On the Radio (oh ohh-ohh)

I am going to be a DJ! Starting next week, I will be DJ-ing on CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project. The station is launching this Sunday at Noon, and I will be DJ-ing every Thursday from 9 am-12 noon, Chicago time (that's 10am-1pm for the East Coast). You can listen online, check out playlists (my Best of 2009), events, articles, and other fun things at their website. Check it out!

Songs (via YouTube):

On the Radio - Regina Spektor

Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen

Heartbeat Radio - Sondre Lerche

Radio Christiane - The Virgins

Radio People - Zapp (Lala.com Pop-Up)

Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles

So This Is The New Year...

Fruit-Lettered Greetings. Good Tidings & Good Eatings. Let's see what the New Year has in store.

Videos/Songs:


The New Year - Death Cab For Cutie

Fruit Machine - The Ting Tings

New Ways of Living - Lavender Diamond (HypeMachine)

P.S. Finished reading, now time for drawing for Illustration Month.

Caricatures and Non-Traditional Portraiture

Does anyone remember a couple of summers back, when the Simpsons Movie was doing a promotion where you could create a Simpsons style character of yourself? Or really, anytime there are celebrities featured on cartoon programs? Or even seeing different styles of animation mashed together?

I love the idea of drawing people I know, not just making up characters. I am used to traditional portraiture, drawing and photographing from observation, but I'm about to try creating caricatures and cartoonizing portraits. My new plan is to draw people I know in a caricatured fashion. Not so much about exaggerated physical features, but with personality traits, interests, (and how I see them).

Leaving you with a fantastic illustrator, Ed Wexler, who has done several drawings for The Hollywood Reporter, and has a pretty exciting portfolio of portraiture.

Songs:

Best Imitation of Myself - Ben Folds

Who Are You? - The Who

Express Yourself - Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (Mocean Worker Remix)

P.S. Illustration Month Starts January 1st!

P.P.S. Thanks to Stereogum/Pitchfork/MTVNews for the image, and Matt Groening for the awesome.)

Gjon Mili, Stroboscopy, and Light Painting

Gene Kelly's Grand Jeté, Picasso Drawing With Light, by Gjon Mili.

Gjon Mili's one of my photography heroes. He photographed for LIFE magazine, and did a lot of work with stroboscopy, showing whole series of movements on a single frame instead of one movement on a freeze frame. This breathed new energy into formerly still portrait photography. It also utilized long-term-exposures, one of my favorite techniques in photography. His work was the inspiration for several of my light paintings (I like the neon-esque effects).



Video: Gene Kelly Dancing with Stewie and Jerry

Bonus Video: Lightpaint Piano Player - Ryan Cashman (Thanks to the folks at Drawn! for this.)

Have You Heard? Earplug Earrings!

I love kitschy things and found-object earrings. Whether decorating your ears with zippers, Legos, Rubix Cubes, or bacon, there's no end to what can adorn your earlobes.

Recently, I've gone to several concerts where the sound systems were rather deafening. How convenient would it be to have your earplugs handy at a time like that?

Videos:

No Diggity - Blackstreet

I Can Hear Music - The Beach Boys

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

Heard Them Stirring - Fleet Foxes