Winter's here.

Here's a holiday/winter promo illustration I did for Rocket Republic.

Recent Random Doodles...

Here's some random doodles I did recently. And of course, I have to plaster my name all over them... A couple of them are done with a litho crayon and sharpie, after seeing some pretty cool drawings by John Hankiewicz done in a similar manner. I'm still working on a strip for an upcoming issue of Kramers Ergot and also have a mini of drawings in the works (Claptrap #2). More later.

New Comic - For Book of Children's Dreams.

The book is called "Elmonstruodecoloresnotieneboca" and it's the project of Roger Omar (Spain). What he's done is collect dreams from children in Mexico, Spain, and Brazil and is having artists render them from several different countries as well. The collection will include cartoonists Rene French, Matti Hagelberg, Anke Feuchtenberger, and Max as well as illustrators like Derek M. Ballard, Steak Mountain, and Flavio Morais (any many, many more). I illustrated the dream I chose as a comic strip simply because of the narrative nature of the dream itself. I'm not quite sure when the book will be out or where you can purchase it, but once I do, I'll be sure to post something about it. Oh, and here is the dream I illustrated:

Jesus Roberto (Mexico)
The Puncher Ghosts
"One day I dreamed that there were ghosts in my house... They punched me when I was left alone, and when my mother arrived, she found me all beaten up... From that moment she doesn't leave me alone anymore."

Print Gocco, Craft Magazine, and "In The Studio"...

Above is a page from the premier issue of Craft Magazine (from the same publisher of Make Magazine) that featured an article over Print Gocco and the campaign to Save Gocco. They featured a layout of some gocco prints including the cover of my mini-comic, "Claptrap", as well as prints by Cole Johnson and Minza Wada. You can purchase a copy (or subscribe) here. Here's the cover:

Also, the new book from Todd Hignite, "In The Studio" published by Yale University Press, features a section with Ivan Brunetti where he talks about The Gocco Set and says some nice things about Ryoko Oguchi's artwork. Other artists covered in the book are: Charles Burns, Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Jaime Hernandez, Gary Panter, Robert Crumb, Seth, and Daniel Clowes. Buy it here. Here's the page from the book (poorly scanned) where Ivan discusses The Gocco Set:
(Click for larger version) And here's the cover:

I'll Be Attending SPX.

I'll be attending the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Maryland and I'll be sharing a table with John Hankiewicz and David King. Outside of the mini comics of mine that have been around for a little while now, the only new stuff I'll be bringing is a 24" square screen-print of the illustrations I drew for Ivan Brunetti's "Anthology of Graphic Fiction" (previously mentioned). The print includes all of the drawings for the book as well as extra ones (a total of 99 drawings) in deep violet ink on a light beige paperstock. Here's some photos of it:

Oh, and there'll be a mini of drawings by me, Ivan Brunetti, John Hankiewicz, and David King that we'll have (it's new) called, "Bethesda is Latin for Stamina." Here's the cover image:

Ivan Brunetti's "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction"

(Click for Larger Version)

Now in some stores and soon to be in others - "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories", edited by Ivan Brunetti and published by Yale University Press. You can order it here. I won't go into it too much here, simply because I don't want to attempt to write a full review of it, but the design and production are incredible and it's surely something I see as an essential book on comics (old and new). I just so happened to be able to be a part of it (and am very honored I could be) - I drew the illustrated table of contents of numerous cartoon characters. Here's a sample of some of 'em:

While I'm updating here, I may as well post a couple of random drawings I did a while back:

Cover Illustration - "Who-Ville"

Here's an illustration for a newsletter/magazine published by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University - the Academy of Alternative Journalism. The first image is the published newsprint copy and below is the wrap-around illustration. The image is kind of a Dr. Suess inspired rendering of the Chicago skyline (albeit very much different from the Dr. Suess art - I just couldn't pull it off).

Brief Profile in Chicago Magazine.

(Click for larger version)

The newest issue of Chicago Magazine ran a one page feature in conjunction with Ivan Brunetti's upcoming "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories", profiling four of the cartoonists included in his book: Archer Prewitt, Jeffrey Brown, John Hankiewicz, and me. The reason being, of course, that we're all from Chicago. Pretty nice of them to include me with these guys. Here's the cover:

New Strip - for Oxford American Magazine.

(Click for larger version)

Here's a new strip I did for Oxford American Magazine, their Southern Music Issue. The title is in reference to Alien Sex Fiend, not Johnny Cash by the way. Anyway, they also feature comics by Patrick Dean and Martin Cendreda - pretty cool. Oh, and you can find the issue (with an accompanying CD with tracks by Sun Ra, Richard Hell, The 6ths, Sam Cooke, and others) at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Tower Records. Here's the cover:

"Onsmith" Logos...

It seems a bit self-indulgent, but these logos are actually for a class I'm taking. The assignment was to create a personal "tag" or logo incorporating our name, so these are some of what I came up with.

U-Tunes CD Illustrations...

Here's the finished product of some illustrations I did for a CD of children's music for a church. Yep, that's right - for a church. So if you happen to be an art director or publisher, just know that I'm open to all sorts of illustration jobs. The layout, production, coloring, and typeset was done by Jake Thomas. Below are some additional drawings for the CD insert.

Random Doodle on an Envelope...

Here's a random doodle I did on some package I sent out to somebody. Can't remember who. ...yeah, it's slow at Onsmith Studios, Inc.

Another New Painting.

New Painting.

New painting with sickly colors (click for larger version). Thanks to the folks at Drawn! that posted about my artwork and appearance at Partyka.

Guest Appearance At Partyka!

I am currently the guest artist at Partyka, featuring a gallery of some of my random drawings, paintings, and doodles (a few of 'em are above fer ya).

Partyka is a collective of cartoonists/artists from New York (Shawn Cheng, Sara Edward-Corbett, Sean McCarthy, & Matt Wiegle) and they feature daily drawings and weekly comics from the members. "Paping" is their anthology and they sell it, along with other comics/art books on their site. There's SO MUCH friggin' stuff to look at on the site, so you may as well get started now.

New Illustration for The Common Review...

Here's an illustration and initial sketch I did for The Common Review for an article on a man teaching Shakespeare's "King Lear" at 8am.

"Asthma" by John Hankiewicz

My pal, John Hankiewicz, has a new collection published by Sparkplug Comicbooks and I gotta say, this is his most ballsy approach to that thing we call "comics". John plays off of the formal aspects of the medium, the use of titles/labels, time and setting, and even distorts the figure more so than he has ever before, giving abstract and fragmented emotional responses. Can you tell I'm digging this new book? Can you tell I'm telling you to buy the sucker? Do it here or at a comic shop in the not-to-distant future. Here's some more info from the Sparkplug site:

Asthma is a collection of recent comics by John Hankiewicz. From story to story, even page to page, the book mixes a startling range of graphic and narrative styles to form a dreamlike whole.

"Amateur Comics" creates a wordless lyric of body, chairs, and space. "Martha Gregory" delves into the rhyming psyches of a young woman and an old man. "Jazz" charts a single day through the lens of the unconscious. Also included are the visually abstract "The Kimball House," the autobiographical "Westmont Is Next," the elliptically humorous "Dance" (printed in black and red), and several other ineffable pieces.

At once perplexing and moving, disturbing and playful, Asthma explores the formal and emotional reaches of the comics medium.

Sacha Mardou's Playing Cards...

Sacha Mardou has several playing cards she's taken around to cartoonists and drawers of all sorts and had them doodle out some pretty cool stuff on 'em. I forgot that I did one of these and I came across her Live Journal page and found it. She has several other cards too, as well as (of course) her own very cool artwork.

Above (click for larger version) is: First Row: Jessica (Paperrad), Ben (Paperrad), Onsmith; Second Row: Zack Soto, Andy Roberts, Jason Robards; Third Row: Dan Zettwoch, Dylan Williams, Karen Schneider.

A sample of Sacha Mardou's work:

Four Self-Portraits...

These are four self-portraits that I did for a class, in the styles of Renaissance, Baroque, Post-Impressionism, and Cubism. The first was Renaissance and I decided to show myself doodling and so I kept the theme going in the remaining ones. Eh, whattya gonna do? It's friggin art school...

Karl Wirsum Inspired Doodle (sorta)

New doodle up - kinda Karl Wirsum inspired, but not at all as cool.

Recent Comic Strip...

Small Chipboard Painting.

Well, it's not so much of a painting really - it's a matte gel mixed with titanium white with ink over it. Eh, I did it the other day.

Comics Exhibit at Art Institute of Chicago Library...

Currently, there is an exhibit of comics from Chicago cartoonists at the Ryerson Library at the Art Institute of Chicago's museum. The comics are displayed under glass on the tables in the foreground of the photo above. The exhibit includes a few of my own mini-comics (Spit-Toons, Gag-Hag, etc.) and comics by other Chicagoans: Ivan Brunetti, Chris Ware, Anders Nilsen, Paul Hornschemeier, John Hankiewicz, Jeffrey Brown, Skip Williamson, Jessica Abel, and others that I can't remember right now. If you're in the neighborhood, check out the Ryerson Library (the show runs until the third week in June, I believe - call to make sure) - info below:

Saturday - Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 12:30pm - 5:00pm
Thursday 12:30pm - 8:00pm
Friday 12:30pm - 5:00pm
111 S. Michigan Avenue
Ground Floor
Chicago, IL
Info: (312) 443-3666

Now in Stores - Hotwire Comix & Capers...

The Fantagraphics anthology, "Hotwire Comix & Capers" (that includes five pages by me - all under the theme of Oklahoma-livin') is now in stores. You can order it here. It's a damn fine book, featuring new work from Ivan Brunetti, J. Bradley Johnson, Johnny Ryan, Mats!?, Tony Millionaire, Carol Swain, and several others. Below is one of several one-panel gags I did fer it.

Vice Comics Issue...

I have a one-page comic strip in the Vice Comics Issue (along with Robert Crumb, Gary Panter, Johnny Ryan, Marc Bell, Sammy Harkham, Ted May, and several others) that's supposed to be out sometime this week. It's called, "I'm Evil, Randy!" The character from my strip is the blue-skinned guy on the top of the head explosion above. Pick it up if ya can.