From The Vault - Keith Howard Tests 1995

Before I started the EXIT 6 books I would put Keith Howard into all sorts of illustrations. Sometimes they'd work out and sometimes they wouldn't.

When I'd find myself with a penciled piece that wasn't quite working out or not looking exactly like I wanted it to look I'd stop drawing it.

But then I'd do something weird.

I wouldn't just abandon the piece. I'd play with it some more, knowing it would never see the light of day and that if I screwed it up anymore it really wouldn't matter. So I'd pull out the black ink, the water colors, the acrylic paints, and the white out, and I'd play with painting a little bit.

Here are two experiments I found under the bed in Maine. Half done, never used for anything, but, I'm sure at the time, fun to play with.

That's what art is all about. Playing around, experimenting, and testing the waters until you can figure out what works for you and what looks good. Just keep working and having fun.

Having fun...that's what it's all about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up this morning with thoughts of Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons in my head. And when I thought about what kind of art or photo I could feature today, the biggest of the floating giant balloon holidays, I thought of this old, short, OilCan Drive story I did years ago.

How do you get stuck in a parade wearing pink bunny ears on your head?

Well, you don't pay your parking tickets, get your vehicle towed, and break into the impound lot to try and liberate it of course.

Not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have a great day, eat lots of turkey, watch some Denver Broncos football and even if you're alone on this holiday, enjoy yourself. At least it's a day off from work.

Football!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I thought it was time to turn my attention back to the art board and show you what I've been working on.

Thanksgiving is all about family, friends, food, and, of course, football!

So here is a quick glimpse of what I've been working on the last few weeks. It's a new line of football stories for Stone Arch Books. I am right in the middle of the second book's interiors as well as doing the covers for all of the books. That just means that, even thought it's a holiday week, it's a busy week for me that will find me working right through the holidays so I can get this leg of the project done by Monday.

You gotta love being freelance. It's one of those things that makes you a little sad when your art director says, "I hope you had a great weekend..."

Umm, I was working the whole weekend to get your project done.

But, you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. I love doing this kind of stuff so much that even when I am done with client work I turn around and do my own stuff.

Now I just need to find a way to get back to doing my own stuff. Maybe next week. Or, umm, maybe the next week after that.

Before the end of the year, I swear...

Is the Song Still Going On?

If your day ever needed "more cowbell" then you've come to the right place!



When Green Day played Saturday Night Live a few months ago there was apparently a song or two that NBC decided not to air. This version of "East Jesus Nowhere" features the "more cowbell" man himself, Will Ferrel.

My favorite part is around the 3:30 mark of the video when the song goes into the breakdown.

I think most of my days can relate to Will Ferrel's preformance with the band. You start out strong, confident, keeping up with the band the best you can. Then the day throws you a curve ball, you have no idea what's going on, but you muddle your way through it anyway.

And finally, you're just left with a look on your face that says, "what is happening?"

Have a great day!

Let the Bidding Begin!

So, I finally pulled the trigger, put the dream to the test, and bid on the Mark Hoppus recording/producing session.

I knew I had a set amount in my head and, if it was meant to be, I'd win the session for that much. So, Sunday morning I put my bid in and waited to see what happened.

The bidding had been stuck at about $1000 all week so my first bid was $2000. I hoped I would put some of the kids out there without that much money way behind me. By the time I got back from lunch the bidding was already up to $2250. So, I went to $2500. Within half an hour the person who originally outbid my two grand bid again. This time they upped it to $2750. I countered with $3000, the top bid in my head, and crossed my fingers.

Before I went to bed last night they had outbid me again at $3250. And there's still two weeks left in the auction.

Looking into it a bit it looks like the band that outbid me, Forget the Pacific, is a seventeen and nineteen year old from North Dakota. Must be nice to have Dad's credit card at hand (I swear I'm not bitter...well, not too much.) Ah well, like I said, if it was meant to be it was meant to be. But this time, I guess not.

It was fun to run the dreams for my head a bit, though.

So, what now you ask? Is it on to Plan B, C, or D?

Nope. What's funny in all these little dreams that tear me off the path I am following is that, usually, they are a distraction. So, for me, it's back to Plan A, the plan I've been following all along.

Stick to the path, my son, stick to the path.

I think I'll be OK.

Brother, Can You Spare a Grand...

...or maybe even two?

I found out this week that, through a charity auction, Mark Hoppus, of Blink 182 fame, is donating his services and eight hours of time at his studio to produce a band's music track.

As the description reads: "Here is your chance to have Blink 182's Mark Hoppus and Chris Holmes produce a track for your band, in the CA-based studio, Opera Music, that Mark owns with Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker. This will include 8 hours of studio time."

You can check out the actual auction post HERE.

While I have to admit that I feel kind of odd about benefiting from someone else's tragedy, the idea of going to Los Angeles and recording in a real studio with Mark Hoppus would be a once-in-a-lifetime, dream come true kind of thing.

And the best part about finding out about this opportunity was the way it made the wheels in my brain spin and spin. I thought about the adventure of traveling to LA, either on a plane or in a rented car. The fun it would be to see the studio and not to only meet, but to actually work with Mark on an OilCan Drive song that I wrote. I thought of how the day in the studio might be spent, tracking guitars and bass and drums. I thought about how it would be cool to release an OilCan Drive single that was actually produced by Mark Hoppus, how it would sound, how the packaging on the CD single might look. I thought about how it would be a great way to kick off the whole OilCan Drive project and a great marketing tool to make people notice it.

But, then there's always that nagging negative voice. The one that says you're not a real band. You're too old to do a rock and roll song like this. You're not good enough to go into a studio and play the song you wrote yourself. It's too far to travel. It's too much money to spend.

Most times that voice comes from somewhere in the back of your head. Before those voices in my brain even had a chance to rear their ugly heads (or voices) it came from Monika the moment I told her about the auction. Who needs negative voice in the back of your head squashing your dreams when she lives in the same house and sleeps in the same bed next to you?

Maybe she was just having an off day.

So, what say you, dear blog readers? Opportunity of a lifetime or a stupid pipe dream? Right now I am on the fence but trying to keep the dream positive and the hopes alive. Because if you can't even run a dream like this through your head and have fun with it, then what's the point of trying anything?

And, for your viewing pleasure, here is an old clip from 2003 of Mark debuting some songs from his new album to a bunch of school kids. Enjoy!

From the Vault - Keith Howard 1995

I'm only guessing I did this piece in 1995. I figure if I had done it in 1996 it would be here, with me in Colorado, instead of under a bed on Peaks Island, Maine. Remember that whole post I had about signing and dating my work? Yeah, that might have helped me out right about know.

Stupid past Sean.

Anyway, not only don't I know the exact date I did this piece, I actually have no idea what it's even for. I'm guessing I was somewhere in the middle of doing the first EXIT 6 book (Keith being a major player in the story) at the time (or seriously getting ready to do it) and I just wanted to do one nice finished piece amongst all the multi-paneled story pages I was doing.

One thing that does pop out at me is the way I did the mountains in the background. The way I rendered those must have meant I was on a Berni Wrightson kick at the time. Either in the middle of his Frankenstein work or in the midst of the Wrightson tome, "A Look Back." I look at those mountains and it's me totally trying to rip off a Wrightson technique.

And, one thing I do remember about this piece is that it had WAY too many stars on it and it felt very distracting. So, I went back over all the stars with black. It was then I discovered that the Dr. Martin's white out I used on my paintings was a pain in the ass to cover back up with black ink on a basic black and white piece.

It's amazing how the little things come back to you, even when you have no idea when or why you even did a piece in the first place.