Ghost town

I promise better blog upkeep in the coming weeks. Been crazy busy juggling band, Carrier Pigeon events and job hunting. NYC is a beast(--- and ridiculously hot over the summer! Aghh!).

Here are a few unused illustrations from the Shark Engine Enigma story featured in Issue 4 of Carrier Pigeon: Illustrated Fiction & Fine Art. I decided to color these initially but a few of the images felt severely disconnected so I opted to keep them B&W. I prefer simplicity.

Still love these as individual images though! I definitely plan to color more of my own work in the future. (Color tends to be on commission. )

This illustration is for another CP story due out sometime in Volume 2. The loose idea of this story is that people of the world start coming back from the dead as an acceptable form of zombie.. even the fish have a hard time dying. An interesting story by Victor Giannini whom I collaborated with on the above illustrations.

Dead Sea (ha)

Face melt!

Buck. He has a hat.

And finally here's an image I illustrated for Esquire Russia. I completed 5 illustrations back in March, here's 2 out of 5. It was a lot of fun working on these paintings. Art director Natasha Vasilieva passed along many ingenius steampunk inspired creative descriptions for these pieces which were composed as the following.

Finding the right balance of black and white was an interesting challenge.

The Office. (Steve! Noooo!)

Thanks for checking out the work! Hope you enjoy.

--Ray

The Forest is Red

I recently worked with film maker David Jakubovic on a poster for his upcoming feature "The Forest is Red". After several emails, a brief description of the design ("Maybe a dog barking?" "Don't forget the red rainbow!" etc,) and a viewing of several minutes of the movie the project was on its way.

The New York cityscape is an important part of the story. The main character hears voices and deals with a lot of internal conflict and this definitely affects how he views the world. I wanted to express that in subtle silhouettes and distortion. I imagined jigsaw pieces of buildings being forced together but in completely logical ways. Escher landscapes.

David mentioned the psychological aspects of the main character and the importance of the NY cityscape and I wanted to be faithful to that, considering NY is my home/ love/ curse. Tall skyscrapers, decrepit buildings, bright diners, corner stores... there was a lot that I wanted to fit in the NY scenery. I tried to incorporate buildings or places from my usual NY landscape, just enough to feel like I could have visited any of these locations.

The final image was a mix of the last two thumbnails.

This is the end result! I've yet to see the film, but I can't wait.

--Ray

Changing web hosting.

email: yarjones (at) gmail (dot) com

Site should be back up tonight or tomorrow morning.

The Shark Engine Enigma

A few more illustrations from The Shark Engine Enigma, due out in issue 4 of CARRIER PIGEON Magazine. The protagonist is a Surfer, which means I had the chance to ink some waves-- which is always a good time. Water is one of the most challenging elements to capture and it's always fun to create abstract representations of it. That said....

More to come when we announce the release date.

Harlem School of the Arts

A quick post of student work from my Manga Mania (sequential art) class. I realize the zoo isn't very sequential, but I like it. DEAL. I mean... Enjoy!

A sweet Zoo scene by Jarrard, 6

"Meanwhile..." Theo, 9

Sasuke v. Naruto! Fabian, 8

An autobiographical hockey story in progress by Ariel, 15

Dead Corpse 12/15/2010 @ Trash Bar part 2

DEAD CORPSE at the Trash Bar last month (year!). We have another show on the 27th. Hopefully we won't be as hammered.

CARRIER PIGEON: Issue 2: Day 6

CARRIER PIGEON Day 1 - 5

lilseamonster

You cannot resist. BUY cute non-edible food by Shanon (littleseamonster.com!) All of this deliciousness can be ordered on Etsy.com via lilseamonster. They're all one of a kind and custom orders. Get it for the vege/pesca-tarian/sushi lover in your life.

--Ray

12/14 eh? How'd that happen?

I have a lot of catching up to do..

Here's a little bit of what has been going on:

CARRIER PIGEON: Illustrated Fiction & Fine Art, Vol.1, Issue.1 has launched successfully! We are in 17 stores all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. The magazine looks and feels great! It has really excellent printing throughout and a design that was crafted with respect to the creatives. I'm really proud to be part of the crew involved in making this a reality... So far so good.

I've also been working on illustrations for a story to be featured in a later issue of CARRIER PIGEON. The story plays with the idea of death and the afterlife, with some interesting and at times comical twists.

Still teaching at Harlem School of the Arts.

Still drumming in Dead Corpse. (show tonight @ Trash Bar in Brooklyn, we go on at 10pm, if you're in the area/ like metal, drop by!)

--Ray

Sketchbook inks

Carrier Pigeon.

Dead Corpse.

Sketchbook drawing, soon to be tshirt design.

--Ray

Carrier Pigeon Silent Auction, Print and Subscription Sale at the Chelsea Wine Vault!

October 1st, 2010 - Carrier Pigeon will be running a print and subscription sale at the Chelsea Wine Vault! Free Wine Tasting! Art for Sale! Silent Auction! Celebrate the launch of our website!

Chelsea Wine Vault (Located inside Chelsea Market)
75 9th Ave # 11
New York, NY 10011-7042
http://www.chelseawinevault.com/


View Larger Map

Look at you over there, all neglected.

4 days to go, CARRIER PIGEON

4 days and a 2k gap to fill. Help us out! We really believe in this magazine, help us make it happen.

More info here: http://kck.st/9lVXM2


--Ray

Carrier Pigeon Magazine! 8 days left

Carrier Pigeon Magazine is at $5,221! We're a little more than halfway to our goal and we have 8 days left. IF WE DON'T MAKE IT, WE DON'T GET TO KEEP ANY OF THE MONEY (If we don't make it to our goal you are not charged!). So if you can stop by our page and simply donate a dollar or send some traffic our way, we can stay on the websites main page/ keep a good momentum. More info here:

CARRIER PIGEON MAGAZINE ON KICKSTARTER: http://kck.st/9lVXM2

Please! if you know an awesome blog or website to pass this on to, please PLEASE take a minute to do so. if you manage to get us some traffic/ posted somewhere interesting, send me an email! I'll make sure you get something out of it.

Here are some small bird drawings I made for an auction this Friday to raise money for Carrier Pigeon Magazine.



--Ray

Carrier Pigeon Magazine

CARRIER PIGEON MAGAZINE

Hey everyone, this is one of those side projects I've had the pleasure of being a part of. We've finished the first few issues and now we're preparing to launch.

Now for the hard part. WE NEED TO RAISE MONEY. We've joined Kickstarter to start the fund raising process, but we have a long way to go. THERE ARE SOME AMAZING REWARDS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR GOAL.

Check out the site here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/929428847/carrier-pigeon-illustrated-fiction-and-fine-art

SPREAD THE WORD. Ill be ranting about this pretty often. We have an amazing lineup of creatives and we genuinely believe in this. We're fighting to make this happen. We have until August 6th to raise the funds.


Some more info:


Statement of Intent:
Carrier Pigeon is a magazine of illustrated fiction and fine art. By giving full creative control to the artists, illustrators, designers and writers, this magazine hopes to level the conventional perception of the singularity of each artistic discipline. Carrier Pigeon provides artists with a venue for telling stories in an undisturbed environment by offering the chance to show full bodies of work and unconditional artistic freedom in both direct subject matter and the interpretation of text. This publication will be printed quarterly.

About us,

In the last year we've put together three issues in our spare time and will soon start on the fourth. Our main goal is to allow artists complete freedom with their artwork, and to have it commercially distributed so the gallery wall would not have to be the only place left for sincerity in the art world. There are taboos put up between fine art, illustration and design that we would love to destroy with Carrier Pigeon by allowing everyone involved the chance to present a narrative in an undisturbed fashion. We also believe that most people are smart enough to understand art that is not packaged for the lowest common denominator but have nowhere to go for such an outlet in the commercial print world. We hope to be that outlet.


If you have any specific questions about donating to this project, send me an email at ray(at)jonesray.com

Winter: Priestess

I lied.

This is the last one. About 40'' x 27'', Ink on Khadi (handmade cotton rag paper).

A few details:

Brainstorming...

Brainstorming for a new series... "Winter" is more or less over. Here are some sketches in the meantime.






--Ray

ArtErotica NYC Group Show!

Next Wednesday I'm going to be in the "ArtErotica" group show at Madame X Bar in NYC! I'll be showing work from the Winter Series and a few from Autumn.

Drinks, performances and erotic art all in a classy throwback bordello lounge! Really, what more could you ask for??! RSVP for 5 dollar admission.




The Place: Madame X
Time: May 12th 7pm - 12am

See you there!

MoCCA and sketchbook pages! Siren!

Last weekend I made a last second appearance at MoCCA! My good friend Matt, wasn't able to make it so I took his place on Sunday. This was my very first time sharing a table at one of these events, so I was pretty excited! And the turn out was pretty great considering the last minute planning involved. I met a lot of great people and I'm definitely looking forward to next year! --Maybe by then I'll intentionally have a table and have more than prints for sale too.

Below are some sketches from the last few days. It's nice to make scribbles that turn into things! Even if they're just strange. Some of these were drawn minutes before sleep delirium kicked in, others at a Cafe.








And here's a new piece:

Sumi Ink on Khadi Handmade Paper(Rough), 27.5 x 40in.

Thanks for checking out the work!

--Ray