Totoro Forest Project

My piece for an upcoming benefit show called the Totoro Forest Project.
The proceeds will go to preserve a threatened slice of forest in urban Japan. The very same forest that inspired director Hayao Miyazaki to create the animated film, "Totoro". The pieces have been donated by a wide range of artists and the art will be auctioned. A book of all the works is being assembled so if you can't attend the show you can at least purchase the book and know that the proceeds will do some good.

Read all about it and browse the many amazing pieces:

http://totoroforestproject.org/

--Starchie

Carol

Another installment in the wedding gift series. The couple has a dog that's more cute and less cartooney than the one in the painting and they spent their honeymoon in Kauai. I guess you could sense a pattern in how these paintings develop.
Acrylic on board.

--Starchie

Pidgeons

It's wedding season so this week I'll post a couple of past wedding presents. This one is for a couple who honeymooned in Venice -- the real place, not the one in Vegas.
Acrylic with a little colored pencil.

--Starchie

Who Are You?

From the ancient flat file strata, character sketches from some long-forgotten development project.
Some sharp little spud might be able to guess the property.
Pencil and smudge stick on bond paper.

--Starchie

SAM & MAX

My obscure bookplate, lovingly painted and aged to perfection for the Sam & Max Surfin' the Highway Limited Edition Hardcover. The plates are signed and numbered and the book is currently shipping from Telltale Games. Also available for the budget-minded consumer of addle-brained cartoon mayhem is the soft and supple Sam & Max trade paperback. Either volume will bring hours of quiet befuddlement. Enjoy!

--Starchie

http://www.telltalegames.com/store/samandmax-highway

Photos by Jake Rodkin

A God in the World He Once Knew

Submission for the annual I AM 8-Bit show a couple of installments ago. The paintings are inspired by classic videogame imagery and Chronicle has published a book from the first year of the show. A weird style for me with chunky acrylic strokes on black board, and some white colored pencil as well. The show returns this August so I'll be pulling something together for it soon.

--Starchie

Ernie Suda and Hellboy

This was painted just for fun but then sometime later was included in a Hellboy anthology comic called Weird Tales. Acrylic on canvas. I usually paint on board but canvas sometimes makes things seem more "paintery" and less "illustratey" if you'll excuse the technical jargon.

--Starchie

Mirth

At one point I thought it might be fun to paint hideous clowns on cardboard. And by God I was right! Believe it or not this is the more charming of the few I actually did. I recently picked up the painting from storage at a gallery where it's presumably been scaring the mice away for about a year.

--Starchie

Burns

The Scottish poet Robert Burns. Sort of a caricature off of the few existing portraits I could find. My version makes him look a bit like a gangly teen. Was fun to scumble and glaze and chop in cloudy shapes. Every painting feels like it's a tiny step toward the next one.
Maybe I'll try him again someday.

--Starchie

It Felt Like This...

Would have posted sooner but recovering from either a sinus infection or someone abandoning a sick cat behind my left eye socket. I kept waiting for something unpleasant to boil out of all the holes in my aching skull. The sketch above illustrates the sensation fairly accurately.

The office auction went well. Wake 2 (the mermaid) went to a respected colleague as did Kanutu/Mugato. Of my own pieces Mr Snips was the contested one and made a good showing at the front end of the live bidding. But then pieces by Bill Presing, Ronnie DelCarmen, Nick Sung and Teddy Newton threw the attendees into a bidding frenzy as expected. The auction brought in all that we think we need for creating our space so it's only a matter of time before the cartoon thrones and Victorian animal costumes start arriving in bulk.

--Starchie

Wake 2 / Family Portrait

Two more pieces for the company auction. It's been on for an hour and the place is hopping. There are about 100 pieces. At six tonight the five or so hottest items go up for live bidding. I'll post again soon about how it turns out.

--Starchie

Mister Snips

Last minute auction submission. Quick, thin acrylic washes. The art show is hanging and Friday the pieces will be sold. I have my eye on many of my co-workers paintings. A lot of amazing work has been submitted. I got the title for this one from my 7 year old.

--Starchie

You say Kanutu, I say Mugato

A goofy little painting for an art auction to be held at the office. Proceeds from the mounting contributions will bring high backed-leather chairs, overstuffed humidors and skull-shaped grog steins to an otherwise stark work pod.
Quick and dirty acrylic and Prismacolor.

--Starchie

Uncle Blue

Was out of town and delinquent in my posting. Hunted for something to post that might reference Yosemite, where I was last week. Saw a lot of ravens on the trip, heavy, muscley looking - my favorite birds. I'd like to paint some. Here's a little dip in that pool from a ways back.

--Starchie

Eggsucker

My version of a character created by super-talented Concept/Story Artist/Monster Aficionado, Derek Thompson.

--Starchie

The Black Tree

Another black tree. Fairly small acrylic painting on a red ground.

--Starchie

More Suda

Here's another. Both characters fairly different looking than the last post. I sort of liked trying the stylized background with the stretchy stars. Everything is angles and choppy strokes. These black trees turn up in my stuff from time to time. I'm not quite done with the black trees.

--Starchie

Suda

My favorite Suda painting so far. Washy acrylic over a barely there pencil sketch. Done a couple of years ago and made its way into one of the Spectrum annuals. I like doing this character though I sometimes have trouble capturing the version I have in my head. This one is as close as I get.

--Starchie

Bud Luckey

Tribute piece for the recently retired Bud Luckey. Acrylic over Prismacolor and vice versa. If you think you haven't heard of Bud's contributions to animation, go and Google him and you'll find that you already know his work very well.

--Starchie

Ivan

A character design/illustration for an audio book called "Ivan the Not So Terrible" written by author, musician, legal mind Rich Stim. Was fun to lay textures over simplified volumes. Tried to keep a lid on the color in order to help define the character.

--Starchie