Let The Coloring Begin

Before I headed off to Maine I got a good start on coloring the new Henry piece for the blog header.

So, here is a screen shot of the work so far. On the first of November I'll reveal the new blog header and the newest finished illustration of Henry.

For now, back to enjoying Maine. See you all next week!

Back To The Drawing Board 13

Just because I am away and on vacation doesn't mean the Back To The Drawing Board podcast gets any rest!

This week, for our unlucky thirteenth episode, I brought my lucky charm Josh Thorne back into the studio to talk about his new project, his new way of working, and his plans for the future.

So, head on over to the B2TDB website HERE or check it out on iTunes HERE and have a listen!

And, I'll be back soon enough from vacation, drawing away, and posting new stuff. Have a good one!

Henry Inked!

Here are the inks I finished up on the Henry blog header piece this weekend.

I am off to Maine but, hopefully, I'll be able to post a few new articles from the road. And, if you are in Maine and you have the time, I'll see you soon!

Have a good one!

Henry Pencils

Since I am heading off to Maine this week for a short trip to see my family and some friends from back home I needed to get a jump start on next month's blog header.

And, because Ryan, Nicole, and Vincent have each been featured the last three months I thought it was only fair that Henry got his fair share of the spotlight. It is weird when you have four main characters in your head all trying to get out and be seen in the world and it's even weirder that I am trying to treat them fairly and make them all happy.

But, they do make the music and have the adventures so I figure it's better safe than sorry.

So here is the pencil sketch of Henry playing his bass that will be on next month's blog header. And, I even have him crooning and bit and singing some back up vocals. Monika says she has always seen Henry as singing in the background so I thought it might be fun to see what that looked like.

Inks coming soon and then I am on a plane and headed for the east coast!

For now, have a good one!

OilCan Drive Business Card

Here is a business card I created earlier this week to try and help promote my entry into Guitar Center's Singer/Songwriter contest.

I wanted to create something I could give to friends I saw in the real world and not just rely on the digital world to try and do the job for me. Plus, it's always fun to build something new and give it to people. If I could make a living simply making cool stuff to give to my friends for the rest of my life I'd be all set.

We'll see how these cards have helped me by the end of this week. But, right now it doesn't look too good. The numbers I figured I would need to get me past the initial round and into a spot where I would actually be judged seem now to be a little low. And the numbers I have gotten this past week are far short of what I initially thought I would need.

Some people out there seem to be far better at using all the social network sites than I.

But, I still like making cool things. And, whether I make it into the next round of this contest or not that will never stop.

Back To The Drawing Board 12

I'm taking a break today from talking about the singer/songwriter contest and getting back to more important things. Things like the newest episode of Back To The Drawing Board!

This week features the second part of the two part interview I did with my good friend, Thom Zahler.

During this second discussion Thom and I continue to talk about his comic book Love and Capes, how he went from self publishing the series to working with IDW Publishing, Thom's own Kickstarter experiences, and then we wrap up the show talking about the archetypes Thom has created for his book and what both the positive and negative impacts could be.

So, head on over to the official website or get the show on iTunes and happy listening.

Have a great day!

Singer/Songwriter Contest, Day Two

Alright everyone, it's day two of the contest and things are rolling along great. Thank you all so much for yesterday and starting this thing off with a bang! Today I'm posting the link to the actual contest page and my profile there. You can check that out HERE.

 If you go to the profile, on the right side of the page you can see the list of social media that I am being judged by. There is, of course, Facebook (where you can like the page), MySpace (or, as I call it, Classic OilCan Drive, where you can become a friend), Twitter (where you can follow me and get tweets about my blog postings and such), YouTube (where you can watch the video and, if you like it, hit like...it's the only way the view counts), SoundCloud (featuring a couple of great Bob Dylan songs covered by OilCan Drive...follow the band here for it to count) and, finally, Vimeo (where, if you are signed up, you can follow the band.)

Again, I really appreciate the help. Honestly, I was feeling kind of down late last night as I looked at the leader board and saw people in the top ten who were obviously using some sort of program trickery to get votes. There is no way someone who hasn't posted a tweet since August simply goes on Twitter, types in, "I've joined a contest," and suddenly has 11,000 new followers. I found a few different sites that will get that to happen for you and I almost signed up to try and gain some speed in the contest but I didn't.

I'd much rather have true friends and fans like you support me than a bunch of phantom fans that don't mean a thing.

I said it once and I'll say it again. I would put my song up against anything else I have seen entered in this contest. But, I won't cheat to try and get fans simply to get to a point where an actual person will see my video and judge it.

Whether I succeed in this endeavor or not it doesn't really matter to the future of the OilCan Drive project. I'll keep drawing art, telling stories with comic book pages, and recording songs. I've tried to quit the project a few times and the band in my head just won't seem to let me.

Although, they think it would be really funny if we won something like this and, in a sea of singer/songwriters, the guy who draws cartoons for a living is the one who gets to appear and perform on Jimmy Kimmel. Come on, what would be funnier than that?

Thank you all again and have a great day!