the Shake Shack on Santa Fe

Our neighbors recently opened up a little restaurant called the Shake Shack on Santa Fe in old downtown OP, and asked if we could help them out with signage. The idea here is simple; serve up good old fashioned burgers and shakes, with an emphasis on being local, organic, and sustainable. A simple hand-done, nostalgic solution felt fitting. -m

Need I say more...?

I (heart) After Effects :) -m

GILGONGO album

I recently had the great pleasure of working with an old friend from college, Mr. Michael Marsicano, on the album artwork and design for the band Gilgongo. He flew out to KC to brainstorm old school, face to face. The idea we ran with is to have this spider vixen on the cover with an expression leaving you to assume she's awaiting her next victim. Opening to the inside reveals a guy actually wrapping himself up in her web, victimizing himself.. a theme found within. We wanted the colors to support the overall melancholy vibe. The grey on the disc shown above is faked in to represent the raw disc, which slips out of the inside right panel. He illustrated the exquisite figurative work, I worked all of the supporting elements, layout, and lettering. -C

Greaserama II

Greaserama

This Labor Day we met up with friends to check out Kansas City's 9th annual Greaserama car show. From rusty grime, to pristine perfection, this custom car and bike collective left me wishing I had more time on my hands, a bigger garage, and an old car to play with. Set in an old drive in theatre, there was cheap beer, big hair, and a steady stream of live surf punk/rockabilly music. Though regrettably we didn't stay, at night they were playing a double feature of Grindhouse and Sin City. Finding inspiration in unexpected places is refreshing. -C

Frida

Our friends Emily and Sergio recently had a baby shower. As one of their gifts a couple of girls and I designed different iron transfers for the onesies. Knowing that Emily and Sergio always have been big Frida Kahlo fans, I decided that their baby must be a fan as well :) -m

Šimo Ešić

Recently I was lucky enough to go back to Bosnia for a very short but sweet visit. Besides visiting family and friends, I also met someone who I greatly admire. Šimo Ešić is a children's book author whose books I read as a kid. He now owns his own publishing company and has done some very nice work indeed. Meeting him was very cool for me. I think I could have spent hours talking with him about children's books. The best part of it all is that he asked me to illustrate one of his books! I am super excited about it, and have already started in between finishing some other projects.

Of course, I can't show any of my progress until it's completed (and yes, it'll be a while since it's a 60 page book) ,but here is one example of his books- my favorite children's book right now. It's a "baby's firsts" book, and doesn't look like the typical pastel colored BORING baby book we're so used to. It was illustrated by Ljiljana Manzalovic i Mihailo Pisanjuk. I absolutely love their retro style and Šimo's writing is very fun,clever and still sophisticated.

The cover


This is a page for the baby's vaccines. Given the theme, this could not be more adorable.


This is a page for baby's first photo. I LOVE the camera illustration!


Interestingly enough there is a 'happy event' and 'sad event' page in this book. One of my favorite illustrations. Really a great solution for the situation.


Last but not least, the end pages with the little "bird-notes" :)

ICON6

One of many reasons why I love working for Hallmark is that it truly feels like an extension of my art education. I still feel like a student. We're offered many amazing lectures, workshops, research days, and every so often (used to be much more common in the pre-sucky-economy-days) we get to go on a trip. A few months ago a friend of mine and I were asked if we wanted to attend the ICON6 conference in L.A. this July. Who would say no to that? This was my first time at ICON. We had a great time, saw many many lectures, and met some amazing artists and art directors. Since this was mainly a group of freelance artists, there were a few topics that seemed to come up time and time again:

illustration vs. animation
contract lingo
getting paid for what you do

It was evident very early on that a lot of clients now a days expect illustrators to have animation skills. This started a debate whether illustrators should expand their skill sets, or continue to illustrate while animators did the animation. In the end, Jesus de Francisco from Motion Theory said it best: Use whatever tool you personally like to tell a story in the best possible way. All movies start with drawings. I agree with him. No one should learn a skill set just because. If animation interests you, now is the perfect time to explore it. If not, there are many other ways to tell a story.

Discussions about contracts were very interesting to me. After hearing many examples and personal stories, I realized that everyone gets to hear the "Well, you're the first illustrator that has a problem with this part of the contract..." from at least one client. I have to say that after this conference I feel much more confident about pricing my work and asking for what I need in a contract to be spelled out in a simple language.

Another thing that illustrators experience on a regular basis is being asked to do work for free. Melinda Beck spoke on this subject. She read a very powerful letter that she had written to a big company who had asked her to do a piece for free because it would be great promotion for her and besides, other successful illustrators have already agreed to it as well... Her letter was so well written, and unlike many illustrators who have the need to blurt out the f word every few seconds, she did it very diplomatically and positively. I wish I had a copy of that letter. I'd frame it and put it in my studio, and I'd read it any time I needed a little confidence boost. There are times and reasons when pro-bono work is very appropriate and fun. But this is something everyone needs to figure out for themselves. However, no one should ever do free work for big corporations and companies.

And lastly, here's a great Q and A quote from the Wayne White presentation:

Audience:"Is the term illustrator outdated?"
Wayne: "Yes. You should be called creationists."

Tat Progress: Session Two

Coming along nicely! -C

HOW's Top 10

HOW magazine has listed us as one of their website’s "Top 10" sites to see for the month of August 2010! We are excited and humbled to be part of such a talented group. Thank you HOW!

Refugees: Behind the Curtains

This is Mirna's original gouache for the Refugees piece. We're experimenting with different approaches to our collaboration process to see what we enjoy best. This turned out to be one starts, the other finishes. -C

Stormy

Sometimes we have to take risks and weather a storm, no matter what. That's what this little 5x7 gouache piece is about. My themes don't always reflect what I'm going through in my personal life. Something, however, sparks each piece. A lot of times it's movies, books, conversations with friends and family, etc. Enjoy! -m

Tat progress: Session 1

Session 1 complete! Chet Duvenci from the Mercy Seat is the artist inking. Great experience thus far. He's been able to keep the integrity of the detail throughout! And a down to earth dude at that. Jake's arm should take 3 sessions; mine 3 to 4. More to come. -C

Refugees

This is a piece Chris and I collaborated on recently. Being a refugee is an all too familiar concept to me, so I set the stage with a gouache painting. I wanted to show the adaptation that takes place when people are forced to leave their homes and cultures. Chris used symbolism in the characters and other elements throughout to depict the various stages of adaptation, ranging from acceptance to fear. We hope to collaborate a lot more in the very near future. -m

twoheadedbeast.net

We're pleased to say, our website has gone live! And yes, we're 'dot net'. We almost feel like this is a new beginning as artists. I thank Mirna for her patience while I spent countless hours away wrapping my head around this site, and Jake for giving these still environments life and function. Please check back often. We will be spending the next little while just creating. I've got a lot on my mind that I'm looking forward to express, as does Mirna. Thanks, and enjoy!

2HB

New Adverntures

This is a little gouache painting I did for a friend who just retired from Hallmark. Just wanted to wish her many new exciting adventures :) -m

Dinosaur Exhibit

I recently did a chalk mural for the Union Station Dinosaur Exhibit.
Besides some silliness on a sidewalk, chalk had never been my thing... However, I really enjoyed myself. The black chalk wall really made the otherwise pale, pastel colors pop. As always, Chris was there to help me block in colors, guide me in the layout of this giant wall, and most of all, take some great photos :) -m

Performing Soon!

After countless days and nights, our website is finally about to go live in July! The components of it have been designed and are now being web crafted by our good friend and tech geek, Jake Fowler. Thank you, thank you to anyone who's followed our blog up to this point. This started off as a place to share anything art related we did with our family and friends. We will continue posting to this blog to share our more casual art endeavors, but we are excited to have a proper place to house our work, separately and collaboratively. Our new web address is www.twoheadedbeast.net

Please stay tuned and spread the good word.

Mirna + Chris

tat work-in-progress

These are some shots of my in-progress inking. -C

For Amy

My friend Amy just lost her mom unexpectedly. I felt really sad for her. So what do you say to someone who is going through grief? I'm not that great with words, but hopefully this piece that I made for her will remind her of all the good feelings only a mom can bring.

My Tattoo

The path from life to death, the surreal and the real being one and the same, and the concept of time are all topics that way heavy on my mind. My arms have already been inked; designated for life and death in my family. My right arm represents my heritage and birth, my left arm represents those who have passed. I had this concept to tie in both arms with a piece spanning my chest, using symbolism to tie in the above mentioned themes. Here's the outcome. -C

Jake's Tattoo

A good friend of mine wanted me to make him a tattoo consisting of three components: A cephalopod, bones, and machinery. Here's the outcome. -C

Ukrainian Egg Painting

A friend at work gave an Ukrainian Egg workshop recently. I had taken it last year and loved it, so I signed up again. It's a very interesting technique that requires some planing and steady hands. I have neither one of those qualities, but I still enjoyed it enough to buy my own kit and do some at home. I just love how bright the colors turn out. Enjoy! -m

Life's Bitter Ironies qotd

Shoeboxblog. -C

Monsters & Robots Workshop

Mirna and I recently taught a workshop to my son Alex's 3rd grade art class. Based on some basic art theories and Ed Emberly's teachings, the goal was to get them to see that you can make anything out of basic shapes and lines, in this case, monsters and robots!

First we provided pre-drawn water color shapes and asked them to add facial features, arms, legs, and any other parts they think would enhance their monster/robot.

Next, they went freestyle and painted their own shape using water colors, adding on any lines they wished.

Lastly, they were challenged to finish someone else's creation by painting a shape and switching with a buddy.