Pope on a Rope

Just finished a new editorial piece about Pope Francis so I figured I'd pop it up on the ol' bloggy blog. Here ya go:

So the thing with Francis is that everyone loves the guy, except for maybe the people who elected him. He was a pretty conservative cardinal, but all of a sudden he's all like "Peace and love, follow what Jesus actually said instead of years of political corruption and Papal opulence, blah blah blah". It's funny to see the higher-ups try to tone down his statements after he's made them, but I don't think they can keep him in check much longer. That was pretty much my inspiration, so I decided to have him glowing like a saint, but with these cardinal (get it?) ropes trying to hold him back. 

The original is in oil so I had to photograph it which turned out to be a pain because of the dark colors. Usually I use the "hope for an overcast day" method of lighting, but it was just nice enough that I was getting tons of glare. Then I remembered Dave Palumbo's post over at Muddy Colors about lighting your stuff on the cheap with some Target tree lamps. I ran around town and finally found a store with two in stock, and I gotta say, they worked PERFECTLY. They cost more than when he originally made the post ($40 each) but completely worth it. I highly recommend.

Finally, the original oil has this little "asterisk" where the one string is breaking, but I decided it was unnecessary so I cloned it out. BUT I felt bad for it, getting left out while the rest of the painting got to see the world, so I made a gif for fun:

The End

Adventures in Freelance

Whew, it's been a long time since my last post. Sorry 'bout that. Big news though! After years of illustrating on a part-time basis, I finally took the plunge, quit my day job, and am officially a full-time freelancer! The first couple of weeks have been crazy but I figured I'd take a second to post some updates about what I've been working on.

The first bit of news is that I actually have a piece in this week's Willamette Week, one of Portland's two alt-weekly papers. You can find it above the Music Calendar, but if you are out of state (or lazy) here you go:

While I generally work in oils, the deadline was pretty short so the art director let me work it up digitally. Here's a look at it in the paper:

I'm also working on an oils piece of the Pope, and you can see a preview of that over at my instagram account (which you should totally follow yo). I'll do a full post about it once it's finished.

Anyway, its only been a week-and-a-half since taking the full-time plunge, but I've never been this excited, motivated, or happy about a choice in my entire life. I highly suggest following your dreams, it's a hell of a feeling!

PDX Rocks (Recap)

Oi, I've been bad about posting lately. I wanted to do a big recap of all of Last Thursday but I just haven't been able to make the time. Still I thought I'd at least get a few pics up from the PDX Rocks show:

The view from outside.

The full show on the wall.

My piece in the grid.

Seriously though, the show is great and theres some really cool work. Its up till the end of the month so if you didn't get a chance to go already, there's still time. AND If these pics don't tempt you enough, Screaming Sky is also a super cool toy store, and is right next to Salt & Straw ice cream, so you have no excuse not to check it out!

Screaming Sky "PDX ROCKS" Preview

Just a quick post to update you on the upcoming "PDX Rocks" show at Screaming Sky Gallery this coming Last Thursday (8/29). This is a group show featuring fake album covers with a loose Portland theme (although I got so excited about my fake band name, the Portland aspect kinda faded away-whoops). Festivities start at six!

Oh and to tempt you I guess I should give you a preview of my piece. Introducing The Perry Masons and their Freshmen album, Move to Dismiss:

The reference photos are hilarious.....

This is from a crappy snapshot but you get the idea. I'll upload some better pics and share the very long list of other puntastic album titles me and Erin came up with later. Till then, See you at the show!

ShogunTK Awesomeness (updated)

I've been a big fan of Ashley Wood's art for some time, so when I just recently found out he made toys under the brand ThreeA, I freaked out. I have no idea how I didn't know this earlier (probably because I'm more of a bookstore guy than interwebber) but I quickly spent much of my moneyz buying what I could before my bank account yelled at me. My first purchase (back in December) was the Tomorrow King SHOGUN Gorei, but because it was a preorder, it just arrived yesterday. Because I am a nerd, I started taking photos:

Yes, that is a pig skull.

'lectric death cords?

The sword has a sheath!

Then I realized I had a test painting I did awhile ago that would work as a perfect background:

After about 10 shots I realized the light direction was reversed..hehe

Rotated my photo shoot and finally got this one, which I think is pretty badass.

I did these in low natural light with a bit of adjustment in RAW, but they came out pretty decent. Anyway, I'm no toy expert, but Gorei (thats his name I guess) is awesome and my 12-year-old self is very happy. That is all.

New Prints!

With the store up and active, I was highly motivated get my butt in gear and managed to get four more prints color corrected and available for your purchasing pleasure! The most exciting (for me at least) is the print of "Octdoughnut", which has never been offered before:

Here is a direct link: http://johnnyacurso.storenvy.com/products/1717605-octdoughnut-8x10-print

Right now most of the prints are right around 8"x10", but if there are any favorites people want to see bigger, drop a comment/e-mail and I'll see what I can do. 

IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Hello happy travelers. I am quite excited to announce that after years of promises, tons of false starts and general not-getting-it-doneness, I finally have my own online store! It is just a soft launch for now, with only the "Murakami's Women" series available, but it's up and active and ready to take all your moneyz! Here it is:

http://johnnyacurso.storenvy.com/

The other big news here is that there is FINALLY a print of Sumire to complete the Murakami's Women Triptych:

Looks great right? Prints in the series are $25 each or you can get the whole set for $65 with free shipping in the US!

 Anyway, check back often because I'll be adding new prints each week as I make time to color adjust for my new printer, including a few exclusives that have never been sold in galleries. Also, don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter because I'll be announcing new items there as well.