Sean Äaberg

THE 4TH

This 4th of July is harder for people because the problems with the USA are more glaringly obvious. Patriotism is always stupid, your side always has problems, ownership & responsibility are the things that actually matter. This country is directed by a weird breed of brazen, bureaucratic coward, has been since before I was born. They’ve been pretenders to a crown which doesn’t exist, except it is handed over to them because people are too busy living to take it from them. Take it fr...

TRASH TUBIN’ AT THE MEGAMALL!!!

The black & white art for PORK 18 - Trash Tubing at the Megamall! I had just seen some article about a river in India that was filled with so much trash, you couldn’t see the water. I added this concept that most archaeological finds are the trash of humans! I asked the question - what if all the trash was interesting? & finally I inserted our new character - Pineapple Face!

VITEO GAAAAAME!

Had a great pow wow about the future Dungeon Degenerates video game with my oldest kid today, I’m so stoked on this project! There are so many irons in the fire! It feels like the old days minus the stroke inducing overwork, mania & anxiety!

This graphic is by Ellen “Frankengraphics”.

DUNGEON DEGENERATES VIDEO GAME

The next big project we're working on is the first DD video game. I'm getting myself in the mood by listening to this old ZX Spectrum music.

ONWARD!

I’ve been slowly gaining steam, but now I really have to take aim carefully because my brain is scrambled from the stroke & my automatic response to things isn’t as good as it used to be. That said, I can feel my power & luck recharging. It’s a good feeling, one I’ve missed for a while & wasn’t even sure it would return!

NOCTURNE

Here’s an ad I did for our first screen printer down in Eugene. When we started my vision was to have a t-shirt catalog that was along the lines of pictures I had seen of Ed Roth’s studios. Just tons of screens for tons of designs! For a while there were releasing a new shirt a week! Until Revo started falling apart! Then we moved to Portland, & never got that kind of momentum again!

COLORS

Some original concepts for Dungeon Degenerates, I was really into the graphic presentation of Color-Forms & the way that color shone out of black fields in early video games. I eventually applied this idea to the print world & used a similar methodology as black light posters, but we haven’t had any made because it’s 2022!

THE SUN

Happy Solstice! It’s the longest day of the year! I have increasingly enjoyed the Sun the less sun burns I get & living up here in the PNW, the less roasted I feel! So, I can actually appreciate how long the sun is out today! Also it’s still not very warm in Portland this year!

WHOLE EARTH

I was raised on things like the Whole Earth Catalog, my parents weren’t Hippies but we’re definitely hippie adjacent! It was more just a willingness to consider alternatives & looking for solutions to the world’s problems. Growing up in Oakland, next to Berkeley I saw distinctly how class & race issues were overshadowed by the lifestylist priorities of overly comfortable Hippies, soaking in their hot tubs! This was one of the key reasons I was attracted to Punk! Anyhow, it’s n...

ELIXIR OF LIFE

Back in 2018 we had a release party for the 2nd printing of DUNGEON DEGENERATES at Reverend Nat’s Cider & as part of the deal they released this cider that contained edible glitter & a sweet leaf cider (with weed in it). Anyhow, it was cool & I’m still honored & Rev. Nat makes the best cider!

THE PORK SHOP

The PORK SHOP followed PORK MAGAZINE quickly because we realized we could sell some merch through the magazine. The PORK SHOP quickly overshadowed the magazine & was rebranded as the GOBLINKO MEGAMALL. So, the PORK SHOP started in 2012 & the MEGAMALL was in 2014, & then we launched DUNGEON DEGENERATES in 2017! Things were hectic & we still are learning as we go along, but we try to keep things less crazy! What’s next?

TAROT BOOK DONE!

The Tarot Goblinko book is done & the next step is printing! This has been a long & arduous journey through all manners of disasters, but I can see the light is at the end of the tunnel!

SEAN OF SWITZERLAND

For a short while in 2001-2002 I was Sean of Switzerland, which was partially a play on Tom of Finland & partially a play on old fashion brands - Katie had a shirt by Gordon of Philadelphia that she was wearing at the time. Anyhow, just a memory & I wanted to get this out there.

HALLOWEEN BOOK PROOFS

The Halloween Book proofs arrived & they look fantastic! Every time I see these things I get so excited about future projects!

JUIBLEX

An original Dungeon Degenerates card before the project started to take form. I probably did this in 2007. At this point D&D was not on people’s minds the way it is now with 5E. When Dungeon Degenerates started, it had more of a hashtag presence than D&D! Anyhow, I like it more as a dead reference point than something living & adapting to today.

SPIRAL RECORDS

Here’s an old ad I did for my friend Nickle’s Spiral Records. I only saw it run in Slug & Lettuce. Anyhow, this was one of my first art gigs ever! Life throws you for a loop, but I’m feeling VERY optimistic!

REBEL SKATES

My friend Keary recently got the Portland Rebel Skates brand, & asked if I wanted to design some decks for them so I did this mock up really quick & I thought I'd share it with you. 

MY HALLOWEEN BOOK IS BEING MADE

My Halloween Book is all done, & the decorations & everything are off being made at the printers, now it’s just time to wait. I’m hoping my Halloween Book will be THE Halloween Book for a while, if it works out, I’ve got more ideas for books in the future!

CONCEPTS

There are some constant concepts/obsessions in my work, this old piece displays a couple of them. One is my use of Pinocchio like themes of characters being made out of wood & another is undercities & the layering of cities representing class distinctions.

WAIFS & STRAYS

This song has also been big on my rotation as of late. I wish there was some restaurant or cade that was themed around this kind of music. 

SKIPPING

Another Associates tune done at the same time (I'm assuming).

WHITE CAR IN GERMANY

The Associates are one of my favorite bands & this song really does it for me.

IDEAS

I’m feeling very creative, don’t ever have dry spells, ideas keep flowing out of me. It’s good, I can’t draw how I want to, but I feel like this is giving me the space to flesh ideas out & really develop them. I’m stoked to unleash the next few issues of Die Würst! They’re really good!

MAZOOMA!

I don’t talk a lot about Eugene because it represents a period of time when I was just pushing & throwing everything against the wall to see what sticked. It was a good time, but it was also frustrating, just in how small & small-minded the town is & just not hitting my stride as an artist. That said, part of the benefit of this period was just how much stuff we were doing until our energies got funneled into PORK & then DUNGEON DEGENERATES. For instance, these art classes I...

SKID ROW

So I just discovered that we somehow missed watching Trailer Park Boys season 9 & we’re slowly watching them & i was reminded of how Sebastian Bach was wearing our Ramones/3 Stooges/Stooges crossover shirt on the show. The thought still tickles me!

DO SOMETHING!

It’s hard in America right now. Feels like there is some big bad news item once a week & then these are peppered with smaller items all the time. It’s difficult for me to have a reaction at all to news that should rock me to the core. I guess the logical thing would be to acknowledge a sharp decline & just prepare for that. But, I spent most of my youth doing that & I’ve come to see this country in a different way. I believe in a certain kind of America that isn’t what mos...

SALT

Some SALT comics from PORK 19. The first appearance of SALT was in the first issue of PAPERCUTTER anthology put out by Tugboat Press.

ALMONDS

I’m in a very Marc Almond mood right now. I like to think of certain 80s singers as inheritors of the torch singing mantle & to me, Marc Almond definitely fits the bill, although things have changed enough & what Marc Almond means is not what it means to be a Pop singer anymore.

MANY HANDS

@KNEEPAWN (on Instagram) did an amazing job painting up the DUNGEON BREAKOUT miniatures that were sculpted by Jaycee Fairclough & cast by John Popson ! It’s cool to see my art go through so many hands & interpretations & still come out with the core intact! We’re still figuring out the strategy for this stuff in the future, but I’m feeling very good about it!

VOTING GUIDE

I'm very disappointed in the current crop of politicians, the country is a mess so I'm advocating that any incumbents are voted out to make it very clear that they're doing a shitty job.