June 29, 2009
recession
[Backstory: About Hugh. Twitter. Newsletter. Book. Interview One. Interview Two. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades."EVIL PLANS".]
the count of three
[Backstory: About Hugh. Twitter. Newsletter. Book. Interview One. Interview Two. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades."EVIL PLANS".]
google vs bing
[Cartoon inspired by this blog post.]
[Backstory: About Hugh. Twitter. Newsletter. Book. Interview One. Interview Two. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades.#evilplans.]
June 23, 2009
doubting thomas
["Confused". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
I drew this cartoon earlier this evening.
It's conveys the state I found myself in, back in New York a decade ago, when I was doing what I consider to be my best, or at least, my most formative work.
No artist wants their best work behind them. No human being wants their best days behind them. Yet my my Inner Doubting Thomas keeps telling me, I'll never be that young again; I'll never have my work be that fresh & new again. Nor, sadly, will the world, at least to me.
To Hell with it. I'll carry on, regardless.
And of course, so will you, at whatever insanely impractical path you chose for yourself. We knew what we were doing, when we signed up for this tour of duty.
We still have a few tricks up our sleeves, don't we?
Doubting Thomas can go fuck himself...
[etc: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
June 18, 2009
the creative bug
[This quote was an excerpt from my last CDF Newsletter.]
[etc: About Hugh. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
June 8, 2009
george had a plan!
[etc: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
george
[etc: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
June 7, 2009
surrounded
[Hat tip to Kilgore Trout, of course....]
[etc: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
advertising moleskine
["Advertising Moleskine". 5"x7". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Dave Whittle, an advertising executive down in Australia, commissioned me to draw him a Moleskine, based on an old cartoon print-out of mine, that he had hanging on his office wall.
A Cube Grenade. Exactly.
Yes, I'll have it framed, like this one.
It was a fun project. It turned out well. I am pleased. Thanks, Dave!.
June 3, 2009
"ignore everybody" cube grenades: the new small print series
["Dinosaur"]
["Hughtrain"]
["Quality"]
["Talked"]
A week ago I wrote that we'd be producing some new prints based on some of the cartoons appearing in my book, IGNORE EVERYBODY.
After receiving a lot of feedback from y'all, we decided on the four designs above. Here are some notes:
1. They'll be smaller. Approx 9.5"x14", roughly the same dimensions as my Mac laptop.Over the next week, I'll be working out all the details with this new size. Watch this space.2. They'll be more affordable. Circa $125.00 US, $400.00 for the complete set of four.
3. They'll be of the same high-quality. They'll be silk-screened by hand. Old School. They'll be signed and numbered by me. Because they are more affordable, they'll be larger editions, say, 800 or so. We could have saved money if we used digital printing, but we decided against it - hand pulled serigraphs, still.
4. Finding Space: We realized that about 35% of each edition done so far is being purchased by the same group of people. Many of them are saying, we want to collect, but we are running out of wall space. So these images are of a size that can be framed and hung on a small wall, several at a time. Or maybe people will do what I do i.e. keep the images in a small portfolio, for taking out when they have meetings, or entertaining. In any case, it seems to me that making lower cost, true high-quality, limited editions, lots more people will be able to enjoy them. No worries for those with big walls, I am going to continue to do the larger images as well.
[More: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
June 2, 2009
god wants
[etc: About Hugh. Interview. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
June 1, 2009
the human river
[etc: About Hugh. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
node
[etc: About Hugh. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
beer
[etc: About Hugh. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
are we
[etc: About Hugh. Newsletter. Book. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades. Hughtrain.]
May 27, 2009
May 18, 2009
April 21, 2009
April 10, 2009
gapingvoid's secret, evil plan finally goes public...
["Hamster Wheel". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
I've sold or given away a lot of cartoons to my peer group over the years.
And given the choice between the two, I have generally preferred it when they hung it in their office, as opposed to in their homes.
Not that I have the slightest objection to people hanging it in their homes, of course. But ever since I was a kid, I've wanted my place of work to be a creative environment, not an environment of slow, lingering, death-by-endless-drudgery. And when I think of my peer group, they always FELT STRONGLY the same way as well, regardless of what they actually did for a living.
Idealistic? Sure. Unrealistic? Often. But we never had a problem with that. We knew it was the price we paid for trying to be true to our guts.
And yes, I always liked making cartoons that reflected this "creative" streak we all aspired to professionally. And my peer group liked it, too. And this is basically where my office-centric cartoon shtick came from.
One of the buzzwords you hear a lot in the business world these days, is "Innovation". Yes, it's a genuinely worthy thing to aspire to. Genuine innovation creates lots of genuine value, every young intern knows this. Which is why people like to throw it around like confetti. It's one of those words that sound good in meetings, regardless of how serious one is about ACTUALLY innovating ANYTHING.
Here's some friendly advice for all you Innovation-buzzword fanboys: You don't get to be more innovative, until you make yourself more creative FIRST.
"Innovative" is an "external" word. It can be measured. It generally talks about things that have been tested properly and found to have worked in the real world.
"Creative", however, is more of an "internal" word. It's subjective, it's murkier. It's far harder to measure, it's far harder to define. It's an inward journey, not outward. Which is why a lot of people in business try to keep the word out of their official lexicon, preferring instead more neutral, more externally-focused language like "Value", "Excellence", "Quality" and yes, "Innovation".
The trouble is, of course, that approach doesn't work as well any more. In this globalized, hyper-linked, internet-enabled world, "Boring" has suddenly become a very expensive luxury.
Do you REALLY think Apple is afraid to use the word, "Creative"? Do you REALLY think Steve Jobs goes around his office yakking on endlessly about "Value, Excellence, Quality and Innovation"? No, of course he doesn't. Apple's UTTERLY AMAZING design, business and marketing prowess comes from the UTTERLY AMAZING creative fire in their collective belly, not the other way around.
I want to make limited-edition prints that somehow, even in a small, indirect way, helps make companies and individuals less afraid, and more willing to be CREATIVE, more willing to embrace the CREATIVITY that they already have. Because economically and spiritually, that is ultimately where our future lies, even if that idea sometimes terrifies us.
There. So now you know my secret, evil plan. You have been warned.
April 9, 2009
the white pebble
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
There's a wonderful metaphor in the Bible [Revelation 2:17] about "a white pebble".
17 Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written which no one knows except the one receiving it.The metaphor was once explained to me by a Catholic monk. To paraphrase:
"You have three selves: The person that you think you are, the person that other people think you are, and the person that God thinks you are. The white pebble represents the latter. And of the three, it is by far the most important."
He then gave me some good advice, something I've always kept with me:
"When life gets really tough, just remember the white pebble. Just remember who you really are. Just remember the person that only God can see."
Whatever your thoughts on God or Religion may be, positive or negative, the white pebble is a very simple metaphor that audaciously asks the question: "Who are you, really?"
Yes, why are you here, exactly? Who are you here for? Yourself? Other people? God? Or maybe some other cause? You tell me...
It's one of those questions that never gets old. Unlike the poor body that houses us.
April 8, 2009
April 7, 2009
the "ignore everybody" cartoon
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Last week, Patrick Brennan was stuck in an airport lounge for several hours, waiting for his connecting flight. To kill time, he started messing around visually on his computer with the forty chapter titles of my upcoming book, "Ignore Everybody". He came up with this, then emailed it to me.
I liked it so much, I went ahead and re-worked it, in my own handwriting. Very cool. If I ever publish it as a limited-edition print, Patrick, I'll make damn sure you get a copy. Thanks so much!
mediocrity sucks
I'm guessing this would make a pretty fun print to put on someone's office wall... just a thought.
mediocrity now howls in protest
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[Cartoon inspired by a recent Twitter post.]
create or die
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
You either get it or you don't. You either feel it in your bones, or you don't. There's nothing to explain.
[UPDATE:] Though only a few hours old, this cartoon is already in the running to become the next gapingvoid limited-edition print! Details here.]
April 6, 2009
April 4, 2009
April 1, 2009
the purple cow cartoon
[Click on Image to Enlarge etc]
This drawing was inspired, of course, by my friend, Seth Godin's seminal book, "Purple Cow"..
I always loved both the words and the design of the book. This is my tribute to it.
The book came out in 2003. Since then it's changed a lot of lives for the better, including mine. Since then its DNA has buried itself deep inside Marketing Theory everywhere. Long may it continue to do so...
February 22, 2009
February 17, 2009
February 13, 2009
February 12, 2009
February 10, 2009
wikipedia moleskine
["Wikipedia Moleskine". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Somebody recently commissioned me to draw them one of my Moleskines. The idea is to frame and mount it, like "Moleskine 42".
The guy has issues with Wikipedia. Long story.
February 8, 2009
February 2, 2009
January 10, 2009
January 4, 2009
west texas mountains
I drew this one from memory, sitting in a coffee shop... it captures the vibe of living out here pretty well...
1997
This is a cartoon about the year, 1997. I drew it yesterday, sitting over at Harry's Tinaja. More specifically, it's about December, 1997, when I started drawing cartoons on the back of business cards- mostly in bars and coffee shops. You can read more of the backstory here.
What a crazy path it has been so far. Rock on.
December 23, 2008
print update: "bluetrain"
[Update: Video of me signing the first artist's proof.]
["Bluetrain"- the new gapingvoid print. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[UPDATE: 30th December. "Bluetrain" is now sold out. Thanks, Everybody!]
On December 4th, I announced I was going into the fine art print business, pretty much full-time, if all goes well.
Like I said earlier, the first edition will be coming out in mid-January.
I also said that the first twenty people who sent me an e-mail could buy the print at $175- once the print is made, the price will be around the $250-$300 mark.
To be honest, at the time I thought twenty wasn't a very conservative number- I was thinking if ten or twelve took me up on the offer by Christmas, that would be pretty amazing.
As soon as I posted the offer up on the blog, I went out for dinner. By the time I came back two hours later, 24 people had already taken me up on it. Within 24 hours, the number was closer to 40.
Not bad for a limited edition of only 85, don't you think? We're talking about people buying something "Sight Unseen"- something that RARELY happens in the art business.
As for the kind people who e-mailed early, but not early enough to make it on the "First Twenty" list, I thought it would be unfair on the "First Twenty" to give them the same discount. But at the same time, it would be a shame not to do something to reward them for being early adaptors. Hmmmm... You can see my dilemma. So in the end, I told them they could have one for $200- it's still a pretty good discount. They seemed happy enough with that, so all well and good.
The second thing I did was to let the First Twenty vote on which image they wanted to see printed up. I gave them a choice of three designs, the image above, "Bluetrain", won the majority vote, so that's the one we're going with.
About the piece in question: It's called "Bluetrain", because yes, it's largely colored blue, and also because it's a re-working of the head cartoon in my business manifesto, The Hughtrain, which of course, was in turn named after one of my favorite books, The Cluetrain. "Blue Trane" is also the name of one of my favorite jazz albums. So it all fits together, somehow.
It'll be a fairly standard poster size, approx 18x24". They'll all be personally signed and numbered in pencil, by myself. We're also using a specialist fine art printmaker in New York City for the job, not a general commercial printer.
I decided to use color simply because I didn't want to just blow up the original, black & white, bizcard-sized cartoon to poster-sized. I wanted to make it look totally new and different, yet totally the same and familiar. As for the "Pop" sensibilty, well, I am a cartoonist, so go figure...
Since that first big splash of interest from the First Twenty, we've had a steady stream of people signing up. There's only about 20 left unsold in this edition, so if you're still interested in having one of them, please send me an email as soon as you can [Thanks!]: gapingvoid@gmail.com
I hope y'all are as excited by this new venture of mine as I am. As always, thanks for your support, none of this would be possible without you. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
[UPDATE:] ONLY THREE PRINTS LEFT! Price IS $250 for the last ten.
December 22, 2008
December 19, 2008
amsterdam 001
Messing around with my Tablet PC again; a wee purple number based on a sketch I did a few weeks ago in Amsterdam. Rock on.
litho update: sneak peak
[Click on image to enlarge etc....]
This is a close-up section of one of the new litho's I've designed. This section covers maybe 20-25% of the entire area of the piece. Just giving y'all a teaser etc.
Been spending a lot of time learning about printing, and the printing business over the last couple of weeks...
December 18, 2008
edelman cartoon
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
A few weeks ago my buddy over at Edelman Europe, David Brain commissioned me to draw a PR-related cartoon for an ad they were running. Though like all commercial illustration gigs, there were a few changes made in the end, I liked my first offering so much I decided to just go ahead and blog it here.
There are some new ideas in there, and some old ones I borrowed from my attic, most notably our friend, the ever-cheerful and optimistic Social Media Specialist. A lot of the ideas were inspired by the interview I did with David back in early November.
Considering how tight the deadline was at the time, the project turned out rather well. I was happy, so was David. Hopefully Richard Edelman was, too. Rock on.
December 16, 2008
December 14, 2008
December 10, 2008
give me
Drawn live at Le Web Paris.
It's been an intense but fun couple of days. Looking forward to flying back to Texas tomorrow.
December 4, 2008
November 25, 2008
November 24, 2008
hope
[Cartoon inspired by Shel Israel's recent post]
[UPDATE:] Brian Rethinks Dell
Brian Baily, who follows me on Twitter, emailed me the following re. my work with Dell. Got my attention, to say the least:
The thing I keep trying to figure out is why did a few 140-character comments by a guy I had never met have more impact on my view of Dell than anything else over the last 2 years. I used to love Dell and worked with them all the time in my former life. Over the last few years, I began to see them as a big, soulless company obsessed with only the product and its price (and especially the price of all the pieces that make the product). All of their advertising seems to be about the stuff and the specs and not about me, or my company, or the amazing things I can do with their it. Even if they want to emphasize their price advantage, which is important, tell me that how I can afford a better health plan for my employees because I'm not wasting money on overpriced hardware.I've been saying this for years: Blogging [and all its social media cousins] is a good way to make things happen indirectly. Sure, it takes forever and it's a bitch to measure, but when it works... Boy, it REALLY works.Your few tweets and posts about Dell have already made me think about Dell differently. I've heard a little about the determined, loyal people inside who want Dell to build the best products for the best price. I have a sense of the soul inside the machine, and their passion to do what they do better than anyone else, but also to do well by their customers. Dell seems like a company worth paying attention to again. Hell, I even looked up the Dell Mini - the first time I've been on a Dell product page in a long time (unfortunately their web stuff and product naming still sucks and is ridiculously complicated... "Dell Inspiron Mini 9"). As a Texan, I want Dell to thrive. I hope you can play a part in making that happen.
you're a social media specialist?
[After reading Pat Phelan's "Are Social Media experts surplus to requirements in a recession?", I couldn't resist...]
November 23, 2008
social media specialists
[Click on images to enlarge etc.]
[Bonus: A little badge for your sidebar. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
November 5, 2008
November 1, 2008
creating blue monsters: "social objects" that articulate the purpose-idea
(Cartoon taken from The Hughtrain etc.)
Like I said in my interview with Mark Earls, The Blue Monster is a "Purpose-Idea". As Mark, the man who first coined the term explains it:
Put really simply, the Purpose-Idea is the "What For?" of a business, or any kind of community. What exists to change (or protect) in the world, why employees get out of bed in the morning, what difference the business seeks to make on behalf of customers and employees and everyone else? BTW this is not "mission, vision, values" territory - it's about real drives, passions and beliefs. The stuff that men in suits tend to get embarrassed about because it's personal. But it's the stuff that makes the difference between success and failure, because this kind of stuff brings folk together in all aspects of human life.Real drives, passions and beliefs. Exactly.
The Blue Monster line, "Change The World Or Go Home" is not rocket science or literary brilliance. It just articulates a simple belief, a simple passion, a simple drive THAT ALREADY EXISTED, long before The Blue Monster ever came on to the scene. That's all it was ever meant to do.
[The Microsoft Blue Monster etc.]
Whether you agree or disagree with it doesn't matter, the important bit is that people within Microsoft believe it. Unlike a conventional ad campaign, it's not about you. It's about them.
Why is something like this potentially valuable to a business? Simply put, if you believe something passionately enough, for long enough, articulate it well enough, and your actions are aligned, credible and consistent with your belief for long enough, it's just a matter of time before other people start believing it, too. And next thing you know, you have an interesting conversation going on, both inside and outside the company. And as Doc Searls famously said, "Markets are conversations". Ker-Chiing.
Again, none of this is rocket science. Talking to people never is.
When people ask me what exactly is a Blue Monster, I tell them, it's not necessarily a cartoon. It's simply a social object that allows one to more easily articulate the Purpose-Idea. No more, no less.
I've been asking myself for years, what comes after conventional, Madison-Avenue-style advertising, now that we live in a post-TV, post-advertising, post-message world? "Creating Blue Monsters" is the closest I've ever come to finding an actual answer.
Besides drawing the cartoons, helping other companies create Blue Monsters is how I intend to spend the remainder of my career.
Cartoons and Blue Monsters. I really do have the world's greatest job. Rock on.
October 24, 2008
"blogs aren't dead": hello from amsterdam
[This card, which was drawn at the table during dinner, was photographed by the lovely Anne. She wrote about last night's soiree here.]
I'm in Amsterdam. Not much to report, other to say I'm having a lovely time at Blog08.
[This is the card that I gave to Anne.]
This is my first time being back in Europe, since I left for West Texas in February. Nice being back on this side of the pond, in a trippy kind of way etc.
October 13, 2008
cardboard 444
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
"Cardboard 444". Drew this earlier this morning. A little line drawing on cardboard. 2x3.5 inches i.e. business-card sized.
Since I got back from Austin on Friday I've been mostly working on DesertManahttan, and then goofing off the rest of the time.
Well, maybe "goofing off" is too strong a term. Just been doing a lot of thinking recently. A lot of new stuff is coming down the pike, and I'm just trying to re-calibrate my brain to handle it all.
August 27, 2008
live on the edges or not at all
["Edges 1". Part of "The Edges" series. Click on image to enlarge...]
Over the weekend while I was working on the above drawing, from out of nowhere the phrase, "Live on the edges or not at all" suddenly popped into my head. So I used that line for the drawing's title etc.
Since then the line has stayed with me. I've been giving it a lot of thought. What exactly do I mean by it? Here are some notes, in no particular order.
1. There are lots of edges. The phrase, "Living on The Edge" often connotes something negative. Think of Jimi Hendrix, dying young from drug and alcohol abuse. Or William Blake, whose visionary art and poetry was never properly understood in his lifetime. Or William S. Burroughs, and his crazy years of lonely exile. All living on the edges of Society. All paying a heavy price for the privilege. You get the idea.
But there are other edges out there. Plenty of them. Apple obsessing about industrial design. Dell obsessing about their customers. Microsoft obsessing about software problems that may not even exist yet. Though their business models are all quite different, they're quite edgy about what they do as individual companies. And this is PRECISELY what made them so successful- the edge part, not the middle part.
2. And we're not just talking about computers. While most people are happy to sell business suits for a couple of hundred dollars, here's Thomas selling them for $5000. He's selling at the very extreme, high-end "edge" of the suit market. Or Max Brenner and his incredibly expensive chocolate. Price-wise, he's also "on the edge", and people can't get enough.
3. "Edgelings". This term was coined by a friend of mine, Stowe Boyd to describe people who gravitate towards the edges. So far I've heard nothing better.
4. The Herd. When sheep flock together, in order to protect the collective, the strong end up in the middle of the flock; the old, infirm and weak end up on the outside of the flock, leaving them easy pickin's for any predators who may be nearby. If you read Mark Earl's fabulous book, "Herd", you soon realize that human beings aren't that different. For all the heroic individualism Western society likes to idealize [almost to the point of fetishism], humans are surprisingly "Herd-like" in their behavior.
Just as sheep move to the center of the flock for purely survival reasons, so do human beings. It's why we wear khakis and join tennis clubs. But some of us move to "the edges" for the exact same reason- Survival. "If we stay in the middle, we're just going to get creamed like everybody else, once the market moves on." I don't think "Edgelings" consciously choose to be this way- like every other mammal out there, they just want to get on with their business without being eaten by wolves. Declarations like "Live on the edges or not at all" come after the fact- as Mark Earls would say, it's more about justifying past behavior, rather than ensuring future behavior.
5. What's true in life, is also true in marketing. The great advertising and marketing thinker, Russell Davies says that a brand's Number One job is to be "Interesting". I agree. And I also seriously, seriously believe that if you're on the hunt for "Interesting", you're going to find it far more easily on the edges, not in the middle.
As my friend and mentor, Seth Godin told me over dinner a couple of years ago, while I was picking his brains for marketing advice, "The edges. Always keep pushing on the edges".
Exactly.
August 25, 2008
August 8, 2008
August 5, 2008
keep dell weird
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here.]
I just drew this little cartoon for my friends over at Dell. Feel free to print it out, use it to make t-shirts or whatever for your own personal use etc etc.
Anybody who knows Austin well will get the "Weird" reference, i.e. the now-famous "Keep Austin Weird" slogan...
But that's what inspired the cartoon.
I know Dell is a global company. I know they've got big plans for China and India. That being said, I don't think one can overstate JUST HOW MUCH of Austin's culture is hard-wired into Dell's company DNA.
A big part of why so many people work for Dell is quite simply, it allows them to live in Austin.
And although Austin has doubled in size in the last decade or so, at its core it remains what it's always been- a pleasant, genial, small college & government town.
Austin is a fabulous place. People live there because they love it. The locals are very passionate about the city they call home.
After finishing college at UT Austin, Michael Dell could have set up his company anywhere he wanted. He could have easily have moved it back to Houston, where he grew up. Or maybe the West Coast. East Coast. Whatever. He chose not to.
Does Austin have a unique vibe, a sensibility, a set of values that can be exported globally? The way, say, Apple exports Californian culture globally, or Starbucks exports Seattle culture globally? I think it does. I think it can. And I think Dell's the right company for the job.
[NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO WORK AT DELL:] Remember where you're from. Austin, Texas. Love it. Cherish it. Never forget it. Rock on.
[PS: Yeah, I know Dell is technically in Round Rock- an Austin suburb- and not within Austin city limits, but that was for tax reasons, and little else.]
silicon valley map
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
The lovely Rebecca MacKinnon suggested that I draw a Silicon-Valley-centric map of the world, a-la the old New Yorker cartoons by Saul Steinberg.
Here you go, Rebecca. Thanks for the idea!
[UPDATE:] Les was not pleased. Les left a comment below:
There are more than rednecks in the Midwest, just as there are more than gays in the bay area. I live in small town midwest. I live on a lake, I can see lots of beautiful trees out my windows. I have a six mile, 15 min commute to a job in a high tech medical device company. My job takes me many places all over the world. Perhaps if you actually knew about the midwest you wouldn't be quite so dismissive.
August 1, 2008
July 30, 2008
July 29, 2008
July 18, 2008
the techcrunch lithograph 2008
[The Techcrunch 2008 lithograph. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
The annual Techcrunch party is in Menlo Park next week, and as usual I'm supplying a signed, limited edition lithograph, sponsored by the groovy cats at Stormhoek.
For the last two years, I printed them up and signed them in London, then shipped them over to Silicon Valley in time for the party.
This year they're being printed in San Francisco, and I'll be at the party, signing them live and handing them out. It'll give me something fun to do there besides the usual "schmoozing & boozing".
If you're at the party, look out for me. I should be sitting at a table somewhere, signing away. Rock on.
July 14, 2008
July 10, 2008
birth and death
["Birth And Death". 2008. Pencil on paper. Approx 22x30 inches. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
I just whipped out this drawing earlier this evening. It took me about as long as it takes me to draw one of my typical "back of business cards" format. Just this time I'm using [A] a much larger piece of paper and [B] a very large carpenter's pencil. Living out in the desert has made want to loosen up a bit. We'll see where this goes etc.
It's artistic merit [or lack thereof] notwithstanding, I really like the sentiment, "Birth and Death will save the world". Rock on.
July 1, 2008
June 30, 2008
June 19, 2008
new mistake
When I briefly met Esther Dyson the other day, I gave her the above cartoon, which I had drawn there, right on the spot. It was, of course, inspired by her classic maxim, "Always make new mistakes".
What a total honor to meet her. People like Esther always remind me of what Loic and I talked about once: That the best thing about being a blogger is the people you get to meet. Exactly.
June 15, 2008
hello from san francisco
[Close-up on Fed 45. Approx 1.5x1.5 inches square. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[UPDATE: You can follow my goings on at Supernova over on my Twitter page. Also, they have their own Twitter page here.]
Blogging this from a neat cafe here in San Francisco. Heading over to Supernova in a little while, where I'll be speaking on a panel Wednesday morning.
It's great being back in town; it's amazing how many friends I have in San Francisco, even if I've spent less than a total two weeks in my entire life here.
But I feel the same way here as I did in New York last week- the Big City doesn't do much for me any more. It did once, then one day the feeling vanished. I can't wait to get back to Alpine and crank out some more big drawings.
That being said, this regular traveling stuff is important for me. I think I'd go nuts if all I did was hang out in West Texas. Variety is the spice of life etc.
Besides the cartooning, I've got a couple of interesting project stewing in the background. Waiting for a few more planets to line up before going public with them. It's all good. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers.
June 14, 2008
the puck
"The Puck". Pencil on paper, approx. 16 x 21 inches.
"Aim for where the puck is headed, not for where it is", is a line that my friend, Fred Wilson once quoted to me. It's his personal mantra for the Venture Capital business. Not hard to see why; it's a superb thought.
[UPDATE:] Some commenters below kindly tell me that this is a paraphrase of something originally said by the hockey great, Wayne Gretzky. Rock on.
June 13, 2008
"fred 45" update
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Well, "Fred 45" is coming along, slowly. Approx 15 x 21 inches, ink & pencil on paper. Last time I blogged it, it was just a pencil grid.
All this traveling I've been doing recently has KILLED my productivity, at least in this department... I'm looking forward to a long, quiet winter, to say the least.
now what?
This is a cartoon I designed for Jerry Colonna's business card, about 2 years ago. He's still using it. Rock on.
June 8, 2008
June 1, 2008
"fred 45" begun...
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Started on "Fred 45" this afternoon. So far it's just a pencil grid on paper, approx 15 x 21 inches.
I have a pretty neat idea where this is headed. Watch this space.
"fred 44" is finished!
[Fred 44. 18 x 24 inches. Ink & pencil on paper. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Got in early this morning and put the final touches onto Fred 44.
OK. So now it's done. Over. Basta. Finito.
I feel good about it. Rock on.
May 31, 2008
"fred 44" update 2
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
I'm generally happy with how "Fred 44" is coming along. It feels like it's about 75% done, though one never knows. Like an artist friend once told me, "A painting is never finished; it is ended."
Right now I seem to be drawing a lot. Kinda feeling guilty because there's a lot of other stuff going on, all to do with Social Objects and The Blue Monster.
People ask me a lot if I ever get bored/lonely/crazy out here in West Texas. To me it's a funny question- I simply don't have time to feel any of that. There's far too much going on...
May 29, 2008
May 28, 2008
May 27, 2008
"fred 44" update
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Spent much of the day working on "Fred 44", an 18x24 inch, ink & pencil on paper.
Right now it's mostly pencil, but there's a bit of pen action going on. The latter will increase in the later stages of the drawing.
I have a new Secret Evil Plan as to what to with this drawing, once it's done. Watch this space. Rock on.
May 22, 2008
May 21, 2008
stormhoek tweetups
[Click on image to enlarge/download etc. Feel free to use badge for your own needs etc.]
Two years ago, Stormhoek sponsored geek dinners. They were a huge success.
We're ready to get back at it.
This time, however, we're going to sponsor Tweetups. If you're one of the people following me on Twitter, are based in the USA and are planning on having a Tweetup in the next wee while, drop me an e-mail, and let's see if we can't get some wine sent there for the evening. Rock on.
[For those of you outside the loop, a "Tweetup" is a spontaneous, self-organizing social gathering of fellow Twitter users, usually organized on Twitter itself. Usually food and drink are part of the equation etc.]
be passionate
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc.]
This is a lithograph idea I'm playing around with for Stormhoek. The "Be Passionate" line comes from the Stormhoek back label. Rock on.
stormhoek back label
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc.]
Yep. I'm back working with Stormhoek again. It's got new owners, but so far, so good. The good news is, they don't want me doing anything too differently from what I was doing already.
Now that I'm based in the US, I'm hoping to do a lot more geek dinner stuff. And of course, the lithographs. Rock on.
The above cartoon a "Hugh" version of the Stormhoek back label. "The one with the back label on the front". You can read the backstory here.
May 20, 2008
May 19, 2008
red & grey 42
[I'm thinking something like this would make a really good signed, limited-edition lithograph for the mainstream art market...]
"fred 44": work in progress
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Started a new drawing this morning, "Fred 44". 18x24 inches. Right now it's just pencil on paper, but I plan adding pen & ink to the mix later on. Watch this space etc.
the trick to new york, revisited
This is a re-working of a very old cartoon of mine, drawn back in my New York days, which also borrows heavily from another New York-era cartoon. Unlike its predecessors, it's now available in high-resolution, so if you want, you can download it and print it out, or whatever. Rock on.
May 18, 2008
beer will break your heart
[A little piece of graffiti, done on a picnic table of my local bar etc.]
May 17, 2008
the numbness
[UPDATE:] Thanks to Microsoft's Steve Clayton for putting this little gapingvoid cartoon slideshow together. It was done using Popfly, and can be embedded on any webpage. Rock on.
blue monster 2.0
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc.]
For those of you who don't work at Microsoft, I played around with this new "Blue Monster 2.0" logo. Feel free to print it out or whatever. Rock on.
[P.S. Click on image to get the white background version etc.]
May 10, 2008
"fred 43": work in progress- day one
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Like they say, when you fall off your horse, the first thing to do is get right back on it.
After Fred 42 died earlier today, I got right back to work. Behold "Fred 43". Ink & pencil on paper. 23 x 30 inches. It's been a busy morning, to say the least.
I'm already liking this one. We'll see where it goes...
By the way, to answer a frequently-asked question. I consider these large pieces "cartoons", I do not consider them "fine art". I consider myself a cartoonist, not an "artist".
So there!
r.i.p "fred 42"
I'm sad to report the premature death of my good friend, "Fred 42".
This happened earlier today, when my pen exploded.
It happens.
All is not lost. I already have a New Evil Plan. Hurrah! I'll let you see it when it's ready.
I spent about twenty minutes being really bummed, then said, "To Hell with it. "Fred 43" will be EVEN BETTER."
It's all good...
May 9, 2008
cut the art crap
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Cranked out this one quickly today. "Cut The Art Crap", May, 2008. 24x24 inches, pencil on wooden Ampersand Gessobord, varnished with spray acrylic. I might sell this one... thinking it would go well in somebody's New York apartment. We'll see what happens etc.
"fred 42": work in progress- day six
[Close-up of "Fred 42". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Yesterday [Day Five] I hardly touched Fred 42. Maybe ten minutes, tops. My brain was all wrapped up with all the Blue Monster stuff.
Like I told somebody the other day, if I just tried to be a full-time cartoonist, I would fail. If I just tried to be a full-time marketer, I would fail.
Somehow it's managing to balance BOTH spheres that keeps it interesting for me... and ipso facto, interesting for the people that pay my bills. And all this, of course, feeds back into The Sex & Cash Theory, from Chapter Seven of "How To Be Creative":
"The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended."Today I don't want to think about marketing. I'm just going to draw...
May 7, 2008
"fred 42": work in progress- day four
["Fred 42". Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[Close-up shot.]
Yesterday I wrote, "When I do large pieces, I rarely do the long, 18-hour obsessive stints that so many artists are known for. I prefer to whittle away at it in brief spurts over time- a little bit there, a little bit there, that kind of thing."
Hmmm... That does not explain the 8-10 hours I put into the drawing yesterday. What the hell, I guess I was on a roll.
In the last decade or so, I always had a job to hold down, or a business to run. I always had a thousand different things to do BESIDES making drawings. My drawing time was always "stolen" from the other stuff going on.
But now here in uber-laid-back West Texas, suddenly I have more time on my hands.
Or so it felt, yesterday.
"fred 42": work in progress- day three
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Yesterday (Day 2) I hardly touched the drawing. I was busy doing other things.
Today I fooled around with it for a couple of hours in the morning. Quite pleased with the results, so far.
When I do large pieces, I rarely do the long, 18-hour obsessive stints that so many artists are known for. I prefer to whittle away at it in brief spurts over time- a little bit there, a little bit there, that kind of thing.
I'm guessing "Fred 42" will be done by month's end, if all goes well. Rock on.
May 5, 2008
"fred 42": work in progress- day one
[Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[Close-up: Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Today, once I had finished with work for the day, I decided to start on a a new drawing. 18 x 24 inches. Pencil and pen & ink on paper. Working Title: "Fred 42" [I'll explain the title at a later date].
So far I'm having a blast. We'll see where this all takes me. I have no idea how long it'll take me to complete, but I'll let you know when it happens. Rock on.
ian murdock: sun keynote
[UPDATE: You can watch the video here- See Chapter One.]
[UPDATE: You can see photos from the event here.]
[Click on images to enlarge etc.]
Last week I was in Austin. One of the reasons I was there was to help design some slides for Ian Murdock's keynote, "Innovate. Collaborate. Integrate", which he gave today.
Above are the slides. They start off as a giant, black, haystack-shaped software monolith, then evolved outwards into "Open Source", and finally, to the Sun logo. The sixth cartoon is just a humorous drawing projected behind the other panel members who were sharing the stage with Ian.
I'm told the screen was fifty feet wide, so I'm guesing they would've looked rather spiffy. These were all drawn in pencil on 3.5-inch card [Business-card size, obviously]. The actual drawings didn't take that long to execute; though getting them to work cohesively and conceptually took a long time, a lot of collaboration was involved.
It was a cool gig; I hope to do more like it. Thanks to the very groovy Sarah Dornsife for making it happen. Rock on.
May 4, 2008
moleskine 42
[Overview: Click on image to enlarge etc.]
[Close-up view]
"Moleskine 42". A wee sketch I did over the weekend in my Moleskine notebook. Approx 5x7 inches.
April 26, 2008
gapingvoid: a new direction?
[Tablet PC sketch of what I have in mind. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
One of the things I like about Twitter is that it allows you to have instant feedback from lots of people while you're thinking out-loud.
Case in point: If you have been following my Twitter feed recently you'll have noticed me bandying this idea around, about doing large pieces. Namely, large, abstract paintings on canvas.
Basically, the idea is to create six-by-six foot canvas, covered with a field of my obsessive "squiggly" style. The image above, which I made digitally on a Tablet PC, should give you a pretty good idea what I mean.
So far the feedback has been tremendous. I've got dozens of comments, both public and private. Thanks for that.
I think being out here in Alpine, Texas, covered under a blanket of desert air and "Big Sky" brought about a wee change in me, at least in what I find interesting artistically. The "cartoons on the back of business cards" format came about in New York City, when living conditions, shall we say, were far more intense, crowded and cramped. Not to mention, I was ten years younger. Things change.
Acquiring blank business cards and a few pens is a LOT simpler and easier than making big paintings. With the latter, suddenly you have to start thinking about renting studio space and buying materials, which are not cheap. Then you have to find a buyer for the pieces, to offset the cost of making them. Then you have you have to figure out how to ship them to their new owners without them getting damaged. Plus a myriad of other pain-in-the-ass factors to consider.
Whatever. It's all exciting stuff. I'm looking forward to finding studio space in the very near future. Though to be honest, I have no intention of ever becoming a permanent, full-time artist. Too much else going on. Too much else out there worth getting interested in. I like to juggle things around. Keeps things new and interesting. We shall see what happens.
April 24, 2008
April 18, 2008
gillmor gang joins the techcrunch network
So it looks like my friend, Steve Gillmor is working with Mike Arrington now. Jason Calacanis breaks the story, with the above cartoon on the blog post. The Gillmor Gang's new permanent home is here.]
Jason writes:
Here's some exclusive news: after being offline for over a year in a legal dispute (can't get into details) the Gillmor Gang is back and is part of TechCrunch! Steve Gillmor is one of the most insightful minds in the technology space, and his "gang" is a free-form thought-fest that unpacks, repacks, and distracts memes faster than any other conversation out there.
April 17, 2008
April 16, 2008
April 5, 2008
April 3, 2008
March 13, 2008
March 12, 2008
January 29, 2008
January 12, 2008
January 11, 2008
January 7, 2008
December 23, 2007
December 13, 2007
naked conversations
[Cartoon dedicated to my friend, the dauntless Robert Scoble.]
[Seesmic Post:] "Are 'Mosquitoes' a good Metaphor for Web 2.0?"
December 1, 2007
crazy cathedral
[Drew this cartoon outside Sagrada Familia when I was in Barcelona the other week. Later it occurred to me that Sagrada F. is not technically a cathedral, but a church. Life is suffering etc.]
November 28, 2007
why facebook might be consigning themselves to the slushpile of history.
["Social Media". Drew it about 20 minutes ago. Inspired the post below etc.]
So what's stopping Facebook from putting in a small, tickable box that says, "Please do not let my 'Friends' send me any more of these REALLY ANNOYING Vampire/Zombie/Super wall/Super Poke/Whatever invites. I really, really don't want them etc..."?
Heck, it would probably take one of their junior coders only a few minutes to do. What's the problem?
I'm starting to suspect the short answer is, they WANT you to spend hour after hour after hour every month on their pages, deleting the crap. Makes the numbers look better for their bean counters:
"Yes, Mr Investor, people are spending on average 4 hours a day on our site. Can we have your vast pots of money now?"
But when in fact, 3 hours and forty five minutes of said 4 hours is spent deleting Zombie invites and their ilk, you start getting the feeling that somebody in Silicon Valley is taking somebody else for for a little ride.
I'm not saying this is what Facebook is doing. I'm saying this is what it's starting to feel like to me, more and more.
Don't get me wrong, I generally like Facebook and have found it mostly useful. I've even met their CEO, Mark Zuckerberg once before and liked the guy.
That being said, if they want to fix the problem, they can easily do so. If they do not, they're sadly just consigning themselves to the slushpile of history.
["HUGH'S THIRD LAW": If you p*ss in the soup for long enough, eventually it stops tasing like soup."]
[UPDATE:] Oh, Happy Day. Looks like Facebook now lets you ban annoying apps on the latter's Facebook homepages. Look for the link at the bottom right hand corner. Rock on.
November 26, 2007
hugh's second law [zuckerberg was on a roll]
HUGH'S SECOND LAW: "The minute the Facebooks of the world forget they are replaceable, is the minute people like me move in for The Kill."
[HUGH"S FIRST LAW: "All online social networks eventually turn into a swampy mush of spam."]
[UPDATE: I left the following message in the comments: "Ben Grada, I'm not anti-Facebook. In fact, I quite like it... But the ever increasing amount of non-relevant stuff it's letting through the net is beginning to concern me. I actually met Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year in Silicon Valley. Good guy. Wicked smart and gracious manners. I hope he works it out."]
November 25, 2007
November 14, 2007
do you know everybody
[A wee drawing I did for Deborah Schultz when I was recently in San Francisco. She scanned it and e-mailed me the image.]
I'm off to catch a plane to Barcelona. See you on the other side...
[Bonus Link:] Debs has a really cool diagram of The Social Media Ecosystem here.
November 8, 2007
November 7, 2007
facebook etc.
[Facebook getting a lot of space on Techmeme, 'natch.]
[Related:] Great post from Doc Searls:
But the problem for Mark, for Jeremiah, and for all of us (including yours truly) is that we too easily default to framing our understanding of advertising in its own terms. We regard advertising as an independent variable: something ya gotta have. But in fact advertising is a dependent variable. The independent variable is the individual human being. As Chris Locke put it so perfectly nine years ago, we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. we are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it.
November 5, 2007
isolate [my new business card]
This is the design for my new business card [No, I am not joking].
Feel free to use it yourself [or any other cartoon on gapingvoid] for your own schwag- biz cards, t-shirts, cubicle posters, PowerPoint slides, whatever. As per usual, the full details and regular licensing terms are here etc. Or again, as per usual, you can order printed gapingvoid business cards here at Streetcards etc etc.
[Yes, "Isolate Their Pain Centers" sums up my whole Hughtrain marketing schtick pretty well...]
new twitter logo
Just drew this new Twitter logo for my blog sidebar. Feel free to use it yourself etc.
My Twitter page is an increasingly important part of my online schtick, especially now with Seesmic [Twitter videos, kinda sorta] part of the equation.
November 4, 2007
london graphic centre
[I've been buying art supplies from these guys for years... Last time I was in their store I picked up one of their bizcards and doodled on it etc.]
October 30, 2007
avinash's business card
A wee cartoon I drew on the back of Avinash Kaushik's business card. Backstory here.
October 27, 2007
online community member
[Part of the Southpark Series, San Francisco.]