review by THE NEW YORK TIMES

Apple likes us!

With the release of our new Interactive Storybook App getting near, Apple is excitedly sharing it with others at trade and promotional events as one of the top new innovative Apps utilizing the power of the iPad 2. Our App is set to release later this month, but for now you can read some kind words about it HERE, on the Silicon Valley Mercury News.

Here is an excerpt:

The other day at the Apple Store in San Francisco, team members offered this newspaper a sneak peek at some of the latest and coolest apps to come down the pike, including a few not yet released to the general public. Here are our favorite five: ... The problem with apps is that they increasingly defy description. Take this creation of Louisiana-based Moonbot Studios for example ... this app deftly weaves together the tactile with the emotional, leaving the user mesmerized by the journey.

Needless to say, we are super-excited and can't wait to share this new App with you. We will share when it is available on the App Store, so you can experience this new interactive experience! I am proud to say that I was the lead developer and designer on this App, and to have it being promoted by Apple before it's available is an incredible honor, and I'm sure you will LOVE it.

My old art is on the Huffington Post???!!

Haha!

*click, see first image

Missing TCAF

Hey all-

If you haven't heard of it, and are looking for a great art/comics weekend, check out the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) at the Toronto Public Library this weekend. It is the most sincere and incredible art and comics convention I've seen.

I have attended the first two and had a blast. Unfortunately a dear friend has lost a family member and I must stay to support them in any way they may need. So I will not be able to make the show, and I sincerely apologize. For those of you who are in Toronto, have a beer and a maple donut for me, and check out some cool stuff while you're there.

I'll see you next year, if not sooner.

Louisiana Happiness?

I moved from New York to Louisiana, indefinitely, over 4 months ago. I was working freelance for about 4 months here, temporarily before that (puts me at about 8-9 months in this sunny state). Now if you know me, you know that I quickly and unexpectedly fell in love with New York city. I lived in New York for 3 years and it really feels like my true home. But why am I more productive here? Why am I being told that I seem happier with my work and my time here? Why do I have a more positive outlook here? There are surely a LOT of factors involved, and I have some theories... but apparently a big fancy-pants scientific, economic, and psychological study has revealed that I moved from this year's most UNHAPPY state to the MOST happy state:

Southern States Are the Happiest

6 of the Top 10 States in a Happiness Study Are in the South

Dec. 17, 2009 -- There may be something to be said for southern hospitality and sunshine. A new study shows that Southern states are the happiest while coastal rivals New York and California are at the bottom of the list.

Researchers ranked the happiest states (plus the District of Columbia) on self-reported measures of happiness as well as objective measures like sunshine, congestion, and housing affordability and found six out of the top 10 happiest states were in the South.

Louisiana topped the list, followed by Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, and Arizona rounding out the top five.

New York ranked dead last at number 51 and California fared only slightly better at number 46.

"We have been asked a lot whether we expected that states like New York and California would do so badly in the happiness ranking," says researcher Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, in a news release. "Many people think these states would be marvellous places to live in. The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy."

In the study, published in Science, researchers took a different approach in ranking the happiest states. Rather than relying solely on surveys that ask people how happy they are or economists' measures of quality-of-life data, researchers decided to combine the two and compare how the states measured up.

They used information from a 2005-2008 nationwide life satisfaction survey of 1.3 million Americans and a 2003 study with objective happiness indicators for each state, such as how much rain and sunshine each state received, number of hazardous waste sites, commuting time, violent crime, air quality, spending on education and highways, and cost of living.

When they compared the tables side by side, they found a very close correlation between how happy people said they were and objective quality-of-life measures.

"We wanted to study whether people's feelings of satisfaction with their own lives are reliable, that is, whether they match up to reality -- of sunshine hours, congestion, air quality, etc -- in their own state. And they do match," says Oswald. "When human beings give you an answer on a numerical scale about how satisfied they are with their lives, it is best to pay attention. Their answers are reliable. This suggests that life-satisfaction survey data might be very useful for governments to use in the design of economic and social policies."

==========

I know, I know... "poo on that, Joe... Us bitter awesome and badass New Yorkers can take on anything, especially those Republican redneck southerners, so whatever... we LIKE misery!" Hey... I FEEL you. I'm there. It's a bit of a surprise to me as well, but it comes at a time when I can understand and sympathize with these results. It is more of a personal (and frankly, coincidental) situation that makes me feel this way, but nonetheless I can't help but point it towards some other issues that are bothering me...

more (continued) on my LiveJournal blog...

.

New Artists, New Job, New fun...

I'm in Louisiana working at a new studio on a short CG film. Since the building is still being setup and pre-construction, it was suggested that I move over to another studio, where other artists are working on some big projects. Over here are two very cool, young, and sickly-talented artists, and it's really inspiring. I've added their links to the sidebar, over there ==>

Check out Adam Volker and Erin McGuire.

SKETCH INFECTUS has arrived!

So the bulk shipment of the books has arrived! I am quickly printing, packing, and preparing the books for you, so hopefully I can get the books out by Friday, Saturday or Monday.

FINAL NOTICE: The "pre-order" stage is over as of midnight tonight (okay, if you read this by 1:00 am, I'll let it slide), so tell your friends and get the last orders in, because with a pre-order you get a free sketch clipped from one of my sketchbooks, as well as another small gift from me. But remember, that's over TONIGHT, March 18th at midnight.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has already ordered the book and been very patient. You are all so amazing to support the arts and an artist like me, as well as being into sharing inspiration and method. It's so cool, and this is why I do it-- I'm happy to say there has been nearly 300 books sold, already! This is the one I'm most proud of, and I am so blessed to have so many amazing artists and supporters notice what I do, as well as sharing it with others and supporting the arts. So again, thank you.

'09 Prismacolor Art Competiton

Once again, Prismacolor is hosting an art competition. The prizes are kind of big, so head over to the website for details!

Last day for book special...

Today is the LAST day for the special offer on pre-orders for my new book, SKETCH INFECTUS. See the Art Squared Publishing blog for details, and get your copy today... the pre-order period will extend for a couple more weeks, but this special offer is only available until the end of TODAY!

Check it out, and I'll see you at booth 2341 at the Javitz center here in New York this weekend, at New York Comic Con. :)

NY comic con

On February 6, 7, and 8th I'll be hosting at the Art Squared Publishing / Joe Bluhm booth at the New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javitz center in Manhatten, at 11th Ave. & 34th St. You can find me near Alberto Ruiz and other publisher/illustrators at booth# 2341, on the aisle.

Anyone who brings me a can of sugar free RedBull gets a free quick-sketch caricature, and anyone buying two or more books will get a quick sketch as well! I'm debuting my new book, SKETCH INFECTUS (preorder now, to get an even more amazing gift) as well as carrying others that you may recognize. I'll be doing caricatures, hanging out, showing art and books and having a general good ruckus-like time, so stop by. There are a lot of great artists in this area, like Alberto (and I hear Shane Glines!!!), so swing on by the aisle of fun!

See you there!

Art Squared on Trendhunter Magazine

I was recently mentioned on TrendHunter Magazine's website as part of a micro-trend! TrendHunter is the "largest collection of cutting-edge ideas" as well as an online community of those noting interesting, hip trends. Along with BrandStudio Press, I was mentioned under a new topic of Do-It-Yourself Art Publishing. This is something that I did not pioneer, but rather learned from greats like Michel Gagne and Stephen Silver (among others).

Check it out, if for no other reason that you will find other very interesting reads and links.
I think you'll dig it...

Get Your Sketchbook!

I decided to give the art away:

Sketch Infectus contains nearly 400 drawings... It's been set at the modest price of $20. It's a hardcover book. I've been told by friends that this value is insane, but that's the point. Now let's break it down in mere terms of art:

The book contains about 390 drawings and costs $20.00 (US). That comes to less than 20¢ ($0.20) per drawing. As silly as that already is, you get advice from the likes of Steve Brodner, Phillip Burke, John Kascht, Steve Silver and dozens of other amazing artists.

BUT I'M NOT DONE (infomercial voice)...

Anyone who pre-orders by February 5th (happens to be a good friend's birthday!) will get an original sketch. And by sketch, I don't mean I'll draw a little 5 second scribble... I mean I'll actually be cutting out the sketches from these and other sketchbooks and giving them to you! You might get something IN the book and you might get something else! Your sketch might have a doodle on the back. Who knows!

But this is reserved ONLY for pre-orders on or before February 5th.

Because of the shipment date of the books, the pre-order will extend to mid-late February, (actual date TBD) however this special is ONLY good until the 5th (books will be shipped late February or early March).

Anyway, go on over and buy 2 or 3 copies (don't forget your friends!), and here are some more low-res previews from my upcoming sketchbook collection, SKETCH INFECTUS:

Go get it!
.

Sketch Infectus

Over the last seven years or so, I've been stashing scrap paper with doodles, keeping my sketchbooks hidden under the bed, and scanning artwork and forgetting about it. I decided that 2009 was the year that I dusted it all off and shared it with others. A good friend of mine recently said "...in a sketch you see the hand of the master..." --not that I consider myself a master-- but it is quite true that sketches inspire. The loose, confident secure mindset of trying to teach yourself something, all alone, in a book that you never intended to show off, is powerful and wonderful.

I realized for years that nearly every book I purchased and every inspiration I had, came from the sketches and sketchbooks of other artists. One of my good friends, Stephen Silver, has been a big inspiration and motivator for me over the last few years. How? His sketches. His doodles. His scratchy sketchbooks.

Well, after talking to many peers and inspiring artists, I've captured dozens of quotes and tips and supplied them along side a dense collection of drawings and doodles. This will most likely be the most art-heavy little book you've ever seen, and I think it looks pretty snazzy. You will be able to get it over at Art Squared Books.com, pre-orders coming up next week (with a special incentive for those who order early!).

Here are some previews. I'm really excited about this book, and I hope it continues to inspire someone out there, as much as other artists have (and continue to) inspire me:

* More to come soon...
.

iPhone 3G

I caved, and it is amazing.

Chinese Copyright Infringement: Published?

I've read something like this several times in the last few weeks, and I feel it's a great time to make use of our endless contact and information through the internet and work together:

I couldn't put it better, so the wording/links are taken from my friend Tom's blog - thanks, Tom.

Illustrator Luc Latulippe and the folks at the Little Chimp Society discovered a few weeks ago that a Chinese publisher stole content off the LCS website, namely interviews with artists including Latulippe and the artwork included, and published it translated in book format selling for $100. No kidding… a full book of “scraped” content complete with their illustrations. You can read the story about it here and here.

Of course there is little legal recourse here. I doubt China, that bastion of the upholding of human rights, is even part of the Berne convention of international copyright law… but even if they are this publisher used fake contact info and a fake ISBN, so finding them at all is going to be tough, let alone getting them into a court somewhere. Basically there are some places on the planet where you can do nothing about someone stealing your work… I’ve run across my artwork produced on postage stamps from South American and former USSR republics before and have basically no legal recourse.

Contacting the distributors and sellers of the book also yielded no results, as they refused to stop selling it.

Well, Latulippe decided not to take this lying down, so he called for a grass roots “spread the word” campaign to let people know what this was about and hopefully damage the reputations of the parties involved or at least cause a few less sales for them. The good news is that it has yielded some results. At least one of the resellers, Index Books, has agreed to stop selling it and has sent the remaining copies back to the distributor. Hopefully more of such action will follow.

So, here is [my] contribution to the cause in the form of links to increase their search engine ranking. Good luck guys, and keep fighting the good fight.

*Thanks to Cedric Honstadt and Tom Richmond.

.

Weezer #6

One of my all time favorite bands is about to come out with a new album, and I am finally excited. I noted that there is some great media out lately, and one of the pieces I am awaiting with anticipation is the 6th album from the quad from L.A., available June 3rd.

Weezer has had quite a past, and while I'll spare you the history lesson (15 years finicky nature, side projects, shifting bassists and musical styles all within one tight genre), I will give you my opinion on the progression of their music, album-by-album.

Blue album (self-titled debut, named 'weezer') - Immortal. This contains rock anthems like Say It 'Aint So, Only in Dreams, Buddy Holly, The Sweater Song, My Name is Jonas and more. One of the best rock albums ever recorded. You can hear the years of songwriting finely honed in a unique garage-rock style, mixed and produced wonderfully by the amazing Rick Ocasek [The Cars].

Pinkerton - recorded and mixed by the band members themselves, this took a departure from the high-school/college garage rock and turned up the fuzz / turned down the 'fi. The lyrics are more personal, songwriting more scattered, but still one of the all-time great albums. Not as many radio hits (none, to my knowledge) but a fan favorite that, for some reason, Rivers Cuomo [singer/songwriter/founder] dislikes and allegedly wanted or wants out of all stores and production. If you haven't heard it, get it now.

Green album (self-titled 3rd LP, 'weezer') - after nearly 10 years apart from working on personal projects, side bands, attending college, marriage and kids, etc - the band reunited with full force and plenty of fan support. Because of the rise of 'internet 2.0' Weezer had a very strong following even while there was no apparent activity. The green album is arguably good, holding much of the power pop sound in which they are often categorized. It has hits like Hash Pipe and Island in the Sun, among a terrain of similar-sounding chord progressions. Don't get me wrong, I hear this album criticized often, but it is catchy as hell and very easy to listen to... and short.

Maladroit - This is one of my favorites in a special way. In 2002-2005, Weezer offered many demos to fans online by way of their website, fan sites and 'leaks' all over. This was an effort to allow the fans to mold and shape what they wanted to hear, offering feedback on what songs they think should be on the upcoming albums. Green hosted some great work, but omitted some of the catchy demos. This approach was followed up by offering the fans what they wanted- the songs THEY liked. Maladroit has songs that sound like hard rock, metal, soft ballads, power pop, garage rock, classic retro guitar solos and much more. The great success of this album is often overshadowed by it's strange place with fans. I couldn't disagree more- I love this one. It is a diverse sampling of how much they rock. Plus, who doesn't love a video with The Muppets?!

Make Believe - While the record company really got behind their 5th LP and the fan-base became younger and stronger, I am not a fan of this album. While I love all band members' work and tastes, I feel that (despite the success of a few single tracks/videos, including the popular Beverly Hills) this is a total miss for the group. It sounds minimal, unresolved, overworked and weak. I've heard some people say that they really like this album, so I'll leave it up to you, but it was off my iPod pretty quickly.

---

...which left me skeptical about the 6th session for the group, shortly after a released collection of home recordings and early demos, called "Alone"...
---

Red album (self-titled... again... 'weezer') - I had heard from weezer.com that Rivers touts this as their best work yet. Still effected from the underwhelming Make Believe, I had my doubts. Then I heard from my brother that the first 8 (of 16, available with a 'deluxe edition' pre-order on iTunes) tracks were leaked, so I gave them a listen. My first impression was "Ooh... different." They combine some rap, metal, smooth acoustics, operatic harmonies and several key/tempo changes in multiple songs. Tracks come from all the band members, with each of them singing the lead at different times in different songs. A collaborative effort is apparently made with this one... and it works!

These songs (what I've heard so far) are VERY catchy, very well written, quite textured, not overdone or too hook-based and seem as though they will be long-lived. There is a fun spirit and confidence in them that was missing in the last album, and the song Thought I Knew sung by guitarist Brian Bell is superb. I can see many tastes of music satisfied by this fun album, with only the lyrics being fairly shallow at some points... but that does not bother me one bit, as they mesh with the sound quite well, and don't take themselves too seriously.

So check it out and get this album if you like '90s/current/classic/garage/punk/indie/alt rock... 'Cuz it rocks.

ASIFA East animation festival

Last night my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of attending the ASIFA East animation awards screening with our good friends Brian Haimes and David Cowles. David won two awards for the design on his work with They Might Be Giants. The finish and clean design of David's work stood out above much of the award-winning animations.

Overall it was very fun and an interesting look at the New York independent animation scene, as well as spotting some commercial and advertising work. The event was fairly small and hosted what looked like 200+ individuals. All age ranges were present and all animation approaches were visible (with the exception of 3d animation a la Pixar), from light comedy to dark and sexual.

We had the chance to grab a drink and a bite to eat after the show, where mingling ensued. My friend Brian has worked for Bill Plympton, so he reintroduced us. Bill took a peek at Rejects and reminisced about his caricature days and why he moved to animation. Overall it was a fun night. Be sure to look in to the animation and art groups in your area or your professional field. There is much to be learned from each other.

Prismacolor Competition

The good folks over at Prismacolor.com are hosting an art contest. The prizes are big, so check it out.

Here we go again...

Here's a unique level of dirty politics - abusing art:

In case you missed the latest news, you can read here on MSNBC how a well-known McCain 'hater' (possibly others) is using a flier sent to more than 80 newspapers in South Carolina to send a negative message about the beliefs and history of Senator John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate. A few of you might also recognize the art. It is a drawing that I completed while passing time at Sea World in 2005, posted on(and eventually taken directly from) THIS blog back in 2006:

.

This is a clear violation of copyright. The image was chopped up and used without my concent, while the only changes are the re-tracing of the linework, minimal distortion in the eyes, and the cropping of the jowls to cut the size of the jaw and neck:

It's amazing how some individuals assume they can steal artwork and misrepresent someone with their dirty message. A mildly edited EXACT version of my drawing, stolen right here from my blog and used for negative political campaigning. It's quite sad.

.