From The Vault - Exit 6 1990

When I was back in Maine one of the things my Mom tasked me with doing was going through the piles and piles of artwork I had left there. I took one afternoon and pulled piece after piece out from under a bed and took a big trip down memory lane.

And, of course, I pulled out the camera and snapped a few shots of pieces I thought would work well for "From the Vault" Fridays.

Most of the work was from my high school and college days. It was funny to see the evolution from what I was doing in high school to how much better I got in college. And, then, to see how much I had gotten better since college up until now. I guess that's the name of the game with art, or with anything...just keep trying to get better. And never hate your old stuff. You were doing the best you could with what you had at the time. It's all in the journey, young grasshopper.

I had the concept of Exit 6 in my head since high school so, naturally, the story and characters followed me into college. A lot of my assignments and ideas always came back to these characters. They were a big part of my life up until I finally published the book in 1998.

I'm not sure what this project was for. Maybe a mock up of a magazine article? I don't recall. But, I do know the piece was inked and then colored with Dr. Martin's dyes. There looks to be a little airbrush work on there (this was before I had really mastered that tool) but the figures look to be all painted by hand. I think I was messing around with the idea that you could use household bleach to eat away at the dyes so I think that's how I got the whites in the piece without using regular white-out. There also looks to be a touch of colored pencil in the sign. Oh, and all the "greeking" of the lettering was done on a plastic overlay so I could keep the art intact.

I'm pretty sure this was done during my second year of school.

So, there you go. Our first look into the far reaches of the vault I found under a bed in Maine. Believe me, it won't be the last.