Dirty Show? I'm not Dirty, am I?

I've decided that, yes, indeed I am dirty. Well, dirty enough to submit some new work the the Detroit Dirty Show. So, I spent the turkey day weekend musing about what sort of work I would enter into a Dirty Show. As you may have surmised from the shows title, its intended to be a bit blue...but my work has never really been that, sexual, per se...and I imagine that the sort of thing that would get into the dirty show is really dirty. So I will have some competition with some real sickos out there...

I thought it over and decided that it would be best if I continued on with the Daredevil Monkeys theme, this time putting the little brutes into dangerous situations involving women. What sort of situation would a daredevil monkey be in? Well, of course Fearless (the monkey with the Stars and Stripes helmet) should be demonstrating that he is indeed fearless in the face of danger. He needs to wrestle women. Preferably naked women. and for good measure, lets make them reanimated zombie type women. Check out the resulting watercolor from my sketchbook below:

Watercolor sketch for Detroit Dirty Show submission #1
(Working Title: The Sweet Science)
Watercolor on paper, 4"x6"

I know, its kinda bizarre...but it feels kinda right too...I am not entirely happy with the composition so far, so I made a few tweaks in photoshop that should carry over to the final painting:
After Compositional tweaking...I made Fearless smaller in relation to the woman to make her more menacing...and I also put them toe to toe, so that he looks like he is looking at her more...

I made another sketch that is less realized than the previous one, but I think it will be a funnier painting in the end. I thought that the next contender on the fight card could be a truly zaftig beauty...How is Fearless going to get out of this one?

Watercolor sketch for Detroit Dirty Show submission #2
(working title: hide the monkey)
Watercolor on paper, 4"x6"

I would be able to show you more progress on these if it were not for the fact that I have spent the last few days finishing the Carrie Potter and Christmas Twist scenery! So, I will have photos for you next week, as well as the schedule for the next "Scenery Appreciation Night"!

November is the slowest month....

November is always the slowest month for me. It's right after the Halloween party, and everything just seems to creep along. I guess its because people are anticipating the hectic pace of December that makes things seem to be on the slow creep. Personally, I cant seem to do half of what I want, even though I have twice the time to do it in!

I've started the designs for Carrie Potter at the New Moon Prom, and A Christmas Twist (the two holiday offerings from Landless Theater Co.) but I only have the design for Carrie Potter on hand (remember that whole half the stuff in twice the time thing?)

Carrie Potter At The New Moon Prom set design
Pencil and Photoshop

Since the Halloween party I have needed something to obsess over, so I have decided that its never too early to start working on YURI"S NIGHT!!! So, I have started working on some graphics for our preemptive "save the date" campaign.

This one is my favorite, because it is, well, AWESOME! But KT says that it's too busy...

So, we are working on a simpler and more sloganey sorta thing:
DC's Other Space Party...whaddyathink? I don't want to appear to be in competition with Goddard, but lets face it, they have a monopoly on all of the real space stuff in the area! We have to let people know that we are different and have something else (other than hardcore science) to offer...I call this one the "vomit comet" version...I like it because it feels like the type of good time you would have in the zero G test flight...not that we are offering any zero G test flights at the party (like some other Yuri's Nights) but it just looks like a good time to me!

What do you guys think of the new slogan? I would love to hear any suggestions...

Halloween Aftermath, and REEFER MADNESS white model

I would say that I am mostly recovered from the Halloween party. Its been a week and a half, and the house is 90% back to normal...Most of you are Facebook friends with me, (if you aren't, then what are you waiting for?) so you have probably seen most of the party photos there. But in case you haven't seen them, I have re-posted some of them here:

Photo taken from the upstairs porch of the Kraken at the end of the night...

Fishing for Booty...

When the cops showed up...SYKE! its just our neighbor (who is really a cop...)

Audrey shows her assets to the angler fish...

The Deep Sea Diver and Vampirate are unafraid of the scary clowns!
(okay, perhaps just a little)

So, once and for all, THANK YOU to all those who attended. It was a really great party, and I cant wait to do it all again next year!

Since there is no rest for the wicked, the strike for Evil Dead was scheduled for the day after the Spooktacular...It was rough (Mad props go out to Pete the Spyder!) but we survived...to commemorate the strike, here's a picture of the deadites being sucked back into the hell from whence they came:

Photo Credit: Amanda Williams

Also, since I didn't blog last week, I can report that Hope Operas is now in the history books! It was a really great series for lots of great causes, and it seems that it had some big fans...like, Fred Schneider of the B-52's...

I have also made significant progress on the design for Reefer Madness the Musical. This show's design process has been more about model making than drawing so far, so what I have to show you are a couple of shots of the white model in its very early stages:

Reefer Madness White Model
Paper, Foamcore, Mixed Media 1/4"=1'

The base set for the show consists of luan borders that are painted like 1930's anti-marijuana propaganda. There is a projection screen above the band USR that is masked out to look like its the smoke from the giant doobie on SR. (the band is roughly represented in purple) The rest of the set pieces will roll on and off from the wings. One element I am particularly excited about is the giant Tiki/Hooka that will be used for the orgy scene:

Orgy scene set piece, Tiki/Hooka.

The full cast is on during this scene, so I have added six hoses for them to dance with. The tiki will have smoke coming out of his nose and mouth, a silk flamepot on top and with have an articulated mouth so he can sing the chorus.

I should have the design finalized right after Thanksgiving, so stay tuned!