You are TERMINATED.

These 3 pieces were going to used in this collaborative project where all these illustrators would do a few spoof sideshow posters and then they'd be arranged on the wallets like a giant wall advertising a coming sideshow. But, I think my excitement for the project became public knowledge, which inevitably caused it's termination. It's hard when a project you really want to work out and spend a lot of time on ends up getting tossed out. It's happened a few times and It'll always be something that bothers me for a few days after I get the news.

I originally only had to do the black and white versions because the art directors were going to be taking care of the color and designing a specific border to be used on all the illustrations, but I decided to color them all myself so the project wouldn't feel unfinished to me. Enjoy the two versions and the thumbnail sketches.

Fear of Space

I've posted a similar picture before on this blog of an astronauts insides oozing out into space and my header is pretty much the same thing, just without the other astronaut shooting him in the head, and I think this one above is sort of the final installment in a pretty basic trilogy. As a kid, I used to have this intense fear that earth's gravitational pull would collapse, or just stop working, or just do whatever it would have to do so that there would be no more gravity, and I'd float out to space and that would be the end of me. Sorry, but Science class after 7th grade became a chore so sounding like I know what I'm talking about, or even seeming remotely intelligent on this subject is not gonna happen. I also saw Total Recall at an impressionable age, so those two things convinced me that there's no oxygen in space and people just explode without their space gear. 

Here's right before I started laying down the color.

Detail shot.

A Straggler

This one was also in that second batch of fake bands. Forgot to include the poor guy. Enjoy!

Fake Bands: Part 2

Sticky Mats

 Creature of Nature

 The second round of fake band illustrations. I Had 2 ideas for Creature of Nature and was originally going to do the evolution of killing version, but it just became really boring to keep on drawing it. Like 8th grade math homework boring. But, here it is anyways.

That Part Where You Actually Attempt to Promote Yourself

I've been trying some ways to get my work organized into a zine/fold out newsprint flyer/book type portfolio thingamajig format lately. I'm one of THOSE PEOPLE that like the idea of giving something tangible to people for them to keep and enjoy, or hopefully enjoy, and not just use as target practice for darts. I'm not totally sold on this approach because I sent it away to be made, but I think due to the medium in which I work and all the color separation printing and technical aspects I know nothing about, it makes more sense right now.

The Crossroads

I've always had a fascination with the history of blues music and even more so, the tale of Robert Johnson going to the crossroads (highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, MS) and selling his soul to the devil in order to be a great blues musician. There's just something about Satan and music that go very well together.

Fake Bands: Part 1

 I've been collecting a list of band names over time and I've started to illustrate them recently. I'm slowly working on them in my spare time so they'll trickle in when I get the chance. I hope no one comes across these and is actually in a band with one of these names. It's been kind of fun making up fake back stories and imagining what they might sound like.

I liked Blood Wave, but I did a second version because I felt like it looked too much like the thing these guys have going and I don't want to step on their toes since I love what they do.

 Below is the second version, which I ended up liking even more than the first. It all works out.

 Junkie leaves.

And I did this little drawing of Harvey Keitel. Older face attached to a movie reference from his younger days.

Creature from the Blog

Started with this sketch. 

Then started making my way through something bigger.

Then ended up here. One of my favorite movies as a kid. I still need to get the trilogy. When I was looking up reference photos I was psyched to see the insane amount of fan art of the creature. I feel like he was always overshadowed by the other Universal Monsters, or maybe that's just me, but either way it's nice to see a devoted following for this movie.

It's a Freak Show

Some spoof side show posters I recently did. These are part of a bigger group I did but I can only show these for now, as the others are part of a project I cannot reveal yet. These were the rejects but I felt like I needed to let them know they were still special to me. 

On a side note, I had a couple rad moments this week. First, I received an email from Kevin Avery who wrote Everything Is An Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson letting me know he had seen my drawings of Paul from my previous post and just wanted to give me an online high five for them. Then, after that, I found out these rock critics posted a drawing I did of Paul as well. Thanks guys.

Faces, Vikings, Monster Snowmen

 Here's some work/sketches that were done around Christmas.

I did this portrait as a gift for Christmas. It was sort of tricky and time-consuming as it isn't how I usually work, but I couldn't say no. Oh, and see that sketch above the bigger drawing? That was the real winner in my opinion. It would have been funny to send that instead.

Charles Bronson. Death Wish era.

Some warm up sketches I did of Chet Baker before I attempted the scratchboard of him that was posted earlier.     

Ian Brady, one of The Moors Murderers.

I recently read Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery and instantly became enamored with Paul Nelson. His writing on the importance of certain musicians and pushing music criticism to an art form is inspirational. Growing up with Rolling Stone Magazine and numerous other music mags, I'm used to seeing albums quickly reviewed, so it's pretty intense to read about the break with him and RS magazine when they moved to the way we're now used to seeing the music review section, compared to how he had worked on it, and believed the way it should be. In one way you could tell the magazine knew what it took to survive but you also felt that what Paul Nelson was fighting for was the more admirable route. Paul Nelson is basically a reminder that we should take time to appreciate and think about what we are experiencing.

Some tight and loose sketches of Paul.

Joe Cocker. Woodstock. With a Little Help From My Friends.

Another sign for Gimme! Coffee. Discussions about lack of snow, The 13th Warrior, Conan The Barbarian were the inspirations for this one.

Freshies

A rejected t-shirt idea that had to be done. If anyone feels the urge to have this printed on a band's album, please let me know. The only stipulation I have is that there is a hidden message when spun backwards.

Some of the coloring process.

Interest in Chet Baker combined with a renewed interest in scratchboard.

Some new sidewalk sign drawings I've done for Gimme Coffee.

Stickers of Lore

When you grow up in a small town, and are denied access to the local bars due to the legal drinking age requirement to enter those bars, boredom sometimes gets the better of you. So you create imaginary bike gangs and you ride around with your friends all night, occasionally making a pit stop to eat a "road dog" in front of the neighborhood strip club. Then years pass, you grow up(?)  and all of a sudden you feel inclined to make stickers commemorating that weird time in your life.

Learn something new. Here's another meaning for the word lore: The surface on each side of a bird's head between the eye and the upper base of the beak, or between the eyes and nostrils in snakes.