I think I imagined this thing as rather carnivorous, despite it’s rainbowy demeanor. Probably shoots lasers. (Much more neon IRL!)
Cut paper & gouache.
Orbiting Planets
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NSFWF: Bearskin Rug
Hey guise!
It’s FUCKING NOT SAFE FOR WORK FRIDAY!
And guess what? I got all up in the non-denominational holiday winter spirit jam with some retro-inspired hottie-hotness on a motherfuckin’ bearskin rug. (Or a vegan rug, if that’s your pleasure.) That’s right. A plush rug, with a fireplace. And satin. And smooth jazz and shit. (This is brush pens & gouache on cold pressed watercolor paper, by the way)
Also guess what? I’m so excited about my upcoming vacation that I can’t even be bothered to turn down my sailor mouth. (Don’t worry, my mom reads this and she said it’s cool.)
Anyway, I’m off to the West Coast to spend two weeks adventuring with some of my favorite people in San Francisco & Portland (ish). That also means, for the next 2 weeks, I’ll be an absentee blog-momma and not posting. I will miss all of my lurkers very, very much. Let it be known that I imagine you all as very cute.
And I hope that all of you have a FUCKING AWESOME New Year. I’ll be ringing it in by seeing Amon Tobin‘s ISAM show in SF (ISAM for the 2nd time, and I think 5 or 6th time I’ve seen him live). Psyched.
It’s been a good, difficult, delightfully chaotic year, for me: my first trip abroad, to Mexico, my first Burning Man (can we make a children’s book of that?), moving apartments, reignited a high-school crush, traveled to Hand in Glove Conference in Chicago, traveled to Philly, got a gym membership and got my peace of mind… and…so much serendipity.
A lot of people came and went from my life, mostly for the better. It gave me the space to really tighten the bonds that mattered to me, clear out a hell of a lot of negativity and bring motivated, creative, and sincere people into my space.
I’m feeling like I’m in the middle of a cosmic level-up, you know?
And this year, I’ve been getting my digital feelers out and connecting with some cool people, so I’d like to thank you, dear reader, for being you and for checking out my work. Because it really does mean a lot to me that you like the silly doodles I do, and read the tangents that I go on. And that you are having this conversation with me.
So thank you, to all of you.
To the past and the future and the present, all of you.
Stay gold, yo.
We’re gonna kill it, in 2012.
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NSFWF: Take It All Off
Another image inspired by a few photos I found the other week – exploring the style further.
One day, one day, I will be able to find a way of working and stick with it, right?
Nahhhh. I like to stay on my toes.
Happy Friday, hot stuff.
PS. Man, am I excited for you to see what I have up my sleeve. Next year!
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NSFWF: Take It Off
Hello, hello!
Today is a triumphant Friday. I’m happy to report back to you that Rubulad’s Kickstarter that I wrote about earlier in the week was a smashing success, hitting their goal with one hour to go! Talk about nerve-wracking.
It was so incredible to see everyone chip in: we commented, posted, blogged and blasted about a place that is very near and dear to many a New Yorker’s heart, and it makes me proud to be a part of a community that takes care of it’s own. It gives me a lot of faith that the creative spirit will never be crushed, here, as long as we have our wild and weird art family to come home to. It felt like a such a exuberant celebration, to see that counter soar over the $35,000 mark. And Rubulad was one of the top-ten biggest Kickstarter art projects to date. So, thank you, thank you, thank you everyone.
In other news, here’s a cute girl wearing little clothing. 
I hope you have a killer fucking Friday. I will be celebrating my city, this weekend, and the incredibly supportive and amazing community that I am a part of. I hope you’ll be celebrating, too.
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Save Rubulad!
Flickr: CautionMike
Once upon a time, in a Brooklyn neighborhood far, far away (off the G train), there was house made of glitter and grit, filled with some of the most fucking awesome people you shall ever hope to meet.
This place was called Rubulad; a name that, as legend has it, was derived from the original phone number of the very first Williamsburg space.
My first encounter with Rubulad was 6 years ago, as a freshly-transplanted art school student. A fellow classmate described to me the party in an thrilled whisper: “it’s this insane hippie commune in the middle of nowhere with absinthe and everyone is in costume”. My curiosity was piqued.
Flickr: Lopi LaRoe
What the hell is a Rubulad?
The Rubulad I knew was a massive three-story building tucked between the Bed-Stuy and Fort Greene neighborhoods in Brooklyn. For one night of each month, Rubulad was also the name of the party there. On its off-hours, it was home to a ever-rotating cast of sculptors, DJs, painters, filmmakers, and all of the above. It also host to a bi-weekly community dinner party called Grub (much of which was vegetarian and Freegan).
I can’t count how many times I’ve been, and how many friends (and lovers) I’ve met there over the years. The walls, ceilings of Rubulad are covered with the strata of parties past, layers upon layers of decorations that were left up from each event. It became a game to point out and recall each theme still standing. Aeroplanes, laundry, evolution, dinosaurs, androgyny.
Flickr: dogseat
The parties often went on until the early morning and were founded on a shared reverie – that everyone was welcome to come in (once they paid the cover, of course) and welcome to be yourself. The crowd was an incredible mix of people: hedge fund investors, hippies, Hasids, international couchsurfers, crusty punks, ravers, Burners, the occasional celebrity, and of course, your obligatory nudist.
It was our shared space, a safe space where you could never be too weird or too wild. It always felt like an incredible laboratory of inspiration and incubation, a place for us to play.
If you’d like to read more about the history of Rubulad, Nonsense NYC has a great interview, here.
But the city had other ideas…
Unfortunately, in the Summer of 2010, Rubulad was issued a 24-hour eviction notice by the Department of Buildings, citing fire code violations. The residents of Rubulad frantically texted and called friends and family to help attempt to clear the massive building out in mere hours; an order which turned out to be a false alarm. (You can read more about the eviction here)
Regardless, the space was under attack from the city, as many artist’s lofts currently are, and the Brooklyn arts community has definitely felt a blow from losing this incredible space. It’s time for them to move on to their next stage!
Flickr: bluecinema
48 Hours: The Future of Rubulad
If you’re reading this, I bet you’re a lot like me. Art and creative expression is an important part of your daily life and you believe in the power of a creative community to make the world a better place.
Rubulad needs the funds to build a new home, and they’re only 48 hours away from their Kickstarter deadline. And they need your help.
So, I’m going to ask you this:
Can you donate a few dollars to help save a New York City institution from extinction? Even $5 will help! And there are great rewards to be had, for your generosity. Please help to keep the creative underground alive and fighting! Rubulad’s Kickstarter is here: http://kck.st/vky0wS
Even if you don’t live in NYC, I can’t help but wonder how the ripples of this incubator might have had an effect on your own creative community. It’s that powerful.
Flickr: robhazel
And, I leave you with this quote:
“Rubulad stands for no-holds-barred creative freedom to carve our own space in a frequently limiting city. Their resilience, fierce independence, radical inclusivity, commitment to the arts, whimsical creativity, and welcoming attitude have been continually inspiring to me in my ten years of creating nightlife events. Rubulad is what people have in mind when they picture wildly creative underground nightlife in NYC, a happening emblematic of the city whose real-life existence is actually endangered.” – Miss Scorpio, geminiandscorpio.com
Flickr: bluecinema
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Not Safe for Work Friday: Repose
It’s Friday! Fuck yeah!
And you know what that means. (Or you don’t, in which case, you should.)
Here’s this week’s Not Safe for Work Friday!
Playing around with the traditional vs. Photoshop technique – I almost painted this one in gouache, but I was really feeling the texture of the watercolor paper and the heavy conté crayon, so I went with it.
Hope your weekend’s off to a fucking awesome start!
Sorry it’s been so quiet around these parts, been working hard on a new layout for the site and some general refreshing and rebranding. You know what that means … finally getting business cards! (And more stickers, of course.)
NSFW Friday – Tied Up
Oh, hey there! Looks like it’s that time of the week, again!
Another Friday has crept up on me, and this week, I’ve got another pencil & Photoshop piece for you, inspired by the Coco de Mer catalogue. Feminine but not frou-frou, slightly fetishy and super-sleek lingerie?
Yes, please. Pretty please.
It’s a bit of a reimagining from the other week’s NSFW, but I wanted to make it slightly edgier and a little more polished in terms of the coloring and linework. Which do you like better?
And tell me, what are your devious plans for this weekend?
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Evening Snack: Playing with GIFs
O HAI!
Inspired by some of the GIFs I’ve seen floating around Tumblr, lately, thought I’d try my hand at animating a little dude I like to doodle. Might do more of these, they’re pretty simple and fun! (In the meantime, I put off learning AfterEffects and actually learning how to do Motion Graphics…more hours in the day, plz?)
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NSFWF: Ties & Tattoos
This week, we’re up to something different, over here at the LJHQ: DUDES! (I know, I know. But I need to practice, yo.)
As of late, perhaps due to a growing frustration with the current trends in shapeless women’s clothing, I’ve had a serious affinity for menswear and really beautifully tailored looks. Specifically, with a bit of style and looseness, which I think is key to looking modern in a tie and button-down shirt, because it keeps you from looking too much like an investment banker (which, these days, is pretty frowned upon). Also, hello, body modifications + kind of retro-influenced clothing is quite sexy. I like looks that subvert traditional fashion tropes, in a subtle way . As long as it’s not an alt-model in a schoolgirl outfit, because YAWN, that’s tired.
And while we’re off discussing extracurricular inspiration, I highly suggest you go wander by:
- tiesandtattoos.tumblr.com. To sate my curiosity and hone my eye, I’ve been keeping a Tumblr featuring plenty of tattoos and ties and general fashion-y eye-candy for the past week or so, which has been poppin’ off! You should take a look, because I know you have good taste, and I know you have a secret Tumblr you don’t tell anyone about, right? Right.
- Save-Janos.net, which is the sketchblog of a former classmate of mine, Roxie (who works for Rockstar Games, PS.) She is way better at drawing dudes at I am, and also has an affinity for astronauts, which I know you love too. So, go take a look.
- Hedi Slimane’s photo diary (for the un-initiated, Slimane is the designer for Dior Homme). His black and white photographs are deliriously beautiful, eerie, sexy, and full of rock and roll glamour. His recent shoot with Frances Bean Cobain is absolutely fucking stunning. I’m really inspired by his portraiture work right now, which is just a little fashion and a lot of evocative emotion and sensuality.
So, that’s what’s whirring in my brain this week, along with a lot of other incredible projects and amazing circumstances going on my my life right now. Things are good, and very inspiring.
Love & Libations,
LJ
NSFWF: Shoot to Kill
It’s NOT SAFE FOR WORK FRIDAY! My favorite holiday (okay, okay, maybe after Free Ice Cream Day, amirite?)
This week’s illustration is hand-inked with the color added in Photoshop. Girls with ray guns? Can’t fail. Tentacles would be a close second.
In other news, you, dear reader, are beautiful and awesome. Thanks for keeping it not safe for work and I hope your weekend is appropriately indecent.
I can’t wait to tell you about all the crazy secret projects I am working on! But, all in time.