Chunka Chunka?

I've been thinking a lot about music lately.

I've dusted off some old demos I've done, pulled out some old sheets of lyrics, and started looking at the bits and pieces that I hope will someday make up the first full length OilCan Drive album.

It's easy enough to post the little sketchbook thumbnails I do to work out my ideas for pieces of art. But, how do you get across the idea of a song before it's written? Unfortunately, unlike some people I've read about, the songs don't fall out of my head fully fleshed out. Most of the time they start with me mucking around on guitar. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, a melody will sing out in my head as I'm playing that riff. I just plunk around, work it out, and hopefully something worthwhile comes from it.

Monika, for Christmas, bought me a small digital recorder so I could record some of these riffs. Too many times I have a great idea for a song but, even if I write it down, I have no idea what it is a few weeks later. There is still a song title on a mocked-up OilCan Drive album sleeve that reads "Chunka-Chunka". If you water-boarded me right now I would still have no idea what that riff sounds like. So, the digital recorder has been really great.

So, here is a clip from the digital recorder of me mucking around on my acoustic guitar. It shows a bit of the process. On the recording you can here me playing the main single note riff. From there I'll figure out what chords I would play over that riff. And, in the case of this session, you can hear me even trying to figure out a decent bass line for the whole thing. All on one acosutic guitar over the course of a few minutes.

One of the things I have learned to do is after I record the riff I'll go through it and call out the chords and what I am actually doing on the guitar. It's like a little lesson from "past" me to "present" me. "Present" me can be a bit of an idiot sometimes so "past" me has to help me out as much as I can. Thank you "past" me, thank you.

So, here is the riff. I have no idea of what it might be called or if it will ever turn into a full blown song. The tempo is all over the place and every little mistake is in there. Like a little thumbnail sketch on a piece of paper, this is how I start most of the songs I write. Enjoy.

And, if the player above doesn't work, the link to the file can be found and downloaded HERE.

From The Vault - Spider-Man 2008

I know this image was put up on my previous blog but since it hasn't shown up on this blog yet and isn't anywhere on my website I figure it was fair game to be called "From the Vault".

This piece was done as part of the "Jelly of the Month", a collection of artists who, once a month, chose a random topic and then went off into their own corners to create some art. The month I did Spider-Man was, of course, for a Marvel Comics month.

It was always great to have some kind of art project that wasn't for a client and wasn't for some personal project that I could just do for fun. Unfortunately, near the end I just got so busy that I had to skip a few months. The last month the Jelly was running was March and the topic was "The Watchmen". I guess a lot of us got busy because Rob Kelly was the only member who submitted anything.

Since then it's just been quiet.

And, even though I didn't contribute much near the end I still miss the fun of just doing a fun piece of art for the sake of doing a fun piece of art. I think I really need to do more of that. Something that's not for a client, not for a kid's book, and not for the OilCan Drive project. Something that's totally random and fun and I can finish in a day or two.

Yeah, I need to do more of that.

Starting the Day

The pencils for the covers of the new Jake Maddox books have been approved to it's time to get down to the inking.

These two figures did need a little tweaking so I had to draw a couple of extra legs on each of them that I'll add after I scan everything into the computer.

But, the pencils are a good start.

Now, I just need to keep it straight in my head as to what I need to ink and what I can ignore. The figures will be easy. It'll be when I get to the penciled pieces that are just legs where it might get tough. Who wants to just draw just legs, dangling there in space?

Hmmm...ghost legs....it's kind of creepy when you think about it.

OK, off to get my hands dirty with india ink!

Working Away

Not much to tell these days.

Just working away on the new Jake Maddox covers, chipping away at the OilCan Drive project, and spending time with friends.

Oh, and I bought a piano...a digital piano.

It's a lot of fun to play when I need to take a quick break from the drawing board.

It's late so I'm off to bed. I'll try and take some photos from the studio tomorrow.

From The Vault - Dark Angel 2001

I did the black and white illustration for this piece back in 2001 for a girl I was seeing at the time. At her request, she wanted herself drawn as both an angel and a devil. Me, being very much into her at the time, just couldn't refuse.

So, I did the piece, gave it to her as a gift, and was then dumped. Well, maybe not so much dumped as much as she disappeared from my life one night and I never saw her again. I think the lesson I learned is that, when a girl is moving, and she DOESN'T ask for your help in packing up her stuff and moving it from place to place, she doesn't really want you to know where she's going.

So, with her went the original but I still had a photocopy of the black and white piece. I took that copy, scanned it into the computer, and started playing around with the color. Previous to this piece I'd maybe done a few color tests in Photoshop and maybe one complete colored piece. But, even that first piece was very airbrushy and had me trying to match the effects of my physical paintings at the time. But, this was the first time that I tried doing an animated cut color technique.

And, I have to say, it worked out so well that I still use this style of color on the majority of my art to this day. It may be a bit more refined and thought out now but it all started with this piece.

So, even though the relationship went down in flames I do have to say that this girl was an artistic inspiration and I'm always glad she was a part of my life, even if just for a short time.

So, thank you Daniella, wherever you may be.

Quick Breather

The first book of the new four book Jake Maddox series of kid's books has been put to rest so I've had a day or two to myself.

And, what do I do when I have a free day to myself?

OilCan Drive, baby, OilCan Drive!

After wrapping up the inking on this page I'll be a little over a quarter of the way done with the new story.

Getting there...slowly...but, it's getting there...

Dracula Musical...Woo!

Well, it wasn't Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms. It wasn't Elton John, Billy Joel, or even Coldplay.

After playing around with guitar, bass, and even drums, I've always figured the next instrument I'd tackle was the piano or keyboards. Up until now looking at all those black and white keys just baffled me. But, finally, something caught my attention that made me want to start tickling the ivories.

And, no, it wasn't any of the classic composers mentioned above.

Nope, what made me finally break down and want to start learning piano was this:



God, help me.