From The Vault - The Hunger 2005

I have no idea what this was used for by the client who commissioned it but I do remember that they needed it FAST!

So, fast, if I remember right, that I was assigned the piece sometime in the morning and had it done for them by the end of business the same day. So, I couldn't have taken more than a handful of hours on this in total.

That's why I can forgive some of the mistakes such as the left thumb on our hero and the fact that our heroine seems to be missing some legs here and there.

But, for something I had no idea I was going to be doing when I woke up that morning I'm still happy with the way this piece turned out. Nothing like some extreme pressure to throw out all those little doubts you have in your head. With a schedule like that there is only time to DRAW DRAW DRAW!

So, yeah, I like it.

Chill Out

Chill Out.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this story yesterday.

After hearing the song and reading about how it all came about I was inspired. I love the idea of involving your audience in this way and putting together something simply to make someone else in the world feel good.

It got me thinking how I could do something similar. Could I have anybody who might stop by my house for a visit sing part of the chorus of a song? Would they feel put out? If they knew I was going to ask them to do this when they came over would they come over at all? Or could it be done completely online. Could my parents in Maine sing the chorus and send me a WAV file? How about my cousins in Hawaii?

This idea definitely has me thinking.

Sports Illustrated Kids

I got a call last January from Sports Illustrated Kids to do some illustrations for them for an article called "What's The Call."

The monthly article deals with different sports situations where weird things happen. It then asks the reader to make the call to see if the play was legal or not.

Since these images were done in January for the March issue I think it's safe to put them up on the blog and show them off.

I meant to put these up a few days ago but I've been so buried in work I actually even forgot to call my parents this weekend. It should be just as busy a week this week so if the blog posts are few and far between I apologize. I'll do my best to keep it up.

But, for now, enjoy some wacky sports situations!

From The Vault - Starbuck 2005

I was digging through my files last night, hoping to find some piece of art that I hadn't shown on the blog yet. After the treasure trove I found under the bed in Maine and a bunch of old OilCan Drive images I had myself set up pretty good for "From The Vault" Fridays. Once those images ran out I started scrambling.

So, when I came across this piece of Kara Thrace, call sign "Starbuck", from the updated Battlestar Galactica series I was amazed I hadn't shown it before.

I did this piece sometime back in 2005. I don't know why I did it but I'm sure it had to be a little bit because of how much I liked the show and how much I liked Starbuck in particular.

The piece was inked with regular sharpie markers and maybe a micron marker here or there. I added touches of gray to the black and white inked (or markered) piece and scanned the whole thing into the computer for color.


When I did the color I did it with a few layers to get some of the effects and tones I was looking for. If I remember correctly, when I took away the basic color layer I was left with the final image. A ghostly image of Kara Thrace against the lonely space background.

I liked it so much I kept a version of that as a finished piece as well.

And here I was scared of running out of pieces to showcase for "From The Vault" Fridays. Not yet. Not when I can still come across pieces of art I haven't posted yet from files or from the old portfolios sitting under my bed...pieces just like this.

And that's what this day is all about.

How I Write a Song

There are times when songs come out of the ether, tap me on the shoulder, and wonder if I'd like to work with them. Most of the time it's a simple riff on the guitar that gives me the seed of the song and a starting point to go from. I used to try and write these things down but I'd always forget how to play them. There is still a song I have written down in my notebook called "chugga chugga" and I have no idea how it sounds or what chords or notes are in it.

Thankfully, last Christmas, Monika got me a digital tape recorder.

So now, when one of these songs comes down from the heavens and bugs me I can record it quick and give myself audio notes on how to play it as I go along.

Usually they come along when I am noodling about on the guitar while watching TV or something. But, sometimes they get in touch with me a different way.

This first clip is from a song I listened to in a dream. In the dream a girl I knew in high school was up on stage singing it while I watched from the audience. When I woke up I stumbled my way towards the closest guitar and hit record on my tape player to see if I could even play what I had heard in my dream. Unfortunately I don't sing anything like the girl in my dream and, in my head, this song still sounds like it should be sung by someone from the Cowboy Junkies.

And, this clip is so long because it's actually two clips. One to get the idea down and the next was to try and figure out where a chorus might work into the song.


If the player doesn't work in your browser you can find the original clip HERE.

So, that was the dream song. This next one came about from messing around with some of the new guitar pedals in the bedroom. I started playing this riff and then the melody just came along. What I love about this one is the rawness of it and how you can hear my voice slowly finding the melody after the first few lines. And then it seems I was simply following the song as it moved into a natural chorus part and then to the outro. Times like these are why I am glad I have that tape recorder.


If the player doesn't work in your browser you can find the original clip HERE.

So, yeah, there are a few ways songs come to me. I love both these ideas and I'm looking forward to developing them further when I can find some free time.

Drums and Vocals

These screen shots are what I look at when I'm recording the OilCan Drive music. I'm recording through a Line 6 Toneport external box using a program called "Gear Box." This is what Gear Box looks like. Using some of the external pedals I showed off a while ago, this makes up the technical side of what I'm recording the bass, guitar, vocals, and drums through.

So, last week, using the new pedals I made quick work of the guitar and bass parts of a new song. All that was left was to do the drum recording and the vocals and I'd have a whole new song done and in the can. I had a few things to do but I figured on Tuesday I could find some free time and maybe record the drums for not only the new song but one other as well and, if I was lucky, get the vocals done too.

Little did I know how long it would take to dial in the right drums sounds on my Roland Electric Drum Kit.

What I thought might take a half an hour to get right ended up taking four days.

The good and bad thing about the Roland kit is how much you can tweak it to get different sounds. Not only can you get a decent kit, you can change snares, toms, and kick drums to make a custom kit. Then you can go in and tell it that the snare is only 6" deep, not 9", is made of wood, not brass, and has some tape on it to help mute it. You can do this to every drum on the kit.

Think you're done there? Nope.

When you finally get your kit done and programmed in you can then go and choose what type of room you're recording in. Is it large, small, tiny? Is it made of wood, plaster, or glass? And where are the microphones? Are they above the kit or below the kit next to the kick drum?

All of this had to be figured out and listened to over and over again. What I was trying to do is make it sound as close as possible that the drums were being recorded in the same type of room that the guitar and bass had already been recorded in. I wanted it to all sound like it matched.

So, being the only one here recording, I would hit play on the computer, run into the other room, jump behind the drum kit, play along with the song, end the song, run back in the other room, hit stop on the recording, and then listen to what it sounded like. If it wasn't right I'd go into the drum room, tweak the drum sounds a bit, and do the whole thing over again.

So, yeah, four days.

But, I think I've got it all dialed in and it should be easy to record these parts. Of course, I say that now. I might just sit behind the drum kit to record the song today and decided it still all sounds wrong. We'll see.

I don't know if any of this stuff makes any sense but if you happened to have seen me last week and I looked a little crazy at least you now know why.

OilCan Drive Cover(s)

Sorry I've been a bit more quiet than usual the past few days. I've not only been doing a bunch of client work but also trying to dial in the drums I'm using in the recording of the OilCan Drive album. (More on this soon but, to give you a glimpse of what's been going on, something that I thought would take me half an hour to figure out ended up taking me the better part of four days. Fun fun.)

And, all through out this going on I've slowly been putting together the cover for the OilCan Drive book. Using a bunch of different elements I've drawn over the past few weeks I've been trying different layouts and designs to see which one worked best.

Here are a few of the results.

The cover will be a wrap-a-around cover with the image continuing from the front to the back cover. So far I've come up with four different designs (well, actually three...the fourth would be used more as a banner or poster and wouldn't work well as the cover since the images will get cut right in half when folded over.)

So, I've already chosen my favorite and started working it up as the hi-res cover. But, I'd love to hear what you think about each design and which one you'd choose for the cover.

It'll be interesting to see if we make the same choice.