Jon Chad: Professional Pinball Artist!

When Jon and I first decided to start a pinball zine, one of the first ideas that we agreed had to be in the zine was our own "Dream Machines."  We each drew a dream machine for every issue of Drop Target.  For me, these were incredibly difficult drawings and I had to base all of my designs on pre-existing pinball machines, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to figure out how things worked.

Jon, on the other hand, seemed to knock out dream machines with ease, drawing his much smaller and more quickly than I could, and with far more inventive uses of the pinball medium.  Jon is one of those cartoonists who has a strong, unique style that is instantly recognizable and he can draw anything.  He is in a league all his own.

It therefore came as no surprise to me, that Jon recently crossed the line from dreams into reality, when he drew the actual art for a real pinball machine, The Jetsons, which will be released soon by Spooky Pinball.  Below are some photos of the game, which were released recently.  JON DREW ALL OF THAT STUFF!

I guess dreams really do come true!  ;)  Below is a gameplay video that went up on YouTube recently.  I can't wait to play this thing someday, and see all of that gorgeous art up close.  I am so proud of Jon.

Jon is going to draw a comic about his experience creating the art for this real pinball machine, which will be included in the DROP TARGET OMNIBUS book, which should be out later this year.  But more on that later.....

Playable Virtual Weezer Pinball

The Weezer Pinball T-Shirt that I designed has now been turned into a video game that you can play on the internet!

You can get all the information on how to set it up and play over on my illustration blog!

Weezer EWBAITE Pinball Shirt!

Hey pinball fans, believe it or not, I just got to draw a t-shirt for my all-time favorite band Weezer and they let me do it as a pinball playfield (!!?!?!) You can read all about how this project came together over on my illustration blog, but I just wanted to show you the results here.  The layout is based on Space Shuttle (Williams, 1984) and details every track on their (AMAZING) new album Everything Will Be Alright In The End:

HP6 Dream Machine begins...

Figuring out my Dream Machine layout for HP6.  Assets for Drop Target #6 are underway!  We're still aiming for a September release, in time for SPX.  Thanks for your patience - we know it has been a long wait this time around.  We've got a bunch of cool stuff planned, so hopefully it'll be worth it!

Mugged

This was a Dream Machine that I posted on the Stern Blog a couple months ago.  I have been on an obsessive kick with cocktail pinball tables.  I see this as an obvious solution to not enough private pinball owners.  There are a lot of pinball enthusiasts who, like me, rent an apartment.  Space is a premium.  Not only does a cocktail pinball table take up less space, but it doubles as a piece of (level) furniture that every apartment needs.  So, when I thought about drawing up a cocktail pinball table, the first thing I thought of, was, "what would be the most AWKWARD-themed pinball machine to have to show a date when they came over for the first time?"  My answer was, "crime/mugging/robbery".  It turned out to be a pretty rad table, but it is a little too creepy!

 Whoa whoa whoa!  Let's get our stories straight!  That is a mug of ROOT BEER on the machine!  ROOT BEER!

HEY!!! KEEP IT DOWN!!!

Just a quick Dream Machine for you guys to start your week!  This was originally posted on the Stern Blog, but in the spirit of thoroughness, I just wanted to share it again!  There was a *clever* jab by someone on the original Stern post that commented on how I must not like to read, or I must be dumb; I really forget. 

 

Oh wait, now I remember!  I remarked that a library is probably one of the dullest settings for a pinball machine, and THAT makes me a dullard!  Ha ha!  Of coarse!

Gojira!

 

We're getting into a real ven diagram here about the things I love in life.  I'm a HUGE fan of the Tokusatsu genre.  It's a pretty broad genre, but all of the giant monster / mecha stuff really captured my heart as a kid.  I loved Power Rangers, Ultraman, and Godzilla.  The 1990's Godzilla movies were all really great (my favorite is Godzilla vs. Biollante) and I rented them from the video store at every chance I could get.  In 1995, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah marked the end of the 90's Godzilla movies.  There was a five year break before I found out that Tristar was planning to release a Godzilla movie.  

UGH.  We all remember how sad that made us, right?

Two years later, an honest-to-goodness TOHO Godzilla movie was release in theatres; Godzilla 2000.  It was probably the single most exciting movie-theatre watching experienceof my childhood.

All this buildup is to say that there has never been a proper TOHO Godzilla pinball machine released (I'm not counting the Sega Godzilla machine since that was based on the Tristar Godzilla).  I mean, talk about a machine that would design itself!  All that destruction!?  All those monsters!?  

Sigh...Well, to get a little Godzilla out of my system, I made this mock poster in the style of the old Godzilla posters.  It says "Godzilla Pinball" down the side.  King Ghidorah and Godzilla are going at it!  Ah man, I need to dig up my vhs's...

I leave tomorrow for my trip to Las Vegas with a planned stop at the Pinball Hall of Fame.  I'm going to go in on my birthday!  I can't think of a better way to celebrate the annual success of my continued survival!  I'll try to post from the road!

Nate Beaty's WRJ Dream Machine!

Whenever a friend comes to visit either Jon or me in White River Junction, we always take them around to the local haunts to play some pinball.  Last February, one of my oldest comics pals, Nate Beaty came to town.  Here's a photo of him playing the T2 machine in the back of the pizza place, with me and Max:

The next night we took Nate up to the bowling alley, where they had Scared Stiff and Last Action Hero.  Nate had an amazing game on Scared Stiff, and was about one shot away from beating the entire board.  It was a super fun night.  A few weeks later, Nate posted this illustration of me, Max and Jon playing a White River Junction themed Dream Machine!  

(click image to see it larger in Nate's Flickr)

If you've ever been to White River Junction, you know that this illustration is LOADED with in-jokes.  Note the slingshot covers are Vermont and New Hampshire, with the connecticut river running right down the middle.  At the base of the ramps you can see a bus and a bowling lane (the bus station and bowling alley are both on top of the hill).  The school where Jon and I teach, CCS, is right at the back of the playfield (awarding "BIG POINTS" - a wink at Nate's favorite line from the T2 pin) and the outbound lanes are labeled "Drop Out" and "Move."  You can even see the school's mascot, Inky Solomon battling some bowling pins on the backglass!

You can check out more of Nate's awesome illustration work and photography on his website.

Jim Woodring's FRANK Backglass!

We've been getting tons of emails about a recent post on the Fantagraphics blog, all about a custom made FRANK Backglass, drawn by cartoonist Jim Woodring.  Comics and pinball?  Now, that's right up our alley!

A guy named Eli Curtz had this backglass made by Classic Playfield Reproductions.  Check out their site to read all about their process of making this backglass.  It also looks like Mr. Curtz has an additional 25 copies of the backglass, which he is selling for $200 each.  You can get ordering information on his Frank: Homebrew Pinball Machine page - it looks like he's going to build the whole thing!