk(..ish) with Mike from Two Rabbits in lower Haight.

Leading up to San Francisco I needed to finish a design for Spoon and get it approved, the time crunch due to finishing new wood prints(more info down the road) and boxing up 100 lbs of my wares and display paraphernalia forced me to spend most of my Friday once I landed in my hotel room slaving over a hot laptop finishing up the design. The design ended up being rad and it was approved:

The print however did not go quite as I had hoped, more on that later. Flukey weird shit, hardly ever happens but…like I said I’ll address that later.

Moving right along, printing this week will be a 3 color poster for The Black Keys(strangely playing the same venue as Spoon in the above poster)  this Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

To recap my trip to Austin in May, it was a great time. Austin always is. I stayed with Tim Doyle (of Nakatomi inc. fame), his wife Angie and darling son Rocko! I’m bad with baby ages but he’s a little guy, got a lot of bam bam in him. Also met Nick Derrington(awesome illustrator) and his wife, if I had 5 minutes to concentrate on it I’m sure I could remember her name but she made this amazing Peach Cobbler. One of the greatest foodstuffs I have ever partaken in. Anyway Tim lives right down the street from where they shoot a portion of my favorite guilty pleasure, Friday Night Lights. Driving through the neighborhood I always felt like I was in the opening montage.

Also hung out with Clint Wilson, yeah he’s a Wilson from Austin I’m sure he’s related to Luke and Owen Wilson…and the other brother, future man whatever is name is. Didn’t hit too many places other than fine eateries which meant I had to stop by Geof Peveto‘s joint: FRANK. It’s Peveto’s world, we’re just living in it…hats off to you sir.
This is getting long already, I’ll just keep blogging throughout this and next week. There’s new stuff up in the store plus the aforementioned Black Keys poster will be available soon and there’s a whole wave of new art prints I can’t even get into right now which will be going up in my etsy store as soon as I can get to it. But designwise right now Ghostland Observatory is on the front burner, need to get some shirt designs and a tour poster done pronto! Before Flatstock at Bumbershoot of course. I’ll be back in a couple days, thanks for stopping by.

I just watched the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and in keeping with Coco’s request, I will not delve into cynicism in this post. Conan in his closing statement as it were, spoke directly to the audience and urged us(the young ones in particular) not to be cynical and thanked NBC for his time on The Tonight Show and employing him for 20 years from his time as a writer on SNL to now. His message was that if you work hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen to you. I cried a little…and also before that when Neil Young played “Long May You Run”, one of my favorite songs ever a and perfect song for the moment.

That is why I love Conan O’Brien. Plenty of the jokes and bits on his show over the years were plenty snarky and poked fun at plenty of folks but I would say for every barb he threw at a Paris Hilton for example, he made himself the butt of the joke on twice as many occasions and it was always done under the umbrella of lighthearted fun. Conan is not a mean or bitter guy, most great comedians have well documented demons that make them who they are but Conan is a rare exception, in the vein of a Jerry Seinfeld I suppose…I can’t think of a better or closer example off the top of my head. Jay Leno is certainly not a happy person, David Letterman is a guy I’d like to have a beer with but that dude has mountains of issues. Conan took the high road on his way out because he is a well adjusted, smart and grateful human being.

I have been a Conan fan since I was about 12 or 13, staying up wicked late whenever possible to catch Conan, Andy, Max, Joel, Abe Vigoda,  La Bamba and Robert Smigel get crazy with the cheeze whiz. When the day finally came and Conan took his seat on The Tonight Show it was unbelievable, finally someone with a connection to my generation who won’t just give the audience what they expect at the premiere slot in late night. I considered it as important to the comedy world as Barack Obama’s election was in American politics and race relations….I was a little excited.

Because I feel so strongly about Conan as a fan of his and the late night genre in general(I’ve seen every episode of The Larry Sanders Show multiple times) I constructed an editorial Illustration to encapsulate what has happened here with Conan and NBC. The sun will rise on a glorious new day for my Coney Island baby,  he’ll be back and most likely better than ever in just a few months but I could not let this time pass without making light of this most heinous blunder NBC has perpetrated here. While also paying homage to Conan’s enduring spirit, soldiering on with perfect hair and plastic smile. Not letting the man get him down but not letting it go unnoted the great injustices that have occurred.

The fine folks at Nakatomi have brought this Illustration to life. Enjoy:

And in other news, I will be back to blogging this week. Working on multiple interviews and new prints, see you back here soon!

Behold, “Blotter Color” a 4 color hybrid art print, limited edition of 30 pieces. In addition to the 4 screen printed colors, it was printed on watercolor paper where I introduced water into the printing process along the way along with a slight color change(red to magenta). Before the last color(black lineart) I added brush strokes, dabs and splatters of watercolor which makes each piece in the edition quite unique.

Here’s a video I slapped together to better illustrate what I’m talking about in terms of the way the pieces vary:

I am adding these pieces to the Big Cartel Store store today, measures 9.75″ x 13″ and is printed on watercolor paper. I am listing them individually so check ‘em out and pick whichever one you like best!

Here are a couple more pics and blathering about the process…

On some of the pieces after the black printed I’ve gone in and elaborated on the linework to add more depth…

The original illustration is from a page out of a sketchbook from last year, I blew it up and played around painting shading or detail areas over it as I was putting the screen print together.

This is pretty experimental stuff so I wasn’t sure exactly how it would turn out but I’m pleased with the result. I’m excited about the future possibilities, I kinda feel like Doc Brown when he slipped off his toilet and discovered the secret to the Flux Capacitor.

In other news I will be picking up the remaining pieces from the Something’s Better Than Nothing show this week and making a few selections available next week, which will include some one of a kind pieces from the “OUTSIDE THE LAW” print run. Stay tuned for that.

I believe I have found my next interviewee(but I’m keeping it secret until posted this time), pretty big deal as far as I’m concerned. Big fan of his work and it’s not someone I know as well as Todd Slater or Brad Klausen, I’m stretching my wings internet! Fly with me won’t you?

That’s it for now. Have yourself a fine Thanksgiving, internet. And if you don’t happen to be American and want to get in on the Thanksgiving action: take the day off work, pour gravy on everything you eat for the day, wear your most festive sweater, argue with your family, drink some Egg Nog(spike it), take a nap and force yourself to watch the Detroit Lions…you might have to youtube that, Good luck!

INTERNET! I come bearing new art print, behold “OUTSIDE THE LAW” a very short run of only 20 pieces. 4 color screen print including metallic silver, copper and GLOW IN THE DARK WHITE on French Speckletone. Get them while they last.

It’s an art print, I’ll let the print speak for itself plus I gotta get my ass out the door I’m going to be late to the shop again…speaking of which below are a couple process pics from the making of “OUTSIDE THE LAW” enjoy…

Have a great Thursday everyone, must see TV tonight: Seinfeld, Friends, Frazier, Caroline in the City!!!…oh wait, nevermind.

Greetings internet. For those of you in Seattle, I officially invite you to join me this Friday night at The Greenwood Collective for the opening of an art show I’m putting together with my pal Owen. There will be new prints, test prints and new prints made from test prints, you’ll have to show up to really see what I’m talking about.

It’s Art Walk this Friday in Greenwood anyway so there will be other folks in the house with purty new art all over the place anyway and word on the street is that Mad Rad are going to be performing upstairs. I have no idea what to expect but it ought to be a fun night.

So here’s the deal. My new Screens ‘N’ Spokes print ended up being an homage to Rob Jones Raconteurs posters, I blogged about this last week. The prints are now available, very short run.

Only 50 pieces, signed and numbered and half of the run went to Screens ‘N’ Spokes as it is a benefit. That leaves only 25 available through me at the Etsy Store.

AND while I was at it, there’s a design I’ve been meaning to make an art print out of for a long time and I know it’s a personal favorite of Rob Jones(probably the only poster of mine that he owns) so I spruced it up and printed it at the same time as the Screens ‘N’ Spokes so it’s in the same color scheme and all. I call this print “Protocol Zomboid” I am selling it as a 2 for 1 value sale with the Screens ‘N’ Spokes while they last.

For $30 you get both the Screens ‘N’ Spokes AND the Protocol Zomboid prints.

Both are signed and numbered, Screens ‘N’ Spokes is 18′x18″ and Protocol Zomboid is 18″x24″. I will probably make the remaining Protocol Zomboid prints available at a future date but I can’t say as to when and you wont get the same value later when it’s sold on it’s own.

I have done two homage prints of the great Ralph Steadman. The first was for a CCFA benefit print for Pearl Jam in 2006 coinciding with a show in Las Vegas, the design was just a wink at “Fear and Loathing in las Vegas” not necessarily a planned out homage to Steadman but I tried my best to nail the style. Then in 2008 for a poster for Queens of the Stone Age in Australia I chose the Steadman style specifically because I think it fits the band, plus I’ve never been to Australia so I think of it as some gnarly deep desert where crazy shit happens not unlike Las Vegas.

This here is an homage to Frank Kozik, a poster for the Detroit Cobras in 2008. This again came out of trying to find a style that fit the band AND as I recall at the time I was kind of in a crunch timewise to do this one and needed to pick a direction and go.

This is what I’d call a sequel. I had this High on Fire poster to do and I was looking through other HOF posters online and  came to the realization that Zach Hobbs High on Fire is the best, there is none higher. So I said fuck it I’m just going to add to it, I’m gonna do the torso of that beast from Zach’s poster.

Sequels are always tough, I think I did a pretty good job but it’s probably no Godfather 2 or Empire Strikes Back…maybe it’s The Temple of Doom. Anyway, the colors match and I stayed within the rules of the design Zach established the his print. Both posters were printed in Seattle, Zach’s by Patent Pending(RIP) and mine at D&L(duh).

I think Zach liked it, I can’t remember.

I don’t really have anything else to say about this one but

I have space to fill in this margin

still….

And bringing us up to the present we have my brand new Screen ‘N’ Spokes print 2009 which is in the style of a Rob Jones Raconteurs poster. Not that all of Rob’s posters for said band are in this style but most of them are, and in my opinion the best ones are.

This one from a design standpoint came out of left field. I was working up various concepts for a Decemberists poster I was working on a couple months ago, trying different things because they reject a small handful before approving anything, this bike was created in that vein. And it was collaged out of the same kind of source material that Rob does for the  Raconteurs posters I’m referencing so I figured if the design is going that way I might as well just go all the way and make it a straight up Rob Jones homage and try and nail the style as close as possible.

At the same time I also had the Screens ‘N’ Spokes deadline coming up so it worked out. I didn’t want to just crap out a halftone image of a vintage bike over some floral pattern and cal it a day….not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Anyway, this print will be available soon.

]]> http://smithbellcraft.com/2009/07/31/homage-im-noticing-a-pattern-here/feed/ 1 jonjonsmith JS_Homage_Steadman JS_Homage_Kozik JS_Homage_Hobbs2 JS_Homage_Jones http://smithbellcraft.com/2009/07/21/updatery-and-rejected-kenny-rogers/ http://smithbellcraft.com/2009/07/21/updatery-and-rejected-kenny-rogers/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:50:38 +0000 jonjonsmith http://jonjonsmith.wordpress.com/?p=96 ]]> Hello internet,

Here’s what’s in the works: Nate and I getting the 1982 store up and running very soon, should be this week.  My Screens N Spokes print is done along with another art print that will be released in the near future. I’m helping my roomate do his first screen printed gig poster ever for a Girl Talk show….I have some art space booked for a show in October. I’m registered for Flatstock at ye old Bumbershoot.

Aside from figuring out how many prints I can get done before said Flatstock, I am working behind the scenes on some fresh new content for this site. I need to beef up the Flickr account and add a fresh header graphic but I’m working on something way cooler than that, that should pan out in some consistent content for all you poster freaks out there. Stay tuned!

Until the next update(which should be toward the end of this week) enjoy my rejected concept for a Kenny Rogers poster from about a year ago. It was for a show at a Casino down south, the design was rejected immediately. This is 100% real, I had it all setup for a metallic silver to gold blend with a layer of glow in the dark on black paper but y’know…true genius is not always embraced in it’s time.

“There are still a few limited edition Jay Ryan art prints available – for FREE when you order Gig Posters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century.

The book has been getting amazing reviews in the media, such as the New York Times, USA Today, Maxim, Spin etc.

Please order soon if you want the FREE art prints, as they will run out in the near future.

$40 + Shipping”

http://www.gigposters.com/book/

The gigposters book is amazing on it’s own, $40 for the book and a bonus Jay Ryan print is a no brainer if you have the skrilla.