Studio Tchotchke

I was recently interviewed for Pen and Oink about my book Leo Geo.  One of the first questions was, "what is you favorite piece of studio tchotchke?"  I hadn't ever thought about it that hard, so I took a discerning survey of my collection of little knick knacks, and found this little gem:

 

It's a little chipboard model of a pinball machine made for Alec and I by a faithful DTZ reader!  I feel like a rat, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out who sent it!  Alec left it to me when he moved to the West Coast.  

Also, I guess the cat is out of the bag that I like Ultraman.  Where's THAT pinball machine!  Answer me that!

Mmmmm, architecture....

As I've mentioned a butt-billion times on this blog, I work at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and I LOVE IT!  Next week is our Spring Break, and I can tell that our wide-eyed, bushy-tailed cartoonists desperately need some time off!  When I think of spring break, I think of beaches, sun, etc.  I thought I would take a u-turn from that line of thinking, and share a photo of some pinball-themed gingerbread houses I made last December!  That will chill you to the bone!  Ha ha!

Also, in related pinball news, this article/comic about pinball came across my digital desk the other day.  It's a great piece by Greg Stump that shows off some classic machines and some classic pinhalls!  What I REALLY admire here is how Greg draws pinball machines.  I worry that sometimes I draw them TOO exactly and take all the magic out of them.  To the people that love pinball, those machines aren't just a weird-shaped box of wood with mechanics inside; they're magical pieces of art.  I should take a page from the Greg Stump book!

Revisited Illustrations 6: Scoop

I recolored one of the illustrations from DTz #1 for your ravenous pinball enjoyment!  This one is the scoop from the glossary.  NAME THE GAME!

Oh, wait...that was too easy, wasn't it...

PAPA Shirt

Things are getting pretty exciting over here in DTZ HQ!  The new issue is shaping up nicely, and Alec and I are throwing our full weight into it!  So, while we slave away, I thought it would be nice to pull up a pinball image from the ole Jon Chad archives.  Last summer, I got to do a shirt design for the staff of the PAPA World Pinball Championships!  I really want to make it out to PAPA HQ in Pittsburgh one of these days, but for now, I'll have to be satisfied with ooh-ing and aww-ing from the sidelines, and drawing art of them.

I'm happy to say that I've gotten the chance to do more art for PAPA!  Some of which I'll show you soon, and some that you'd have to go to Pinbrugh 2013 to see!  Very exciting!

Oh, and by the by, anybody out there have an extra one of these staff shirts kicking around?  I *cough* never actually got one... 

I love it when a plan comes together!

As Jon has mentioned in his last few posts, we are in CRUNCH MODE, trying to complete all of the assets for Drop Target #5.  If all goes according to plan, it should be ready to ship before the end of March!  

I've been drawing like a maniac this week, trying to get everything ready before my trip back East (and to the Middle East!)  The main thing that was stressing me out was my HP5 dream machine.  It's the longest book in the series, so I didn't know how I was going to cram everything onto a playfield... until this morning!  As you can see here, I've got a plan...

I'll be in Vermont all next week, so Jon and I will both sit down in front of the computer to bring everything together and to put the finishing touches on everything.  We'll try to toss up a few posts as everything gels, and then we'll get ordering info up on the site as soon as we can.  I'm excited to finally reveal all the great features we've got lined up for this issue!  MORE SOON...