Alien Next Door Early Release @ NYCC2015

You guys, This is EXCITING! My new book, "Alien Next Door" will be available for early release EXCLUSIVELY at New York Comic Con this week!

Swing by Titan Entertainment's booth located on the show floor at Booth #2142 and grab yourself a signed copy. I don't even have a copy yet, so you'll get one before I do!

I'll have a more in-depth post on this book closer to it's official release on November 4th, 2015. For those of us not fortunate enough to attend NYCC, you can pre-order the book on Amazon by clicking HERE!

Storytime 2 @ Gallery 1988!!!

Last year I held my first solo exhibit at Gallery 1988. It featured 50 pieces inspired by some of my favorite Movies, Music, TV Shows and Video Games, all done in the Little Golden Book style. Well, it was a huge success, so they've asked me to come back for "Storytime 2"!!!

Opening Friday, November 6th, 2015 and running for 2 weeks, Storytime 2 will again feature 50 BRAND NEW pieces inspired by more of my favorite Movies, Music, TV Shows and Video Games. This is a very exciting time of year for me, with a few more fun announcements coming up. Stay tuned here and i'll be posting previews of the new artwork from the show! You can also follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook where I'll also be posting previews from the upcoming series!

Preview images will be added to the post leading up to the opening, but mark your calendars, and come on by!

"Storytime 2" @ Gallery 1988 (East)
Opening Friday, November 6th, 2015 7-9pm
7021 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
http://www.gallery1988.com
http://www.jo3bot.com

For The Love of Nintendo - Little Video Game Books Vol. 3

I got a really nice little write-up on one of my favorite game sites Kotaku!
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Nintendo has been going through a rough time lately. This isn't the first time they've found themselves in this position, but this time, something feels different. I have been holding out on picking up an Xbox One or a PS4 until some better games come out, but I recently purchased a Wii U because it has some great games RIGHT NOW.

It's a good little system with some major issues (i'm looking at you gamepad battery life and overall uselessness) But the games... oh the games! They're fantastic! Nintendo has created some of the most memorable characters. I would say that Mario is as important to our culture as Mickey Mouse. I hope Nintendo can get out of this slump they're currently in because their characters and the worlds they have created deserve to succeed. In an industry overrun with space marines and brown post apocalyptic wastelands, Nintendo has injected a much needed sense of adventure, color, and joy into our world. 

In honor of Nintendo, I created three new prints in my ongoing "Little Video Game Books" series. See Vol. 1 HERE and Vol. 2 HERE.  Let's hope Zelda and Metroid get their turn on the Wii U before the sun sets on the embattled little console. 

"The Little Plumber Bros."

To purchase a print, click HERE

"The Happy Little Hunter"

To purchase a print, click HERE

"The Little Hero of Time"

To purchase a print, click HERE

You can also buy all three prints together at a discounted price and save some money that you can use to put towards buying awesome video games! Because who doesn't need more video games in their life?

Order all 3 prints by clicking HERE

Little Video Game Books Vol. 2

Hello internet!

Earlier this year, I created a series of prints where I combined Little Golden Books with what I felt were a few video games that were instant classics. You can read more about those by clicking HERE.  The response was excellent, and because I had so much fun creating them, I went ahead and made a few more!

This generation of consoles has lasted much longer than any of the previous ones and with that, we've had some incredible gaming experiences. More so than I can remember with any other console generation. As I said before, I wanted this series to look back at games that have had a huge impact on not only me, but on the industry as a whole. I felt Red Dead Redemption, Half-Life 2 and Mass Effect were a worthy follow-up to my previous series. I hope you guys and gals dig 'em!

I love video games, I love Little Golden Books... and I loved combining them into the artwork you see below.

"Don't be too eager to grow up. It ain't as much fun as it looks."

To purchase a print, click HERE

"So, wake up, Mister Freeman. Wake up and... Smell the ashes." 

To purchase a print, click HERE

"I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you- I'm too busy playing with my toys."

To purchase a print, click HERE

             

You can order all 3 prints together! Click HERE

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them!

Edgar Wright @ Gallery 1988!!

**Update**
"Shaun of the Dead" prints are available to purchase by clicking HERE **SOLD OUT**
"Hot Fuzz" prints are available to purchase by clicking HERE **SOLD OUT**
"The World's End" prints sold out at the show opening!
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"Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", and now "The World's End" make up what writer/director Edgar Wright has deemed "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy". They're three relatively different films in that their only main connection is that they're written/directed by Edgar Wright, they all star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and at some point, Cornetto ice cream cones are eaten in each movie. That's an excellent basis for a trilogy in my opinion.

With "The World's End" opening next week, Gallery 1988 has teamed up with Edgar Wright to celebrate his career with artwork portraying his various projects. I adore his films, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what he does with Ant-Man for Marvel in a few years. The footage he showed off at San Diego Comic Con last year was incredible, and I think there's no better director than Edgar Wright for that project.

When I started working on ideas for what I wanted to do for this show, I felt drawn to doing three pieces, based off of the trilogy. I love combining things that are clearly not for kids with things that clearly are only for children. So what better way to take these three films, and turn them into children's books!

Limited signed/numbered prints of each piece will be available at the gallery! I'll also have framed #1 prints on the wall.
(I'll provide links for online sales whenever they're available)

There will be some VERY special guests showing up to the opening, so if you can make it, please come early, as the line will no doubt be insane. 

"The Official Edgar Wright Show"

Gallery 1988 West

7308 Melrose Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90046

http://www.gallery1988.com

Gallery 1988 celebrates 10 years of "Wet Hot American Summer"

I loved the Mtv show "The State" when I was a teenager. The show lasted 3 seasons with a total of 26 hilarious episodes, with great characters like Louie who wanted to dip his balls in everything, Doug, who was outta heerrrreeee, old fashioned guy, and this gem:

Well, 10 years ago, these guys decided to make a movie. Wet Hot American Summer is a comedy that is sitting at a cool 30% freshness rating on Rottentomatoes.com. I wasn't even aware of the movie until Gallery 1988 asked if I was interested in being part of the gallery show celebrating it's 10 year status as a cult classic. Once I googled it and found out it was the guys from The State I was in.

Having never been to camp (aside from a horrific weeklong trip to "outdoor school" in 5th grade), It was hard for me to relate to a movie about camp life in the 1980's. What wasn't hard to relate to were some pretty funny characters, in particular Keith Stat from Millburn, New Jersey who really only had this little bit part in the film:

So for the show I decided to illustrate my tribute to camp nerds everywhere who loved D&D and a good ol' fashioned home-made cape.



So if you have $240 worth of pudding, be sure to head down to Gallery 1988's Venice Gallery.

Next Chapter Please!

Over the past 2 years, work in the videogame industry has been a roller coaster of opportunity. One minute there's an opportunity to work on a great project, and then a month later, it's shelved with little explanation. I experienced this first hand at the end of 2008 when a game I had pitched to EA had seen quite a bit of interest from the powers that be. In the interest of the studio going a different direction and eventually becoming "Visceral Games", my game was killed before it could even take it's first steps. Too bad, it would be awesome! Sorry Joey, you're just not Visceral enough.

I have always felt that my work was more geared towards children, and well, most game companies don't make games for children anymore. As a result, I've always had an itch to work in the children's book industry. As a concept artist in games, I really enjoyed creating establishing images... images that can tell a story. I decided to make the move over to trying to do more of that with actual storytelling in children's books. Back in January of last year I wrote a story that I felt conveyed a lot of emotion, a great character arc, and an opportunity to explore some illustration styles that I just wasn't allowed to do in video games, and it felt great. It felt like I could finally breath and not be concerned with whether or not adult males 18-34 would find it "cool". I want to do more of that... a lot more of that. Earlier this year I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators And now i'm ready for a dose of reality of starting over

I'm very excited for this conference. I've been working on a portfolio geared towards children's book illustration work, and I'm happy to say there's not a Photoreal image to be seen for miles and it feels great.

For my portfolio I wanted to create some images that told a story in a simple and easy way. I had so much fun working on this image, I think I laid it all out in a day, and then finished it on day 2.

I'm both nervous and excited about my new adventure, I learned the hard way that no matter how many plans you make, NOTHING ever goes according to plan, so I feel a little bit like the kid in my painting above. I'm walking the plank, but smiling the whole time. Hopefully there are some mattresses to catch me if I fall.