"Shady Characters" Opening Reception

Hey everybody!
It's Friday...and tonight from 6 to 9 is the "Shady Characters" art opening! I've got three pieces in the show (including the one above), so come on out!!! Below is all the info:

The exhibit is displayed at the "Live With Animals" gallery at 210 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. 11211 (Entrance on Metropolitan).

In addition to fantastic art they've also signed up a few really great djs to play your favorite rock, punk & metal jams! "Shady Characters" will feature rotating sets by Miss Chip, Damien Rod Steez, and Walletboy!!! Also... there will be an after party at Savalas 285 Bedford Ave. (between South1st & Grand)

The show is titled "Shady Characters" & will pretty much be just an explosion of incredible character design! Shady Characters are everywhere in every city & suburb. Whether it be the nutjob on the subway, or that weirdo guy w/ the front-butt at the office, shady characters always manage to find their way in to our every day lives. "Shady Characters" is simply a tribute to all of the creepers and tweakers, outcasts and outlaws, and freaks and geeks, we encounter daily. As much as they creep us out, they equally fascinate us... but don't make eye contact... you don't want to stare!

Warning Signs

An illustration about relationship road hazards for gay gentlemen. I've never seen a construction worker like that...but hey, it could happen, right? I have, however, weathered the other dangers, with a mixture of success and failure.

Shady Characters

Hey everybody, I got three drawings accepted into my first New York art show! The painting above, titled "Masks", is one of the three pieces. I created this in Atlanta before moving here, but my new friend, Jason, thinks this piece is ALL New York. I guess he would know. He's been here 10 (12?) years. Once a Parson's fashion student, he's now head designer for 2xist Men's Underwear! Not bad for someone who's just over thirty – he's completely living the Project Runway lifestyle! Not only that, but he's a super nice guy, too. It must be interesting designing Men's underwear for a living...maybe I can convince him to buy this piece!

Getting back to the topic at hand, check out the official event info. The show is titled "Shady Characters", and you can read more about it here: Good Deal. The curator, Jared Deal, was gracious enough to allow me to submit work, which he added to the exhibit! Several big names in the animation industry from NY, LA, and Toronto are included in the show, so come on out and show your support! The opening reception is Friday, July 28th, from 6 to 9 pm at the "Live with Animals" gallery in Williamsburg. Hope to see ya there!

Bad kitty!

Hey people, I put up yet another illustration. Geez...this is becoming less and less a traditional "blog", and more of a digital bulletin board for my drawings. Too many illustration assignments, too little time to write anything!

In any case, this was another NYPress assignment, and I tried to have fun with it. Overall, I think it came out a bit too stereotypically "stock-illustration-esque", but I guess it works. The article was about reading the news, and how newer forms of technology are driving newspapers and other print-media out of existence. It's sad but true. Hopefully, there are enough people out there who still like to curl up with a weekly paper on a Sunday afternoon, to keep it from going out of fashion.

Also, I added a whole bunch more illustrations from the kid's show to my website. I'd love opinions on the site navigation...and does anyone know how to upload movies to a webpage? I'm trying to upload my reel and a few short animations...

Click here!

Doormat

Here's an illo I did for an article about bad boyfriends. Have you ever been treated like a doormat before? Ever date someone who liked to walk in the door and immediately wipe their feet on you? Ever fall for someone who treated you like dirt stuck to the bottom of their shoe? Ever been infatuated with someone who slowly sucked you into a world of lies and delusion? Or who just ignored you?

I have once. My first-ever boyfriend was pretty lousy. Luckily, the relationship didn't last long, because I was in high school and he was in college, and eventually he had to return to Indiana for his Sophomore year. I like to think I got my first disasterous relationship over pretty quickly.

The key is not to repeat it, and luckily, I learned quickly the first time it happened. I wised up and learned how to avoid the "bad boyfriend". Thankfully, I feel I can say most of my boyfriends since then have been pretty good guys.

You know what they say:
"You have to lie down to be walked on."

The Great Yokai War and "Super-snore"

I saw Superman over the weekend, and it was a bit of a let down after all the hype. Thankfully, Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey (as the villians) kept it somewhat enjoyable. Brandon Routh definitely wasn't to blame, because his performance was eerily spot-on. I guess the trouble for me lies with Kate Bosworth. Her overly serious, joyless Lois Lane fell flat for me. Not to mention my suspension of disbelief was shattered everytime I saw her flung around a plane/beaten by henchmen/knocked unconscious by metal doors, only to emerge bruise-free, and looking as if she just starred in a Revlon commercial. By hey, that's Hollywood!

On the other hand, the most fun I've had at the movies recently was when I went to see "The Great Yokai War". Check out the still (above) from the film! Doesn't that look like fun??? The hilarious part is, it's a kid's movie, yet it was the weirdest, most twisted thing I've seen all year.

Here's a blurb about it, just to pique your interest:
"The flick kicks off in true family film fashion with a nightmare vision of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, a slinky female demoness (played by Chiaki Kuriyama of KILL BILL VOL. 1 and BATTLE ROYALE) in a short skirt and wielding a whip, and then the birth of a goo-covered, flayed, screeching cow fetus who prophesizes the apocalypse. It's a miracle kids in Japan can sleep at all."

Here, read some more:
The Great Yokai War

New & Improved

Hello friends, Happy 4th of July!

I spent the weekend relaxing, taking in a Madonna concert, watching fireworks, and creating a new identity for my website. Check it out. I'm still tweaking it a bit, but I'm liking where I've arrived so far. My old idea-pen logo still exists in my masthead above, but I think this reworked version is more progressive. What do you think?

Also, check out my portfolio website: www.justinwinslow.com
I've added a bunch of new illustrations to the gallery.

Hope you had a great holiday!

Coming to America

I'm slowly getting more freelance illustration work with local papers. Here's a recent assignment I did for the NY Press about gay asylum seekers (for their Gay Pride issue). Check it out: Out Via JFK

I want to send a thank you out to Jerry, of lo admito, who hooked me up with this.

Behold, The Incredible, Ingenious, Glittering Jeff

Where does one start when describing Jeff? I've been meaning to post about him for well over a month now, and haven't found the proper words (and kept making excuses). He can't be fully described or appreciated through a measly blog post, but here's a beginning...

Jeff breezed into town at the beginning of April and stayed with me for a looong getaway weekend. It's truly a testament to our friendship that we have remained on the same page all this time since art school. We're still best buds, ex-roommate survivors, colleagues in art, and partners in crime. Besides two other people I've posted about on this blog, he's my longest running best friend. He knows me inside and out, and totally gets me. He knows my strengths and my weaknesses. He knows all my neurotic insanity, my quirks, and funny ticks. Even though he's lived in Chicago for the past (seven?) years, and I've been in Atlanta (and now NY), we still get along just like old times. This was proven to me last Fall when he visited me in Atlanta, and this Spring when he visited me here. I can't express how badly I wish he would move to this city! (Hint, hint, c'mon Jeff)


We met freshman year of college, and we've been as thick as thieves ever since. From the very beginning, I've been dazzled by his electric personality, acerbic wit, and rebelious stance on life. He's the kind of badass friend you want to skip classes with, sneak over to the mall with, try on ridiculous clothes, have a few drinks, make fun of people, take in an obscure foreign film, discuss philosophy, and then possibly end the evening enjoying raunchy performances at your local male strip club while rehashing the arthouse fare you took in earlier. I've learned so much from Jeff. He was the spice I desperately needed in my life at eighteen, when I first arrived at art school. I was SUCH a goody-two-shoes back then! Jeff helped bring me out of my shell, and draw out my fun-loving, mischievious side. I only hope I've entertained, inspired, and possibly guided him as much as he has for me, as a friend, an artist, and a fellow thirty-year old (GASP!)

What's really remarkable about Jeff is his duality. He's like the bad kid in the neighborhood, always getting you into trouble, only Jeff also has a highly responsible, driven, and ambitious side as well. He's an amazing artist and filmmaker. I admire him for sticking to his guns, and not compromising his vision with his artmaking. He recently finished a feature length independant film titled "Into It", and is busy shopping it around to film festivals and the like. I think he's going to break out BIGTIME any year now, and I plan to go to the opening screenings of his films. I consider him a modern John Waters, multiplied by Gregg Araki, divided by Gus Van Sant in the making! I adore the dark, twisted, ironic humor in his work.

You can even IMDb him: just click here!
Jeff amazes me, and I can't wait to see what he does next.


Here's yet another pic. This one depicts his softer, sweeter side.
(right?) He's practically a gay male Cindy Sherman, capable of slipping into whatever role necessary to create a stirring film still or photograph. Here's to Jeff: a magnificent actor, performer, artist, and filmmaker...

...and of course, one helluva friend!
"CHRISTINA, GET OUT OF THAT BED!!!"

The Young

Younger guys are trouble. Wouldn't you agree?

Has anyone out there dated a younger guy, only to find out they were dating a male version of "Lolita?"

I wanted this illustration to sum up the cute, but dangerous allure of the budding young homo. Ha ha!

Summer Slacking

Summer is here and I've officially become a bad blogger.

But here's some Summer sketches to look at (to prove that at least I'm doing SOME work). They're devoid of life right now, but they'll eventually have puppets frolicking within them.

Frogger

Hey everyone. Sorry I've been posting so erratically lately. I've been a little under the weather, feeling like a toad. The beginning of June ushered in a series of HOT, muggy days, that seemed to come out of nowhere! Once I got my ac unit the way I like it: blowing out nice, cool air, the weather decided to dip back into early Spring temperatures, sending my sinuses into freak out mode. Today, I have a case of the sniffles, due to all the forcast inconsistency. In addition to wildly wavering barometric pressure, life in New York can feel like a game of Frogger sometimes; You're trying to cross the street, and everything just seems to be out to get you, trying to squash you flat. Hopefully, I'll get back home to my lillypad safely...

Road Trip!

Memorial Day weekend came and went in a flash, folks! Three newfound, New York friends and I piled into a car and drove to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for a loooong weekend getaway. The news reports predicted rain, yet the weather couldn't have been more ideal. It was the perfect introduction to Summer!

We arrived in Rehoboth and found the beachhouse. It was gigantic. All in all, 22 guys were spending their weekend there! I knew most of them from Baltimore, from back when I was in school, yet there were new faces in the crowd as well. Way back in '97, '98, and '99 I had gone on a couple of Rehoboth trips, but I hadn't been in six years, since moving back to Atlanta. Now that I'm back in the Northeast, I'm back in the gang, and BOY, has it multiplied since I last went.

The weekend was mostly spent catching up with everyone, basking in the sun, and drinking...haha! There was plenty of beachhouse scandal as well, all of it too wild to report on this blog, but it was all in good fun. In some ways, the Rehoboth trips have come to resemble the frat parties we all avoided in college. It's funny how you can get a bunch of upstanding young professionals in a house on the beach over a holiday weekend, and all hell breaks loose! These are the moments worth living for. These are the stories and memories we'll treasure forever.

Quick, close your virgin eyes!

Alright, I know some of my family reads this blog, so I'm asking that you pretend you didn't see this post...okay? Just erase it from your memory-banks right now. It's all much more innocent than it looks, I promise! I wasn't going to post this, but then I thought, "hey, I gotta' express myself, AND the many different facets of my personality!" So here we go...

This past weekend I went to the New York Erotic Art Fair. It was quite an interesting event. It was sponsored by the Tom of Finland Foundation, and held at the NY LGBT Community Center in the West Village. I was expecting to see lots of low, looooow brow art, and possibly some amusing "nephew-art" as well, but all in all, I was impressed by the overall quality of the work on display.

Mind you, it wasn't the Met, but like I said, I was pleasantly surprised by the craftmanship within many of the images on display. Of course, they were all relegated to the theme of erotic art, but it was amazing to see all the diversity within that parameter. I thought several of the artist's were amazing, and it was a fun change from the stuffy, classical antiquity you see in regular museums.

Not only did they have lots of art, but they also had continuous life drawing sessions running all day, free and open to anyone! It was fun. I used to attend (and run) a weekly life drawing session in Atlanta, but I have yet to join a drawing group here in NY, so I took advantage of the free opportunity to sketch some models.

And of course, since it was an erotic art fair, the models were encouraged to pose nude in more...ahem...suggestive poses! Some of them went way beyond the rules enforced in your everday life drawing session, which was fascinating to see, just for the spectacle of it all! I included one of my sketches above. It's from a pose of two burly fellows who, over the course of the ten minutes they were on display, got friskier and friskier with each other. From a technical point of view, it was really challenging to draw figures interacting with one another, especially in such a dramatic way. From a perv point of view, it was JUST FUN!

I plan to go back whenever they offer more figure drawing of this nature again. Heh heh...

I feel like a little girl!

Hey Mom, it's the room I always wanted! Haha!
(just kidding...well, sort of)

Actually, this is another room in the "playhouse" I've been designing for the kids' show. The character who inhabits this room on the show is a little puppy, and she's a cheerleader! That explains one of the details in the background...can you find it? (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Mom

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You are wonderful. I want to devote a post all to you for your special day, because as far as mothers go, you're the best.

Loving. Nuturing. Beautiful. Understanding. Caring. Generous. Giving. Sweet. Creative. Smart. Wise. Kind. Strong.


All these words describe you. You are an inspiration to me. You have given so much, not expecting anything in return. I only hope you can sit back on this day, and smile with pride at how Patrick, Philip, and I have turned out. We want to make you proud. You've sacrificed so much for us, and provided everything we've needed on our paths through life. We'll never forget that.


This is such a neat photo. I paused before posting this one, because it's from your wedding anouncement clipping, but I think it encapsulates your personality.

I, personally, have always been awed by your wisdom and patience while bringing us up. Thank you so much for everything you've done and everything you continue to do. Thank you for the gift of my values, my personality, my artistic talent, and eternal optimisim. Thank you for always being there for me, and accepting me, no matter what.

I came out to you at sixteen, and you gave me the gift of continual, unconditional acceptance. That alone is an amazing example of your kindness and understanding, and I will always treasure that.

You're the coolest. I love you.

Why can't we all just get along?

Yes, I am a designer at heart, underneath all the life drawing, rough sketching, and messy paint. I love making a drawing crisp, clean, and as close to graphic perfection as possible. Although...perfection always eludes me. But I suppose that's how it is with perfection - It doesn't exist. (Yet, I chase it anyway.)

This is an illustration I did for an article about domestic fighting...in gay relationships.

Luckily, none of my relationships have ended this way! I can't imagine being in an argument like this...but, perhaps after being with someone for twenty years, this is where you arrive! Ha ha

Sex, Cartoony Lines, and Videotape

Hee hee hee...

I just did another illo for the weekly column. The piece was about objectification and pornography. Here's how it turned out. Initially, I drew the guy more seriously (see sketch below), trying to make him alluring and sexy, but it looked forced and stiff (NO pun intended).

So, I did this version above, off the cuff, without much of an under-drawing...and I like it WAY more than the first one. I think it has a fun energy to it. It's funny - sometimes you just have to go with the flow - go with the natural flow of the ink lines, so to speak. I'm learning to trust my instincts more. Instincts are such an important part of drawing. I like how he looks so silly, and so grotesquely bloated, and like he's trying to be "pretty". I like how this kinds of pokes fun at the whole idea of objectifying someone. Aren't we all beautiful in our own little ways? Aren't we all ugly, too?

I realize, of course, that the viewfinder isn't large enough to cover much. Although, it doesn't look as if there's all that much to cover.

In Search of a Perfect Stranger

Hello all. I've let a few days slip by without posting, because I've been looking for a new roommate. This past weekend, my current roommate proposed that we sublet his room starting June first. It turns out he was awarded an opportunity to study abroad this Summer. Since breaking the news, we've been going about finding a new roommate for me, so it's been a little crazy.

I don't mind that he wants to break the lease, really. The tricky thing is I only have a MONTH to find a worthy roommate replacement, which is no easy task. I'm mostly concerned because I've experienced nightmare roommates before, and I know how hard it is to find a roomie who's responsible, clean, considerate, and who gels with my interests. I don't want to end up with some freak, who stresses me out for the rest of the year, you know what I mean?

So if you know someone cool, who's looking for a convenient spot on the Upper West Side, let me know. My roommate placed an ad on Craigslist, and we've already gotten a flurry of responses, so things are looking good. Hopefully, this won't be that difficult, after all...but you never know.

Now we're cookin'

I wanna be the Donna Reed of Photoshop Backgrounds. I want my animated friends to come home to a hot meal, in an immaculately decorated home. They can sit at the table regaling me with the day's adventures, as I make cookies. I'll smile demurely and say things like, "Oh, you!" and "How about seconds, honey?" and "Can we get an Electrojuicer Deluxe like the Jones' have, pleeeeaaaase dear?"

Back in reality, this is yet another background for the secret show I'm working on.