…when I noticed that the author/illustrator was, low and behold, JOE FENTON! I thought, “Wait…when did I do this?” But I didn’t do this. There’s another illustrator out there sporting my identity. That might be a bit too strong of a statement. But there is another guy out there illustrating his heart out, who happens to share my name. I actually see some striking similarities between his style and mine. I found some more of his work at www.joefentonart.com. I thought about contacting him to see if he wants to team up. We could be twice as prolific.

So for the time being Cosmote has become DAMMED!

I’ve believed 2010 would be a very special and productive year for a long time. What I’m seeing is that this is very true— it’s just that the productivity and success isn’t playing out how I expected. Does it ever?

Please stay tuned. This DAM! will break, and when it does I think you’ll enjoy it.

I’m not much of a gamer, but this new game, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, looked pretty gnarly. Michel Gagne is a genius and one of my favorite artists. I think I’ll stick with reading his books for now, but if this game hits the iPhone, I’m all over it.

I’m reminded of 1992 when our neighbor, Boo said “This computer has a ‘modem’! If you put one in your computer, our computers could talk to each other.” This thing’s really caught on, eh! And now I’m officially in.

I’ve also been having a lot of fun exploring my cartography techniques, creating facility maps for LinkedIn. Not only am I a contractor, I’m also a member.

These project have really been testing my technical, vector, crispy clean design skills and approach. But I am steadily laboring to find a convergence of these corporate clear pieces with a more whimsical, personal, illustrative characterization. This year I think I’ll get there, Oh I’ll get there.

I really wanted to publicly thank HOPE worldwide and LinkedIn for being graceful and appreciative companies to work for. THANKS!!

I don’t know what you see, but when I pulled out this little cosmote my friend Floyd said, “Oooh, is that Avatar!?”. This one was mostly done long before I saw the movie. Actually, the main face that gave him that reaction was cut from an old notebook and other doodles were filled in around it. But I love to hear peoples reactions to what they see in the cosmotes; especially because it’s such a subconscious exercise for me.

What planet are you on?

This year’s professional journey took me from the daily job-hunt in my laptop outpost at Peet’s, to retrenching irrigation in my friend Anthony’s yard. As the State of California’s workforce crumbled before our eyes, the Secretary of State and her furlough rebellion found a need for me in their corporate filing unit. So I did that for 6 months. I now understand the beaurocratic, slow-moving, money-wasting nature that is state government. It’s no wonder we’re in trouble (‘nuf said).

Through it all I found myself employed by DOME, where I am now spending my days as their in-house Graphic Designer. I got to unfurl this hand-illustrated Christmas card for them this Holiday Season.

And I even received some thoughtful, creative treasures for Christmas, myself. R. Crumb’s Genesis, just released, 5 years in the making. Awesome!

and this…

…original print, invitation to the Peregryn, First Show. I can’t even begin to tell you the rarity and ancient historical significance of this little card; except that it is a Rick Griffin illustration from 1969. This was the line-up…

These gifts may have even topped last year’s frankincense and myrrh, on the specialness scale.

So… 2009? No complaints.

Happy New Year! 2010, Look Out!
Chaos Palsee!

Here’s a couple pieces of Cosmote that I swept up off the cutting room floor. There are some revelations appearing in the trims and corners of these Cosmote studies that are leading me into a new visual dimension. I’m not anticipating new scientific discoveries, but I’m excited to go down my own rabbit hole of visual language and come out with a wider vocabulary.

This man was not so fortunate…

‘Bout time I tried my hand at some Van’s SlipOn art. My friend Velasin commissioned me to attack the plain white treader. This is the result.