Author: Chet

Chet Phillips works as a freelance illustrator, creating "digital scratchboard" creations for a host of commercial clients. As usual, no electrons are harmed in the process.

Literary Pets

Think you know your famous literature? Take the “Literary Pets” quiz!
(Answers below)

  1. What author was famed for creating the epic struggle between Captain A. Lab and “Moby Poodle,” the great white lap dog?
  2. This writer’s play, “Pugmalion,”  was later musically adapted to “My Fair Labradoodle.”
  3. Considered one of the greatest authors of fantasy and science fiction, this writer is known for such classics as “The Illustrated Dog” and “Something Wagging This Way Comes.”
  4. Famed author of “Fancy Feast at Tiffany’s” and was a childhood friend of Harpurr Lee.

Learn more about these author’s lives and great works included in the entire set of 24 cards titled Literary Pets 2, the second volume of famous literary luminaries as cats and dogs. Each card measures 2 1/4″ x 4″ on sturdy 14 pt.cover stock and presents a full color portrait on one side with biographical information on the reverse. Card sets and individual signed portrait prints available in the Etsy shop.

Click here for more info and to shop.


Answers to the quiz:

1.Bloodhound author of dark romanticism, Herman Smellville 2. George St. Bernard Shaw 3. Stray Bradbury 4. Truman Catpote

Sarah Joncas

The work of Ontario-based artist Sarah Joncas generates interesting visual narratives with a rich color palette.

Mike Worrall

Mike Worrall has been painting since the early 1960’s and claims he is almost entirely self taught.  He concentrates his subject matter towards exploring the subconscious with an appreciation of Paul Delvaux and Max Ernst amongst others.

Don Kenn

Don Kenn’s work makes me imagine an alternate universe where Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” is instead written by H.P. Lovecraft and illustrated by Edward Gorey. Don’s vision and execution is wonderfully creepy.

Happy Labor Day

Tire Sculptures

Recycled art in the form of used tire pieces.

Sketchy Duel

Some animated fun from the minds over at Bird Box Studio.

Monster Friends

A set of four posters by artists Alex Pearson, Jeff Kandefer, Andy Young, and Julian Baker comprise the fun Monster Friends set.

Fur Face Boy

Check out the express train goodness of Fur Face Boy. He offers up the triple threat of: creating cool design, exhibiting tremendous marketing skills with a huge following and lastly, being a genuinely great guy.

Monkey Monday-Big in Japan

Next month the International Primatological Society will convene in Kyoto, Japan for their 23rd Congress. ChetArt’s monkey business will be a part of the festivities, thanks to the efforts of Laura Marsh. I met Laura last month in San Diego during our Comic-Con event. She runs the comic shop and gallery True Believers in Santa Fe and is also a director of the Global Conservation Institute. As a participate in next month’s Primatological Congress, she will be a presenting a symposium  and teaching a pre-congress course. Perhaps most importantly, she’ll be exposing her colleagues to a variety of my monkey personalities in the form of Sinister Simian and Steampunk Monkey buttons that she purchased to re-sell while she’s there. Perhaps this will spark the idea for a future lecture on the migratory habits of evil, death ray wielding, megalomaniac chimps. Stay tuned…

(Above portrait from the beautiful and fascinating photo series by James Mollison.)

Andy Helms

Visit Andy Helm’s various sites for more fun, including his Dude a Day project.

Aaron Horkey

Beautiful line work and a brilliant collection of surreal imagery make Aaron Horkey’s work very satisfying.

Tilt Shift

The Tilt Shift photography technique has the unique ability to fool the eye into seeing the real world as a dollhouse version of miniatures. See more examples and tutorial links here.

Here’s a tilt shift shot of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con small press area, taken by KimonoKitsy Studios. Look closely for our booth on the far right.

AJ Fosik

AJ Fosik’s wood sculptures and richly detailed and visually arresting. See more of his work and an interview here.

Jason Tennant

I enjoyed recently discovering the work of Jason Tennant, an artist who recycles the old remains of American chestnut trees into animated animal sculptures.

Tom Gauld

Some of Tom Gauld’s illustration work has a nice twist of an updated Edward Gorey flavor to it.

Magnificent Specimens

Austin photographer Dave Mead presents an impressive collection of  portraits from the 2009 World Beard and Mustache Championship. Think you know your famous facial hair? Take this Mustache Test.

Mad Men Illustrated

Check out Dyna Moe’s great collection of illustrations from each episode of the great show “Mad Men.” My favorite episode to date is from season one titled “The Wheel”:

“Nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, “nostalgia” literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels – around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved.” –Don Draper

Monkey Monday-Extinct Cereal Mascots

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