Giant FACES!!!

So next week we'll be crazy with prep work for our booth at the SF Zine Fest. Tonight we got a little old-school Theatre Rice and made up some giant Monkey and Seal heads for display at our table next weekend. We're also working on some other giant cardboard art, so you gotta come check it out!

This poorly-lit photo was of the printed sheet of buttons that we have to cut, press, and assemble to make our new line of M+S buttons!

Free workshops and fee workshops

So Monkey + Seal both enjoy teaching arts and crafts to people. So much, in fact, that we are both teaching some workshops in the near future..for free!

The Freebies:
Seal's Gouache Demo - August 22 + 23
As I'm sure you saw, Seal is planning to have a big-ol' long gouache painting demonstration at the SF Zine Fest (Aug 22+23, SF Country Fair Building). She will be sitting at our table with in-process works, so you can see the various stages of her work, as well as finished pieces and you can watch her paint! Lots of insight on how to paint with gouache (unlike how they teach you at Academy of Art) and trick and tips with working with the medium.

Monkey's Bookbinding Workshop - August 22 + 23
Monkey is co-instructing the Book Binding Basics and Beyond Workshop at the SF Zine Fest. He's not 100% sure what day or time it'll be, but we'll let you know ASAP! He is teaching alongside the amazing printer/writer/book artist Aaron Cohick of New Lights Press and they'll be doing some single-sheet books, some pamphlet stiches, and stab binding.


Anyhoo, Monkey and Seal also will teach small workshops for you and your friends at the venue of your choice. Please check out the workshops page here!

Bird Brain #1

Our good friend, talented illustrator, independent publisher, and mastermind behind the SF Zine Fest, Francois Vigneault, has just started a blog for his newest zine, Bird Brain. Monkey was lucky enough to do an advance trade of Bad Date Zine 2 for a copy, and Francois' newest work is pretty damn spiffy! There are plenty of cool facts, great illustrations, and interesting excerpts from Francois' life looking out for birds in the SF Bay Area.

There are lots of fun page previews of Bird Brain at the blog, and until they get it up at the Family Style catalog you can pick up a copy at the Zine Fest at the Family Style table! Go now, and buy lots of stuff!

New Zine in the Works!

So Monkey has been hard at work working on a brand new personal zine! Currently untitled, this new zine will have comics redrawn and reprinted from some of his earlier and out-of-print minicomics, some spoken word, a few brand new short stories, a 11x17 fold-out coloring poster, and perhaps even more. We'll see what he can come up with by the Zine Fest!

Question:
What color should Monkey make the cover?
-Fuschia?
-Moss green?
-An assortment of colors?

Please respond in the comments!

Dates that stink...

both in the figurative and literal sense. We've all had them (well, maybe if you're really lucky you haven't), and some brave souls have bared all and shared their nightmarish stories in the newest edition of The Bad Date Zine.

The first issue nearly sold out at last year's Zine Fest, but we've printed up some more and are offering both issues for a discounted rate! Woot! Check out our Etsy shop to pick up your copy today!

Monkey aka Ri.S.K. is also the editor of the zine, and is always accepting submissions on a rolling basis. Soooo, if you have some troubling stories of dates gone awry, please send them in! He is also looking for illustrations, photographs, poems, etc., as long as it relates to the theme of the zine. Check out what he's looking for here!