Jason May - Illustration

I have been asked to join a group of artists in a Steampunk Bizarre gallery show. Last October I met, artist, Joe Marsocci at the Addam's Family Gathering show in Middletown, CT. The current date for the shows opening reception is July 10th.

I will be sure to update the blog on the progress of the pieces I am building for the show. I currently plan to have a few guitars and amps in the steampunk style. There will be a lot of season veterans at the show and I'm grateful to be asked to show my work with them. Stay tuned.

I've had a lot of people asking me about builds for Christmas. I'm happy to say that a few have actually ordered and I'm very excited about taking on the projects. There is nothing more amazing than getting a gift that some one had made for you. Not that someone made it for you, but that was custom ordered and built by a craftsman just for you. I will be happy to share some photos and stories after the Holidays regarding 2009 Holiday guitars. I don't want to spoil any surprises.

If you would like to order a completely customized guitar as a Holiday gift, please do so by the end of November. If you want a complex build, please try and do it sooner. I will do my best to fill the orders, but building instruments one by one is very time consuming a labor intensive. And I love it!

Please visit my guitars home page and contact me regarding custom instruments. Stick-in-a-box guitars are quick, but please leave four weeks just to be safe. Anything more elaborate than that needs to be ordered soon. I'll be starting a batch of guitars this week. Don't delay and get into my queue for the last of 2009 guitar builds.

Some people, like myself, enjoy having a real book in their hands to flip through. Other's don't care. They just want the story. They want to read it and be done with it. For those people... your prayers have been answered. Head over to my Drive Thru Comics store and pick up the entire Halloween issue for a mere 99 cents. That's right! $2.00 off my cover price, however, you do not get an autograph of a free sketch on this digital book. If you need that physical representation of my artwork with all the exciting bells and whistles, I will happily sell you a copy from my standard store. Either way, no matter what you are into,there is now an option for all!!

If you like digital comics, it's time to act fast and go pick up the whole Mr. Phelps Space Detective mini series for a crazy low price. The latest price is good until this Friday. It's like stealing! If you miss out on this super duper cheap price, it's still worth it to pick up at the regular digital price. Very cheap for a great read. Shawn Granger is a great writer and I had a great time illustrating it. With any luck, Shawn will ask me to work on another Mr. Phelps story. And with even more luck, I may get to draw it at a leisurely pace. Thanks to all who pick it up and thanks to Shawn for hiring me to work on it.

Visit the site now!

I'm going to spend the next couple days cleaning up my cafepress store and adding new and exciting images. Christmas is coming, my new site is getting traffic and it's about time that I start spending some ME time when it comes to my artwork. Stay tuned and keep dropping by the shop. I will update the blog when I add new graphics. For now, there is a fantastic set of Holiday cards that are a MUST HAVE. VIsit the store now.

Quick rough for a commission I am creating for someone. I'm very excited about the commission. Should be fun to get back to some water colors. Many people do not appreciate the medium. I'm not quite sure why. I think it's an amazing paint to work with and always respect anyone who can do it without making a mess. I have another commission coming up after this robot. I'm also very excited to start on that. There is nothing better than having people who appreciate your art ask you to do a piece. Especially when they understand what it means to let an artist create something in their own voice. Thank you guys.

It seems as though things are going to be busy around the website for a while as I add more and more content. I will be taking time to add more images to my gallery page. Today I added some robot paintings, comic covers, spot illustrations and a few more sequential pages. I've already started getting commissions of my commissions page, for which I'm very grateful. Please take time to stop by my gallery page and let me know what you think. If there is a particular piece of art that you think I should add to the page, please feel free to contact me through my contact link at the top of the page.

Last Sunday I took down the remaining guitars from the Addam's Family Gathering show in Middletown CT. If you weren't there, you missed a good show. You also missed your chance to get your hands on the Gomez build, which was purchased within the first 30min of the show. I do still have the Uncle Fester Diddley Bow, Pugsley Three String (my favorite to play) and Lurch's Ukulele. If you are intersested in purchasing any of these instruments, please contact me through the contact page. Thanks to everyone who came and I hope to see everyone else at the next show.

This was originally posted on my old blog. It is a very popular page, so I wanted to make sure I included it on my new site. The wording might be weird since I just copied, pasted and added a photo gallery.  Especially with Halloween this week. You still have time to build one, so here we go!

So your kid wants a Proton Pack. Where are you going to get one? Who are you going to call? Well, I've put together a short tutorial on how to slap one together with some house hold items. I had most of them laying around my basement or kitchen to start out and I think I did a pretty good job. It's pretty durable (if you use enough hot glue) and the kids will have a field day. I'm mainly doing this, because no one on the web has a quick and easy pack to build for kids. So, here it goes. Just skip the wood and use more cardboard if you're not powertool savvy.

WARNING: FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. ALWAYS USE PROTECTION WHEN WORKING WITH TOOLS.

Click here to check out the first half of this tutorial "How to build a proton pack for kids!"


I apologize for taking so long to put up the second part to this tutorial. I didn't think I would get so many emails and comments on the subject. I will make a PDF later with more precise instructions and some measurments, but until then this should get you started.

• You will need:
• About a foot of 1x4 pine board
• .125" Masonite (hard board)
• 12" of PVC pipe (1" outside diameter)
• Bicycle handle
• 1" wood screws (a handful)
• Hot Glue
• Wood Glue
• Wire harness organizing stuff. (.5")
• 5/16" wooden dowel
• .75" OD clear rubber tubing 1.5" long
  

STEP 1Start by cutting out an angled wedge system (see picture on right) and attach to proton pack arm with hot glue. I made mine by cutting a pine board, 1.5" wide, on a table saw with a 45 degree angle. I then sliced it 1.5" leng-wise which gave me two identical pieces which I angled across from each other (as seen in picture)

STEP 2 Now you can build your WAND BODY. The wand body that I made is aproximately 4"x3"x3". Cut out two pieces of pine to the dimensions of 4"x3". Measure in one inch from an end and lop off a 45 degree angle. I will attach a diagram later. After those pieces are cut, sandwich the PVC pipe in between them and measure the total width. This measurment will tell you how wide your Masonite needs to be to cover the front, back, top and bottom of wand body.

STEP 3 Take the measurement acquired from STEP 2 and rip a piece of masonite to that width. Or cut with a jig saw or hand saw. Move the PVC pipe to the side. Now measure the top, bottom, front and back lengths and cover them with the masonite. Hot glue everything together. At the very end, drill piolet holes and put in wood screws to keep everything extra sturdy.

STEP 4 Drill holes to match the outside diameter of your PVC in the front and back of the wand body. (I had to use a 3/8 drill bit and enlarge the hole with a dremel because I did not have forsner bits at the time. I suggest a nice forsner bit)

STEP 5 Slide PVC through the back hole and out the front. I left about 3.5" out the back for the bicycle grip. Once the PVC is in place, use 3" wood screws (pre drill first) to ancor the PVC through the body.

STEP 6 This step was a lot of trial and error. I measured the top and bottom of my Wand Holding Wedge and created a shape to slip inside. I kept working a piece of masonite until is slid in nicely. Round the cornders and sand everything smooth so the wand doesn't get stuck in the groove. After I finished that, I mounted the piece to a .75"x1.5" pine board and screwed the whole thing to the side of the PROTON WAND using 3" wood screws.

STEP 7 Now that the Wand is complete, take this time to paint the entire thing black with the paint from the first part of this tutorial. When the paint is dry you can then slip on the bicycle grip. I used some hand sanitizer to lube the PVC. Make it easier to slide on and it evaporates.

STEP 8 Take your .5" cord organizer tubing (found at Staples or other office suppliers) and put about two inches of wooden dowel inside of one end. Now put it inside of the PVC tubing where the handle is. Fill in all around it with hot glue. Now drill a hole where you want the WAND WIRE to attach to the proton pack (make sure it is part of the wooden subframe). Drill a hole and insert a dowel with some wood glue on it. Then cover the dowel with hot glue and slide the cord organizer over it. Use the tie wraps it came with to tighten it around the dowel while it sets.

STEP 9 A nice finishing touch is to add a piece of .75" clear hose to the hole in the tip of the wand. I just used rubber hose because I had it laying around. Everything I used was already laying around my house. A sort of recycling project. I also used some silver paint to dry brush areas so it seemed like the paint was chipping off of metal rather than wood.

Please send me some pictures of packs that you make for your kids. I'd love to post some up on the website. You can also comment suggestions on my blog to help other people. I'm sure they will appreciate it.

I'm currently designing a new site and will be happy to welcome you all here as soon as everything is set up. This will be a big change for me. I will be bringing all the content from the various site I already use and streamlining it to make it easier to find information about my art.