the stray's blog

Anonymous on Tumblr asked:

2011-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Your daily confessions crack me up bro. You should make a book, I would def buy it. A lot of them talk about past girlfriends and stuff, I'm 22 and it's embarrassing to say this but I've never had a girlfriend, never even kissed a girl, the thought of approaching a girl just terrifies me, I don't know what to say them, I just freeze up, or I think too much and stall and the moment passes. I don't want to bring this up with my friends that's why I'm asking you, you've obviously talked to girls. Any pointers, besides "be yourself" and "gotta have confidence"???

I totally know where you're coming from, girls used to terrify me as well, haha. Even after having a few girlfriends I haven't ultimately wiped out succumbing to my nerves.

Also, I totally understand what you mean about "be yourself" and "gotta have confidence". That advice always bugged me. It's not WRONG, but, it's not easy to apply. It's not like you can just go "Oh, confidence? That's it? Why didn't I think of that?! Let me just do that then!" Confident is not something you can just decide to be, and personally I really think people who give that as advice are doing unconfident people a detriment. For years I wanted to be confident, and I didn't know how to be, so I just took it as fact that I'm not a confident person, and that just makes you even more insecure. Does that ring a bell? People never tell you HOW to be confident. To be come confident you really have to adjust like a lot of the core things you believe, eventhough it's tempting me for to get into that it's like way too much for me to type.

Here are some pointers though. 1) Don't say negative things about yourself, not even in your mind. As soon as you catch yourself saying something discouraging, correct yourself. "She probably wouldn't like me." no "There's a chance she'll like me." Stuff like that. The less you say negative things to yourself the less that kind of stuff will pop into your head.

2) Concerning girls, they're just people. This may sound ridiculous, but what helps me not get intimidated by girls is to remember that they poop and pee and fart just like anybody. I don't know if this would work for other people but sometimes if I see a pretty girl I'll imagine her farting. I don't know, maybe that's the dumbest advice I've ever given, haha, but I find it amazingly effective for me personally.

As far as approaching girls goes. I'm going to make an assumption about you, you probably don't have casual conversation with strangers often. That was the case with me. Walking up to a stranger and trying to carry on a conversation with a girl is going to be difficult if you never really talk to people outside your social circle. This was easy to solve for me, I eased myself into it gradually.

step 1) Smile at every single person you make eye contact with throughout your day. Not just pretty girls, but the ones you don't find attractive too, guys, old people, kids, animals, just smile at every single person. Just a friendly little smile, you don't have to bare all your teeth like a psycho or anything, just one of these :) and keep walking. Most people smile back unless they're a miserable piece of poopies. I think getting in the habit of smiling at people is super important for many reasons. a) it makes you seem approachable. b) girls are going to feel less weird about a stranger initiating a conversation with them if they feel he's just a friendly person and not someone who wants something from them. c) The opposite sex pick up on subtext like nobody's business. Half of it they're not even aware of. If you seem like you have a sunny disposition that's communicating to them that you have your shit together, you're happy, headed where you want to go, you're a positive person, etc etc, and that's appealing. d) even if you don't feel like you have anything to be happy about, being in the habit of smiling will put you in a good mood.

2) You can do the smiling thing for a day, or a week, or however long it takes you to feel like you're not forcing it. Then you can move on to throwing in some simple pleasantries. "How's it going?" "Afternoon." "Have a nice day." etc.

3) Now, start complimenting random people. Tell an old lady her dress is pretty or something. Tell a guy his sneakers are dope. Compliment a girl's shoes/hair/outfit. It's not something you have to make a big deal out of, you can just say it in passing, not expecting anything from it. They will appreciate it.

4) After you've gotten comfortable doing all that, start making small talk. It'll probably be a little awkward at first, but don't expect to be awesome at it, the object is to get yourself comfortable talking to strangers, so that going up to one and initiating a conversation stops being this weird thing that you feel like you need a "reason" to do.

bonus tips: Don't ask girls yes or no questions. It's a conversation killer. "Waiting for the bus?" "Yeah." "Cool, you go to school?" "Yeah." ".....(you thinking of another thing to say)...." "....(her waiting for you thinking of another thing to say)..." the awkward pause becomes too long and you feel like you've lost the momentum so you get nervous and don't say another thing.

Jokes. Not like "A priest a rabbi and a mexican walk into a bar" type of jokes, but just being casually silly at least for me works well for me. I don't know, like, if I complimented a girl's shoes, if she said thanks I'd probably say something like "I probably couldn't pull those off myself." I mean... that's not hilarious or anything, but it's like 'hey I don't take myself seriously, I joke around with strangers, I'm a fun person'. I don't think really anything in the world helps establish a rapport or chemistry better than humor. When you laugh with someone you just feel closer to them. A lot of guys don't need to tell jokes to get dem digits, but personally making a girl laugh is the only way I know how to achieve that.

I'd recommend studying some sociology, especially if it pertains to the differences between men and women, social interaction, body language, etc etc. Understanding how people function and why is super valuable, not only for like dating, but just navigating life period.

Also, I know a lot of dudes are turning to this "pick up artist" stuff, and I don't think it's all entirely bad, I mean, those dudes do get results obviously, but I'd take that stuff with a grain of salt. I think some of the principles are valid, but "peacocking" and canned openers are a little lame in my opinion. Do you see yourself wearing a huge furry hat and feather boa to a club just to get attention? Do you really want to get involved with a girl who's even slightly interested in a dude because he has a huge furry hat and feather boa? I don't know what kind of girl you're into, but the kind I'm into probably isn't going to be very enticed to go home with a guy with a huge furry hat and feather boa calling himself "Mystery" and being all douchey. I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with girls who go for that kind of dude, but I don't think you should have to put on an act and create this facetious persona to get laid. But that's just me. I think a lot of girls, especially smart ones, are more attracted to guys who are their genuine self. Also, now that everybody's reading that pick up artist stuff girls will smell your "game" from a mile away.

Uhhh, that's all I got for now, I hope it was helpful. Feel free to e-mail me if it wasn't haha, or if you have more questions or anything, I don't mind.

Good luck. Imagine girls farting, all the time. ;)

There's no such thing as "Art Block"

2011-05-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

“How do you deal with art block?” is a question I’m asked and I see other people are asked quite a lot. People go through periods of not being productive, recover, then later get stuck back in a rut again, and it’s something they never completely break free of. I experienced this when I was younger as well. I want to let you know though that it’s entirely possible to get rid of “art block” FOREVER! You should never have an art block ever again. I don’t get art block, because art block is stupid.

The 1st step to eliminating art block is to realize there is no such thing. Nor is there writer’s block, or any other block for creatives. There’s only self-doubt and/or laziness. When the two combine people say they’re “uninspired”. You’re your own obstacle, so get over yourself.

Other artists will give advice like “look at art you like” or “look through some magazines” or “listen to music”, etc etc. While they are well-intentioned, I personally would never give someone this type of advice, because all it does is reinforce the idea in your mind that in order for you to create you need something else external to get you in the mood. By all means, do look at art you like, and magazines, and listen to music and etc, if you need ideas, but not because you’re sitting there looking for somethings that’s going to make you want to draw. Even if it occasionally works it’s always only temporary, you’ll get stuck in a rut again and go on a search for something that’s going to magically get you out of it.

I don’t understand what artists want from me when they ask me for tips on overcoming artists block. Just… do it. Draw! There’s really nothing stopping you. If it sucks, oh well. If you’re not “inspired”, oh well. Just start doing it, it will pass. If you’re frustrated that your drawings aren’t looking the way you want them to, drawing less is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. In the history of the world nobody’s ever got better at anything by sitting on their ass and doing nothing, unless you count World Sittin On Ass Champion Gregory Vance (that’s not a real guy, don’t google it).

You really have to get out of the mindset that everything you make has to be great. Do you think an athlete shows up to basketball practice expecting to make every basket he shoots? Do you think they even expect that during an actual game? Sometimes you miss, but the more you practice the more consistent you’ll get at making those shots. Sorry, I just had to throw one sports analogy in here. It’s okay for some of your work to suck. It’s okay for the majority of it to suck. Just keep on making it, and it will gradually start sucking less. It always perturbs me how often I hear people talk about how crappy their work is when they barely ever do any. Of COURSE it’s crappy, do something about it.

This is the most important part to ending art block though: draw something every day. Not most days, not every other day, not weekdays. Every day. If you’re healthy and able bodied and none of your immediate family, friends or pets have died recently, there’s no excuse not to. You have the time, I know this because you’re sitting on tumblr right now reading a blog post, you HAVE time. I don’t care if you go to school, have 3 kids, and 2 jobs, there’s time in there somewhere to draw something. Do it while you take a dump or something, whatever, just do it. Don’t make excuses for yourself either, once you talk yourself out of drawing one day, you’ll just keep doing it. I’m not going to act like I’m the most productive person in the world, I’m prone to spend copious amounts of time just scrolling through tumblr, or watching a whole season of Mad Men, or just staring blankly at the wall… but if I’m about to go to sleep and I haven’t drawn anything that day I will force myself to at least bust out a sketch of something. I usually feel guilty about that and dedicate a few proper hours to practicing the next day (which ideally should be what you’re doing every day). Don’t let yourself NOT draw something in a day, that is so key to the effectiveness of this plan.

This not only helps you improve, but it also helps with that ol “inspiration” problem of yours. If you’re in the habit of drawing every day you’re constantly going to be thinking of things to draw.

I recommend keeping a record of ideas, it could be a word document or you could use your phone, or jot them down in your sketchbook. Personally I like to keep little notebooks that I keep in my back pocket at all times no matter where I go. Whenever I get an idea I take it out and write it down. Being in the habit of documenting my ideas naturally makes me think of ideas more frequently. Everything I see or hear inspires an idea. I have stacks of tiny notebooks filled with things I want to draw, ideas for characters, stories, comics, cartoons, movies, books, etc etc. I don’t worry about inspiration, I worry about not being able to get around to doing all this stuff before I die.

So go draw, and please, don’t sit there and stare at a blank piece of paper pretending you have no idea what to draw. You are not an idiot, you can think of at least one thing. Draw it. Whatever pops into your head. Draw it. Your favorite character. A self portrait. An object in your room. Something out of your imagination. Whatever. Draw something. If you’re a beginner I’d recommend doing less stuff from your imagination and more focus life drawing, anatomy, still life, perspective and etc. I’ll probably do a whole other blog post in the future about focusing on fundamentals before style.

If your issue is you’re frustrated with the quality of your work, I’d recommend you dedicate a whole sketchbook to things you are the worst at. The worst thing you can do is avoid drawing something you suck at. Nothing looks worse than a gallery of a work where every single picture has the feet cropped off or obscured, it doesn’t fool anyone. Buy a sketchbook just for drawings of feet, draw your own feet, draw pictures of feet, draw anatomical pictures of the bones and muscles under feet, draw the feet of your friends and family (sure, they might start suspecting you have a foot fetish, but hey there’s nothing wrong with people with foot fetishes, ~~we’re~~ they're ~~perfectly~~ relatively normal people!), go out to a park or mall and draw the feet of strangers. Draw feet from every angle imaginable. Unless someone is kicking at you don’t fear feet! Feet is just an example obviously, whatever you have the most trouble with, focus on with the most zeal.

Hey if you’re a writer, just take “draw” and “artist” out of what I’ve just said and replace them with “write” and “writer”. There are tons of writing prompts and exercises you can find online or in books at the library. There’s no such thing as writer’s block.

To recap:

-There’s no such thing as a “block”, only self-doubt and/or laziness.

-Not everything you draw has to be great. You have to draw a lot of sucky drawings before you get to the non-sucky drawing.

-Draw EVERY day, without exception, and document your ideas, you’ll be perpetually inspired.

-Focus on your weaknesses instead of avoiding them.

-You can send your donations of $20 or more to my paypal account kiss_myaesthetic@yahoo.com to show your gratitude for me totally saving you.

You’re set. Seriously, if you take my advice, and you try it out for a while, and it doesn’t work for you, drop me a line, we’ll talk, we’ll figure out together what’s holding you up.

Honestly, I’m tired of seeing artists be so self-doubting. Everything I’ve said should be common sense, but I can’t go a day without seeing someone bad mouth themselves. We start out as kids who draw because we love it and it’s fun and we’re proud of everything we do, and somewhere along the way we acquire standards and are exposed to peers who are way better than us, and forget to just have fun with it. Be patient, it’s not a race, you’ll get there. I PROMISE you anyone who’s better than you, even if they’re some 18yr old kid and you’re 30, is only better because they’ve practiced way more than you.

That’s all. Go draw.

Triceraclops

2011-05-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Haven't used my blog in a long while since joining tumblr. Hey folks, I've been posting stuff here: http://thestray.tumblr.com if you've been missing me.

Also, PLEASE help me out with this Threadless submission:

http:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif//www.threadless.com/submission/341318/Triceraclops

Cerbearus has come!

2010-12-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

Cerbearus has been my most inquired about design since I created it, I'm always getting e-mails asking where they can get the shirt, and until now I had no answer for that. But finally, here it is, Cerbearus, THE SHIRT! DUN DUN DUNNNN! It looks gorgeous if I do say so myself. And for a limited time you will also get a free sticker with your purchase. There are only 50 of them so you have to act fast. Here goes the linky link.

Return of the CerBEARUS... in the 10k

2010-08-23T12:50:00.001-07:00

SIGN UP, VOTE AND COMMENT HERE!!!

THE 10K IS HERE AGAIN!!! I was a runner up last year, and this year I'm going for the gold!

My entry for this year? None other then probably my most popular design to date... even though it never printed, so I figured this is my chance to finally get this sucker on a shirt, so I redesigned it, made it bigger, threw in a subtle background, and I think it's one of the most badass shirts ever in the history of shirts in this universe and possibly other universes yet undiscovered!!!

So if you want this shirt... finally... well, you know what to do.

BUT WAIT! THAT'S NOT ALL!

I'm also running a contest to give away 3 DBH shirts and a signed print of Cebearus!

What do you have to do? Easy, BEST COMMENT WINS!!!
All you have to do is leave a funny comment on the design about how awesome it is (you know, like in the style of 3 Wolf Moon, or a Chuck Norris quote). Examples:

"A cerbearus shirt will give you the strength, speed, agility and wisdom of a Greek demigod able to conquer any foe."

"A cerbearus shirt is both fire and bullet proof."

"You can survive in the vacuum of space wearing nothing but a cerbearus shirt."

"The only way to best Chuck Norris in an arm wrestling match is to wrap a cerbearus shirt around your bicep."

"A cerbearus shirt is the only other substance besides kryptonite that can kill Superman."

Leave as many comments as you want, I don't currrr!

Oh, by the way, in case you don't know what the 10k is, it's DBH's annual shirt design contest, wherein I have the chance to win $10,000, so... yeah... kind of a big deal ;) LAST year I was a runner up, won $1,000. This year I'm going for the gold!

So sign up if you haven't, vote, comment, and then when I win give me copious amounts of high fives.

2010-03-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

Shirt up for sale on 5quidink.com today

http://www.5quidink.com/

quick update

2010-03-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Heyo, if you're wondering where all thestray art is, it's on it's way. I haven't been as productive as I'd like to be, that's due to some personal drama that's gripped my family right now, it's kind of weakened my resolve. But I'm going to soldier on and get back to what I do. I've got a few collabs lined up that I'm exited about, and I'm also working on a COMIC that it's going to be really awesome. I'm very excited about that. I'm writing it and coloring it, and my very good friend Oscar Gonzales is doing the linework. Oscar is one talented mofo, I envy his skills, so this thing will at the very least look great. When we finish it we're going to go about figuring out how to get it published. Maybe Image? Who knows.

So that's what's up, I'm working on stuff, you'll see some things up soon.

-stray

Past designs up on Redbubble

2010-02-25T21:20:00.000-08:00

Heyo, so I frequently get e-mails about my shirts I've had up on Teefury, they only go up for 24 hours so often people miss out and want to get them after it's too late. Well I'm happy to say that 3 my designs have found a home on Redbubble. "My Lyrics are Bottomless", "Botticelli", and "Superfly", as well as some non-Teefury designs. What's more is they come in alternate colors, all 3 of these shirts were intended to be on difference colors then what they appeared on at Teefury, but for various reasons they weren't able to print them that way. So I'm happy to see them on the shirt colors I originally wanted.

CLICKITY CLICK CLICK!!!

More art to come.

-stray

Hey there

2010-02-22T14:31:00.001-08:00

Been a little slow with the art, sorry about that. 2010 is not off to a good start for me, lots of things beyond my control are going on, I'm a bit stressed. It's kind of hard for me to make art in a bad mood. I grow very listless. I know I've gotta shake it off and get to work though. I really have no choice since I'm basically unemployed.
Anyway, I've got a shirt going up at Teefury. It's TMNT inspired, so make sure you go check it out. I'll put an image up later.

-stray

It'sa me!

2010-02-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

Yeah.

-stray

Lyrics are Bottomless is BACK IN BLACK!

2010-02-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.teextile.com/Lyrics_Are_Bottomless

Also, good t-shirt friend Jen Morgan interviewed me for her blog, go check that out:

-stray

My top 10 favorite films of 2009

2010-01-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

For no reason at all, I made a top 10 list of my favorite movies of 2009, and why I liked them. Now, I can't honestly say these lists are what I truly consider to be the best of 2009, because I didn't get around to seeing a lot of movies I wanted to see and I'm sure many of them would be on this list in place of others.

10 Where the Wild Things Are
From the moment I saw the trailer I was anticipating this movie so hard. I know a lot of people were, and I also think a lot of people were disappointed. I went with my 21yr old brother to see it, and halfway through it he turns to me and says "Jeff, what the fuck are we watching?" haha. He wasn't impressed, he fiddled with his phone through most of it. I loved it though. I know to a lot of people it seemed pointless, because it didn't have a clearly defined narrative, but I was captivated by every second. Spike Jonze took a family movie premise with fantasy and special effects and made sort of a slice of life indie film with it. Those creatures were so complex and soulful and nuanced totally unlike what any other director would've probably done. And it looked fucking great of course. I really enjoyed it. I will buy the dvd, and look forward to listening to the director's commentary and all the special features and all that. Good stuff. Oh, almost forgot, the boy who played the boy... totally awesome.

09 Funny People

I kinda feel like maybe this film didn't get a fair shake. I think that's because people were like "Seth Rogen? Ugh, I've had enough of that guy." I don't really get that feeling about actors, I'm happy to watch them in movies all year long doing their same shtick if I really like them, and I really like Rogen. The movie was hilarious, and like most Apatow connected films it had the right amount of drama, with a nice but not preachy or heavy handed message. Also the "Yo! Teach!" stuff was great, haha.

08 Away We Go

John Krasinski with an awesome beard and Maya Rudolph were in this lil film about a couple with a baby on the way. They hang out with some other couples with kids and learn some stuff about what kind of parents they do and don't want to be. Easily the best part is when they go visit their new-agey/hippie/flower child friends who are against strollers but are totally cool with making love with their kids in the room. Maya Rudolph was really good for her first time doing some serious acting, and John Krasinski... Mr. Jim Halpert... well, I love that fucking guy, unequivocally. He's so charming, *sigh*. He has plenty of good lines. My favorite was him trying and failing to yell at his wife. His brand of sarcasm is great, and I really hope to see him in more movies (that are good).

07 Moon

I think 2009 was a pretty good year for sci-fi. This movie joins my favorite sci-fi movies list. I feel like there aren't enough sci-fi films that AREN'T about aliens or time travel or robots. There are so many other sciency ideas to explore. And sci-films don't necessarily have to be epic. I liked this because it's just one dude (sorta), and what makes it even better is that one guy is Sam Rockwell, one of my favorite actors, always brilliant and charming and enigmatic. I don't think there are a lot of people who can carry a whole movie themselves, and this is the best example of that since Tom Hanks in Castaway. In the movie Sam Rockwell has been living on the Moon for three years to collect lunar soil because it can be used as clean energy on earth. His only company is a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey (awesome), and recorded videos of his wife (he has no live contact with earth because of a damaged satellite). His stay is coming to an end, and then he find someone that looks exactly like him on the moon. Things get complicated, and the way the two characters who are the same person interact, and how they differ from each other, is really interesting.

06 Bruno

Sascha Baron Cohen is a crazy genius. I don't think this was as good as Borat, or even as good as the Bruno skits he did on Da Ali G Show, but it was still hilarious nonetheless. It's pretty much the same shtick as Borat. Weird socially retarded foreigner comes to America and offends a lot of people and exposes our latent bigotry, this time he's a gay German fashionista. He definitely pushes the limits in this one. Be careful though, there's a big twirling penis that takes up the whole screen at one point. Only Sascha could make something that would normally just be gross and unwatchable to a straight male like me be totally funny. Funniest penis of 2009. Still gross though. I laughed hard at all the shenanigans in this movie. Now that Sascha has exhausted all his Da Ali G Show characters in feature films it will be interesting to see what he does next.

05 The Hangover

My boy Zack Galifianakis! By far with out a doubt the funniest part of this movie. I love that guy, big fan of his stand-up and his brand of weirdness is so hilariously genius. I loved the character he played in this movie. They should do an Alan sequel, haha. Besides Zack the rest was good too. Plenty of great "Wtf!" moments. One of the other things I really liked about it is that they let the characters, mainly Bradley Cooper, acknowledge some funny moments and actually laugh or grin at the weird shit Alan would say. They never do that in comedies. It made it seem more natural. I like Bradley Cooper too, I hope he leads more films. He's going to be in the A-Team movie, I hope that's not a turd.

04 Watchmen

A lot of people might disagree with me on this one, but whatever, I enjoyed it. Watchmen, the graphic novel, I love it to death, it's one of the most mind-blowing things I've ever read, so when I heard they were making a movie I was both excited and apprehensive that they'd ruin it. I hear a lot of directors wanted to take it in a totally different direction. Have take place in present day, make it PG-13, drastically change the story. Then Zack Snyder was attached and he was like "Fuck that shit!" and that's when I started havign some faith that it could be a good flick. I loved 300, and that movie kinda proved that he respected source material. He stayed very faithful to the books, yeah he changed some things, especially one major thing in the end, but for the most part it was closer than I think anybody else would've made it. I think the biggest criticism was of the sex scene, people say it was too gratuitous. You know what? Personally, you're never going to hear me complain about too much boobs. It was an adult movie, and I think the graphicness of that scene leant itself to what the movie was trying to be. Some people even complained that they added some awesome fight scenes, hey, it's a movie, they need to entertain people, why not throw in some action? I didn't think it took anything away from the movie. Why was it bad to show that these people could actually kick ass? To each their own I guess. I even like how they changed the ending, preferred it actually. The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the terrible Richard Nixon, how creepy and obvious they made the villain, and how they changed Rorshach's first kill. But then again, I can see why they changed it... the cleaver thing was more visceral and extreme, so... nevermind, I guess I don't mind that part at all. Anyway, the movie was fun to watch, looked amazing, and the Dr. Manhattan origin aaaallllmost made me cry. Maybe I would've if I didn't already know the whole thing.

03 Zombieland

I have to put this movie in my top 5 zombie films of all time. I think it was just as funny as Shaun of the Dead. Lots of laughs and lots of zombie killin. I liked the rules and narration, reminded me of the Zombie Survival Guide. And the cameo was one of the best cameos of all time. Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson were both great. A lot of people said Jesse Eisenberg was just like Michael Cera, and besides the fact that he was an awkward young man I don't see that at all, I don't think the way he plays awkward is anything like Michael Cera. I hear they're making a sequel, I'll look forward to that, we'll get to learn some more of Eisenberg's character's rules. Zombies are great for comedy. ONLY gripe about the movie was how the characters just wasted ammo all the time. So stupid. Wasting bullets you'll need in the future AND making uneccesary noise. Real nice.

02 District 9

Another of the reasons 2009 was a great year for sci-fi. I enjoyed this movie so much. Easily the most interesting movie about aliens I've ever seen. I expected to like it and was still surprised at how much I liked it. It was made on a relatively shoestring budget and still looked really great, more real then the majority of big budget CGI-heavy movies. I really liked the main character Wikus. He was very unlike most leading men in sci-fi/action movies. He wasn't a hunk, he wasn't noble and altruistic. He was a funny character, but ultimately sort of a douche, and not a very smart one either. He was also a passive racist. He of course comes around, but it didn't seem forced or corny the way he does. They marketed the film very well too, they didn't reveal too much of what the story was about, so a lot of things really took me by surprise, especially one very important turning point in the story (if you've seen it you know what I mean). I was also surprised at how much of an action film it was, and how funny it was. Really one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time.

01 Up

Pixar, what can I say about them? They inspire me. The only hiccup they've ever had in my opinion was Cars, that movie was boring as shit to me. Everything else has been golden. They consistently put out quality movies that are instant classics and favorites of mine. After I come out of the theater watching one of their movies I can't wait for the dvd so I can geek out on all the special features. What I like most about Pixar is they CARE about what they're doing, and it shows. They want to tell great stories, and they succeed. They believe in what they're doing, they're willing to go out on a limb and tell a story about a dirty little rat cooking or a robot that says only 2 words the whole film. I have so much respect for what they do. Up was their latest masterpeace and such a well-crafted movie. I cried like a baby watching this movie, and it wasn't the part that most people say they cried at in the first 20 minutes It was towards the end, when he's sitting in that chair looking at his book. HOLY SHIT! So much emotion welled up in me! What a fucking moment. It's easy to make someone cry at a death or something else tragic, but an old man, sitting in a chair, looking at pictures of the life he shared with his wife... I think it takes some skill as a storyteller to get your audience to the point where that makes them want to cry. It was perfect, the back story, the music, the direction, the facial expression, etc, it was a perfect storm of elements to touch my fucking heart and make cry like a fucking baby.
It was a hilarious film too. I loved the kid, I loved Kevin, and I of course especially loved Dug. I loved Dug so hard, I demand a sequel or a spin-off so I can get more Dug. Oh and the action sequences? Badass. It was like something out of Indiana Jones, fun shit.

Team Coco

2010-01-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

So I've been quite invested in this Tonight Show controversy. I've been watching Conan O'Brien for the majority of my life. It's always been comforting to know that after a hard day I can end it with a smile, because of him.

Even before all this I've wanted to design a Conan O'Brien shirt. Now seems like the perfect time. I want a shirt to support for the man, but I haven't really been into any of the ones I've seen floating around right now. Here goes my offering...

Working on getting it printed.

Anyway, laters. More art to come.

-stray

Leno Must Go, Keep Coco

2010-01-14T15:37:00.001-08:00

Concerning the Tonight Night fiasco, I expect this type of move from NBC, the networks don't mind screwing people over when it comes to money, but I'm disappointed in Leno. He could've put an end this very quickly by supporting and respecting Conan and refusing to bump him.

2 new things

2010-01-08T01:12:00.000-08:00

Almost forgot my "Upload 2 new pieces every Thursday" thing. Well I did do a couple of things, they're not really finished though, but near enough.

Congratulations, you survived another year!

2010-01-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

Heyo, it's 2010. Start of another year. Awesome. 2009 was pretty good to me, which I'm very grateful for because 2008 was absolutely terrible to me.
Thanks to DBH and Teefury, I managed to get a string of my first t-shirt prints, make a little money, and start building a name and reputation. I hope I'm able to build on what I accomplished this year, to bigger and better things, have more and more opportunities. I already have a few exciting things lined up for this year, I can't tell you just yet, but keep your eyes peeled.
I want to say thank you to anybody who supported me in any way in 2009, I appreciate it. I hope you continue to follow my journey.

Resolutions:
-Get my own site up
-Practice drawing
-Score some other prints outside of DBH/Teefury
-Do more non-tee art
-write more
-kick all kinds of ass

Don't wish me luck, it doesn't take luck it takes hard work, and smart work. Which I intend to do.

-stray

Lyrics are Bottomless again!

2009-12-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

Heyo! For those of you missed out on Lyrics are Bottomless. Good news, I've put it up for voting on Teextile, so if it gets good votes maybe you'll see it print again. Please drop by and give it a vote. It's on a black shirt this time :)

Lyrics Are Bottomless

BY Stray

-stray

Hip-hopopotamus vs The Rhymenoceros up at Teefury!

2009-12-24T00:40:00.000-08:00

Up at Teefury for $9. Now I don't want to sound too cocky, but I think this is a fine piece of work for a $9.
If you don't know what Teefury is, they sell limited edition t-shirts, for sale for only 24hours. As I write this about 4 hours have passed. It's going to be gone come 9:00 December 24th, so don't miss out!

http://teefury.com

-stray

New 2 for Thursdays #3

2009-12-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

Alright, back on track with the 2 designs a week. Here are two:

"Diamond Antlers"

This is kind of a style experiment I'm doing. I plan on doing a whole bunch of other designs in this fashion. Trying to be versatile and all.
You can see more color variations HERE.

"Smarter than your average bear"

If you don't get it maybe you're just too young.

Thanks for looking. New designs next Thursday!

-stray

Heyo!

2009-12-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

I've been a litte bit sick, that's why you haven't seen any new work yet. But I'm feeling alright now and working on something RIGHT now. Hopefully you'll all enjoy. Anyway, let me get back to work. Later.

-stray

No new designs! Sorry!

2009-12-04T02:16:00.000-08:00

Haha, already breaking my promise. I haven't just been slacking off though. I've had my little brother over, he's 6, he requires a lot of attention obviously, and I also just haven't been feeling that well recently. Not sick, just tired, and headachey. Probably not drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. I hate making excuses, haha. I don't know who's actually keeping up with my blog or anything, but if you are I'll have some more stuff up by the weekend to make up for the lack of productivity. I've got lots of ideas ready to execute.

Keep an eye out because I should have a couple shirts coming out in a matter of weeks. Really excited about them. ALSO, you may see the return of some of my popular (yet failed) designs getting a makeover and trying my luck with them again.

DBH and Teefury have been very good to me, and I plan to keep on subbing with them because I like both of those places and what they're about, but I'm going to try to also broaden my horizons and try my luck at more varied places. Hopefully they'll be as receptive to my work.

That's my update for now, hope you like the things are that to come.

-stray

New Designs #2

2009-11-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

I said last time that I'd be updating with at least 2 new designs every Monday, well I've changed that to every Thursday. Fits better with my schedule. I typically don't do a lot on Thursdays, that's the day all my favorite shows come on. So it makes sense to me for my deadline to be the day where I'm not doing anything, if that makes sense. Anyway, here are the two new designs

If you don't get the reference to this one you're dead to me.

Okay this kinda sucks, but I was just experimenting, I'll probably redesign this another day.

And happy Thanksgiving all! Hope you had some good eats and enjoyed some people you love. For the first time I cooked a dish for Thanksgiving, mac n' cheese, and it went down REALLY well, everybody loved it, so I was proud to have proved my culinary worth. I can do much more than just make pretty pictures ;) haha.

-stray

New Design MONDAYS!!! #1

2009-11-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

So to increase my productivity I've decided to do at least 2 t-shirt designs every week. I'll post them in my blog on Mondays. I really want to get better, so hopefully this will help that. Also the more I design and submit the greater my chances of winning right?

Here's what I have for this Monday

Botticelli: The Forgotten Ninja Turtle

and something different from me, an abstract design:

Thanks for looking. I'll have another 2 next Monday ;)

-stray

Giant Robot FTW! at Teefury

2009-11-09T01:09:00.000-08:00

New shirt up at Teefury. Available for 24hrs only so don't sleep on it. This is a collaboration between me and my good friend Jorge Juarez http://eaglegriptechnique.blogspot.com

This is my 5th print this year! I'm really happy about that, I only started t-shirt designing about 7 months ago, and I've already got 5 under my belt, one of them being a runner up in a major contest. So I'm either just having amazing luck or doing something right. Maybe a little bit of both? Hopefully there will be many more to come. Once again I'd like to thank everyone for their support.

-stray

Pixskullz desktop wallpaper

2009-10-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.designbyhumans.com/downloads/wallpaper/pixskullz_1680.jpg

Thank Jimiyo, he made it. http://jimiyo.blogspot.com/

-stray

Pixskullz for sale @ DBH

2009-10-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

You can get it here:

Thanks to everybody who voted for it. Really love the way it came out.

I've got many more designs in the pipeline, and hopefully I'm just as successful with them.

-stray

One Itty Bitty Step up for voting @ Threadless

2009-10-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

Would really appreciate your votes.

"Revenge is Sweet" for sale @ DBH

2009-10-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hey, kinda late in posting this, been kinda busy and it slipped my mind.
My "Revenge is Sweet" won a print in DBH's Halloweek 3 contest. REALLY proud of it and the print looks great from the pictures. Haven't received my own yet, but when I do I'll be sure to post a pic of me in it.

You can go buy it here: http://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/detail/5566

Shipping is FREE in October for customers in the US. So get on that while it last.

Thanks everyone for voting. More shirts are on the way, so keep an eye out.

-stray

p.s. I've also been getting messages and IM's about both the Superfly and the Cerbearus. Unfortunately as of right now there's no where you can get them. But trust me, I want them available more than anyone, haha. If I had the resources or money to print them myself I'd definitely do that. When I find a home for them I'll definitely let you guys know, but to be realistic don't hold your breath, it may take some time. Thanks for the interest though, you guys are awesome.

DBH Halloweek 3 submissions

2009-09-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Heyo! DBH is having their third Halloween contest. I've got TWO submissions in the running, check them out:

The Funk of 40,000 Years

vote for it here: http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/63024

and

Revenge is Sweet

vote for it here: http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/63357

I like both, but I'll be very honest with you, I'm a lot more fond of "Revenge is Sweet", overal it's a way cooler shirt and idea I think, and it was a lot of fun (and also frustration) to do. I hope I get a print out of it.

Thanks for lookin.

-stray

2009-09-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

GIANT ROBOT FTW! Up for voting! Go give it a 5 and a $.

-stray

GIANT ROBOT FTW!!!

2009-09-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated in my blog. First thing I should say is thank you EVERYONE who supported me in the 10k, if you haven't heard yet, I was a runner up. That was my first print at DBH and I got $1,000 for it! I'm feeling very accomplished, and I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, so I'll just say you'll be seeing more prints from me ;)
Anyway, you can get the Umibozu here: UMIBOZU FOR SALE!

On to other business, I'll be having a new design going up at Threadless soon! I'm going to need your support again. This shirt is a collaboration with my friend Jorge Jaurez aka LuminousL who has a blog here: http://eaglegriptechnique.blogspot.com/

Here's what we cooked up:

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Check out the submission page, I made a simple flash presentation for it.

I'll let you guys know when it's up for voting.

-stray

Last day to get Umibozu to the top 4!

2009-08-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

So I made it to the top 10, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be in the top 4! But to make sure this happens I need everyone to vote, and I need everyone to get everyone they know to vote! Thank you guys so much for your continued support without you none of this would be possible.

Here's the link to sign up:

Here's the link to vote:

Thanks everyone!

ALSO, I want to give a shout out to my favorite band in the world The Color Turning, they just released their first full-length album Good Hands Bad Blood. Here are some videos to get a taste:

The Color Turning - "Marionettes In Modern Times" from Welikeit.indie on Vimeo.

The Color Turning - "Where The Sky Ends" from Welikeit.indie on Vimeo.

Go to their site for more info: http://thecolorturning.com/

-stray

I got a shout out from Singularitee

2009-08-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

T-shirt blogger AdderXYU was kind enough to endorse my design for the DBH 10k, he had this to say:

"It really treats the tee as a canvas, utilizing every inch to bring the image and the story it conveys home. It's a great vignette, too, combining a whimsy and wonder with a fear and dread. The creature rises out of the water as if a threat, with his shadowy body and immense size spelling doom for the ship, but at the same time he seems concerned and curious, and though he is in shadow, he is surrounded by light, as if he's simply a gentle giant, to be seen as a wonder, not a threat. The juxtaposition gives the scene a lot of potential directions, and that helps make it so appealing. Not that the expert use of lighting hurts either."

Read more at his blog:

http://singularitee.blogspot.com/2009/08/contest-watch-plus-week-of-july-30.html

Really enjoyed that review, because he totally nailed what I was going for. I hope I can pull off a win in this 10k. I'd appreciate your vote:

http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/60283

Thanks for reading.

-stray

Umibozu: My 10k SUbmission

2009-07-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

So here goes my bid into DBH's prestigious 10k design contest. If you don't know about it, it's a t-shirt design contest, where the prize is ten thousand f***ing dollars. That's a good chunk of change. 4 runners up will also recieve one thousand dollars. It's an elimination type of dealy, they go up for voting for a few weeks, and the designs with the most votes and best designs will become the top 20. All votes are then reset to 0, and at the end of the week the 10 shirts with the top votes become the top 10. Votes are reset to 0 again and the top 5 become the winners.

The competition is fierce already, there are some clear front runners, and more than a handful of designs that are potential contenders. I have no idea how mine is going to fair in the contest. I'm entering it kind of late, so it's going to sort of have to play catch up in terms of votes. I created a topic in the forum to show my process in making the design, and got a lot of good feedback and encouragement:

http://www.designbyhumans.com/forums/show/550054

I submitted on a Friday which means it probably won't be up til Monday. I worked really hard on this, and I hope it does well. I hope I can at least make the top 20, let alone be one of the 5 winners. Hope people will like the design, and I'm going to do my best to try to rally support. I'm up against some of the more profilic designers in the game though, and I'm a relative nobody, I've never had anything printed and don't really have much of a fanbase, so I'm going to be an underdog in this competition. Wish me luck.

Oh, and in case you're curious about what the design is about, he's a wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umibozu

I'll post again when it's up for voting.

-stray

My submission for the Teefury collab

2009-07-18T03:18:00.000-07:00

Teefury is celebrating it's one year anniversary and to celebrate they're asking people to send in their version of their mascot the teefury bird to be collaged onto a shirt. Figured I'd get in on the fun.
Really busy with my DBH 10k design right now, so I didn't have time to go full out with this. Spent about 30 minutes give or take in photoshop on it. Despite that, he's still a cute fella isn't he? Stay tuned for posts about my 10k design.

-stray

Monarch @ Threadless

2009-07-07T23:07:00.001-07:00

My first Threadless submission, so head on over there and give me a High $5!

http://www.threadless.com/submission/219231

-stray

boombox skull

2009-06-19T15:19:00.001-07:00

Still working on this fellar. He's so majestic dontcha think?

Just finished this. Don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe try to sell it.

So DBH is having an Incubus contest right now, and also their 10K contest will be coming up soon. I'm going to work on some stuff for those. Already have a few ideas for the 10K. Stay tuned.

-stray

Superfly

2009-06-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

So I finally finished this design. It was a lot of fun to work on.

It was modeled after this classic Superman cover:

But the idea is a pun obviously of this old movie. "Never a fly like this one. He's got a plan to stick it to the man." was the tagline from the Superfly movie, except they said "dude" instead of "fly" of course.

Hope you guys enjoy the piece. I mocked it for a t-shirt and hopefully somebody will want to print it:

Thanks for looking. Have a swell day.

-stray

New stuff

2009-06-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

New design up for voting at DBH.

http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/55741

And a couple works in progress:

I intend this one for Teefury

And this one I'm thinking of submitting to Threadless.

-stray

Oldies but Goodies

2009-04-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

Decided to post up some of my old stuff, so that maybe when you see more of my recent stuff it'll make it look really good in comparison, and you'll be like "Whoa! You really leveled up!"
If it's the opposite and you're like "Jeez, it's all going downhill." then I'll be very sad. I'll most likely fling my body from a tall building.
But anyway, here you go, old stuff:

I have a long ways to go as an artist, but hopefully I've made a lot of progress over the years. I'm really ready to start doing something with these so called skills of mine. I'm currently working a really boring frustrating dead-end low-paying job, and I sit there all day just waiting for my shift to end, which is the last thing I wanted to be doing with my life (gotta get those bills paid though right) so I really want to be on my way to doing bigger and better things.

The t-shirt design thing is just the first small step in my initiative. It's not so much the money that's the goal (although I could really use the money) but it's the web presence that being a winner could bring me. Something that can open the door for the other things I want to do, and hopefully afford me with people that will be paying attention to me when I start to do those things.

So hopefully, this blog will not only be a place to showcase my work, but to document my journey. Wish me luck and all that. Thanks for looking and reading.

-stray

Cerbearus up @ DBH

2009-03-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

After a million hours of work I finally finished probably my favorite illustration I've ever done. Lost a lot of sleep, but it was worth it.

I put him on a tee, and he's up at DBH for voting. If it's something you're inclined to wear on a shirt you can vote here.

I'm tempted to post some process pics, maybe another day.

Thanks for looking.

-stray

Cerbearus

2009-03-18T02:31:00.001-07:00

Linework for a new t-shirt design I'm working on. I'm sure you're familiar with the cerberus of Greek mythology, the 3 headed dog. Well, I thought what would be more badass than a 3 headed dog? A 3 headed BEAR! That's one beastly beast is it not??

CerBEARus. Like that fancy play on words? Of course you do.

I'm halfway done coloring this sucker, so perhaps if I finish up tomorrow I'll post that. I'm going to sub this sucker at DBH too I think.

Aerial: Another DBH submission

2009-03-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

They've got a quiksilver contest going on over at DBH. Figured I'd try something and rushed this out before the deadline:

Vote here if you like it: http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/48237

First Blog: Apedog. Hey that rhymed!

2009-03-18T02:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog, people on the internet know me as Stray. I have 3 major passions, which are art, music, and writing. I do a bit of all 3, and I intend to use this blog to share that with you. Mostly the art. I might also end up talking about random stuff on here as well, because I'm prone to that sort of thing.

If you're wondering what "Zap Rowsdower" means, well, you have the internet, you can figure it out.

For now I'm going to share with you, the Apedog

I created this fella for an art activity at eatpoo.com. Lots of people have told me he would look great on a shirt, so I decided to make one:

I submitted this to designbyhumans.com so if you like it you can vote for it here: http://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/46395 and if it wins it'll be printed and up for sale! That would be cool, so I've got my fingers crossed.