"I'm Feeling My Feelings" Coloring Book!

On Monday I launched an Indiegogo campaign for my coloring book, and now 2 days later it's more than half funded! Thank you so much for the support from friends, acquaintances, and strangers. I'm so glad to fill the void that was wanting a genderless raceless coloring book of creatures. HERE IT IS, in time for the special days at the end of the year that many people celebrate.

The book has 30 unique drawings that can be easily torn out, becoming instant personalized art prints. WHAT A GREAT GIFT. Each book is $20, and you can find deals on the site for multiple books, so send your mom this link to make sure you get one for the holidays: www.igg.me/at/feelingmyfeelings

I'm so proud to be printing this book locally at a small business in Philadelphia. Support local artists and local businesses!

I also just made a very quick video (a little corny, I know...) with a little bit about the project, so take a peek, and please share!

Love,
Joey

Always Maps

Philadelphia

This is Philadelphia

Loud

Weird

Beautiful in its own way.

Get the print.

I am Enough.

I loved making this piece and I love the response it's gotten so far. A friend of mine asked that I make it based on the important words (I later found out her idea originated from this video).

Both versions are available in the shop for $18 each.

P.S. Big thank you to my friend Chrissy who included these images in her own blog, which you should check out anyway: christineroseincommunication.wordpress.com

Dear Women Illustrators,

Last night I was talking to a friend about direction (mostly complaining about the unfairness and insanity that is student loans) when I mentioned that I basically want to be Dr. Seuss when I grow up.... and it made me try to think of a female illustrator who influences me.

Then I just tried to think of a famous female illustrator.

...

I couldn't think of ONE off the top of my head. Eventually I thought of Beatrix Potter. That's it.

Where are the women illustrators? I know we're out there, I know we've even been around for a bit. And I haven't studied the history of illustration or anything, but just the fact that probably most people who haven't studied the history of illustration (i.e. most people) can hardly think of one female illustrator is disconcerting.

By the way, Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, and Maurice Sendak are three very well-known illustrators whose work I like, because it's weird and playful, and often carries a message for humans. Great job guys. (Guys) (.....White Guys) (WHOOPS.)

This is definitely not only an issue in the field of illustration.  Influential women are missing from a lot of areas and it's RIDICULOUS!! Seriously! It's 2013, and making babies is no longer an excuse to drop your awesome woman dreams, no matter what the Man says. And if your awesome woman dream is to make babies, that's fine too if that's your thing, maybe you are working on making a really awesome baby who will grow into a super-influential woman artist. But I know that it is not our collective woman job, and we are awesome at a lot of stuff.

So, Women Illustrators and Graphic Artists! Women Carpenters! Women Scientists! Women U.S. Presidents! Come on out! Let our gorgeous creative light shine, and let's get to it.

Love you.

Sincerely,

Joey

Belly-Belly

Us&We's (our?) first book comes out next month! 

It's called Belly-Belly and you can preview it here.

(If you're viewing this on the website, just go to 

"projects" » "belly-belly")

I'm excited about this book. I pretty much busted the whole thing out 

2 months ago and now it is finally getting printed. I hope you like it.

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Winterfest !

Hey friends, please come visit my table at Winterfest today at the Schuylkill Environmental Education Center in Philadelphia! Look at these super stellar magnets I made that will be for sale:

Plus 18 other cool things that your kittens, best friends, and first grade teachers REALLY want for some kind of holiday gift. Come on over.

Seriously

I won't do it. it's just pee and there's not enough water. OBVIOUSLY.

In other news:

LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE

and tell your college roommates about it.

and also

there's FREE SHIPPING on my society6 shop until Sunday at midnight. Use this link.

More Human

Feeling a little more human than artist today-- still making art though. Just watch out it might get a little real.

In the meantime, trying to figure out the best way to give empire the bird while trying to survive. Other thoughts include:

• Probably moving out of the United States of America, which is stolen land, and send all the American Indians a letter that says sorry about all the stuff I took while I was here.
• While I'm penpal-ing I might as well write to Obama and tell him how I feel.
• Poor guy.
• Building up the courage and confidence to give away all my things
• in general attempting to be more

That's it for now, have a great day !

Things to know

Many apologies for the hiatus. I'm not even going to write a long post to make up for it. Here's the nut (that is, the contents of the nutshell) :

• 2 craft shows coming up, more on that very soon
• Been working on greg's website for his awesome project, CHECK IT OUT
• Something very excitinggg is in the works... hope you're curious because it's very cool
[..His name is belly-belly]
• Here are some things I've made:

The Goal

Among the happenings in the past two days while huddled up in our room waiting for Hurricane Sandy to do what she did, was the realization that we should start acting like we're on the same team.

We, as in, earthmates.

So, my new goal in life is to convince everyone (all earthmates) that we are on the same team. And the goal of the team is for things to be OK.

Clearly, things are not OK. BUT, once we all start acting like we're on the same team (goal!) things will get better.

This I know to be true.

So here is what I'm doing to begin this new leg of my journey:

More coming.

Please share !

Entering the Dinosaur Phase

OK, I'm making dinosaurs now. If you know me at all you know I have a special place in my heart for dinosaurs-- maybe because they are big and mysterious and could be any color, really.

Anyway to make it a little more meaningful I've been matching up my illustrations of dinosaurs with important messages that come out of my brain and guts. Those might get more meaningful too, but for now I'm keeping it simple.

Also, if you want a print of these use THIS LINK to order from society6 and get free shipping through Sunday :)

Countries Anonymous (poster)

I'm still really attached to the Countries Anonymous project-- it could pretty much go on forever.  Now there's a poster to pin up next to your bed, on your fridge, your basement door, and above your toilet ! Get it in on society6.

Still making stuff

It didn't work out to move to Vermont, so now I'm headed to Philly, which is the next obvious choice. Obviously.

Moving into a house in Mt. Airy which is about the cutest little pie in Philadel-pie and I'm pretty pumped about living there and making artsy things.

Speaking of which ! There are even more creatures in Countries Anonymous now which is still up at Moravian Academy, and here's one:

Darius

Onward

Website! It's better now. Check it out.

You can click here. Or here. This one: http://www.joeyhartmanndow.com

Most exciting is, you can now buy prints of Countries Anonymous stuff on Society6!

That's all for today. Love you.

Equatorial Guinea

Countries Anonymous

Oh you thought I was done !!

The truth is, I have another show with all new work opening on Friday. That's this Friday. What I'm trying to say is 5 days from now.

Three other studio art majors are renting out a great space at the Hungerford Building to fill with our creations and the opening HAPPENS to coincide with First Friday, so all sorts of other awesome arty things will be waiting for your eyes to enjoy them in the same place (it's not a coincidence, we cleverly planned it that way).

So come check it out!

Even though we are renting the same space, the four of us have each have solo shows and I can tell you right now that they are all really great.  My show is called Countries Anonymous (wonder what the heck that means? You'll have to come on Friday...)

The reception starts at 6 PM, Friday May 4, 2012, and goes to about 10 PM.

Le Rat Des Champs

I managed to be in DC this weekend which was exactly what I needed. Maybe more on that later.

I came across this artist awhile ago but I'm just praising her now. Maria Luisa Isaza makes these delicious portraits of animal figures... I say delicious because I want to scarf and cuddle these guys at the same time. They look like fantastic paintings but they're actually fantastic digital drawings. Well, delicious and maybe a little spooky. I like it.

Check out her website: http://www.elratondecampo.com

Images with permission from Maria Luisa Isaza.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ft. Nicholas Di Genova

I've been back in Rochester for almost 2 weeks now, and started classes a week ago but it feels like it's already been a month… No concept of time.

Don't worry, I went back to living in Sage pretty much right away, but unfortunately don't have nearly enough to show for it. I will post new work soon. TODAY I had my Review for senior seminar, which means that 2 very scary art professors critiqued my work for about an hour. Actually it turned out I got the nicest ladies on the planet but still got some great feedback, and I'm feeling motivated.

Otherwise, in addition to finishing Senior Sem, which is just for art majors, I'm taking Intro Environmental Science and Environmental Justice, which is a philosophy class.  I'm feeling very lucky to have the opportunity to only take 3 courses this semester because I have enough credits to graduate but it means that I'm going to treat art as TWO courses, and work my tush off. Yup.

Anyway, here is Nicholas Di Genova's work. He's done a bunch of badass chimeras, and, well you can see for yourself:

Again, like Tommy Kane, so much detail I wanna die, and sooo intriguing. I love how mechanical the toad is, but how ALIVE the tentacles are.. Today during my review I was asked why so many of my pieces have blank, white backgrounds, and I said "I don't know !" and I really don't… I guess it just appeals to me. There must be some intense psychological reason. Anyway, I like these a lot.

Image with permission from Nicholas Di Genova. www.skeletonhug.blogspot.com

Life in 2012-- and Tommy Kane

I would just like to share with everyone that because I was born in 1990, the last digit of the current year generally matches up with my age, so it's really easy for me to figure out how old I am based on the year. It's not as convenient as if I was born in 2000, but what I'm trying to say is, I'm going to turn 22 in 3 months.  …I wouldn't want to be born in 2000 anyway.

MORE IMPORTANTLY-- there is this artist named Tommy Kane and I am infatuated with his illustrations right now.  I love this kind of style, and his use of text is fantastic-- in this particular image he's talking about his relationship with his art in that moment-- so personal and nonchalant. Love it.

I have looked at every image on his site-- PLEASE check out the News Events, at least.

I have to admit, I would never have the patience to draw like he does, it would take about 8 years per drawing for some of them. The detail is insane! And it sounds like such an experience to draw places and objects from life, with people stopping to look and talk to him, and getting to travel all over the place… So much more interesting than photographs. Yes.

Image with permission from Tommy Kane.
http://tommykaneillustration.com

The Day Joey Was More like an Illustrator

So it turns out, I've been trying to be a painter I'm not, for about ever.  In the last day and a half, discoveries show that my drawings tell stories for a reason, and I should be rocketing towards illustrative fame any day now…

In the meantime, I've got to take a moment to highlight Rachel Caldwell, who creates some delicious prints and t-shirt designs.  I'm really not sure how to describe her style right now, I just know my brain gets all happy looking at her work.  It makes sense that I'm drawn to it (that was on purpose…) since she's got some sensational animal guys going on… I'm really into it.

CHECK OUT HER BLOG too, because there's more.

Also, check back for NEW and exciting work from me in the next 36 hours-ish. Yep.

(images with permission from Rachel Caldwell)