adahn

I went walking around Back Bay and Fenway today picking up art supplies and a much needed backpack. While on Newbury street, I saw a young fellow painting blocks of wood and selling them. I had to scoop a pair of them up as they were too incredible to pass up. I asked for his info, which he scribbled down on a scrap of paper. Turns out he and his twin brother are west coasters attending MassArt! Check out their work they are awesome!!1!

I love the pair I got above because they are like little painting sculptures. There were some larger works that were drop dead gorgeous, but I stayed within my means :). Adahn's line work is smooth and the lines flow perfectly across the rough wood grain. How lucky to stumble on some excellent art today!

I snapped photos some new street art as well. There's a girl going around knitting cosies for all sorts of outdoor things.


I love warm weather...

outhouse

sounds like: "The Sprawl II" Arcade Fire

Brian Osserman of the Outhouse podcast (and old art school friend) included me in their 50th episode amongst his coverage of Anime Boston 2011. You can view the article and hear the podcast (ZR coverage starts at 26:00) here.

ink

ink in the sink

KWELI!

sounds like: "Self Savior" Talib Kweli

I went to the Talib Kweli show at the Paradise the other night. He played a full two hour set and brought out special guests Jean Grae and Res. The setlist was comprised of selections from his entire career: Reflection Eternal, Black Star, Solo and some verses from other songs he guested on. In addition, he did covers of "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles and "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone (Res took over the mic to promote her new Fleetwood Mac cover EP with a nice rendition of "Dreams"). It's been a while since I danced so hard at a show.

Prior to the show, I hung out at the Sunset Grill, waiting for Blake to come (he was across town at Newbury Comics getting his copy of Gutter Rainbows signed by Talib himself). I bought a multi-color pen from E.L.T. and drew all over the back of my digital ticket while downing blueberry beers.

Over all... one of the best show nights ever..!

AB'11

I just concluded my third year in the Artist Alley at Anime Boston and I am whiped out. I drew around 50 portraits this past weekend and now my southpaw is as tender as a new born child, but as always it was well worth it and totally a blast. It was very satisfying to hear that getting a portrait drawn from me is turning into a many con-goers tradition and it was great to see lots of familiar faces and friends!

In addition to drawing up a small cyclone and getting my nerd on hardcore, I scored this sweet oil painting of Godzilla from Matt Matt who also drew a nice portrait of me (which I will be scanning later). In return I'll be drawing up a storm of commissions for him, but got the ball rolling with a demonic Matt portrait!

Thanks to all who stopped by and got portraits done (and special thanks to Calvin Falk and his friends and family for commissioning the most portraits from me this year - "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY") and extra thanks to friends Kelsey Rae and CT for lending me some of their table- without them I would have missed out on the Artist Alley this year (thanks to relocating to Boston and AA sign ups a whole three months early). I can't wait for next year! I have a lot more conventions coming up for this season- next up is the Maine Comic Arts Festival in Portland! See you there!



See the rest of this years and all other past portraits in my facebook gallery and don't forget to tag yourself!

dinks.2

dinks

sounds like: "I Only Said" My Bloody Valentine

AB'11

sounds like: "Short Bursts" We Were Promised Jet Packs

Here is another ring design! I will be selling this ring and a lot of new jewelry designs at Anime Boston this weekend. I will be sitting at friends Kelso and CT's artist alley table (ROW N BOOTH 29CD) so stop by, say 'hi' and get your portrait drawn!

comfort

ring.1

sounds like: "Harmour Love" Syreeta

new ring design... aeSOP.

starfishing

hair

sounds like: "66db" YUKI

She's coming along. I need to draw more, other tasks have been holding my attention lately... namely designing rings and other things. OoooOOOooo.

were-love

I found this feedback for my Werism print particularly endearing:
Love it! Great quality print. My 6 year old daughter wants to turn her room into werewolf den and this print is our inspiration.

cloudy

hair

sounds like: "Paper Moon" Mean Machine

New work in progress... Huzzah!

2011 conventions

I'm working on quite a nice tour of conventions this year. I just confirmed a sweet 12 foot space at Anime Next for June, will be in Portland twice and have atleast nice foot of table space for Anime Boston at Kelso's table. It's going to be a good year...

Above is me back in 2001 at Mikkakan, my very first convention. My mum helped me sew my San costume and I vanned down with a small pack of nerd friends. It was a teeny convention, but it was great! I've been around to see a lot of small conventions take off in the past 10 years, including having attended the first years of Anime Boston and Connecticon... I'm an old Otaku now. The American Anime scene has changed a lot since the days of buying $30.00 dubbed VHS of Grave of the Fireflies and Ninja Scroll, making 3rd generation fansubs of the Sailor Moon movies and collecting what precious few anime-artifacts one could find at Hot Topic. I still long for the days of good ol' 80's and 90's anime and I get giddy when I see a Ryoga coslayer, but I'm happy to be apart of the Otaku scene and influence the new generation of Aninerds directly!