FAN ART!
Our fans are so talented! We've seen so much amazing fan art over the years & we'd like to share some of our favorites with y'all. Let us know which ones are your favorites. xx Kate, Jill and Gabby.
Below is a take on our Fever In Fever Out album cover. We are reinterpreted as Peanuts characters by nanaparrish
Kate: I love this illustration! However, I wish I were Snoopy or maybe Woodstock, but Peppermint Patty seems correct. Also, I like that Gabby and I are nose to nose.
Jill: Wow! I’ve never seen this piece. It’s so cool. Kate, your striped shirt was such a good graphic element in the original art, and yes, Peppermint Patty was the right choice for you. I like how my character on the right has a sly eye, taking in the proceedings with a mild skepticism.
Gabby: I’ve never seen this either! What a complete honor to have our fans do drawings of us. Am I Lucy here? I love PEANUTS, and I love this.
Here is a fiber art portrait of Luscious Jackson by the great Lisa Borgnes Giramonti
Kate: I mean, how cool is this!? I love Jill’s “Naked Eye” era streak. I look like I cut my own bangs, though.
Gabby: This one is especially beautiful and textured up close. It was hanging on Jill’s wall when we made Magic Hour and Baby DJ. Timeless.
Jill: I love this piece! Lisa is an old and dear friend of mine who makes beautiful embroidered portraits. And yes, I had the white blond section at the front of my hair, which she captured. She made this as a gift in 1998. Thanks, Lisa❤️
Here’s a very cool illustration of us playing live in 2014, by Louis Roe, aka Squishy Sandwich Art. Note DJ Alex Young on the left and our incredible side musicians, Aaron Jones, and Leila Adu on the far right.
Kate: Did they bring a sketchbook to the show? That’s so cool. I love the salmon colored paper. This must have been our show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston in June 2014, where Vivian (on the right in the sketch below) joined us on stage for ‘Naked Eye.’ What a joyous night.
Gabby: Wow, so nice to see this lineup in drawings. Brings back great memories of playing those East and West Coast tours and our fabulous musicians, Alex, Leila, and Aaron.
Jill: This is definitely Boston in 2014. Viv came down from New Hampshire to say hello (for those who don’t know, we sadly lost Viv in 2023 to breast cancer). We asked her to jump on stage for “Naked Eye”, which she did. She had been living in New Hampshire for a long time by this point. It’s so wonderful that Louis captured this sketch of our final show with Viv. In 2013, we had self-released two albums, Magic Hour and Baby DJ, but Viv had left the band in 1997/8 and we hadn’t seen her in over ten years.
Gabby: Aw, sweet Viv… what a treat that she came down and played with us. I’ll always treasure the time we spent together before the show, catching up. It felt like no time had passed. Damn.
Here’s a sweet little painting of us by Hobocat aka Jesssssssssssss
Kate: Love our expressions. Again, I look like I cut my own bangs.
Jill: Kate, I think these artists are noticing that you cut your own bangs. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. This painting is lovely, and that baby blue is one of our signature colors (see our “Naked Eye” video for a nice example).
Gabby: I never once noticed your bangs being uneven, Kate. And I think we look like twins here. They caught one of your expressions pretty good here, Jill.
This was one of the first examples of fan art we ever saw- given to us by a lovely fan named Tomoko at our first show in Tokyo, Japan. We loved it so much we used it on the cover of our fan club CD release, Tip Top Starlets. This was before social media, so we don’t have a link for them.
Jill: This art is phenomenal, and that Japan trip was unforgettable. Luckily, we got to go back again. We had a nice number of fans in Japan and got to hang out with Buffalo Daughter, a favorite band from Tokyo. In fact, I got to ride around Tokyo with Viv and Sugar in Buffalo Daughter’s car. Japan, we love you!!
Gabby: I love that they drew this in the classic Japanese anime style. We really loved touring there and got to meet a lot of great fans after the show. One of them gave me a cute toothbrush and a case with a cartoon character on top of it. I still have it and travel with it. (I know gross, but I don’t travel much, so I haven’t really used it a lot)
We once played there, and amongst a sea of Japanese peeps stood a tall bald white guy whooping it up. He came back after the show, and it was Leif Garrett! Nice guy.
Illustrations of Gabby, Kate, and Jill by Gerrit Loman from the Netherlands.
Jill: Another one I’ve never seen. This one has a lot of personality. The pictures come from the cover of our album Electric Honey from 1999.
Gabby: Nice and clean. He got the expressions down great.
Kate: Uh, why the long face, Kate?
This is a sketch drawn from a Polaroid Danny Clinch took of us during a photo shoot we did by the World Trade Center (RIP) by Mark Brandau, aka Angry Art Guy
Jill: Very nice sketch, Mark.
Kate: Danny Clinch was our favorite photographer to work with, and he’s definitely taken some of your favorite music photos.
Gabby:. This drawing really sets the mood perfectly of the deep loss we all felt after 9/11, even though the original photo was obviously shot before. The black and white pencil medium is perfect.
Danny did a few photo shoots with us there, and we also shot “Naked Eye’ in the World Trade Center. All those halls we’re walking through and the escalators. I remember having a great conversation with one of the security guards that day. I always think of him on 9/11, and I really hope he made it out.
Minimalist sketches by Diane Roka from our first reunion show at Union Transfer in Philadelphia. L-R Kate, Jill, and Gabby.
Kate: I love her quick sketches. Makes me want to carry a sketch book around. Also, drums are complicated to draw, but that looks about right.
Jill: Yeah, agree. Nice loose sketching style. All the pieces you’ve saved, Kate, have their own artistic merit.
Gabby: These are great in their simplicity. Funny that Kate is cross-eyed, and I look so angry. Also looks like I might have a goatee.
This was an odd poster for a show we did with The Eels at the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO. by Jeff aka Cryptographics
Kate: Who’s the redhead in the bikini? I guess that’s Gabby? I enjoy the oddness of these likenesses and that I’m in a turtleneck.
Jill: I think I’m the redhead in the bikini! I’ll claim it, and that’s my signature on the poster over the bikini top. I used to sign my name Jill Jackson (like the Ramones all had the last name Ramone).
Kate: Oh, maybe I’m the one with the short black hair next to you?
Jill: I see that Gabby signed the one in the red turtleneck, so Kate, you’re the short-haired one. (Kate: but I’m taller than you guys!)
Gabby: This one’s funny. Jill has never worn a bikini top in public, and I don't think Kate’s hair was ever that short. And I look like adorable Abbi Jacobsen from Broad City here.
Gabby Glaser by Robin Bougie
Kate: Gabby looks very Josie and the Pussycats here!
Gabby: This one looks more like Jill’s daughter Chloe than me, right, Jill? And they've got me singing “Naked Eye” instead of you, too. The clothes they put me in are cute, but I never wore a skirt that short. Wish I really had that posture, but I think I was more hunched over playing,
Kate by Whitney Bedford:
Kate: Check out her IG, her art is very cool. BTW, I do know how to hold a drumstick. That’s me attempting to twirl it.
Gabby: I love this one. She’s got Kate’s whole vibe.
This one of Jill is by Jamie Thornton, who is a big talent and supporter. It’s from our first promo photo by Spike Jonze (oh, the 90s, when up-and-coming directors took band promo photos just for fun).
Gabby: Love this one, he got Jill perfectly. Reminds me of early 80’s art I was seeing in my high school (Art andDesign). Spike Jonze was damn cute, and I had a little crush on him when he was shooting the original photos of us.
Vivian by Andre Toma
Kate: Really captures Viv’s gorgeous eyes.
Gabby: Man, I miss her.
Jill: Ditto. There’s a certain gravity and longing to this portrait. I think that it had been done after Viv passed.
Another one of Viv by TurboMix. And you can listen to his Vivian tribute show and never heard before interview with her here.
Kate: A few of these Vivian illustrations appeared right after she passed. This artwork captures her chic, effortless cool.
Gabby: This one’s beautiful, I love the colors. They definitly got her expression. I didn't know there was a Viv tribute show out there, and I'll be listening to this soon.
Not exactly fan art, but an illustration of Jill & Gabby for NY Press in ‘93 by Danny Hellman:
Kate: Very cool! I get all the NYC references, but I’m perplexed by Gabby dipping into a bucket of crayfish.
Jill: I pretty much love the crayfish bucket, it’s so not a NYC thing, but nice and greasy. The spray paint and cassettes make sense, and the vintage convertible is a nice touch, though Gabby and I don’t actually drive (native New Yorkers who use the subway). (Kate: What’s the sword for? Stabbing cassettes?)
Gabby: I think this was the first time we were ever drawn. It’s super fun, and he got our clothes and expressions right. And yeah, I’m not a fan of crayfish, but I hung out a lot at Great Jones Cafe, where they served them. Looked like a real pain in the ass to eat them.
We were so thrilled when The New Yorker included an illustration of us to plug our Summerstage show in Central Park on July 4th, 1999. This was the first illustration Adrian Tomine did for the magazine and launched his career, but apparently, he didn’t like how it turned out. But we love it!
Kate: The New Yorker was a staple in my house growing up, so this was a dream come true to be turned into a cartoon! Even though sometimes I have nightmares that my drumsticks have turned into chopsticks, similar to the illustration above.
Jill: Geez, I love this one. I wonder why Adrian hated it. It was a great honor. (Kate: He said he didn’t like our ‘bizarrely tiny hands.’)
Gabby: I never knew where this was from, but I like it. And he got our clothes right.
Cool drawing by Kevin “Senseitwentythree” Sullivan
Gabby: Kevin captures Kate perfectly, as well as Viv’s expression and Jill’s haircut. So many different hairstyles, Jill. I never changed mine, still sporting the long hair today.
Jill: This is a nice one from the early days, like 1994. I know the eras by my haircuts. This was the pixie cut era for me, and I had some clothes from X-Girl that I loved. Especially the Kermit the Frog green golf pants. He added a shell-toe Adidas, which I never actually had, but I wish I did.
Kate by Dillon Whittier, a prolific artist and drummer for Expos.
Kate: I like that I have blue eyes here.
Gabby: Damn, you look crazy here, Kate!
This poster was made by long-time LJ/Beastie Boys fan and DJ/former VH1 VJ/and current Podcast Host, Jim Shearer. He crowd surfed at a show to hand it to Vivian, and then we took the poster on the road with us.
Kate: Those are actually Vivian’s knees on the upper right. We took this poster with us, and here’s the photo of Vivian sleeping in the bulkhead seat with the poster in a safe place. On the back of the poster, it said, “All I want for Christmas is Vivian!”
Gabby: I never knew that story! I love this one, and it really captures Viv’s whole essence. And the candy-striped lettering of her name is a nice touch. I hope he sees the photo of her knees with his drawing.
Luscious Jackson just got cooler! This is just so warm spirited and generous, I love it. Lisa Borgnes Giramonti's fibre art is probably the one I'd like to hang on the wall.
Great post showing all the creativity! I was at the Paradise Rock Club show in Boston...am I misremembering? I thought that Vivian came on for Satellite with y'all?