New "make good art" hats--

oh, the truth in this three word statement....

"make good art."

this is one of the main messages pulled from Neil's powerful commencement address in May 2012 to the graduating class of the University of the Arts in Pennsylvania... words for the artist in us all.

I wanted to wear this little verse and so i thought, maybe a little black knit hat, with the words embroidered in a ghostly white thread. We went back and forth on the font, the lettering, how to present it. Neil, in his wisdom, said, put it to a vote. And so we did. The block font prevailed in the tumblr universe, almost two to one.

GET IT HERE.

However! There were a few pleas for the cursive, so I also made a very small run of them.

To order the cursive style, go here. Get yours before they are all gone. And at $15.95, they will go quick.

watch Neil's speech here, and be forever moved.

Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012 from The University of the Arts (Phl) on Vimeo.

back from Slipknot...

it was a fast four day run. I took a book on the plane with me, to pass on to the tour manager, and re-read it in the air. It is one my favorite of Neil's clever tales, the Marvel title, 1602. A well-considered look at the imagined earlier days of several superheroes, drawn in the perfect lines of Andy Kubert.

(see the blue of the airport carpet?)

I almost forgot how much I loved this set of comics. We meet early versions of Dr. Strange, Peter "Parquagh", Matthew Murdoch, Angel, Iceman and so many more.

look at this beautiful Daredevil exchange:

There is an appendix with Neil's panel notes, just loved this directional note to Todd Klein, "Slightly wiggly lettering here, for him in a trance state."

and here is the panel (bottom right):

Just recommending it to you if you missed it the first time out, my flight was over in no time while my head was back in time.

Arrived in Iowa to prepare for the first day of the festival. 15,000 people showed up!

(not sure who gets credit for this photo?)

There were Spidey cupcakes in catering:

Here's Amie, who I worked with on Megadeth. Saw so many roadies, old and new friends. We had the tea station all set up for the production manager, our fiery British import, Gaz. He was surprised i could make a "proper cuppa English tea", why yes, I Have had practice! One of the best things, he had a mini-Oscar on his desk, which he got for "Most Dramatic Door Slamming"--

this was a classic sight, the giant chair...I should have had a person in it for perspective. It was like that Lily Tomlin character's chair, i forget her name, but you know who i mean?

this little friend lived on one of the Slipknot band buses, i fell in love.

there was SO much pyro on the stage, I had to make warning signs for the guests. Basically, please don't get roasted like marshmallows...

On the Wisconsin date, I woke up on the bus in time to roll right by Charlie's on the water in Stillwater, I will back there this Friday to load in Quiche's show!! At our festival, there were dark clouds which turned to a lightning storm extraordinaire. Fortunately, we didn't have to pull the show, and everything ended in safety.

I leave for Neil's in a few days, so i have to get some more fan mail ready for him to answer, looking forward to bees and the garden and the good company.

Arrived home to hear the deeply sad news of Tony Scott. The Scott brothers have been part of my cinematic life since ALIEN, and until I heard today that it was inoperable brain cancer, I was truly confused by his suicide. May he and his family find their peace. Here is a still from The Hunger:

We lost another true star in Phyllis Diller, her voice will always be with me. Here was her character in Mad Monster Party, which changed the way i looked at the world.

ok, let's end this on a hopeful note. The Fang & Talon project is very close to their funding goal. Take a look at their Kickstarter and if you like it, give them a signal boost. I honestly hope they can bring low-budget (and i mean looooow) back, to be filmed in beautiful Minnesota. Good luck, friends!

new batch of glittery comic book magnets up!

just put up a whole new litter of magnet-kittens, born under the blazing skies of LA, ok, they aren't kittens, but they need new homes.

if you don't know my work, i had a flood ages ago (no i am not Noah) and drowned some very valuable comic books. My mission has been to salvage them into tiny artworks.

Neil has several of them stuck throughout his Addams Family house-mansion, that has always given me great happiness.

this one is a mirror!

to see them, click here.

a new Neil mailbox & a t-shirt sale...& Scully from X-Files.

This ever-lovin' Texas-style heat has made it difficult to get much done, we start things that we don't seem to finish. The cats lay around completely flat on the hardwood floors, trying to cool their fur. Not going to whine, but honestly, Drew has been out in NYC on a video shoot and I thought I would get a great deal more done while he was gone...trying to salvage what i can as the temperatures cool with the nightfall.

Remember last post where I said i was turning down all offers of work--well, i had to take this one, it's only a few days, but it's a couple big festivals, with Slipknot & Deftones & Dethklok.

I leave on Thursday, and will be home next week-- so I wanted to post some of the things that have shown up in the Neil mailbox...

a school room put together a gorgeous book of Neil's Cinnamon tale:

The fine people at Projekt sent Neil a big batch of new music:

Several books arrived, some with requests for blurbs (sadly, we cannot add anything more to the Boss' schedule, he is working under so many deadlines as it is) and many with a wish to offer him their gratitude in being a part of their inspiration process. We have a giant pile of books, ever-growing.

magic...

you can order this gorgeous book from SofaWolfPress, HERE.

from The Chinese Science Fiction World in Chengdu, these treasures:

and...

This sweet author included one for me, an excellent read.

and...

and...

and.. this one I honestly couldn't put down, so many slices of history from the British Isles...

I am always happy when comics come in the mail:

this came in from the artist, Walter Sickert. He has work in the travelling AFP art show, to see some of the artists: Click here. (& although as is clear on the envelope, "do not bend" was ignored, and it got a bit munged up in the delivery. Although I believe in the power of suggestion, a sturdier package may have helped.)

here's a hot print from Moose Kleenex:

this was one of my favorite arrivals from last batch, and while Neil was in town last, he wrote out his wish, that will be folded into origami and turned into a book, and the proceeds raised will go to This Star Won't Go Out Foundation.

oh wait, did i say that was my favorite? actually THIS was my favorite, and it came via Neil's post box for me, from Gillian Anderson, aka X-Files Scully. What a class act!

and here's one I bet Boss may give to QuicheMeDeadly, a present from WhiskeyGreased on the Royal City Roller Girls:

As we finish up on the new website, we are having a little sale on some of the tshirts-- we have dropped the price on Anansi Boys tees & the Super Cabal tees to $10.00 each and the Scary Trousers tees (both youth sizes and adult sizes) to $12.00 each- you can barely see a movie for that!

**click here to see all the shirts!

Here is Drew flashing his SuperCabal tee, I shot this while we were at mister Allan Amato's studio.

so this is me outta here, stay tuned!