Blood in the Water Page 4

Wow, 2 pages in one day. Don't faint.

And then there's this.

It's too small to tell, but actually...I don't care if this is photoshopped, staged or whatever.
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Blood in the Water Page 3

BitW update

I have 2 more pages of Blood in the Water, that will be posted in the next day or so. I'm happier with where they are headed now.

Wallpaper

This was sent to me a while back. I told him I'd post it, but hadn't gotten around to it yet, so here goes...

Hi Derek,
Just wanted to let you know that I stole one of your zombie drawings you posted on your blog to make myself a new desktop wallpaper the other day. I think it turned out pretty good, looks great on a HiDef widescreen monitor. Anyway I really like your stuff, (you have a very similiar style to my own I think) keep it up! I attached the wallpaper in case you want to check it out.
Jason Hite



Thanks, Jason. Everyone else, enjoy.
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Gonzo BlackFly Final Poster

Here's where we stand today. This should be large-scale, minimum size 18x24". Looking to make the background paper a yellow, or possibly a tan, with 2 colors printed on it, black and white. I like the idea of the overall mustardy color. If there are more changes, it will be small, so this is effectively the final.

We'll be doing 100 silkscreen prints and are trying to figure out pricing. Might do something creative with that.
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Spreadshirt Vs. Zazzle

...Grand prize, my affection. I've used Zazzle for a while, been happy with some stuff, but more often than not, disappointed. Whether it's colors shifting or darkening; their limited print areas; cryptic creation tools (specifically the hidden transparency button); poor communication (just one example: they sent a check to an old address and haven't yet responded to my request to get it recut, anyone with a piddly little webstore like this knows how long it takes to pile up enough crumbs to actually get a check); bizarrely cut shirts (one long sleeve tee had sleeves so tight I couldn't fit them on my scrawny-nerd-sized arms), or just merch that arrives smashed to shit, my relationship with Zazzle has been rocky. That said, I've also gotten my share of excellent products with them. They make REALLY great-looking sports apparel, but I would avoid their mugs, digital prints, and dark shirts with light-colored art. So today I started a Spreadshirt account. I've wanted to throw this reaper-death-angel guy onto a shirt for a few years, but I needed it to be a large design. I've seen some really cool, large-printed Spreadshirts recently, so I sent my first design today, and titled it 'Angel of Death'. It seems expensive and the previews are blurry and small, but I went ahead with it and chose a brown base-shirt. I guess the color is called 'chocolate'. And so, here we have it... Yep.

Blood on the drafting table

So, Blood in the Water is a short piece I've been working on, just to test-drive my skills at the crime comics genre.

In accordance with my comments below about others' work, I'm going back to the drawing board with some of the unpublished pages of BITW. They're just not good enough yet, and as much as this piece really only matters to me, that's enough. SO BITW will be coming a bit slower than expected in order to get it right.

Green Street Bridge

I never do this. I usually keep my mouth shut about this kind of stuff. But seriously. Come on. We all drive by this thing all the time.

Today I was stuck in traffic, looking at the Green Street Bridge up close. It has a mural painted on it. A crude, mess of a mural. If you think I'm kidding, or being mean, read on.

Ah Worcester, the city of seven brown lumps. Nice job on your geographical research. Gee, I didn't know we were so close to Evil Disneyworld!

Look, the original Green Street bridge!

Originally built so that the colossal cauliflowers could tiptoe across and visit with their neighbors, the behemoth broccolis!

'Yeah I'm wearing a shirt made of fondant frosting. It's perfect for if I get hungry for decorative novelty desserts while painting this shitty mural!'

'And yeah, my head had to be re-painted five times. Try to ignore the giant miscolored patch-job around my head. I used to have a clown wig. So fucking what?'

'Yeah, I couldn't possibly have been painted 12 inches to the right! This way when they pry this cheap particle board panel off the wall, they can make it look like I'm talking! HELLO EVERY-BUBBY!!'

Silence! Genius at work!

'Yeah my pants are made out of dreams. No big whup.'

'Check it, I'm painting the page in the bible where the nude smurfs invented football!'

I have a dream that one day...black people and white people will come together...to grow hands out of white birch trees and lift laundry piles up from the ground in harmony...while burnt-umber-colored people will lean on it with yellow ladders and red pantaloons! 

Why? How would you paint 'Unity'?

Yeah, we have no trees at all in Worcester county. If we did, we could maybe look at one to see how to draw one. And that's why they hired this elf to do it!

'Hey big boy, you want a piece of this?'

Apparently Steven Tyler got in the microwave instead of the tanning bed.

[edit: Welcome to all the Boston.com readers. Sorry you have to see us this way. But just to boil it down, Worcester's pretty cool, esp Green Street, but you wouldn't know it when the city pulls crap like this.]

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So the question anyone would ask is 'could you do better?'

Yes. And yes, I would. If they're interested. I'd do it for cost of materials, just to bury this embarrassing mess.

I live here and I put effort into the work I do. And yet, this bullshit publicly represents me... represents all of us. No way.

Comments welcome. I can take it.