Sunday, June 29, 2008

Tård is not to be.. BUT:

Tård won't be moving to my place.

What happened, I can hear you say, and here's what happened:

A co-worker offered to go and pick Tård up from Borlänge (it's about a two hour drive from Stockholm). I was over the moon. And then, that same night as he'd offered to pick Tård up, I stumbled on this ad - all by accident.

It read:

Kif and Taylor are looking for a home where they can be kings of the house. K and T are a couple of 2 year old brothers who love sleeping under your duvet, sit on your shoulder and help you read the paper.

Well, I just knew they were meant for me. I KNEW it. So the very following day I went to visit. Their owner is wonderful - we clicked instantly. I met the breeder also (who wanted to make sure I could offer a good home for the cool brothers), and she was lovely.

Kif (named after a cartoon in Futurama) was a bit reserved towards me, but very curious and had the best pot belly I'd ever seen! Tylor (named after one of the fighters in the movie Fight Club) is a handsome, uncomplicated purring machine. They even let me cut their claws after meeting me for 15 minutes.

Kif and Tylor will hopefully be moving in within the next couple of weeks.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Cue Jazzy Theme Music (Part 2 of 4)

So I rambled on about the Jonny Quest theme music in my previous post, when I should have simply linked a clip of the opening credits (incidentally, the composer, Hoyt Curtin, was also responsible for a few other notable jazzy Hanna Barbera theme songs, such as Top Cat, and The Jetsons):



And for today's illustration, here's Hadji, Jonny Quest's best friend, adopted brother, and partner in crime.


When I drew this originally, Hadji was supposed to be levitating in a display of his trademark mystical powers. I guess that isn't really apparent with no background as context.

._.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

fantastic, faraway friends

Last night I spoke to one of my very best friends on the phone. I haven't seen her for nearly a year. Now she's 5 months pregnant and I haven't even seen her bump...

Today another wonderful friend of mine added me on Facebook. Whilst chatting it was like we saw eachother last week, but we haven't seen eachother for over 7 years!

In March I went to Morrocco with yet another dear, dear friend. We met up at Heathrow and established the fact that we hadn't seen eachother for over two years.

It's hard having your best friends spread around the world. I miss you all dearly!

And it's not that I am lonely. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by beautiful, funloving, caring people here in Stockholm too. (well, at first I wasn't... My first year back in this country I was surrounded by a bunch of fuckwits that made me want to kill myself! Thankfully I managed to shake them off eventually.)

But I miss you guys who knows what I used to be like. Who knows my background and who knows my past romances and heartaches, ups and downs. I miss you alot.

And yesterday I heard a rumour - some of you appearantly pop in to this site and read my blog. Please leave a little comment if you feel like it. Because I miss and love you dearly. I really really do.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Quentin Painting for my Book!



This week I will be at the Wizard World comic convention in Chicago, selling and signing books. If you're there stop by and say hello! I will be at booths 3300, 3302, 3304, hanging out with my Imaginism family!

This Quentin is one of my new paintings done for my book.




One of the special things about this book is that I have invited many friends of mine who's work I greatly admire to also be a part of the book. So I would like to thank my Guest artists for their amazing contributions to my book.

Roberto Parada, Drew Friedman, Joe Bluhm, Ismael Roldan, Wouter Tulp, Kei Acedera, Stephen Silver, Larry Seiler, Bobby Chiu, Hermann Mejia, Thomas Fluharty, and Jan Op De Beeck.



Click HERE to order the book!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Charlotte was amazing...Chicago next stop!!!

A huge wonderful thank you to all of the wonderful people that came to see us at Heroes Con! We all loved the southern hospitality... and food. Corn bread at Mert's was my favorite. Yummy!

The convention was on the same weekend as the Dubs convention so here are some drawings from my little sketchbook of some of the cool characters we saw on Saturday night!












Next stop: Chicago!
We'll be at Chicago Wizard World convention from June 26-29th.
If you're in the area, come on by! Bobby Chiu, Jason Seiler and I will all be there signing books and greeting people.

Tables: 3300, 3302, 3304

Bobby and I will be doing sketches for every purchase of our prints or books!

Here's one of Bobby's that I liked.

Tård update

The Tård saga continues:

I spoke to Tårds owner today. He's still not sold, but someone else is interested in buying him too, so I'm panicing a little...

If anyone is going to the Dalarna area soon - please let me know! I'll pay petrol if you let me transport little Tård in your car!

Cue Jazzy Theme Music (Part 1 of 4)

The theme music to Jonny Quest is easily one of the best TV intros of all time. When I was in college, a jillion years ago, you could hear the marching band practice from my friend's dorm room, and one day they did an amazing rendition of the Johnny Quest theme. I actually went back to my friend's place several times hoping to hear them practice it again, but without any luck. Yes, I am a dork! But in my defense, that was definitely the only time in my life I was enthusiastic about music from a marching band.


This is Jonny Quest himself, accompanied by his tenacious bulldog, Bandit. You might have an educated guess as to what the next three posts will offer!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

neighbours - everybody need good neighbours

I have the most wonderful neighbours. Today, on my way to work, my mobile phone rang, and it was Monica, my next door neighbour.

Monica is a retired widow who lives with her dog Pyttan. I love them both to bits, and despite the age gap we hang out together sometimes. Monica had problems with her internet - and I promised I'd pop around after I'd finished work.

I was greeted by Pyttan as I opened Monicas front door. Pyttan knows I'm a sucker for animals and so she always jumps up and down until I pick her up and let her sit on my lap for the entire duration of my stays. I picked Pyttan up and went into Monicas study. With Pyttan in my lap I tried to fix Monicas internet (Pyttan happily licking my hands and face meanwhile), and Monica dissapeared into the kitchen to get something.

A few seconds later she turned up with a couple of glasses of chilled white wine. Usually I don't like white wine, but this was perfect. Cool, a tad sweet and such a treat after a long day at work!

Within half an hour her internet was fixed. Still, somehow, I've only just got home. It's now gone midnight, because I stayed talking and drinking wine with Monica for 3 hours.

Next weekend we're going for a pizza and a glass of wine. Despite her being 40 years older than me. How blissed am I to have neighbours like that?!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Heroes Con, Charlotte, NC!

Hi guys,

We're presently at Heroes Con in beautiful Charlotte, NC! If you're in the vicinity, please come visit us at booth 524!

Bobby and Kei

Tård - to be or not to be?


I love cats. I love cats more than pretty much anything else, truth be told.

When I was 16 Misak came into my life, and it was true love at first sight. Misak and I were best friends, but sadly he passed away a few years ago - aged 17. Noone who hasn't had a cat will understand the bond that can develop between you and a cat. Misak REALLY was my best friend: when my ex Nick and I visited my dad (where Misak lived) Nick complained about my bed being too small for himself, me and Misak. So I got a matress out and let Nick sleep on the floor. Misak and I always shared the bed - and no man was going to change that!


Now my dad has a new cat - Aaron. Aaron is for sure my dad's cat and not mine - they love eachother and Aaron literally beats the shit out of my dad's shoes when he tries to put them on... Anything to stop my dad from leaving home!

But when I visit Aaron sleeps in my bed. He curls up in my armpit (preferably with his bum facing my face unfortunally), purrs away uncontrollably and we cuddle until I fall asleep. Then he moves down to the end of my bed and sleeps there. But as soon as I wake up he's there in my face, purring like a lunitic.

Now there might be Tård. I saw this ad with a fat, white, curly Devon rex named Tård who's looking for a new home. I knew instantly that Tård and I belonged together, so now I have emailed the owner and am awating an answer.

Fingers crossed... Soon there might be Tård and I?

Flashback Friday. Yes, Again.

Archaelogists recently uncovered a piece that I created a jillion years ago. Carbon dating indicates that the illustration is from approximately 2000 CE. It was an entry for a "Design a Kubrick" contest in Previews--I placed second, winning myself some cool action figures, including an awesome Tetsujin 28 and Black Ox boxed set (in black and white anime colors). For educational purposes only, here is the title character of Princess Mononoke, in Kubrick form:

click above for larger view

This piece represents one of my earliest forays into computer coloring. All things considered, I'm surprised that it still somewhat holds up (and I'm not just saying that because it got me free action figures). The good news (depending on how you feel about things) is that this will probably be the last Flashback Friday for a long time. I don't think I have anything else in the vault that I don't find embarrassing. But then again, if I get desperate, you never know.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

A wonderful day

What a wonderful day - just you and me
lying together under the cherry tree

Beautiful weather - warm as could be
sun through the branches of the cherry tree

'I could stay here forever' you said to me
and so could I, in the shade of the cherry tree

We spotted a flower with its bumble bee
drinking his nectar by the cherry tree

What a wonderful day - just you and me
were we both seduced by a cherry tree?!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

what day is it really?

I woke up by the phone ringing. Judging by the signal it was my work mobile, and I staggered up searching for the damn thing.

Needless to say - by the time I found the phone it had stopped ringing. Still half asleep I tried to get the key lock off to see what time it was. A horrible thought struck:

Didn't I have someone to interview today?! And didn't I tell her to give me a bell as she got on the train so I could meet her at the station? Shit shit shit!

The key lock just didn't want to unlock. I started to sweat. I wondered HOW late I was for this poor girl's interview? But then it did unlock. And it said 20:45.

8.45 pm? How was that possible? Had I slept the whole day and evening straight through? I started to panick - the poor girl must've been waiting for 8 hours! But then I remembered... I put my head down to rest a bit when I got home from work today. I must've fallen asleep straight away. The interview with the girl is tomorrow. It is still today.

Talk about being over worked.

"How I Wonder"...and we're going to Charlotte!

Here is another piece I made for our "Water Worlds" book. It feels soo good to paint traditionally again!..Can you guess how many fish there are?

"How I Wonder"
11 x 14 inches, gouache on watercolor paper



And we will be in Charlotte this weekend June 20 - 22 for the Heroes Con! We've heard nothing but great things about this event, so we're really looking forward to this one. We'll be doing sketches for every purchase of a print or book!
Like this awesome one done by Bobby:



and this is one of mine..



Hope to see you there!

Kei

PS. Subway sketching is postponed until July 6, 2008

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

great friends and coctails

I had a horrible day at work today. It has been a whole week of it actually… Arguments, sickness, poorly patients… You name it. It has been happening this week.

Today I was nearly in tears with exhaustion:

I was meant to leave work at 6 pm to meet a friend for a drink after work. I haven’t finished on time once for about two weeks, and today it felt important to me that – for once – I could leave at 6 pm. But oh no. Staff didn’t turn up on time, so there I was, alone with some patients waiting for someone to come and do the staff changover.

45 minutes later I could leave work. I.e 45 minutes late for the meeting with my friend. I wanted to cry. Truth be told I had a little cry on the train on my way into town. At the bar, my friend and her friend were sitting sipping some drinks, so I went straight up to the bar and ordered a Sol with lime. And then we ordered another round.

In true Swedish style we then left the bar, went to the corner shop to get a hot dog with mashed potatoes, stuffed our faces and headed towards a posh little place nearby to continue the alcohol intake.

Sipping our strawberry coctails in one of Stockholms nicest bars with the most amazing view and in great company I started to feel human again.

And now it’s late. I’m tired but rather happy and content. It’s amazing what a bit of socializing can do!

More strawberry coctails to the people!!! Surely it would make the world a nicer place?

Pink Panther and Snagglepuss!?

First of all, no, this is not a picture of the Pink Panther and Snagglepuss.

Second, I know you ladies are all wondering, how does a guy who spends his Saturday drawing pink kitties manage to stay single?

*sobbing and incoherent babbling*

Anyways... today's post was drawn for a re-design challenge at the He-Man.org fan-art forums. The thread is here, my post is here. The first round voting polls are here and here, and the final vote can be found here--I placed 4th out of the finalists.
click above for larger view

The subject is Clawdeen, the feline mount of She-Ra's foe Catra. There has been a lot of debate about Clawdeen's gender, owing to the fact that the toy is identified as a "she" and has feminine-looking eyelashes, in spite of otherwise resembling a male lion (it has a mane like a male lion, however it lacks a tuft on its tail). In contrast, the cartoon version simply looks like a male lion (I don't recall if its gender is ever specified).

My solution to the gender question was to make the toy and animation versions of Clawdeen into separate characters. The toy version, retaining the name Clawdeen and the specified female gender, gains an armored helm--I leave it to the reader's imagination whether the plume of hair is Clawdeen's mane, or simply a part of the helm. The cartoon version becomes Clawdius, Clawdeen's mate. I swiped the name from Lion-O's dad.

I did my best to make Clawdeen feminine without resorting to the heavy-handed shorthand that the original toy suffered from (eyeshadow, long eyelashes). With Clawdius, I was striving for a groomed, submissive feel, to contrast the feral and somewhat crazed look of Manticore. Considering I had the handicap of working with almost nothing but variations of the color pink, I'm pretty happy with how the colors turned out.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Dolly Polly - gosh oh golly!

I have seen her live. I have heard her live too, but I think the "seeing" bit was more of an experience to me.

She trotted in on stage, our Dolly Parton, dressed in an outfit that sparkled more than my 17 nailvarnish and she blew me away!

Her tits. They were HUGE! I mean, I know they are... I've seen photos of her in magazines galore, but christ all mighty. They were huge. Me and my friend both gasped in astonishment and wondered how on earth the poor woman has managed to carry those things around with her all those years?!

Her singing was amazing. She has a voice out of this world. Her stage presence was excellent, the chit chat between singing quite funny, her nails 3 inch long and stained red and the outfits as outrageous as expected. But her tits, folks... I'm telling you: unbelivably huge.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Updates: Caricature - The art of Jason Seiler

Hi everyone! Hope you all have been doing well. Some very exciting things have been happening over these last couple of months.

- Our 9th art book "Water Worlds" is out and looking great!

- Our 10th art book "Caricature" featuring our newest member Jason Seiler is due out end of this month. Pre-order now for free shipping. Pre-orders will start shipping out July 2nd.

- In around a month or two our books sales will be handled by our friends at Brand Studios. This will make all sales and delivery super quick and efficient but this will also mean the end of free shipping. So if you don't mind slower shipping that's free, you have a month or two to buy as many Imaginism art books as possible before we move our books to Brand Studios.

- For those of you in the Charlotte NC area, Kei and Bobby will be at the Heroes convention June 20-22. We'll be doing drawings with every purchase of any print or book.

- For those of you that will be going to the San Diego or Chicago comicon, Kei and Bobby will also doing drawings with every purchase.

- Schoolism Art Classes open for registration:
Digital Painting Techniques with Bobby Chiu - July 31, 2008
Character Design by Stephen Silver - September 2, 2008
The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler - August 1, 2008
Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - FULL

Click HERE to order the book!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Bats and bullshit!

There are certain things I really can’t stand.

For starters, I hate it when people gives you “advice” you haven’t asked for.

For example I bought a bike the other week. I’ve checked it out for a couple of months, read up about it etc. I was well stoked with my choice. Then this guy at work had to tell me it was a bad bike I’d bought and started telling me about what I should buy instead.

Now, why would anyone do that? Why take away my happiness about my new, lovely bike by telling me it’s a piece of crap? IF I wanted his advice surely I’d asked for it BEFORE I bought the damn thing?

Another thing that drives me mad is when people question things you said. Tonight, a friend’s friend managed to question every single word I said – even though we’d never met before and just sat around a bar with mutual friends having a beer.

I told the group about how amazing I found those huge bats were in Australia. “A bit of an exaggeration” she said straight away. “They’re not big”. I said they were fucking huge.

But oh no. She had lived in Australia and knew there was no such thing as a huge bat… I said they were at least bigger than I am tall. She laughed and called me a liar. (I googled it as soon as I got home. Guess what?! They are called Flying Foxes and are bigger than I am tall, surprise surprise.)

Then we got in to crocs and alligators. I’ve never really understood the difference between the two species, but told the group about the incident with a woman being killed by one or the other close to where I lived in Australia. It is quite an amazing story – the woman thought she could communicate with the creatures and simply jumped in to show her husband how she talked with them, and got eaten in front of his eyes.

The friend of my friend burst out (because she had LIVED in Australia and knew everything there was to know about the country..) “there are no crocs/alligators where you lived!”.

This surprised me considerably considering I was out canoeing with friends whilst there and saw something leathery with big teeth lying by the shore. It looked very much like an alligator or perhaps a croc – whatever the difference is.

What more is – the newspaper wrote about the incident about the poor, nutty woman who got chewed on in front of her husband’s eyes. I think I need to find the article and forward it to her. Just to prove my point. Because I do not like being doubted. Not at all.

Character design class


I just finished another great semester of my character design class @ Schoolism.com and wanted to share with you the great transformation of one of my students Richard Willimot. With some hard work, dedication and passion over the nine weeks, this is how much he developed. For the first week of the class you are given an assignment to draw a character by the name of Fat Joe. On the last week, you are given the same assignment. This is what he did.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

blue as can be

You know when you've had a bath?
When you've been lying in the tub, soaking in the hot water, smelling the nice, fluffy bubbles on the surface and feels all comlete?

That's how I felt for the last month. Happy, content, warm, smothered by fluffyness.

And today someone pulled the plug.

I'm drained. Comletely empty, exhausted, drained of energy and smelling nothing but bollocks. There's no fluffyness surounding me and I feel naked.

(Perhaps I need to go on more merry-go-arounds? Oh, bollocks - I don't like them, do I?)

If you don't see me for a while I'm sure to be found under my duvet feeling sorry for myself.

Schoolism Online Art Classes

June 12th - Digital Painting Techniques with Bobby Chiu - Open for registration

August 1st - The Art of Caricature with Jason Seiler - Open for registration

August 5th - Storyboarding with Kris Pearn - FULL

September 2nd - Character Design by Silver - Open for registration

To register or find out more info visit Schoolism.com

Better Late Then Never. Sort of.

Last Saturday was Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day. In recognition of that, this is what Friday's post was supposed to be:

click above for larger view

The punchline in this picture arose from a typically dorky IM session between myself and Charles. For those not in the know, an Owlbear is a Dungeons & Dragons monster, and possibly the offspring of Smokey the Bear and Woodsy the Owl.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

I don't know why I do it...

At a BBQ last night I told my friends about a recent trip to the fun fare. Last week I took all my co-workers to the fun fare after a meal at a Mongolian restaurant. You know, one of those “team building” evenings…

…It was a lovely evening. The food was delicious, the games at the fun fare fab and then I decided (I am the boss after all!) that we should go on the newest merry-go-round. It’s inspired by the Harry Potter movies, and hence gives you the feeling of flying on a broom stick.

We all boarded the ride. I giggled but had a strange feeling in my stomach. As the ride took off I remembered what it was. I’m scared of heights!!! And I ALWAYS forget!

So there I sat, strapped into a stupid piece of plastic, knowing I was about to die, telling myself to keep breathing and just prayed for the ride to end.

I got off and promised myself NEVER to go on a ride like it again.

The thing is though, as I told my friends at the BBQ last night, I do this over and over again. Forget that I will be scared, think it will just give me some butterflies in the stomach, and then nearly have a heart attack and cry.

The same happened whilst in Morocco recently. My friend and I went up the Atlas Mountains in a 4x4 wheel drive. I shat my pants. Nearly cried and forgot to breath. Yet I’ve done those kind of mountain trips soooo many times.

So the question arose last night: Why do I do it? Again and again?

My brother is convinced it’s because I have a severe death wish. Some of the others agreed. But I don’t. I really, really don’t. I think I’m just a very naïve person who wants to experience lots of different things in life. Come on people – you all know me… Why do I do it???

the Jellies!

Here is a piece I did for the cover of our new "Water Worlds" book!
I'm proud to say this is our most creative book yet.. It was a lot of fun to make.




some sneak-peeks :)




If you would like to order the book, please click here.


love,
Kei

Friday, June 6, 2008

Pure Genius.

It's about 4:30am as I begin typing this blog. I started my blog illustration very late, just a few hours ago. I was almost done coloring it in Photoshop, and then my twitchy hand closed the file without saving. The really great thing is that I literally had not saved anything. So instead you get this last minute rage doodle:
As I generally refrain from cursing on this blog (unlike my ultra-profane RL), I have nothing more to say.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

fluffiness turned into shittyness

Last Sunday I took my blanket and newspaper and strolled off down to the park. The sun was shining, the park empty apart from a whole bunch of fluffy baby magpies. The idyll was complete.


I flopped onto the blanket, got my paper out and started reading.


When I got to the economy supplement I heard a big splash, and this big puddle of bird wee spread all over the paper. Well, I've never been a big fan of that supplement, but was none the less a bit surprised. I looked up. As I did so another bird dropped his bomb. Only this time it was a number two. And this time it did not hit my paper. It hit my head.


I cannot describe the feeling of getting attacked with a huge bird poo in the head. It was heavy. It was very loose. It smelt like shit and by cry it was plenty of it.


It dribbled down my forehead and all over my hair. Some got on my shoulder. I didn't have a tissue, but used a dry corner of the economy supplement to wipe some of it off before it reached my eyes.


I have to admit my first thought after the wiping was something along the lines of "did anyone see this?". After reassuring myself no humans were present I said some well chosen words to the little fluffy fuckers who were happily tweeting away around me.

Today I had a meeting with a man who was carrying a gun. I have never seen a man carrying a gun before (at least not during day time in a states owned office!), so of course I had to ask
what on earth he thought he was doing walking around with it. "I am employed by the states to cull birds in the city centre" he told me.

I replied "Good on you. Those bastards shit EVERYWHERE!"

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

LCPD Accused of Incompetence

LIBERTY CITY—With the city in the midst of a record crime wave, concerned citizens claim the Liberty City Police Department has done little to prevent the constant car chases, ongoing gun battles, and overall atmosphere of violence that pervade the area.

"I used to feel safe in Liberty City, but lately, it's been total mayhem," said night-shift worker Lola Del Rio, who spoke to reporters while sucking nervously on a red lollipop. "In the past week alone, I've been carjacked twice, run over 10 times, and witness to a half-dozen gunfights that ended with automobiles exploding. What are the police doing to stop all this?"

Since the surge in crime, which began on April 28 at midnight, more than 830,000 civilians have been murdered—nearly one-tenth of Liberty City's total population. In addition, 35,000 vehicles have been reported stolen, many of which were then driven illegally over sidewalks and pedestrian walkways before plunging into the nearby Humboldt River. And according to startling figures released by local community action group Citizens for a Safer City, drug trafficking has become rampant and prostitution has increased by 800 percent.

LCPD officers deal with a shoplifting suspect.

"I was shot 14 times on my way to work today, including twice by police," said one Algonquin-area resident. "That is unacceptable."

Many blame the LCPD directly for the increase in criminal activity, citing the department's lax procedure for arresting criminals, which involves taking 10 percent of the suspect's money, confiscating his weapons, and simply releasing him from custody later that day. Outraged citizens say this is not enough, especially in a city where assault rifles can be found on factory roofs and grenade caches are located under the globe at the old World's Fair site.

Officers respond to one of the 43,274 murders reported in the city last month.

"The police just let them go, and 20 minutes later they're shooting at the very same criminals from helicopters," veteran crime reporter Mike Whiteley said. "That is not proper law enforcement. We may be seeing a return to the bad old days of 2002, when the police, the FIB, and even Army tank battalions would leave countless bodies on the streets while attempting to capture just one man on some sort of joyful mass-destruction spree."

Perhaps even more alarming, city records indicate that more than 75 percent of perpetrators in mass-murder or vehicular-manslaughter cases escape, usually by simple methods such as driving into a car-repainting facility. Criminals have even eluded pursuit by walking into their apartment and going to bed for six hours, after which the search has been called off.

However, one LCPD official, who wished to remain anonymous, blamed the recent crime wave on the police department's lack of proper equipment.

"We are only equipped to pursue a suspect within a small radius on a very basic half-centimeter radar screen," the officer said. "If we were allowed to seek criminals who escaped this radius for more than 15 seconds, our results would improve dramatically."

"And to those who say the LCPD is too quick to resort to deadly force, remember that almost 850,000 police officers, FIB agents, and N.O.O.S.E. [National Office of Security Enforcement] team members have died in the line of duty in the past month," he added.

Nonetheless, residents say that their confidence in the Liberty City police force—low in the best of times—has eroded almost completely.

"I was buying a hot dog from a street vendor in Hove Beach yesterday when I saw someone run a red light, barrel down the sidewalk, careen into a garbage truck, exit his vehicle, steal a nearby convertible, and drive away," one Broker resident reported. "A nearby police car didn't even react. But when the car behind him nicked his fender, the officer shot the driver through the windshield and walked away."

"That is not the kind of law enforcement we want for our community," he added.

Most admit that the problem is not a lack of police presence, as the LCPD currently operates 15 different police stations throughout the city's four boroughs, and there is a seemingly infinite number of officers on duty at all times to respond to reported crimes. However, citizens say the officers' "shoot-first" mentality and willingness to accept bribes only contributes to the city's widespread violence and corruption.

"It's almost as if the cops in this town are as much an adversarial faction as the criminals," said public defender Kiki Jenkins, who is rumored to be instrumental in recent incidents of police being inexplicably pulled from chases and criminal pursuit. "Sure, we have excellent radio stations and an incredible range of things to see and do here. But if I were younger, I'd move to Mario World in a second."

Source: theonion.com

Crab Society

A sneek-peek on what's inside our next book "Water Worlds"..

..Which crab best represents you?




more to come!!
-Kei

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Sweden and Swedes



Badass GTA Art

I discovered some amazing GTA related artwork made by artist called Patrick Brown. I personally really like artist’s style and attention for details. Every new artwork shows artist’s improved skills and use of new techniques. Feel free to enjoy some of his work below, I sure did.

That particular artwork above was so good Blockbuster decided to use it for their GTA IV pre-launch campaign. Strangely enough Patrick Brown was the last one to find out about it.




Source: patrickbrown.deviantart.com

GIGANNN!!!

Just a little digital painting practice today. The lineart was drawn a couple of years ago for a friend who got me a copy of Godzilla: Final Wars.


Gigan is one of my favorite kaiju from the Godzilla franchise. The version here is sort of an old-timey cartoon version of the classic Gigan, as opposed to the modernized version that appears in Final Wars.

Just go watch Final Wars already!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Glorious sun

The sun has been shining all day and reached temperatures close to 30 degrees Celsius. I woke up at my friend’s house this morning with a stinking hangover, went out into his garden (where he was already lying on a blanket) and spread myself out on the lawn to catch the early rays of sunshine. It’s amazing how a nice summer’s day can cure the worst of beer-inflicted headaches!

Back in my little flat I quickly got into my shorts, grabbed the newspaper and ventured to the park where I enjoyed a few more hours of sunshine. Had an ice cream after my salad. Flicked through the paper in between dozing off or watching the world go by.

Tomorrow is Monday and it’s supposed to be even warmer. I have the day off and will do pretty much the same as today (minus the hangover, of course!). I am the ultimate sun junkie. I don’t function indoors when the sun is out – all I can think of is to be out in the sunshine and enjoy the heat. Enjoy the smells, the smiles on peoples faces and the luxury of not having to wear boots or shoes. I love it all.

I know the rays are bad for you. I know about the risks of cancer, aging skin and pigmentation spots. I know the grass might be full of tics who can give you leathal infections. I know ice cream makes me fat.

But do you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care one little bit. I like it and I will continue to enjoy it.