Henry W. Ng

>....

2010-10-14T21:39:00.002-05:00

Long pose from last nights Drink & Draw. Photoshopped ink on paper.

-Hankus

Clouds

2010-09-28T16:11:00.001-05:00

Taylor_1_r2
Originally uploaded by henrywng

James Jean’s work really inspires me to keep sketching as much as possible. Came home yesterday, but couldn’t really start drawing. Too tired, etc. Woke up this morning and felt a little more energized, so started this ballpoint pen drawing. Finished it up on the shaky ol’ G-train and here at work.

Taylor sports an Armani Exchange cardigan thingy and Steve Madden heeled oxfords here. (This pose was taken from a paparazzi shot or something.) She is actually coming to my work to do an event later next month, so that should be interesting. Doubt if I can make it, since its mainly for the kids. Ok, time to jet!

-Hankus Goofmeister

Sunday Sortie

2010-08-02T15:25:00.006-05:00

It was another humid warm day on Sunday and I was exhausted after doing laundry, then going into Manhattan to get a haircut, then grabbing a bite with Dutch in Chinatown. On my walk home from the train, a girl walked past me, in her own world. She carried a small foldable lawn/beach chair, with colorful stripes. The fun little chair belied the grim "fuck you" look on her face. "Geez, why do people wear flip-flops in the city?", I thought, as she hurried forward.

Above her is Ronnie, my little assistant, now fully dressed. I gave her a sort of 60s mod Cilla Black/Patti Boyd look.

-Henry

Website Update

2010-07-30T20:40:00.001-05:00

I updated my website with some "connectivity" buttons that link up all my other web stuff.

::::

Cheers!

:::::

Everyday People

2010-05-30T09:10:00.004-05:00

Some recent sketches on the subway drawn from memory.

-H

2010-05-18T07:28:00.004-05:00

Finished up a cd cover design last month for Beeware. Will post pics of that tonight. Sketched up some tattoo designs for a friend's friend. This is the first time I've ever done any type of "classic" cursive lettering, so some of the letters are unbalnced and uneven. I'll try to draw them more even and practice more in the coming months. Maybe buy some of those instructional "how-to" books on tattoo lettering.

-Henry

Bloggerbus

2010-04-07T17:26:00.003-05:00

4/7/2010......

Hello....it's been awhile.

Right now, I've been listening to Best Coast, David Sanborn, the new Ahmad Jamal, and the 2009 Kenny Barron LP "The Traveler".

Working on these graffiti-themed canvas collaborations with people around town. Got my first issue of Nylon Guys magazine. It's ok, I guess.

Frickin hot today. Allergies kickin' in. Hope this Singulair can take effect right now!

Homer Pt. 3

2010-02-15T22:58:00.005-05:00

Christophe Lemaire has been doing some nice stuff for Lacoste. Here I am blatantly looking at the website and drawing one of the models with colored pencil and Crayola marker.

Downloaded a sh*tload of music, mostly for my cousin, who's 19 or so. But I got some stuff like Toro y Moi and Telephoned, etc. which is a bit off the mainstream. Toro y Moi is pretty chill. I like the tunes off Lemaire's own website, like the Bubonic Plague and Ariel Pink, etc. Makes me want to drop acid and be 17 again, about to get accepted into the Savannah College for art. Lol. Or not.

Just made a steak to celebrate Chinese New Year. Mmm. Steak.

-H

Gatorade

2010-02-11T19:01:00.003-05:00

Hey there. Whachoo be about?

I've been working hard. But not hard enuff. Finished up five 8x10 graffiti canvases, then a long wood panel, and finally started on some larger canvases.

I've also got a new business card in the works and am going to start a new blackbook soon.

Been listening to the new Beach House record, as well as Kurtis Blow's debut LP, and various pop and Euro tunes, like Tiësto—just trying to pump things up/get motivated in this wintery weather.

Being 33 now is interesting. Sometimes I feel old, but sometimes I feel like I have so many things to learn. Ever day I learn new things, whether they are willingly learned or not, it all gets shoved into my head.

-H

PS: I've been trying to sketch when I'm on the go. And if I don't have a piece of paper on me, I will memorize the scene or persons of interest and sketch them out later. Here is one of my recent memory sketches—done just last night:

INDY VS> no

2010-01-24T22:29:00.004-05:00

Watching the NFC title game. Finished up one of two wood panels. It's a nice coincidence that the panels are the same proportions as an MTA subway car. Things just sort of happened. I used Post-It notes to mark the dimensions after doing some research on different train models MTA uses.

More pics at my Flickr page.

It's gonna be a busy week at work. I plan on working on my business card design tomorrow, as well as following the Fashion Week stuff coming up soon.

-Henry

!-18-10

2010-01-18T11:56:00.006-05:00

I've been working on canvas collaborations with Jake and Wics2 at the SRC graffiti art vendor table on Broadway in Soho. I've started out small and am working larger and larger, finishing a 5-pack of 8"x10" canvases first, then starting on a 5-pack of 16"x20" canvases, as well as two 38"-long pieces of thick wood panel I found in the street.

I had the pleasure of meeting Riff170 a coupla weeks ago and looked at his stack of laminated colored outlines, as well as hearing his stories of old-school writing. I also took an hour-plus train ride to the Bronx to check out the current show at Da Bakery (http://dabakerynyc.com/) on Southern Blvd. They have these spray tips which are adjustable, basically a rotating calligraphy tip.

Lastly, I watched Rocky Horror Picture Show in its entirety and picked up my first can of Alien Art Concept paint, which is made by Montana Hardcore (Spain). Alien Concept's been out for a few years now, but I had so much Belton on stock that I didn't need new paint until now.

-H.

10-16-09

2009-10-15T23:33:00.003-05:00

Finally finished new drawing-just an experiment with colored pencils. Gotta get some large sheets of paper instead of using two separate ones.

-H

Monday 6/15

2009-06-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

Yo, it's been a while, eh? Haven't been doing much drawing...but uploaded a new "comic" thing onto my website. Gotta redesign my site so it has a "news" column.

-H

Johnny Gill Part 6

2009-04-24T21:02:00.003-05:00

:::::
Hi,

I came home one evening stressed out from work as usual and started sketching on an envelope laying around. I kept adding things here and there and here's the final image..

I've been Twittering alot lately, and sometimes I post links to new art there. It's hard to cross-reference updates everywhere. So if Twitter brought u here, congrats.\

Feel like biking tonight. Supposed to be 80-85 degrees this weekend. Wow.

-H

Sanctions Lifted

2009-04-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

Cuban_Sand1_r3.jpg
Originally uploaded by purplepenguin74

Hello,

It was nice out today and I should have gone biking or biked to work. The sun broke out in the early evening and I felt rejoiced again. Or maybe it was from watching the Susan Doyle thing again on Youtube.

-H

Purple People Eater

2009-04-08T11:04:00.004-05:00

:::::
Hi,

Cloudy. Cold. Here are a couple of tattoo designs for a client I'm finishing up with. The inks were scanned in and traced in Illustrator, then brought into Photoshop as vector art and colored.

-Henry
:::::

darkside II

2009-04-01T23:09:00.001-05:00

...

darkside

2009-04-01T22:47:00.004-05:00

New stuff scanned in tonight. Ok, some are old, like the one with Solo Flights, which was done in Dec '07, and the Jordan III's, which are from around last summer. But I did some new Photoshop work on them. Basically inverted them and did some gradient overlays and layered tones with fx. Exploratory......

More scans up at my Flickr: Drawings Plus! set.

Day job has been super busy. Hardly have energy to do anything once I come home and eat dinner. But every day is a new day...a rebirth of spirit and energy and opportunities.

3/12/09

2009-03-12T08:06:00.003-05:00

Working on a couple of new drawings. Work and life have been busy. I'll be out of town this weekend and most of next week. Listening to:
-Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders (1958)
-It's Blitz!-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
-H
-----

twitter has replaced my life

2009-03-01T22:34:00.002-05:00

Eating late dinner. Stir-fried fish filet w/ garlic, peppers, onions, water chestnuts. Chinese eggplant with garlic. One can Coca Cola. Coke tastes so much better over ice. Straight outta the can is no good.

Rainy and cold outside. Haven't really been inspired lately to draw anything interesting. Some cool stuff nonetheless:
http://www.policecloud.com/
http://www.alextrochut.com/
http://www.taubaauerbach.com/
http://radsummer.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VnC_YesfbY

Been playing Solitaire on my computer alot...playing guitar at home. Learned "Gatekeeper", by Feist. Going by my own transcriptions, as usual.

-H

Mon 2/23/09

2009-02-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

Drinking a white Russian this evening. Had instant Okinawa soba noodles with Enoki mushrooms, green onions, and Cantonese-style beef brisket with turnip (Gnow Lam). Forgot to add a few shreds of fresh Napa cabbage, which I better do tomorrow, when I repeat this meal (I bought a quart of Gnow Lam a couple of days ago and have used only about a fifth of it).

-----

1.6.09

2009-01-06T22:43:00.009-05:00

Happy Dew Year! Went to Michael Alan's Drawathon this past weekend. This one was at Don Pedro's in Brooklyn. I kicked over one of my Jameson's on the floor. A lot of guys were just standing around gawking at the nude models. Ha.

-H

12.30.08 pt. 2

2008-12-30T11:22:00.009-05:00

More outlines and noodlings from the past week.
The drawing above seems to go very well with the January '09 NYLON cover w/ Lily Allen...
"Ronnie" character is ©2008 Henry Ng.

Tunes: Gang Gang Dance, Brian Eno, Taylor Swift, Hercules & Love Affair, Steve Earle, School of Seven Bells, Tetsu Inoue, Hot 97 radio, KCRW Simulcast.

12.30.08

2008-12-30T11:13:00.006-05:00

Frittomelette

2008-12-24T16:31:00.003-05:00

Pretty overcast and wet, cold day today. I bought a box of Christmas-themed doughnuts from Peter Pan bakery. Mmm. I also too my Haro for a spin around the neighborhood, but encountered a lot of icy conditions. The Haro works ok on snow, actually, but not on ice. Do they make snow chains for BMX tires?

I tried making an omelette this morning, but my pan was too small for a three-egger, so it was hard to flip over. By the time I managed to flip it, the edges were cooked well and the whole thing was a bit broken up, so I just finished it off in the oven, which was already heating up a corn muffin. And so (an English teacher once told me to never begin a sentence with "And"...), either you could say the omelette was overcooked, or you could say that I created some kind of mutant. The outside was slightly crisp, and the inside was meaty (though I didn't add any meat)—with thin layers of egg rolled in along with the filling. By the way, the filling consisted of thinly sliced sauteed button mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, dill, and a bit of green onion and garlic.

Next time, I will use butter instead of vegetable oil to cook it with, and also add a little water and salt to the egg before cooking. And...maybe get a 12-inch pan, as Julia recommends.

I included an old pic of a Veefer tag at Wendy's I saw once. Notice the angle at which his marker is held. Around 45 degrees plus. Nice...

-H

Snowy Day

2008-12-16T18:58:00.003-05:00

It snowed for the first time this fall today! I looked out the windy and saw the biggest snow "flakes" I've ever seen in my life! Most of them were at least an inch in diameter. I think these are just clusters of snowflakes, though, right? Any meteorologists out there?

I haven't posted anything to my blog regularly, instead vying for Flickr. I will post new stuff up regularly starting this week.

-H

ehh...

2008-07-30T19:39:00.004-05:00

Bibbity Boppity Boo....
Salaga Doola Menchicka boola....
Bibbity Boppity Boo.
--
H

I'll Take You There

2008-06-27T20:44:00.000-05:00

What up. Pete Rock and CL Smooth is pumping through my speakers and summer jams abound. A year ago I was in the middle of an "alone-ness", spending time by myself and lost in a dreamworld. It was fucked up, son. But I'm much better and things are much better now, especially the money sitch. I'm still alone, but I feel happier inside. I got mad shit to create and places to visit.

It's muggy and supposed to rain this whole weekend. The sun is actually shining through the thick silvery clouds this Friday evening. I wish I were out at an outdoor cafe writing this, but I don't have a laptop.

Finally made a Krolewskie Jadlo tshirt for myself. I get food from there a lot and it's really tasty and affordable. Hell, I'm chomping down on some bigos, mashed potatoes, and mushroom pierogis right now. I chose a mint-colored American Apparel shirt to be summery and had it printed at T-Shirt Express. It's a hole-in-the wall with stacks and stacks of shirts and stuff everywhere, and they mainly do screenprinted shirts, but they did a great job with a simple heat transfer. The super bonus was that they knocked out all of the white areas automatically from my flattened Photoshop files, something I had to do myself when I hand-cut my own heat tranfer prints at the place I used to go to in the LES, which is closed for good. T-Shirt Express is on the outskirts of Chinatown, so I spoke with the people there directly in Cantonese. Hell yeah.

-Zheik

Torture!

2008-03-25T16:36:00.003-05:00

My friend Gordon and I were once talking about our jobs as designers in the world of children's book publishing. We both agreed that working in our field is torture if you're a single hetero guy, because you're surrounded allllll daaaay by so many beautiful, talented.....women! It's true! ; o )

-Z

Frinkness

2008-03-23T10:06:00.003-05:00

L Magazine has another article about the current economic/demographic situation in NYC, esp. Manhattan. I'm just curious to know what the average median/mean income, etc. is for Asian singles and families here, though. Hmmm....

-_-

Cool Sh#t

2008-03-23T09:52:00.003-05:00

1) Nice gray/neon geometric slice design on a bike in Greenpoint.
2) Eat fish truck from BX parked in Soho.
3) Garfield wastebasket abandoned near my apartment.
4) Love-related sign for Valentine's Day in Soho.
5) Navy blue and red-oange go gr8 2gether.
6) Snoopy-lover driver & passenger mayhem in Manhattan.
7) Bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and lots of fresh dill.
8) In my art school's illustration class, we used to revere artists such as Drew Struzan, who's done the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Mallrats move posters, etc. Last week I was editing his original art for an upcoming Star Wars book project. "MmmHUHHAYY!" (In Professor Frink voice)

- _-

Dunks

2008-03-22T22:38:00.003-05:00

I got my Nike iD Dunks a few weeks ago. I chose a color scheme which represents 80's Chicago as best I could, using the iD color swatches. I wish that they had some kind of Elephant print available, like the Jordan III's. Bad thing is, the first week I wore them, they hurt at my left pinky toe joint. Once broken in, I think they will be fine.

-_-

Lost Girls

2008-03-22T20:30:00.005-05:00

'ello mates,

I had a great time at Tilly & the Wall last night. The two opening acts, Jason Anderson and Capgun Coup, were pretty good, too. The vibe was pretty positive—although after the show, a cute girl said to her friend, "...he was SOO annoying! I wanted to punch him in the FACE!" I guess she meant some guy in the audience. I actually sang along to a bunch of their songs. I felt like I was in a Debbie Gibson or Miami Sound Machine indie party with castanets, surrounded by a neon-ray chuck-wagon semicircle. Pretty cool!

I was wary about the Knitting Factory bouncers, after what my Ninjasonik breathren had endured a few weeks back. But things seemed ok. I felt like being cuffed by the police when I got my drinking wristband, though. It was a great feeling. Not! And eight dollars for a freaking Duvel is a lot of money. Paying more than six or seven bucks for beer isn't very practical, unless it's a hard-to-find import.

I painted my first piece on a wall in seven years. That's right. Seven years. I did it at 5 Ptz. in LIC and it turned pretty nice. I shoulda made the white cloud behind it cleaner, though. But, at least I got to paint next to this wonderful character by a French artist that's been up for quite some time now. I'll post brighter pics tomorrow, 'cause it's supposed to be sunny during the day.

I got my bike's back tire fixed today, too. Yay!

-----H

Here is No Where

2008-02-13T23:26:00.003-05:00

Hola. Saw Cat Power at Terminal 5 last week. It was ok. Her mic kept overloading and feeding back, causing some frustration for everyone. I don't really like Terminal 5. It's so new and clinical. There's no soul (yet). It's like a place where trade shows and auto shows should be, not concerts. Although, the Polyphonic Spree/Rooney show I saw a coupla months back was awesome.

I saw a mannequin in Soho that reminded me of this drawing I did a few months ago. I did a new color test of the drawing and here it is, along with some bigos from Krolewskie Jadło-my local Polish restaurant. Also included is a hot-off-the-press shirt for Ninjasonik, my friend Jah's "band". It's sorta dull colorwise, but I plan to make a screenprint version of it later with brighter neon colors, so it'll really pop.

-ż

Rehab

2008-01-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

I look cool. I know a lot of things on the outside, like facts and anecdotes. But I'm a dork inside. A geek. Socially retarded. Almost semi-autistic. But I realize it. And I'm trying to improve. Try to go out more. Travel more. Interact with people and learn what and what not to do. Learn things I should've learned years ago, but was too busy sitting around drawing and dreaming at home. If you've ever dated me or went out with me, I apologize for my stupid, sappy emails and love-notes, childish drawings, out-of-context phone messages, uncontrolled outbursts, and my general indecisiveness. I meant well, but whatever I did or said just came out wrong or at the wrong time. I was a fucking idiot and I'm trying to change and be a better person.

:::::::::::

So, I've started some new drawings, but they aren't done yet. I bought a big pack of Mr. Sketch markers today from Dick Blick. Love that name.

In the meantime, I've transcribed for you the basic chords for "Love is a Losing Game", by our dear friend Amy Winehouse. I only wrote the intro verse and chorus down, since you can just play the same two sets for the whole song. The "jazzy intro" is based on this Philly-soul organ version. I think she's actually crying halfway through the video...

I've always been able to play stuff by ear, but with YouTube and videotapes, transcribing songs is a lot easier.

Best,
H

ABBA-esque

2008-01-03T10:16:00.000-05:00

There's a scene in Rain Man where Charlie Babbitt takes Raymond to a doctor in a small town because Ray is acting like a complete wierdo and Charlie is at wits end. The doctor tells Charlie that Raymond has a mental condition and needs special consideration. He says that whenever Ray is bothering him, that he should just remain calm and if need be, talk a walk or a breather. I think this is true in life—sometimes the Raymonds of the world get to us and we just have to step outside and talk a walk or get some fresh air. Most of the time, Ray will have calmed down and will be quietly sitting in front of the telly with seven fishsticks and Jeopardy! to shut him up.

-H

Burned Out

2007-12-21T22:29:00.000-05:00

Yo,

Here's a drawing I did during the summer which I finally scanned in. It's 9" x 12", marker on paper.

Just for laughs, I also scanned in a magazine photo shoot I was part of earlier this year. A crew from Fortune magazine was shooting kids in Manhattan one day and asked me to pose for them. I did a few different poses, including a Miles Davis "shhh", which was the one they picked. The feature article that the photos were for was really relevant to my life. Ironically, I was having a lot of financial troubles at that time, which have since been smoothed out.

I'm burned out from my day job. Most of the people I've made friends with through work have quit and moved on. It's X'mas 07 and 2008 is around the corner.

Star Light, Star Bright

2007-12-18T21:29:00.000-05:00

"Tracked Onion-head"
5.5" x 8.5"
Ink & marker on paper.
:::

You must be my lucky star
‘Cause you shine on me wherever you are
I just think of you and I start to glow
And I need your light
And baby you know...

-Lady Madonna
:::
for ninjasonik

Headdresses

2007-12-13T00:10:00.000-05:00

Hi,

Loads of new drawings to upload onto both my website and this blog. For now, here are a few drawings that started out as colorful patterns to which I added some faces. The last one reminds me of Dior or John Galliano's stuff.

I just got back from London a few weeks ago—it was a blast. Like I said—much more to come...

-H

Come On Feel the Noise

2007-10-30T10:16:00.001-05:00

I think Tilly and the Wall should do a cover of Quiet Riot's "Come On Feel the Noise".

-H

Wavy

2007-10-16T22:57:00.000-05:00

Hola,
I was never satisfied with my "mermaid" piece for the "Cryptozoology" show at McCaig-Welles Gallery last year, so I finally re-colored it this past weekend. Stay tuned for pics of the duratrans lightbox I'm planning for it.

-H

new website

2007-10-03T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hey ya'll,

My website has changed from sheriandkathy.com to zheik-one.com.

Cheers,
Henry

Website is down...

2007-08-22T21:23:00.000-05:00

Hey, my website is down...and I have to find a new host. Haven't drawn much lately..but willl post new things I've been doing lately soon.

-Hubble Telescope

Smurfsummer

2007-07-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

Cool Smurfs keychains from mushroomvillage...

Moodget

2007-07-09T22:26:00.001-05:00

Musings

2007-06-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

American Apparel is the new Urban Outfitters.

::::H

School's Out

2007-06-10T17:40:00.000-05:00

Bueno,

I've updated the sketchbooks section of my website with scans for January 2005 and June 2005. Enjoy.

I'll let ya know when the Feb. 2004 book is posted.

Got a great necklace from Kim Ann Foxman on this weekend. I picked it up from her directly. Our meeting looked a little suspicious, with me handing over a couple of hundred dollars in cash and her slipping me a miniature golden box with a little plastic bag inside it.

Here are some pix of the necklace. It consists of two sterling silver pendants—a combination of a lion and a small shield. Customers have an option of adding an initial to Kim's shields.

I chose an "S" on the shield for my sister Anna. Her middle name is "May-Sam" and in grade school, she nicknamed herself "Samantha", pissing off our parents to the extreme. She would write her name as "Samantha Ng" or just "Sam" on her school papers and doodle it on her notebooks. She's always been such a fucking rebel!

-Henry

Walking on Yoko's Thighs

2007-05-26T17:33:00.001-05:00

It's getting hot this weekend. Here are more inks I have run through Photoshop. I have to stop drinking-it's making me edgy and irritable.

Music: Bright Eyes: "Touch" / The Lilys "Nanny in Manhattan"

:::hng

amerykam

2007-05-24T23:11:00.000-05:00

two versions of a recent quickly-done drawing.

-H

Music: Feist "Limit to Your Love"

Church's Fried

2007-05-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

I scanned in a bunch of inks, but only have time to color one. More to come. Day job has been super hectic these few months.
-H
Music: The Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go? / I Hear a Symphony. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

Electrik Kolor Tests

2007-05-15T23:01:00.000-05:00

::
Here's a couple of initial color studies for the "Fallingwater I" drawing. The chair is from the dining room at Fallingwater, which I went to this past December. It's a really beautiful place.

I'm going to get a duratrans lightbox made for this drawing, among others. They run about a hundred to a couple of hundred bucks, I think.

-H
::

new drawings/grayscale studies

2007-05-13T21:25:00.000-05:00

:::
Here's a new-ish drawing from my sketchbook and three inks . I'll color them in PhotoShop next. I've been checking out places to take silk screen classes. Went to an SVA open house last week, etc.

Music: Feist "The Reminder"

-Henry

::

Signs of Swampage II

2007-05-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

Yo. I have a plethora of new drawings and whatnot. Work has been really busy and I have not had a chance to scan stuff. I'll put them up asap this week, though.

Went to open house at SVA. I want to check out some silkscreen classes.

-H

shoewelry

2007-04-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

::
A couple of sketchbook drawings: the shoe one is from a few months back. The other one is from last week.

-h
::

She Has Funny Cars

2007-03-27T06:32:00.000-05:00

I've been sick a lot lately. Got real sick after Morrissey Night and this drink + draw thing at Royal Oak at the beginning of the month. Then got sick again once I returned from Chicago last week.

Been learning a lot about love and life again. It's hard. I've been feeling heartbroken and longing again lately. I realize I've never been good at expressing my emotions. I have never seen my parents kiss. My parents basically had an arranged marriage. I always thought that if I liked someone, they would somehow know it and we'd somehow stick together naturally. I never thought much about showing a girl how I felt through an action—let alone physical action, like kissing or touching. I've come off as an aloof, seemingly uncaring, almost disrespectful person to those I care or think about the most. But the truth is, I'm a very romantic, deep, sensitive, spiritual, and loving person inside. I just never knew how to practice expressing those emotions very well.

::::::

I haven't done much art these days. Working on some business cards for a couple clients. Went to Draw-a-thon in DUMBO last weekend. Had a good time...

:h
:::

Seven Seas
by Echo And the Bunnymen

Stab a sorry heart
With your favourite finger
Paint the whole world blue
And stop your tears from stinging
Hear the cavemen singing
Good news theyre bringing

Seven seas
Swimming them so well
Glad to see
My face among them
Kissing the tortoise shell

A longing for
Some fresher feeling
Belonging
Or just forever kneeling
Where is the sense in stealing
Without the grace to be it

Seven seas
Swimming them so well
Glad to see
My face among them
Kissing the tortoise shell

Burning my bridges
And smashing my mirrors
Turning to see if youre cowardly
Burning the witches with mother religious
Youll strike the matches and shower me
In water games
Washing the rocks below
Taught and tamed
In time with tear flow

Seven seas
Swimming them so well
Glad to see
My face among them
Kissing the tortoise shell

Seven seas
Swimming them so well
Glad to see
My face among them
Kissing the tortoise

Seven seas
Swimming them so well
Glad to see
My face among them
Kissing the tortoise shell

::::

Spring '91 Nike B-Ball Catalog posted

2007-01-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

Hi sneakerheads and graphic design afficionados,

For your viewing pleasure, I've uploaded the first set of scans of my vintage Nike brochures. Here's a link: Spring 1991 Nike Basketball Catalog

Happy viewing!
-H

Not Kenny Loggins

2007-01-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

"Danger Zone"

When you feel
That your heart is strong
And you made up in your mind
You can't go wrong
You better watch out
Oh–you look ahead, child
For the danger zone

You can take a little walk
Down in the park
Steal a little kiss, baby
While in the dark
But listen...
Don't let your hair get wet
With a midnight 'do, now
In the danger zone

Oh yeah...

It's alright to have a love
You can feel all the time
But don't let your feeling
Upset your mind
No, no
You better watch out
Yeah...
You're in the danger zone
Nothin' but danger
Danger...
Waahh...hoooo...
Lord, have mercy

-Wilson Pickett (The Exciting Wilson Pickett, 1966)

*Wilson passed away one year ago on Jan. 19th, 2006.
-H
:::

signs of swampage

2007-01-18T00:33:00.000-05:00

:::
New work—along with an earlier one I added some fluorescent yellow to, albeit rather sloppily/hastily.

Been experimenting with Photoshop. The new pieces kinda remind me of Paschke a little. (I actually had to recreate a painting of his for an indoor mural at the CTA Chicago St. "Brown Line" entrance in summer '96 thru the Marwen Foundation's mural program.)

Best,
H
:::

2007-01-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

Something wierdly inspiring for MLK Day:

Rise Above (Greg Ginn/Black Flag, 1981)

Jealous cowards try to control
Rise above
Were gonna rise above
They distort what we say
Rise above
Were gonna rise above
Try and stop what we do
Rise above
When they can't do it themselves

We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us it's no use

Society's arms of control
Rise above
We're gonna rise above
Think theyre smart
Can't think for themselves
Rise above
We're gonna rise above
Laugh at us
Behind our backs
I find satisfaction
In what they lack

We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us it's no use

We are born with a chance
Rise above
We're gonna rise above
I am gonna have my chance
Rise above
Were gonna rise above

We are tired of your abuse
Try to stop us it's no use

Rise above
Were gonna rise above

::::

Soup Nazi

2007-01-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

::
Yo,

I tried getting some shots of a mannequin at a clothing store on Prince Street near Mulberry in Soho after work today, but after two clicks of my shutter, the security guard came out with a salesperson. The salesperson told me I couldn't take any more pictures because "there were a lot of one-of-a-kind" pieces on display. I told her it was for my design blog and I offered to delete the pix, but she just said that I couldn't take anymore.

I just thought the ensemble was nice, especially the two necklaces. I like the navy jacket-thing paired with the red and black patterned dress. The high waistline is neat, too. I'm not sure if what I did was legal or not, but I'm pretty angry about it. I usually ask permission about stuff, but I figured that since I was on the sidewalk, I was in the public, as was the storefront.

Anyways....here are the blurry pictures. If you work at the store and are reading this post and feel I should remove these two pix, just email me and I'll take 'em down.

-H
::

2 new drawings::happy new year!!

2007-01-03T23:43:00.000-05:00

::
Hi, I've two new drawings in pen and markers. The first is a guy with wings and green shapes, the second is some lettering and shapes with lines emanating from tube openings. Both are inspired by recent trips to Cinders Gallery and maybe a cute girl or two.

Happy New Year!

-Henry
::

tshirts, etc. pt. 2

2006-12-31T00:18:00.000-05:00

Here's the Falcon Crest shirt and Oak packing flix. Also, the digital images of the WGCI shirt designs and mini NG logo are at my regular website.
:::

tshirts, etc. pt. 1

2006-12-30T23:58:00.000-05:00

:::

Happy holidays. I finally printed the WGCI shirt and an extra Falcon Crest shirt for a friend at work. They both turned out great. Only thing is the designs are time-consuming to actually cut out and remove from the printer paper since they are so intricate. I have to take a screeprinting workshop somewhere and experiment. Note that the Falcon Crest design was made from preexisting art scanned from a vintage novel I got off of eBay. I did the lettering myself in Illustrator, after emailing a Falcon Crest fansite's author to find out what font was originally used by the studio. Oh, and the store where I get the shirts printed at is tees.com in the East Village, right across from Tompkins Sq. park.

I bought some new pants at Oak and really like the tissue paper and sticker they use to pack your purchase in. The sticker font goes well with the dark gray paper–modern and classy. I do wish the stamped lettering on the receipt-envelope matched the font on the sticker, though.

-H

:::

Dos Equis II

2006-12-06T01:19:00.000-05:00

part deux:::

:::::

Dos Equis

2006-12-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

Hola,

It's been two years (and one day) since I moved to NYC. Woohoo!

My friends from You are Beautiful came into town to do some street art installations. We met up at Jeana Sohn's show at Giant Robot. Over some late-night Belgian ales and pommes frites, head-beautician "hmathis" offered me some artistic words of encouragement, which I am very grateful for.

I also finished the MTA map and gave it to the "map guy" last week. He sold it in one day. I forgot to photograph it, but the final product looked pretty decent. The guy also sold my "test map", which I used to practice my lettering with. The "test map" had all kinds of practice tags written on it, quotes from John Coltrane, and random noodling. Kinda embarrassing, actually. I'll do another real map and be sure to post it before giving it to the map guy.

Here are some drawings and sketches I've made in the past week. They include some folky/psychedelic-inspired pieces, a page of radios and boom-boxes (inspired by this site), and an unfinished page of tiny fashion studies (Sretsis, Sue Stemp, and FCUK).

Lastly, I borrowed a three-inch-thick Rainbow Brite style-guide from work to leaf through (yes, I'll bring it back once I'm done).

-hng
:::::::

Map It

2006-11-14T23:34:00.000-05:00

It's a quiet and cloudy evening in Brooklyn. The lights on top of the Empire State Building bounce off the fluffy bottoms of the low-hanging clouds above Manhattan.

I'm working on a "graffiti map" for an artist who sells personalized MTA maps on Prince St. near Broadway, which is right outside where I work. I forgot what his name is, but he used to write back in the early '80s and he once mentioned that he "....just got back from doing some work with Stash, Futura, and Daze...." (some of New York's most well-known graffiti artists). He said that If I made a map for him, he'd sell it for about twenty-five to forty bucks, and split the profits with me. I thought that was a fun thing to do, so this week I'm gonna just bust out some wildstyle letters onto a brand new October 2006 MTA subway map and see if he can sell it.

Tonight, I started off with "The Bronx", in blocky mid-80's letters. The letters are done in the style of WEST FC, MED, COPE 2, and SHAME 125. I'm not sure If I'm going to make the styles different for each borough, so we'll see. I might add white highlights to the letters, too.

Watching me from the sidelines are two cuddly bears and a cozy-hearted penguin.

_hng

Letter to Paul

2006-11-08T02:37:00.000-05:00

This is an email I wrote to one of my friends, who just moved to Pittsburgh. Andy Warhol was born there and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is also nearby, near Mill Run.

:::
P-Man,

I was just reading about Common's 2nd album, "Resurrection", which I have enjoyed for years. I read the list of songs which were sampled in "Resurrection", the first song on the album. The main piano loop sampled on "Resurrection" is "Dolphin Dance", by Ahmad Jamal, from 1970. I downloaded it tonight.

Ahmad Jamal is my favorite jazz pianist. Miles Davis cites him as an influence. In 1994, I watched WTTW's "Image Union" which featured a song by him, "Poinciana". The video was so good that I taped it on my vcr and watched it over and over. The video was not actually for the song, but was an art video which used the song as a background for various night scenes shot around Chicago.

It took me about a year to find out what the song was. Either WBEZ 91.5 or WNUA 95.5 FM played it by coincidence and the announcer said the name and title of the song. I found out "Poinciana" was one of Jamad's best known works, and that there were two different versions of the song. The live version was the one I was looking for.

Years later, in 2002 or 2003, I went looking for the Pershing Ballroom, where the song was recorded live in the winter of 1957-'58. The Pershing was located somewhere on 64th and Cottage Grove, but had since been either demolished or transformed. I managed to see him play a beautiful set at Grant Park one summer night in 2003. He even played "Poinciana". I think he wore a white suit. His music reminds me of the good things in Chicago.

On Ahmad's website, he mentions that he was born in a wonderful place for artists and creative people...Pittsburgh, PA.

Best,
Henry
::::

note: "Dolphin Dance" is originally by Herbie Hancock, who is a Chicago native, as Paul and I both are.

new artblog/test entry

2006-11-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

Hi, I'm starting this art-blog to record my latest ideas, sketches, and what-not.

Starting off this week is a simple marker drawing of Lou Doillon—no pencilling, just straight marker to paper. I bought a large pack of regular Crayola markers to emulate the type of drawings my older sister and I would make back in the day. I'll write more about my sister in upcoming posts. I'll also put up some of her drawings from the 80's and early 90's. Unfortunately, the Lou sketch is based only on a photo—hence the flat dimensions and lack of detail. The photo is from handbag.com or something like that. I would prefer not to do any drawings from photos, but since I don't usually have time to draw from life during the weekday s (I have a full-time job art-directing and designing stuff at a children's book publisher), it's the best thing to do sometimes. Anyway, Lou is sort of my fashion muse this month. Even though I've known about Jane Birkin, and Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg for a long time, the first time I saw Lou was in a Gap advertisement a couple of years ago. At the time, I thought "who's that girl?", but now I've noticed she's in more magazines lately, like this month's Paper Magazine.

I'm also working on another t-shirt design for myself—this time based upon the lettering and colours of the awning on a local coffee shop here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It's Maria's Coffee Shop, where I get donuts and snacks maybe once a week or so. Sometimes I get a smoothie there, too. I like the magenta awning with bold white lettering because it's sorta retro-late-seventies/early eighties. It conjures up thoughts of blockbuster/straight letter style graffiti on a subway train lit up by streetlights and glowy neon nights. There's a cool poster inside of the shop with a totally 80's design which I will photograph and post this week as well.

Best,
Henry