Griffin Report:

This morning he woke up and told us a long involved story that we were unable to translate. He loves his buck-toothed dinosaur on wheels, his smiling octopus, and his elephant stuffed animals the best so far. He gets his mind blown when I read him Dr. Suess. He likes looking at lamps, and he thinks I'm hilarious. Photo by his Mom.

ASC, Nether, Space Cadets!

I've been loving doing all the art for the Space Cadets record label. It's basically been the perfect side job for me. The music is great and I get to have fun drawing space imagery. Their newest rerelease by ASC is 2001 Space Odyssey inspired so I decided to imagine the monolith appearing on an alien planet and the inhabitants reaction. This record is officially out now and I can't wait to get my copy in the mail.
I also just finished this upcoming one for Nether. I'm not sure when it's coming out but it should be within the next couple of months. When I asked Nether if he had any imagery in mind, he said he wanted an enchanted forest, the moon, and an oracle. I was only planning on drawing one moon, but things got out of control.
This is a drawing that's going to get made into a sticker soon. As soon as I get mine in the mail, I'll be giving them away and sneakily putting them around town.

Happy to see you

I just put up another new woodcut on my Etsy shop. I had an especially nice time making this little guy. He's just so happy! A huge thanks to everyone who's been supporting my shop: www.theoellsworth.etsy.com

Rowdy Monster for sale

I've had a number of original woodcut pieces sitting around in my tiny work space for awhile now and I've been having trouble finding time to put them up on my Etsy shop. I just finally put up the first of them though, and I'm going to try to keep adding more over the next week or so. I also have several new prints in the works, so things should be getting extra awesome over at the shop soon: www.theoellsworth.etsy.com Now, back to my drawing table...

3 portraits in Paris

I did 3 pieces for a show that opens February 3rd at the 12 Mail gallery in Paris, France. The show is called "Visages". As the title suggests, it's an entire show of faces. There's going to be a printed catalogue of the show, so hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one. I'm excited to be in this show along side a number of cartoonists I admire including Philippe Dupuy, Charles Burns, Blutch, and Sammy Harkham. www.12mail.fr

More drawings before bed

Mostly drawn while very sleepy and in semi-darkness. Not even a month in, doing a drawing before bed every night has already proven to be valuable to me. It's been making me feel more aware of my own forwards movement through time. It wraps up my day and gets me excited for the next one. They don't feel like my best drawings or anything. The paper's kind of thin and there's lots of bleed through from the previous days. I kind of like that though.

time-lapse location return

It's an exciting thing to stand in a really intense location, then, years later, return to that same intense location and stand there for awhile again.

a drawing before bed every night for a year

My sister (code name: Weirdling) gave me a "one sketch a day" journal for Christmas and I decided to take up the challenge and draw in it every night before bed. I've never really put dates on my work or kept a steady journal, so I think it'll be valuable to have this linear record of a year's worth drawings. Here's what's happened so far, between Christmas and New Years. It's fun having two days to a page because I get to merge the drawing with the one I made the night before. I'll keep posting my progress throughout the year, and when I'm done, if it seems worthwhile, I might print up a little book...

Art on the Moon

I did a piece for a moon themed group show that opens January 7th at the Observatory on 543 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York. www.observatoryroom.org

Here's the woodcut I made for it titled, "A giant space man has landed on the moon, but why?!" It's the first wood piece where I actually cut negative space inside of it. I'd like to play around with that more soon.

woodcuts and glittery stars

Left: the first "Timrick" woodcut I ever made. I sold it at the Festival of the last minute, then realised that I never actually got a clear photo of it. I was nearly finished with it when I spilled ink all over one of the hands, so I blackened the hands and feet as a way to fix it. I ended up really liking the effect and it's something I don't think I would've ever tried otherwise. It's good to roll with the punches.

Right: The only woodcut I've kept for myself so far. I made it right before Griffin was born and looking at it reminds me of the whole inner-process I had leading up to becoming a dad. I sit with Griffin propped up on my lap like that all the time now, and I've seen him make that same expression on his face.

Festival of the Last minute

I'll be setting up my Thought Cloud Factory booth in Ankeny Plaza in downtown Portland for the Festival of the Last Minute from December 19th through the 24th, from 11-5 each day (closing early at 3:30 on Christmas eve). If you stop by and visit, you'll find me wrapped in a blanket, drinking massive amounts of tea, trying to keep my hands warm enough to draw as many pictures as possible, and hoping for some weird and interesting conversations with friendly strangers.

This is a new woodcut star ship I just finished for the festival. I just finished cutting a whole new batch of them and will probably be finishing new ones through out the week so that there's a little something different at my table each day. Happy Holidays everyone!

Sleeping Griffin.

I hang out with this little guy a lot now. He is awesome.

Welcome to the World, Griffin!

Our Son, Griffin has arrived and Heather and I are so Happy! He was born on 11/20/2011 at 9:49 pm and was 22 inches tall at birth (so many palindromes!). Being a Dad has inspired and changed me in so many ways already and he's only 10 days old. Helping catch someone as they enter the world and watching them take their first breath was a truly intense experience, and Heather was so awe inspiring and strong. I feel really lucky to have such an incredible family.

One of my new favorite things to do is to fly Griffin around the house like a spaceship and show him the different things on the walls around our house. I think he already has a thing for sea monsters.

Post-it note art

I made art on 6 post-it notes for the annual Post-it note show at Giant Robot in LA! My friend and fellow cartoonist Jesse Reklaw is also in the show, so we met up in a coffee shop in downtown Portland and worked on our pieces together. It was good to have a post-it note motivational support system in place when you need it.

Christmas Cards!!

I've got some of my Christmas cards up for sale over at my Etsy Shop! www.theoellsworth.etsy.com . I make a new one every year for my mom to send out to friends and relatives, so I thought it would be fun to reprint the last four just in case you want to send them to your friends and family too! Yes!!

Secret Space Navigatior and baby Timrick

Space Cadets! Don't Panic!

I just got the Oak, Otaku album in the mail. It's the second cover I've done for the London Based record label, Space Cadets, and I'm just about to start working on the third. It's fun getting to be the house artist for such an exciting label. There's going to be stickers soon too!

Doing art for Space Cadets led to an interview with the awesome UK Magazine, Don't Panic. You can read it if you want:
http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/arts/theo-ellsworth

meet the new kids

Each of these new monster kids are hanging out on the wall of Pony Club Gallery all month. They like visitors.

New life

Thank you to everyone who came out to the art opening last night. It definitely made me nostalgic to be showing work at Pony Club again. It's good to see the gallery being run by such a great group of artists. The fact that my son is going to be born any time now made it feel like an especially monumental occasion. The waiting is getting suspenseful. Our friend Aimee Swallow made a belly cast of Heather and we hung it in the window of the gallery. Aimee painted the outside and it looks amazing. I'll post a picture as soon as I can get a good photo, but until then, this is the inside, negative space that I painted myself.

The show will be up all month if anyone wants to see it. above is the Understanding Monster Mask I made.

This one is a parallel reality shock absorption mask. The idea is that if you witness a parallel reality, putting on this mask will help your brain cope with the shock, so you can enjoy yourself instead of freaking out. It's good to be prepared.

I'll post the rest of the art soon, including the large scale drawing I finished for it. Good times!