Monkey Mantle

Outfielder and first baseman for the New York Yankees,  Monkey Mantle as portrayed on his 1961 Topps Banana baseball trading card.

Marie Apetoinette

Marie Apetoinette reigned as the Queen of France between 1774-1793. She was the wife of King Louis XVI and eventual mistress to the guillotine. Famous for responding to her disgruntled subjects by flinging her poo and for the quote: “Let them eat banana bread.”

A chip off the old Bark

Thanks goes out to Etsy buyer Erica for sending in proof of this coincidental literary likeness alongside her recent purchase of “Bark Twain.”  Her comments about how much it resembles her dog’s “surly eyebrows and mustache” are completed founded. I have a suspicion there’s a tiny, dog-sized cigar smouldering in an ashtray somewhere in the background.

F. Scott Fetchgerald- No Regrets

Upon learning that I was highlighted on Regretsy this week, a brief twinge of concern passed through me. Regretsy is the hilariously witty clearinghouse for all things gone horribly wrong in the world of art and crafting. Thanks to a shout out from Dane over at Monkey Minion Press, I learned I was part of Regretsy’s “Awesome Purchase of the Week” post. Thanks to April’s kind words of support and spotlight on F. Scott Fetchgerald, I spent the next 24 hours constantly fulfilling Etsy orders. Thank you Regretsy and all that came by to shop!

Wolfgang Amadeus Monkzart

Just added to the online shop:
Wolfgang Amadeus Monkzart, Classical era composer and inventor of the Vienna Sausage.

Click here to learn more

New Literary Pets

A fresh batch of “Literary Pets” have been added to the Etsy shop. Pictured above, clockwise from top left: Drools Verne, Willa Catter, William Pawkner and Laura Bengal Wilder. From William Pawkner’s Etsy item description: From Oxford, Mississippi, William Pawkner was considered one of America’s most important Southern authors. He wrote novels, short stories, essays and screenplays. Among his famous works are”The Hound and the Fury,” “As I Lay Panting” and “The Rovers.”

Click Here to View the Entire Series

Googie Sign Prints

Just added to the Etsy shop, a selection of whimsical “Googie” styled sign illustrations available as 8″ x 10″ signed and matted prints.

-Visit Here To See More From The Series-

Superlative Heroes/Nefarious Villains Back to Back Book

**June 8th 2016 Update**
3 leather bound artist’s proofs now available.

Visit this link for more info.

Leather_SidexSide

 

 

Presenting The Union of Superlative Heroes and Order of Nefarious Villains book. Both sets of Victorian/Steampunk characters have been combined into a unique back to back book structure. This handmade limited edition of 100 measures at 7.25″ x 5″ and is covered in tan and black book cloth featuring gold and silver Lokta end papers. Covers are adorned with a hot stamped foil emblems representing each side. Hand bound with care and artistic precision by Julie Sullivan of Dancing Cat Bindery.

What follows is a small selection of pages from the collection of 48 total characters with bios, 12 episodes of action and enlightenment and a partial glimpse at 1 of the 2 whimsical novelty advertising pages.

Continue reading “Superlative Heroes/Nefarious Villains Back to Back Book”

San Diego Comic Con 2011- Wrap Up

The San Diego Convention Center from our hotel’s front door.

Our last day started slow and showed all the signs of a general mood of winding down… until after lunchtime. The crowds and sales suddenly came to life and we ended up with our best day to date. So it was a great way to wrap things up for our second year in San Diego. The only regret from the experience was a lack of time to spend out in the exhibit hall visiting other booths and vendors. I took a bit of time during the morning lull to document a few of our neighbor’s booths. Be sure and visit their sites for more fun and wonderfulness.

Continue reading “San Diego Comic Con 2011- Wrap Up”

San Diego Comic Con 2011- Day 2

Day 2 at the convention was a busy one. Met lots of new customers and continued enjoying the energy and excitement all around us. What follows is a visual diary of shots of the convention floor and some of the great folks that came by the booth to both purchase and show off their costumes. Featured above: the fellows from Elope, a custom costume company from Colorado. They are the official outfitters for Pee-wee Herman.

(Be sure and click on photos for a larger view.)

Continue reading “San Diego Comic Con 2011- Day 2”

Thank you Harry

The recent release of the final chapter of the Harry Potter saga has caused me to reflect upon how J.K. Rowling’s magical creation affected me over a decade ago. In the spring of 2000, Warner Brothers was furiously at work on production for the first film episode. In conjunction with filming they were putting together an official style guide to distribute to merchandisers so that all the various products to follow would maintain consistency in their look. I was approached by an L.A. design firm that was working directly with Warner Brothers to contribute my digital scratch board style to a long list of preliminary designs. The task was an enormous undertaking: create over 50 finished pieces in a week.

Among the endless hours of work that week, one of the highlights was receiving a fax with J.K. Rowling’ signature next to her visual take on how she envisioned the sorting hat should look. The studio’s version was more of a puffy Disney-esque style that was changed to a leaner, pointy classic witches hat version.

SortingHatChange(Upper right) Warner Brothers initial sorting hat design request that I worked up. Fax received of J.K. Rowling’s sketch of the sorting hat on the left and my version of the finished approved version from her on the lower right.

After the first batch was completed and approved, I received additional requests over the next few weeks that brought my total contribution to over 100 pieces. After the first film’s release, the marketing of products shifted dramatically from using illustration to using movie stills and photography. Before that happened there was a magical window of time when a trip to a (now defunct) Warner Brothers store in the mall yielded tables and racks full of items that sported my efforts on the project.

HarryPotter Style Guide

“Googie A-Go-Go” deluxe edition book

In addition to the small pamphlet version, comes a signed, limited edition (5) hand bound version of the “Googie A-Go-Go” book. This version has the same content as its small counterpart and includes electric blue and red book cloth cover, snazzy cut paper medallion on the cover and high quality 61 lb printed pages inside. 14 full color illustrations with humorous text. Book dimensions are 13″ x 9.5.” This deluxe fancypants version will be introduced at our Small Press booth (N-13) next week at San Diego’s International Comic-Con event.

Click Here To Learn More About This Edition

San Diego Comic Con 2011

(Click small color floor plan map to enlarge.)

The time is drawing near for this year’s comicpalooza extraordinaire, located in beautiful San Diego. Next week, starting with Wednesday’s preview night, the event will run through Sunday the 24th. We’ll be in the Small Press area again, this time booth N-13. If you’re one of the fortunate 125,000 to snag a ticket to this awesome event, I hope you’ll drop by, say hello and peruse our table of silly goodness.

Since last year’s event, we’ve added to the mixture of Steampunk Monkeys and Sinister Simians with new card sets: Artistic Pets, a second set of Literary Pets, The Union of Superlative Heroes and the Order of Nefarious Villains. Limited edition The Big Bark Theory prints will be available. “The Hairy Trinity”and a collection of Superlative and Nefarious character portraits will be available in the form of fanciful signed metallic prints. Other recent additions to choose from will be the Monkey Memory Match Game, Googie A-Go-Go pamphlet book and a very limited edition Googie A-Go-Go hardbound fancypants edition.

Premiering at the show will be a back to back, hand bound, limited edition Superlative Heroes and Nefarious Villains hardback book. This uniquely bound book of Victorian superheroes and super villains will include extra characters not available in the card sets plus 12 episodes of action and enlightenment sure to please. All this and a whole lot more!

Machina Fatalis- Steampunk Guide for Comic Con

The folks over at Machina Fatalis have started compiling a list of Steampunk related booths and offerings for the upcoming San Diego Comic Con. The list includes a nice mention of what I’ll be offering. More details of my presence at the show soon to follow.

Monkey Memory Match Game

Just released and available in the Etsy shop: The Monkey Memory Match Game. Test your memory using 24 pairs of Chet Phillips monkey illustrations. Simply lay out the 48 tiles, pattern side up in a grid 6 across and 8 down (or 8 across and 6 down if residing in Australia) and turn two over at a time to find a match. Perfect for two players or enjoy testing your monkey memory solo.

Monkey art mounted on sturdy mat board. Each tile measures 2″ x 2.25″ and are packaged in a 5″ x 7″ box with instructions.

(Cheeky Monkey decal on the box bottom, signed by the artist.)

Make a Monkey Mental Note to visit the Etsy Shop listing for more details.

Mom’s Basement Giveaway

Time to break out the crayons with this Giveaway contest. Head over to Mom’s Basement for a chance to win your very own “Monkey Color” coloring book. Enjoy hours of activity, allowing you to while away the time before the inevitable domination of technologically advanced apes and monkeys procure our world. While you’re there, soak in the warm embrace of Mom’s Basement, offering up all things geek in culture and gaming.

Click to Visit Mom’s Basement Giveaway Page For a Chance to Win.

The Magic Lantern

This weekend marks the release of the summer blockbuster The Green Lantern. Perhaps in an alternate universe somewhere down the wormhole there’s a similar event for our intrepid Superlative Hero “The Magic Lantern.” Presented in glorious sepia tones with wondrous “SteamMax” effects. Here’s a bit of background on our hero:

“Part skilled magician, part necromancer and known for the supernatural device he wielded, The Magic Lantern was able to conjure both human and animal spirits to do his bidding. He held the title of royal conjurer for the government of Rotterdam for 20 years before turning his unworldly invention towards the war to thwart evil. He discovered his namesake while exploring the underground catacombs of a burned out forgotten cathedral. From the moment he grasped the handle an otherworldly bond was formed, linking him to its dreadful powerful. With it he confronted and defeated such evil entities as Professor Mojo, Evil Comet, Major Marionette and the Dark Hell’s Ember. “

(Excerpt from the upcoming limited edition, handbound book of Superlative Heroes and Nefarious Villains. Due out soon!)

Master of the Skies

This air combat video gamer portrait was recently added to the Etsy shop.

A Bounty of Fatherliness

Father’s Day is June 19th

Nothing says “Thanks Dad, for all you do for me” like a gift of  Sinister Monkeys, Bigfoot/Wookie/Wolfman portrait, Tiki, Googie Sign or Victorian superheroes. With Father’s Day fast approaching visit the Etsy shop for these and loads more great gift ideas.

Pictured above:

Society of Sinister Simians limited edition book

Gentleman Mint Portrait

Smoking Fez Monkey leather paperweight

Thought Process

Choose 2 Tiki prints for $30.

The Hairy Trinity

Atomic Mutant Sushi Googie Sign

Phineas Fleetfoot Portrait

Rocket Tiki Googie Sign

Prince Bruno Von Sniffenfinger Portrait

High Flyer

Horatio Sprocketnotch Portrait

Fox In The Hen House

This crafty fox has taken on the job of guarding the hen house.

Just added to the Etsy shop.

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