Holiday Cards. Buy them now!!

I should have posted this a little earlier, but if any of you forgot that I have greeting cards in my store, here's the reminder! I have some fantastic cards that have Santa Claus pile driving a reindeer. That's right! You've been looking for that unique holiday card that just screams 'OUT OF THE ORDINARY!'

Here's a quick glimpse of the image and you can order it through my cafepress store! Happy Holidays!!

My Name is Bruce

I had a great time last night at a screening of My Name is Bruce. I love Bruce Campbell and it's always a good time going to see him in person. That's right! Bruce was there for a Q&A afterwards and was very entertaining. I suggest you check out his site and see where he is going to be next. I know he has a couple more appointments in the North East and then he's off to somewhere distant. Enjoy it if you go!

Oh, and as usual, a big thank you to the Secret Identity message boards for enlightening me about Mr. Campbell's appearance. Stop by their site and check out their podcast. I'm sure they had announced it at some point as well. I know they checked out the Hartford showing last weekend.

Art Opening Had a Great Turn Out

I had my art opening in Middletown last night. The pieces will be up until November 29th. I believe the gallery will be open everyday from 11am to 3pm.

I think most of the artists were surprised at the turnout. There were people from all over New England as well as the west coast (which surprised me). I guess they just happened to be in the area.

The vending machine I set up with robot pins and "vintage robot parts" was a hit and I saw a lot of people standing in front of my cigar box guitars. For those of you wondering, "do they work?," the answer is yes. After the show we took them off the wall, plugged them into the P.A. and had a little fun. I suppose I should have done that during the show, but I'm not all that proud of my guitar skills.

Stop by the gallery and check out the works. You can also grab t-shirts and other robot goodies at the merchandise counter. We have prints, comic books, sketchbooks, plastic die-cut robot heads, toys and much more!

Thanks to everyone that came. I enjoyed talking to you all about robots, comics and my guitars. I will be posting more guitar pics here soon. I have a six string that is almost done and I just recieved 18 boxes to start new ones. Contact me for commissions, I know that a few people has asked me if I could build them custom guitars. I most certainly can. Just contact for details.

Screening Shirts

I'm frantically screening black and white shirts for my robots gallery opening in Middletown on Friday. I want to make sure I have as much robot content that I can offer. I'm even hoping to bust out a few of my small resin robots. But that will really depend on how much time I can squeeze out of the next two days. I will also do my best to get some robot sketchbooks to the show. I have to check my inventory here. I'm very excited about this show and it sounds like there will be a lot of people attending.

Obama Wins?!!

Looks as though our next president will be Barack Obama. Of course, these are all just projections so I could wake up in the morning and find out Ralph Nader has one. In any case, we will know for absolute certainty.

Hanging the show

I spent quite a few hours hanging up my robot and twinkie paintings yesterd in the MAC 650 Gallery on Main Stree in Middletown CT. I met up with the five other artists to create a robot experience that you will never forget (Hopefully).




I brought a large number of my robot head paintings and created some really nice grids. I will be selling these pieces as indiviual paintings, rather than the group you will see on the wall. If someone were interested in purchasing the whole grid, I would certainly not deture them.






Large robot paintings cover the walls as well as itty bitty ones. There are also various prints and sculptures created by my fellow artists.

If you are looking for something to do on Friday, November 7th, I think this would be a fantastic way to spend a few hours. We will have food, drinks, music, and of course, the artists that have taken their time to hang their work for your display. The exhibit will be open to the public from November 7th to November 29th. I believe all works are for sale. Get there and buy quick, before some snatches up your favorite piece.

Show Hanging Tomorrow

I'll be hanging my paintings and other works of art tomorrow at the MAC 650 gallery. Don't forget to stop by the show next Friday and check out the art from the group show. There will be a lot of work with robots and twinkies for everyone. Also, there are a few people coming out the the show that I am very excited about. So come on down to Middletown CT and rub elbows with me, other artists and our friends.

I made and amp and it works!

I figured that since I was making electric cigar box guitars, I should probably make some cool looking amps to play them on. This one sports a 2.25" speaker (which doesn't give the best sound) and is really fun to play on. I think I may put an output so I can use a larger cabinet with this. Hopefully, now that I know I can make these, I can make a whole bunch and sell some at the next show. Here is a picture and I hope you enjoy.

Don't forget to stop by my art exhibition in Middletown CT on November 7th. It will be at the MAC 650 gallery. See you there.

Twinkies and Robots Art Show

I will be exhibiting some of my robot paintings as well as some robot inspired cigar box guitars in November. The exhibit will be held at the MAC 650 Art Space in Middletown CT. Please stop by on November 7th at 7pm-10pm and meet the artists as well as enjoy some food and entertainment. Hope to see you there.




I have posted the event at myspace. Click here.

The Cigar Box Guitar

This week I decided to try my hand at crafting a cigar box guitar. I had a great time doing and I think it came out pretty great. I learned a lot in the process and I'll be making another one soon. Probably starting tomorrow. This little guy has some great sound and would most likely be best used with a slide.

If you have any interest in purchasing this guitar or having one made, please contact me. I had a lot of fun doing it and I'll probably have a series of robot cigar box guitars in the coming months.

Cigar Box Guitar

As if I don't do enough different things, I've decided to take a crack at making my own Cigarbox Guitar. I figured it would be a good idea since I am a guitar player. I started with a simple design and don't plan, yet, on using frets on my neck. Here is a quick image for those of you reading. I will update it when I am finished. I'm sure you will all enjoy it.

On a side note, I have fixed my website store and images are now showing up from the link provided in the nav bar above.

Come See Jason May at Swamp Yankee Days

I will be setting up a booth at Swamp Yankee Days, this year, in my home town. All of the info regarding the show can be found at our rotary club website. This isn't really the type of show that I usually set up at, but I figured I'd give it a try and let people in the area know that a robot artist is among them. Plus, who knows, you never know who you'll run into. Stop on by my booth. I will be easy to find, since it's a pretty small festival. It's always a good time and it should be fun to see it from a vendor perspective.

San Diego 2008

I'm currently playing catch-up after attending this year's San Diego Comic Convention. Currently I have a group art show slated for November. I will give some more details regarding that. If you read my last post, you see I will be attending Swamp Yankee Days in Ashaway, Rhode Island in September. I'm hoping to get hip deep in a few projects soon, depending on the response of publishers and editors that I met out in San Diego. For those of you waiting for my emails, I promise they will be out soon. Thank you to everyone I met in San Diego. I did not have a single bad experience. Everyone was incredibly friendly and receptive to both my art and my story pitches. See you all in 2009! (possibly sooner)

Swamp Yankee Days - Ashaway Rhode Island

If you are in or near Rhode Island, you should stop by Swamp Yankee Days on September 27th-28th. I will have a small booth set up with my artwork and other creations. There are also other vendors as well as music, groups and tractors. A fun little fair near my home town.

San Diego

I will be heading to San Diego next week. I'll be walking around in hopes of catching the eyes of editors and such. Look for me if you are there!

Watchman Movie Trailer!!!!

Empire: Movie News

I'm so psyched for this film! I have a while to wait, but I really enjoyed the book and I can't believe they didn't mess this up (yet) by having huge names play the leads! Anyway, if you haven't heard of the book, you will soon. But check out this trailer, you're going to want to see this movie. I promise.

What am I up to?

After the New York Comic Convention I have been up to my ears in different projects. I just thought I'd post and update on my work. Currently, I'm helping finish production work on Mr. Phelps : Space Detective (King Tractor Press) as well as putting a few pitches together with my brother T.J. May and Chris Gugliotti. I know a lot of people have been waiting for us to get a project going again. I've also been invited to do a few art shows coming up. When I get more details on the galleries, dates and details I will post them here and on my google calendar. I guess that is about it for now, I'll try and post some new artwork soon.

Free Comic Book Day

Tomorrow is free comic book day for those of you who didn't know. Drop by your local store and see if they are celebrating the event. If not, just pick up a comic. Make sure you specifically ask for Catching Lucifer's Lunch, Ill Conceived and A Day in the Psychosis of David Price. Even if you have them. Thanks in advance! Enjoy the comic holiday everyone.

Gallery Shows and Commissioned Art

I've been getting a lot of inquiries about commissions and art gallery shows. A lot of people like robots and I'm finding that there are more shows every year and I seem to be making my mark in the robot art scene. With that being said!

Yes, I'd love to do a commission. The prices will vary depending on what you'd like me to paint. They do cost more than my $10 robot heads. I make a lot of those and have lots of fun just seeing what face will show up next. When it comes to commissions, I sit down, I sketch a bit and I think about composition and the different things I talk about with my client. And of course, I work in acrylic, watercolor and oils, so the price is affected depending on the chosen medium. I will start posting my more "fine art" robot pieces soon. I have many in the works and can't wait to show off some of the new phases in my robot work.

I also accept comic art commissions. I prefer to do more original stuff, but if you would love to see what I'd do with Batman and the like, I'm not opposed to it.

So, if you would like to contact me in regards to doing a show or a commission, just email me at jason.illustrator@gmail.com and let me know what you are looking for. I can't wait to hear from you.

And thank you again for all the support at NYCC. It was a great time and I met a lot of great people!

Someone's Blogging Me

We met a new friend in New York this weekend who has a great blog about sci-fi, robots and science. He did an article on me and my brother. Check it out. It's pretty sweet. The other robot posts are incredibly cool too.

New York Comic Convention Success!

First, I'd like to thank all of the fans and new fans for their support in praise or purchase. I had a very successful time with my robot art. I hope to see a lot of you at shows to come.

I had a great time meeting up with friends as well. It was fun seeing Matt, Dave Burman, Rebecca, Joe Caramagna, Buddy, Dennis, Chris Gugliotti, Esther,Secret Identity Podcast, Glint of Hope, Dwayne, Will, Kevin Tinsley, Imboden, The other Jason, CAG, Craig Rousseau, Brent, Barry Sobel, T.J. (of course) and a pile of friends from message boards who I was finally able to meet face to face. There were many many more people and I apologize if I didn't name you.

HUGE thanks to Joe and Cameron for not leaving us on the street.

The image on the right was taken by Poppadeath over on the Secret Identity message boards. We were going out to dinner with a great group.

PVC Robot Heads are Back!! NYCC

Back by popular demand! My PVC CNC robot heads are coming in full force, April 18th-20th at the New York Comic Convention. Stop by booth 2243 (SUMM Publications and King Tractor) to get you hands on these. They went fast last year and will probably be gone this year. See you there!

Cheap Easy Solar-powered Robot

I love robots. I found this creepy little robot that you can make today! Here's the tutorial.

Linux is good, linux is fun I'm going to show everyone.

So! I took the dive yesterday into the world of Linux by installing it on my new file server that a family member was so gracious to give me. I'm so excited about having a file server of my own and being able to back up all my art files. It's great. I highly recommend Linux to anyone who uses their computer primarily for internet and word processing.

I'd love to go 100% to linux, but I require specific applications like the Adobe suite while working in the comic industry. However! Depending on your skill level you can easily edit and work on image files using Linux's pre-packaged Gimp software, not to mention various other programs that people create for it. And best of all- IT'S FREE!!

When I get my file server up and running I'll let everyone know how much I'm enjoying it. Until then, stop by Ubuntu's website, download the image file (burn it slowly) and boot from the CD to see what you're missing. No strings attached and no worry of messing up your hard drive. (just don't click install on the desktop unless you want it to be your new system right now).

My friend Buddy Scalera has a contest going for his new comic photo reference book. Here's the details:


The Comic Artist's Photo Reference Contest

Okay, artists, sharpen those pencils because IMPACT Books and Buddy
Scalera have an art contest, to celebrate the upcoming release of
Comic Artist's Photo Reference: Women and Girls and we want to see
your art!

THE PRIZE:
- One grand prize winner will receive both books in the Comic Artist's
Photo Reference series (People and Poses, and Women and Girls), plus
some nifty art supplies and will be featured in the May IMPACT
Newsletter.
- Two runners up will receive a copy of Comic Artist's Photo
Reference: Women & Girls.

THE PICTURES:
http://buddyscalera.com/contest_women/index.htm

THE RULES
* No purchase required to enter.
* Must use the images provided (see above link)
* Create your own original comic or fantasy art in whatever medium you
like (pencils, inks, markers, etc.) based on the gallery of images
below
* Sexually suggestive images automatically disqualified
* All characters must be original creations
* Marvel, DC, Image, or other licensed characters not permitted due to
copyright restrictions

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
* Subject line of your email must include the title of your work, your
name, and the number of submissions you've made. Example: "Pinup Art,
John Doe, Submission #2"
* All entries must be in JPEG format, 72 dpi.
* Submit entries to buddy@buddyscalera.com
* Winners chosen at the sole discretion of the judges

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: April 25, 2008

NOTE:
This email was sent to you because of your POSSIBLE interest in art
and photo reference or because you purchased on of my photo reference
products. To be removed from any future mailings, just click REPLY and
note "Remove" in the subject or body of your email. For more
information, visit www.buddyscalera.com.

DIRECTIONS TO MY BOOTH AT NEW YORK COMIC CON

In about one month you will be hoping on a plane, bus, train or bike to check out the 2008 New York Comic-con. If not, I won't hold it against you. But for those of you really going, you can check out this map to easily find our table. The booth number is 2243 and you can follow any of the colored trails to make it to our table. We look forward to seeing you there!

PILE OF ROBOT HEADS

I'm am hip deep in four inch robot head paintings. I'm painting like crazy to make sure that I have piles and piles or robots for people at the New York Comic Convention in April. The time is approaching quickly. If you want to find me fast, we will be at booth #2243 in the Small Press area. I look forward to seeing you all there.

:: Build your own EV car! ::

Over the past few years I've become quite greenish. After buying my home, not only did I want to save money on energy costs, but I started to realize how wasteful we have become as a society. I've spent the past few years fantisizing about getting solar energy for my home, owning an electric car and various other fun projects. Being handy has helped me tremendously. Today, while browsing the net, I found this great site. It talks about coverting a existing car into an Electric Car. Very cool stuff. If I had the cash lying around or if my current tiny car dies, I'd consider getting a loan and converting. If I knew the price would really fall in the range they mention. So, go check out the site and if you convert your car after reading the article, please drop me a line.

And I also want you all to remember this: How will we all be able to power our own personal evil robot armies if we waste all the energy now? Put up your solar cells now, get an electric car and start making robots in your machine shops today. Don't wait until it's too late!

:: ZENNON IS COMING BACK!!? ::

Yep. I will be working with my brother and Chris Gugliotti again to bring you the wacky tales of your favorite alien, Zennon. It has been eight long years since you first read Zennon as a wonderful, quirky web comic, brought to you by SUMM Publications. I know you are just dying to read some issues. I'm very happy to announce that the story will be a massive collaborative effort between the three of us and I'm already very excited about some of the ideas that have been thrown table. When I get some more news, YOU will be the first to know.

:: ROBOT PAINTINGS AT NEW YORK COMIC-CON 2008 ::

This year I will have multiple sizes of my robot paintings. I will have 4in and 6in robot heads. I will also be bringing some 8x10 robot busts. I did not have them last year, but they have been selling well at the past few shows I attended. I'm pretty excited about New York, since I will also have buttons, sketchbooks and prints.

:: BUTTON BUTTON WHO'S GOT THE BUTTON!? ::

For the first time every, I will be offering buttons for sale. Stop by our booth at the New York Comic-con. I will be selling all sorts of robot art buttons. Come quickly. I sold out of everything robot related by mid-day Saturday last year. I was our of paintings on Friday afternoon!!

:: PILE OF WARMAGEDDON BOOKS! ::

I just received my giant stack'o Warmageddon books. You should go and check out L Jamal Walton's fantastic $20.00 deal of Warmageddon while he still offers it. It really is a pile and a half of books for the money. Jamal will be doing some coloring on the latest book I worked on, Mr. Phelp's Space Detective from King Tractor Press.

:: CHECK OUT MY ROBOTS ON THE CONNECTICON PAGE ::

I was looking at the registration information at the connecticon page when I noticed my table on the right hand side, full of my robots! I'm going to do my best to get a table there this year. I may be shacking up with the Comic Artist Guild. I'll keep you all posted.

:: Eagle Awards 2007 ::

Go enter your nominations for the 2007 Eagle Awards for the comic book industry. Vote for me like crazy. LOL. I encourage everyone to try and think of their own nominations and not fall back on the drop down menus for answers. We all have our own minds. Use them well.

:: HAPPY 100th EPIDSODE, SECRET IDENTITY PODCAST! ::

I may not have been there since the begining, but I've been a listener for quite some time now. Great job Matman and Brian!

Those of you who have not yet discovered, Secret Identity Podcast really need to head over to www.secretidentitypodcast.com. Or, if you're like me you should, head over to the page where you can click play on the podcast, sit back and enjoy. I usually head down to my dungeon studio in the basement and listen to these guys right off my desktop. I've also got a slew of episodes on my ipod. Any old MP3 player will do. I used my Siren until I recieved a broken ipod from a friend. I fixed it and now it's loaded with SIP.

Just a quick description: These guys keep you up to date on the comics, movie and gaming scene. They have top notch sound and there's no straining to hear anyone on this show. They don't get paid, yet they've hammered through one hundred episodes over the past two years. Every week! So, what are you waiting for? Go check them out.

:: Jason's Movie Corner : KING OF KONG ::

I recently watched a film called The King of Kong. Before I tell you what it is about, I need to let you know that the team that worked on this film did a fantastic job of keeping the viewer in suspense through the whole presentation. Not only did I enjoy this flick, but so did my wife.

With that being said...

This film is a documentary about an every day fellow deciding he's going to be the world record on the retro video game Donkey Kong. Sounds silly, right? This film is anything but silly. The crew takes the whole documentary very seriously, which allowed them to get some incredible scenes on tape. They pit this every day "Joe" (who has a wife, house and kids) against the reigning world champion (from 20+ years ago).


If you have ever aspired to do one great thing in your life, you will relate to the main character. I'm not going to tell you the outcome, because they do such a wonderful job of keeping you at th edge of you seat. Go rent it today. It just came out on DVD a few weeks ago. One of the best films I've seen all year. I imagine it will be nominated for something.

Check out the trailer

:: FREE Comic Downloads from King Tractor ::

King Tractor Press is offering some of it's most popular books for free on Wowio. Here's the press release:

Press Release

I'm currently working on a book called Mr. Phelps Space detective which will also be a free download on Wowio very soon. It is also a King Tractor book. I'll keep you posted here at my blog or on my website. You may be seeing some of SUMM Publications books on there soon as well. Now go check them out!

:: YOU ASKED FOR MORE ROB BOT, NOW YER GETTIN' IT!! ::

The time has come for prepping for the New York Comic-con. This means: 2008 SKETCHBOOK TIME!!!! I know you're excited, so I thought I'd toss you a preview of my dear friend, Rob Bot. He will be in a wonderful six page short to back up my sketchbook again. I'm going to try and keep it cheap again for you all this year. You'll also get lots of robots, other random drawings and some concept art for projects that will be coming out this year. If you have any requests, let me know now. The art will be done soon, but you never know! Enjoy the page!!

:: SPIRIT IN A BOTTLE SELLS WELL ::

A big thank you from Andy Andrews and myself to everyone who is picking up Spirit in a Bottle. Pick one up today, before I run out. Also, be sure to watch Ghost Hunters International on Wednesday nights on Sci fi. For more information just stop by the GHI site. You can also view the first episode online at scifi.com. I'm not sure if they will do that with all the shows.

:: I BUILT A GREAT SHELF FOR THE OL' OFFICE ::

"It may not look like much kid..."

I have really needed some sort of storage for my 11"x17" comicbook boards for quite some time now. This Christmas I was happy to receive a router and table! How exciting. So I gathered up some of my scrap wood and busted out this fancy, Mad Max style shelving unit.

Look how beautifully my A3 scanner sits on there. I've got room for my books full of artboards as well as some narrow shelving up top for inks and pencils. I have an extra slot for another shelf in the future which will help out even more. I'm hoping it will help me with my work-flow. Currently, almost 80 pages of Mr. Phelps arwork resides in this small tower. I'm within six pages of completion and I can't wait to announce when I'm done. Stay tuned!