For What It’s Worth

Time & Life Building and Midtown Comics Signing!

Wow.

That is basically all I have to say about what went on last week for Secret Identities.

Let me start it all off with explaining what went on last Thursday at the Time Life building.  We had a gallery show of some of the original artwork from the book that had a reception.  And then we followed that with a panel and a book signing afterwards.  Attending the panel were my fellow editors Jeff Yang, Keith Chow, myself and Senior Artist Jef Castro.  Then we had Cliff Chiang and Christine Norrie there as well.  And we had Pornsak Pichetshote MC the thing.

It was seriously such an honor to be involved with this.  So many people showed up.  So cheers to everyone.  Seriously thanks so much for experiencing this with me.  And a special thanks to Judy Lei.  

But the funny thing about this event was, my god.  Well…I showed up at the reception an hour early.  I was just too excited to be there.  So I was there with Keith Chow and my friend Brian Yang.  Also Judy Lei showed up.  So when we get there…we go through all the security measures and the what not.  Get up to the gallery.  Look at it for about…oh I don’t know…30 seconds.  When it hits us.  Where are our books???

So I had to meet up with Jeff Yang in a cab…get up to my apartment…grab all available books that I had, and then get back to the event.  Unfortunately I missed the entire reception…which sucks.  But so is life I guess, eh?  I can thank the f’ing New Press for dropping the ball on that one.  

At the end of the day though, I still had a blast at the panel.  I’ve often times received abit of criticism for taking too long on my “free” sketches at these things.  But there is a good reason why I sit there and draw so meticulously on these things.  I just remember when my older brother took me to my first comic convention.  The BEST thing about the experience was meeting artists and getting free sketches from them.  It made the whole experience unforgettable to me.  And I hope…with this being the most important project I’ve ever personally been on, to help spread some of those experiences.  I hope that people get stoked at my drawings.  Not that I’m anybody special, cuz trust me…I’m the first one to tell you I ain’t nothing.  But I like to think that people that get my sketches….feel abit like they were involved in the book in a weird way.  Just in getting a chance to see how the art process is in a small scale of course.  And I ended up staying late at the panel by myself finshing up sketches for people.  Which was nothing but a cool ass pleasure for me.

Then, on Saturday we had a signing at Midtown Comics in Times Square NYC.  This place in my opinion is the BEST comic store in the world.

Anyway, we had fellow editor Keith Chow, myself and Senior Artist Jef Castro on hand.  But we had Cliff Chiang, Christine Norrie join us again.  As well as legendary Larry Hama!!!

You don’t know what a friggin pleasure this was for me.  I ended up sitting side by side with Cliff…and got the chance to do sketches in the book as he was sketching too.  It was just so damn cool to do something like this.  Seriously…with Chrsitine and Larry sitting ahead of me…this was a dream come true.

So thanks to everyone that made it out to the signing.  I know it was hard as it was Memorial Day weekend and all.  But damn…I was shocked at how many people ended up making it.

This was by far the funnest signing that I’ve been a part of.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures from both events.  

Thanks so much everyone.

Thanks for making this experience as good as it could have been.

-jerry

NYAFF Magazine ad!

  So since I’m doing the New York Asian Film Fest tee shirt design, the guys at the fest were good enough to give me a full pg ad in their magazine that will be distributed at the event all week.

  Honestly, I have never thought of how to do a “for print” ad before.  And I really don’t know if I did all that great a job on this.  I was wracking my brain on what to put on it.  I thought of millions of things.  In the end, I wanted to keep it as “crude” as possible.  And as simple as possible.  I hate when things are overdone, ya know what I mean?

  So I thought I would just layout all the polaroids that I took for the site.  And just slap the website url on the pg.  I hope this isn’t too vague, and that people will realize what the site is.  

  Anyway, here is the ad in all its glory.

Hope it looks ok.

If any of you guys can come up with a catch phrase…that would “fit” my stuff, please feel free to shoot me some ideas.  If I use it, I’ll send you some free stuff for the effort.

The New York Asian Film Fest

   So back at the New York Comic Con, I had met with Goran Topalovic of the New York Asian Film Fest where he had talked to me about possibly doing a tee shirt design for the event.  Me being a HUGE fan of asian films jumped at the chance to do so.

  I was asked to do a design based off the Korean film, Dawachima Lee.  Which is basically a 70’s style comedy spy film.  From what I saw, it’s pretty damn good and funny.

  With what I had seen of the film, I had first come up with this design.  This design was done fully in Adobe Illustrator.  I did all the type and drawing on the program.  I had done this design before I had a chance to watch the film.  Which made it abit harder for me to get a full understanding of the feel of the film.

  After Goran and his partners saw this design, They really liked the way the “title” was done.  But weren’t too into the “star burst” behind the character as they thought it reminded them too much of a Japanese type of flag.  They were also able to send me a copy of the film for me to watch.  So after taking this in, I came up with this design.  Which I actually just hand drew.  I thought this pose was much more dynamic and embodied the spirit of the film much more than the first design.

   And this was the design that they landed on.  So I am thrilled to get the chance to say that I will have something to do with the NY Asian FilmFest…..even though….it’s only a t shirt.

  Anyway, for more info on the film fest go to this site:   

http://www.subwaycinema.com/

  So if you get a chance to go to the film fest, definately ask about getting one of the tees!  And tell them all how cool you think it is!

hahaha

Thanks and talk to you soon.

-jerry

SIGNINGS!!!

  I just wanted to take the time to mention two signings that I’m going to be apart of pretty soon that mean a lot to me.  The first one is at Midtown Comics in Times Square, NYC.  I LOVE this store.  These guys have been nothing but great to me.  As a indie comic creator, they have ALWAYS stocked my books and even given me a signing there in the past.  I can’t say enough about the staff.  Especially Gahl and Pat.  These guys are just really super nice.  So it is my pleasure to say that I’ll be there signing copies of Secret Identities with fellow editor Keith Chow, senior artist Jef Castro, contributing artists Cliff Chiang and Christine Norrie….and here is the kicker…the legendary Larry Hama.

Larry Hama people….that’s all I gotta say.

Then, on May 31 in La I’ll be taking part at another GREAT signing.  At Giant Robot.  I have had the honor of being “neighbors” with them at the San Diego Comic Con for like the last…..6  years in a row.  So I’ve gotten to know a few of them.  And they are truly solid guys and girls.  I remember when I first went to that con as a fan….and saw those guys…when they were making a f’ing xerox fanzine.  And now…seeing what they’ve become…it’s very inspiring.

So hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet some of you guys that actually read this blog.  And if you do, I’ll be doing some free sketches.  Please ask for people I know how to draw…or you’ll get Sunfire as the default!

haha

Talk to you guys later.

-jerry

The Devil Mask T Shirt….

So since I’m home today sick..I figured I might as well post some pics of my latest tee design, The Devil Mask.

I’ve been working with a new printer that is located in Brooklyn.  Pete’s Print Shop.

http://www.petesprintshop.net/

So far, dealing with Peter and Laura has been nothing but pleasant.  Now, there was nothing wrong with Skelton Sports, the printer I used previously.  But having everything done in New York as opposed to all over the place like before, makes things easier on me.

But this tee design marks the beginning of my “taking the next step” in tee designs.  Atleast…for my own label that is.  This shirt will feature the same damask woven label on the left sleeve as used before, but now I’ll have the interior labels screened on.  And the artwork on the back of the shirt as well as the front of the shirt are discharged on.  Which basically means the ink will be so soft you can barely notice it.  Also the tee shirt itself is a organic cotton.  Which…is obviously softer and better for the enviorment, etc etc.

But the artwork on the back of the shirt, will run down the spine of the shirt.  Which…I just love.  Also, I do believe that the colors used on this shirt will be very “new” and “fresh” on the eyes.

So I can’t wait to get this shirt.  And can’t wait to show it for the first time at this June’s MOCCA Art Festival.

More on that later.

Anyway, here are some jpgs of how the shirt is looking so far.

The “back” design in particular is looking too “blue”.  But that is more from the camera than the design itself.  The two “front” pics are more telling of the colors being used on this shirt.

CAPA Festival’09 @ NYC

Wow…so yesterday was like…being in some sort of hurricane relief effort.  The weather was horrible.  It was freezing…and raining….all day.  In fact, I got so sick that I was sent home from work as I look like I’ve been playing with pigs lately.  So a special thanks to Keith Chow for making the trip from Baltimore to help man the booth.  And to my friend Georgina Yao for helping out and standing in the cold with me and Keith.

Also, I can’t thank Dave Chau and Fiona Chin for showing up and supporting the cause.  And for buying us beer and getting the Festival to get us free tea and pizza.  I can’t believe I didn’t take pictures of these things.

haha

Anyway, even with the weather as craptastic as it was, the love for Secret Identities was clear.  We had different artists from the book show up to show their support and sign some books.  And I was shocked at how many ppl were coming to the booth asking for the book and how they’ve already heard of it.

We had artists Anuj Shrestha(Twilight), Glenn Urieta(The Hibakusha & No Exit), Alexander Tarampi(Gaman), Paul Wei(You Are What You Eat), and John Franzese(Meet Joe) all stop by during the day.

You can tell from the pictures at what a rough day it was.

It was also extremely difficult to sketch in the book as my hands were just so cold and I just couldn’t get a feel for the pen.

Amazingly, we were able to keep all the books dry.  I didn’t really think it was that big a deal until just now.

Thanks for stopping by.