Nascar!

Well, the holidays have come and gone and I actually even took a few days off. When I knew I had some free time I made big plans to do some personal art, record some songs, maybe even actually breath for a change.

Well, I got to breath, at least.

No new recorded songs, no new personal works of art.

The day after Christmas I was back at the drawing board doing the covers for the newest Jake Maddox books- four stories featuring Nascar Racing.

Now, I'm not a car guy by any means. I've had the same Jeep Wrangler for twelve years and if I was ever hit by a sedan in the street I'd be hard pressed to give the cops a decent description of what kind of car hit me. I might be able to sputter out the color though. Maybe...

So, doing a four book series about cars has been a real challenge for me. But, you know what they say, what doesn't drive you to pull all of your hair out just might make you stronger.

So, with hope in my heart, I started doing the covers for the four books.

This was my initial attempt at the first story's cover. I thought it came out decent and sent it off to my art director. She was positive, said some nice things even, but had just enough comments to send me all the way back to square one. And that is never a good feeling. It feels like failure. It feels like you just didn't give it your best shot. It digs at that "why am I an artist in the first place" feeling you have down in the depths of your body. But, honestly, after I went back to the board and took her suggestions to heart, I am glad she didn't accept this piece.

The newer covers are more colorful, more detailed, and all around better than this attempt. About three days into the new covers I finally figured out some tricks to make the cars shine like they had just come off the assembly line. I made over two dozen fake sponsor logos and plastered them all over the cars. I made the wheels spin and the smoke fly.

So, now I can look at the new pieces and tell that little "why am I an artist in the first place" feeling to go take a hike because, hell, I did some kick ass covers!

I'll post the new covers in the future but, for now, enjoy the first attempt. Remember, you have to start somewhere...