Working with a new WACOM Cintiq 24"

Shots of me working on an album artwork project with my new WACOM Cintiq 24" - prior to getting this technological beast, I was using an old, but trusty, WACOM that had no screen. It's live-drawing area was a gray square, forcing me to look at my monitor to see what I was drawing, rather than be able to focus on my hands.

This made line-work in particular take much longer than it needed too (constantly having to redraw lines that didn't quite come out right, and then shave those lines down with the eraser tool after). It also made working on art projects much more frustrating than need be (9 of 10 doctors recommend their artists use Cintiqs).

Speaking of doctors, using the old WACOM, which could only be laid flat on a desk that is, really, at a terrible height for my own ease of use and comfort, was giving me some serious Carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist (a combination of the height and angle of my arm and the extreme pressure I was exerting to keep those lines on target without being able to see what I was really doing). The new Cintiq, as you can see, is mounted on a stand that allows one to rotate the Cintiq to a comfortable angle. Placed on a new desk, it actually allows me to stand while I draw, which is also a relief for my back.

“A man of purpose is a man on an assignment.”

The state of Hawaii's elected representatives

Looking at the gaggle of Congressional District 1 candidates rushing to try and fill Colleen Hanabusa's soon-to-be-vacant seat (as she attempts to supplant Brian Schatz from his seat in the U.S. Senate), it's hard to know who to vote for. None of them stands out as a particularly strong candidate. Some have had lots of experience sitting in legislative bodies, but have accomplished little, while others are idealists and reformers who have never held elected office and are much too likely to burn bridges and make enemies, preventing any of their reforms from ever taking place.

Looking at Hawaii's history of elected representatives, either from the Territory or the State of Hawaii, we have had titans of politics sit in Congress and fight for Hawaii in the past. Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, Samuel Wilder King, Jack Burns, Dan Inouye, Tom Gill, Patsy Mink: for better or for worse, these men and women fought hard for what they believed was best for Hawaii. Although not every idea they implemented was a success, not everything they accomplished has survived, and not all that they believed in turned out to be in the best interest of Hawaii's people, they still got shit done. These are the figures that shaped modern Hawaii, as representatives to Congress and, as was the case for several of them, as governors and U.S. senators as well.

Compare them to our current selection of choices and it seems the quality of our politicians, both in terms of leadership as well as sheer political skill, has declined. This is the argument that is made in a soon-to-be-published essay on the Hawaii Independent for which this illustration was created to accompany. Once the article comes out, the link will be posted. Where is our modern day Wilcox? Where is our Mink? I hope to see them enter the political arena soon.

Splintered Paddle

Hawaii Politics

Honolulu City Councilman Stanley Chang introduced a bill in September that would, essentially, make lying down on the sidewalk in Honolulu's three special business districts illegal. 

Yesterday, the most recent draft was deferred in committee by a vote of 3-2, meaning it will die unless another new draft is created.

Overall the reaction to the bill stalling was positive here in Honolulu. Opponents say that the bill is unconstitutional, as it violates the law of the splintered paddle--Kanawai Mamala Hoe--part of the Hawaii State Constitution, and that it targets the homeless specifically. Supporters, many of whom are small-business owners, say the bill is necessary, as many of the homeless in Honolulu sleep in front of stores in Chinatown, Waikiki and the Capitol District and can be disruptive to business.

I wondered what King Kamehameha the First, the creator of Kanawai Mamala Hoe, would think about Stanley Chang's bill. I wondered what other solutions would be viable other than opposing Kanawai Mamala Hoe. And then I wondered how people would react to an image of Chang prepping to splinter another paddle over the old King's head. So many questions...

Sometimes I like to paint zombies

I have a problem.
Sometimes, I like to paint zombies. Bloody, gory, sometimes silly, but zombies nonetheless. I love zombies. They're one of the only horror antagonists that can be absurd and terrifying at the exact same time. I love the theories behind various zombies too and the mixture of occult and bio-warfare they conjure. I also love the idea that, individually, they're no big deal, but in a massive group (or herd as they're called in AMC's The Walking Dead) they're nearly impossible to escape.
Plus, they're just really fun to draw!
I was asked to do some zombie illustrations for my buddy James Charisma's magazine Abstract, for a Zombie Survival Guide story.
I only managed to do this one. Unfortunately, James felt his publisher would find the illustration too violent and asked me to redo it.
Some of you may know that Hawaii is currently in the midst of s special session of Legislature to decide on a Marriage Equality bill. As political correspondent for the Hawaii Independent, I've been busy at the Leg every day last week and (likely) every day this coming week as well, so I told James I wouldn't have time to redo anything. Which means the poor zombies in this image would never get to be admired without this blog.
Anyway, the original concept for this image was "Go Mobile" as in, find a vehicle and drive through the herd, killing as many zombies as possible—or at least that's how I interpreted it. Maybe the killing part I made up. But I mean, come on, what else do you do when zombies attack? Invite them to a game of Backgammon? I don't think they'd understand the strategy very well.

The Monolith

Now that the Hawaii Independent has published it's first tablet magazine issue, I can upload the cover art I did for it to my blog! 

"The Monolith" was commissioned to go with a piece by veteran reporter Gerald Kato about public authorities like the Hawaii Community Development Authority or the much hated and now-revoked Public Land Development Corporation. Donovan Dela Cruz was included in the bottom right corner specifically because he was (is) Mr. PLDC - the others, Gov. Abercrombie, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Stanley Chang, David Ige and Ikaika Anderson are all either pro public authorities or are running for the important 1st Congressional seat of Hawaii soon and will have to decide where they stand on public authorities for their platforms - I can already take a guess.

Kato discusses the origins of public authorities and Robert Moses ("The Power Broker" is a book that should definitely be read by anyone at all involved with government, planning or communities - so everyone) to contextualize what's happened in Hawaii since the 1970s and, especially, today. 

I'm not necessarily against public authorities, which can partner more easily with the private development sector to sometimes accomplish great works for the people. The problem is really oversight and accountability. The authorities act as a buffer between the public and government which allows for fudge-room, shady dealings and easy ways out for officials. 

Below is a link to the excerpt from Kato's piece. The rest you'll need to read in the tablet magazine which is available on iTunes for a mere $1.99. It's like the Atlantic or the New Yorker for Hawaii.

"The Authority," by Gerald Kato: http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/the-authority

Daft Experiments from the Moon

Wow, I really need to do a better job of posting my art right after I finish it, otherwise I forget to do it, months go by, and by then I don't always even like it anymore - defeats the purpose of a blog, to be sure.

Well I'm working for a new place now that Weekly exploded, which also gives me more time to do stuff like this piece. I wrote a review of Daft Punk's Random Access Memories for INhonolulu Magazine which will go live this coming Friday. This is original artwork I created to go with it.

The Four Elements

Part of my "real, live superheroes" project, this image was created by taking a photo of four friends posed as superheroes representing The Four Elements.
At the Ka Leo Arts Festival, my booth was a "get yourself drawn as a super hero or villain" booth. Thanks in large part to my marketing champion Reece Farinas, I made a lot of money and made a lot of people happy at the same time! Most of the customers took their pencil drawings home with them, but these guys asked me to keep theirs and turn it into a full blown, colored comic cover. So here it is! Hope you like it.

To the left is the original pencil drawing I did at the fair.

As always, right click on an image to open it in a new tab and view it full sized.

Election 2012: The Oz Express

Here we go folks! All aboard the Oz Express - that's what the Weekly is dubbing this coming issue which will feature the very green cover image to the left.
This issue is all about the upcoming August elections in the beautiful state of Hawaii and, of course, Rail is the big issue on everyone's mind (hence the "Express").
I seem to be the rail artist of choice for the Weekly - not that I'm complaining. I got to draw a giant Kirk Caldwell with an equally giant spritz bottle polishing a hypothetical Rail; Ben Cayetano as sheriff chasing down the banditos stealing taxpayer dollars to fund Rail; and now my favorite: Sen. Inouye (the Great and Powerful Dan) and Grabauskas (head of HART) as the wicked witch of the Rail plus four of the most dynamic challengers to Rail (and development in general) as Dorothy, the Lion, the Woodsman and the Scarecrow.
Best of all for me personally, I finally got to do a layout that is essentially a comic book cover and as an extra special super bad-ass bonus, I got to try out Corel Painter 12 as my new tool of choice. A late birthday gift from the best parents in the world.  Look for the hard copy this coming Wednesday the 1st of August. I may also post some images from the  intermediate stages of this process too, just for fun. Stay tuned!

"Unusual weather we're having, ain't it?"



(As always, right click to open the image in it's own window - this will allow you to zoom in and check out those awesome oil brush strokes - love this program!)

Cayetano Rides Again!

Voila! My second cover for the Honolulu Weekly is about Ben Cayetano's bid for Honolulu Mayor. He promises to kill Rail if elected, and claims that would be justice served as Rail is allegedly highway robbery on the part of the city at the expense of we taxpayers. Whether that's true or not, I'm not sure, but with this city's track record on public projects and using the ends to justify the means, I wouldn't be that surprised. Another thing Cayetano says in the Weekly interview is that the city is using taxpayer money to pay for pro-Rail advertisements, which are inherently anti-Cayetano, which could be seen as the city buying the election, or at least trying to. Interesting stuff. And it'll probably only get juicier as we get closer to the election.

Kirk gets his hands dirty

My first freelance cover, published by Honolulu Weekly on Wednesday, June 20 (also the summer solstice, if you care about that sort of natural thing) depicts Honolulu mayoral candidate, Kirk Caldwell, as a roll-up-the-sleeves, "hands-on" kind of guy who will work closely with people on the ground to spritz up the city and make it shiny and nice looking. At least that's what he said in the Weekly's interview with him. 

I'm not sure how many people in the state consider Caldwell a lightweight, but I think that will be his main problem to overcome in this election: making people believe he has the chops for the job. He was promoted to acting mayor after former mayor Mufi Hannemann resigned to run for governor (he then lost to Neil Abercrombie, whom I can't wait to draw in some capacity), but was quickly booted out himself during the special election by Peter Carlisle, who is the current mayor of Honolulu. Now Caldwell is trying to recapture his seat, by vote this time, but he's up against Carlisle as well as former Hawaii governor Ben Cayetano, who has come out of retirement to run for mayor on an anti-rail platform. Cayetano has the best shot, I think, at winning. He stands out from the other two in a number of ways besides his anti-rail stance. He was governor. Boom. That means a crap-load to a lot of people. And even though he was a giant bully while he was in charge, there are a lot of people, especially among lower wage earners, who support him outright. Caldwell is lucky that he has union endorsements because that's the only defense he has against Cayetano stealing more lower income voters from him.

Second cover for the Weekly is currently in production and will be posted next week sometime after it is officially published on the 27th. It is, incidentally, about Cayetano and his anti-rail stance. The Weekly interviewed Cayetano who is claiming that HART is building rail against the best interests of Hawaii's people and in a dishonest, non-transparent way. He also claims that the city is buying the election away from him by using tax-payer money to fund pro-rail/anti-Cayetano advertisements. He's calling the whole business Railgate. We shall see if that is accurate or not. 

Obama vs Romney - 2012

Before they were political rivals, locked in democratic combat over the most powerful position in the world (arguably), they were young men, and kung-fu rivals, locked in mortal combat over the fate of the universe!

Ok, not really.  I drew these "20-something" versions of President Obama and Governor Romney for my friend's graduate student publication on the mainland. I won't drop any names until the actual issue comes out, but they've got a story about the candidates when they were young, so this is my versions of the two of them as young men. 

The background won't be in the finished version as I believe the figures will be cut-outs that surround the story. Seemed like a good piece to post since we're drawing ever closer to November. Hopefully some other wonderful and hip publications will want to use this image too. Email me! :D

Green Party of Hawai‘i secures ballot place through 2020

After 3 successful years of petitioning and signature gathering to appear on Hawai‘i's partisan election ballots, the Green Party of Hawai‘i is now legally mandated to appear on all partisan ballots through 2020 without the need for petitions.

After a Green Party member beat out a democratic incumbent and republican candidate on the island of Hawai‘i (the 'Big Island'), Green Party support has continued to increase on that island and the Party hopes this is a sign that their influence will continue to spread throughout the rest of the state.

For more information, check out kaleo.org starting tonight at midnight, Hawai‘i time to read our news report on this. Link will follow tomorrow.

- Will

Woman's Choice

An illustration appearing in tomorrow's edition of Ka Leo O Hawaii to accompany an article about how old men, and really just men in general, should butt their hoary heads out of women's reproductive rights. 'Nuff said, Washington. Women don't tell you not to masturbate because it kills potential life-forms, or half-life-forms (not to be confused with this), though - if you read the article you'll see - that's already been thought of too. Article goes live in 2 hours. Link to follow.

Crumbling hope

Cover art for Ka Leo issue featuring the last Candidate's Corner on Obama. Other than the New Student Orientation guide from last summer, this is the only cover art I've had for Ka Leo, I think. Pretty sweet!

The $200 Million Man

Mitt Romney: the republican frontrunner. But what does the man actually stand for? He's passed liberal, some would even say socialist, health care reform for his home state (something I would congratulate him on, but which his voting base will not). Yet at the same time, in less than 20 hours now, Romney will head to a hotel ballroom to give a speech sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a front group founded and funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers are gas barons who have bankrolled Tea Party extremism and committed their own $200 million to try to prevent a reelection for Obama.

One thing we know about him, his net worth is somewhere around $200 million on his own, he's in the top .06% of wealth in the nation, he's tall, slim and has a shiny white smile. Also, he's white. These factors should not be overlooked in an election that takes place in a country where what you stand for and how you intend to improve our country along those lines is less important than who your parents were, where you went to school and what you look like. For more, check out Edward Hickman's piece

on kaleo.org.

The last of the candidates for Ka Leo to cover is Obama. Look for the artwork and the article on Monday.

Introducing the 2012 Candidates' Corner

Time for the rat race once again. Ka Leo will be featuring a profile on each of the remaining candidates in the following weeks. Here's a drawing to help kick things off. I'll add the links as well as any other art I get commissioned to do to this post as they appear in Ka Leo. Enjoy!

Profile on Ron Paul is already up, with an awesome drawing by Nicholas Smith, our comics editor, accompanying.

Update (2/23/12):

The profiles on Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are also up on Ka Leo. Mitt Romney will appear in tomorrow's issue (24th) with a drawing by me. I'll post that tomorrow. Monday should see another illustration by me to close out the series. It'll be a cover illustration of Obama.

Virtual Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day, if you're all alone, there's a literal solution filled with virtual romance. Our writer Paige Takeya wrote about several of the best virtual dating sims - many of which work the romance aspect of the game (why you're playing it in the first place) into quests to save the world or combat monsters. The most interesting sounding to me, Catherine, features psychological segments in which the main character must climb up a perilous tower in his dreams - dreams that relate to the real world situation he finds himself in (navigating between a love triangle that features him, his longtime girlfriend Catherine and a mysterious one-night-stand named Katherine.  Anywho, even if the games don't sound fun to you, or you have a real date for V-Day already, the artwork is still pretty sweet (a mon avis). Enjoy!

 

Data Wars

I love it when my Editorial Cartoon of the week matches so perfectly with a well written Ka Leo article, the way it does this time. Boaz Rosen did a good job explaining that this is an information and advertising war between old style media moguls and new, online-based media empires like Google. Fox vs Google ... hmm, not sure who I'd honestly root for there. First inclination is Google, but they do track all my clicks and then bombard me with ads they hope are tailored to me. And why? So they can profit off of you and me the same way Rupert Murdoch does.  Bo is more articulate, so if you want to read more about it, here's the link to the Ka Leo article.
There's also a story on Ka Leo that explains the SOPA and PIPA acts pretty well too. It was written by Antonio Lamb, one of our seasoned reporters. Here's the link to that too.

Chancellor Birdshaw feathering her nest

This illustration was written to accompany a very good article by Contributing Writer Daniel Hugo.  In it, Hugo blasts University of Hawaii at Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw for being largely ineffective and concerned predominantly with helping herself. Unfortunately, Hugo also predicts that our next Chancellor will be no better as he or she will come out of the same corrupt, nepotistic and self-destructive process that came up with Hinshaw as top choice to lead our campus 5 years ago.

So why is she a Bird?

Starting over a year ago, we at Ka Leo noticed a distinct Avian-like appearance to the Chancellor in many of her photos.  We are still unsure as to whether it's some trick of the camera that picks up her subtle bird-qualities, qualities that are otherwise overlooked by the naked eye, or whether  we just happen to be really lucky and take pictures of her at the exact few moments in her life when she looks the most bird-like.  Either way, she totally looks like a bird in at least two thirds of the pictures Ka Leo has taken of her.
Starting with the fall 2011 Welcome Back issue, I began drawing an avian version of Hinshaw, though I kept it subtle and in the background and never actually labeled the bird as her (though that distinctly horrid haircut of hers is definitely there).  For this article, I simply decided to re-draw Birdshaw, but nice and big, for all to see.

The Messy Monster - Cover Art

Here's a cover design I did for a potential children's book written by Lauren Tsugawa.  The story is really cute and funny and I had a blast drawing this cover. It would be totally awesome if my artwork was featured in a published children's book, especially one written by such a talented writer!

At the moment I don't have permission to post the story as well, but if I do get it, I'll put it up too so you all can read the story that inspired the artwork.

I also included some sketches I did for various scenes from the story below: