This is the Day

Hard to believe this song came out in 1984. I was a wee lad at CCS discovering this new "alternative music". "This is the Day" by The The stands out as one of those songs of that era. It was off of the "Soul Mining" album (vinyl!). Up until just a few years ago I had never seen the video until Youtube. Looking back at it now- the special effects were laughable. But back then MTV was still in its infancy, cable TV wasn't widely distributed, the lead singer Matt Johnson had a full head of hair, and things were so much simpler or at least it seemed like it for those of us.

Now years later, people get a chance to hear this song once more on the M&M commercials.

Mignola/ Corben Hellboy

Being a huge Mike Mignola fan, his latest saga with the Hellboy series has really piqued my interest when Dark Horse signed on artist extraordinaire, Richard Corben to draw it.

I've been a fan of Corben's since his early Heavy Metal (the magazine, not the music genre) days. His handling of Mignola's most famous red hued big man is going to be a treat for the next few issues.

Jay Shuster & his beard

Fellow speed demon with the marker & Pixar impresario, Jay Shuster has been growing out his facial fuzz over the last few months. Beyond scaring small children & people with heart ailments, he's also become the inspiration of a handful of drawings I've done since coming back from California.

For Jay's comments on this libel, you can check out his vision and feeble comments on his blog.

Medium Well

By the good graces of CCS' Career Services and Marketing & PR departments, last semester Don Kilpatrick, Stephen Schudlich and I were given the task to come up with a book touting some of our department's finer works. This book so eloquently named Medium Well by Stephen is that compilation. It includes some of our stellar junior & senior work within the department. It made its debut at the San Diego Comic Con and was shown to several of our more prominent LA alumni as well.

San Diego Comic Con 2008

Ryan Gitter, Stormtrooper Elvis & comic book cover artist extraordinaire, Adam Hughes


Famed painter, illustrator and all around great guy Greg Spalenka with Kassandra Heller & Chris Houghton


Rachael Olek, Sherrie Savage & Christina Harper on Preview Night


Dave Boyle & Lori Watson at the CCS booth


Ryan Gitter, Lauren Moyer, Chris Antoin, Dave Swartz & Lance Red


Scott Daly, Wes Eggebrecht & Matt Byle


Angie Lai, Mike Roll & Scott Bogoniewski


Wes Eggebrecht, Scott Daly, Matt Byle, Mike Roll & Jay Shuster

It's hard to believe it's been over a week since I got back from the San Diego Comic Convention. This year has been exceptionally good for the simple reason that we had over 50+ students, recent alums, and older alums attending on their own dime. Many of my current students and the recent alums attending for the very first time got a chance to sit in on panel discussions, attend seminars, meet their heroes, have their portfolios reviewed, and buy cool swag. On Saturday we had an alumni get together at the Rock Bottom Brewery which was attended by plenty more CCS folks & guests.

In so many ways it was sensory overload, a marathon of the senses, and a great time to be had by all. And as grueling as this event is to do every year, I'm buoyed by my students' raw enthusiasm and excitement at this event. I think it's a great way to introducing them to the business, their possibilities, their peers, and a chance to see where they fit into it all.

Like Steven Guarnaccia, the chairperson of Parsons Illustration program so eloquently said of the Comic Con- "it's the future of Illustration". After seeing my students do so well promoting not only themselves, but the school- I'm so inclined to agree.