No Dogs Allowed

people for the ethical treatment of animals. so if a bunny wanted to join (it makes perfect sense why one would) he would not be allowed. PETA is discriminatory towards animals!

Travis Points His Gun at Something Else

someone saw my first portrait of travis bickle



and requested a copy of it. i wanted to paint a different scene in the movie. it's still kickbutt, shirtless gun pointing sans color so hopefully the requester will be happy with it. here's the still from the film:

That Fat Cat Named Matt Sat Splat on a Flat Hat

his name is matthew. you can't tell because he squished it but there's a hat underneath him.

Quality? QUANTITY!

thank goodness my free paintings are a series. crap like this wouldn't hold up on it's own. time to hide it in an image gallery of 1,157 others. also, here is what i had to work with:

Pirates vs. Ninjas Is About Perspective

ninjas aren't cool enough to have ships...or they're so cool they don't need ships.

Naughty Artisans

sounds like a porn site to me.

A Tiny Darth Vader that Could Fit Inside a Game Console

if darth vader designed a tank it would look like this. also, it would clearly not be one of those lame tanks that has to travel on land. no, this one is a space tank. also, it's your father.

Choze Is Not Smarter than You Thought

choze was in need of some more design work from me. so this happened:



no, choze did not set up boxing demos, arm wrestling, bikini contests, mixed martial arts or something called a model america championship for his concert. that would be...almost as amazing-awesome-kickbutt as a drinking game show! i mean, that would be a seriously impressive concert event. no, he's just performing at a fitness expo and wanted me to put those things on his flyer.

though, i'd like to quote what my friend said after seeing this flyer. "CHOZE! VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE! SEX! VIOLENCE! SEX! FREE PARKING! CHOZE!" now that's good marketing!

Though I Think I'll Skip the Red Contact Lenses

i like his outfit. i want one.

Would Be Cooler If Their Mascot Was the Beverage Called a Boilermaker

this is for a purdue alumna. it's the "Boilermaker Special" which is a vehicle that resembles a Victorian-era railroad locomotive and is built on a truck chassis. another...crazy...mascot.

Robots With Similar Interests Were Meant to Be Together

so in an awesome coincidence, the two catch up paintings (from my SAVE THE POWER HOUR derailment) and today's painting together make one series! i got a commission for three robots on three scooters.



no the painting isn't tilted. he's taking that turn like a man...er...machine.




if a robot on a scooter isn't enough...here's one that's also wearing a space suit. though it doesn't really make sense because it's not like he needs that to breathe in a vacuum.




here's you're more traditional painting of a robot on a scooter. ya know, the kind you're used to seeing. like the standard way artists represent robots on scooters. heh.

"Painting Ali" Was Briefly Derailed By "Power Hour Ali"

sorry i missed posting two days in a row. since i started my SAVE THE POWER HOUR campaign. it's gotten a lot of attention. i missed posting because i was responding to the 91 people that have donated so far! some places people have shared SAVE THE POWER HOUR:

Power Hour HQ wrote up an amazing article and started sharing the story which elicited lots of great comments.

Techdirt posted about it.

Pittsburgh City Paper published a column.

reddit.com got 3,223 up votes and 533 comments so far. the story made it up to number two on the front page.

reddit.com had another popular posting about Power Hour HQ's article.

tweeted 42 times

dugg 25 times

#savethepowerhour hash tag on Twitter

now on to post the two paintings i skipped along with today's!

Update 5/23: Heavy.com has now written an article about the campaign.

Update 5/26: Bro Bible interviewed me.

Also, I Need to Use the John

if one day fat people started saying they were Ali Spagnola and over sized clothes were labeled as Ali Spagnola, i would not be happy. i feel your pain, husky.

Challenge Me...But Not Too Much

the guy that requested this asked for "abstract music note or treble clef or something...A mix of dark and very bright colors perhaps?...an unconventional fantastic use of negative space on the canvas would be wonderful." i especially enjoyed painting that request. i made the final product different than what i usually would have done but it wasn't so exacting as to force me to change my style. bravo, patron.

This Dog Totally Photoshopped Himself Before Sending

this picture is deceiving. the requester sent several photos of this dog and it is...well...less cute than evidenced in this picture. it had at least 1/1000th of a second of cute moment in it's lifetime and it happened to be when the shutter on the camera that took this photo was open. if this dog was on match.com he would totally be using this picture and he would totally be having some disappointed suitors when he met them IRL.

Squirrel Currency

i've never actually seen a squirrel eating an acorn. i feel like they collect them for absolutely no reason. of course i bet that what squirrels say when they see humans. "they spend their lives frantically collecting these green pieces of paper and round pieces of metal but these dumb humans can't even eat them!"

Applied Education

the request was for a green tractor on a complementary colored background. that means red! i knew i went to art school for something.

The Owl's Blank Stare Is at My Bad Pun

after posting this, owl have painted five of these. hee hee.

I Guess There Was One Before Mine and Aibo

this is my third tardis painting. well obviously it's not actually a tardis. the requester asked me for, "A tardis, unless someone already ask you to paint one. In that case anything Doctor Who related that you think you'd enjoy painting is fine with me." luckily one of my coworkers is working on watching all of the dr. who DVDs so i consulted her on another good subject. robot dog?! how could i say no?

The Case of Cat v. Mouse Is More Interesting Than Cat v. Bird

i like tom and jerry better than tweety and sylvester because tom and jerry's fights aren't always one sided. plus there's a weird dynamic that they're friends sometimes which i like.

Who Ever Heard of a Brown Unicorn?

i've done so many paintings i forget painting them or even what the requests were. looks like someone asked for a unicorn with no horn for this one. weird.

Please Help SAVE THE POWER HOUR!

My Power Hour Drinking Game is at risk of being destroyed forever. I'm going to have to take the videos down, stop distributing my album and stop performing my drinking game concerts if I don't get help! Please do anything you can to SAVE THE POWER HOUR.

I Might Be Missing a Bigger Issue

cuttlefish? CUTTLEFISH??? why the heck would someone name this creature "cuttlefish"?!?!

...it's a mollusk, not a fish.

Good Thing His Habitat Is Filled with Orange Snow or We Wouldn't Be Able to See Him

haha he's blinking like i mentioned with the last one.

Destruction on Pink Just Isn't the Same

i don't usually do black backgrounds but this one was just calling for it. it's also calling for a sound effect from anyone viewing it.

Art Inspired Comedy

i painted some puppets a while ago. those puppets made a video about my painting!

Unadorned Unicorn

no hearts, obesity, robocop, rock and/or roll this time.

It's Actually Not an Umbrella. It's a Parasol to Stop the Sun from Melting the Ice

i'm going to assume this beverage has tequila in it. happy cinco de mayo!

Calendar Pun

i manipulated the order of my posts slightly to put this painting up today. on may fourth. may the fourth be with you.

I Ran Half the Distance This Time but Still Forgot a Whole Post Again

i neglected to post yesterday just the same as one year ago. this time i ran the Pittsburgh half marathon. at 9:50 minute miles. yay! if a bear that could run 6.1 miles per hour was chasing me for 13.1 miles, i'd survive!



little known fact: the black lab gets its name from the fact that they were bred to be animal product testers in labs. well known fact: i am a liar.




this isn't the first carbon molecule i've painted. but it is the manliest.

Next, Somoene's Going to Request Keyboard Cat

why yes, this IS robocop riding a unicorn. an internet meme with which i was not familiar until i got this request. you can get some background on this brilliant occurrence here.