kettle of fish

botany vs. latin

2012-01-24T10:09:00.000-08:00

New illustration for an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times: Flora, Now in English.

pure fiction

2012-01-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

I got to make a design for the front and back covers of the Chicago Reader's Pure Fiction issue this week, above. I also made some spot illustrations for one of the issue's stories. These first two illustrations below were published with the story. The third one of the pickle in shades was not, but I am including it here for posterity because I like its weird little spirit.

ten steps until nothing

2012-01-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

I made a 7 page (mostly) silent story for the anthology Ten Steps Until Nothing, published by Cristina Spanò and Giulia Sagramola of the Italian publisher Teiera. It's a beautifully printed two-color book, and the stories within all build upon each other, starting with a story based on the idea of an object or small singular space (mine) with each subsequent story expanding the space of the theme, progressing to such subjects as the idea of a room, house, city, universe, and eventually nothingness.

Giulia was also kind enough to feature my work on the Zizì Illustrators Collective site, which you can see here.

chicago zine fest designs

2012-01-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

I made the designs for the Chicago Zine Fest this year, coming up in early March! Above is one of the web banners and the basic poster design, and below is the t-shirt illustration (and you can obtain one if you so desire here)

googlin'

2011-12-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

Last Spring I was invited to make an illustration for a new Google search caption game, in which people are invited to submit funny captions for what a character might be searching for in each illustrated predicament. The project was posted today, and you can view the different illustrated scenarios and submitted responses here. There are some great ones!

best of chicago

2011-12-15T18:44:00.001-08:00

Here's my design for the cover of Newcity's Best of Chicago issue that came out this week.

new york times op-ed gif

2011-12-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

I made this animated gif illustration for today's New York Times Op-ed Letters section, for the piece entitled Does School Choice Improve Education? Long live the gif!

loyola exhibiton

2011-12-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

I was invited to show my moving drawing loops and other works at Loyola's Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex, at 1131 W. Sheridan. On display will be the looped moving drawings along with some of my recent string drawing pieces, artists' books, and comics. The opening is this Thursday December 8th, from 5-6:30pm, and will be up 'till January 21!

overgrown

2011-11-28T18:04:00.001-08:00

I designed this new offset print, overgrown, printed by and available for purchase at one of the very best comic shops, Desert Island in Brooklyn!

new work

2011-11-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been back in school again since September, and it's been exciting to indulge in and have access to new equipment and processes! Here are some of the pieces and experiments I've made in the past couple months.

Hand-bound book, containing 100 straying drawings on translucent paper:

Portraits drawn with string, sandwiched between handmade abaca and cotton paper. I hadn't expected to like papermaking as much as I am:

Looping book, containing a never-ending narrative. I plan to make
many more of these. I also became obsessed
with the kwikprint foil stamper, as you can see here:

Little book utilizing overlapping transparencies:

Letterpress experiments:

Stills from a couple new animation projects I'm excited about making,
using the Vandercook press:

new yorker

2011-11-18T07:03:00.000-08:00

I had the very fun task of making these illustrations for this week's New Yorker, the Food Issue! The above illustrations accompany anecdotal food stories by Dana Spiotta, Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Paul Theroux, Louise Erdrich, and Judith Thurman, respectively. Getting to draw a woodchuck, drunk on fermented mulberries for the New Yorker was an all-time illustration career high!
I also drew 25 small spot illustrations of food for the interactive table of contents in the New Yorker iPad Special for this issue. If you touch the image of the food, it pulls up the pieces about that ingredient in the magazine. I loved working on these!

eyeworks biz

2011-11-04T15:16:00.001-07:00

Alexander and I were interviewed about the Eyeworks Festival by Anna Gross for the AV Club. You can read the interview here.
Also up on the AV Club site is an interview with our festival Guest, Lori D! You can read that one here.

And BEHOLD this amazing illustration made by Tommi Musturi, screenprinted onto the front of the Eyeworks programs!

Eyeworks starts tomorrow afternoon, November 5th! Be there or be square!

eyeworks 2011 poster trailer

2011-10-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Behold, the 2011 Eyeworks animated poster trailer! This year we again had the pleasure of having the Eyeworks posters designed/masterminded by the brilliant Sonnenzimmer team of Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi. 200 posters were designed and screenprinted by Sonnenzimmer, and we all took turns painting directly into a layer of wet ink while the layer was fresh off the press. We then photographed each poster sequentially, frame by frame, to make this screenprinted-poster-animation experience! If you keep an eye out, you can find the frames of this animation posted up around Chicago this week, and of course at the festival next weekend on November 5 & 6.

Here's a pic from Sonnenzimmer's site of Alexander and I painting into the wet ink of the posters in their studio.

the lifted brow

2011-10-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

I illustrated the cover for the new food issue of the great Australian magazine The Lifted Brow

op-ed tech-toddler

2011-10-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

I drew this spot illustration of a tech-toddler for today's NY Times Op-Ed letters page.

costume ideas

2011-10-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of Halloween costume time I thought I'd post some images from my favorite 70's paper costume craft book, Making Paper Costumes. These are only a few of the gorgeous/insane costumes shown in the book!

reader house

2011-10-14T06:04:00.001-07:00

I have these two illustrations in this week's Chicago Reader, the paper's 40th anniversary issue.

Eyeworks Festival 2011!

2011-10-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Just finalized the programs for year two of the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, the fest I co-organize with Alexander Stewart. We're really excited about the lineup this year! View the festival trailer above, and the program listings and festival info below.

Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation

Saturday, November 5 and Sunday November 6, 2011 

DePaul University, CDM Theater, 247 S. State Street, lower level
Jackson stop, Red Line
Chicago, USA
Admission: $6 for each program

Presented by
Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center
& DePaul University School of Cinema & Interactive Media
Eyeworks is organized by Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carré
www.eyeworksfestival.com

Program One
Saturday, November 5, 3:00 pm
80 minutes

Robert Breer - LMNO 9:30, 1978
Zeitguised - Peripetics 3:20, 2009
Max Hattler - AANAATT 4:45, 2010
Bill Porter - On Time Off 4:21, 2008
Thorsten Fleisch - Kosmos 5:30, 2004
Mike Maryniuk - Tattoo Step 1:11, 2008
Barry Spinello - Soundtrack 10:00, 1969
James Otis - Jacob's Ladder 4:00, 1981
Ed Ackerman - Primiti Too Taa 3:00, 1986
Atsushi Wada - In A Pig’s Eye 10:00, 2010
Lei Lei - Magic Cube and Ping-Pong 4:04, 2009
Niki Lindroth von Bahr - Tord and Tord 10:44, 2010
Peter Larsson - Seven Days in the Woods 6:00, 2010
Anthony Gross and Hector Hoppin - Joie de Vivre 9:00, 1936

Program Two: Festival Guest Lori Damiano
Saturday, November 5, 6:00 pm

Portland animator Lori Damiano will present a program of her work, including a special preview screening of her hand-drawn animation “Lord I: The Records Keeper.” Lori D’s highly energetic animations and illustrations have a distinctive graphic style and charm, and she has done work for a wide range of clients, including Yo Gabba Gabba, Girl Skateboard Co., and Bonny Prince Billy. She earned an MFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts, and is the Animation Department Chair at the California State Summer School for the Arts. She writes a monthly column in The Skateboard Mag called “The Learnings of,” and works with the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland. www.lori-d.com

Program Three
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 pm
65 minutes

Len Lye - Tusalava 10:00, 1929
Takashi Ito - Thunder 5:00, 1985
Eric Patrick - Ablution 13:00, 2001
Gary Beydler - Glass Face 3:00, 1975
Jesse McManus - Macavity 3:00, 2011
Bendik Kaltenborn - The End 10:00, 2008
Eric Dyer - The Bellows March 5:30, 2009
John Stehura - Cibernetic 5.3 8:00, 1961-65
Paul Bush - While Darwin Sleeps 5:00, 2004
Johan Rijpma - Tape Generations 2:30, 2011

Program Four
Sunday, November 6, 3:30 pm
70 minutes

Paul Rayment - Piano 2:00, 2010
Josh Bonnetta - First Snow 2:00, 2004
Larry Jordan - Solar Sight 15:00, 2011
Scott Wolniak - Work Movie 2:40, 2001
Laura Heit - The Deep Dark 7:07, 2011
Takashi Sawa - Mathematica 8:00, 2000
Priit and Olga Pärn - Divers in the Rain 24:00, 2010
Nicolas Mahler - Mystery Music 5:00, 2009
Dalibor Baric - Pain so light that it appears as tickle 4:05, 2010

Looping program
Playing on monitors on view in the theater lobby throughout the festival

Julie Doucet - I Need An Escape Plan
Phenakistoscopes by Florent Ruppert and Jerome Mulot

sing a song of sixpence

2011-10-04T13:52:00.001-07:00

I had the pleasure of getting to illustrate the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence for the new book Nursery Rhyme Comics, coming out next week from First Second. Above is one page from my piece. What a weird rhyme this one is.

new eyeworks animated loop

2011-09-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

It's Fall again, and that means that Alexander Stewart and I are getting all our ducks in a row for putting together this year's Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation! It will be happening in downtown Chicago on November 5th and 6th. I made this new little gif for the festival site. More details on the festival to come as we finalize the programs!

totem

2011-09-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

I made some new prints for an upcoming show at the Hyde Park Art Center called Blaque Lyte. As you may guess from the title, it's going to be a show of all black light sensitive work, curated by crazy geniuses Paul Nudd and Chris Kerr. I drew these heads and screenprinted them with glow-in-the-dark ink (which also fluoresces under black light) and they will be installed in a vertical stack of 7 different heads, as a 7-foot-tall flat totem pole. Should be a very psychedelic show overall.

chris sullivan's consuming spirits

2011-09-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

This Thursday the 15th, Chris Sullivan will be showing a preview screening of his incredible animated feature Consuming Spirits, over ten years in the making! Chris was one of my animation teachers, and one of the main people who inspired me to start doing animation and comics. This is a little excerpt of his film, above. A couple years ago I animated a short hand-drawn scene for the film, and am really honored to have contributed a tiny part to this incredible piece. Anyway, if you are in Chicago, you'd be crazy not to go to see this! Info is here.

dylan williams

2011-09-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Dylan Williams passed away this weekend, and the world lost one of its most passionate, supportive, and selfless people. For those not familiar with Dylan's publishing company Sparkplug Comics, please take look at the wonderful and unique work that Dylan put out into the world. Here is a beautiful memory of Dylan from Austin English, and you can hear an interview with Dylan from a few years back here. And here's Nate Beaty's really sweet photo of Dylan. The positive impact he had on the comics community is immeasurable, as is the gap that is left in his absence. He will be very missed, and he continues to be an inspiration in comics and art, and as a model way to live one's life for however long we are here.

"cartoonink" at the betty rymer gallery

2011-09-05T07:33:00.001-07:00

There's going to be an exhibition about comics called Cartoon Ink opening soon in Chicago, at SAIC's newly relocated Betty Rymer Gallery. The opening night has switched around a bit and now it looks like the opening is scheduled for this Friday, the 9th, from 4:30-7. I think there might also be a closing reception at some point... In any case, it should be up from sometime in mid-September through mid-October, and includes a lot of local cartoonists. I have some original comics pages and animation frames in the show as well as one of my artists' books on display. I have class until 6pm that evening but will then try to run through downtown to catch a little bit of the opening!

tiger ridin'

2011-09-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Letterpress print I illustrated, made for the recent Spudnik Press fundraiser! A limited edition set of these prints went out exclusively to the fundraiser supporters.

spx bookplate

2011-08-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Illustration I made for the bookplate/prints to be used for the Small Press Expo's great new Graphic Novel Gift Program

tonight...

2011-08-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Zummertapez: Lilli Carré
Sunday, August 21st
8pm
Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Center
1034 N. Milwaukee Ave , Chicago
$5 suggested donation

ZUMMERTAPEZ

2011-08-18T12:08:00.001-07:00

This Sunday, August 21st, I am excited to be showing a screening of work in the fantastic ZummerTapez series at Roots and Culture Gallery here in Chicago. I'll be showing my own animation work alongside other films and animations that I like, along with goofy odds and ends from my life-- this would include a couple commercials I was in as a kid, as well as a black and white Grapenuts commercial that shows my mother's family doing flips and twists on trampolines. I plan on slipping in a clip from my 4th grade play, where we all play different geometric shapes that are dying from a lack of moonlight energy, caused by a giant bird sitting in front of the moon (I play a square, and I sing. A singing square). I also may or may not show this Smokey the Bear PSA that stars my chubby little 5-year-old hand... I'll place it here for posterity:

Anyway, here's the official info below. I think it'll be a really fun program, if I do say so m'self! And check out the sexy poster up above, designed and printed for the series by Edie Fake.

Zummertapez: Lilli Carré
Sunday, August 21st
Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Center
1034 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago
$5 suggested donation

The Zummertapez screening series invites artists to create a video mixtape that combines excerpts of their own work with material that inspires or influences them. Launched by Alexander Stewart and Andy Roche in 2007, the goal is to produce a more sociable and engaging artist talk.

Roots & Culture concludes the 2011 Zummertapez series with a mixtape by Chicago artist Lilli Carré. In her comics and animation work, Carré uses forms that are both experimental and charmingly approachable as she blends existential crises with bold graphic style and daring narrative methods. While aesthetically reminiscent of American studio cartoons of the 20’s and 30’s, her films focus on darker themes of loss, death and misplaced memory, but maintain a light touch and quick wit throughout. For her Zummertapez screening, Carré will be including selections of her own work in combination with clips from classic studio animation, 90’s computer adventure games, feature films, TV commercials starring her family, and experimental animation.

horse n' carriage

2011-08-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Illustration I did for the Op-ed letters page of the New York Times today. The article it goes with can be read here.

huck skateboard!?!

2011-08-12T18:35:00.001-07:00

There are few things better than coming home from a long trip to find a package at your door that contains a skateboard with your own illustration on it! Penguin recently made limited edition skateboards sporting some of their book covers, including the cover I illustrated for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Here's a more official photo of some of them below. I'm off to get some wheels for this and make myself some new scars, or at least sit on it and roll down someone's driveway over and over.

art 21 interview

2011-08-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed this past week for the Art:21 blog by the charming Thea Liberty Nichols. you can read it here:

http://blog.art21.org/2011/08/10/lilli-carre-rhythm-and-written-sound

disillusionment of ten o'clock

2011-07-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was invited to illustrate a poem for the Illustrated Wallace Stevens roundtable over on The Hooded Utilitarian site. Over 20 artists were invited to choose and illustrate a Stevens poem, which will be posted incrementally on the site throughout this week. I chose to make a short watercolor animation of the poem Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock. It was just posted on the HU site today, and you can view it here (as well as on my vimeo page)!

I'm Happy, and I'm Singing

2011-07-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight in Logan Square is the opening for the exhibition I'm Happy, and I'm Singing. I'll be showing my animation Bleedin' Heart along with different configurations of the animation frames on the walls. The space and all the work together is really fun! Info below:

I'm Happy, and I'm Singing
Comfort Station
2579 N. Milwaukee Ave

Chicago

Félicia Atkinson
Daniel Bruttig
Lilli Carré
Alexander Stewart

Curated by Michael Green

July 23-26, 2011
Opening: Saturday, July 23rd at 5:30pm

Performances: Sunday, July 24th at 2pm
by Mike Weis, Scott Tuma, Matt Clark and Felicia Atkinson

Screening: Monday, July 25th at 8:30pm
Sing it Out Loud: Experimental Animations by Jodie Mack

http://www.comfortstationlogansquare.com/2011/07/im-happy-and-im-singing-opens-july-23.html

da news

2011-07-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration I made for an article in this weeks Chicago Reader

flutter men

2011-07-11T12:47:00.001-07:00

working on a new little animation, and getting addicted to drawing and painting on acetate

the tubby gnome book

2011-07-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

I recently found this little book that my sister Claire made for me when we were little. She drew lots of comics (The Adventures of Me and Hogwash) and illustrated booklets like this one. As an impressionable younger sibling I started doing the same, and I'm still doing so! Like all the many other illustrated books Claire made as a kid, this one is completely charming and informative, complete with Gnome Facts and artistically distressed edges! Here are a few pages from it, below:

tail feather

2011-06-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

black eye signing

2011-06-21T08:10:00.001-07:00

I have a three page story in the new dark humor anthology Black Eye, and will be signing copies at the release event at Quimbys Bookstore this Friday the 24th, along with Ivan Brunetti, Paul Hornschemeier, Onsmith, and Paul Nudd. Come on by if you're around!

newcity and op-ed

2011-05-26T07:28:00.001-07:00

I have two illustrations in the papers today! Above, the cover for this week's Newcity Magazine. Below is an illustration for the NY Times Op-Ed letter page, responding to an article about the climate in Chicago becoming that of present-day Baton Rouge by 2100.

support spuds

2011-05-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Spudnik Press, the wonderful community printshop here in Chicago, recently launched one of those kickstarter campaigns. They're looking to raise money to be able to fix up their new studio space, as well as get 3 new letterpresses and a newly acquired offset press up and running. I offered to make a set of prints exclusively for backers, so if you give $20 to their campaign, you get an exclusive print made by me on the Line-O-Scribe proofing press. You will also receive the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that your money is going directly to helping one of the best Chicago print shops offer more resources to the city and print community!

There are many other options on there that all sound really great-- for instance, you can take a harmonica workshop, or you can get amazing prints made at Spudnik by Onsmith and Paul Nudd! OR you can take a relief printing class. All come with even more of that fuzzy feelin'.

Anyhow, there is a little over a week left in the campaign, and they are still below their goal, which needs to be reached by May 15th if it's going to get funded. Check out the campaign here to get the official lowdown.

ladies and their pants

2011-04-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

I have a spot illustration in the Op-Ed letters section of the NY Times today. It accompanies a letter regarding a previous article about the extreme variation in women's clothing sizing and the lack of a standard. Here's a little screenshot of it above, plus some of the idea sketches below.

spring books

2011-04-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

my illustration for this week's cover of the Chicago Reader

focus!

2011-04-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

shifting shadows

2011-04-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

I have a new little book of images that will be released at the Stumptown fest in Portland this weekend! It's called Shifting Shadows, and it's part of the Little Otsu Living Things series, which is a new collection of mini art books in which different artists each explore one idea in 16 pages based around the theme of living things. Mine is all about the secret lives of shadows. You can get a copy here or at Stumptown this weekend. The other artists who have made Living Things books are Hannah Waldron, Jo Dery, and Lizzy Stewart, and they're all quite great.

smoke signal - kuti

2011-04-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

I got to illustrate the cover and have a two page color comic in the newest issue of Smoke Signal, the free comics newspaper published by Desert Island in Brooklyn. For this issue, Desert Island teamed up with KutiKuti of Helsinki Finland, who publish my other favorite comics newspaper, Kuti!

This issue will be released in both Brooklyn and Helsinki, in both English and Finnish respectively. Here's a picture of the issue and the cover illustrations on both sides. My cover is shown on the left and on the right is the cover by Aapo Rapi (<3)

This issue includes 36 pages by these 32 artists: Sami Aho, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Michael DeForge, Roope Eronen, Glynnis Fawkes, Nathan Gelgud, Sam Henderson, Keith Jones, Paul Karasik, Ina Kallis, Tim Lane, Jarno Latva-Nikkola, Blaise Larmee, Mikko Luostarinen, David Mazzucchelli, Jesse McManus, Tommi Musturi, Jyrki Nissinen, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Ville Pirinen, Aapo Rapi, Ron Regé Jr., Anna Sailamaa, Kari Sihvohnen, Avi Spivak, Leslie Stein, Janne Tervamäki, Petteri Tikkanen, Jari Vaara, Amanda Vähämäki, Mikko Väyrynen, and myself.

Here's a little chunk of my story, below. PERIL! ~intrigue~

chirp record fair

2011-03-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is the poster I illustrated for the CHIRP record fair, which I'll also have a table at.

bleedin' heart

2011-03-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

a new little experiment made with permanent markers and index cards.

zine fest 2011

2011-03-25T09:46:00.001-07:00

I'll be at the Chicago Zine Fest tomorrow, March 26! I'll be sharing a table with Laura Park again this year, and we'll be selling some comics, prints, books, and Laura's delicious baked goods. The Zine Fest poster above is designed by the absurdly talented Edie Fake, and I think we may have some of his stuff at our table as well. It'll be held at the Conaway Center (1st and 8th floor) at Columbia College at 1104 S. Wabash Ave, from 10am - 5pm. I also have a new little abstract film showing in the film screening at the Fest that evening. Come on by!

chicago comics symposium poster

2011-03-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the poster I recently designed for the 2nd Chicago Small Press & Comics Symposium! It'll be screen printed and put up around town soon I imagine. They've already announced a fantastic group of panelists.

earwax

2011-03-01T17:26:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd join the chorus of Chicagoans eulogizing the loss of Earwax restaurant this week. It was a place I spent a lot of time at while in school, as a place to draw all afternoon and drink lime milkshakes and have rambling conversations and weird dates. I went there one more time this past weekend as they were closing, and they let me have the last extra copy of their xeroxed menu, the cover of which is adorned with doodles by Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Archer Prewitt, and others. Adieu Earwax, Adieu lime milkshakes.

Galago cover

2011-02-25T12:25:00.000-08:00

This is a cover illustration I recently made for the great Swedish comics magazine Galago. I also have a 4 page comic in the issue.

marching band in mome 21

2011-02-17T08:15:00.000-08:00

I have a two-page color comic called Marching Band in the newest MOME vol. 21 from Fantagraphics.

button-o-matic

2011-02-13T20:01:00.001-08:00

At the MCA right now there's a vending machine with button designs by the four of us who were in the New Chicago Comics show. Why not get a little button while checking out the fantastic Jim Nutt show that's there right now, hmmm?

hats as cups

2011-02-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

I have another of my Anemone strips and comics page mastheads in this month's Believer Magazine. The lil' lady from my comic made it onto the cover, drinking from her hat.

end o' the show

2011-01-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

We take down the work on monday, so tomorrow is the last day to see the New Chicago Comics show! Above is a picture of Anders, Paul, me, and Jeff at the opening (picture stolen from Anders's blog).

boardwalk

2011-01-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

head on pole

2011-01-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

So I've been trying to teach myself how to needle felt ever since I was invited to make a sculpture for the Heads On Poles show at Western Exhibitions (curated by Paul Nudd and Scott Wolniak, both fantastic). I very rarely make anything sculptural, so it seemed like a good opportunity to learn a new way of making objects. I spent many hours stabbing a pile of wool with needles until it began to resemble a head...

and then I mounted it on its stake and added blood drips, which actually look more like a turkey throat or unhealthy genitals:
I was on a roll so I also made these little fellas below as presents for people:
The Heads On Poles show opens this Friday January 14th, and there will be many many heads on stakes of all sorts. Paul Nudd also put together an incredible screenprinted/xeroxed book of different 2D interpretations of the theme-- It includes drawings by Jim Trainor, David Shrigley, Onsmith, John Hankiewicz, and lots of others. Nudd and Onsmith screenprinted one of my drawings to go with the book, here it is below:

review of the carnival

2011-01-10T17:39:00.001-08:00

Really great and insightful review by Robert Stanley Martin of my story The Carnival that was in Mome Vol. 14 and recently in the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010

LOOK AT THE WORLD

2010-12-28T11:44:00.001-08:00

I found some old drawings from my youth while digging through our family storage stuff this past weekend:

This one below is a letter I wrote to my mom expressing my feelings. I especially like the bomb contraption drawn on the front:

And then a humble family portrait, also including Link from Zelda:

What A World! My work hasn't changed all that much.

winter 'nuts

2010-12-22T20:39:00.001-08:00

Happy holidays and new year, y'all!

New Chicago Comics exhibition at the MCA

2010-12-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly! This January at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, I'm going to be showing some of my comics pages, drawings, and animation work in an exhibit called (as you may have already guessed) New Chicago Comics. I'm to be showing work alongside Jeffrey Brown, Paul Hornschemeier, and Anders Nilsen. When I first moved to Chicago to go to college nine years ago, finding the work of these Chicago fellows got me really excited about the different possible forms of comics and the idea of self-publishing, and needless to say it's quite an honor to be able to be in this show with them.

Here's the skinny on the time and place:

January 8 – 30, 2011

Exhibition preview in conjunction with First Fridays
January 7, 6–10 pm
21 and over only—strictly enforced!
$18 general admission, $13 advance tickets, $10 MCA members

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
220 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611
312.280.2660

newcity top 5

2010-12-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

My artist residency show at Spudnik Press made the Newcity Top 5 of Everything 2010 list, in their Top 5 Solo Exhibitions category!

Here is da link:

http://art.newcity.com/2010/12/21/the-top-5-of-everything-2010-art

believer magazine mastheads

2010-12-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

In addition to my comic strip Anemone that runs in the Believer Magazine comics section, I've been designing the masthead for that section for the past few issues. It's been fun to think of different ways to write the word 'comics' for each issue.

man vs. butterfly

2010-12-17T11:40:00.001-08:00

An illustration that didn't end up getting used. All that meticulously drawn grass, sigh...

post-it VI

2010-12-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

Post-It show 6 opens this Saturday at GR2 in LA, and was put together by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd. Here are a couple of the post-its I made for it. The yellow ones are tiny, at 2 x 2".

recent sketchbook stuff

2010-12-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

tick tock

2010-11-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

new little animated loop

cuentos de pete el leñador!

2010-11-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

My book Tales of Woodsman Pete was just published in Spanish by the lovely folks at Apa Apa Comics!

very good, jeeves!

2010-11-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

I got to illustrate the cover to a new edition of P.G. Wodehouse's fun book, Very Good Jeeves! for W.W. Norton & Co. Here it is on amazon. Below are some of the sketches and preparatory images that led to the final version above (there will be text and a barcode on the back cover that is not in the above image).

exquisite book signing

2010-11-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Exquisite Book is now out and about. 100 artists were asked to make one page based loosely on the page before it, exquisite corpse style, and this beautiful multi-accordion page book was formed! It was put together by Julia Rothman (who also runs one of my favorite sites, Book By Its Cover), Matt Lamothe, and Jenny Volvovski. I was lucky to get to contribute a page to this cool project.

This Friday night (11/5/10) at Quimby's Bookstore at 7pm, I'll be signing copies of the Exquisite Book along with Anders Nilsen, Paul Hornschemeier, Lauren Nassef, and Isaac Tobin. Stop by to see this awesome book!

eyeworks festival poster trailer

2010-10-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi of Sonnenzimmer designed and printed amazing festival posters for Eyeworks! They took on a crazily ambitious idea of animating the elements in each printed poster through taping off parts, changing the image registration, adding different colored inks while printing, etc. We photographed all 200 prints to make an animation, so each poster is one frame of the film. We are so lucky to have worked with these printing geniuses! The trailer is below:

and above is an image of their early timeline chart for the project and an image of one of the finished posters.

the jitters in motion

2010-10-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Twenty very congested drawings. Tomorrow night (10/30) is the last evening it will be showing on 16mm film in the window of Saturday Cinema. The drawings all started with the flower-eating lady I drew below (sorry for horrible compression) and I kept giving her more company.

eyeworks festival of experimental animation

2010-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Big news! I've been organizing a new experimental animation festival called Eyeworks with Alexander Stewart. It will be a mix of abstract animation and unconventional character animation, shown on 16mm film and video. It's taking place November 6th in Chicago, at 247 S. State Street at the DePaul CDM Theatre. Our trailer is below, and our website for the festival is:
www.eyeworksfestival.com

Here are the program listings, below:

Program 1: CLASSIC SHORTS
1:00 pm

Adam Beckett, Heavy Light
Robert Breer, Bang
Sally Cruikshank, Make Me Psychic
Larry Cuba, Two Space
Howard Danelowitz, Inside Out
James Duesing, Impetigo
Paul Glabicki, Five Improvisations on a 120-Drawing Cycle
Stuart Hilton, Save Me
Jonathan Hodgson, Nightclub
Al Jarnow, Autosong
Henry Selick, Seepage
Steven Subotnick, Hairyman
Chris Sullivan, Master of Ceremonies

Program 2: NEW SHORTS
3:00 pm

Lisa Barcy, Mermaid
Thorsten Fleisch, Dromosphere
Stefan Gruber, Petting Zoo 1 & 2
Inger Lise Hansen, Travelling Fields
Andy Kennedy, Accumulonimbus
Amy Lockhart, The Collagist
Matt Marsden, Worm Room
Winona Regan, Haunted Heart
Dash Shaw, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D
Kyle Sullivan, Esthesia
Jim Trainor, The Presentation Theme
Aaron Wendel, Dwellings

Program 3: WORK BY FESTIVAL GUEST DAVID O'REILLY
7:00 pm

Festival guest David O'Reilly will present a program of work,
including his new animation The External World (15:00, HD, 2010.)
O'Reilly will accompany his own work with a selection of pieces from
other contemporary filmmakers whose work interests him.

LOOPING PROGRAM
A reel of silent works on continuous display throughout the festival
on two monitors in the lobby of the theater. Animations by:

Gwyneth Anderson
Kevin Eskew
Laura Heit
Jodie Mack
Dash Shaw
Collaborative work from the CSSSA 2010 animation students

Come out to the festival if ya can!

americana

2010-10-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely honored to have my comics included in two books from the Best American series this year! My story The Carnival, which originally appeared in Mome vol. 14, now also appears in the new Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 (with a Maurice Sendak cover, ooh la la!) and an excerpt from my book The Lagoon appears in the Best American Comics 2010 (guest edited by my teenage hero-heartthrob Neil Gaiman). I am so so happy to be included in these books with such good company. Both of these were just released, and I have yet to lay my eyes on them and can't wait to do so.

bookworks finds

2010-09-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

I've just started posting images for the new Bookworks bookstore blog. Bookworks is the used & rare bookstore I work at, and for a long time we've been talking about wanting to share some of the wonderfully strange images and books that we come across in the shop, so we've finally started posting some!

the jitters at saturday cinema

2010-09-16T16:49:00.001-07:00

My 16mm animated loop of a 20 drawing cycle, "The Jitters", will be playing at Saturday Cinema every Saturday evening starting September 18th through October 30th. It will be rear-projected in the second floor window of 1369 W. Chicago Avenue, starting at sunset and looping for two hours. So if you're cruising on Chicago Ave after dark on a saturday night, look up in the second story window of Saturday Cinema to get a look at my bizarro animation!

hmmmm

2010-09-15T20:54:00.000-07:00

started a new animation today...

reader fall arts guide cover

2010-09-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Illustration I made for the fall arts guide cover in this week's Chicago Reader

eyeworks biker

2010-09-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

the jitters

2010-08-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

still image from a 20 drawing complex loop I am animating... I think I am about halfway finished. more soon.

screenin'

2010-08-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

My short animation Head Garden will be playing at Lincoln Hall tomorrow evening (September 1st), along with Guy Maddin's short film Night Mayor and Chris Hefner's feature The Pink Hotel.
Info is *here*

raising chicago

2010-08-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

I made a comic for this month's issue of Chicago Magazine about the raising and transporting of the city's buildings in the mid 1800's. Here 'tis:

kordian

2010-08-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

PARROT
In a thin, raspy voice
Miserere!!! God have mercy on us!

TERROR
Look at her eyes! Her steadfast stare!
Where'er you are, she looks at you.

IMAGINATION
Smell the fragrance of her hair!

TERROR
You've stepped upon a snake. It's split in two!
It bursts to pieces!

KORDIAN
Sweet Mary and Jesus!!!

He rubs his eyes

The dream has vanished...So, forward, forward
With bayonet-fixed to run through the Czar!

CREATURE
Poking his head out of the cauldron
Is it good for us to have a king, or no?

I recently got to make three illustrations for an English translation of the 19th century polish play Kordian, which is being published by Green Lantern Press sometime next year. Caroline Picard from GLP briefly summarizes the play:
"The play begins with the witches and devils making a “brew” in the advent of modernity. Carries on the main character, (also called Kordian) who falls in love, tries to kill himself at the end of act one, has turned to a harlot and gambling in the second act, in the third act meets the pope who has a parrot on his shoulder (in the midst of which a number of soldiers attempt to organize a mutiny), in the fourth act Kordian ends up in an insane asylum, talking to his imagination and terror, and the last act – well. You’ll have to wait and see."

sketchbook

2010-08-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

drawn mostly on the bus, on the phone, and in theaters

handwriting diagnosis

2010-06-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

from the book The Graphologist's Alphabet by Eric Singer, with these charming drawings by Gertrude Elias.

spudnik

2010-06-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

Alas, my three month residency at Spudnik Press has ended, but this Thursday the 10th, my work from the residency will be on display. It'll be a collection of silkscreen prints and the two books I made during the residency. I may figure out how to project some animated loops in the darkroom, no promises. There will be a great panel beforehand featuring past Spudnik Press Artists-In-Residence, including the brilliant Onsmith and Paul Nudd!
All the official info is here

The Local Residency
Panel Discussion with Paul Nudd, Onsmith, Dutes Miller, Stan Shellabarger, and Jeremy Lundquist

Featuring new work by Lilli Carré

June 10, 2010, 6-7:30pm, Free

Spudnik Press
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 308
Chicago IL 60622

four new screenprints

2010-06-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

found in books

2010-05-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

I work at a bookstore, and these are all things I liked that I found tucked into used books.

perched

2010-05-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

the chewers

2010-04-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

eruptions

2010-04-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

so, depending on the mood of a certain icelandic volcano, i may or may not be able to fly to sweden for the swedish SPX festival this weekend... but it's looking like it's going to be possible to make it out there, all my fingers are crossed. i have been using part of my current residency at spudnik press to silkscreen and hand-bind a set of new little stories, eleven of which i'll bring with me to the festival. the book is titled don't drink from the sea. i am far from being an expert bookbinder, but hopefully by the end of my time binding this edition of 45 books i will be at least a little better, or at least less covered in glue and newsprint bits and band-aids than i am now. anyway, back to crossing my fingers some more.

triple doubles

2010-04-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

a few new little silkscreen prints

i'm afraid you are in the wrong apartment, madam

2010-03-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

artifice magazine

2010-03-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

This is a silkscreen print I designed for the special edition of Artifice Magazine's first issue, which includes a suite of 10 silkscreen prints made by different artists to accompany 10 stories.

CZF

2010-03-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

The Chicago Zine Fest starts tonight, with readings at Quimbys at 7pm, followed by an art show and screening down the street. Tomorrow (Saturday) from 10 to 5, Columbia College's Conaway Student Center (1104 S Wabash) will be filled with zine and comics-makers selling their stuff. I'll be sharing a table with Laura Park, and we will have comics and various treats. I just finished some 4-color (2 per side) silkscreen accordion books that I'll have at our table, see em below:

c o m e t o t h e f e s t !

economic postcards

2010-02-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

I got to illustrate four stories about the economy in the op-ed section of this Sunday's New York Times, two of which I've posted here. This is the online version.

anemone

2010-02-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

This is one panel from my strip anemone in this month's Believer Magazine.

tiny showcase

2010-02-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

Above is a print design I made for Tiny Showcase, I was really happy to get to work with them. A portion of the sales of the print will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. More info is here!

dr. jekyll cat

2010-02-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

two movies

2010-02-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Head Garden

and

L'Ortolan

Are both posted on Vimeo for watching! Head Garden is a hand-drawn animation I made several months ago, and L'Ortolan is a collaboration between Chris Hefner and myself about the creepy culinary ritual of eating the Ortolan bird. He wrote the script and recorded the narration, and I did the animation for it and edited this version. L'Ortolan will preface the feature film that Chris has almost finished, called The Pink Hotel.