Danger Country #003

Danger Country #002

New Strip: Danger Country

Starting today I'll be posting up a new serialized comic strip story, occurring twice a week. It ties in with a larger form graphic novel set in the same setting. Hopefully I'll stick with the schedule and you'll like the story. Any way, I'm pretty excited about it. Here's the first strip!

Flock it up you Flocking Mother Flocker

Flock it up all over the place, indeed. If you're going to be anywhere in the northern hemisphere between March 27 and March 29, you need to experience the Flock Yeah II Moped Rally: Bird is the Word: A Moped Rally: Held by the Latebirds of Los Angeles. You don't need a moped to partay but it helps! Check out this promotional video, which is the undisputed most badassiest moped rally promotional video ever created. Then, register at the website: thismorningsbonerparty.com.


The Los Angeles Latebirds - Flock Yeah II from Brian Sowell on Vimeo.

Year of the OXXXXXXXXXXX

The drawing above will be a part of the Year of the Ox show. It is my largest crosshatch piece yet. Here's the info for the show.

March 14 - April 15, 2009
Reception: Saturday, March 14, 6:30 -10:00

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276

Giant Robot is proud to host Year of the Ox, a group art show celebrating year 4707 on the lunar calendar. Pieces will include illustration, oils, pencils, prints, watercolor, sculpture, and other media-all dedicated to the hardest-working animal of the Chinese zodiac cycle.

Blogg links

the two best things on the internet are on Jeff Soto's blog. The first thing is his non-boring report on Art Basel, and the second thing is the amazing and hilarious video of his daughter, Shannon.

BEASTS! signing @ Secret Headquarters

I almost forgot about this! If you're in L.A. on Friday night, there will be a signing for the new BEASTS! book. There will be many artists from the book in attendance, and maybe a beast or two.

When:
Friday, February 13, 2009
8:00pm - 10:00pm

Where:
Secret Headquarters
3817 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Who/What/ETC.:
This Friday the 13th, the Secret Headquarters presents "Night Of The BEASTS!", an artists signing of the hardcover release of book two, and the paperback edition of book one.

BEASTS! is a beautiful book that features 180 artists depicting mythological and folkloric creatures.

Several artists including Derek Albeck, Ron Rege, Martin Cendreda, Billy Reynolds, Jordan Crane, Johnny Ryan, Levon Jihanian, Mark Todd, Christopher Lee, Tony Millionaire, Joe Vaux, Ester Pearl Watson, Tom Neely, Steven Weissman, Laura Plansker and Tessar Lo will be in attendance to sign or otherwise distinguish your books!

Come on down for your copy of BEASTS! or just drop by to say hello and share a cocktail with us...

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

There are YouTube videos you want to E-mail to all of your friends, and there are YouTube video you never want to end.



via Fantagraphics blog, who found it on the The Daily Cartoonist.

Levon on SketchTheatre.com

One of my drawings was just posted on sketchtheatre.com

I love watching how people draw and even though most of the stuff is different than how I draw, it's still fun to see how other people approach drawing. It's also interesting to me the music they picked for accompaniment... I think i was listening to Elliot Smith or something at the time.

Levon Jihanian + Motorhead video

One. Hundred. BEASTS! This Saturday.

Check out My Ass in the new volume of Beasts!

I am very honored to be a part of volume 2 of Beasts!, curated and edited by Jacob Covey and published by Fantagraphics. You can pre-order copies now on the Fantagraphics site. I'll tell you right now that it's worth the money and will make a brilliant christmas gift.

As someone who fell in love with drawing by meticulously studying a worn copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, I can say that it was an awesome enough world to have a book like Beasts! exist, but to be a part of it is even better.

Above is a preview of my Beast, the Ass. I was given a very long list of cryptozoological beasts to choose from. It was a tough choice, but I opted for the Ass because 1) It has a completely bizarre description, and 2) I couldn't find any reference to it online or otherwise to constrain my creativity, and 3) It's called Ass.

Pre-order your copy today at the Fantagraphics online store.

"KNOW" Exhibition

I was lucky enough to be asked to be in this exhibition organized by the very hard-working Mark Murphy. It will be taking place near Art Basel in Miami this December. He called on many artists to submit 10"x10"x pieces. Above is my contribution. It is a portrait of my D&D character.

From Mark's blog:

"'KNOW' featured at this year's Gen Art Vanguard Fair is an exhibition comprised of many inspired artisans that represent a diverse cross section of the fine art world. All of the work has been created specifically for the "KNOW" exhibition and hopes to introduce you to emerging and known talent who have no fear when incorporating digital painting, mixed media, comics, traditional painting, rendering and photographic styles into their work."

Check out the preview page for this show on Mark Murphy's blog.

commissions for you

With the first 3 done and in the mail, I thought I'd share some of these drawings that I've finished. I hope they are enjoyed by all...

Subaru is doing well, eating and going to the bathroom and has gone through all of her antibiotics. I might take her in again to make sure she is all right. Thanks again to everyone who bought a drawing!

-Levon

$300 Kitty Bailout of 2008

In an unexpected time of crisis, Subaru, my cat, has stopped eating and peeing and needs to go to the vet. Hospitalization, blood tests, and urinalysis is going to run us about $300, and I'm running out of personal belongings to sell.

So, I'm setting aside all personal projects to raise funds for Subaru via commissioned art sale. I'm now doing frame quality top of the line drawings starting at the low price of $20. After the first 5 purchases, the price goes up to $40, until I sell 10 of these drawings, then I'm ending the sale. Just click on the button down there, and you'll be taken to my paypal, where you can order your drawing.

Drawing Specs:
8"x10" paper, signed, personalized, and numbered. Pen and brushed ink drawing in the style of this drawing, on quality Ivory Classic Crest heavy weight cover stock.

This will be a limited edition of 10 drawings commemorating the obscene amount of love I have for this cat.


UPDATE: I already hit 5 drawings! the price is now $40

UPDATE 2: WE'RE SOLD OUT! Thanks to everyone who bought a piece. Watch this space for offers like this in the future and I'll keep you updated on Subaru's health.

Palin

I drew this one from memory...

New Poster

I illustrated and designed this poster for my friend's band, Orange Monkey. If you're in the L.A. area you should check them out as they just released their newest album and will be giving it away for free at their show.

Love 'N' Two Strokes @ the Berdhouse Gallery

I'll have some new work for sale alongside some work from my moped gang starting next Saturday, August 30th going on for the month of September (I presume). The reception is this Saturday from 7pm-11pm. This is all going down at the Berdhouse Gallery in Echo Park. I'll post scans of the work next week!

Edit: Here's the address and info for the gallery

Opening Reception
Saturday, August 30th 2008
7pm-12am

1505 1/2 Echo Park Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90026
213.482.9976

GDF Wrsitbands at Hot Topic

The Giraffe Death Force cartoon hit a snag... but who needs a cartoon? cut the crap and just go and buy a wristband at a local Hot Topic store at a mall near you, or just order some online here.

Comics?!

I've embarked on my first ever Ambitious Graphic Novel. I don't have a name for it yet...but the first chapter will be done by the end of the year (around November).

super*MARKET this weekend

I'll be sharing a space with Tom Neely at the super*MARKET event this Sunday, March 30th.

at

Meltdown Comics and Collectibles
7522 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
11am-6pm

I'll have available copies of Fork Frenzy #1, Ordinary Fieldbook, H&G #1 and #2, and some t-shirts.

I'm a featured animator though I haven't released the GDF: The Animated Series yet. I'll have little flyers for that available. More news on that to come. It's currently in the works, and will probably be fancier than I had planned. hopefully people will like it, but it's been a great collaborative process for me which is rare!

Magick Show @ the Pony Club

coming sooner than you think...

Drawing Club

pencil, 20 minute pose

Last night I sat in on a session at the Drawing Club. It was really great to draw from a live model after a long time of drawing from my head. After spending the last few months rendering monsters, focusing on classic line and shape relationships in the real world and other art school crap was just excellent mental exercise... Hope fully I can make this a weekly thing.

ball point pen, 5 minute poses

pencil, 15 minute pose

LA Weekly

Our reception made it onto the LAQ Weekly home page. You can see a slideshow here.

Igloo Tornado : The Aftermath

Igloo tornado, my art fraternity, just had our opening reception at Black Maria Gallery. My camera was out of batteries so I didn't get a chance to take any photos. I poached the one above from Tom Neely.

If you want to look see all of the pieces, and even buy one, check out the Black Maria gallery web site. A few of my little drawings are left.

Here is an interview with LAist.com that makes me look really good.

Reception pics from opening night.

More pics!

That's all for now. I'll have some exciting news in a couple of weeks. It's nice to have stuff to blog about for a change.

What time is it?

If you don't know, consider purchasing this clock that I painted for an upcoming show at the Pony Club, in Portland Oregon.The show is titled "11:11", which is fantastic, because whenever I notice that it's 11:11, I say outloud "Hey, it's 11:11". The usual response is "So, what?" Then I point out "It's 4 ones in a row." I guess that isn't a very interesting conversation. Below is a detail.

Let me tell you... I think I am done with painting on objects. I don't have anything against it personally, but I always run into problems. Well, at least it's functional.

Edit: Here is the postcard for the show with pertinent details.

more preview

Igloo Tornado at Black Maria: Round 2

Guess what, I'm posting on here again. Here's a sneak peak at a piece from my upcoming art show. It's with my buddies in Igloo Tornado at the awesome Black Maria gallery. I went out on limb on a lot of these pieces and it's been a lot of work but I hope people like it!

Black Maria Gallery
3137 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
323.660.9393
info@blackmariagallery.com

Flock Yeah!

RGB Guitars

A year or two ago, I painted this guitar for my friend Ryan. I'll be doing another one soon, hopefully it will be even better than this one. I remember at the time when I was painting it, I was really infatuated with cherry blossoms. What else to say? One day I hope to play it. I am really no good at music. I think I lack the patience to learn. I've "studied" 4 musical instruments in depth and today can't remember anything. It's sort of depressing to watch other people say "oh im not really good", crack their knuckles and bust out a mean Hendrix jam. I get upset whenever I watch that scene in Back to the Future where Marty lays down those heavy riffs at the prom and the simple 50's teenagers are blown away by the futuristic music. I wish I could do that.. Come to think of it, I see the same expressions on peoples faces when they see me play, so maybe I actually am just being humble here...

Link: RGB Guitars

It looks like my old friend and rising star Mike Bertino has been creating comics again. I got to peruse his almost-complete first issue of Pinwheel this weekend and it is pretty fucking rad. I've loved his Trigger comics since back when we were both just figuring stuff out. One of the best times I had was when I stayed up with him to make shitty 24-hour comics. Here: you can check out some more images on his blog.

Process, Miscellaneous

I thought I'd post about some recent work I was doing, as well as some loose ends I've been wanting to share.



First off, here is a photo of my latest drawing in progress. You can see that there is a random element to the way i work on my drawings. I try to hold on for as long as I can to the sense of being lost in the drawing, letting the randomness pull me into places that I wouldn't otherwise, until I finally am able to control it. This means no sketches, no pencil lines that are later erased. This is basically a way to keep myself from burning out on process. In art school they teach you to build from a solid foundation such as skeletal underdrawings, and in my experience crosshatching was generally frowned upon. It all depends on how you look at it, I guess. I use crosshatching sometimes as a sculptral outlet. The other good thing about crosshatching is if you fuck up, you can always add more lines and the mistakes makes it more interesting. Another trick I use is to start with details and build around it, and if im drawing a figure, i'll start with a weird area such as the arm pit or elbow.



During my last year of art school, I was convinced that I needed to send out postcards to promote my work. What I ended up with was a box of 1000 postcards reproduced in poor quality, with an outdated mailing address. money down the drain. This "wallpaper" was my wife's idea of efficiency. Not bad!



Here's a drawing Kaz Strzepek traded to me. I have been carrying an old monster manual around with me from which I've been drawing inspiration, and at comicon we decided to trade drawings of Mindflayers. Maybe you're noticing a theme. Maybe I can get Kaz to scan the drawing I did for him. It was a mind flayer punching a blob.

Finally...



If you're in L.A., you should go to fellow igloo and good friend Tom Neely's art opening at Black Maria. If you can't make the opening, be sure to go because it's going to be crazy and badass. Reception is Saturday, September 15th, 7-11 pm, show runs from September 15 to October 15, 2007. You can find more info by clicking the links below.

Black Maria Web site
Tom's Web site

What I like to do on Tuesday nights

Cowabunga to All

Levon Jihanian
Originally uploaded by Jacob Covey

Here's the ninja turtles drawing i drew in Jacob Covey's sketchbook at the Comicon San Diego. I used to be a big fan of these bodacious green dudes and it's nice to know that a big chunk of that ninja turtle money is going toward funding new independent comics artist through grants.

I've really been liking Jacob's cover design for Fantagraphics, which includes that huge Popeye book and the Dennis the Menace books. Not to mention he is responsible for that amazing Beasts book that came out earlier this year.

San Diego

If you're going to San Diego this year, here's a quick list of what I'll be selling at the Igloo Tornado/Sparkplug table:

Mini-Sketchbook yet untitled (full color!)
The Only One There Could Ever Be - Illustrated book of personal poems (color?)
Henry & Glenn #1
Henry & Glenn #2 (Hall&Oates)
"Superhero" t-shirt
A new t-shirt
a bunch of prints from years gone by
original art

I'll also be there signing books and drawing pitchers.

Also for sale will be Tom Neely's new Blot book. Serious hardcore inkblot action.
Sketchbooks by the other igloo tornado members (we might have a "pack")
new t-shirt by Scot Nobles
More Original Art.

Levon