What the hell is going on?

Hey guys, the opening night for my first solo show Mechanical Dreams at the Phone Booth Gallery in Long Beach, CA went great! The show will be up in the gallery from August 14-September 10, 2010. If you live in the area and would like to see it in person, please contact Phone Booth Gallery.

Below is a slideshow of photos taken at the show. Click here for even more opening night action, including (but not limited to) me in a suit.

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All the prints from the show are available for purchase online at Phone Booth Gallery. What’s more, Phone Booth Gallery is also offering T-shirts of selected prints as well as T-shirt/print combo deals!

I am really proud of this show and so I’m taking it on the road! The entire show will be on display and for sale at my booth during Flatstock 27 in Seattle, WA.

Here’s the info…

Flatstock 27- Bumbershoot Music Festival
www.americanposterinstitue.com
September 4-6, 2010
11am-8pm
Seattle Center, Fisher Pavillion
305 Harrison St, Seattle, WA
-Flatstock teams up with Bumbershoot in Seattle to bring you your favorite rock poster artists! Admission is free to Bumbershoot Music festival Attendees.

Here’s a look back at some recent events I was a part of and a look forward to what I have in store.

Flatstock 26 at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

To see all the fun from Flatstock 26 at the Pitchfork Music Festival, click here.

Visiting Sideshow Collectibles

I had the pleasure of visiting Sideshow Collectibles in Thousand Oaks, CA. Sideshow produces amazingly detailed and accurate figurines for comic book, tv, and movie properties.

Lots more awesomeness from my Sideshow Collectibles visit here.

The Ray Harryhausen Exhibit

At the end of July I checked out the Ray Harryhausen Exhibit at the Oscar Building in Los Angeles. Ray Harryhausen is famous for creating the special effects behind the 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans.

And there is much, much, more from the Ray Harryhausen Exhibit here!

San Diego Comic Con International 2010

Me with Bryan Lee O’Malley, creator of Scott Pilgrim.

And more Comic-Con action here!

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco

I also created this high speed video of me setting up my booth at Renegade San Francisco:

Click here for more photos of the event.

The Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow 2010

The Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow is a nationwide tour the Alamo Drafthouse embarks on periodically. I attended the LA leg of the tour, were they played Jackie Brown at Proud Bird near LAX. Quentin Tarantino and Rob Forrester were there.

See some more pictures from the Roadshow here!

KEVIN TONG 2010 LIVE (20% LIVENESS GUARANTEED) SCHEDULE

Flatstock 27- Bumbershoot- Seattle
www.americanposterinstitue.com
September 4-6, 2010
11am-8pm
Seattle Center, Fisher Pavillion
305 Harrison St, Seattle, WA
-Flatstock teams up with Bumbershoot in Seattle to bring you your favorite rock poster artists! Admission is free to Bumbershoot Music festival Attendees

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago
www.renegadecraft.com
September 11-12, 2010
11am-7pm
Wicker Park Area,
Division St. between Damen + Paulina, Chicago, IL
-Over 300 of today’s finest indie-craft talents will be setting up shop in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago. Don’t miss the incredible handmade goods from artists all over the nation. Admission is free

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco
www.renegadecraft.com
December 18-19, 2010
11am-7pm
Concourse Exhibition Center - East Hall
620 7th St, San Francisco, CA
-Check out over 200 of the nation’s finest indie-craft talents for your last minute holiday shopping needs. Don’t miss this incredible craft, art, design and DIY event! Admission is free.

Even more events in the works. I will update my schedule as soon as they are confirmed. As usual, it would be great to meet you so please come by if you can.

“Binary Heartbeat”

I’d like to take this moment to invite you to my solo show, Mechanical Dreams this weekend (August 14) in Long Beach, CA at the newly opened Phone Booth Gallery.

Mechanical Dreams is a series of prints I made with a very specific theme. The prints are all new work and represent the apex of my experiences as an illustrator so far. They will be on display and for sale at the show.

“Athena Ex Machina”

Here’s a nifty preview video I put together. In addition to giving you a sample of the art, if offers you a rare, behind the scenes look at the work and process leading up to the finished work.

Please come by on the opening night. Some of the prints have been made into T-Shirts and those will be for sale, along with my regular posters, including some sold out ones. I will be there the whole night and I’d love to meet you all or see some of you again. The show will be up until September 10 and all the work will be available for viewing and sale online at phoneboothgallery.com soon after the show.

If you have a second for a good read, here’s the press release for the show. It offers some interpretations of the images and notes about the show’s theme in general.

KEVIN TONG: MECHANICAL DREAMS OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Phone Booth Gallery is proud to present “Mechanical Dreams,” a debut solo exhibition by Los Angeles based poster artist Kevin Tong. The exhibition opens with a reception on August 14th from 7-10pm and will consist of a selection of screen printed posters and t-shirts. The all ages event is located at Phone Booth Gallery’s exhibition space, 2533 East Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90803. After opening night, the remaining work will be available through September 10, 2010 at the exhibition space, as well as www.phoneboothgallery.com.

Like the prolific poster work that established Kevin Tong’s reputation in alt music and art scenes, his new fine art screen prints are clean and self-possessed but still experimental. The prints in Mechanical Dreams push at the boundaries of narrative in novel ways, presenting an otherworldly visual environment that marries architectural precision with imaginative sensitivity.

In World for Two, a looming woman stands either at the edge of a canyon or at the foot of a mountain. Her eyes are closed and she intently breaths in the scent of the rose she holds in her hand. She looks so human, warm and weathered that it’s easy to miss the fact that her body, only covered in skin from the arms up, is built of ramshackle wood scaffolding and that the blue sky behind her has been invaded by what looks like a digitized cityscape. The seeming authenticity of the scene makes its “mechanical” qualities feel fitting, even natural.

Other posters similarly merge technology and tenderness. In Binary Heartbeat, a woman embraces a robot as both of their bodies—her fleshy one and his industrial one—disintegrate into a whimsical cascade of leaves. In Athena Ex Machina, a mechanical bird as imposing as the Trojan Horse must have been, looms outside an ornate window. Two figures, seen in silhouette, stare out at the bird with childlike awe. All through Tong’s work, the man-made qualities of technology and mechanics brush up against the emotional intensities of first hand, physical experience.

Mechanical Dreams is indeed a dream, a place where the synthetic and organic co-exist in unexpected harmony, making terms like “post-human” seem beside the point. In the universe of Tong’s work, technology is not about subverting or escaping the human fragility. It’s about inviting new possibilities into the fragile project of being human.

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco

Come on down if you can, lots of cool vendors this year. I’ll have some sold out posters that will nly be available at my booth!

www.renegadecraft.com/
July 31 - August 1, 2010
11 am-7pm
Fort Mason Center Festival Pavillion,
Marina Blvd at Buchanan Street, San Francisco, CA
-Don’t miss this craft, art, design, and DIY event which features over 225 of today’s finest indie craft talents from all over the nation. Admission is free

UPDATE: I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SEX BOB-OMB POSTERS LEFT, NOT EVEN AT LIVE EVENTS. PLEASE CONTACT ONI PRESS TO ASK ABOUT AVAILABLE POSTERS.

UPDATE: ALL ORDERS HAVE SHIPPED.

UPDATE: AS OF NOW, ONLY THE FIRST THIRTY ORDERS HAVE SHIPPED. I AM AWAY ON BUSINESS AND MY ASSISTANT IS TRAVELING TOO. NORMALLY I TRY TO SHIP RIGHT AWAY, BUT THERE ARE LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF ORDERS TO SIFT THROUGH. SHIPPING WILL RESUME NEXT WEEK AND EMAIL CONFIRMATIONS WILL BE SENT. EVERYONE’S ORDER IS SAFE! THANKS FOR THE ORDERS.

UPDATE: THE WINNER OF THE CONTEST HAS BEEN SELECTED. THE ALMIGHTY RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR HAS CHOSEN 155 AND THUS, OUR LUCKY WINNER IS ALLY FROM NEWTON, MA! TO RECAP, THE PRIZE IS THE ENTIRE SET OF THE ONI PRESS’ SCOTT PILGRIM SERIES. CONGRATULATIONS ALLY AND THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO PURCHASED A POSTER.

UPDATE: All of the Sex Bob-Omb posters are SOLD OUT (Both Regular and Metallic ink versions)! I will have a handful of each version available at my live events. Check out my schedule.

UPDATE: THE REGULAR SEX BOB-OMB posters ARE SOLD OUT. THERE ARE ONLY A HANDFUL OF THE METALLIC VERSIONS LEFT.

I was fortunate enough to be a part of Oni Press‘ Scott Pilgrim Series, along with Daniel Danger, Aesthetic Apparatus, and Hellen Jo.

The posters were debuted exclusively at this year’s Comic Con International San Diego to extremely happy fans. I saw the tell tale Oni Press poster envelopes everywhere on the Convention floor and I have gotten many emails asking about when I will put my copies up for sale.

I also got to meet the Scott Pilgrim creator, Bryan Lee O’Malley who was at the Oni Press booth much of the time, signing posters. It was such an honor to meet him and he said he was really excited about my poster. That is cool. Way cool.

I have put my posters up for sale on my website and the good news just keeps coming. Let me talk about the posters first!

PURCHASE INFO

The posters are for the band SEX BOB-OMB (a fictional band in the Scott Pilgrim universe) and are available in my online store. They are four color screen prints on 18 x 24 inch 100 lb cover paper. Each poster is numbered and signed by me and both versions only cost $20 each (before shipping fees). The posters were expertly printed with both regular and metallic inks (use the drop down menu in the store). The regular versions are in an edition of 400 and the metallic version is in an edition of 600. Many of them sold at Comic Con last weekend, so I only have a small percentage of each version.

I will also set aside a certain portion that I will carry with me to live events like Renegade Craft Fair and Flatstock. Please consult my Live Events Schedule to see if I will be coming to a town near you.

CONTEST INFO

The first bit of fun is that everyone who orders my Sex Bob-Omb poster is automatically entered for a chance to win THE ENTIRE SET OF THE SCOTT PILGRIM SERIES courtesy of me. The set will be placed randomly into one of any orders placed before August 7, 2010. I’ll cover any additional shipping fees.

PROCESS VIDEO AND DETAIL PHOTOS

The coolness keeps on rolling. I made a really detailed video process thread about the whole process. Check it out, you can see how I put down the 8 bit video game squares.

Here’s a slideshow with some detailed pictures so you can see how detailed things are getting on the surface.

I hope you all enjoy this poster as much as I enjoyed making it. I am a Scott Pilgrim fan for sure and I am excited about the final book and the movie coming out soon. If you haven’t read Scott Pilgrim, please go grab a copy now, it doesn’t disappoint!

Hey, here’s another installment of questions people email to me and the answers I give. Remember, when in doubt, join a gang!

The sender’s email is in bold:

I have a few projects lined up right now for bands that are friends, but I need to start pulling in more regular work, and I am woefully ignorant about the business.

1) Do you or did you have any type of representation to get work? If so, any recommendations?

1. I don’t have a rep, or agent, or manager, never have and the way things are going, probably won’t. Many of my friends are also successful illustrators and they don’t have representation. The only illustrators and designers I know are the older ones (in their mid to late forties). I think having a rep is a throwback to a pre internet society, when a professional needed representation. These days, we can all reach out to people ourselves. I do work with agencies at times, but only here and there. I don’t feel like sharing their names as I get good work from them. You can search for reps on the internet, just google terms like “illustration representation” and submit your portfolio for review. Personally, I see a rep as someone taking money that is yours for doing something you can easily do yourself, but that’s me.

2) How much of your posters happen because the band is seeking a poster vs. you contacting them? (in my experience, it looks like most posters happen because the artist likes a band and then finds a way to hustle the poster. In which case, is it better to design the whole poster first, and then get permission to make it / sell it?)

2. There is no single way. Almost all answers to “is it this way or that way” type questions are both or a little bit of everything. With posters this is true especially because it is an independent industry with no set rules and only a loose code. You don’t want to make a poster without permission from the band, even if you haven’t sold it. Only by working with the band’s management are you totally legit. Venues and promoters are third party and usually unofficial.

3) What about contracts? Do you use them every time, and what is necessary to include in the contract?

3. Contracts are always good, but it’s better to call them agreements, it’s more friendly. I only use contracts when there’s big money involved. The bands are good for it and if you establish the terms in email, that’s good enough. I have never had payment issues with a client. Good items to include in an agreement are quantity of posters everyone will get, how much you’ll get paid, work deadlines, payment deadlines, and anything else that you feel is critical. Most posters are made without any formal agreements, just email confirmation.

4) Any advice in general? (hopefully not what Frank Kozik me years ago, “Don’t get into making posters, there’s no money in it.”

4. Kozik is a smart man and he’s right. There’s probably only three guys in the world who could make baller money from just band posters. The posters can make decent money, but you get more money from the work and popularity the posters generate. They’re essentially giant business cards. Things change all the time though.

Whaaaaaaatttt uppppp! Crazy for Cult at 1988 Gallery is in session again, for the fourth time. This is my second time participating in this event and the happenings just keep, well, happening.

For my cult movie, I choose, Rushmore, which, for me, is director Wes Anderson’s best movie, though all his movies are great. This print will be released and sold tomorrow (Friday, July , 2010) at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, along with the work of 100 other artists. The price will be announced by the Gallery.

My print, titled, Sic Transit Gloria, is a four color, hand screen printed poster on 18 x 24 inch 100 lb Cougar Cover paper. It uses metallic silver and glow in the dark inks to create a very magical look.

Here are some detail shots I took. I must warn you that this poster is hard to photograph because the silver reflects whatever it’s near, but I think these are good shots to share with you.

These pictures were taken of the poster in the dark and with a black light to show you how it glows. For the best results, use a black light lamp, with can be bought from many places online for less than $10.

Here’s a slideshow of the rest of the pictures I took.

Rushmore, the movie, has a very personal connection to me. I incorporated my interpretation of the movie into this art print.

In the movie, the characters Max Fischer and Miss Cross represent the need to move on and the the desire to cling to the past, respectively.

Miss Cross clings to her departed husband, Edward Appleby. She lives in his house and doesn’t want to move on. Whenever she talks about him, she reminisces. Her mentality is summed up in her Latin phrase, nihilo santum estne?
(Is nothing sacred?)

Max, is like Miss Cross, he wants to cling to Rushmore like she wants to cling to Edward Appleby. As a student of Rushmore, Max is almost superhuman, excelling in all the arts and humanities. His intellect is never in question, so one is led to assume his failing grades are intentional, as an effort to stay in Rushmore, rather than go out into the world. Despite Max’s many achievements, he will need to move on as Rushmore can’t last forever. Therefore, his Latin phrase is Sic Transit Gloria (Glory fades).

How does Max’s phrase apply to him though? It means that no single act or acts sum up our lives. No matter how great something was, you always have to move on, you can’t linger in the glow of past actions.

It sounds negative, but it isn’t. Glory fades means just that, glory fades, but it doesn’t ever go away completely. Its effects linger on, however faintly. This is demonstrated in the movie when Miss Cross says to Max,”You were a member of the Rushmore Bee Keepers weren’t you?/Edward Appleby founded that club”. Edward Appleby is dead, yet the accomplishments of his life still go on. The moment she says that to Max, we see a montage of him making the transition of putting Rushmore behind him, though not without a few hangups in the rest of the movie. Upon realizing that his actions will be remembered, in some way or another, he is finally able to move on.

I chose constellations because the ancients often saw them as the remnants of the achievements of heroes, long gone. Their glory has faded, but not gone away. Perhaps near the end of everyone’s life, they should look back on their greatest achievements, establish their constellation in the night sky, and share that constellation with the people they knew, to leave them with an everlasting and accessible remnant of themselves. Just something to think about.

Hi everyone. This is my schedule of events where I will be personally to hand out posters, shake hands, smile, answer questions, and give you quotes on car insurance. Occasionally events change, they get added or dropped. Please make sure that this schedule is the most up to date, as I will psot over this as changes develop.

Renegade Craft Fair Los Angeles has been canceled due to schedule conflicts. Please go there anyway, it is so much fun. Also, I can’t attend Crazy for Cult, but I have work in that show, as well as my Venture Bros print sold exclusively at Golden Apple Comics next door.

KEVIN TONG 2010 LIVE (20% LIVENESS GUARANTEED) SCHEDULE

Crazy for Cult 4D
http://www.nineteeneightyeight.com
July 9-30, 2010
Opening night: July 9, 7-10 pm
Gallery 1988
7020 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA
-For the fourth time, 100 artists interpret classic cult movies. Results may vary, in terms of insanity! Admission is free.

Rock Paper Show- San Francisco
www.flatstock.wordpress.com
July 9, 8-10 pm
Levi’s Workshop
580 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA
-This is the San Francisco book release of the book Rock Paper Show, with API members available to discuss the history of API and Flatstock. Designers like Jason Munn and Dirk Fowler will be in attendance. Like in New York, I don’t know what my level of participation will be (speaking, signing, sitting) until I get there. Admission is free.

Flatstock 25- By the Bay- San Francisco
www.americanposterinstitute.com
July 10, 2010, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Golden Gate Park at the Hall of Flowers (County Fair Building)
65 Cortland Ave, San Francisco CA
-The Rock Poster Society is teaming up with Flatstock to present this incredible summer event. Don’t miss your chance to check out rock posters from your favorite artists! Admission is free

Flatstock 26- Pitchfork Music Festival
www.americanposterinstitute.com
July 16-18, 2010
Noon-10pm
Union Park, Chicago on the grounds of the Pitchfork Music Festival
1501 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL
-Come check out this special three-day Flatstock featuring 45 rock poster artists during the entire Pitchfork Music Festival! Admission is free to all Pitchfork Music Festival attendees

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco
www.renegadecraft.com/
July 31 - August 1, 2010
11 am-7pm
Fort Mason Center Festival Pavillion,
Marina Blvd at Buchanan Street, San Francisco, CA
-Don’t miss this craft, art, design, and DIY event which features over 225 of today’s finest indie craft talents from all over the nation. Admission is free

Flatstock 27- Bumbershoot- Seattle
www.americanposterinstitue.com
September 4-6, 2010
11am-8pm
Seattle Center, Fisher Pavillion
305 Harrison St, Seattle, WA
-Flatstock teams up with Bumbershoot in Seattle to bring you your favorite rock poster artists! Admission is free to Bumbershoot Music festival Attendees

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago
www.renegadecraft.com
September 11-12, 2010
11am-7pm
Wicker Park Area,
Division St. between Damen + Paulina, Chicago, IL
-Over 300 of today’s finest indie-craft talents will be setting up shop in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago. Don’t miss the incredible handmade goods from arrests all over the nation. Admission is free

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco
www.renegadecraft.com
December 18-19, 2010
11am-7pm
Concourse Exhibition Center - East Hall
620 7th St, San Francisco, CA
-Check out over 200 of the nation’s finest indie-craft talents for your last minute holiday shopping needs. Don’t miss this incredible craft, art, design and DIY event! Admission is free.

I talk to lots of people online, but it would be so nice to meet you all in person. Please come on by and I will make the experience unforgettable. Interpret that how you want to.

UPDATE: The art prints are now up for sale at my online store.

Wow, what a Fourth of July weekend. I hope you all had fun at lake houses, watching colorful explosions. The Baths show the night before Independence Day was excellent and my poster for that show was really popular with the band and with all the fans.

The posters from the show sold amazingly, but I’ve saved some show posters to put up for sale on my website. BUT GUESS WHAT? The fun don’t end there! I also made some nifty process videos AND some awesome art prints.

Let’s start with the show posters.

The BATHS show posters are three colors and hand screen printed on 18 x 24 inch 100 lb Cougar paper in an edition of 100. They are all hand signed and numbered. They are available for $25 at my online store right now.

Here’s a little video I put together of me making the BATHS poster, from start to finish. I’m really proud of this image, so I felt compelled to really share it with you all.

Along with the BATHS posters, I made a VERY SMALL edition of custom art prints. There are only 22 art prints total.

There are three different color versions of the art prints. Each one was watercolor painted and sketched on by me for about twenty minutes each. I know this because I went through eight episodes of DEXTER, season four. You can see what went into each one is this video I shot.

Here’s the deal:

The art prints, called “The Window” are three colors and hand screen printed on 18 x 24 inch 100 lb Cougar paper. They will be available for sale in my online store on Tuesday, July 6 sometime after 12 pm (PST). It’s too much to show each one individually, but I can assure you they all look similar to the preview images shown below. Each one is signed and numbered by me.

The Window, Orange Version, has an edition of 9 unique art prints. They are $80 each at my online store, limit one per customer.

The Window, Green Version, has an edition of 6 unique art prints. They are $100 each at my online store, limit one per customer.

The Window, Dark Version, has an edition of 7 unique art prints. They are $100 each at my online store, limit one per customer.

When it says limit one per customer, it just means limit one of that particular color version. I am so excited to be putting this all out into the public. This has been the culmination of a lot of work I was more than happy to put in.