denika

was born in Tucson, AZ and raised in Annapolis, MD from the age of 7. She dropped out of high school at the age of 17 and moved to Philadelphia a year later to pursue Design studies. After receiving her Associate Degree from The Art Institute of Philadelphia she moved on to the women's art college, Moore College of Art and Design, also in Philadelphia. In 2005 she received her BFA and promptly moved to Arizona with her fiance Dennis Hansbury.

Despite enjoying her time getting to know her long-lost younger brother she was unsatisfied with her life in Arizona. She pestered Dennis until he applied for a job promotion to the new Orlando IKEA. Currently residing in Florida, she designs school books for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers and fills her nights with various craft projects including sewing, crochet and accessory design.

dennis

was born and raised in southern New Jersey. He was kicked out of the Hussian School of Art in 1995 and started at The Art Institute of Philadelphia two years later. After graduating with an Associate degree in Computer Animation in 1998 he worked at the college as a computer tech for almost 6 years. He quit AIPH and left for Arizona in May 2005 with Denika Robbins and found an new career with IKEA Tempe. During those arid fun times he picked up crochet and has since created an army of wounded woodland creatures, viscious zombunnies, stuffed zombies and other macabre and odd plushies.

He now resides in Orlando, Florida and is the Graphic Communication Specialist for IKEA Orlando. He is a vegetarian, rides his bike to work daily and fills his nights by crafting the undead and trying to make Orlando a greener place.

He isn't quite sure why he wrote this in the 3rd person.

Bold Hype postcard

8.17.08 - dennis

bad news, good news

I was told today by Bold Hype's Eric that my panda art won't be fitting into the Hi Fructose ad that will be printed in October. It's cool though because it's only digital and not the complete idea that I have for their art.

The panda art will be on a flyer that will be distributed all over Orlando next weekend.

Luckily I'll still be getting some nationwide exposure in November when the new MC Frontalot album is released. I received an email saying that he might be selling some at PAX so it'll be circulating a little before November.

8.12.08 - dennis

pandas and painter x

I am doing artwork for the opening of Bold Hype in September. The owner Eric informed me this week that he needed artwork for an ad they were putting in Hi Fructose. I am super excited about this because I LOVE that magazine and since buying my first issue I've always wanted to be in it. Now, I didn't have a sample of the artwork to give Eric so I tried to think of what I could do for the ad.

Denika mentioned buying the new version of Painter for our iMac. I looked at the site Monday night and the upgrade (we owned version 7) was only $199. We had the money in paypal so I bought it, installed it and before the night was over came up with this panda related piece for the ad:

I think it came out well for not using Painter in over a year. We went to Home Depot and bought the wood I need to do my larger tradtional piece for the show. I'll take pictures of it when it gets finished for those who couldn't see it. Ah, my first art showing in Florida.

8.12.08 - dennis

so nervous!

I have been working on the back cover artwork for a guy some of you may have heard of...MC Frontalot? I just sent him my final (hoping) version of the artwork and since it has to go to the printers tomorrow I don't know whether or not to stay up just in case there has to be some last minute tweaking.

I finished the art with watercolor and then had to convert it to cmyk. Some of the colors didn't translate overly well so I'm concerned about whether or not he likes them.

I feel this may be the most important piece of artwork I've done because if it's seen and liked, it may open up more opportunities in the future to do work for other nerdcore artists and perhaps other avenues.

Keeping it nerdy, I also want to do some zombie portraits for Zombies! Organize!! and a couple of comic panels for ZeaLouS1's Zombie Killa track.

On top of that, I need to do a bigger piece of art for Bold Hype's opening in September and some comic panels for A Comic Shop.

Aside from that I still need to produce new crafts for our etsy shop so I feel like I didn't waste the time legalizing Joined at the Stitch and make a little money to further our crafting and supplies.

8.06.08 - dennis

i've been twittered

Brian Feldman is an Orlando based performance artist who is going to spend 100 hours sitting in an IKEA Children's red chair. You can learn more about the event he is supporting here: Red Chair Project.

While Brian is sitting patiently on the tiny ass breaking chair he is sending updates via his new iPhone to his twitter page. I happened to go out to that area and when I got there two little kids ran in and started playing with two of the chairs. I politely tried to stop them and inform their parents, then went about my task.

I was suprised to see that the event was documented online within minutes of it happening!

Here is a screen cap of the his twitter update (IAARC = I am a red chair):

I didn't ask him to ever use my website address so I thought it was cool of him to include it. I feel a little closer to the Orlando arts community...if only I did some serious work sometime instead of zombies!

8.02.08 - dennis

evil in the UK

So I have been surprised by the zombie sales volume that I have in the United Kingdom. Last night I mapped the locations of my 2008 UK sales and found out why the undead are loved so much!
LOOK BELOW IF YOU DARE!

Somewhere in Birmingham an evil presence rests and is making the surrounding cities lust for the macabre delights of my unliving illustrations!

(I don't know what's up with Edinburgh...maybe they're just a little off.)

I must visit this land of the dead loving Brits and bring a suitcase full of gory wares and see if I can sell them on the streets! May my zombie illustrations fuel the outbreak!

8.01.08 - dennis

zomboy 1 color variant

I laser printed my first zomboy and repainted it. I think this one looks way better than the first.

I think I'll print the linework and just repaint a couple. It'll be more valuable than a print and it would give me a base to experiment with new watercolor techniques.

7.26.08 - dennis

zomboy 2

7.25.08 - dennis

ah, more sales

I worry (sometimes too much) that this little pond of zombie goodness will dry up one day. Luckily, there are still people out there that are (or know someone) as strange as me.

I've been real lazy lately and have only done 1 new piece of work. I don't know why I'm delaying myself. I picked up some new comics to get inspiration but I don't ever draw like my inspiration so that doesn't really help!

I have a new zomboy I'll be posting today before I have to go out bowling with my coworkers. Oh, today was my 3 year anniversary with IKEA. I was supposed to get a pen but they don't have any in the store...not even an announcement over the intercom. Sheesh.

7.25.08 - dennis

to watermark or not

I never put a watermark over the pictures I take of products or scans I do of my art. I will put one in the corner, but not disrupting the image.

A little while ago I had buyer who had misunderstood a shipping refund get angry and tell me they didn't need the zombie bookmarks because they had "printed their own".

Tonight I get a cool email from a guy who wants to use my zomboy illustration for his bass drum and emailed me to ask for permission (he will so get the artwork).

BUT

Are there people out there that may be taking my artwork and I'll never know? I'm sure every artist has these feelings but it's only lately that I realize that there aren't many people doing the same thing as me and it's possible that it could be getting downloaded or printed without my consent or knowledge.

For some that may not seem like a big deal, but Denika and I are trying to get our crafting business going and I need to make my artwork visible to the public...but I want to be able to control it's release. I don't know how I'd feel if I saw a car drive by with a self-made sticker of my art. Or worse, some website using our images (or digital scrapbookers).

I want to be open and honest. I love the feedback I'm getting on all my work. I want people to be able to enjoy it, own it, use it, give it as gifts, whatever. I just hope that somewhere, someone doesn't care and just takes what they want without even the consideration to ask.

I so can't wait to see pics of my zomboy on a big ass drum! It's almost like I'm in the band...but not :(

7.19.08 - dennis

all content © Denika Robbins, Dennis Hansbury 2008