Rots featured on chocolate marketing

A couple of friends of mine (yes, I have friends) run a chocolate business and just happen to be big supporters of The Rots. Their shop is called Firefly Chocolates, and their store is in the food court of Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, if you're in the area.

They asked me to illustrate a sticker for their packages featuring a Rotty girl holding a jar of fireflies, and here's how she turned out.

I also do their graphic design work, including all their signage and the Web site linked to above.

Valentine Leftovers

Here's an extra Valentine doodle.
His name is Alen Valentine.

Download a free Rotty Valentine

Take your pick of two different valentines: "Be My Valentine" or a just friends "Happy Valentine's Day."

Clicking the images will only bring up low-res versions. If you want the real thing, you can download each as a hi-res pdf. Give it enough time to download; the pdfs are around 315KB each.

Be My Valentine hi-res pdf
Happy Valentine's Day hi-res pdf

A real-life creature from your nightmares

This cute little guy looks exactly like something that's begging to be a Rot.

I'm pretty sure his mother was a past winner of the World's Ugliest Dog Contest (an actual competition) and his dad was a bat, probably vampire. He's actually an "aye-aye lemur," and he probably just needs a hug and a family to love.

Newsletter subscriptions to The Rots Newsletter

I will be upgrading to a professional newsletter client prior to the next newsletter cycle, and I need current subscribers to re-submit their information. I don't have access to email information, so I'm not able to transfer from one mailing list to another.

And if you're not yet a subscriber, feel free to jump in at any time! Newsletters are scheduled quarterly throughout the year.

Vampires in the bathroom

I'm not sure why, but all my life I've seen images of faces in all sorts of things that didn't really have faces at all. Sometimes they're in shadows, sometimes they're in peanut butter, and sometimes they're in the bubbles on my shower curtain. (Those links go to my kid's illustration blog, by the way.)


Yesterday I had a vampire in my shower curtain. I suppose you could also see a Rorschach test, but if I had to take my shower curtain as a Rorschach test, I would see a vampire.

Boris the Clown & Wiggles

 
This little guy's name is Boris, and he's the freshest Rot in my sketchbook.

I drew him in response to a fellow illustrator who saw my kid's illustration portfolio and told me the pictures would probably scare the children (I guess I deserved that). To get in the right frame of mind, he told me, I should be thinking more along the lines of "clowns and birthday parties."

Clowns.

I've always found clowns to be disturbing. And now I find myself trying to draw them.

And they've all been pretty much disturbing.

The Museum of Modern Art

My napkin @ Cafe 2 @ the MoMA, 11 West 53 St, New York, NY, along with the image drawn on the wall that inspired the Rot.

Dock Street Brewery

My napkin @ Dock Street Brewery, 701 S 50th St, Philadelphia PA.

Diego & Frida

Been inspired lately by my place of work. Made a Rot of Diego Rivera and his lovely wife Frida Kahlo, in happier times, of course.

You gotta love the eyebrows.

Slightly Irreverently Twisted

New URL on Facebook: www.facebook.com/slightly.irreverently.twisted. It's all possible because The Rots got enough fans on their page to become eligible for a unique URL. Thanks to everybody who fanned them!

Rots photo album

I have that Rots© photo album up on Facebook now if you want to take a look. It's just a mixture of some of the stuff I've been working on the past few years. Take a look around, but what would be totally cool is if you would take the time to become a fan. If I can get 25 people who are willing to admit they like The Rots, I'll be able to get a cool URL for the page that would be easy to use and remember (not like the one that comes up right now).

And if that weren't enough, I've also been Twittering!

It's all good!

Ed Rendell

As some of you outside the Commonwealth may know, our governor signed a smoking ban into law (if that's the exact terminology) a year ago Sept. 11. As somebody who frequents those affected public areas I gotta tell you, it feels incredible to be able to breathe when you eat (or sit at the bar). I didn't realize how badly that shit smelled until we walked through a couple people puffing right outside the door on our last visit to Sharky's (Latrobe, PA). Only way to get to the parking lot was straight through.

Thank you, Ed!

My hair doesn't smell now when I get home.
My clothes don't reek.
My lungs and heart thank you deeply.

Ruthie's Diner

My place mat @ Ruthie's Diner, Rt 30 E, Ligonier, PA.

Facebook

The Rots© have a page on Facebook. Not sure yet where that will lead, but you can become a fan. I did. Actually, right now I'm the only one. Kinda hard to advertise being on Facebook when you don't really have anything to show on the page. Eventually I'll get some images on there. Looks like a tomorrow job...

9

I had been trying to find the short film 9 by Shane Acker* shortly after it was nominated for an Oscar, but was going the "download" route rather than just the "watch" one. I have to say, both the short and the feature versions of the movie are breathtakingly beautiful, and I only wish I had figured out what I wanted to do with my life a long, long time ago.

Of course, we went to catch the feature 9-9-09.

If you haven't seen the short, no excuses:



*For the record, the movie belongs to Shane Acker; Tim Burton produced, he did not direct.

Smokin' Joe's

My napkin @ Smokin' Joe's, 2001 E Carson St, Pittsburgh PA.

World Cafe Live

The back of my band ballet @ World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philadelphia PA.

The Niner Diner

The back of my place mat @ The Niner Diner, 902 Chestnut St, Nanty Glo PA.

Ruthie's Diner

My place mat @ Ruthie's Diner, Rt 30 E, Ligonier, PA.