new Neil mailbox & doodle time...

Thanks to everyone for the love on the David Mack silkscreen of Neil's poem I WILL WRITE IN WORDS OF FIRE. Happy to be able to send a solid check to the @CBLDF.
In between printing out labels and preparing for when they arrive,
I just bundled off a big heavy box to The Fabulous Lorraine (@Fablor) full of all manner of reader-sent gifts and books to our Neil.

Here are some of the things old & new that have arrived in the magical #339 mailbox here in LA:

a gorgeous graphic novel from Nick Hayes, taking on Coleridge's Mariner poem.



a look inside:



i love the handwritten letters from the younger readers.
Imogen from London sends a "goth duck".



here are two books, gifts for Neil, both look fascinating.



this came in awhile ago but looking through my past Neil mailboxes, i realized I never put the photo up.
@Budjette Tan, a wonderful artist, has been very generous w/Neil.
(Boss, this is in the box that shipped to Quiche)

Another book, with a letter from an inspired author, "May your inkwell never run dry..."

 to follow Joshua on twitter @JLAJones-- 

 and this beauty came in for me, just in time for Record Store Day: David J's new vinyl. Bauhaus is a once and current favorite and when David J  announced his Kickstarter for his new record, i was all over it.  His birthday is in 2 days, HBD DJ!



Mari, over at Gillian Anderson's charity to support the fight against the genetic disorder, Neurofibromatosis,  got us started on charity doodles several years ago.  It's so important for us humans to get  artwork out into the universe. You just feel better! Neil's sketches are hugely popular and this year, I didn't even pester, he did two of them on his own. #proudpepper

to see Neil's Sandman doodle, click here.

This year, there are  so many good ones,  by the likes of Robert "Walking Dead" Kirkman, Shirley Jones, John Landis, Billy Bones/Christopher Lincoln,  Michael Sheen (click for this wonderful detailed sketch)

and my hero Chris Carter (his sketch i WILL be bidding upon, so game on!) (notice how i don't link to it, imma secret squirrel, you have to find it yourself)

Here is a mini view at what I did this year: 

series called  "Lucky"

 i took a page out of my sketch book and tore it into three panels:



each panel got stamped.



then i flat-black spray-painted them, blocked out the areas i needed for watercolor with tape and stencil.
Selina Kyle supervised. (but not near the spray-painting, of course)



then i tried to sketch a salt-shaker, a ladder (ouch) and a horseshoe.



it's true, i am so lucky, i can walk under ladders....
the three will be auctioned as a set.

also donating one of my comic book magnets from a flood-damaged Sandman issue #17 (7/1990), where Calliope thanks Oneiros/Morpheus for his assistance.
 (It's good rule to be grateful when dealing w/dream kings.)



I leave on the Rob Zombie tour in a couple of weeks, a very short run. If anyone is curious about my life on tour, it's all up over at the FurryTiger blog.

NEIL GAIMAN/DAVID MACK "I will write in words of fire"..

It started when a gentleman named Burton Olivier requested a poem from Neil. A poem that he might illustrate with the help of a willing artist. Something that he may be able to have and call his and his alone. Written on his skin---

Anyone that knows me, knows I am a fan of the tattoo. I have always said, it is only for those that can truly commit.  I have lost count of mine, truth is I never counted them to begin with. However, that is the question that i get asked the most. Why, i will probably never know...

Anyway, commit he did, our Burton. There he is, being tattooed by Farsyde Kauai, a very handsome fellow. I know that  backpiece didn't tickle, but he got the first sitting under his belt. We will wait patiently for the next batch of photos.

Meanwhile, Neil introduced me electronically to DAVID MACK, he of the Kabuki comic and the simple beautiful lines. David said he would try his hand at an illustration. What he produced, both haunting and delicate. David came out to LA, we had sushi w/ Drew and Amatosan and Kent Williams, we all went to a stellar art opening, and I even introduced him to that gorgeous pinup doll OLIVIA that same night. 

Then I went out on tour and turns out, David was a fan of Puscifer--He drove more than a couple hours to come see the show. He brought some of his beautiful books and signed some to me and some to Maynard. 

This is how prints are born.
I thought a small personal run of this piece, priced moderately, would be the best approach.  

this means.....PRESALE! I will have these posted up at $25.00 for the next 48 hours, until Saturday night at midnight west coast time, when they will go up to $38.00 and stay there, until we dwindle in stock.  ORDER THEM HERE and a 50% chunk will go to the CBLDF. We expect to have these in hand to ship these in about 10 days or so.

These 3 color seriographs (8.5" x 11") are hand silk-screened by artist Brian Rise in Austin, Texas. He chose a thick creamy 70 weight recycled French paper, these prints will ship flat, in their own little recycled kraft vessels, from me to you. I will be interviewing Brian, a friend of mine from the dark ages in Baltimore, my old Charm City buddy.

Here are some photos Brian took during his printing process. These 100 blue variants will be split up and sent out to David, Neil, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and to Burton to do what they please, the grey version (seen at the very bottom) will be the ones available here at Neverwear.

here is the entire text of the beautiful poem Neil composed:

I will write in words of fire.
I will write them on your skin.
I will write about desire.
Write beginnings, write of sin.
You're the book I love the best,
your skin only holds my truth,
you will be a palimpsest
lines of age rewriting youth.
You will not burn upon the pyre.
Or be buried on the shelf.
You're my letter to desire:
And you'll never read yourself.
I will trace each word and comma
As the final dusk descends,
You're my tale of dreams and drama,
Let us find out how it ends.

a small Neil mailbox...

One of my favorite parts of the job is seeing what people send on to the Boss...
countless letters, questions, gifts...so much appreciation for his stories.

I have to catch Neil when I can, somewhere in his uber-busy life, to answer this mail. When I do, he writes the most thoughtful answers to the questions of writers-to-be, damsels-in-distress, school-kids-with-plot-suggestions....etc.
this is an example of one of his replies, i have removed the name of the questioner, but I think almost anyone can benefit from the words on the card:

when i opened this beautiful Encyclopedia Gothica, by Liisa Ladouceur, i knew he would be happy. (and he shares a page with one of my heroes, Diamanda Galas....)

these pint glasses came in, sand-blasted by Zack T.
One for each of the Sandman Endless family members...with the corresponding Kanji character etched on the backs.
Once Zack figures out if he can make them for sale, we will put up his information. I think these are so clever and they are sturdy and they are making me think of re-visiting the Shoggoth pint glass we once considered. Shipping glasses? Not for the faint of heart, and the delivery services are manned by butter-fingered ogres it seems sometimes...but these glasses gave me new hope.
Neil holds one up while we are sitting at the airport, waiting for his lady love to arrive.

here Neil sits in his rented convertible Mustang, ready to drive off into the sunset with Amanda.
(subtitle: American muscle, British steel)

The Fabulous Lorraine packed the signed Olivia prints into Neil's suit carrier and they survived his airplane ride beautifully.
Here you can see, this new batch has Olivia signing in golden Sharpie:

while Neil signs with his fountain pen:

so we have a new batch of double-signed prints, they are HERE.
We also have unsigned prints available (but still artist embossed) for a lower price.

signed OLIVIA prints BACK IN STOCK & a new interview.

That dreamboat scribe, Mr. Gaiman has been busy signing more of the gorgeous creamy rich prints illustrated by miss Olivia.
There are about 50 of them this time.

Get them here.

I did a quick interview with the husband half of the Olivia team, the motor behind Olivia's boat, Joel Beren, one of the funniest men I have ever met.

Q: what did you want to be when you grew up?

A: less clueless

Q: tell me about the first time you laid eyes on miss Olivia….

A: when we met Olivia had a boyfriend, and I was just looking to maybe buy a painting

Q: How has the art world changed in the last couple decades?

A: internet/digital world changes everything.

Q: Anything you miss and would like to see brought back?

there were a few good psychedelics...

Q: Anything you are glad is no longer happening?

A: polio

Q: The prints you produce are so very beautiful and rich. Was there a great deal of trial and error in the beginning? Or did you know exactly what you were trying for?

A: we have been working with printers for decades-I ask a lot of questions...eventually I figure out what works for us.

Q: Hand-torn with that rough edge, I love that detail so much.
Can you tell me more about this: (is that an industry practice or something you came up with?)

A:
it's a detail that helps to elevate the prints beyond posters...not unusual in the fine art print market.

Q: Any business advice for aspiring artists?

A: art's not for sissies...

Q: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

since Pierre Clémenti is no longer available, gotta go with Crispin Glover.
(interviewer note: C. Glover played the best Grendel ever!)

Q: if you had life to do all over again, anything you would change?
A: I would grow up in California.

Q: the question I should have asked you is:

what do you want to be when you grow up?

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