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Four Months

2012-02-01T11:12:00.002-08:00

Á bientôt

2012-02-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

Art!

2012-01-31T02:25:00.000-08:00

Time for change

2012-01-31T02:17:00.000-08:00

He...

2012-01-30T09:11:00.001-08:00

Dad in a box

2012-01-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

Away!

2012-01-30T09:03:00.001-08:00

Seriously

2012-01-30T09:00:00.001-08:00

World Spew Championship

2012-01-30T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ssssh

2012-01-17T00:18:00.001-08:00

Home Time

2012-01-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

Burning the candle at four ends

2012-01-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

Come back!

2012-01-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

How We Roll

2012-01-08T09:28:00.001-08:00

Chatty boy

2012-01-06T01:24:00.001-08:00

Hurting

2012-01-05T01:38:00.000-08:00

Leuk!

2012-01-04T01:48:00.000-08:00

(check the final result out here)

3 Month Check In

2012-01-03T01:45:00.001-08:00

Skyflowers

2012-01-02T01:19:00.001-08:00

L'il Toby

2011-12-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

The touch

2011-12-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

Xmax

2011-12-26T11:14:00.001-08:00

Yum, I love rattles

2011-12-24T07:26:00.001-08:00

So catchy

2011-12-22T02:18:00.000-08:00

Who's that?

2011-12-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

Yank!

2011-12-20T03:32:00.001-08:00

Granny and G-pop!

2011-12-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Taco taco

2011-12-19T01:49:00.001-08:00

Nothing Matters

2011-12-16T00:33:00.000-08:00

Waterbabies

2011-12-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

Baby Crack

2011-12-12T08:57:00.001-08:00

How's Max?

2011-12-12T01:09:00.001-08:00

Cutting and Moving

2011-12-09T04:16:00.001-08:00

(Incidentally, this is my 500th post on this blog!)

Ooooo, I see...

2011-12-08T08:52:00.001-08:00

Keep on trucking

2011-12-05T07:29:00.001-08:00

Only in Holland...

2011-12-05T03:28:00.001-08:00

Twists and turns

2011-12-02T07:33:00.001-08:00

Two Month Check-In

2011-12-01T01:38:00.001-08:00

No pause 2

2011-11-30T01:19:00.001-08:00

The opinions of strangers

2011-11-28T02:04:00.001-08:00

Work/Life

2011-11-24T08:24:00.001-08:00

31

2011-11-22T03:24:00.001-08:00

Rolling

2011-11-21T10:16:00.001-08:00

The home he's never seen

2011-11-18T04:39:00.001-08:00

There is no pause button

2011-11-17T02:17:00.001-08:00

Doing Laps

2011-11-16T02:34:00.001-08:00

...and then

2011-11-14T02:44:00.001-08:00

A gap in the clouds

2011-11-11T08:06:00.001-08:00

Back in print!

2011-11-10T03:51:00.001-08:00

Alledaags is back in print! My 2009 life in Amsterdam diary has been sold out for a while now, so happy to have it available again. This time it's cheaper too, and easier to post, and I'm really happy with how it feels.

You can buy it online HERE, and it'll be in Amsterdam shops again really soon. I'll let you know when that happens!

Pramtris

2011-11-09T05:53:00.001-08:00

Going Out

2011-11-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

... and watch the door

2011-11-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

Shower for two

2011-11-07T04:52:00.000-08:00

Smiles

2011-11-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

Champion of Whatever

2011-11-03T09:25:00.001-07:00

No news is good news

2011-11-02T02:50:00.001-07:00

Tricks

2011-11-02T02:49:00.001-07:00

One Month Old

2011-10-31T04:33:00.000-07:00

Family time

2011-10-31T04:29:00.001-07:00

Back to work

2011-10-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Maxabillion

2011-10-24T08:25:00.001-07:00

More Max

2011-10-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

All day Max

2011-10-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

So like most big events in my life I've ended up doing a few drawings of young Max. It's been kinda nice to go back to the Alledaags style too - having moments where I feel like I could keep going with these and put 200 People on ice for a while (Alledaags sequel of sorts - 'a year of parenting' or something?)... but I also don't want to be the type of parent who goes on and on and on about their kids. We'll see how it goes I guess.

8 Billion People I Don't Know: Matt Hansen

2011-10-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

I don't often accept commissions, but I was happy to draw Matt.

A few weeks ago Alex from Baltimore contacted me asking if I'd do a portrait of her boyfriend for their anniversary, and the glowing way she described him, well, I just couldn't say no. Let's just say he sounds like a great guy - helping Alex through some full-on times with a lot of love and optimism and they sound like a great pair. He has started a couple of magazines including Pluck for young people starting out in these tough economic times which I think is cool, does work for conservation causes, loves dogs and cooking and travel and the outdoors and is famous among their friends for a certain spectacular dance.

I saw a video, it's pretty awesome.

Max!

2011-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Still waiting

2011-09-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

A week overdue now. On the upside, all this sitting around home means I'm getting a lot of drawing done. This is done with some shiny new pens from Japan - I think I have a new favourite tool.

#102: Anaru

2011-09-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

Franklyn Rd neighbourhood kid, 1987-1990

So when I left Tawa I sold my board to Anaru who lived down the road. Two seconds after he'd paid me he skated off, popped an ollie off the kerb and snapped the thing in half.

Waiting

2011-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Nerding out to Jim Phillips + thinking of home + still waiting for this baby. Soon, soon.

#101: Marama

2011-09-19T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hampton Hill Primary Classmate - 1987-1990

I didn't realise it at the time, but when I left Wellington the first time I knew that Marama was my first crush.

Ahem 2

2011-09-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it'll probably be late. But I can't keep myself from counting down.

D&D for MMP

2011-09-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

It's not every day that you get asked to design a poster promoting a 24 hour Dungeons and Dragons marathon to raise funds to help retain New Zealand's MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) electoral system. In fact, I think it's probably the first time anyone has ever been asked to take on this mammoth task.

As it happens I'm a fan of MMP - NZ's parliament has been drastically more representative and diverse since it was introduced - so of course I said yes.

Support the brave warriors here.

8 Billion People I Don't Know: Prince Fielder

2011-09-06T03:03:00.000-07:00

First Base, Milwaukee Brewers. Badass.

Number 450,786,202 In the series 8 Billion People I Don't Know. Designed to be a screenprinted poster, will let you know if I print some up.

Someone should make a series of alternative baseball cards. Get illustrators to draw their favourite athletes...

#100: Peter Stenhouse

2011-09-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

My Friend, 2001-2011

There'll only ever be one Peter Stenhouse. A guy not only of immense intelligence and talent but also humility, energy and passion. He was an adventurer - always up for a mission, to try something new, to keep going, to see what was over the next hill. He was a great friend, always a good listener, always ready with a joke. And talent, shit, the guy was on another level.

And while I'm devastated Pete finds his way into people I used to know, I'm honoured and grateful to have known him at all. Rest In Peace mate.

#99: Sam Scott

2011-08-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

Good Stuff

2011-08-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

A white room is four missed opportunities. I wanted to turn a really boring, negative space into somewhere illuminating and positive. A pleasant surprise. Everyone likes good stuff right?

#98: Zelda Murray

2011-07-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

My friend, 2000-2003

You know you're really friends with someone when you know their victory dance. Whenever Zelda got excited she'd do a little tap dance and say 'tappita tappita'.

Zelda was the vintage queen, inventor of the world's best catch phrases and all around one of the funniest people I've ever known. Miss you Zelda!

#97: Tote Pool Guys

2011-07-21T05:25:00.001-07:00

Guys who played pool at The Tote, late at night 2004-2007

I don't actually know this guy. It's not even one particular guy. But I miss them so I guess I knew them.

In the madness of the late night Tote, they're the Tote-ist of all. Road warriors from a different planet, hunted for crimes they didn't commit. AC/DC on the jukebox, pots in hand, midnight champions.

#96: Chris Könegsburger

2011-07-18T02:46:00.000-07:00

Older Kid, Hampton Hill Primary, 1989

Chris Könegsburger was a tough guy. Not a bully or anything, just an older, bigger, tougher guy. One day we found his trademark mirrored aviators in the playground. At first we were like 'Yay, he'll thank us and think we're cool' but then we got paranoid and decided he might think we stole them and beat us up.

So we hid them in a shrub behind the school pool and never told anyone.

#94 & 95: Clodagh and Denise

2011-07-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

Flatmates, George St, Melbourne, 2004-06

Clodagh and Denise were the hardest drinkers I've ever known. These two Irish girls would go out for after-work drinks on a Friday and not finish drinking till Sunday morning. Usually we'd we'd wake on a Saturday morning and hear them still going strong in the lounge.

At that stage, if they were in a really good mood, they'd often be playing the car game. They'd put on cheesy French electro and walk around in circles pretending they were driving a convertible through the European countryside. Waving at the villagers, tooting their horns, scarves blowing in the breeze.

#93: Brigadier Phil Gibbons

2011-07-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

My Dad's Mate

I always got the impression that for the soldiers of the New Zealand Army, Brigadier Phil Gibbons would have been a pretty tough, no-nonsense officer.

But I knew him in weekend mode and I picture him like that: Shorts and jandals, at the BBQ, chatting with my Dad about rugby.

Eyes Eyes Eyes

2011-06-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

OK, sideproject time. I love eyes, they bring anything to life. So I started a new project - Check the images out here and if you like it, why not buy some to stick up yourself. Send me pics and I'll post them up.

Meanwhile, I still have a few Great Gran newspapers left. 200 People will resume normal activity really soon. I think.

Great Gran available in hard copy

2011-06-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for the great response to the Great Gran story, it's really nice to know people connected with such a personal story.

I'm delighted to report that the story is now available in hard copy - I've got 100 copies to sell, numbered and signed, and I'm really happy with the format - printed in glorious newsprint at tabloid newspaper size. Get your copy here, I think they'll go pretty quickly!

#92: Great Gran

2011-06-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

'Not drawing' drawings

2011-05-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been drawing. There are many reasons: Work, Travel, Summer dropping by (BBQs, our boat) and lots of general impending baby action. I'm writing a 12 page comic for the next post and it's taking longer than I thought. We're weighing up a lot of big questions.

I said to Sonya this morning that I hated 'not drawing'.

'What are you talking about?' she said. 'You're always drawing'.

She is right, I draw all the time. I can't sit still. Pads, books, coasters, walls.

Drawing for me: to practice, to loosen up, to clear my head. To get my head around something.

I've been trying to be looser in my sketches, draw half consciously, try new styles. Draw things I'm not good at drawing. Try to be simpler, clearer.

Mostly I draw faces.

Be back soon with a comic about my Great Gran. Baby name suggestions welcomed.

#91: Alton Blom

2011-04-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

Hampton Hill classmate 1987-1990

Our primary school was set on a hill and the richer you were, the further uphill you had to walk to get home. At the bottom of the hill was state houses, then came middleclass wooden villas, then at the top of the hill were several new streets of insta-mansions overlooking Tawa. It was like a kind of karma: Those who had it easiest had to pay for it with daily hikes.

Alton Blom lived right up the top. He had a lot of sweet toys and video games up there, but it wasn’t often we could be bothered making the trek.

#90: William

2011-03-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Babysitting kid? 1987?

Every now and then this kid William would get dropped off at our house. He was a quiet little weedy guy with an English accent who only apparently only ate fish fingers.

#89: Gath

2011-03-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Coach, Ainslie U11's, 1990

The first game of Australian Rules football I ever saw, I played in. When we moved to Australia my dad signed me up to the Ainslie Football Club Under 11's and Gath was the coach - a boisterous man-mountain who played forward pocket for the seniors. I tried to explain that I really, literally, didn't know what to do but he not only put me in the starting line-up, but he put me at ruck, the first guy to touch the ball in the whole game.

Like I said, I'd never even seen the game played. Round field, four posts, no sleeves. I ran around getting penalised and laughed at all day - running the wrong way, throwing the ball, tackling rugby style around the legs. And Gath was laughing his bloody head off.

(Ahem)

2011-03-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yep, been offline for a while, hope this goes some way to explaining why!

#88: Danielle

2011-01-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

Shift Supervisor, Primus Telecommunications, 2005

For a couple of months I worked in a call centre. Danielle was my boss. She wore a lot of pink.

#87: Paradise

2011-01-06T03:48:00.000-08:00

Wellington College classmate, 1998

In 7th form Paradise showed up out of the blue: A giant Samoan from some tough school in South Auckland who told us he'd been in the New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team the year before. At a rugby mad school that was big news and all summer the place was awash with talk of how good we'd be once Paradise bulked up our forward pack.

But over time the allure started to fade. Paradise turned out to be, well, a bit of a storyteller and by the time the trials came no-one was particularly suprised that he wasn't actually the player he'd painted himself to be. Like a mirage in the desert, Paradise was an illusion.

#86: Guy Nicholls

2011-01-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

My friend, 1995-??

Poet, painter, sculptor, gardener, jazz fiend, inventor, bushman, wanderer.

#85: Simon Pyatt

2011-01-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

My parent's friend, 1986-1990

For my 9th birthday I asked for a ticket to the U2 concert. Simon Pyatt had introduced me to them* and he was pretty much the coolest person I had ever met. He was the singer and guitarist of Late For Breakfast and had the best mullet in all of Tawa. He would take me for sure.

No way, said my Mum, you're not getting a ticket. Simon will be going with his real friends. I was double crushed.

(*My first album: Rattle and Hum on cassette)

#84: King George

2010-11-17T00:45:00.000-08:00

Fish'n'Chip man, Campbell, 1990-1991

You could usually hear George before you saw him. He was a larger (and louder) than life Greek who ran a tiny but excellent fish'n'chippie at the Campbell shops. His standard opening joke was "eat here or takeaway?" which you knew was a joke not only because his shop was so small it had no tables or chairs, but also because he'd start laughing like a manic pirate captain straight afterwards.

The Campbell shops were just down the road from the Duntroon military base so there were always a lot of soldiers in there getting a lazy dinner. Years back the Queen was due to inspect the troops there in a full formal parade, but the soldiers had asked George to stand in her place for the dress rehearshal, and this is where George earned his crown. All over the walls of his shop were photos of him in front of hundreds of troops at full attention all saluting to him. The King.

#83: Kiri Griffin

2010-11-08T01:37:00.000-08:00

Flatmate, Mt Vic, 2003-2004

Conversation with Kiri is a multifaceted array of ingenious jests with a smattering of curious facts. One's initial impression is of astonishment at the breadth of her maglinoquent vocabulary, which soon ripens into wonderment at the way in which said parlance is enunciated in an eminently articulate and manifestly mellifluous manner.

Plus she is funny.

#81 & 82: Karen Anson & Ricky French

2010-11-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Vox/Guitar/Keys, Actor Slash Model

Originally Actor Slash Model was Karen, Ricky and a drum machine and they were great - insanely catchy pop with weird freak-out bits. After a while they recruited my good friend Phil Smiley on drums and I think his role was just as much about having a third person in the room keeping things sane as it was about drumming better than a machine.

Through Phil I got to know them both well and we became good friends. Some of my favourite Melbourne memories involve afternoon BBQs in Karen and Ricky's backyard - sun shining, bands playing, beers flowing.

#80: Berto Vaissiere

2010-10-26T01:38:00.000-07:00

Furst Media colleague, 2005-2007

For a long time at Furst we had a running joke that went something like this: the office would be totally silent and somebody would call out "Hey Berto, what's the French word for baguette?" or "Hey Berto, what's the French word for ballet?" or "Hey Berto, what's the French word for croissant?"

Turns out English and French are often ze same.

#79: Michael Young

2010-10-19T00:46:00.000-07:00

Wellington College classmate, 1994-1998

Michael Young had an awesome theory. He believed that Bruce Lee had faked his own death and was actually holed up in the woods somewhere training a militia of elite martial artists who would eventually overthrow the American government. When Tupac was 'killed' in 96 he was in on it too and Lee's forces were apparently gathering strength.

So if the revolution does come out of the woods via an army of fly-kicking, gangsta-rapping ninjas you heard it here first, courtesy of my man Mike.

13 People I Currently Know

2010-10-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

So winter is coming and I've been crazily busy which means I've slowed down a bit on blog posts. But things aren't all bad - I've had a few other projects on the go so I thought I'd share a couple so you know I'm alive and haven't passed out in a ditch somewhere.

This is a new mural I just finished at my work. It's a portrait of all 13 people who work on the second floor of the W+K Amsterdam creative department. I'm really happy with it - we've got a good crew on our floor and this seemed like a good way to celebrate that.

Remember James Murray and Nato? I've been back in contact with both of them through this blog which has been great, they're both awesome guys. Better still, they've both got bands on the go right now (Razorwyre and Beastwars respectively) and I was lucky enough to get to draw posters for both recently. It was the first time I've done metal posters and I have to say I liked it - great to get dark for a change.

Well, hopefully I'll get back to doing the 200 People on a more regular basis soon. Don't worry, I'm still on it!

#78: Chris Hipkins

2010-10-07T03:44:00.001-07:00

VUWSA President, 2000-2001

In my second year of university I started getting more involved in Salient, and through that, the Student's Association. Hipkins was the Student President at that time and although we used to tease him about his dress sense (Hooded t-shirts and giant sticking out sneaker tongues) he was actually a good guy.

And as it turns out, a good politician too. These days Chris is the MP for Rimutaka, and the Labour party's spokesperson for Internal Affairs. Seeing Chris elected to Parliament gave me some faith in New Zealand politics: Chris is a passionate, honest, hardworking and down-to-earth guy and if I lived in Rimutaka I'd be happy knowing he represented me.

#77: Tali Williams

2010-10-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

Punk Mentor, good friend, 2000-2003

I met Tali at a time in my life where I was hungry for something new. She introduced me to DIY backyard gigs, warehouse parties, zines, old typewriters, mail-order vinyl, the floorpunch, roti chennai at Aunty Mena's and a whole bunch of politics I'd never thought about before. She explained feedback, took me to crusty gigs at tattoo parlours and showed me the joys of Hutt Valley record shopping and how to do a proper road trip.

In short, she taught me punk and I loved every minute of it.