I got interviewed over at Chirply.com – it’s a big ol’ mess, but at least you can buy the cool card & notebook of mine that they printed!
Link to buy Greeting Card.
Link to buy notebook.
“I used to, but macaroni kept proving archivally inferior to digital mediums, and peeling Elmer’s off your fingers gets old eventually. I mean, it’s no good having a bunch of glue flakes stuck to your hands when you’re trying to seduce a woman, I’ll tell you that much.”
Well, I mean I guess my name is IN it. I don’t know if that counts… I don’t think I can say that I’m in a book if the mere presence of my name is my only contribution between the covers. Y’all would probably call righteous shenanigans on the “IN-ness” of “me” regarding said “book.”
If I had a buddy who had, by virtue of his first and last names appearing in the correct sequence somewhere, even once professed to be in a book, well, I would wait till he was talking to a pretty girl at the bar and then butt in and say, “Hey, did he tell you that he’s in a book? You should have him tell you about that book that he’s in,” and then watch him crash and burn.
Because I am eeeeevil. Or something.
Anyway, regardless of the highly dubious nature of my bookish inclusion, I am most certainly irrefutably incontrovertibly unmistakably ON a galldang book. Front cover, front and center. Of course, by “me” I mean “something I drew,” which is probably better looking than me anyway. So that settles that.
The book in question, I must admit, probably stretches the accepted standard definition a bit, at least in terms of any literary expectations you might have, but I’m happy about it anyway. It is, of course, the Threadless Book. Yes, that Threadless. Yes, the website. Yes, the website that sells t-shirts. Sometimes my t-shirts. Yes, they wrote a book about it. Why? Because they are turning ten years old and they figured it would be a neat thing to do. Yes, this is the book I’ve been excitedly rambling on about for the past several stolen moments of your life.
So! Would you like to see it? I thought so!
(my drawing is the three-eyed sea-tiger dude above the big yellow dot)
Below is Threadless founder Jake Nickell posing with a giant Threadless Book cover.
And, finally, here is the full illustration of my Sea Tiger monster dude.
The end!
At long last, rough cuts have been released of the previously blogged homegrown horror movie, Blood Kin, in which I star appear briefly with a bag over my head and dominate attempt to not ruin the scene. If you’d like to witness my fleeting tussle with the protagonists simply jump to 6:30 in the 2nd cut, then sit back and prepare yourself for some first class projectile vomiting (just before my character is ultimately vanquished by a shovel—I mean hey, it was 2 on 1…Poor odds for anyone, zombies included).
As I said the first time I blogged about this, Blood Kin was written and directed by my friend Matt, who also costarred with friend and producer Anna K. Jonsson. The editing has largely been a solo endeavor by Matt these past few months and I’m sure he would appreciate any constructive feedback on these initial rough cuts, so feel free to stop by his blog and let him know what you think.
I antagonize with the best of ’em 🙂
To kick things back off, and in the spirit of Halloween, I thought I might post a photo. It was actually taken during the summer, but that should not detract from its very ghoulish theme, which, as it so happens, is… well, ghouls…
You see, one day, Matthew Gelzer woke up and thought, “Gee, I think I’d like to make a gory horror movie… Wouldn’t that be neat?” Other, equally jovial voices in Matt’s head agreed, as did starlet and producer, U-M film school grad Anna K. Jonsson. What happened next is called Blood Kin: Terror is Thicker than Water, which was written and directed by Gelzer, who also starred and is currently laboring away in post production. At some point I got a call asking if I could come out to the set for an evening and play one of the ghostly ghoul type things that serve –shockingly enough– as the undead antagonists. Despite a whopping hangover, I said I would be delighted. Little did I know that playing the part of a gurgling, grunting, violent zombo-ghoul would involve wearing a burlap sack over my head, being doused in a gallon of fake blood (principle constituents include corn syrup and non-dairy creamer…) and having dirt ground into my slimy red skin while I stumble around shambled and barefoot in the woods outside Hillsdale…
To be sure, clean up was hell, but filming was actually a blast. Mine was a fight scene. I got to hit people, make supernaturally yucky noises, and projectile-vomit ectoplasm all while choking the shit out of the director. Below is the photo, post-burlap headgear and well after my glistening dermis had begun to set and congeal into a dull and outrageously sticky mess.
Another still from the set:
Local readers may have heard tell –perhaps through annarbor.com or markmaynard.com, though not The Ypsilanti Citizen, bizarrely enough– of a new artist-related endeavor in Ypsi called SPUR Studios, which is “a collection of private work spaces for artists, musicians, and other creative people” made possible by Ypsilanti institution (Ynstitution™) and screen-printing extraordinaire, VGKids. The goal of the studios is to become a sort of creative nexus for the area while offering exceptionally affordable and highly customizable studios. And by exceptionally affordable I mean close to $1/square foot per month. And by highly customizable I mean that SPUR actively encourages renters to take considerable liberties in modifying their spaces. Carpet, drywall, and even windows are safe from neither whim nor lease agreement. I’ve already witnessed the installation of a hardwood floor in a 10’x12′ unit upstairs, which contrasted nicely with one of the larger basement areas that in a couple short weeks has transformed itself from a white carpeted room with 5 large windows to a boarded up dungeon with black and red insides. Says Steve Emschwiller, one of the building managers, “We are trying to make a great place for artists by providing them with a building they can make into their own, drawing inspiration from that, and [from] each other’s ideas … We want the building to come together by each tenant’s own personality.”
Not surprisingly, I found the whole thing irresistible and signed up for one of the smaller spaces (SPUR 27) at the first given opportunity. For a hundred dollars a month I get 24-7 access to a 9’x9′ studio and the opportunity to immerse myself a little further in the Ypsilanti creative community. SPUR 27 is located on the upper floor, which has been designated for use by visual artists. Bands dominate the basement level, though I haven’t really heard much from them yet, and the only guy I know that’s well on his way to being set up down there is actually in leather work (Marty Flint, he of the aforementioned blacked-out dungeon). I don’t have any such grandiose plans for little old #27, although eventually I’d like to get it set up such that I can tinker and build things and paint and perhaps house a modest assortment of tools and materials and whatnot. Below is the view in and the view back out, as documented at the open house last month before signing.
Frankly, it doesn’t look a whole lot different right now. It harbors a very large and functional (and holy crap, heavy) corner desk and a book shelf and not much else, though it’s certainly enough for me to use to work on drawing, writing, and anything computer-based. Anyway, I look forward to posting a follow up once the thing is fully fleshed out and operational, along with pics of other folks’ spaces to illustrate how comparatively unambitious I am in my accomodations.
I’m pretty pumped about this post. I thought it could stand an aural accessory. Enjoy the Smooshiness.
Anyway, back to the action, which –in this case– is a living room wall… An action packed living room wall, complete with a painting –honest-to-goodness painting— of my very own Quack Attack. The wall belongs to Denmark’s* Jesper C L, of Ivy League Design, who says he “…pulled out the majority of my hair from not being able to find some decent decorations for my livingroom wall.”
First off, in a similar vein to the tattoos people have been getting lately, I’m naturally flattered that someone likes my illustrations enough to want to look at them every day. Secondly, I’m super impressed with the execution here. I very much doubt I could paint that thing on a wall as well as Jesper has, and I drew the damn thing. So hats off you you, sir! You made my day.
* Or at least that’s what the Danish “.dk” domain tag in his URL would lead me to conclude, although “Ivy League Design” does suggests a potential American connection. I dunno.
For anyone not in the loop, there is a place called “Up North” in Michigan. There is probably a place called Up North in other states as well, but I have a difficult time imagining that it has earned quite the Proper Noun Status as Up North, Michigan. It’s something of an institution in the nomenclature here. That being said, if you’d like to know exactly where Up North is, don’t ask, because nobody knows. Or rather, everyone knows but no one agrees. Like pornography, they know it when they see it. Everyone would agree that Traverse City is Up North. Well, everyone from the lower peninsula anyway. But ask a fellow if Ludington falls within the fabled confines and you’ll draw mixed remarks.
If you go far enough back in history there was a time when anything north of Detroit was considered Up North, with US-12 the acting boundary between civilization and wild frontier (Bear in mind, there is an average of only about 25 miles of real estate between US-12 and the Ohio/Indiana border). Nowadays, I’d say a safer analog would be M-10, but I still might prefer an even more selective designation (I used to say, “Wherever the black bears aren’t,” but apparently that is far less discriminatory than I was able to appreciate). All of this is, of course, just a very roundabout way of telling you that I went Up North last week (Frankfort, if you are interested) and that I saw an opportunity for a mini rant regarding perhaps the most general of Michigan’s many mythic regionalities.
As is fitting of a late evening journey Up North –mysterious place as it has been above described– my compatriot and I encountered some curious –if not epic– doom-type meteorological events at the outset of our trip, not far north of Ann Arbor. It was documented on an iphone and later cut and assembled into the video embedded below. This was all accomplished by my friend, Anna K Jonsson (one-time Up North native), whose brilliant choice in listenables may have taken some of the DOOM out of the experience, but none of the beauty. I just wish an iphone had the same color capture capabilities as a peice of professional HD hardware, because damn, there were colors. In any case, I’m quite taken with the vid, and not just because I’m in it. 🙂
You may remember a post from a while back about my acceptance to the 7th installment of the Shadow Art Fair, in which I probably promised updates regarding product lineups and other such improbable silliness. Well, tSAF came and went. As might be assumed from a tagline like “1 day. 40 artists. 9,000 gallons of beer” it was loads of fun, as always. I displayed a few new shirts and a few new posters and made a few new dollars, not to mention a few new friends.
Folks proved excitable when confronted with the Ypsi-Ynvaders poster of our infamous water tower (above) and the Scyptsy shirt (below)
But one of the best things to come out of this summer’s Shadow Art fair was this wicked sweet video by Mike Ambs. Make sure to keep an eye out for me and Heather (0:49), the Hide-a-Turtle (1:23) and the Ynvaders poster (3:08):
1 day. 40 artists. 9,000 gallons of beer. from mike ambs ☂ on Vimeo.
(I apologize if this thing isn’t embedding properly. WordPress seems to hate Vimeo, which is a shame. But seriously, you really should follow the link to the vimeo page because this is a truly charming little recap of a great event!)
I received an email the other day from a fellow named Andy Pitts. He was writing to inform me that he had made a cake based on my Sweet Tooth design for the bizarrely delightful Threadcakes competition.
He then provided me a link to the gallery. Having no idea what awaited me on the other side of that innocent looking hypertext, I gave it a click.
Hyperbole be damned, as soon as the page finished loading there was faint Pfftt! sound somewhere between my eyeballs, followed by a few wisps of acrid smoke from my ears. My mind had been blown.
Now look here, and behold the most diabolical pastry known to mankind:
Here’s what Andy has to say for himself:
“I’ve always been a fan of thunderpeel aka Brian Walline’s tee designs – so I picked one of my favorites and tried to do it justice in cake form! I wanted to make this guy as sugary as possible using a variety of sweets, Chocolate cake, confetti cake, peanut butter rice crispys treats, tic tacks, skittles, caramels, gummi bears, tons of fondant, butter cream frosting and a wisp of blue cotton candy smoke on the volcano.”
Thank you Andy! I am flattered by your cake design, awed by your cake skillz, and now, inexplicably… hungry? 🙂
Just got back from my west coast road trip. It was super long and super fun:
It was my second longest road trip, though perhaps most intense. The longest by mileage was back in ’04:
I just got an email from someone informing me that they loved my Are You My Lobster? design so much that they decided to have it permenantly emblazoned on their leg! Which, y’know, is super flattering and stuff. I guess she calls her husband her “lobster” and when she found out the shirt wasn’t available he offered to get her the tat. She claims that it’s her favorite 🙂
This is actually the second t-shirt design of mine (that I know of) to be appropriated for ink-immortalization. Last summer a friend of mine converted Terrible Lizards into a sweet tattoo on her side. She’s out of town right now, but when she gets back I’ll see if I can get a photo of it on here. Till then, here is the design:
Thought I would post a couple fun lil diddies from the whole “Flickr-Pedia Debut Album Art” meme that burst on the scene a while back. They’re just so fun to make!
CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:
1 – Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations”
or click www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
Awesome Thing (Transformers) + Nearly Awesome Thing (NBA playoffs) = The Key to My Heart on a Work-filled Wednesday Afternoon
Time lapse video of night sky as it passes over the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas. The galactic core of Milky Way is brightly displayed. Images taken with 15mm fisheye lens.
I have three things to say about this dry-erase poster type thing by Jenna Kaminsky:
1.) I want one.
2.) It would be oodles of fun for a least a few weeks.
3.) I thought it was cool enough that I should share it.
So I was going through my bookcase looking for where I stashed that Faesthetic Mag I brought home from Chicago this week (so that I could poorly photograph it for posterity) when I stumbled across a relic of my past… A relic that I also chose to poorly photograph for posterity, considering I’m not sure if I have any digital copies of it anywhere. Seems unlikely though. I’ll have to check up on that.
Anyway, what I found was a comic I made in undergrad that was published in the collected works of Phoebe Gloeckner’s first ever U of M comics class. Short story is that everyone made at least two comics in that class, and that at least one of them was then published in a book called Empty Pockets. Y’know, so that we had something to take home and show mom and dad. It was all very charming. Most of the stories had at least one penis in them…
Yeeeaaaah, anyway, here are a couple tantalizing glimpses of WTF, by Brian Walline. lol
At its core, WTF is about a deadbeat boyfriend crawling out from beneath his deadbeat girlfriend… Inspired, no? Sadly, the last page was not printed, which makes the whole reading experience a smidge more crappy than it might otherwise have been. If I ever find the digital copy I may post it here in its entirety. Wouldn’t THAT be special. There’s also another comic floating around out there of a woman who adopts a lizard monster in a bunny suit, only to have it murder her cats while she’s in the shower… Don’t hold your breath for that gem to surface on here any time soon 🙂
So last week I blogged about my mysterious Google Analytics splyglass findings. Further investigation led me to North Broadway in Chicago where the Threadless retail shop was peddling shiny new copies of Faesthetic #11: Ghost Stories. A brief scanning confirmed it, Sea Ghost is in Faesthetic. Case closed. Epic win.
In my excitement I managed to inform the store employees that I was included in their mag, but hadn’t known it ’till I held the little beast in my own two hands. They took pity on me and gave me a copy. Of course, they were giving anybody who wanted one a free copy with any purchase, but that is neither here nor there. The point is that I was important enough to be included a wicked sweet magazine… Just maybe not important enough to be notified of it. Bah, who cares. Mission Accomplished!
Here are the obligatory visual aids:
My promo photography skillz have been measured, and have apparently been found wanting…
Jimmy Fallon used my city in his Local News segment for Late Night or whatever it’s called these days. Coulda been worse, though it certainly could have been more funny as well. I get the feeling that’s the opinion of his show in general.
Of course, the FIRST time Ypsi got Fallon’d was last summer when he was here with Drew Barrymore for the roller derby movie she was filming around here. Michigan’s new Hollywood tax breaks have created some interesting times in the past year or so. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti have been host to several large projects, the most recent being a Hillary Swank / Sam Rockwell / Minnie Driver film called Betty Ann Waters, which closed down my favorite bar for 2 or 3 days a little while back. I’m sorry, but around here that sort of thing is just plain weird.
The Glitter Text Generator may very well be the most magnificant addition to the internet in recent memory.
Now go forth and bedazzle the cyberspaces as is your heathen want.
Courtesy of FloweR MooN
W i l l y W a l l y --- Art & Design blog of Brian William Walline 