If you're dumb enough to blow yourself up while lighting firecrakers you probably deserve it...(this does not appy to children, just idiots)

Finally! I'm almost done with my travel journal comic. This whole life thing tends to get in the way of anything I do that's fun. Laaame. One more page to go!

In other semi-related news, I've got a show at Improv Boston this week! Holy crap, Imma be famous!...and by famous I mean, not famous at all, with the added bonus of the possibility of making an ass of myself in front of a crowd! Actually, scratch that, I'm fairly certain I'll be awesome...and if I'm not awesome, there will defiantly be other comics there that will be awesome, so win-win, really.

Have a kickass July 4th weekend! Celebrate our country's independence by blowing up a small portion of it.

(clicky to enlarge comic)

cheers!
christa


...and if you're really interested, I'll be at Improv Boston's nightcap,
Friday July 2, 11:30pm...



Edit!

A meditation on my walk home, in haiku, for you to enjoy:
majestic blue jay
takes a crap on the fence post
meh, still majestic


...art imitates life, amiright?

Holy lord, I've wasted a lot of everyone's time!

Jesus, do you know what? I've have this ridiculous blog thing for exactly a year. Whoa. Man, that is far more time that I intended on wasting for anyone. My apologies!

In all seriousness though, I'm pretty stoked about it. I actually never really thought I'd go much of anywhere with this whole designing for bands/artist gig I seem to have going. Basically, my whole business approach was (in addition to knowing a lot of awesome people), look cute, get drunk and hand out business cards. Apparently, I can walk the line between charming and drunk well enough to actually drum up some business. Fuck man, I am surprised. I'm really grateful that somehow this is all working out right now. Working with musicians I love and selling stupid pictures of my doodles is waaay more fulfilling than anything else I could be doing right now.

So, thanks to everyone who commissioned some design work from me, anyone who's bought any of my artwork, and everyone who reads this blog and somehow finds me mildly amusing. You guys rock my metaphorical socks off! Happy birthday, blog!

Cheers!
xta



Oh yeah and in case you thought I forgot...
Shameless Design on Etsy!

I'm not sad, I just live in Boston

Hey guess what? Mark Lind's album is now being sold at Newbury comics. Awesome! This is the first album I've done that's made it into an actual store. Go me! Even though I already have a copy, I sort of feel like I want to go visit it there, just for the hell of it. Does that make me insane or narcissistic or both? My guess is both.

In other news, I'm still doing a bunch of back-end work here, getting my Esty site all shiny and pretty for the holidays. In addition to doing some hair pieces (which I'm sure all the dudes who read this are are incredibly excited about) I'm also doing a new round of prints and I must say, they kick some serious ass!

Also, I updated my portfolio website. Woo! Initially, I was going to change the entire format, but in lieu of my job/other job/social life/need for sleep, I decided against it. It's finally up to date though and I don't have to keep telling people to go to my Myspace page like an teenage girl with an absentee father and a webcam. I'm a professional!

What I've got up today is a random doodle from my sketchbook. I like it a lot, so I think I'm going to sell it as a print. It's kind of a pseudo self portrait.*

Disclaimer: I know this looks really gothy but, I am not, nor ever have been a goth. This specifically references back a few months ago WHEN IT RAINED THE WHOLE GODDAMN SUMMER. If you live on the east coast I'm pretty sure you can feel my pain. I had to wear that raincoat every damn day...

El dia de los muertos! (celebrating dead people in style)

If any of my friends are wondering where the hell I've been lately, the answer is cranking out fliers like nobody's business. I really wanted to do this in color but I ran out of time. I might start selling a print of the skulls at some point.

I've always loved Mexican art, especially sugar skulls, those awesome shrines/ religious paraphernalia and basically anything to do with el dia de los muertos. Seriously, it sounds like Halloween times 5. I've love to make it down there at some point for the holiday, but at this point the best place I can afford to vacation is South Jersey...so yeah...I'm stayin at home. A girl can dream...


xta

Being Unloved isn't always a bad thing...

Guess what! Your favorite scrappy* little designer and Boston punk legends Mark Lind & the Unloved (members of the Ducky Boys...etc.) have teamed up to make your life more awesome! (Of course by teamed up I mean Mark tells me what to design and I design it...) Anyway, as you have probably already deduced, I'm just finishing up the artwork for thier latest album Homeward Bound. I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I am pretty stoked about this one. Of course, the album is going to be awesome so it's not like I really need to tell you to grab this...but dude...I designed it, so that means if you had any small inclinations about say, not grabbing this album immediately upon its release, they should instantly be quelled by the fact, that if nothing else, the album artwork will be nothing short of amazing. (Did I mention I am a narcissist?)

There you have it, shameless self promotion at it's finest. It's called Shameless Design for a reason kids!

<3
xta

*this is the first and only instance I have described myself as scrappy, although it seems appropriate this time, I hope to never have do this again.

I'm not that cool, but some people think I'm ok

Holy crap! Guess who was featured in Public Radio Kitchen. Me! Kind of! Heh.

So, short story shorter, Public Radio Kitchen (as heard on 90.9 WBUR)did a photo essay for their website about Mr. Crepe, the coffee shop I had my work up in. Along with a behind the scenes look at the shop, Public Radio Kitchen mentioned that Mr. Crepe features local artists, so my work got a nice little shot in the story's photo gallery.

Yay! Here's the link:
http://publicradiokitchen.org/2009/07/28/a-day-in-the-life-of-mr-crepe/(in case you were wondering my stuff is featured on the 7th photo in the gallery)

I took all my work down this weekend to make room for the next artist. If you bought something from me you should be getting your piece ASAP! If you are interested in buying something, drop me a line. I've still got a few left.

On a completely unrelated note (but mostly because I can't seem to steal that photo from the gallery for myself,) I present to you an old timey fish I drew, while once again, in a meeting. It was on the ceiling of this fancy old hotel that I didn't feel rich or classy enough to walk through. It sort of sucks. Sorry. You can't expect a winner every time, kids. Life lessons, that's what I'm about.

Holy crepe you guys!

Ah, Somerville, the land of hippy artists. And me who is not really a hippy and only sort of an artist. (I'm not quite starving and I haven't cut of my ear, but I am pretty miserable, so I think that counts for something.)

Anyway...on one of my frequent travels to Davis Square I went to grab coffee at the crepe place near the T. Long story short, they were looking for artists to put work up in their cafe, I sent them some of my stuff and they were happy to oblige me. So officially, for the month of July my prints will be for sale at Mr. Crepe in Davis Square. So you should go there and eat some crepes (they are awesome by the way), drink some coffee (which is also awesome) and buy one of my prints. This gives you bragging rights because you supported the Somerville Arts Community (aka my sorry ass) and a locally owned business.

Really, it's a win-win situation. You look cool, I look cool. Everyone is happy.
Peace is restored to the universe.

Oh yeah and I drew another pinup girl. Enjoy!

This one is for the ladies and by the ladies, I mean the men

So I'm officially one holiday behind. Here's a little piece I got from a Valentine's Day figure drawing session with Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School. Most of the things I draw there I just use as an exercise, but I liked this drawing so much I decided to scan it in and color it. Oh and by the way...in case you were wondering, she wasn't levitating, she was laying across a couple of stools. I figured since she had the cape on anyway, I might as well give her some super powers.

For those of you that don't know about Dr. Sketchy, its good for people who like to drink beer, draw burlesque dancers/other performers and ummm drink beer. Also you have to be okay with a little bit of nakedness. (Not too much though, they're not getting paid that much...)


Fine by me! I say, bring on the pasties!
If you are interested, here is the link: http://www.myspace.com/drsketchysboston

Oh yeah and happy eat shitloads of baby animal shaped chocolate day! Jesus was a nice guy (...so was Buddha but I'm pretty sure he doesn't get a chocolate eating day. Enjoy it Christians!)

Beantown is pretty sweet, allright?

I now present to you my final (I think)t-shirt design for Far From Finished. I believe on the actual shirt it says something like "get drunk, play records" (which was added after I sent it out). As getting drunk and playing records is pretty much my favorite thing ever (aside from going to an actual show), I didn't mind one bit.

Anyway, Far From Finished as well as a host of other awesome bands (Mark Lind and the Unloved, the Casualties, Flatfoot 56 etc.) are playing this weekend at Harpers Ferry as part of the Boston Rules, Ok! festival.

I strongly recommend that you attend this function. It will be, as the kids say, fucking amazing.

Beantown

Soooo I've got a lot of neat things coming up but no time to post right now. In the meantime, here is a graphic I did for this poster thing I made for work. Stay tuned...

I wouldn't touch you with a 39 1/2 ft pole!

To my Boston friends: Anyone who can guess where this is gets a million points!*

*Note 1: points have no monetary value and are essentially worthless unless you are an attractive male between the ages of 25-30...in which case you win a date with me, but only if I feel like it.

*Note 2: in case you were wondering, the girl on the train is kind of a lose caricture of myself. I tend to do that a lot, partially because I'm narcissitic but mostly because I am lazy. The dude in the green army jacket doesn't actually exist, but I usually use him as a foil for myself.