Thursday 29 November 2007

ISBN for Selected Works

A few individuals have contacted us as they want to order James' "Selected Works" book from their local book shops and they need the ISBN to do this.

So if anyone has a similar idea, here's the info you need:

ISBN: 978-0-9552190-2-3

Title: Selected Works

Author: James Jarvis

Publisher: Amos Novelties Limited

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Happy 250th Birthday to William Blake...




"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

William Blake

November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827

Available to everyone this weekend...

Selected Works by James Jarvis
Illustrated YODS
(including some of the very limited Special Edition with book)
Wrestling Elves.



Onsale through the online store on Saturday. There's a small amount of all the above set aside for general release. No Gold or Silver membership required. So be quick...

And hopefully the server has been fixed and will stand up to the strain!

Good luck...

Thursday 22 November 2007

The Walrus



This is the actual walrus I was banging on about. It's on display at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London. I' d heartily recommend a visit. The Natural History section is amazing, fill of Victorian stuffed animals. I made the original drawing for relax magazine in Japan in 2003, where I had a monthly drawing page. I was a bit stuck for inspiration that month, so I decided to go and do some observational drawing, something I hadn't done properly since leaving Art School. I went and sat in front of the thing and started drawing. I decided to add some potato-heads to the scene, which confused the schoolkids who were watching me draw.

There are a few of the A3 drawings I did for relax compiled in the Selected Drawings book.

www.horniman.ac.uk

Top Toilet Reading Chez Jarvis

Selected Drawings
Paper Rad, BJ and da Dogs
Brian Chippendale, Ninja
Gary Panter, Jimbo's Inferno
Penguin Great Ideas
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Selected Drawings Available this Weekend



My Selected Drawings book will be released for sale on the Amos Online Store this weekend. I went to pick up some copies from the printer last week, and I'm pretty pleased with it (at least, as pleased as I can get with anything I ever do, which is saying something). My daughter likes this drawing of the walrus at South London's Horniman Museum. My favourite is the lizard-bird-thing in a sailor suit.

Anyway, please buy a copy and see for yourself. I think it makes for a great toilet read.

Friday 16 November 2007

YOD Tees are coming.

Not only do Silver members get a chance to buy the Wrestling Elves this weekend.

But also on Saturday, anyone can purchase a life affirming YOD t-shirt. Imported directly from Japan these beautifully produced tees will definitely attract some attention. We have re-stocked King Ken keychains too. No membership required!

Onwards...Forever Onwards...

Tuesday 13 November 2007

More Elven joy...

This weekend it is the turn of Silver members to pre-order the Wrestling Elves. They will go on sale on Saturday at 1pm through our online store. The rest of our allocation will be made available so this could be the final oppurtunity to purchase this limited figure. On the day, be sure to log in if you intend to buy, or you the correct page will not available to you.

Good luck.


Saturday 10 November 2007

On a positive note...

A couple of weeks back, after our messing with the ebay re-sellers, I posted a rather derogatory email we received from an ill-wisher. Well, to counter the bad vibes here is a rather nice email we recently received from a well wisher.

Hello there

Last night my girlfriend said to me "I don't like YOD"

"but what about YODzine?" "What about his myspace black metal friendships?" "What about YOD rhyming with GOD and all the fun that brings..." "Come to yod and yod is love?" I argued

"his legs are too long" she countered

"but... limited editions? free badges? stickers?"

In the end we both agreed that YOD, and Amos toys in general, are better than other toys we have. I think this is for two reasons. firstly their design, they look different to all the run-of-the-mill-hip-hop-inspired-qee-kuberick-kid-robot-type-stuff. And secondly because they have personality. For example Mr Spoons looks like a surly rockabilly fan, but added to that he's also a deranged ice cream man, it gives the character character. This is something most other toy companies lack.

Just thought I'd share my thoughts / praise with you.

Cheers!

Joe


And cheers to you Joe!

Friday 9 November 2007

Sweet Talk 29

This evening James and I spoke at the Sweet Talk event organised by the Candy Collective. We thoroughly enjoyed talking about our influences, how we met, how we worked together with Sofia at Slam City, our working relationship at Silas, and our recent work for Amos. Thanks to everyone that came down and gave us an encouraging response. We met some very cool people.

I should mention the other speakers at tonights event as I was enthralled by their performances.

Seeing the photographic work of Richard Gilligan and hearing him put his work into context was amazing and inspiring. His photos taken at Portland, Oregon's Burnside skatepark are quite special. Check out his website http://www.richgilligan.com.

Irish illustrator Alan Clarke gave a very entertaining and humorous talk on both his personal and commissioned work.

And graphic designer, art director and writer, Adrian Shaughnessy gave an illuminating talk on what it meant to be a graphic designer, also giving an insight into his own work. His is a very real and invaluable wisdom for anyone aspiring to make a careeer out of graphic design. Quite special...

Finally both James and I would like to thank Richard Seabrooke for inviting us to speak at Sweet Talk, and for his hospitality while we were in Dublin. And many thanks to Aidan Kelly who did a great job of introducing us to his fair city, and looking after us for a couple of days. Cheers guys.

Hopefully we can do it all again one day.

Thursday 8 November 2007

The Mummies of St Michans...

Today we were taken to see the Crypts underneath the Church of St Michans. The particular atmospheric conditions in the Crypts mean that everything placed in the tombs are amazingly preserved. We saw 400 year old mummies. And we got to stroke the ridiculously long extended forefinger of a 1.98 meter tall Crusader, whose legs had been broken to fit him in the coffin! James was very happy with the days proceedings and celebrated with his impression of Klaus Kinski playing Count Dracula/Orlok in Werner Herzog's version of Nosferatu the Vampyre!

More Special Edition...

There is a Special Edition of the Illustrated YOD and JJ's "Selected Works", available only through our online stores. The book will be signed by JJ and come with a cover in a complimentary colour scheme to the SE Illustrated YOD. These will come together as a set, 220 of which will be available for sale world wide.

This weekend Gold members will have an opportunity to pre-order this set. Then, in two weeks it will be the turn of Silver members. If any remain after that we will put these on general release at the beginning of September.

You lucky Gold Members!


Tuesday 6 November 2007

Dublin bound...

Later this week James and I will be in Dublin for a talking type thing. We'll be chatting about toys, Emmanuelle, Anarcho Syndicalism and Black Metal. Let us bore you to tears...

Monday 5 November 2007

Coming Soon!




We're on a roll. To celebrate the release of JJ's new book, 'Selected Works', at the end of the month we will also release Illustrated YOD. Adorned with drawings of mythical beasts, these YODs are the perfect accompaniment to James' book of drawings

More information soon...

Thursday 1 November 2007

Beijing Drawing

Actually this is the finished drawing. I don't think I'd filled in all the gaps and ruined it in the version I posted previously.



Many thanks to Boris for the photo.

Ten on my turntable...

Another round of noise for anyone that cares...

Corrupted - El Mundo Frio LP (Epic Japanese Doom of the highest quality. One hour, eleven minutes and thirty nine seconds of mellow and nasty. Electric bass distortion and plucked acoustic stings.)

Wooden Shjips - S/T LP (Spacemen 3, Loop and Suicide meets 60s Garage in 70s Germany. A Psyche head's wet dream!)

White Rainbow -Prism of Eternal Now LP (Blissed out trippy drone. Some riddims. Very cosmic. Very mellow man!)

Inquisition - Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer (3rd and best LP from Columbian BM reprobates. The title says it all.)

Les Rallizes Denudes - Heavier Than a Death in the Family CDR (Obscure Japanese Psyche lords with a bonafide 70s terrorist group member. They have the hardest to find and worst recorded records ever. This is their best bootleg. So says Julian Cope!)

Rev Kris Hades - The Wind of Orion LP (Very noisy psychedelic Black Metal. Almost more Psyche than BM)

Walter Wegmüller - Tarot LP (Proper 70s Kosmische tripped out classic. German music doen't get much better. Pretty artwork too.)

Boxcutter - Brood VIP 12" (Grimey Hardcore meets Dubstep in frenetic fashion. All sounds a bit Sarf London.)

Earthling Society - Tears of Andromeda, Black Sails Against the Sky LP (Slightly crusty modern Space Rock. Not great production but right out there. Think Stonehenge...)

Dälek - Abandoned Language LP (Underground left field Hip Hop. Less noisy than his last couple of LPs. Very nice. Very direct. Reminds me of when Hip Hop was good!)