Austin Comic Con is here already?!...CACA!

What up g funks.

Just a quick reminder to let you know that Austin Comic Con is THIS WEEKEND!  It really snuck up on me even though I was always aware of it's looming presence & I'm already cursing my amazing procrastination skills....or praising them...or whatever.  But the last week has been a sleepless one as I'm getting all my caca in order.  Speaking of caca....

I've finally completed my first mini art book which will be released at Comic Con this weekend.  Yup, 'Oddities/Deformities' is all printed up & eager to give you nightmares or arouse you as soon as possible.

I'll have a plethora of them available at my table & will be putting some up in my online store sometime next week.  So if you're not gonna make it to the show this weekend, do not fret, you can have it dropped off right outside your front door.  It's filled with a collection of goodies that have been reviewed by the Board of Strange:

Not only will my book be staring at you begging for you to take it home, I'll also have a nice selection of prints, trading cards, buttons, iPhone Gela Skins, original art, etc...y'know...more "caca" I've been getting in order for this show. I'll also be spending the weekend taking commissioned illustrations for a few green pieces of paper in return.  Just come to my table & demand me to draw something for you!  Oh yeah & if you follow me on Twitter I'll be having random giveaways throughout the weekend.  So give me a follow & if you're the only one following me who's going be prepared for a bunch of FREE caca!

So the Austin Convention Center is pretty big, so I went ahead & drew out a very detailed, extremely clear, treasure-like map for you to follow to get to my table. Voila:

...if you get lost simply wave your hands over your head & start screaming as loud as you can.

I'll be at TABLE #2928 in Artist Alley ALL weekend, so do take the time to come by & high five me!  If I'm away at the moment, my twin brother, Lance, will be running the show so just give him a high five!  No seriously...I do have a twin brother & seriously...high five him.

With a few days left I'll be stapling my eyelids to my forehead & getting some final pieces done.
Again...here's the link to the Austin Comic Con page where you can see who's gonna be there, check out the times/schedules & grab tix. Really hope to see you guys there...

This, That & ZOMBIES!

Hello again friends!

A few things have happened since my last post so let's just get on with it shall we:

First off there's a killer show I was lucky enough to be a part of that's going on right NOW!  Heather Hansma is a super bad ass in the Detroit area & when I heard she was curating a 'Day of the Dead' themed show & let me be a part of it I screamed liked a little girl being ripped apart by zombies.  The opening was October 7th & the show will be running until November 5th at Starkweather Arts Center.  Heather was also nice enough to do a little preview on me & one of my pieces just before the show which you can read here.

Here're my two thingies:

"Removing the Mask" - watercolor/ink on canvas:

"Three Amigos" - ink on bristol:

Secondly the ArtSlam! event in San Antonio last month was high five awesomeness!  The theme was 'Martial Arts' & all you people who were involved &/or came by to check it out are the coolest.  My MUTANT NINJA prints were well received & the LIVE painting I did that night was a blast to create in front of your happy faces.  Here are some action shots of me acting like I'm knowing what the hell I'm doing...or not:

The silent auction for my painting was an epic, kung fu battle in itself, but the last, WINNING ninja standing was SETH who took home my piece & now has BIG TROUBLE all over his wall:

Thanks again to Rob for putting on yet another spectacular live show....Kung Fu Masters!:

I'm already looking forward to the next ArtSlam! event &...wait a minute...what's that?! There's an ArtSlam! TOMORROW NIGHT?!?!

You know it!:

(poster by the talented Henry Quiara)

Last year ARTSLAM! did 'Undead' in San Antonio for Halloween, this year they're bringing it right here to my home of AUSTIN with 'Return of the Undead!'

That's right...zombies, monsters, blood, guts...all that super freaky crap that scares you will be attacking your every nerve & sense tomorrow at the ND at 501 Studios.  You can be on either side of the blood bath as there will be numerous make up artists making up ANYONE who wants to be a zombie INTO a zombie!  I've also printed up TWO new, nightmarish, monsterish, hand signedish prints for the occasion that I'll be introducing to anyone who visits my table.  Here's what they look like & I can already tell they'll go splendidly well against that wall color you chose in your home:

I'll also have some other goodies & original art for you to poke through, but you have to come to the show to see em!

So try to make it out TOMORROW & see some crazy talented artists draw zombies & stuff!  Here's the info where you can RSVP & gather the specifics.

After this show I'll be full throttle getting ready for Austin Comic Con which is only a few weeks away. Then a three person show in Detroit come February will be consuming my life after that...more details to come....

Thanks for wasting a few minutes of your life on my page! xo - c.

High Kicks instead of High Fives?

Hey friends!  It's been a while since my last post as I've been locked up in my cave working on a lot of goodies, but I've undone the shackles, jumped on my Mac & am ready to share a little info with you right now.  High kick to that! "Why a "high kick" instead of the regular "high five" you usually throw out, Cody?"............

.......GREAT question & THIS IS WHY!:

That's right folks! It's time for ArtSlam again & the cool kids down in San Antonio have invited me to play with them THIS coming Saturday, September 24th. I had such a blast at their 'Pixels vs. Panels'  show back in July(which you can read all about my experience HERE) that I've been punching the air with excitement waiting for the next event. Good thing too since this show's theme is 'MARTIAL ARTS!'  My nonstop air-punching has made me a Kung Fu Master & now I'm in tip-top shape & more ready than ever to tackle this karate chopping challenge!

So myself along with other local artists will once again be LIVE painting at The White Rabbit while all kinds of amazing things will be happening around us.  Things like: Wu-Tang Karaoke, a Mortal Kombat video game tournament, LIVE music from four different bands, DJs & a lot more!  Yeah...I know you want to go & I want you to too!  You can RSVP here on Facebook & get all the information you need.

Along with the main reason I'll be there that night which is creating an original painting right in front of your "HiYA!ing" faces, I've also created FOUR original prints for the event.  I grew up watching, buying the toys & drawing those cute, green little boogers the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so they've influenced me in some way(nothing like THIS awesome lady however).  But here's the thing...they're MUTATED turtles from the sewer!  How can they be SO DAMN CUTE?!  Welp, I went ahead & gave this some serious thought & after a few days of scribbling, splattering, scanning & coloring, I came up with how these little radioactive bastards should REALLY look.  So I give you the MUTANT NINJAS:

Donatello:

Michelangelo:

Leonardo:

Raphael:

These guys will be crawling all over my table through out the night waiting for you to come by & take them home, so be sure to save a life & adopt a grotesque, mutated turtle today!

Along with getting prepared for the Martial Artslam show, I've been hard at work finishing up some pieces for a 'Day of the Dead' group show in Detroit during October & continuing to finish up my mini book which will be released at Austin Comic Con in November.  You'll be hearing from me soon about those thingies...

On an entirely different note, the awesome peeps at Austin-Artists.com profiled me on their site recently. If you want to watch the most awkward & embarrassing interview ever, Go give it gander if you have the time & thanks to Roy & Maria for setting this up!

Remember to give me a follow on Twitter as I update things daily there & usually have little giveaways about once a month.  Free art is always cool!

Okay, check back soon guys....
xo.

"& uh...yeah...y'know...um...yeah!"

...that's pretty much what I sound like in this little interview that the local team of Indie Live Austin did with me.  My longtime buddy Rich did the interview & he made me a little less nervous, but watch this, make fun of me & see how awkward I am in front of cameras.  I was really hoping they were going to add some crazy explosions & CG monsters to make me look really awesome, but their editing was perfect enough to not make me look like a complete fool.

So check out this video that will be part of a full episode with a lot more great eye/ear candy & aired on your television sets come September:

Thanks to Johnny, Rich & all those awesome peeps at Indie Live Austin.

ArtSLAM DUNK!

Man do you guys love your video games & comic books!

I had a blast this past weekend at the ArtSlam!: Pixels vs. Panels show in San Antonio doing some live painting.  It was indeed a delightful time filled with spray paint fumes, rad music & 3LB CINNAMON ROLLS?!? Yep, THREE POUNDS!...but more on that later.

====================================

I stumbled into the White Rabbit around 7pm to set up my station & was greeted by Rob aka Deadbeat Hero (the curator of this awesome event. He's also selling some limited edition Atari/Punisher shirts he designed/printed during the show which you can order here.

I got one & my torso is not only happy with my decision, but is definitely the coolest looking piece of my body when I wear it!  Go snag one now & hurry...there's only a few!)
After the "hellos" & handshakes with other artists painting that evening, I got to work.

It being a video game/comic book mash up theme, I went with PacMan viciously hungry for [the deliciously-terrible career choices of Nic Cage as] Ghostrider...

I painted until the sun sneaked far behind the earth & through out the night met a LOT of GREAT people!  You guys were so cool there & I want to thank each & every one of you who came to my table to chat &/or purchase some of the goodies I had...& I really would if I had a list of your names!

I'd like to especially computer-screen-high-five those that bid on my painting through out the night for the silent auction.  Though I wish I could've used some crazy X-Men mutant power to make exact replicas for you ALL to go home with, there could be & WAS only one winner:

My newest buddy Roland took Charlie Sheen's magical phrase seriously & came out on top.  This dude rocks!
I also did a commissioned illustration for A.J. who wanted Luigi & Princess Peach "relaxing".  Hey...I give them what they want!:

Again...the artists were amazing/inspiring at the show.  I wish I got to meet everyone, but being holed up behind my table prevented that.  I did bounce around like Super Mario for a bit & had the privilege to say "hi" to a few.  Here are some quick photos from the evening.....

Cristobal Licea's paintings were AWESOME.  This guy couldn't be nicer either:

Nik Soupé was a master with the spray paint cans.  Check out his 'Transmetropolitan' painting done that night:

The extremely lovely EEK! CREATIONS was there representing Austin also:

So I give a BIG THUMBS UP to you San Antonio for your warm embrace & look forward to the next time you'll have me!

above photos courtesy of Holly Brown, Rob Perez, Lesley Fielding Roland Gutierrez & St. Philip's Anime Club

I do have a few of the Link vs. Superman & Wolverine / Mario Mash up prints left over from the show that wish to be adopted.  Head over to my shop to grab one or 10000 of them.  I've also got some other pieces that might look really awesome on your wall, so step into the store....

Cool.  Until next time...

....oh yeah!  The "3LB. CINNAMON ROLL" I mentioned earlier!  Welp, our hotel room was only a few steps from a pretty yummy, 24-hour diner called LuLu's Bakery & Cafe.  Needless to say we abused this place during our short stay with a 4pm lunch when we arrived in San Antonio, a 4am "dinner" after the art show & a 9am breakfast before heading down to South Padre Island for a few days.  Along with an outstanding Chicken Fried Steak, THIS is what LuLu's is known for:

In San Antonio?  Go try to conquer this mouth-watering, cinnamon/sugar-high beast!

Okay, off to get more fun stuff done for Comic Con & remember to follow me on Twitter so I can tell you what I'm eating, which movies I'm watching & how my coffee tastes...FUN!!

Alright...NOW until next time.

Heading south where Mario's fighting Wolverine?

Well hello there amigos.

You peeps ever lay awake at night & wonder who the winner of an epic battle between LINK(that cute, little Hylian boy from the Nintendo world) & the Man of Steel himself SUPERMAN would be?  What about the outcome of Mario's nemesis BOWSER shooting fireballs at the rock-hard abs of The THING?! Don't act like you don't constantly think about these exact scenarios!  I guess being a child of the '80s & spending looong, restless nights with my brothers reading Batman, munching on helpless scrubs' heads as The Amazon in 'Pro Wrestling', wondering how the hell Colossus stayed so shiny in Uncanny X-Men battles, jumping through crazy obstacles as Samus in 'Metroid', collecting every single trading card from the Marvel Comics series(yes...especially the harder to find holograms) & even surrendering to the great, Greek mythology realm as Kratos in 'God of War' has made me sit & daydream about these "hypothetical pairings".  But now I KNOW I'm NOT the only one!

On July 23rd, myself along with 25 other artists will be getting together to bring life to these crazy ideas.  We're taking the pixelated characters from our favorite video games & pairing them up with/against some of the greatest, muscle-ripped heroes straight from the panels of our most beloved comic books.  Yep...ArtSlam! presents: 

PIXELS VS. PANELS!

What better place to have this epic battle than in the city where a raccoon-tail wearing mofo shed blood in Texas' most epic battle?  That's right...down the street from The Alamo (I know what you're thinking) at The White Rabbit in San Antonio will be this special, one-night event.  Local artists will be banding together for an evening of LIVE painting AND music.  Starting at 8pm we'll be setting up our stations (while the MANY bands set up their gear for their sets) & flinging paint around to turn our geeky thoughts into actual pieces of art you can hang on your wall!  ALL art will be up for silent auction during the show, so I hope you guys can come by to see some talented artist folk in action while hopefully taking home some art as well.  This will be my first LIVE painting session, so I welcome...no...I NEED your support & high fives.

For more info & to RSVP head to the ArtSlam! Facebook event or the ArtSlam! homepage.

Along with the giant painting I'll be creating before your eyeballs at this show, I'm offering PRE-ORDERED, commissioned pieces for those of you who'll come by.  Simply shoot me an email with the comic/video game characters you want punching each other in the face, enjoying tea together, or whatever you can think of & I'll spill some ink on an 8.5"x 11" piece of bristol board.  All pieces will be an original, black & white, ink illustration.  All pieces will be $10 which you can pay in advance via PayPal or when you pick the illustration up at the show.  They can ONLY be picked up at the show, so pre-order only if you or a friend can pick them up.  I'll be creating these drawings in advance since my time at the show will be solely devoted to my painting, so I'll be accepting just a few.  So become a writer for a day & have someone (ME) draw what you think up!...FUN!

I've also created a couple prints exclusively for this event shown below which I'll have available at my table (obviously without the watermarks on them).  There will be other goodies there to choose from, so come to the show & see what I have in store!

______________________________

"Let's take Wolverine & Mario, decapitate them, then sew their heads on the other one's body!" That's what my brain told me to do so that's exactly what I did in this print & now you can own this sick idea for yourself!:

I don't know why I automatically illustrate characters cutting each other's heads off when thinking of comic book & video game characters fighting, but I'm guilty of it again with this print which will also be available at the show.  Don't be fooled by the cuteness & innocence of LINK...he means business:

Cool.  I REALLY hope to see some of you there!

Welp, Meth & Hot Dogs 2, the super cool show I was a part of at LIFT Gallery in Detroit just closed at the end of May, but with the death of something comes the birth of something else:

Saturday night a portal of epic brutality was unleashed in the state of Illinois.  OhNo!Doom Gallery in Chicago held it's opening of "Friends of the Beast: A Tribute to Metal".  If you're in the area you must check out this amazing exhibit filled with super talented artists which will almost guarantee your eyes to bleed from all the awesome. You can view/purchase the entire show online HERE. The exhibit will run through June, so tell your friends, enemies & lovers to go...

Here are my two pieces:

A Girl In A Head (14" x 11" - watercolor/ink on gesso panel):

A Boy With A Head (16" x 20" - watercolor/ink on canvas):

Illustration Friday

My second submission for Illustration Friday.  The topic this week is "shadows."

"I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene." ~ Grandma Moses

The Sketchbook Project 2012

Here we go again!

I opened up my mailbox a little over a week ago to find a 6"x 9" envelope sent from Brooklyn.  I immediately knew what it was & the creative juices started soaking my brain.

Last year I participated in my first Sketchbook Project created by Art House Coop.  It was such a pleasant experience of spending way too much money on Pigma Micron pens & nights when I should've been working on other projects but didn't that I decided I had to do it again this year...& more than likely every year now.

Upon opening the envelope I noticed a difference in the sketchbook from last year's.  It was considerably smaller in size & the amount of pages had decreased as well.  The paper was a tad bit heavier too which will prevent bleeding.  I was definitely relieved & happy to see these changes.

Last year my theme was "Help!" which you can view here.  

This year my theme is "Encyclopedia of..." which you'll now be able to view right here.

I'll be updating this blog post periodically as I complete my sketchbook.  Once my book is complete I plan on making copies of it to make it available at Austin Comic Con coming up & to anyone else wanting to own it through my online store.  Needless to say it will be filled with some twisted goodness.

So enjoy my process below!  I'll be posting them via Twitter as well along with whatever else I'm working on (& don't forget my random art GIVEAWYS!), so give me a follow.

By the way...Art House is still taking orders/submissions for The Sketchbook Projects 2012.  Sign up!

It's A Friday Giveaway!!!

Hello friends!

For those of you that follow me on Twitter you know I like to give away some art now & then to random followers.  TODAY brings another chance to win some cool goodies!

My buddy Spanky Stokes has an amazing blog which showcases some super talented artists from around the globe usually specializing in custom vinyls & toys.  He tends to have a "Friday Giveaway" every week, so definitely bookmark his blog & revisit daily! I got with him a few weeks back & we set up some neato FREE stuff for today's giveaway!

About six months ago I designed a custom OMI figure from Munky King.  It showed at their gallery in LA to help launch the OMI figure (their newest DIY vinyl at the time).  Now's your chance to give my "Z'OMI" a permanent home!:

Not only will you get this little guy if you win, but you'll ALSO win this original illustration of the same zombie fool screaming for brains! 8"x 10" on bristol board:

"How do I enter to win?!"...GLAD YOU ASKED!  Now that the decaying, maggot-filled, brain-eating prizes have been established, all you have to do is follow me on Twitter AND tweet THIS: 

#FF @CodySchibi to win a custom OMI and an original ink drawing on SpankyStokes.com http://bit.ly/eNeUsy #SSCOD PLS RT to enter!

You  can also head over to SpankyStokes.com where the information is available as well.  SIMPLE!  Entries will be accepted ALL DAY TODAY until midnight west coast time with the winner being selected using the magical, number-picking randomizer shortly after.

I love giving things away to art lovers, so this is exciting for me too!  I'll be continuing to do it, so continue to follow me on Twitter!  Another reminder for those attending Austin Comic Con, I'll be having daily giveaways to my followers who come up to my table with the "secret words".  Not only will I scream frantically like PeeWee Herman, but you'll walk away with free art!

Good luck friends!

Meth & Hot Dogs ...yummy.

Hello again friends.

Just popping in to let you know what's been on my plate. Fortunately for me, it's recently been the delicious combination of meth and hot dogs!  

Last night in Detroit at LIFT Gallery was the opening of the group show 'Meth & Hot Dogs 2: A Collection of Even MORE Unscrupulous Characters.' I felt right at home with this one as the curator (Kill Taupe) asked us artists to simply come up with any demented, cute, strange, whatever characters we can scrape out of our twisted skulls.  He's been doing spotlights at his blog on each of the artists involved (you can view mine here), so take the time to check out ALL the amazing creators in this show (Full lineup here as well).  'Meth & Hot Dogs 2' will run throughout May.

You can check out every piece from the exhibit here with information on how to purchase them as well. My two paintings look a lot like this:

"the majenster"- 20"x 16" watercolor & ink on canvas:

 "the mouth breather"- 14"x 11" watercolor & ink on gesso panel:

The folks over at Ain't It Cool News had a neat, little call for artists a few weeks back in honor of the recent release of Zach Snyder's 'Sucker Punch'.  I'm a huge fan of Snyder's (Dawn of the Dead remake, 300, Watchmen..) & this movie is quite a visual-overload of crazy effects.  It has robots, samurais, monsters, gun & sword wielding girlios, zombies, etc...& Nordling from AICN wanted artists to create an original piece with as many genre-mash ups as you can muster up.  I went with a "Brady Bunch" theme, but didn't take the top selection.  You can view my piece as well as the others here....

I'm staying busy so I'll have plenty of cool things available at my table at Austin Comic Con.  Just finished a few button designs & working on new prints that will be exclusive at the Convention.

I also have another group show at OhNo!Doom Gallery in Chicago the month of June that I'll have some pieces in, so keep checking back for updates or follow me on Twitter for daily updates!