Jon Vermilyea recently sat down with The Stuff for a hard-hitting interview in tandem with his new Nakatomi Invitational release.

Biafrah Winfrey: What is your current studio set up like?

Jon Vermilyea: My studio is my bedroom in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Its mainly just a drafting table with a lamp and a desk with my computer, scanner and tablet.

BW: In your work, do you employ any unique artist techniques that you’d be willing to expose to the world (with tools, media, software, etc)?

JV: Most of the work I do is drawn on plate finish bristol board. I like really smooth drawing surfaces, not rough or toothy. I pencil with a PaperMate mechanical pencil. It’s not especially fancy, but it’s really light. I don’t like heavy mechanical pencils! For inking I use a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. In some ways it’s not as good as an actual brush. It’s harder to do dry brush effects and the bristles aren’t as firm. But you don’t have to worry about cleaning it and the tip is always at a point. For panel borders and lettering I use a ruling pen and a glass pen.

BW: What was the inspiration behind teaching Vincent Van Gogh about nutrition in your /Breakfast Crew/ series?

JV: I just thought it was a good mix. He looks very stoic in paintings. I thought it would be funny to put him in a situation with over animated characters.

BW: Can you talk about some of your artistic influences that might not be apparent in your style, or not well known in general?

JV: Some cartoonists I’m influenced by are Basil Wolverton, Richard Corben, Gary Panter, Joann Sfar, and Vaughn Bodé. I’m also a big fan of the animators Ralph Bakshi, Vincent Collins, Bruce Bickford, and John Kricfalusi.

BW: Do you have a day job, or are you able to survive on your bare artistic instincts alone?

JV: I’m currently surviving on doing art projects. I also do freelance work in book production.

BW: What do you have lined up for the Nakatomi Invitational in May?

JV: I have a really awesome poster and shirt called The Brood.  It’s very inspired by Basil Wolverton.

A hoy hoy!

So- Bill Murray’s lesser known co-star from ‘Mad Dog and Glory’ , Robert De Niro, finally gets some recognition around here!

De Niro Times Six! Is now up for sale in the Art Prints category in the Nakatomi Store!

It comes in a regular edition-

And a ‘Bobby’s got the Blues’ Glow in the dark version-

Both have slightly larger edition sizes than the previously FAST sold out Murray posters, but not by much.  Each poster is a four color silkscreen, designed by Tim Doyle, measuring 6×36, and is signed and numbered by the artist.  Orders for these should ship w/in 2 weeks!  There will NOT be a 2nd edition of this set.

And, if you’re interested, there are currently just 5 of the ‘Bill Murray Times Six’ 2nd edition prints left!

-alex fugazi

So, look at these beauties that turned up at my front door yesterday-

Damn those turned out nice.  Special thanks to the great folks over at D and L screenprinters for the great work as usual.

All orders have been packed and shipped…look for ‘em by the end of the week, or early next.  (Unless you live overseas, and that means 2 weeks?)

Check out our fancy Tube Caps-

And, once all orders were packed, we had a VERY SMALL amount of these left in each edition (like, 4-8 for each).  If you’re one of the people who were still looking for one of these, hop on over to the store’s ART PRINTS page and snatch one up!

And just to show you how much we love you, here’s a preview of the next one in the ACTOR TIMES SIX! set-

Deniro Times Six! Will drop later this week- sign up to the mailing list to get advance warning, and RSS this blog while you’re at it!

-alexfugazi

So, this isn’t exactly NEW, but…Robocop on a Unicorn is the best thing since Bill Cosby beat that midget to death.  For real.  Olav Rokne is the genius behind the “Robocop on a Unicorn” museum over on Flickr.

A few months back, he and a friend were joking around about what the most ridiculous thing they could think of, and ‘Robocop on a Unicorn’ was born.  Add in the incredibly Democratic level playing-field of ideas known as ‘the interwebs’ and a new meme was born.  For better or worse, this is the way of the future, people.  Any idea can grab a toehold into the public consciousness, and the next thing you know- instant fad.  Some fads, like pet rocks and Habeas Corpus disappear after a time, but I fully believe Robocop on a Unicron will see us through these dark economic times ahead, and will bring us into a bright and utopian future- free of serial-killing Cyborg cult leaders who run on NUKE!

This print was previously only available through a personal Myspace account, but now that we have this shiny new website…

With less than 20 copies left out of an original signed and numbered edition 40, this print is ready for immediate shipment.

Pick one up HERE.

-alex fugazi

1/30/2009- The VHS Never Forget t-shirts have arrived fresh from the printer a few days back, and all pending orders have shipped. This one was a huge success, and there’s still some left from this limited edition print run, so show your support for our dearly departed plastic friend and head on over to the Store and pick one up! -alexfugazi

Wow.  Uh…wow.

The Bill Murray art print sold out in record time.

Big ups to Peter over at SlashFilm, and Omar over at TwitchFilm for getting the word out, as well as Mitch over at OMGposters for his coverage.

The demand was so violently fast, that we rushed a 2nd edition out, and even that is almost sold out at this writing.  (It’s the one on the bottom)

UPDATE- The 2nd edition is now sold-out…There won’t be a 3rd edition, but there will be plenty of new posters coming out soon!

If you’re interested, I wouldn’t sleep on it.  You only get the one  ‘Groundhog Day’ 2nd chance opportunity on this one.

Thanks all!  The 1st ed and Glow in the dark should ship by the end of next week!

- alex fugazi