Here’s that Tom & Jerry piece

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Joseph Barbera 1911-2006

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Strange Magic

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With the exception of Xanadu, I’ve noticed that all of these have taken on a dark feel to them. Not that that’s a bad thing, I suppose.

Can’t Get It Out Of My Head

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I wasn’t too happy with the lack of a real concept for Xanadu, but I feel like this one's getting back on track. As usual, if you have any suggestions for visuals for other E.L.O. songs, I'm open to ’em.

On a related topic, I took all of the Better Than One illustrations and used iPhoto to print them in books. They look freakin’ cool all printed up and professionally bound. I geeked out and printed tiny books that can fit into my wallet. They were only six bucks a piece to print! Niiiice.

Greetings

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The 2nd in my E.L.O. series. Took me a while to do the six illustrations for each letter but I think I got the cheesy vintage postcard feel I was going for, albeit with a slightly updated twist. It skews a bit clip-arty at times, but I’m hoping that lends to the cheese factor. I thought about aging and distressing the image to make it look like an authentic postcard, but I decided to keep with my flat, graphic style.

Comments? Suggestions? Visual ideas for other E.L.O. songs?

Helen’s Wish List

Can’t think of anything to get Helen for the holidays or for her upcoming birthday January 22nd? Here, lemme help.
First off, you can always rely on her constantly-updated Amazon

Next, apparently, there’s still stuff from our wedding registry on nambé.com that she’d like.

And, lastly, she looooves the Jeff Soto.
More specifically, THIS PRINT



and THIS PRINT.



I’ll be sure to add more stuff as she continues to drop not-so subtle hints.

My Blue World

Recently, I was introduced to a band called L.E.O., an E.L.O.-inspired group made up of a buncha members of some of my favorite bands (Bleu, Jellyfish, etc.). Listening to them led me to a new appreciation for E.L.O. and that, in turn, led to the germ of an idea: A set of illustrations inspired by the titles of E.L.O. songs. Who knows where, if anywhere, it will lead.

The first one I took a crack at was Evil Woman. Love to know what you think of it.

As always, I’m open to suggestions for illustration visuals inspired by other E.L.O. songs. Being that I can’t really draw, I’m sorta restricted to my simple, graphic style, but I’ll do my best.

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Fun with Pottery Barn

When Helen and I saw stocking hanger thingies that spelled out PEACE, JOY and WISH, we couldn’t help ourselves. Hey, if Pottery Barn didn’t want people like us screwing with their stuff, they shouldn't leave it out.

Mwah ah ah!

Wish I dunnit

Here is my new favorite ad that I wish I’d done.

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And here’s the original photograph the ad is based on.

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Better Than One

So, as you might’ve guessed, I’ve really been into these Two Heads illustrations. I just finished two more for the holidays featuring the theme “Christmas meets Hanukkah” which you can see below. [Click on an image to enlarge it.]



Since my blog is not the best way to showcase these illustrations, my lovely wife programmed a website for me called Better Than One featuring all the illustrations I’ve done to date.

And, just in time for the gift-giving season, I took some of the more popular illustrations and turned them into mugs which I’m selling on, you guessed it, Store of David. [Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the mugs.]

What do you get when you squeeze a synagogue?

JEWWWSSS!



After a 20 year hiatus, I finally stepped foot into a temple for Friday night services. Helen wanted to check out the worship side of Judaism and, after a lot of sighing on my part, I gave in. We’re not big on organized worship, but it was an opportunity for her to find out what Judaism’s all about and possibly connect with the surprisingly-large Jewish community in Durham.

In the tradition of Lenny, the first Jew we encountered told us ALL about the temple, the history of Durham tribesfolk and every “famous” Jew ever to live in North Carolina. Then he called us “young people,” which sounded good to me.

The service: It went down as most Friday night services do: Some bits from Gates of Prayer, some standing, some sitting, some more standing, Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew, etc. They had the phonetic spellings so Helen could sorta follow along. Most of the tunes came back to me, but they had some new remixes I wasn’t familiar with. All in all, it felt like Temple Sinai circa 1980, but without my dad having to separate me and Steven because we were laughing every time we heard the word "Toosh b'chata." (Heh heh...Toosh)

Then they read the torah, which Sinai never did/does on a Friday night. What was cool about the reading was that the rabbi translated as he went along, then put things into context. It was more of a story that way and, I gotta say, it was pretty cool. I did not know Abraham had a second wife. Did'jew?

They also did a thing where they asked the congregation if there were any new folks there that night. Kind of a New Jew Review (Anyone get that reference? Anyone?). New Jews would stand up, introduce themselves and give a bit of background. I went first. I thought when I said my name was Keith Greenstein, half the congregation would shout back, “Oh, Lenny’s son!” But no luck. It was the only room I’ve ever been in where Jews didn’t know Lenny. Spooky.

The oneg (the bit in the social hall after the service: brownies, cheese, Coke products) was nice. A lot of people introduced themselves to us and were very friendly. When they asked what we did for a living, I got an unimpressed, “Oh…” Helen, on the other hand, was deliriously happy with LARGE number of “Ooooo!” reactions she got. I was in Bizarro World. I was like, “Did I mention my father is LENNY GREENSTEIN?!” Nothing. Who WERE these people?

ANYway, it was a lovely evening. Helen felt as anyone encountering temple for the first time would: A bit out of place. But, overall, she liked it. They could use a cantor that can sing IN key and maybe a bit more liveliness in the singing (name a temple that COULDN’T use that), but it was a good experience. We may even go back.

Good vs Evel

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My apologies for the horrible pun. Actually, the reason I paired them was because their costumes go together so well.

I've decided that when I reach 12 illustrations, this first series will be complete. Look for 11 and 12 this holiday season.

Echo?

My poor, sad blog. It hasn't been visited in days and days. Maybe the last 9 days, each one with a new illustration posted, just weren't worthy of comments. Maybe people would rather enter Bill's awesome photo caption contest. Maybe people actually have work to do (almost got through that last sentence with a straight face). Anyway, I don't know why I'm posting this because no one will visit my blog to read it. Sigh.

I'm so sad, I didn't even go back to correct all my apostrophes. (This is an apostrophe: ’. This is a foot mark: '.)

Caesar vs Brutus

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Brother vs Sister

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Politically what-now?

Me vs Beaker

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This is based on my nickname in high school (pre-beard) that started the trend of people comparing me to muppets. I've yet to be compared to a real person.

Ike & Tina

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I knew drawing Tina Fey would be difficult but I had no idea Eisenhower would be so rough. Could be that their faces are so simple. Could also be that I drew these using only the trackpad. At least I'm learning what NOT to do.

Ed Norton vs Ed Norton

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Alright, so some will be harder to get than others, but I like this one so stick it.

Yeti vs Bigfoot

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Stewart vs Colbert

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Here’s the latest in the series.

Heard a great suggestion today: Starbuck vs Starbuck (the one from the original Battlestar Gallactica series and the one from the new series). I’ll get to it eventually but, for now, I’d like to do some that are not in the sci-fi genre as I’ve already done that twice.

Helen thinks I should sell these as prints or cards. Bill thinks t-shirts would be cool. Got any ideas for what I could do with these things?

While you’re thinking of that, keep the subject matter suggestions coming. Wee!

Spock vs Evil Spock

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VS

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Work has only been slow for a couple of days but I can’t shake the itch to do something creative with my time. So, of all things, I started illustrating. I discovered that my style is - and this should shock the crap out of you - very symmetrical and clean. No, really, it is.

Playing into that, I created this conjoined twin monster thing whose heads represent great rivalries. Well, maybe Sark vs Tron isn’t exactly a great rivalry, but I didn’t want to do something expected.

I want to do a series of these, so if you have any ideas of unusual rivalries, lemme know. I think the next one will be Spock vs Evil Spock or possibly Zorro vs Zorro The Gay Blade. Did I mention that they don’t HAVE to be rivalries? The heads can also represent two sides of something.

Anyway, gimme some cool ideas, why don’t you? THANKS!

Pass or fail?

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Say, whatchoothink of these ads? Dave and I created them back when we worked on the account and I’ve been debating whether or not to include them in my portfolio. On a scale of 1(Likey) to 5(Pukey), where do you think they fall?

You Don’t Know Jack-O-Lanterns

Helen and I carved pumpkins this weekend with our friends Sean and Carrie. I call Helen’s the Jor-El-O-Lantern. Mine is, of course, Stewie from Family Guy.

Halloweird

Last night was McKinney’s Halloween Party. Here are our scary costumes. And by “scary” I of course mean “freakish.”

LITTLE RED RIDIN’ IN THE HOOD

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LITTLE RED RIDIN’ IN THE HOOD (a closer look)

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TV’S BOB ROSS. (Uncanny, isn’t it?)

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The Duel

I'm just proud as hell of this site. The amazing designers and programmers at McKinney hit this one outta the park. Make sure you check out the song (click ON at the right side of the navigation bar), the Track Design, and the various entries in The Tom Blog. And of course, Declare A Duel.

What I Want for Hannukah

Even though this cool-ass installation is not for sale, I still want it. Maybe my friend Bill will build it for me. With two kids, he must have loads of free time.

DUEL!

Got a problem with someone? Settle it with a duel.

Choose from a list of titles to dispute over or make one up. Pick what kind of duel you’d like to see and watch two Polaris ATV riders face off on your behalf. Sit back and watch the virtual carnage.

Declare-A-Duel

Kosher To Fine

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Sure, I've been ridiculously busy working on the next big project called The Duel which launched this weekend, but apparently not too busy to create another shirt design. As usual, no idea who the model is. And also as usual, the shirt’s available at Store of David.

P.S. Yeah, I know what the circled U means. Called “irony,” look it up.

Jew Jew Bee

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New shirt time! As usual, it’s avaialble at Store of David.

Never Look Back

Helen and I are very excited about the new print (signed, woo hoo!) we got this weekend. It’s called Never Look Back and it’s by Andrew Bell. Helen found it at an amazing Kid Robot-like store in Chapel Hill called Wootini. If you like pop surrealism, vinyl toys, Mark Ryden, Jeff Soto, etc., you'll love this store.

What th'?

You may have noticed that I have taken down all ony-Say entries (I have to use Pig Latin because you-know-who has the technlogy to search the entire web for anything with their name in it).

Apparently, I had posted some things (behind-the-scenes photos, rejected ideas, ideas in progress, etc.) that ony-Say didn't want me to post. Oh well. I was just trying to share my excitement for the project but I get why they want to control communication as much as they can.

On a totally unrelated note, check this out: How to Act Crazy

How to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger

You know, for kids. UPDATE

Just got an e-mail from the folks at Spreadshirt where I’ve got my t-shirt store. They said my OYS ‘R’ US design is basically copyright infringement. I guess all those plays off of “Got Milk?” out there are just flattery? Sheesh, it was just for fun. Whatever.

Anyway, if you'd like a shirt with the OYS ‘R’ US graphic on it, you can make one at the CafePress website. It's really easy to do. When you get to the part where they ask you to upload the image you want, just use the graphic below. DESIGN TIP: When sizing the graphic, make it about as wide as the shirt's collar. Tends to look better that way.

Click on the image below for the high-res version. Mac folks can drag the image from your browser to your desktop. No idea how you lame PC users do it, but I’m sure you’ll find a way. ENJOY!

Two new shirts!

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I had to take SOME kinda break while working on Sony. Two things to know: First: No, I have no idea who the guy is in the photo. I stole the shot off of the Busted Tees site. He should be happier considering he's wearing such awesome t-shirts. And second: The type and the graphic on the Zombies shirt glows in the freakin' dark.

You know where to get them: Store of David