OilCan Drive Kickstarter Launch!

 The first ever OilCan Drive Kickstarter Campaign has officially launched!

If you've been following this blog you know I've been working towards this moment for a few years now and that day is finally here. When I first heard about Kickstarter I knew that it was just something I had to try. The problem I had was that I didn't have any projects out there to promote. So, I launched the OilCan Drive website almost two years ago and started putting up all of the old stories and comics I had created over the years.

Then I started new stories and new art. With a place to put all of the stuff in my head I just couldn't stop the new stories from coming out. I debuted all of that new work at the 2013 Denver Comic Con last June. And now, after months of planning and building, I can now bring that work to the rest of the world via Kickstarter.

I'll be honest with you, I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing. It just might not work. I might not get the money I need to make what I want happen. But, there is always the website and my love of the project so OilCan Drive isn't going anywhere soon. There are too many stories in my head and the band never seems to leave me alone.

Plus, as someone once said, if you're going to be scared about something that hasn't happened yet that only lives in your imagination why not be scared of something amazingly good happening? You're the master of all those thoughts in your head (hopefully) so why not imagine something really great happening?

As I go to lunch today I'll be doing my best to imagine OilCan Drive's Kickstarter Campaign exceeds all of my goals, hopes, and dreams. It will be so big that I'll need to buy a warehouse to store all of the product I'll need to fulfill orders and I'll need to hire all of my friends to work for me. It certainly beats sitting there and thinking the whole thing will go down in flames.

And, even if the campaign doesn't work out quite the way I want it to, OilCan Drive alone already exceeds all of my goals, hopes, and dreams. I love this little band in my head and I'm happy to share it with the world, even if it's just a small section of the world.

So, click on the link, check out the campaign, dig on the art, and watch the video. You don't have to give me money, you just have to go check it out to see what I'm doing.

And I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it all together.

Thanks again and I'll talk to you all soon!

Bikini Girl Colored!

Before everything gets crazy later today I thought I'd take this chance while things were still slow to show off the finished colored piece of the bikini girl.

I went a bit more designy and graphic in the shading and flesh tones on her but once I went down that road I found it was really hard to stop. So, I went with it and, while it may not be realistic, I like the look of it.

One of the things I wished I could have done but didn't think about when I started this piece was giving her colored lines instead of the original black ink lines. But, because I built the outer lines of her body into the background I didn't have time to digitally cut her out of the background and make that happen. So, I left her as is and I think, while it may not be what I might have wanted, it still works really great.

I hope you enjoy this finished piece and stick around later today when the OilCan Drive Kickstarter Campaign begins.It should make for an interesting afternoon!

Talk to you all soon!

Bikini Girl Inked!

While gearing up for the OilCan Drive Kickstarter (launching later this week) I took a break from all the work I've been doing to make the campaign happen and inked something completely removed from client work and all things OilCan Drive related.

If you'll recall I penciled this piece last month as a way to take my mind off of all the flooding that was happening around Boulder. You can see that sketch HERE.

Now I'm turning to it again to take my mind off of the Kickstarter campaign that I am both excited and very nervous about. I think it's nice to have some sort of outlet to take your mind off of things when it all gets to be too much.

And, because I liked this piece so much I've already started the color on it. I meant to simply start the color, maybe lay down some basic shadows, but I found myself staying up way to late and not wanting to stop. So, aside from a few small details, the color is almost done as well.

I'm sure I'll be showing that off soon enough. But, for now, it's back to OilCan Drive for a bit. There is still a lot to get done before noon on Thursday.

See you soon!

Vincent!

 Happy Saturday!

I finally found some time this afternoon to sit down and ink the stand-up illustration I did of Vincent of OilCan Drive a while ago. It's funny how other things get in the way of doing what you want to do so it's nice to finally find some time to relax and do some of my own stuff.

The really weird part is that I go through the same motions when I do client work and my own stuff. But, while the client work can sometimes seem stressful and fill me with worry doing stuff like this for myself is actually relaxing. I don't know why but I'm sure some psychologist could explain the whole thing to me.

 So, I'm having a great Saturday, relaxing, inking, and watching a Blink 182 concert from 2004 on YouTube. And it feels great!

Enjoy a few photos as the art. I know it's going to get busy again next week so I'm enjoying these few days I have to breath before things get crazy again.

Have a great weekend!

OilCan Drive Kickstarter

It's been a long time coming but I finally finished up and submitted my first crowd funding campaign to Kickstarter for OilCan Drive. It was accepted earlier this week and I've set a start day of Thursday, October 31st.

To promote the campaign a bit I created a page on the OilCan Drive web site with some information and a few images of some of the products being offered. You can check it out HERE.

So, head on over, see what you think, and make sure to come back next week for when all the fun starts. It should be a roller coaster of a ride!

Have a great one!

Woke Up Dead

Sometimes you just need to get away from the client work, away from the personal work, and away from anything having to do with fixing the house. When I am feeling like that I usually have my friend Louis DeAngelis come over and record a song. Seeing that it's so close to Halloween I knew Lou would have a new song up his sleeve for his favorite holiday of the year.

We sat down two weeks ago and tracked and recorded the basic parts for the song. Lou brought along his friend Randall to lay down some guitar parts and we called it a day. Last week we got around to mixing and mastering the song. And this week, since we had a little extra time, we made a video for the song.

The video is all Lou's vision and I was just the man with his hands on the buttons. It's an interesting art school kind of video but I was really happy with how happy Lou was with how it turned out. Nothing beats putting a smile on that guy's face.

So, enjoy the video for Lou's new song, "Woke Up Dead." It made for a nice break from my daily routine. But, it's back to work for me tomorrow. Have a great one!

Aloha!

This last week was filled with revising a few old client jobs as well as starting a new one. It's definitely been busy and, while I feel like I never get anything done, I never feel like I ever get a day off. But, I did find some time to sketch out a new penciled piece of OilCan Drive's Vincent Spicer as part of my new stand-up collection.

With any luck once he's done he'll be standing next to the last piece I did of Ryan Burke. He just needs a little ink and color and he'll be ready to go. Hopefully I can find some free time this week to get around to that.

One of the things I've also been working on while I find some free time is the first OilCan Drive Kickstarter campaign. It's been a long time in coming and a lot harder to put together than I first thought. Just getting the video written and put together was a lot of work but I didn't realize how much time it would take to simply sit down and write out the campaign and have it make sense. A lot of the work had to do with getting over the fear of putting this project out there into the  world and asking for money. My biggest fear is that I'll promote the project, launch the campaign, and be greeted by the overwhelming sounds of crickets chirping. The other fear, the one I am trying to focus on (because, hell, if you're going to worry, to might as well worry about something going incredibly right), is that the whole campaign will be so successful that I'll have to start a new career with OilCan Drive.

So, we'll see what happens and I'll let you know as things get closer to launching. It's almost there.

And, a while back I sent a box of OilCan Drive fun to my family in Hawaii. There were books, CDs, postcards, and t-shirts all stuffed into one big box. Recently I received this photo of my second cousin's husband sporting the official OilCan Drive t-shirt. He's looking good and it seemed apt to share this photo in this post along with Vince seeing as they are both military soldiers.

Thank you Vince, thank you Seth, and thank you all. Talk to you soon.

Happy October!

 Alright, it's a week late but, finally, Happy October!

The new Ryan Burke illustration has been colored and is now finished. The plan is to do the rest of the band and a few more characters and turn them all into new stand-ups to put around my studio. The last time I did stand-ups like these was ten years ago so it should be fun to see how the new versions of the characters match up with the old ones. I'll be sure to take some photos once I get everything set up.

For now, have a great October! Sorry I dropped the ball on this month.

A Little Inking

I got the inking for the Ryan Burke illustration done today, scanned the piece into the computer, and put the guitar's headstock back in its correct spot.

Now he just needs a bit of color and little more love and he'll be all done.

Have a great one! It's back to work for me!

Oops!

 Wow, with everything that happened last month, new cars, floods, and a ton of client work, September really got away from me. So when October snuck up on me I was totally unprepared.

I started this new piece of Ryan Burke from OilCan Drive for the October Header late this week and I promise I'll have the piece done and a new header up by Monday.

For now, enjoy the process. One of the problems I had with this piece was, as I started penciling it, I didn't leave enough room on the page for the guitar's headstock. So, I drew that separately and I'll merge it all together when I scan the piece into the computer. I need to get inking and coloring and I hope I don't fall behind again for November.

And the new sexy girl pin-up I showed off the sketch of last time will be done soon as well. She got stuck somewhere in a pile of art and I haven't had time to dig her back out yet. But, soon enough!

Have a good October. New art will be done soon!