self portraits of a goon

here are a few self portrait typed pieces from recently. i did this lego zach sketch at work and then came home and cleaned it up. i will probably go back again and finish it off real nice but for now this is where it stands. also thinking of a little comic strip thing maybe, but anyway the character i designed for myself and also used to break in a fresh marker. then the weirdest self portrait to date. long back story on the concept of the psychedelic toaster thing but after that was in my head the idea of jesus' face showing up in burnt toast made me laugh. so then it became zach toast. plus, let's be real, you'd rather see me at breakfast because you wouldn't feel sacrilegious eating that toast. just sacr-elicious! or zachreligious. or something. still i think its both fun AND stupid!
-z

wrassles maniac

the previously promised wrestling purge. here are the last few wrassles drawings i've got in the bag and will leave you alone about this for at least a little while then. this whole exercise of the simple, stylized, shape-based wrestler cartoons was quite fun and distracted me somewhat from my dumb job. we've got dusty rhodes the american dream (which is probably going to be abe's halloween costume this year), big e langston the current ic champ, colt "boom boom" cabana, the big red monster kane, and an iron sheik cartoony thing. if you're a fan of the wrassles and of the podcasts might i suggest colt cabana's art of wrestling podcast. its fantastic. also practically any match he is in. this guy understands what wrestling can be on so many levels and is the most entertaining wrestler you've probably not heard of. also he and cm punk are besties and trained together so watching their early stuff in the indies is amazing. two guys trying to elevate and improve their sport. also treat yourself to practically any dusty rhodes promo. probably the best mic worker ever. and that accent/slur combo is pure magic. i can't hear it without trying to mimic it. also, since i am clearly a grown up and not obsessed with childish things like pro wrestling and action figures, my new pro wrestling action figures! i like toys and hadn't bought any in a long time so i figured "treat yo'self!" plus what with punk quitting(?) i figured buy now while cheapish and available. anyhow, there is the last wrestling post on the horizon, but probably not forever. also i am posting a palette cleanser post after this too.

what you gonna do, brother, when zachamania runs out of wrassles?

later

-z

speed of lightning, roar of thunder

aforementioned potential print project post (possibly puppies). also, absurd alliteration abounds! so, about a year and a half ago i sketched up a bulldog and finished it up digitally. then found a weeny dog sketch and did likewise and any good series needs at least 3 so i drew up a great dane and put them together. the series is hanging in our house and maybe 1 or 2 other places. for a while i had thought about doing another set of 3 for one big puppy series. so here they be. i settled on the pug because i am still trying to convince amanda that they are indeed cute, the boston on account of pretty much because mark and laurie have one, and the st. bernard because i want one right now. 
seriously. 
right now. 
go get me one.
this is the original 3 (weeny, bully, dane) all of which were tweaked substantially to fit the new style of the series (and because the old ones were sloppy and not good). also the new pretty much finished pups and their sketchy pasts. there are a few nitpicky things i will be changing before they're done but this is pretty close. depending how ambitious i am i might start selling these as posters and postcards on etsy or some such interwebs art-shilling place. i'll post pics when i get them done and printed and framed and hanged on our walls and let you know the details when and if i start selling prints of my stuff.
thanks guys and gals
later
-z

shattered dreams

alright, after the excitement and quality of the previous post with the book and the romance and the awww factor it's going to be tough to match that. 
with that in mind, wrassles. 
listen. i understand. wrassles aint for everybody, but i've been enjoying this little project and the distraction it provides keeps me from murdering people at my stupid job. so here's more wrassles. this is goldust. an amazingly talented wrestler with a gimmick way ahead of its time. funny, awkward and scary all at once he recently returned to the ring better than ever. so heres the sketch, final, and a scene with him in it. classic goldie pose with modern goldie looks. i will probably do one more big wrassles post and purge myself for a while.
on a more universal note, i'm thinking of putting together some prints to put up for sale on the interwebs somewhere. no wrestlers even! cute things! funny things! other things! the one series i am working on is the second half of a series of 6 i am going to offer in extra large postcard size as a series and probably larger individual prints. if you've been to our place in the last year or so you've seen the first triptych hanging around so here are some clues (super tricky ones) as to the 2nd grouping of 3 illustrations in their early sketch form… (they're super cute too…)
anyhoozle, there's that. i'll keep you posted on new arts as i have been doing a lot lately and on the possible retail situation in the future as details arrive.
also, as it relates to that book, i do things like that so amanda will spend all day driving up to green bay with me and sam and benji to watch wrestling live! thats right. not only did we get to go see hulk hogan and the undertaker live, but she knew the chants and dances and stuff for the wrestlers that most didn't! and did them of her own accord! she also has wrestling opinions of her own! and likes goldust too! i ruined a perfectly good lady and turned her into a wrestling fan. for that i apologize. but now she's stuck with me so she has someone to talk wrestles with.
sorry if you read all of that, i owe you some minutes of your life back.
later
-z

ah, l'emur… a courtship in cartoons

here it is everybody! the super secret post i've been mentioning for a while now. monday february 10 was amanda and my third anniversary and i figured i should get her a legit present this year. so i finally sat down and started work on the fabled someday book project. 
a little more than 3 years ago amanda was my supervisor at work and i had done a drawing on a daily form that was turned it to her and it apparently made her day. when she told me that the following day, i went back and did another drawing. and did so every work day for the next 7 months even after we started dating and after she was no longer my supervisor. there ended up being 164 specific drawings in that particular series and she kept all of them. over the past few years i scanned all of them and tricked her into recording the date and titles of all of them.
then about 2 months ago i started researching online publishers to find someone with the large format i was looking for and nice finished products. i settled on blurb and set up a 12 by 12 layout and set to work. 
i may not be speaking for all designers, but this was super fun. title pages, credits, layout, flow, font choices, text layouts, bleeds, overlaps ooh man. i love the meticulous, finicky layout parts of design. i think it balances my goofball illustrative style. after spending most of the time getting everything to fit in place and look (if i do say so) very very nice, i set to work on a new illustration for the cover. the title is 'ah, l'emur… a courtship in cartoons' so obviously, lemur+beret+wine+baguette=dumb cover joke. it took a while and a bunch of sketches to get the lemur where i wanted him but i am quite pleased. 
so in the end amanda ended up with a 60 page 12 by 12 hardcover book with custom image wrap cover  filled with what amounts to my daily love letters to her over the beginning of our relationship. there's also a spread of art on our puppy too. she made it all the way to the front cover before she started crying but luckily didn't get any tears on the pages. :P
what's that guys? you went to the store and bought your lady something? awwww… that's so sweet. (j/k don't hate me)
anyway, this is my crowning achievement in design to this point. an entire book written, illustrated, and designed all by myself. there is nothing quite so satisfying as holding a real book that you made in your hands for the first time and flipping through it and it all looks just like you wanted it to.
if you really wanted to, i could post it as is for sale on blurb and you could buy a copy. however, the large scale hardcover image wrap format is super expensive, so i might get ambitious and scale down to a paperback at some point. probably not any time super soon, but i'll keep you posted here.

after all them words here's some pictures. first, cover illustration then some photos of the book and some of the drawings and some color art and some screen grabs of the spreads and what not. i'm very proud of this project.

thanks everyone for looking at my dumb little blog.
-z

ohhh yeeeeeeaahhhhh! it's vader time!

double wrestler post tonight! going old school with the macho one, randy savage! i love some macho man promos, that dude was nuts. also one of the 2 greatest elbow drops ever. but definitely the greatest dry, over-processed, formerly meat, protein-based snack spokeswrestler ever. then… it's time! it's time! it's vader time! i'll be real, the first time i remember vader was as ethan suplee's dad on boy meets world. he is also the dude who punched off mick foley's ear and one time broke his nose with a vicious series of forearms. also vader bomb. 
anyhow, zach's on a roll! regular blog postings for like a week straight now. 2 fresh tasty illustrations tonight AND super secret blog post coming tomorrow! the secret part is not so necessary any more but you'll have to wait anyhow.
thanks guys
-z

i am the tag team champions!

check it folks. another wrestler and another timely post! goodness gracious me. daniel bryan is pretty awesome and one would think on his way to a championship. i got back in to wrestling around the time he got his first heavyweight championship push and loved his work as a heel. see also his tag teamery with kane for more funnies and great matches. he released a pretty awesome shirt last spring with respect the beard on it and what not. it is eerily similar to a design i had sketched out a month before. soooo…. wwe should probably hire me to design tshirts and merch and then become best friends with all the wrestlers and then become the greatest champ since bruno sammartino. probably gonna happen. probably like next week or something. le sigh….

oh yeah. posts. so here is the sketch and final of the dbryan illustration and that tshirt sketch and the actual shirt made. i promise you i did that sketch a month before they debuted the shirt and pooped my pants when their design showed up on raw. so did amanda since she was being forced to watch wrestling as well. needless to say, i bought it immediately. crazy whacky happenstance. (my design is better).

also, SUPER SECRET PROJECT post coming within 72 hours folks! its a good'un! 

stay tuned!

later,

-z

world's strongest man!

part the second in the cute and/or cartoony wrestler series. he is the world's strongest man and arguably one of the greatest monster heels of all time, mark henry. this guy deserves another title run before he retires. he's too good not to get it. anyway the drawing turned out pretty decent AND i posted another entry within a week! you're going to get spoiled. i've got another pencil drawing in this series done and another half way through and another not far behind that so keep watching. 
also, SUPER SECRET PROJECT news! there should be a post up for it next week by wednesday for sure. i doubt you're as excited as i am, but it is pretty cool and a fairly impressive project. stay tuned!
thanks guys,
-z

best in the world!

listen guys, i've a confession. i love me some pro wrestling. for reals. it's a thing and we're all going to act like adults about it. that being said i stumbled across this artist online who does adorable illustrations of wrestlers which are amazing and so i took a crack at it this week. here is the first finished one, the best in the world, cm punk! he is indeed the best in the world and a favorite in our house here except for abe whose favorite is still the undertaker, because he is after all, abe's middle namesake. here be the sketch and the final colors. those tattoos were fun to scribble on there. probably going to do a few more of these so keep an eye out for them!
also! coming soon! like within 2 weeks! SUPER SECRET PROJECT POST! STAY TUNED?
later
-z