Photobooth Friday (finally)

It's been a long, long time since my last participation in Photobooth Friday (Wow. Not since April of 2008?), but I'm glad to say that a trip to the Ace Hotel this past Sunday was worth coming back for.

We (Ava, Ezra & I) call guys with big beards here in Portland "Mr. Beardy" - "Look Daddy! There's a Mr. Beardy!" If you want to see a prime example of a Mr. Beardy (besides myself), check out the dude who works behind the counter at Stumptown right next to the Ace. You'll thank me for it.

Currently enjoying:

• My wife's polaroid collection.
• Hansen's Vanilla Cola: real cane sugar FTW.
• My new(ish) Cintiq 21UX: thank you, Hugh. You're awesome.
• German visitors: Mathias & Jördis (and little Mari), best house guests EVER.
• Almonds: magical nuts that are supposed to change my life.
• Twitter: because Facebook can be annoying. Like real life.
• MY SECOND KID'S BOOK IS DONE.


Not enjoying:

• Third anniversary of my Aunt Bo's passing away because of stupid cancer. I miss her.
• Andrea out of town. Again.
• German visitors having to leave to go back home. Goodbyes suck.
• Waiting to get paid.
• Waiting. Period.

Ward Jenkins dot com

The site has been updated and now you can check out my illustration work, animated commercials, paintings, graffiti, and short films all under one roof FINALLY.

It's weird to see it all together in one place now, especially my two short films, figure drawing and noir. figure drawing has never been seen outside of a few screenings 10 years ago, so yeah, this is like airing out my dirty laundry.

I'll be sure to talk more about those two films here on the blog soon. I promise.

In the meantime, enjoy the site and tell me what you think.

Announcing The Ward-O-Matic Shop

The Ward-O-Matic Shop is now open! I finally got enough sense knocked into my head to start up a shop on Etsy selling prints & original artwork. It's a little barren right now, but I'll have more work up soon, including paintings and more prints. Maybe even sketchbooks.

The Retro Kid hits 2,000 Members

The Retro Kid, the Flickr group that I started up in 2005, has hit a major milestone recently: we've reached 2,000 members! That's quite an accomplishment. Excitement is hardly the word for what I'm feeling now. I'm extremely proud of this group, checking it every day and searching the vast pool of artwork & illustration that's been submitted for inspiration. This couldn't have happened without my moderators, Glen and Julia, and especially the group's members. You all help make the internet a wonderful place for me. Thank you.



So, what is The Retro Kid? Glad you asked.

From the group's description:

We are interested in illustrated children's books from the mid-1940's through the mid-1960's, give or take a few years. As long as it has that cool, mid-century modern stylized look that was so popular during that time. Some of what I dig are books and anything illustrated by Mary Blair, JP Miller, The Provensen's, Art Seiden, Aurelius Battaglia, and the like. I'm not limiting to just these illustrators, but willing to be open to just about anything similar.

This group is not limited to just children's books, but also anything that was illustrated for kids at that time: albums, 45's, commercials, magazine ads, games, toys, etc. If it's retro, and it looks cool, let's see it! (See below for examples.)

If you're a member of The Kid, stop by and tell us who you are. We'd love to meet ya.

You can check out submissions from the top 5 contributors: Eric Sturdevant, Glen Mullaly, Dan Goodsell, Julia Miller, and oh yeah...me.

Some examples from the group:





Image courtesy of Glen Mullaly.


Image courtesy of MrMack.


Image courtesy of rock-paper-scissors.


Image courtesy of - julia -.


Image courtesy of grickily.


Image courtesy of Glen Mullaly.


Image courtesy of David at Klockarp Foundation.


Image courtesy of Eric Sturdevant.


Image courtesy of Leif Peng.

If you like this sort of thing, there are plenty of other Flickr groups that might interest you. The first one that's of particular interest is Mid-century Illustrated, featuring artwork from the same era, but opened to ALL illustration, not just kid stuff. Leif Peng heads that one up with Julia.

I've actually started up a sister group to The Retro Kid, called The Retro Teen. Other groups I administer:

Vintage Science
Mid-Century Science
Vintage Education
Jim Flora Art

Other groups of interest:

Vintage Children's Books
Vintage Cookbooks
Golden Age of Advertising (1950's - 1970's)
Eye Candy: Children's Books from the 60's and 70's
Vintage Christmas
Mid-Century Illustrated Originals
Typography of the 50's
The Atomic Housewife

Enjoy!

OMG I'm a dotcom

Here's the part wherein I plug my new website, www.wardjenkins.com, and upon visiting the site, you'll see that it's only a 'coming soon' page with two active links: one to my email and the other to my blog, which, upon clicking takes you right back here whereupon you'll see that I've posted about my new website, www.wardjenkins.com, and upon visiting the site, you'll see that it's only a 'coming soon' page, with two active links and then you'll realize that you've stumbled upon some strange möbius strip linkage, going back & forth between my site and blog, site & blog, back & forth, back & forth, etc, and then after suddenly waking up from this cycle, you'll find the urge to email me, asking me to do some fantastic animation work or some brilliant illustration work or some amazing direction, etc., blah, blah, blah.....okay okay I'll stop.

Thanks to John for the hosting part and to my ATL buddy Eric for the getting it up and running part -- am trying my best to not have those words "coming soon!" up for long. Expect some updates in the next couple of weeks. Really? My goal is to have this done by my 40th birthday. For those who know, that's not too far away.

Pulp Covers

Occasionally, when I'm browsing for some neato vintage finds, I'll come across a pulp paperback novel with a great cover. Below you'll find a few worth noting. For an added bonus, these novels have some great synopses written up, either on the back cover or right when you open the front cover:


The Girl in 304, by Harold R. Daniels. Cover art by Walter Brooks. 1956.

On the back cover:

Standing in front of her mirror in Room 304, slipping on her yellow dress for the Sunday evening's work, Lucy Carter wearily hoped the bright color would be the bait she needed for a successful night.

Sometimes, though, it could hook the worst sort of fish...like Lt. Cox, whom she'd refused to pay off....

Still, these were the risks of her trade. But when Sheriff Ed Masters found her the next day in the weeds of the Georgia swamland, the risks were over for Lucy Carter...and just beginning for the man who had ended them.


The Man Who Got Even With God, by Reverend M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. (Originally written in 1941, this printing: 1963.) No credit for cover art.

On the back cover:

"I'll get even. I always do," said John Green Hanning, the violent-tempered schoolboy. He was stating the principle that would govern his life. His teachers knew him as the boy with a chip on his shoulder. As a young man he "got even" with his father in a violent, evil way. He became a cowboy who refused to become friends with anyone. He was an outsider, all the way.

But there came a change–a complete transformation of character. The man who couldn't get along with anybody became a Trappist lay brother and got along with everybody.

Brother Joachim, who was John Hanning, sounds like a character out of fiction, yet his story is as real as the world he left and the world he entered. Father Raymond, a Trappist monk at the same monastery, tells the story of this ex-cowboy–a life as fascinating, as moving, as any fiction.

(The cover art wraps around to the back. I might have to scan the whole thing and upload it later.)


In a Deadly Vein, by Brett Halliday. Cover art by Bob McGinnis. (Originally titled "Murder Wears a Mummer's Mask", written in 1943, this printing: 1962.)

From the inside cover:

I'm on vacation when I meet this gorgeous trick with a head of golden hair that's worth half of Fort Knox. Her old man has found a mine worth the other half. Putting them together, she stacks up as a lucky girl.

Then she disappears. With her looks, and her old man's loot, I figure she's a diamond-studded candidate for the morgue.

That makes her my dish. After all, murder and blondes are my business.

Man, I totally want to read this now.


More about old paperbacks:

Pop Sensation: blog.
Pulp Fiction: Flickr group.
Vintage Paperbacks: site with tons of images.

Starting Off 2008 Right

Let's start of the new year right, shall we? A couple of super sweet images from a Metropolitan Life pamphlet from 1966 (part of an entire series -- see a previous Met Life pamphlet drawn by JP Miller here). No illustrator credit is given, but there's some speculation that it could be Roy Doty. Any clues? Give me a ring and let's discuss. I'd love to know who did these wonderful illustrations. I've had this for a long time, just waiting for the right moment to post it. Since it's the New Year, and people usually like to start the new year with resolutions, and resolutions usually consist of starting off right, health-wise, these fun two-color illos fit in rather nicely for the day.



So, it's been a while, hasn't it? Sheesh. Didn't mean to take that long a break. But it was needed. On Christmas Eve, the Jenkins clan hopped on a plane and flew to Atlanta for two weeks. It was the first time for the kids and they loved the entire experience. They were so excited by it all. And, surprisingly, they did really well, considering that it was a red-eye flight. At one point, a flight attendant leaned over to tell me just how well behaved my kids were. I almost responded with a "Well, just you wait," or "Thanks, but these aren't my kids," but decided against the cheesy dad joke-thing. Plus, she was already out of earshot.



Two weeks was just enough time for us to be away. Andrea and I both thought that while we were hanging out with family and friends that we would find the time to post on our blogs and/or Flickr, but, alas, it was not to be. Apparently, vacation time doesn't really mean a true vacation when kids are involved. But that's okay. It was great to catch up with a couple of friends (sorry we missed out on hooking up with others -- there's not enough hours in the day), so good to see all the cousins playing (somewhat) nice with each other, and it was great to see a couple of fantastic films. For the record, JUNO and the Coen Brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN are high on my list of best films for 2007. And I plan on seeing THERE WILL BE BLOOD soon. Big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson.

And yes, we found time for two rounds of bowling. Awesome.



Can't lie -- we miss our families. Of course, that's a given. This past year has been hard on us, since uprooting the family in March to move from Atlanta to Portland. Being so far away from close friends and family takes its toll after about 6 months. I long for the times where I could just swing by my Mom's and chat, or go see a flick with my Dad. Andrea's brother and his family live in Atlanta and we always enjoyed going over to their place to just hang out, order some pizza, listen to some new tracks, talk about TV shows, movies, silly things, nothing. While we were in Atlanta for Christmas, we got to do all of that. And more. After a week and a half, though, it started to get to us. Each day was filled with obligations and things to do, places to go, people to visit. By the end of each day, Andrea and I were so worn out, so exhausted.



But it was a good exhaustion. Even though each day was tiresome, we enjoyed the time spent with everyone. And it was good to be back home, to see all of our old haunts, our former houses, favorite restaurants, flea markets, stores, movie theaters, etc. One thing I noticed: in Atlanta, you have to DRIVE everywhere for like, 20 to 30 minutes. It was crazy. Funny how it takes me being nine months gone to finally realize that. Boy! Maybe it was all the driving around that made us exhausted. I wouldn't doubt it.

So, here we are. 2008. A new year, a new start. I'm excited about this year. There's already a lot that's planned. A sample:

I want to get my workspace up and running downstairs. A couple of trips to IKEA and various flea markets will do the trick, I guess. The reason I want to get my workspace finished is because...

...I want to get started on my short film. This is the year I must get going on this thing! Enough fooling around. Time to forge ahead. I'll post a couple of drawings here sporadically throughout the year just to give you all a heads up, but in the meantime, you'll have to wait.

Sigh....we need a new computer. Our current Powerbook G4 is barely getting Andrea and I though each day. If I start working on my short film, the little guy won't make it. Looking for a new Macbook. We'd be happy with just the basic one, but man! what I'd do for a nice Macbook Pro. Oh, well.

On February 12th, my good friend John Brian Ludwick has asked me to speak at his school again, at IUPUI, as part of a School of Informatics speaker series. That's in Indianapolis. If you're in the ballpark, stop on by.

In March, I'll be part of the Flip the Bird: Part Deux show at Lunarboy Gallery in Astoria, OR.

UPDATE: Oh, forgot to mention -- in March, I'm planning on visiting San Francisco to check out the Mary Blair exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum. I'm so looking forward to that!

More vintage goodies to scan and talk about! Stay tuned. Lots more fun to be had here, kids.

Here's to a great 2008!

Christmastime is Booktime

Oh, dear Lord, there's no hiding the fact that I love books. I've tons of 'em, old and new, big and small, preferably filled with purdy pictures. Each year for my birthday and Christmas I always ask for books. Don't know why that is. Maybe it's that part of me that constantly craves information and needs to have visual stimulation in ye Olde World fashion by turning actual pages and feeling the smooth texture of paper. Maybe I just like presents. Who knows?

Since it's that time of the year again, and since I'm in a generously helpful mood, thought I'd pass along to you a list of some books that either I have and think that you might dig, or books I don't have but would look pretty nifty in my stocking currently hanging over the hearth. And perhaps yours, too. So...here we go:


BOOKS THAT AREN'T OUT YET BUT LOOK GOOD ON MY WISH LIST:

As usual, I've been collecting the "This is..." series by M. Sasek. The new ones coming out in January are:


This is Britain


This is Israel. Always digging me some Sasek.

There's no cover for this one yet, but this looks pretty good: Stepping into the Picture: Cartoon Designer Maurice Noble, by Robert J. Mckinnon. I just found out about this book, so I don't know too much about it. However, I love Noble's work (known mostly for his work at Warner Bros. but also did work at Disney), and so I'll be curious to check this book out when it's available in February of 2008.


BOOKS I DON'T HAVE BUT WANT:


Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation, by Hans Bacher, a former art director for Disney. Now doing his own thing in the Philippines.


Cinderella, by Mary Blair. As much as I love Sasek's work, I equally love Blair's. I haven't taken a peek at this book yet, but I'm sure it's gorgeous. For more Blair-goodness, check out Art and Flair of Mary Blair, by John Canemaker.


Thomas Allen: Uncovered, featuring the cool photographs of Thomas Allen. Intro by graphic designer Chip Kidd. I've gotten to know Mr. Allen lately, all thanks to the glory of the internets. I love his work. Incredibly ingenious set-ups of cut-out characters from pulp book covers. He's meticulous at what he does and it shows.


Desene: Sketches & Scribbles, by fellow LAIKA-ian, Ovi Nedelcu. Umm...have you had the chance to see this guy's work? Incredible.


The Ancient Book of Myth and War, by Scott Morse, Lou Romano, Don Shank, and Nate Wragg. Pretty much a Dream Team, if you ask me. Pixar artists doing the Greek gods thing. Count me in!


Popping Through Pictures: Paintings from Amanda Visell, board book that looks twice as fun as the illustrations suggest. Amanda and her co-hort in visual crime, Michelle Valigura, make up The Girls Productions.


Art and Design GAMA-GO, by Greg Long, Chris Edmundson, and Tim Biskup. I've always liked the GAMA-GO line of products, so this would be a nice thing to have to check out their designs and concepts.


ON THE DESIGN-TIP:

I love design-y books, too. Especially the type and font variety. These two look veddy niiiice:


Hand Job: A Catalog of Type, by Michael Perry.



New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age, by Steven Heller and Gail Anderson.


BOOKS I HAVE AND THINK YOU SHOULD TOO:

Yes, join me in owning these wonderful books. You won't be disappointed. "One of us....one of us...."


Three Trees make a Forest, by Ronnie Del Carmen, Tadahiro Uesugi, and Enrico Casarosa. Holy moley, what a great visual feast here. I can't get enough of these three guys. Together, they make up a strong visual collection. Lots of cute girls, if that'll sway you.


Timmy and Tammy's Train of Thought, written by Oliver Chin and illustrated by the amazing Heath McPherson. Amazing mostly for Heath's illustration talents, but also because he's from Alabama. I mean, do they actually teach art in that state? Ha ha...that's a bit of the Georgian in me. Alabama digs are always a favorite Georgia past-time. Seriously, this book is a fun, colorful look at all the different types of trains. The character designs are top-notch. Heath's style is so rich with flavor -- I think I'm going to be sick from all the sweetness. (That's a good thing.)


Fleet Street Scandal, by illustrators Chris Turham (another fellow LAIKA dude) and Kevin Dart. Together, they make up Fleet Street Scandal. Sweet drawings. More pretty ladies in this one, in a 60's pulp kind-of way. Oh, and monsters. And stunning colors. Take your pick -- this is a good one.


The Art of Ratatouille, by Karen Paik. Oh, yes. This is probably one of my favorites of the "Art of..." Pixar books. Added bonus: our man Harley Jessup is all over this book. More great work from the boys and girls of Pixar. Some day, I'll stop by for a visit.


BOOKS BY JERRY BECK THAT LOOK PROMISING:

Good ol' Jerry Beck has been busy lately, and these two books prove it:


The Art of Bee Movie, by Jerry Beck and Jerry Seinfeld. I took a quick glance in this one, and I'm incredibly impressed by what I saw. Sadly, most of what I saw did not make it onto the screen for Dreamworks Animation's latest. There's some really nice work in this book, I just hate that most of it will be overlooked. I don't have this book, but I wouldn't mind getting it. Some great work by even greater artists.


Hanna-Barbara Treasury. (Cover photo by Sherm Cohen.) Another one I don't own, but checked it out at the bookstore. A nice big tome on the art and graphics (toys and merch) of the Hanna-Barbara studios throughout the years. It's one of those conceptual books where you can open folders and envelopes to find various replicated items and what-not. A fun book, I'd rather see a book that has nothing but storyboards, model sheets, turnarounds, conceptual artwork, and original backgrounds -- but that's just the geeky animation nerd in me talking.

Okay! That's quite a list! Hope this offered some of you a chance to see what's out there for the fledgling animator/artist in your family. So, get off yer tuckus and start clickin'!

Abundant Linkage

It's been a while since the last Abundant Linkage, huh? Well, here goes:



Oh. Yes. Being a late 70's runner, this warms the cockles of my heart like nothing else: Nike Vintage. To quote the site:

...We've revisited our original styles and crafted them to look 30 years old–fresh out of the box. And it's all there, almost to the stitch. 1970s-grade nylon. Weird Swooshes. Aged laces. Weathered foam. And, of course, that velvety suede-like suede.

I'm partial to the Daybreak, since my Dad had a pair. The color choices presented here are new–they only had one look back in the day as far as I remember: tan with a bright orange swoosh (which, incidentally, I don't see available on the site...weird). Now I know what I want for my birthday. (It's coming up, in case you want to know...*hint hint*...)

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I'll talk more about this book soon.

I started up (yet) another Flickr group, Vintage Science (hmmm...I'm detecting a theme here). Mainly because I was trying to find some old science book-type stuff on Flickr and noticed that there wasn't one place to feature them all. Behold, another Flickr group! Taking a nod from fellow vintage-lover Paula Wirth's excellent group series (see Vintage Cookbooks, Vintage Advertising, and Vintage Drugstores, to name a few), I decided to start a group featuring all those oh-so-dated science books that we were forced to study and learn in grade school. Looking for 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's science books, as well as children's books that had a science theme to 'em (like space, astronomy, physics, anatomy, etc.). Join in on the fun!

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Inspiring artists:


I'm in love with the artwork of Matte Stephens. I mentioned him on Drawn! and I'll mention him here. He's that good. Go directly to his Etsy shop and buy one of his prints. You won't be sorry. Another reason to love Matte's work is that he's a big fan of midcentury modern design. He even started up a blog devoted to it: Modern Design 901. Love love.


Robert Hardgrave (aka Farmer Bob) paints with authority. His freeflowing landscapes are something to behold; I'm sure they're even more impressive up close and in person. Check his gallery and his Flickr.


Currently enjoying the work of Italian illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli. Fun characters with nice linework. I'm glad to see that she's crossed the threshold from paper and/or computer screen into brick and mortar walls. She just recently finished her first wall! She collaborated with a friend and it looks great. Be sure to check her Flickr while you're at it.


Click to read. And laugh.

Hilarious. Do yourself a favor and go back and read 'em all. Drawn by Scott Campbell. Love his watercolor work combined with his use of irregular line and fun character designs. Recently featured in Geek Monthly.


Scott recently was one of the contributing artists to Hickee, an on-going comic series featuring indie comic artists, headed up by fellow LAIKA-ian, Graham Annable. If you're not familiar with Graham's work, you're in for a treat. The amount of personality he's able to get out of the subtlest of looks is amazing. Mostly in the eyes. (Check his Grickle Things blog.) I can see why Henry Selick grabbed him to work as storyboard artist on CORALINE. Wonderful stuff.

A big, fat post featuring LAIKA, PDX and NW artists is coming soon. To coincide with my updated blogroll. (Sorry it's taking me longer than expected. I keep finding new links! So sue me.)

My Unavoidable Halloween Post

Here's to a Happy Halloween! Ava drew this in the computer on Noggin's site last year for Halloween.

Belt out your best witch's cackle right now.

Pirates are the Big Thing this year at the Jenkins household. Although Ezra keeps changing his mind. First it was pirate, then Spider-Man, then robot, then skeleton, then back to Spider-Man, then pirate....you get the picture. I tried to convince him to be a 'robot pirate' but that just confused him all the more. Although I do have to say that that's not a bad idea for a costume. I might have to try it out myself....



Vintage magazine image from the collection of Glen Mullaly. Check out his artwork, too! Great artist. Glen is a constant contributor to The Retro Kid.

Don't forget to check out my former identities: Ghosts of Halloween Past. Mom found that one photo of me with that funny bunny outfit when I was one, but it's now deep in the confines of all my stuff from the Big Move. I promise I'll post it when I find it.

My Obligatory Nightmare Before Christmas Post: Yes, I love this movie. Here, I remind you of said love and then point you to my two-part discourse on the film:
Nightmare Before Christmas (Part 1)
Nightmare Before Christmas (Part 2)

And lastly, I want to wish Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Disney's Nine Old Men, a very happy birthday. He's a youthful 95!