So Long to Ya, 2010

This post has been a long time coming, but here's my work for the Year in Review short "So Long to Ya, 2010." This was a really awesome short to work on because it was collaborative and we really got to work with our hands a lot. Puppets, sculptures, set building, lots and lots of visual development... I worked on a little bit of everything for this one, which was great.

Our former Governator himself- Arnold!

Some sculptures I made for one of the scenes- General McCrystal and Hamid Karzai, who was holding a big sack of money.

Rahm Emanual, our former White House Chief of Staff, in concept and final puppet form. (Puppet by Mr. Mike Chiechi.)



The Incorrigible Glenn Beck.

A scene concept for when they sing about Immigration.

Some concept for the Healthcare Repeal.


Some character concept work on Vice President Joe Biden.



I also painted the JibJab logo to go with Mike's JibJab guys puppets.


This was some of the most fun I've had working on a short. I'm currently working with Mike on a new project, too, so prepare for more awesome puppet madness soon. Here's the short in it's entirety!

Mike has a Blog!

So, my good buddy and coworker, Mr. Mike Chiechi, has started a blog for all his puppet-making mastery! I've worked with him on a few shorts, if you remember Cave Worms, and the most recent JibJab Year in Review ("So Long To Ya, 2010!"). Here's a few behind-the-scenes photos. (My hoodie blended right into the green screen.)

Yuki 7

Here's my contribution to my good friend Kevin Dart's latest book, Yuki 7 Looks That Kill. This time around the amazingly talented Elizabeth Ito penned a terrific story to accompany Kevin's illustrations, and I have to say it's going to be a fantastic book! It's due out July 16th with a release party at the Q Pop Gallery in China Town, so be sure to show your support!

Justin

Valentine's Day 2011

Here's some recent BG work I did on a valentine production at JibJab.

This is a color script for some of the key scenes.

Here's a story sketch for something I've been writing lately.

Justin

I'll be working on my piece for this show all weekend. It might be a late night tonight!

Justin

New Steve Zissoue Print!

Reprints of my new Steve Zissou print are now available for purchase on etsy.

The Bad Dad's Show

Here's my contribution to the Bad Dad's Show taking place at the Lopo Gallery October 30th in San Francisco, a show celebrating the films of Wes Anderson. Rushmore and Bottle Rocket were two defining movie experiences for me when I was a kid, along with all Anderson's proceeding work like Life Aquatic, so this piece was a lot of fun! I have a Dignan print ruffed out that I want to tackle next!

--Justin

The Bad Dad's Show

Here's the flyer for the upcoming Bad Dad's Show in San Francisco next weekend. I'll be posting my contribution soon so please stay tuned!

Justin

BoingBoing

BoingBoing did a cool post about the Haunted Mansion Show over the weekend!

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/09/art-inspired-by-the.html

the Ghoulish Guests of the Haunted Mansion Show

Here's a painting I did for the Ghoulish Guests of the Haunted Mansion Show at the Harold Golen Gallery in Miami Florida. The piece is approximately 16 x 20 inches in size and was done using ink and acrylic. It was a real pleasure making this poster by hand after years of using the computer to make my illustrations!

The show opens Oct 9th and runs through Nov 6th

--Justin

Halloween at JibJab

Here's some fun postcards I made at work over the past year or so. Thanks Mike and Alan for the use of your severed heads!

Justin

Monster's Vs. Robots show!

Here's a print I made for the Monsters Vs. Robots Show at the very cool OhNo!Doom Gallery in Chicago. The show opens October 2nd and runs through the 30th.

--Justin

Blowin Down The Road

Drew this while listening to some good old Woody Guthrie.

--Justin

I don't know about you but I always like to start off my mornings by listening to David Lynch report the weather. It cracks me up every time!

--Justin

Tiki Oasis

This weekend is a convention I've been looking foward to all year long, maybe even more then the SD Comic Con, which is saying a lot!

The show is the 10th annual Tiki Oasis Extravaganza in sunny San Diego. It's a weekend of fun, music and partying...hopefully with a Mai Tai in hand....at the beautiful Crown Plaza Hotel, and I'm thrilled to be exhibiting my work at the shows marketplace. Trish Tatman will also be on hand selling some great work like plush Tikis and shrunken head keychains, so everyone should really swing by and say hello!

Speaking of the almighty Tiki, you should also head on over to my brother Josh Parpan's blog where he's posted some preview images for a children's book project we've been working on together for a few years now. I wrote the manuscript way back when I was a student at CalArts, and I'm really excited to see the awesome pictures he's contributing.

Nice work Josh.

I drew this last night while listening to Neil Young's score from the film Dead Man. I've been in a sketching mood lately, so you'll be seeing more of these loose paintings in the next couple of weeks.

--Justin

Cave Worms

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Every once in a while at JibJab a few of us get to collaborate on an offbeat little personal project. Cave Worms was one of the recent projects that I made with my good buddy and master puppeteer Mike Chiechi. Our friend Alan Cook filmed and photographed the short and Devin Bell consulted us quite a bit on the fabricating process. It's a rather strange addition to the Jibjab library, but I find it's quirkiness pretty charming. Mike and me describe it as our David Lynch style ecard for JibJab.

Here's the visual development work I made for the project.

I crafted the underground set piece out of Paper Mache and lots and lots of clay and sculpey. I wanted it to feel like an old Peter Gabriel claymation video.

Alan did a nice job lighting this guy as well.

Although that's me holding the puppet for a lighting test, Mike did all the puppeteering. The guy is a puppet wizard!

Here's the miniature cityscape I made. I used X-Mas lights to create the glow of the windows and it really added to the Ed Wood charm of the whole set piece. Again, Alan did a very nice job photographing it.

In all it was a really fun project to work on. Fine work Mike and Alan!

--Justin

Comic Con

These past couple of weeks have been really busy trying to prepare for Comic Con. Here's me being busy...fun, right?

With that said, the Con is finally here tomorrow evening and as always I couldn't be more thrilled! Here's a nifty map Trish made that will help you scour your way through the nerdy depths of the convention hall in search of my table!

See you soon!

--Justin

San Diego Comic Con 2010

Summers in full swing folks, and you know what that means? Yes, it's once again time for the great migration of nerds, geeks and freaks to make their way out to sunny San Diego for the all mighty Comic Con! I'll be there once again at table F8, so please come by and say hello.

Here's the new prints I made especially for the show this year.

And for those who can't make it to the mighty Con, no fears. You can now purchase everything at my new Haunted Cove store on Etsy!

That's all for now. hopefully I'll be seeing a lot of you in San Diego next week!