Happy Birthday Ray Nitschke

Acrylic on board, 11" x 14". He would have turned 74 today.

Prints for sale! Email me at zack@zackwallenfang.com.

Happy Birthday Steve Buscemi

This is a painting I posted earlier this year, but what the hey, he turned 53 today.

Leslie Nielsen

Played around with acrylic on chipboard for the first time in a year last night. Finished this morning as The Naked Gun played on Comedy Central. I'd like to think they'd be playing it even if Leslie Nielsen didn't pass away only two days ago. It must have been at least the 50th time I've seen them air it this year.

Bela Lugosi

This is acrylic on water color paper, 8.5" x 11".

Tony Dungy

Here is another case of me feeling like I had a good direction/vision in the beginning but kind of got lost along the way. This got much thicker and layered than I intended and I am not pleased with the process!

With many of my recent posts being NFL stars, I thought Tony Dungy (former head coach of the Colts and current sports analyst) would be a good segway into some more Halloweeny type of stuff for the month, as he kind of has that Nosferatu appeal.

This is acrylic on 8.5" x 11" on some kind of blotter paper.

Michael Vick

Considering my last couple posts have had a sort of "bad boys of football" theme, I figured everything works best in threes. This is acrylic on board, 11"x14".

On the usual self-loathing technical note, I need to paint hands more often. They get too sloppy and I get bored too fast and give up too easily, taking on the mindset of "oh well, there's always next time". Not the best attitude for an intended portfolio piece.

O.J. Simpson

Now that we're into week 3 of the NFL season, I guess I'm on a football kick. This is 8.5" x 11" on illustration board.

Ben Roethlisberger

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback "Big Ben" Roethlisberger, or as I like to call him, "Rapistburger" (get it?!) has had 2 sexual assault allegations against him within a year. Although there wasn't enough evidence to prove him guilty, he was suspended for the first 6 games this season for violating the NFL's personal code of conduct policy. He has recently been reduced to 4 games for "good behavior".

This is acrylic on hot press illustration board, 11" x 14".

FAVRE VADER

Here is my latest "theme park wall sample". This is an idea that might have been a tad more relevant and funny had I executed a year ago. I sketched it several times back then, hated it, and put it on the backburner. Something prompted me to give it another stab. I'm still not 100% happy with the likenesses, but I'm sure any and/or all football fan patrons at the Mall of America will still get a cheap laugh at the idea when they see it.

This is marker and airbrush.

Happy Birthday, America!

Click for a better look!

This is a refined, painted version of a drawing I did a couple years ago. Inspired by the fact that among all the mascots roaming the Mall of America, they have no official character to represent the mall as a whole. There's Sharky from the aquarium, a frog from the Rainforest Cafe, a disgusting plush shrimp from Bubba Gump, a moose from a mini-golf course, and of course there's Spongebob & Co., but no official icon from the Mall of America to greet the guests. This is my pitch.

It's been a while since I've done an acrylic painting of anything other than a celebrity, and I think there is much work to be done. There are several areas of slop here. Time to not use the busy summer season as an excuse for not painting more.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum gig poster named flyer of the week!

...over at the City Pages blog.

Gig poster

Click on image for a better look!

One of my favorite live acts is coming back to town, and I haven't missed an opportunity to see them each time they've returned in the last 6 years. This show is somewhat unique because they aren't on tour, nor is there a new album to be supporting. Only 4 dates, one that happens to be here. Guzzlemug has been given the honor of opening for them.

Shane Prendiville, one of my friends in Guzzlemug, asked me if I was interested in coming up with a gig poster that will be getting screen-printed. Hell yes I was. So we sat down and brainstormed for a bit. Here's what we came up with.

Two more prints on ebay

You know you need these gracing the walls of your home. And in the process, you get to contribute to my moving funds! These were both created in 2004 as part of my Senior Project.
BID NOW!

BID NOW!

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash

I intended to have this done in time to post on his 78th birthday last Friday, but some other paintings that took the back burner and a few other distractions slowed me down.

This had what I considered to be a good game plan in the early stages, but turned into something else that became less and less fun. The kind of painting where too many areas get worked over and over again to the point that it turns into this rough texture that makes it more and more difficult to work on top of. That's the last time I let that happen.

This is acrylic, 11" x 14".

Michael Phelps black light poster on ebay

I'm trying to clear a little space and thought I'd see if this might go over well on ebay. If you know anyone who would appreciate lowbrow humor of this sort, by all means, spread the word!

Bid now!

Steve Buscemi

Acrylic on board, 8.5" x 11".

The idea was to make him look sickly. The one thing I wanted to avoid was making him look too much like The Joker, and I hope I succeeded. But I do think he would be an awesome Joker.

Elvis 2010, Pt. 1

WHAT?! 2 posts in one week? There, ya satisfied MARC?!

This is based on a sketchbook drawing from my beloved Elvis of the day project, drawn on the 314th day of 2008. I have to admit this wasn't nearly as much fun as I anticipated. I thought the eagle would be a blast, but man was I wrong. While I pretty much liked the transferred drawing before I painted on top of it, it kind of turned into a mess. I hope I don't sound like I'm being pathetically modest to anyone who might happen to think this actually kicks ass. It simply took a different direction once the paint was applied. Perhaps the reference photo was taken too literally. I hate it when that happens. It's either a result of undiagnosed ADD, or a plain old lack of vision. Either way, it's all a part of the learning experience for the "big picture", and that is precisely the point.

Keith Richards

11" x 14", acrylic. Click on image for a better look.

Anyone who knows who Sebastian Krüger is (which I hope would be everyone) has a tendency to think of him any time someone does a caricature of any member of the Rolling Stones (but namely Keith Richards). When I drew Richards on his birthday back in December, it was nearly impossible to forget about the images burned into my head of at least 20 different Keith Richards paintings by Krüger. But I made it a point NOT to look at any of his work before that drawing (or this painting).

So my little disclaimer here is that I promise this is the first and last one I will ever do of him or any member of the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards is Krüger's thing. I happened to like the way that drawing turned out and thought it was worth painting. But I don't want to appear as though I am trying to emulate Krüger (which isn't to say that I think this is anywhere up to par with his work). While every caricature artist in the world will forever think of Krüger when they see a Keith Richards piece, I would like my name to one day become synonymous with drawings and paintings of Elvis.

With all that said, I know it's not entirely impossible to eventually reach the superior powers that Sebastian Krüger possesses, but it's also highly unlikely. The best thing I can do is keep working hard and be as creative as I can, while trying to mold my own thing and have fun as I do it. There are way too many Krüger wannabes out there, and very few who can pull off what he does. His subjects look as though they could jump out and bite your face off if only he hadn't trapped their souls in the canvas. I firmly believe his abilities come from the same source as Fry's high-caliber Holophoner performance in the series finale of Futurama.

Vince Lombardi

Here is the first of what I hope to be many paintings derived from my birthday drawings of the last year. This was a Christmas present to my dad who has not missed a Packers home game since 1984. After taking me to several games over the years (including 3 Packers-Vikings games with a field pass...on the sidelines back when he was doing field photography for every game!), I thought this was an appropriate gift.

This is acrylic on chipboard, about 11"x14". The scan came out a tad darker than it should be, but I kind of like it.