Comic Con

So Today I'm printing prints for the convention like a madman! It isn't my favorite part of the whole convention experience, but all the hard work will be worth it on Wednesday when were relaxing in San Diego. And the best part of all is this year our table is right next to our awesome friends Kevin and Chris from Fleet Street, and Elizabeth who will be selling her super awesome Kikutowne monsters! It's going to be an amazing time!

Here's a new print I'm selling this year. It's the second new character in my Customizing Monster Kit series.

Comic Con 2008

I couldn't be more thrilled that the San Diego Comic Con is less then one week away! Seeing that me and my Goblin Fish Press cohort, Josh Parpan have a table at the convention, I thought it appropriate to start showcasing some of the new and exciting work we'll be selling this year. I'll be posting new prints, toys and more every few day's this week, so be sure to check back often.

Here's the first new full sized print I'll be selling this year. It's one of two new prints in the Customizing Monster Kit series I sold last year.




Two days from now I'll be posting the second new print in the series - The Teenage Mummy!

I haven't posted for awhile, so here's something from the bowls of last years busy portfolio.

Work for the San Diego Comic Con and a secret/soon to be revealed project at JibJab have consumed these last few weeks. It's been a busy period of time, but I'll post more about it soon.

Until then,

Justin

Things are really busy at work and it's been a chalenging task keeping afloat my own personal projects. On my off time - chiefly between the hours of 9 pm and 2 am - I've been slowly working on a new children's book concept. It's set in my native Palm Springs and features this swell little character.

Here's a Postable I made at work. It's funny, I've lived in Venice for six months now and still haven't touched the ocean. I blame it on my justifiable fear of being eaten alive!


On a more pleasant note one of my freelance projects was recently plugged on the website Boing Boing.

If your at all interested you can find my Magnetic Monster Toy at the swell Goblin Fish Press site I run with my ultra talented brother Josh.

Here's a few label designs I did for a soon to be released JibJab short. I do a lot of work like this at JibJab, but I like the way these two came out. It's not everyday I get to design an air freshener with a cartoon devil as the mascot.

Grand Opening !

Do you see the nifty new button on the right hand side of my blog? We'll if you point and click it'll direct you to the brand new Goblin Fish Press store I recently opened with artist, brother, pal, and all around swell guy Josh. In the store you can find everything from art prints to monster T-shirts to the current Toy's I made with the fine folks over at Mudpuppy.

A special thanks to Elizabeth Ito for telling us all about the wonders of BigCartel.com. If you haven't already done so check out her new store here!

The Mysterious Delgadillo

What's a Delgadillo you ask? He's the reptilian creature barking at that mongrel dog of course! This was a piece of ruff concept art for a book pitch I created last year when I lived inside a shed in my parents backyard and had way to much free time on my hands.

Those were the good old days.

I made this postcard for a seriously talented filmmaker and freind Ryan Bosch. If your in the Los Angeles area on Thursday come and check out his movie at the Bootleg Theater.

MONSTERS FOR AGES 3 AND UP!!!

The other day I spotted in a little shop in Venice Beach two very cool pieces of merchandise I worked on last summer, my Monster Tin Set and one extremely Mighty Dinosaur puzzle. It was a strange kind of thrill to see my work sitting there on a sales rack and I have to admit for once in a really long time I felt like a professional working adult! You can purchase these guys here at the Mudpuppy web sight. The magnetic monster set in particular make for extremely cool fridge magnets!





One quick note about both products - If you guys stopped by my table at last years Comic Con you might recognize some of these monsters and dinosaurs from a series of prints I sold.





That's the end of my shameless plug. Sorry if I came off like a salesmen.

Here's something a made for an upcoming JibJab production. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

The Cereal Killers Show!

Since Halloween this blog has been a real ghost town and I want to apologize to the faithful two or three visitors who check for life every month or so. I was recently granted a swell design position at JibJab and since have had to move myself to the sunny shores of Venice Beach - that's my excuse. I'm an adult now and thusly have a lot less time for midnight blogging and vegging out in front of early morning reruns of the X-Files, but I promise to you faithful two or three I'll try to post a few times a month. In theaters now you can check out the box I made for The Cereal Killers show. My fellow Cereal Killer brother, Josh Parpan also did a box for the show. A special thanks goes to the extremely cool Viktor Von Kreep for inviting us to contribute!

It feels good to be back!

- Justin






P.S. Check out these way cool drawings Josh create for our approaching cartoon pitch! Hopefully the adventures of Lunar Rover will be coming to your television set real soon!

I don’t know why Sasquatch gets all the publicity? Batsquatch can fly through the air and suck your blood!

A Traveling Man

I've been doing a lot of aimless wandering lately. You see I'm in the process of writing a new chapter book set on the bizarre highways and byways of America, so my research has taken me all over the area in search of strange little towns and attractions.


On Monday I stumbled upon this monolithic oddity high in the mountains. It's a place called the Palomar Observatory, and I can't express the feeling of awe and wonderment it inspired. Legend has it the creator, an eccentric astronomer named George Ellery Hale was told to build the observatory by little green elves.



Here's something from my ongoing Tom Blackbird project.

To make up for my recent lack of posting I drew you this picture.

I know this is coming a little late but I wanted to thank all the people that made this years San Deigo Con great. Kevin Dart, Chris Turnham, Elizabeth Ito, Kelsey Mann, Donnachada Daly, Jeremy Bernstein, Greg Sesma, Pascal Campion, Michael Fleming, Scott Campbell, David Skelly, Griselda Sastrawinata, Thomas Bernos and Oury Atlan, Mike Moon, Carlos Ramos, Morgan Kelly, Steve Lambe, Dave Stewart, Ragnar,Sean Szeles, Louie del Carmen, Pen Ward, the MukPuddy Crew

Here's a sketch Kelsey Mann did of Josh and me. If you guess which is which I'll give you a special prize!


Here's the latest edition to my ongoing series of Customizing Monster Kit characters. Personally I would love to see this guy made into a really cheap action figure and sold at a run down swap meet. I guess a guy can dream, right?

My Monster Merch!

Here's 4 brand new prints you can find at the San Diego Comic Con. Personally I'm a fan of Frankenteen. He's the pale and frail poster boy for skinny nerds with pretty cool personalities. After high school he'll own his own computer company or direct hipster indie films or something. So jocks and bullies beware because Frankenteens coming to his ten year reunion with a smug face and a really pretty wife!

Hello everyone in blogger land! So the San Diego Comic Con is fast approaching and preparation for this great event has completely consumed my life. I feel like a zombie or some kind of automated robot, my every waking moment spent organizing the hundreds of prints, t-shirts and books I'll be selling. My associate and talented bro Josh will also be selling his awesome monster postcards at our table. Check them out here!

I present another print you can find at the convention. It showcases my fear of feral cats, especially the enormous man eating kind!


I present a shirt I made which, if your interested, you can purchase. If you've never been to Aguanga, CA you should definitely go. They have great apple pie and lots of abandoned barns to look at!

Two quick notes about this illustration:

1. It's a print I'll be selling at this years San Diego Comic Con.

2. Dinosaurs are cool.

A Mighty Big Post for a Mighty Big Month!

The San Diego Comic Con – July 26^th – 29^th

The most important bit of news for the month features the all mighty Con! This will be the first time brother Josh Parpan and I will be selling our work and kid friendly merchandise at the convention, so come and visit us at the Goblin Fish Press table. I have to admit I’m really going to miss being apart of the great migration of SciFi and Comic book nerds traveling the tables, but I guess you can’t have it all. So if you’re going to be in attendance this year come and say hello, I'm looking forward to meeting you all. Here’s one of the Monster prints I’ll be selling. As the great Con approaches I’ll be posting images of all our merchandise!

Terrible T- Shirts

Since Goblin Fish Press launched its very first line of Terrible T-Shirts we’ve become a smash hit in Central America, selling our awful shirts to children throughout El Salvador, Guatemala and especially Honduras. No, just kidding, but here’s three more monster shirts we'll be selling at the San Diego Comic Con.

This month I’ve also been busy at work developing some ideas for potential book projects. This is from a story about a fire breathing elephant named Aku.

Lastly I wanted to thank my talented pal David Sones for awarding me a Thinking Blogger Award. My posting lately has become less frequent and this award fills me with a tremendous amount of guilt. I’ll try harder David, I promise.

After years of work and toil – not to mention a whole slew of time consuming freelance jobs – today’s the day Goblin Fish Press releases its first bit of official merchandise! So attention all B-Movie Monster loving nerds and Sci-Fi freaky geeks, if you wish to purchase the first in a series of Terrible T-shirts click the new shiny button on the right hand side of my blog, or simply click HERE!

Now Playing! Insectoids from Mars – designed by Justin Parpan

Be sure to check back soon for more designs. Coming soon – a batch of brand new monsters including the Wolfman, Sea Beast and Ghastly Ghoul, also a few designs by my associate Josh Parpan!

Castle on Horror Hill

The 40 Show!

On April 20th Mike G is holding the 40 Show in Vancouver which will showcase some really cool works of art by cartoonists and illustrators on filthy old malt liquor bottles. Being the swell guy he is Mike asked me to contribute, and after some difficult "research" on the wonders of this premium malt beverage here's what I came up with for the show. Please enjoy and drink responsibly!



If you want to learn more about the 40 Show Mike G has created a blog for the event: THE 40 SHOW

My Monsters!

More work from a soon to be released project.

See, I told you I'd be back, and this time Ive brought along a background design from a soon to be released project. Tune in next week for more spooktacular background designs! Lately Ive had monsters on the brain, so maybe I'll toss in a few beasties to boot? The sky's the limit here at the old Primitive Art and Design, so check back real soon.

Okay, so Ive been a complete jerk, I ditched you for months and months and for that I'm sorry. My excuse is this, I blame my hiatus from the wonderful world of blogging on my shiny new day job -- here's a link where you can check out some of the work Ive been doing with the fine folks at Painted-Words

To buy back your trust and respect I present this fun and colorful illustration of a food product that doesn't exist. I promise I'll never leave you again.

-Justin Patrick Parpan

Behold, the Mexican Cave Quail!

Circa the Summer of 2006

When I was a kid the notion of Santa Clause always gave me the jitters. The thought of a huge lumbering stranger entering my house via a dark little chimney on a cold winter night is pretty unsettling. So with that in mind here’s the Christmas card I sent out this year to friends and family. I took some inspiration from 1980’s horror like Creepshow and Tales from Crypt, so I hope it doesn’t spook Nana, Pop and the rest of the Parpan clan too much.

Happy Holidays everyone.