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ANGOULÉME

The Angoulême International Comics Festival in France is a pretty big deal. Over there they kind of look at it as an art form. In North America there is a disproportionate amount of superhero comics. It's kind of like if, at the Oscar's, there was just action movies - Lethal Weapon winning best picture. Then you go over to Europe and see all this other beautiful stuff.

They recently announced their short list of the best stuff of the year. There are half a dozen or so books who's publication language was originally English. The rest, I'm not even sure if you can get them over here. They look pretty, though. Click on the covers for a closer look, then click again for a brief description, if your French is okay. So cool to see all the different styles that are represented. You'll notice a complete absence of capes, as well...

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WHEREFORE WEBSITE?

Artist Kyle Baker recently decided not to renew ownership of his website's domain name, reasoning that for a contemporary artist, there is no reason to have one. He discusses his reasoning in a post on his blog.

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GORILLA MEAT

... by Jogger

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AYNOTCHE TERABU

... by Mahmoud Ahmed.

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DIJ RUF

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COME AT ME WITH THAT

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NAUT

Whilst working in Photoshop I happened to turn off a couple layers to see what's what. Thought I'd save the happenstance for posterity:

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Philly soul 1970.

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COSMONAUT SKETCHES

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GAGARIN

There are aspects of the rough(s) that I like better than the final, but I think it stands on it's own...

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WAITING FOR THE LIGHT

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SEVEN SAMURAI

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MIDNIGHT

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JOHN COLTRANE

Giant Steps is one of my faves. Fun to see it given the "kinetic type" treatment, although I miss that run at the end.

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It's always fun when a band changes up their steez and turns a corner on their fans. Plus, crafty marketing. I'm not a fan of My Chemical Romance; I've enjoyed a couple of singles but I've never felt the need to own any of their stuff. That said, I like the new album cover, and the band's new look. Stupid enough to be cool.

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MANHATTAN SOLSTICE

Wikipedia: "Manhattanhenge (sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice) is a semiannual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in the borough ofManhattan in New York City. The term is derived from Stonehenge, at which the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices. It was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. It applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which laid out a grid offset 29.0 degrees from true east–west."

The track is a cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" performed by Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules.

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WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

Drew Struzan did the painting for the cover of Alice Cooper's 1975 album. I found a nice pristine picture (and detail) of the original art on Struzan's website.

click to enlarge...

I so love the hand in the close-up. I remember seeing this cover in my older brothers collection when I was little. I was really taken with the brushstrokes, although I couldn't have articulated that at the time. Now I see a real Leyendecker influence:

I think I can trace my love of markmaking back to this.

I like Van Gogh because of Alice Cooper.

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