More Paintings

I painted two more paintings today. Its funny how the painting bug strikes. Sometimes its the last thing I want to do and sometimes its the best. Today it was relaxing to paint. Above is the color blocking I do before I add the lines with a sharpie.

More color blocking. Kinda creepy, huh? Looks like the Blue Man group on crystal meth.

Finished painting one: Planet of the Apes.

Finished painting number two: Wolverine Attacks.

Sort of been on a superhero kick lately with the painting. Hope to do more. Hope to SELL these pieces. I have some ideas for some more painted projects, so stay tuned. I'm actually going to be painting over at my Aunt Teri's house this weekend, and that is really exciting. Paint: Bringing families together one canvas at a time (applause).

Road to 100 Subscribers- YouTube!

I have a favor to ask of good friends out there in webland...Right now I'm at 90 subscribers on my YouTube page. I ask:

Please tell a few friends to go to www.youtube.com/jimlujan and subscribe (if they like my cartoons).

I want to see if I can hit 100 subscribers soon. I've never done any email blasts or mass e mailings to get anyone to subscribe. Everyone of my subscribers is organic- they found ME! So do your duty to help our struggling economy and support our troops and help the planet stay green ....and get me some subscribers on YouTube!

This message was approved by Jim Lujan

the OverLord

Possibly the most frightening piece of cinema in the history of frightening cinema. By me. Enjoy!

ps...Subscribe to my cartoons on YouTube and tell a friend!

Rage Dogg: Balcony Negotiations

YO- Its time for some Rage Dogg! This time Rage its re-negotiations time for his recording contract. It's business as usual for Rage and his posse by any means necessary! Enjoy the continuing adventures of Rage Dogg, from my original short cartoon "Up In My Grill".

Wizard of Oz painting

This is one of my acrylic paintings. Cardboard, paint, and sharpies. Oh Yes- it's For sale! Contact me at jimlujan@earthlink.net if interested. What a great birthday gift this would make.  Also, you can use it as a coaster if you don't like it...its YOURS, man- you bought it, right!?

El Monte Mixer

The Cartoonistas were invited to do live art at the El Monte Chamber of Commerce mixer event. Free food...prizes...free food...free food. We were represented by (L-R) Javier, Me,(and Roxana. We did some drawing and mingled with the local businesses. Some cool prospects coming up for the Cartoonistas.  When they go into effect, of course I'll post the news here. 

 Roxana making art like art should be made...artistically! She's such a great addition to the Cartoonistas. Brings her own cool style to the mix.  I'm so glad we have Roxana, Gras, and Bernice. Its not fun having the Cartoonistas being a boys club. Girls RULE!

 Its just me n' Javi down by the schoolyard.  Photo by my lovely wife Leann. 

Roxana's froggy with guitar.

Javier's portrait of a guy that runs the business where the event was held (his name escapes me) the other guy...well, thats Elmo, silly. 

My Neon looking Driftwood Dairy. You can read up on the legendary (doomed to be torn down) dairy by clicking here. Man, what a waste. Such a cool landmark for the city of El Monte.  All in all it was a great show. The people were nice and the mood was festive. Oh...and free food, y'alls!

The Golden Magic of my Magic Animation

The cartoon: Fernando & the Hair of the Dog

Raul Aguirre, Jr

Raul Aguirre, Jr- animator, artist, creator, all around funny guy...the pride of Hacienda Heights (sorry Fergie!) sent me this cartoon. He recently started doing gigs with the Cartoonistas. This is his GodFather-esque induction. Thats Javier Hernandez, Me, and Raul pictured.

Check out Raul's seriously cool stuff here!

By the way....its Rah-ool. Say it right, man.

Pasadena Art Night Video

Friday the 13th....Pasadena Central Library. Wow. It was really fun meeting everybody. We displayed our paintings and mingled with the crowd. We drew for kids had a good time hanging out. We also introduced Raul Aguirre, Jr (not on video). This was his first show with the Cartoonistas. Thanks to everybody that came out. Thanks to Nick at the library for all his help. The staff was awesome. King Taco was a nice nightcap to the whole event.

More Paintings!

 Man, When I get into painting mode ...I get into painting mode! I'm still a newbie at painting, learning new tricks all the time. I love it. I discovered very quickly that I can work fast in acrylics.  I lay down some flat colors, add some accents/shading, then make the paintings come to life with the good ol' sharpie.  Above here is my  work layout: Kitchen table, art supplies, and a laptop to listen to whatever music or podcast. This is relaxation. Below are the fruits of my labor. Each painting is 14X10 on canvas board. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA REDLIGHT DISTRICT

WATCH THIS (painted same sitting as Captain America)

IRON FIST SHAKEDOWN (painted the night before the other two). 

Why the mad rush? We have a gallery show coming up FRIDAY the 13th at the PASADENA CENTRAL LIBRARY 6-10 pm. These will all be on display. Its free part of Pasadena Art Night 2009 (Google it). We did the show last year and had fun, this year we are displaying (not really doing live art). Hope to see some of you there!

Rorschach

Yes kids...its that fun lovin', crime bustin', son of gun Rorschach from the Watchmen. I loved the movie, all 9 hours and 10 minutes of it. Seriously, I'm a big fan of the book (my favorite) and loved the fact that the movie was so long. Couldn't get enough. I'm supposed to see it a second time tonight. We saw the movie opening night at Imax. The show was supposed to start at 10:45 pm, but started at midnight (technical difficulties). We got out at 2 am and promptly began to hunt and beat criminals, Thas how inspiring the film was. By criminals I mean innocent crippled homeless women. Ouch.

Demolition Dove

I asked my friend Javier Hernandez to draw me a pencil sketch of his new character, Demolition Dove. Jav is a pencil master. His artwork looks so complete in just the pencil stage. Whenever I do pencils they look like blob figures or crazy shapes with no real definition. Not Jav's- as you can see Demolition Dove is looking pretty good. I asked Jav to draw in pencil so I could ink and color it, as an experiment.

With a little bit of Sharpie love and some photoshop razzmatazz, we have a finished Javier Hernandez/Jim Lujan creation. Demolition Dove in all his war torn glory. Jav's pencils were so complete that I had to just trace the page in ink. Inking over his pencils seemed like a sin. It was fun inking as an experiment. Are inkers just tracers? Well, thats a debate better settled on Crossfire or Celebrity Mud Wrestling. All I know is this inking was fun. Enjoy!

Me Part Three

Part three of my DoubleDorkMeter interview.
Discussed: Cartoonistas, art, YouTube, My animation method, and CNN. CNN? Yeh- I just threw that in. It was a lot of fun talking with Matt, the host. Not so much an in depth interview as it was a casual conversation. This was actually our 2nd or 3rd take. The first couple of times the recording didn't save. I was working on coloring a cartoon (American Candy) as we talked on the phone, so I didn't mind. I think it added to the silliness of the interview. Thanks again, Matt.

You can subscribe to the DoubleDorkMeter podcast on iTunes or on Talkshoe.com.

American Candy

This is a short cartoon about a low budget rock band I made up a while ago. I developed this as a pitch. Maybe it will see the light of day one day. Do me a favor and call Hollywood...tell them opportunity is knocking.I'll open the door.

Family Portrait

38 seconds of glory! I did this cartoon "quickie" a few months back. Its one of the ones I'm saving for the public access tv show I'm working on...and a future DVD release. Big talk from the king of lazy, I know. I thought it would be nice to share it here. Such a touching and warm family moment. What happens when the truth comes out while you are trying to say "cheese"?This particular family isn't based on anybody...although my brother's name IS Bobby and my cousin's name IS Art.

I've come to realize that any cartoon I do that is less than a minute will be considered a "quickie" and anything less than 2 minutes will be considered a shortie". Shorties and quickies have no theme-songs. They are "Bang!" straight to the point.

And THAT is how my brain works and thank you very much. Enjoy!

More o' Me on the Radio

Part 2 of my DoubleDorkmeter interview with Matt Leong HERE!

I was part of a roundtable discussion on the Javiland podcast. The subject: "Your Art Philosophy..and why you need one".

LISTEN HERE!