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!

The Contest Begins!

Alright everyone, the Guitar Center Singer/Songwriter contest is ON and thus begins the week of me trying to get into the top ten! To start it off, here is the video so you can see and hear the original song I submitted.
If you could check it out and hit the "like" button on the YouTube page we'll get this ball rolling.

For those of you not in the know I've entered a singer/songwriter contest with one of the demos I did for the OilCan Drive project. The goal is, out of almost a thousand entrants, to get into the top ten for one week. So, I'll need all the help I can get!

Thanks to everyone! You're the best!

Song Contest

I'll need some help this week.

For those of you in the know, OilCan Drive has always been an odd multi-media project of mine that mixes art, comics, and rock and roll music. This past week I entered one of the acoustic demos I did for the project into the Guitar Center Singer/Songwriter Contest.

I'll put the song up against anything I've heard on the contest page (in the midst of a bunch of acoustic ballads I'm trying to bring the rock!) but the first part of the contest involves an artist's ability to network through various social media (does anyone even still have MySpace anymore?) In order for the judges to even take a look at the song I submitted I need to be in the top ten artists for one week. I've figured to hit the top ten for one week I'll need between 750-900 new fans. The good news is that the contest spans six different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud) so if I get one person to "like" me on all six platforms it counts as six fans.

So, this week, starting Monday, I am going to push full tilt and try and get myself into the top ten. I'm not one who's used to asking for help but I could really use any help and support you can give me this week.  All it takes is a few button clicks.

I'll post the video tomorrow as well as my profile on the contest page.

You knew I could draw goofy pictures, but now you'll see I can sing goofy as well.

Thanks everyone!

Sports Illustrated Kids July

As I sit here on a Saturday and ink the newest Sports Illustrated Kids "What's The Call?" illustrations I thought it would be a perfect time to show off three more illustrations from months past.

As usual, there is a certain play during a sports game and it's up to you, as the official on the field, to decided what's the call!

1. During a women's basketball game a player, in the three point zone, takes a shot that hits the side of the backboard. Is the ball considered out-of-bounds?

2. During an NFL football game a quarterback throws a screen pass to a receiver but the receiver bobbles the ball and it's caught by an offensive lineman. Is he allowed to advance the ball?

3. In a Major League Baseball game a second baseman fields a ground ball but it gets stuck in his glove so he tosses the glove and ball to the first baseman. Is the batter out?

So, you're the official on the field.

What's the call?

Back To The Drawing Board 11

The newest episode of Back To The Drawing Board is up and ready for a listen.

Thom Zahler is best known for the self published (and later IDW published) heroically super situation comedy comic book, Love and Capes. An award winning and Harvey Award nominated artist, Thom has been carving out a good career for himself in the comic book field since 2001. But, of course, I know Thom for a different reason. We sat next to each other during our first year together at The Joe Kubert School and have been friends ever since.

In the first of a two part interview I brave Skype to get Thom on the phone and onto the show. After a little trouble with the microphone and getting the levels right Thom and I sit back and talk a bit about going to school together, jobs after college, and delving into the freelance art life.

Along the way I ask Thom, a huge Star Trek fan, where in the Star Trek franchise I should bring a friend into the show (yes, there is someone out there in the world who hasn't seen a single episode of Star Trek), how Thom did his first self published book called Raider, and why I'm  finally jealous that Thom lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

And, yes, somewhere in there we talk about Thom's best known work, Love and Capes.

So, head on over and have a listen HERE.

Something Cool

The OilCan Drive webcomic site has been up and running since late last April. It's been going strong as I've been posting three pages a week using a lot of the work I've produced over the last ten years.

And, while I wasn't looking, a friend of mine took a completed book of pages and popped them into this really cool program he developed for his own website.

I first met Liam through my friend Ken and we've all been having lunch every week since to catch up, talk about art, and support each other through various creative projects. It's really been great to meet such a talented and nice artist. But, when I saw what he had done with my comic I was blown away.

It was just so cool. Honestly, I'll sit here some nights and flip through the pages just to see them move and hear the sound effects. I absolutely love it and I'm happy I can show it off here.

You can check out some of Liam's own work on his website HERE. He's super talented and I'm always looking forward to the next new piece of art that he's ready to show off. 

And, you can check out the flip book program he created with the OilCan Drive book HERE.

I absolutely love it.

Have a good one and I'll talk to you all later!

Love and Capes #2

Maybe it's because I don't do the whole "New Comic Wednesday" thing anymore at my local comic shop but I totally missed this book coming out last month so I didn't even know to look for it.

My friend Thom Zahler's newest issue of Love and Capes, #3, came out yesterday so it means the issue of Thom's Love and Capes #2 that I inked and colored the cover for came out last month.

Oops.

Anyway, here is the finished cover that Thom penciled and I inked and colored. I'm sure you can still find a copy at your local comic shop or you can get the book digitally at Comixology HERE.

This was really fun cover to do and it had been so long since I've done any kind of artistic collaboration that I forgot how much fun they can be. My thanks to Thom for bringing me along and letting me play a little bit in his super hero universe. It was really great.

You can check out more of Thom's work HERE and Love and Capes not only runs as a regular comic book but you can also read it as a web comic and buy some books and merchandise HERE.

And, yes, I am working right now to get Thom on the B2TDB podcast. Keep your fingers crossed!

Back To The Drawing Board 10

The newest episode of "Back To The Drawing Board" is up and ready to be listened to.

This week I brought my crazy artistic friend Louis Deangelis into the studio to talk a bit about being artistic, creative, and musical.

And, a funny thing happened.

Put Lou on a microphone and he calms way down, changes his voice, and is almost normal to the point of being boring. But, he had some interesting insights and, near the end of the show, I actually snuck in some material I was recording when he didn't realize the mics were on. It's in that moment that you really get a glimpse of the real Lou I know. I should record him more often when he doesn't realize I am doing it.

I've always said I wish I had a camera in my eye so I could record half of the stuff I see this guy doing. But, hopefully it's a good show nonetheless.

You can check out the B2TDB website HERE and find this show, as well as past shows, on iTunes HERE.

Enjoy and have a great day!

Happy October

 Happy October, everyone!

As promised, the new Vince piece I did for this month's blog header got done last night and I put the whole thing together with at least a few moments to spare.

And, here is the original finished piece, sans the blog header background. I really like the way this came out especially with how quickly it all came together. Who knows, I may have to use this piece somewhere else at some point in the new OilCan Drive run. We'll have to see if there's a place for it.

But, for now, have a great start to one of my favorite months. Things are getting cooler, more horror movies are on the old TV, and, with any luck, some hockey should be starting soon (although I'm not holding my breath...it looks like there is going to be an NHL lockout....ugh.)

Have a good one!