another little flyer

here ya go. cheers.

Super Dork

I've been running around like a crazy person lately with work, errands, dodge ball play-offs, roller derby, shows, yadda yadda yadda... It's been kinda hectic but manageable anyways. I've got work just dropping in my lap and really cool things in the works coming up. I think the running around is going to slack off so that I can actually get some more art done.

Speaking of which, here's my latest little installment in promotional items. It's for my buddy's band in Roanoke, VA. I probably won't get to the show but I'm sure it'll be a good time.

I'm really looking forward to cranking out some more pieces. Right on.

ROLLER DERBY

Sorry, I'm blogging on commercials while watching Lost.

Here's a flyer I did for the Richmond Derby Demons. I did the main artwork and graphic design. The logos were all pulled off of the web.

Here's just the picture.

Flowing East, the Sea Devil

I feed my mind and the well is filled. And so I cast my bucket deep.

These books are informing my latest project: Pirate-Ninja Yarri-Kari.

The Book of Pirates, is a tome of beautiful illustrations sprung from the fertile mind and able hand of one of the august creators from the golden age of illustration, Howard Pyle.

Pyle's interpretations of the lore of the sea dogs is the standard for all that we think of when we think 'pirates.' (To be fair, N.C. Wyeth was hardly a scurvy slacker to this end, either.)

The romantic rebel rabble is represented with nothing less than grit, blood, and intrepid tales of fascination and thrall.

At 320 pages of paperback portability, which I purchased from the bastion of beauty: the Brandywine Museum, boredom is belayed and adventure is played.

(Yeah, I'm a dork.)

Aside from that half of my character's profession, I've started delving into the mysterious world of the ninja and ninjutsu.


The 1980s saw a slew of skillful assasins slinking stealthily across movie screens. This was due to the introduction of the ninja to the U.S. by Stephen K. Hayes.

The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art, first published in 1981, is an account by Hayes of the meeting of and training with 34th generation master of the Togakure-ryu ninjutsu tradition, Masaaki Hatsumi.

Eastern esotericism is described with succinct clarity within the 156 pages. History, tradition, techniques, and weaponry lurk between the ambivalent paperback covers of this sweet pick.

I'm awaiting the arrival of subsequent books on ninjutsu also purchased on Amazon.com.

By now, you know about my obsession with books. Well, today I picked up another gem.

Ukiyo-e, a Phaidon book by Professor Gian Carlo Calza, was a tasty find at the Barnes & Noble today.

So far, Phaidon books have yet to disappoint me. This gem has over 600 illustrations which is more than I could imagine for a book on ukiyo-e.

There's plenty of Utagawa Hiroshige (my favorite), Katsushika Hokusai (not a slacker), and a new favorite of mine, Keisai Eisen.

The landscapes are absolutely wonderful. The compositions are incredible. The characterizations are amusing and the ghosts and erotica are downright entertaining.

I'm positively overwhelmed by the quantity of pictures, so much that I tried to just sit down to read the history associated with the prints, but the Mexican food in my belly curtailed any information absorbtion. This book is a definite must have for anyone into ukiyo-e or the culture of Nippon.

In closing I'd like to mention that the apocalyptic CBS television series Jericho is quite entertaining and is back for its second season which premieres this Tuesday the 12th at 10pm/ET. Likewise, the ABC television series Lost is pretty freakin' rad and absolutely worth watching. If you're not up to speed on either series then don't frustrate yourself with trying to pick it up where it is now. Rent all the dvd's from the beginning and marathon those suckers until your head spins. It will be a ride well worth it.

Oh yeah, my next blog will actually have some of my artwork, in case you were looking. Sorry for not sharing but I'm still researching and developing characters, backgrounds, and stories.

Update, no artwork to show- yet...

I've been working at this new job now for 3 weeks. It's quite strenuous and my arms feel like they're going to snap off at the shoulders at times. It's draining my physical energy, so my mental/creative energy usually follows suit.

I've cranked out a number of thumbnails for Pirate-Ninja Yarri-Kari. And, as is my bent, I'm delving into the research necessary for me to feel like I'm doing my project justice. My sketches are developing well, but I've slacked off this week as above energy issues have been at hand.

But the weekend is here and some mental reinvigoration has begun to commence. Last night brought me out to the First Friday art walk. I'm usually bored and skulking at this but I saw 3 things that entertained my jaded ass. And as I crawled out from under my proletariat-grey rock to cavort (read: stalk) amongst the night-goers, I ran into some estranged, but welcome faces.

Of note was my friend Lewis of the local pop/punk/metal band I Live With Zombies. We rapped outside Rumors boutique inbetween band sets. Then I set out for the Camel to catch The Amoeba Men and Ho-Ax, but saw some more peeps at the Village. Of course I had to say hey and then tromped off to the show.

Finally at the show, I ran into old Lynchburg and Roanoke crewe: Danny, Derek, Chris, Mike, Bill, Jason; and Richmonders: Sean and the Mullarneys. All swell peeps, for sure. Time was short as I was obliged to shuffle homeward for rendezvous with my lady.

But Bill's drumming in The Amoeba Men looked like he was in a voodoo trance tangentially enhanced by the daishiki he was wearing. I was expecting spit sprays of liquor, smoking cigars, candle wax, and spatters of chicken blood. But alls I got was some kinetic, bombastic, avant garde, synthpunk. Shucks.

Anyway, I'd like to close by endorsing Cloverfield. This has to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, aside from documentaries. I was impressed. I loved the concept, the execution, the use of angles, the pacing, colors, etc... This movie took it to the next level for me. I'm hard pressed to give such glowing endorsements (refer to above 'jaded ass' statement, third paragraph), but this did it for me. But, if shaky camera work makes you sick, take a dramamine before seeing it. The whole movie is shake-tastic. But filling.

MAGICAL UNICORN BUTTER!!!

My girlfriend's into dodgeball. And after watching a couple of last season's games, now I'm into it, too.

I hadn't played since 7th grade. My buddy, who had turned me on to punk rock, and I would run amock all over the court and give our battlecry: "WAKKA-DING-HOY!"

But now I'm on a team again. At 35 years old. Beth is on two teams. She's on my team and on another called "MAGICAL UNICORN BUTTER."

So I had to design a logo/mascot for a little battleflag...

Master Otake

I am obsessed with books and fascinated by martial arts. In my collection you'll find a decent selection of martial arts books such as The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere, and one titled simply The Martial Arts. It is from this last book that I have referenced and drawn.

The Martial Arts was picked up at a terrific bookstore on Baronne Street when I lived in New Orleans. The book title itself seems fairly generic but its overview is a rich exposition of the martial arts culture, particularly Japanese, Okinawan, and some Chinese.

These drawings are of Master Otake, a budo swordsman. In trying to understand the drawing of Asian features, Master Otake's face was an enjoyable study for me. I can only guess at the interesting experiences he has had. His quiet intensity certainly bears the stamp of a man that has committed his life to the mastering of a martial art.

These two were layed out in orange color erase pencil. Then I inked them with Faber-Castell Pitt brush pens. Above I was going for a slightly more cartoony look with a nod to Jack Davis. Below I wanted to retain the light and shadow dynamics of the photograph, but rendered graphically.

The same applies to the martial arts as to the drawing arts, dedicated practice and honest evaluation will manifest satisfying results.

Soul Bread

Hello. Would you like to buy some tasty pan (bread)? The forest monk makes it fresh every day. Usually he brings it down and sells it himself, but today I haven't seen him.

I wonder if he's practicing his karate? He really is quite terrific. His arms and legs are as sturdy as an oak tree. His kicks are like typhoons and his fists are like hammers!

Oh, well. Anyway, his bread is even good a day later because the noro (priestess) blesses his hearth every day, too. Why don't I just give you a little sample? Hmmm...?

Kiiiii-yaaarrrrrr!!!!!

This glorious monstrosity was slapped together as a lark during my Fall '06 semester. The premise being that certain things that were played-out would be rolled up into mock-cover chimeraes.

Here's a pirate that's a ninja! He's riding a unicorn that's a zombie! They're being attacked by penguins that are robots! Glory be! How pandemonius!!!

Well, I started my last semester (Fall '07) wanting to jam out some material to satisfy my creative urges. I started with a keen project, which you'll see more of in the future (tease), but its scope exceeded my capabilities as the semester then picked up steam.

I throttled back by putting that (mystery) project on the back burner and decided to breathe some life into my absurd little pirate-ninja. As I'd continued to be inspired by Samurai Jack, with its wonderful background art and character designs (by such ass-kickers as Genndy Tartakovsky, Lynne Naylor, Bill Wray, to name but a few), I started salivating obscenely to apply this to said project. Those abstractions and palettes were the perfect approaches to take with my scurvy-assassin!

Well, things got retarded early on that semester. Life destabilized with unemployment and soon enough I could barely pull sufficient creativity off for my classes, much less a comicky book. The initial thought was that I would just throw together some ramshackle character designs and bg's and let it fly. I jumped in.

But, I couldn't do it. I became disenchanted with my sloppy designs and really felt the need to develop some characters, environments, and storytelling. Even though this would be haphazard action and violence I wanted it to be more dynamic than what I was putting into it.

So, here's the first inspirational panel I'd generated on a whim that gave me the idea to revive this keelhauled-killer. And as part of my list of resolutions for 2008, I'm going to crank out some Pirate-Ninja Yarrri Kari comix (along with developing other projects) to be self-published and for public consumption. Kanpai, me mateys!

SOME FIRES KEEP BURNING

I wanted to refrain from putting anything about my personal views other than art in this blog but I'm compelled to do otherwise with recent developments in the world political climate.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan on Wednesday is a tragic loss when free elections and talks with President Pervez Musharraf were so close. With her political measure weighing in with moderate Muslims in Pakistan for women's rights, Bhutto's was a strong voice much needed within a historically mysogynistic culture.

After escaping a previous assassination attempt and her recent political incarceration, a potential communication process with current powers and upcoming elections seemed to signal a positive, much needed change.

Heinous murders of leaders such as Benazir Bhutto must be avenged with the articulation of justice in the form of the punishment of those responsible.

As al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility, this surely will further fuel the fires of the United State's open-ended and nebulous "War on Terror." Geographically Pakistan is to the east of Iran, with its own controversial policies of nuclear activities and religious fundamentalism. Such a relationship, Pakistan's nuclear armory, and the continuing instability of the area by Islamic fundamentalist military factions could expand the front of the "War on Terror" on the premise of nuclear capable Islamic fundamentalist alliances, whether between regimes, terrorist factions, or both. Be aware of the Bush Administration's inevitable statements regarding any imaginable scenarios.

Some fires keep burning, they whip and consume, with designs that serve only to sustain entropy. But other fires burn, and they burn within the breasts of those that must persevere for good when all seems lost, when a guiding, vigilant fire is extinguished by madness and hatred. And these fires keep burning, flaring in the face of chaos with a light that bolsters these fires that come together, once diminished by loss, but gaining strength in union to light the way toward positive empowerment and essential justice.