New Illustration for The Common Review

Here's my version of "A Picture of Dorian Gray" for The Common Review.
Update on the Manifest Design Contest: I didn't win it. Thanks though, to all you folks who voted for me! I appreciate it.

Columbia College Manifest Poster Illustration - Vote for me!

I'm a finalist for my school's 2010 Manifest Arts Festival poster design contest. The contest is open to public voting so PLEASE vote for mine! Here's a link to vote. Pass it on too if you can. Online voting closes on November 13th at midnight.

New Print: "The Accusation"

Here's an extension to my previous Donald Distortion. This print was part of a small print exchange at Anchor Graphics. Email me at onsmith (at) sbcglobal.net if you're interested in purchasing one.

Donald Distorted

Signing with Paul Nudd at Quimby's this Saturday!

Above is one of the collaborative prints I did with Paul Nudd that we'll be selling at Quimby's along with two DVD covers I did for Paul's R.U.B. series on artists, Keith Herzik and Nick Black. I'll have copies of Claptrap #2 there and Paul will have his anthology/art-zine, "Corpus/Corpus" that I did a four color screenprint for. "Corpus/Corpus" also features work by Bruno Richard, Mike Diana, Gregory Jacobson and others. Please come and see us - the event starts at 7pm.

Here's a ridiculously long blurb about the event:

Ice cream, buzzing flies, cow udders, double-tongues, jarred brains, twisted limbs, floating heads, mysteriously sheathed meat-slugs, severed arms, eyeballs, and shrunken-head fishing lures. Welcome to the graphic underbelly of Onsmith & Nudd, a cartoonish netherworld of darkly comic doom. Witness the mushy quadruple-stacked heads that form the menacing totem pole-like Head Heaps. Or the freshly staked heads and weird diseased udder worship of Monkey Nudd Wine. Together as friends, Onsmith & Nudd made close to 1000 prints this year, plenty to sift through, scour and pick apart with a fine toothed bone. Many of these prints, mostly silk screens, will be on view and available at Quimby’s in addition to Onsmith & Nudd's extensive back catalog of zines, mini-comics, miscellaneous multiples, video editions, posters, flyers and original art. As an extra added bonus, visitors are invited to participate in Onsmith & Nudd’s newest collaborative body of work, Horde of the Flies: An Infestation. Many large sheets of paper will be provided so that Quimby’s guests may draw between 1 and 1000 flies that will eventually culminate in a massive swarm of pesky winged insects. Examples, materials and sources will be provided.

Also, Nudd will be releasing the first two volumes of R.U.B., a new DVD zine that features in-camera edited documentaries of local artists. Volume I focuses on local kinetic sculptor Nick Black. Watch Nick as he tinkers with his thriftstore-found animatronic toys, rearranging them into hilarious monstrosities. His studio is a treasure trove of weird parts and pieces, a dizzying labyrinth of plastic and cheapness, and it’s all captured here on home video!!! Volume II contains a video about Keith Herzik, local artist, zine-maker and, most notably, screen printer. Keith began making screen prints fifteen years ago for local gigs, but has transcended the limitations of that form tremendously. Although he remains quite underground, Keith’s influence on younger artists has been immeasurable. Indeed, he is not only one of Chicago’s most prolific image makers and most gifted draftsmen, but also an outrageously daring colorist. Watch him banter, print and give us a tour of his shop, the Alamo Igloo, right here on home video!!!

Finally! Years in the making, Corpus Corpus 2 is finally here! A compilation zine with a notorious line-up, curated and printed by Paul Nudd, Corpus Corpus 2 contains thirty pages of mind and bowel blowing graphic mayhem. Mariano Chavez, Anne Van Der Linden, Gregory Jacobsen, Bruno Richard, Mike Diana, Edith Sloat, Sophie Greenstalk, Kristen Romaniszak, Onsmith, and Ryan Travis Christian join forces in a fully lathered orgy of primal muck. Silkscreened covers, some hand-tinted, and limited to 100 copies, Corpus Corpus 2 will not be around for long. These suckers will be snarfed!

Onsmith & Nudd Collaborative Prints Exhibition.

The opening reception for the exhibition from the print residency I had with Paul Nudd is on Friday, July 10th at Spudnik Press. If you live in the Chicago area, please come by and check out the prints we spent the greater part of 4 months on as well as come to draw with us for our newest collaboration. Address and other info is on the postcard above. Here is the press release for the show:

Spudnik Press

1821 W. Hubbard, Suite 308

Chicago, IL 60622

312.532.0304

www.spudnikpress.com

Friday, July 10th - Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Gallery hours: Mondays & Thursdays 6:30 - 11PM, or by appointment

Opening reception: Friday, July 10th, 7 - 10PM

Spudnik Press is pleased to announce a new exhibition of work by our Spring 2009 Artists in Residence, Paul Nudd and Onsmith. Ice cream, buzzing flies, cow udders, double-tongues, fishing tackle, jarred brains, twisted limbs and floating heads. These are all things Onsmith & Nudd. Three separate suites of prints meld these two artists' signature styles into a cartoonish netherworld of darkly comic doom. Witness the mushy quadruple-stacked heads that form the menacing totem pole-like Head Heaps. Or the freshly staked heads and weird diseased udder worship of Monkey Nudd Wine. Onsmith & Nudd made close to 1000 prints this year, plenty to sift through, scour and pick apart with a fine toothed comb.

As an extra added bonus, visitors are invited to participate in Onsmith & Nudd's newest collaborative body of work, Horde of the Flies: An Infestation. Many large sheets of paper will be provided so that Spudnik's guests may draw between 1 and 1000 flies that will eventually culminate in a massive swarm of pesky winged insects. Examples, materials and sources will be provided.

Recent Small Drawings.

Recent Illustrations for "The Common Review" Magazine.

"Against Asceticism" (upcoming Summer 2009 issue)

"The Transmigration of Philip K. Dick" (Spring 2009 issue)

"Destination: Auschwitz" (Winter 2009 issue)

$(Heart) Show at NFO XPO This Weekend...

This is the drawing that I'll make into screenprints for a show this weekend at "NFO XPO", which is part of Version Fest. Info and some explanation of $(Heart) below:

$HIT = MONEY = LOVE = ART

Paul Nudd and Bert Stabler have organized an incredibly great print show that celebrates the connection, first pointed out by Freud, between the wealthy miser who retains his feces, and the artist who plays with hers. Our goal is to present art that illuminates our reflection in the porcelain pond.

The show includes work by:

Mike Houston
Keith Herzik
Martin Mazorra
Andy Bolus
Bruno Richard
Jake Austen
Onsmith
Kristen Romaniszak
Paul Nudd
Chris Kerr
Mindy Rose Schwartz
Edie Fake
Melissa Brown
Ryan Duggan
Paul Mack
Bert Stabler

The show is taking place in the NFO XPO, part of this year's Version
Fest.

April 25 & 26 , 2009
1pm to 8pm
Benton House Gymnasium
3052 S Gratten Avenue
Bridgeport (off Bosley Park)
(a few doors north of the Benton House)

New One Panel Gag.

New Fake New Yorker Cover.

Recent Drawings...

The first one is in tribute to Andy Kaufman. All of them were made using fluid acrylics, casein paint, and India ink. I have more to show and will update again soon.

Coming Very Soon - Claptrap No. 2...

I've finally got around to publishing the second issue of Claptrap (5 years after the first one). This issue will contain 26 printed pages of:
Drawings & doodles from 2006-2008
Some selected unpublished gags
Collaborative drawings with fellow Chicago artist, Paul Nudd
Center full-color spread
The cover is a wrap-around 2-color screenprint with rubber stamps printed on the inside. The first 20-30 copies will include 3"x5" doodles from the first issue of Claptrap. The book measures at 7"x8.5". I'll be selling these at Quimby's, Chicago Comics, and maybe a couple of other online ordering sites and it should be out by early February. Oh, and the print run is 125.

"Golden Tissues" in Portland - Curated by Chris Cilla

I have a couple of drawings in a show curated by one of my favorite cartoonists, Chris Cilla, at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland Oregon. Cilla describes the exhibit as, "A delicious freshly boiled collection of scientifically created, fantasy fueled factual autopsies, mostly flat, frequently black & white, some colored pigments, all seeing, all of the time." The show features work by 20+ artists including John Hankiewicz, Jason T. Miles, Zack Soto, Dylan Williams and others.

I'm in Trubble...

The "Trubble Club" that is... I've been meeting with some of the talented Chicago cartoonists folks doing comics jams together. Many of them turn out strange, humorous, or just plain silly but overall I'm pleased to be with many of them. We've compiled some of them in a mini that's being sold at Quimby's here in Chicago and we're working on a second volume.
Other Trubble Club members include: Al Burian, Lilli Carré, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Anya Davidson, Lucy Knisley, Corinne Mucha, Rachel Niffennegger, Bernie McGovern, Laura Park, Aaron Renier, Grant Reynolds, Becca Taylor, Jeremy Tinder, and Marco Torres... Go check out the blog.

A Couple of New Drawings...

The first one is called "It Cuts Plastic Tubing and Human Fingers Efficiently" and the second is "Office in a Small City" (after Edward Hopper). Here's a link to the original painting.

Anthology of Graphic Fiction Vol. 2 - Video Preview

Ivan Brunetti on An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Vol. 2 from Yale University Press on Vimeo.

This is a preview video for Ivan Brunetti's "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories Vol. 2" published by Yale University Press. I'm fortunate enough to have drawn the title page (which is animated in the beginning of this video - my drawing, "Cartoon Suprematism") as well as having a page of unpublished comics in it. The book is amazing and I highly recommend it even if you are on the "up and up" with today's art-comics.

New Comic for Chicago Artists' News.

Finally, a new comic. This is the second half of a collaborative comic I did with John Hankiewicz for Chicago Artists' News, a paper published by the Chicago Artists' Coalition. John wrote the strip, drew his half, and I did the second half. There's more info on the strip on John's blog. The first half of the story is there too so you may want to visit his blog and read his half first. It was great to collaborate with John on this because I got to learn more about his ideas with constructing stories for his comics.

Signing at Quimby's - Oct. 11th 7pm.

As part of Trevor Alixopulos' signing tour for his new book, "The Hot Breath of War", I'll be signing along with him, Laura Park, and Jeremy Tinder at Quimby's here in Chicago. What will I be signing? Well, if there's anyone who shows up with copies of the Hotwire anthology, I can sign those. Yeah, I don't do much nowadays and I don't have a book of my own... I may have a couple of new minis there that I did with John Hankiewicz though. So there'll be something new at least...

New Drawing - "Gash"

Ebony pencil and a touch of charcoal. This is a poor photo too.

2008 Ignatz Awards - I'm nominated...

To coincide with the annual SPX convention, I've been nominated for an Ignatz Award for my story in Hotwire Comics #2 (Fantagraphics Books) called "The Candy Rod". This is surprising to me, as I've never been nominated for a comics-related award. It's unlikely I'll win the award because of the other great stories mine is up against, including:
"Americus", MK Reed and Jon athan Hill, Papercutter #7 (Tugboat Press)
"The Galactic Funnels", Dash Shaw, Mome #11 (Fantagraphics Books)
The Thing About Madeleine, Lilli Carre (self-published)
"The Urn", Chris Wright, Inkweed (Sparkplug Comic Books)

Other pals of mine have been nominated in other categories as well: Lilli Carre, Laura Park, Austin English, Ted May, and David King.

New Drawing.

Watercolor pencils and ink.

Odds n' Ends & Some News...

I will be at Quimby's tomorrow night at 7pm (Friday, July 18th) for the Windy Corner Magazine signing along with John Hankiewicz and the editor (and main cartoonist) Austin English. The way I'm involved is that I interviewed John Hankiewicz for this issue and I'll be there to support these guys. Here's a link to the Quimby's site with the event announcement.

This is a drawing that Paul Nudd did for me. I'm flattered. Paul and are brewing up a possible collaborative art/comics project and I'll let you know more when it happens.

In other news, I recently finished up a new mini comic and a mini of drawings (some of them are shown above) that are split 50/50 with John Hankiewicz. We'll be putting this out sometime before the end of the summer. The two of us are also working on a 4 page comic for the Chicago Artists' Coalition newspaper. I'll post something about it once it's ready for print.

There are some photos up on the Pony Club Gallery's Flickr account from the show I was in curated by Chris Cilla. Go and check 'em out here.

Recently, I took a position at Beverly Arts Center on Chicago's south side teaching a comics class for junior high and high school students. The class will be over this week, but I've made scans of a lot of their comics and will post a link to a Flickr set. The above drawing is by Gabriel (13 yrs old).


Finally, here are a couple of my recent doodles. I'll try to update this blog more often.

New Group Show in Portland, OR - Curated by Chris Cilla

Some of my recent drawings and prints will be in a group show titled "The Wormy Apple Now!" at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland, OR. The show is curated by Chris Cilla and features work from Vincent Fritz, John Hankiewicz, Ryan Iverson (who drew the back of this postcard with the info), Jason T. Miles, Tim Root, and Chris Cilla himself (he drew the front of the postcard too).

Recent Doodles/Drawings for May 2008.

New Painting - "Pan-Fried"

This is a painting - also with India ink - I did in the bottom of a pan.

Brunetti, Hankiewicz, Onsmith Lecture This Thursday

I will be giving a lecture this Thursday night (May 1st) at Columbia College Chicago along with Ivan Brunetti and John Hankiewicz. We'll be talking about our work and a bit about self-publishing comics. The lecture will be at Columbia College's library on the 3rd floor (624 S. Michigan Ave.) from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. (Above image is from the poster for the event.)

"S.T.O.M.A." Exhibit this Saturday!

I'll have work in an exhibit this Saturday (one day only) called, "S.T.O.M.A." - curated by Paul Nudd (he drew the postcard above). Here are the other artists in the show with links:

Keith Herzik
Joyce Polance
Edie Fake
Andy Bolus
Brian O'Dell
Jean-Louis Costes

Photos from the "Off-Kilter Comics" Exhibit

I've uploaded some photos to my Flickr account that I took of the exhibit I curated in Minneapolis called "Off-Kilter Comics" as well as the signing I had with Ivan Brunetti, John Hankiewicz, and Zak Sally.

Above are some photos of the opening taken by Terry Beatty. You can see more of the photos from the opening at his blog. Here are even more photos of the opening. There was also a nice write-up of the show in the Southwest Journal from Minneapolis.

S.T.O.M.A. Exhibit, Curated by Paul Nudd

This is the poster I did for Paul Nudd's "S.T.O.M.A." show that I'm in. The rest is explained on the poster itself.