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.

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