12.31.2011

Button Block building in 1950 and 2011. Commissioned by industrialist Charles Pearson Button and built in 1892 on the corner of Water and Clybourn, it housed many things over the years including Brett Favre's Steakhouse, now it's being converted to apartments.

12.30.2011

Kilbourn Avenue from east of Water Street in 1923 and 2011. It's interesting to see the street before the courthouse was built in 1931. The building on the right side of the street was the Second Ward Savings Bank which operated on that location from 1913 to 1965 after which it became the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

12.29.2011

John Plankinton (1820 - 1891) gets dressed up for the holidays. The original Plankington Arcade was built in 1916 and morphed into the Grand Avenue Mall in 1982. It's so cool to walk around and imagine the people who shopped there in 1916.

12.28.2011

Light reflecting off another building, thought it looked cool.

12.27.2011

Just don't see these much anymore.

American Wholesale Grocery

Decided to go on a history hunt of Milwaukee. First up the American Wholesale Grocery building in the third ward. Originally built in 1925, now it's Paintball Dave's.

12.25.2011

A Christmas ghost town.

12.24.2011

a drawer on an old roll top desk at the Pabst compound labeled "bits and pieces".

12.23.2011

A view from inside one of the old Pabst buildings.

12.22.2011

Another sign on the Pabst compound.

12.21.2011

Sign on the church located on the Pabst compound.

12.20.2011

Robert on my way to work.

Faded glory

Walked past the old Blatz brewery the other day, it's all condos now.

Welcome Home

Late December in Milwaukee can still be beautiful.

Eye of Newt

Got the chance to do another cover illustration for Boston Phoenix.

Scheer Madness

I'm a huge fan of the podcast How Did This Get Made? and it's host Paul Scheer also of Human Giant, The League and a million other hilarious things. I find it comforting that a man who was obviously not gifted in the looks department can still muster all his talent and moxie to land a smoking hot woman like June Diane Raphael.

Earth Angel

I was on the Dark Horse website and I saw that they are still doing the old style submission process, I was under the impression that everyone switched to the Image model. While I was on the site I saw that they were still publishing Joss Whedon Buffy character books. I love and follow the work of the artists who currently do the covers: Jenny Frison and Steve Morris, but I would gladly take their jobs. I gotta get on that.

One in a Million

Last week Evan showed me the Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek film Badlands by Terrence Malick. I instantly fell in love with it. If only all movies could be this good.

Can't, won't, don't stop

Watched "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" the other day on instant watch and really enjoyed it.

Illustration Nation

Boston has been really good to me lately, I have been able to draw covers for several of the publications there. I can't say enough nice things about the people from the Boston Phoenix, they are wonderful. I highly recommend visiting their website here.


I also drew the cover for this weeks El Planeta as well. They were totally awesome too, check them out here.


Man I love this job, having clients like these make it worth while.

Black on both sides

I remember many years ago I wasn't that big a fan of hip hop music and then one night my friend Evan played me a track called "Mathematics" By Mos Def and my world changed. I had never heard anything like it before, his rhymes were so far beyond anything I had ever heard up to that point. It was that moment that I realized there was something in hip hop that I was missing out on and had an instant craving to hear more music like it.

Swinging on a star

Watched "Hudson Hawk" again the other night. Man I still love that movie, I love it so much. I only wish it had done better at the box office, Bruce Willis got a writing credit on that film and I can only assume he never got a chance to get another one because this bombed so bad. I think Hawk is definitely a film that has earned it's cult status.

jack of all trades

Not surprising to anyone I listened to a podcast today featuring Donald Glover. He makes me feel lazy, this guy does stand-up, comedy sketches, movies, Writes, acts, raps, he does it all. Anyway after listening to him I definitely feel inspired to go out and make something big.

Sure as the stars above

I was at work a couple days ago and listened to a podcast called "making it with Riki Lindhome" where she interviewed Garfunkel and Oates band-mate Kate Micucci, it was a great podcast, I highly recommend it. I love the music of G&O and think if Kate got any cuter the world would explode.

One Man Army

Watched the Jason Statham movie Blitz last night and was greatly disappointed. I'm a huge fan of the Transporter and Crank films so I was expecting to see a bunch of ass kicking to which there was almost none. You have Jason Statham and a bad guy, how hard is this? I just want to see the dude kick some ass. I would love to see a movie titled "Jason Statham Fights Some Dudes". That's enough for me, ticket sold.

Miffbustas

I listened to a Nerdist podcast today with the Mythbusters as guests so I had Kari Byron on my mind.

And Death Shall Have no Dominion

I'm a huge fan of the 2002 Soderbergh film Solaris and I don't think I would like it as much without the outstanding female lead played by Natascha McElhone. Her hauntingly beautiful eyes just capture me in a way I've never seen before on the silver screen. She was also great in Ronin and Truman Show, love to see her in more stuff. I wanted to experiment with more of a close up angle. Not sure if I'm happy with the result but it was fun to try something new.

laugh riot

I listened to a podcast called "girl on guy" hosted by Aisha Tyler who among other things is the voice of Lana Kane on the FX series Archer. I love what I've heard of the podcast so far and can't recommend it highly enough. So today I thought I would draw the talented, beautiful Aisha Tyler.

Buy a Vowell

I watched a PBS documentary about the Marquis de Lafayette and was surprised to see a small appearance by one of my favorite authors Sarah Vowell. I have to admit that I'm not as big of a fan of her two most recent books The Wordy Shipmates & Unfamiliar Fishes, they tended to be a little heavy on quotes from her resources than her own words. I guess I'm most a fan of her short essay work, I've read Take the Cannoli like five times and I still love it.

The R Files

I've been watching a lot of the old "Rockford Files" show on Netflix instant lately. The thing I'm the most surprised by is how well it has held up over time. It's still an entertaining show and James Garner kicks ass in it.

I'm a slave for you.

Recently I listened to the audio book version of the Carrie Fisher autobiography "Wishful Drinking" and it was an insightful look into the life of Hollywood royalty. I enjoyed the book immensely and it reminded me of how much I loved Carrie Fisher in the Star Wars films. Of course like any nerd my favorite memory is of her is in the "Slave Leia" outfit from "Return of the Jedi". I love it that at any convention there is always an army of hot nerd chicks dressed in that costume.

Life on Mars

I always thought that the film noir private eye genre would work perfectly well in a high school setting. The Joseph Gordon Levitt film "Brick" fell short for a number of reasons. But I was pleasantly surprised how good the teen show "Veronica Mars" did with the premise. The first season was almost flawless. Unfortunately season two didn't have the same magic and by season three even the beauty of star Kristen Bell couldn't save that train wreck. I was sad to hear that the planned fourth season that would have dealt with Veronica in the FBI never got made, that might have revived the show. And due to the failure of "Serenity" at the box office I don't think there will be a film continuation any time soon. Oh well, at least Kristen Bell is still a great piece of eye candy.

Legacy

Heard Disney might make Tron 3 for a 2013 release. I sure hope so. Tron 2 had it's problems but I loved it anyway and they set up so much great stuff for a third I hope it gets made but I heard Disney wasn't happy with the profit margin on 2. Only in Hollywood can something that made hundreds of millions of dollars not be deemed a success. Anyway if Tron 3 does get made I hope they bring back Cindy Morgan who played Yori in the original, she was great.

full House

As previously stated I am a huge fan of the television show "House". I used to openly mock it but now I love it to death. One of my favorite characters on the show is Dr. Lisa Cuddy played by Lisa Edelstein, she's great, a perfect match for Hugh Laurie. Plus it was always a bonus to see what new tiny skirt they would try to cram her into each week. I heard she left the show, this makes me sad but I cannot imagine the stress that goes into making a show like that for so many years.

It's Not A Fashion Statement,

I will never be able to grow a big huge mustache so I wanted to draw a picture of myself with one.

Insane in the Posehn

I was listening to some Brian Posehn stand up today and it stuck with me so I thought I would draw him. I think I first noticed him on Mr. Show and he is of course part of the very funny Comedians of Comedy, but I think my favorite thing he ever did was the voice of the brother in the surfing penguin movie "Surf's Up". Yeah I know it's a kids movie, but I don't care, love it anyway. In any case, he is very funny, check him out.

War Zone

Tried to watch the 2008 film Punisher: War Zone tonight. Tried and failed. As a Punisher fan I was hoping for finally a decent Punisher movie, but this one was no better than the other two. It's the story of a vigilante that kills bad guys, seriously, how hard is this? Guess I can only hope the next reboot will finally due the character some justice. I always thought that Henry Rollins would make a good Punisher so I decided to sketch that.

Valeria

While I was on the ladies of Conan I just had to include Sandahl Bergman as Valeria in Barbarian. She was great, I wish the headband would have taken off as a fashion statement.

Much d'Abo nothing

While I'm on Conan ladies, I can't forget Olivia d'Abo. She was great in Destroyer but I can't believe she was only 15 at the time.

Princess Grace

Seeing Conan the other day reminded me how much I loved the old Conan movies. Even with all it's flaws at least Conan the destroyer still had Olivia d'Abo and Grace Jones. Since then I've had Grace Jones on my mind so I decided to make her the subject of today's sketch.

Handsome Steve

I was busy working on some stuff today and nearly forgot to post a sketch today. Decided to go back to my favorite subject, me. Damn I'm handsome.

Destroyer of worlds

Just saw the new Conan movie. It was such a steaming pile of crap that it made want to watch the old 80's movies again. Doubt they will ever be able to find a suitable replacement for Schwarzenegger.

Union Dues

When I was working at a video store in college we would have "10 things I hate about you" playing over the store monitors just about every day. Needless to say I became very familiar with the film and a fan of an actress in it named Gabrielle Union. She was by far the best part of "Bad Boys 2" and I love to watch her in just about anything, so I thought I would take a crack at drawing her.

Unit 01

I was going for Eva Mendes but it started to turn into something or someone else. Still, I had fun playing around, may try it again later.

In Case

While I'm covering my crushes I of course have to mention the incredible Neko Case. I find her music so amazing and beautiful that it makes me fell all warm inside. I was lucky enough to see her live a couple years ago and I remember thinking that if I wasn't feet from her I could swear she was lip syncing because her voice was too amazing to be live.

Go Wilde

Continuing the crush countdown I would be bereft if I left out the lovely Olivia Wilde otherwise known as "13" on House. Man, there is just something about this lady that does it for me, I've often said that I would pay to watch her read the newspaper, she is that mesmerizing to me. Loved her in Tron and her lack of bra in Cowboys and Aliens was by far the best part of the film. And another good case of someone who looks way better as a brunette than they do as a blonde. I hope I can meet her someday to pitch her the "Olivia Wilde reads a newspaper show", it would be a hit I'm sure.

Just for laughs

Since I first saw the Comedians of Comedy movie a couple years ago I've been a fan of the comedy of Maria Bamford and I subsequently developed a huge crush on her, funny ladies just do it for me. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts with her while at work and I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the life of a stand up comic and that of a freelance illustrator especially when it comes to self promotion and sporadic work and it's given me a couple ideas on how to improve my business. Anyway I've had her on my mind the past couple days so I thought I would make the subject of today's sketch.

Clouds are at war

Experimenting with some different brush strokes. Trying to get a more natural media feel. It's fun to try a couple new things.

Cherry 2000

I gotta draw more, just haven't been drawing enough stuff. Gonna try to get something up everyday to stay loose. We'll see how it goes. Gotta give it a try.