From AllVoices.com

Every month graphic artist Able Parris creates original desktop wallpaper, and his September calendar really caught my attention…for obvious reasons.

Three sizes are available this month:

1440×900

1280×1024

iPhone

Able’s work has been featured on Indie Squid Kid once before, with his kick-ass Nautilus collage.

I know, I am just as shocked as you are (if not slightly more). Work has been brutal since, well, my last post, and now I am on vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Corova, to be precise. Presently I am in an Internet cafe in Corolla, NC (where the highway and civilization ends) rediscovering what this Internet thing is all about, but for the last several days I have been doing nothing but sleeping, reading, drinking, playing board games, swimming in the ocean, and flying kites.

And speaking of kites, here are some pictures from last year’s beach trip. These were all taken at the annual kite festival held at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC.

Birthday squid cartoon, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

Here is the reason why Natalie Metzger is the Official Artist of Indie Squid Kid. For my birthday last year, she sent me this amazing cartoon. This year, she continued the trend by sending me the physical version of this!

I have really awesome friends.

squiddy birthday card, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

Yesterday was my 34th birthday, and here is the card my awesome wife gave me.

We shall resume a more regular blogging schedule this coming week with more birthday fun.

For the final post of Art Week, here is the Most Awesome Thing Ever.

Sadly, I don’t own this, but DAMN I wish I did! Two different sizes of this print are for sale over at www.brandonbird.com.

And it just so happens my birthday is coming up this month.

I’m just saying…

Lovecraftian, originally uploaded by jawboneradio.

Monster by Mail is the brain child of podcaster and cartoonist Len Peralta. The concept is simple–you give him money, and he sends you an original piece of art. Give him a little bit more, and you get a YouTube video of him creating your monster. At the time of this writing, the rates are $25/$35…a pretty good deal for original art.

When Len first launched the site, the rules were you had to give him an adjective, any adjective, and he would make a monster for you based on that word. Mine was “Lovecraftian.” Here’s the video.

Through the early iterations of MbM there were various other themes: cryptozoology, zombies, Halloween, etc. However, all you have to do now is give your monster a name and click the PayPal link you Len will make it for you!

Here is one I commissioned last Halloween. It is titled, simply, “The Were-Squid.”

When Len isn’t drawing awesome monsters, he is producing and co-hosting Cleveland’s best podcast, Jawbone Radio.

Every Labor Day weekend, Atlanta, GA is overtaken by Dragon*Con, a massive media convention that covers a wide variety of genres: Sci-Fi and Fantasy, science and technology, TV and movies, literature and comic books. And of course, people dressed as Stormtroopers and superheroes.

Deep in the bowels of one of the three downtown hotels that host the convention, is an area known as “Artist’s Alley.” It is here that the booths and tables of all the attending comic book artists are set up, and it is here where I first discovered the works of Andy Lee.

Andy practices a form of Chinese brush painting known as Cha’han Buddhist splash stlye, and for $20*, he will produce a custom painting of pretty much anything you want–a dragon, Batman, a zombie breakdancer, or, perhaps, some sort of cephalopod.

*At least that has been his rate all three times (over the past 5-7 years) I’ve paid him for a commission.

Andy is one of the nicest people you will every meet, and here’s why. A few years ago (I can’t actually remember. Let’s say…three.), I asked Andy to paint an octopus. He painted one in a rather crazy style (posted above), but was worried that I wouldn’t like it. (He shouldn’t have been, it is awesome!) So, he painted another in a more realistic (but every bit as awesome) style (below), but only charged me for one!

Find out more about Andy Lee at, coincidentally, FindAndy.com.

Giant Squid 1955, originally uploaded by Tom Simpson.

While this has nothing to do with cephalopods depicted in artwork, I thought I should mention that Darren Naish is doing his own theme week over at one of my favorite blogs, Tetrapod Zoology.

It is Sea Monster week at Tet Zoo, and each day Darren explores a lesser-known beastie from the annals of cryptozoology–using his razor-sharp scientific mind to critically analyze the evidence for each case (such as it is). Like the title of his blog suggests, Darren’s focus is on tetrapods (i.e. reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and birds), so don’t expect any Kraken or gigantic octopi. However, sea serpents, giant tadpoles, plesiosaurs and prehistoric whales are all fair game!

Since I have no idea when you are reading this (although I am very glad you are!), here are posts in question:

• The Hook Island sea monster
• The Moore’s Beach monster
• Professor Sharpe’s sea serpent
• Tecolutla monster

Never Look Back, originally uploaded by Cryptonaut.

And now Art Week takes a dark turn…

I feel slightly ashamed to say so, but I find this picture endlessly amusing. It’s something about the shock in the poor little guy’s eyes…the horrible realization…the fact that it seems to have taken him quite some time to realize that something was wrong…

This also makes me hungry for sushi…does that make me a bad person?

I bought this print from the artist, Andrew Bell (who signed it), a few years ago at his art show at Wootini, an art gallery and vinyl toy shop in Carrboro, NC. It is still available for sale (along with its equally disturbing companion piece) at Andrew’s website, DeadZebra.com. For a daily dose of adorably creepy monsters (both with and without tentacles) by Andrew Bell, check out the Creatures in my Head.

Also, for the record, I don’t know what kind of cephalopod this is supposed to be, unless he has four more stumps on the other side…