inspiration

I've been collecting pictures that I love into a slide show that plays on my computer when it goes into screen saver mode. It's nice to be able to look up from my drawing table and see images that keep me charged. It's made my computer become less of a stressful object and more of an inspiration machine. Collecting these images has made me realize just how floored I am by native ceremonial costumes from all over the world.

The Asaro River People, New Guinea.
Koskimo Dancer, North West Coast of America.
The Bapende People, Zaire

Griffin: Owl Ninja

Owl hat, hand made by Allie Tiedeman.

The Ghost Show

I have one piece in the Ghost Show that's opening at Pony Club Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
I brought my unfinished piece for the Ghost Show with me to my class at ArtFest. I discovered that a lot of students don't like having to introduce themselves at the beginning of class, but it helps me feel like I can put a name to their face, so I decided to pass my unfinished ghost around the class and have the students introduce themselves to my art instead. The fact that every one of my students has held this ghost and introduced themselves to it feels like an important part of the piece now.
I brought it home and colored it just in time to give it to the curator, Jennifer Parks, to hang in the show. It's the ghost of an Ancient Multi-Dimensional Earth Native, just in case you couldn't tell.

Imaginary School

I was really excited about how my workshop at ArtFest went this year. I had a room full of amazing students and they were a pleasure to spend the day with. In my Imaginary School, we covered such topics as Mind Technology powered Disbelief Suspension Suits, hand drawn Multi-Dimensional Doorways, and cut and paste as teleportation. They all did so well! A lot of people asked if I would be teaching this class again. I'd like to. Teesha and Tracy Moore are the ones who first encouraged me to teach and I took up the challenge as a way to get more involved in the amazing world they created with ArtFest. I haven't taught anywhere else. Now that ArtFest is ending, I'm not sure where I'd teach. They created the perfect environment and made me feel like I could put myself out there in that kind of way. I think it'd be fun to teach at their studio in Seattle, The ArtFest Annex sometime down the road. Getting to see my students drawings take shape and getting to know them all a little over the course of the workshop was truly thrilling. I wish I could've gotten better photos of everyone's projects. Here's a couple of the clearer photos I took at the closing gallery event:

Front and inside of Sylvan Bourgette's piece from my class.

Front and inside of Stephanie Arildson's piece from my class.

Off to ArtFest

The whole family is hitting the road tomorrow. We're heading to the final ArtFest up in Port Townsend, Washington. I'm teaching one all day workshop and setting up a table of my work at the vender's night. Then I'll get to spend the rest of the weekend exploring the hills and beaches, giving Griffin piggy back rides, and hanging out with everyone. There's so many people I can't wait to see up there. Teesha and Tracy Moore know how to put on amazing events, and their attitude and views on creativity are the most refreshing around. I'm sad that it'll be the final ArtFest, but I'm excited to see what they're going to do next. They're always up to something. The picture above has to do with the class I'm teaching, and it also has everything to do with my book. I'll write more about that sometime.

Sparkplug Forever!

Sparkplug Books is doing a fundraiser over at indiegogo.com to help them publish their next three books: www.indiegogo.com/sparkplugbooks I highly recommend going to the site and checking out the excellent short video they made about Dylan Williams and his vision for Sparkplug. Dylan died last September of Leukemia and his wife and friends are hoping to publish the three books that he was working on releasing as well as hopefully continuing on to publish more books in the future. Sparkplug is a publisher that's really important to me. It's done a lot to redefine what comics can be, and helped give voice to unique and unusual artists. Dylan's absence has left a huge hole in the world of art comics, but I love the idea that Sparkplug could keep publishing new books for years to come.

Reading for Sparkplug

I'm going to be reading from one of my comics at the Waypost tonight at 3120 N. Williams in Portland, Oregon as part of a fundraiser event for Sparkplug Comics, to help them to continue publishing awesome comics after the passing of our good friend and Sparkplug founder, Dylan Williams. They're raising money to print the next few books that Dylan had already planned to put out, and they're all books I've been excited about ever since Dylan first told me he wanted to publish them. Sean Christensen, Julia Gfrorer, and Aron Nels Steinke are also reading. All of them are great cartoonists and I'm looking forwards to seeing what they're going to read tonight. The event goes from 7-10pm.

facing facebook with my face

My Wife finally convinced me to get a facebook account. The above werewolf child combed his hair to celebrate. Do you want to "like" me? http://www.facebook.com/TheoEllsworth

giant comics and secret books

The Understanding Monster is the comics series I've been quietly working on for quite awhile now. If all goes well, the first installment will come out in October. Finishing it on time is my ultimate art goal this year. This book begins a story I'm hoping to tell for a long time to come. Making this comic has been the weirdest and most exciting artistic process I've experienced by far. I've been pretty secretive about it so far, but as I get closer to finishing it, I'll probably start talking about it more.

This is one small panel from a page in the book depicting some room mutation. There's a lot of room mutation going on.
This is a book of stream-of-conscious drawings and writings I made leading up to Griffin's birth. He was actually born the day after I finished the last page. Filling this book was a valuable process for me, and I feel like it mentally prepared me to become a dad. I haven't really shown it to anyone. I should probably make it into a little publication at some point, when I have time.
This is the back cover. The mummy and the library will also be seen in The Understanding Monster.

one page spread from My Thesis on Multi-Dimensional Brain Travel.

Logic Storm is another stream-of-conscious drawing book I made while trying to get my head around some of the concepts I've been working with in The Understanding Monster. It's a "Thinking" book, and making it helped me figure out a lot of things that I couldn't have figured out just by thinking. It's weird, my first instinct when I finish something like this is to put it away and not show it to anyone, but I'm also trying to make a living with my art so I can keep making art all the time. My desire to share my art with the world and my weirdo reclusive side are constantly at odds. Secret Acres offered to put this out as a pamphlet comic, and I'd like to take them up on it. I'll probably make a new cover if I do.
This is a 12 page comic I made for an upcoming End Of The World themed anthology that's going to be published in English and Spanish. I decided to fold and staple my drawing paper and work on both sides of each page so that the original became an actual book. I made a color cover, mostly just for myself, but if I can get around to it, I'd like to make it in to a little handmade mini comic as well.

Thanks for looking.

doorstep arrivals

It's been feeling like progress is slow on all the projects I've been juggling, so it's nice to suddenly get a bunch of things in the mail to remind me that I've actually been up to a lot. I just recieved the awesome publication that went with the group show I was in at 12Mail Gallery in Paris, France and it includes a big fold-out print of oe of my pieces from the show.

I also just got a nice stack of Space Cadets stickers in the mail. I'm planning on including them with orders from my Etsy shop until they're gone.
The newest release from Space Cadets just arrived as well. ASC TMA-1!

I captured a well dressed bat spirit just long enough to take this picture before he escaped.

Oak,Escapist

I've been on a drawing spree for Space Cadets lately. This is the next release for Oak I just finished. It was fun drawing an escape artist in space. I was especially in the mood to draw this one because I've been reading an early seventies Jack Kirby comic called Mister Miracle, about a costumed escape artist from another world and his midget assistant. Amazing stuff. Also, I've decided that I really love drawing asteroids.

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.