Getting the band back together!

As I said before, it was really nice to do that last OilCan Drive piece and have the band all on the same page again. I liked it so much, in fact, that a few pages of my notebook became devoted to sketching out other ideas I could do to put the band together.

Most of them are ideas for record sleeves or CD covers. The trouble is thinking of a generic enough image that could be used in a variety of places but still be specific enough to get across an idea of what the band is about.

This will also give you a good idea of how I get ideas out of my head and onto the page. Unfortunately, nothing ever starts out as a completely finished piece. Most ideas I have come out just like this to begin with.

Seven Inch Record Sleeve, front and back:

I needed a good image that could wrap around an old seven inch record sleeve. It needed to get across the idea that this is a band, it's the future, and it's a fun concept.

After watching "Grease" last week, the image of the guys posing after singing "Greased Lightning" stuck in my head. I figured the band posing, while flying in a hot-rod like airship, with Henry the gorilla hanging on for dear life from the back, would make an excellent image.

CD Covers:

The next batch of images needed to be a single, strong image that could fit on a small CD package and still get the point across.

My first idea was a Drew Struzan-like layout with one giant head (Ryan) surrounded by a full figure of Henry and smaller heads of the other two members of the band (Vince and Nicole).

I like the idea but it really doesn't get the point across. I may just pencil it out anyway, just to see how it turns out.

It's hard to hate a Drew Struzan inspired piece.

This next one was more of an iconic image.

Ryan and Vince, the two guitar players in the band, stand back to back, while the other two sit back on the sides.

This piece works and feels like an actual band's photo shoot. The idea of the band actually posing for the photos led me to more ideas.

So, I decided to do a few pieces with one member of the band as the focus and the others in the background, supporting them.

First up was Nicole because, honestly, she's a girl, sexy, hot, and it's never not fun to draw her.

My idea is that while posing for a promotional shot the rest of the band happened to come up behind her and get an eyeful. Maybe a bit of her undies are showing. Or maybe not. I just wanted the boys to give a little bit of "oh my" look to see their drummer in a sexy position.

Gathering steam off of the Nicole idea, I wondered how the rest of the band would act behind each member that was posing.

Vincent is the serious member of the band. He's all business all the time. An image of him standing stoic, arms folded, just seemed natural.

To have the rest of the band hamming it up behind him, making faces, putting fingers up behind his head, was all their idea.

I'd hate to be them when Vince finally figures out what is going on.


And, last but not least, I thought I'd show a little bit of Henry's "Cowardly Lion" side by having his showcase piece feature him backing away in fright.

The rest of the band is behind him, maybe scared just as much by what he's seeing. Or, maybe they're just scared that he'll back up too much and squish them against the wall.

Monika doesn't like this piece too much because she says it's confusing, uninviting and, while it might make a good comic book cover, is a little too confusing for a CD cover.

So, what do you think? Any winners in the bunch? Any pieces I shouldn't give the time of day? Any I should just chuck and not spend one more minute of wasted time on?

I'm curious to hear...

From the Vault - Ironstar 2000

Ironstar was a mini-graphic novel (I say mini because it was a complete story but only ran for 64 pages) that was the brain child of an old Kubert school alumni, Chris Wichtendahl.

It was after I had ended Exit 6 and I was in the middle of drawing a comic book for someone else that I just wasn't having any fun with. So, when Chris brought up the idea of working together and sent me the synopsis of this book I signed on. I bailed on the other book (I didn't feel too bad about it because I wasn't being paid for it...in fact, on that book, the writer spent more money on a lawyer to have contracts drawn up to make sure I wouldn't get paid than just throw some money my way) and started planning out Ironstar.

It's a great concept and since I'm not the writer behind it I thought it might be better to hear about the concept in Chris' own words:

"In a far-distant future, the survival of Earth and all the planets of the Allied Systems will depend on Stef Astra, the half-breed offspring of an infamous Ironstar and her sentient battlesuit.

Exiled from her homeworld to the Outer Colonies, it is hoped by many in power that Stef will meet her end at the hands of the Digital Men. Ironstars and Federal Marines have fallen by the score to that army of robotic invaders from the Fringe, and the galactic government is having trouble keeping the war a secret from those on the core planets any longer.

Following the destruction of her transport, Stef will fight alone, with only two stoned robots and the last of the legendary Friend Ships to aid her.

Arrayed against this tiny band are the mechanical hordes of the Digital Men and their master, the malicious ancient cyborg Tholan Vekk."

The book was special to me for a number of reasons. One, it was the longest story I had drawn in one shot. Also, it was at a time when I was really getting into music so I would put various patches on the characters of the bands I was into at the time. And, while drawing one of the city-scapes I happened to put a few street signs up to let the viewer know where they were. One of those streets names?

Oilcan Drive.

Ironstar is still available for purchase. You can find a print book HERE or an e-book digital download HERE.

OilCan....Guitar?

While doing a quick search on Ebay this morning I came across something that is pretty unique.

An Oil Can Guitar.

Some guy had the time and ingenuity to build something like this out in his garage! And, not only does it look totally unique, it even plays well.

He went so far as to post a YouTube video of himself playing his creation.



And, as the YouTube video states, this guitar is up for auction on Ebay.

So, what do you think? Does OilCan Drive need an Oil Can Guitar?

EDIT: After watching the OilCan Guitar I went into this guys YouTube videos and found he also makes guitars out of cigar boxes. The way the neck of this guitar is set up and the way it sounds just blows my mind.

I want to make a guitar!

OilCan Drive - It Ain't Me, Babe! - Part 2

Here is the original black and white and color art I created for the OilCan Drive CD cover.

I figured it might be nice to see how it originally looked before I threw it on the cover and distressed and aged the whole package.

This art is also the first time I've drawn the band together in one piece since I can't remember when. It felt good to "have them all in the same room" as it were. I definitely need to do more pieces like this and my notebook has more than a few sketch ideas in it where the band is all together and either posing for the shot or just having a good time. I can't wait to flesh those ideas out into finished pieces.

Also, like the last song I did last fall, "Walk Away", I posted the OilCan Drive version of Bob Dylan's song onto a few music forums. Where "Walk Away" got reactions like "you suck", "your song makes my ears bleed", and "why don't you just break your instruments, already?", "It Ain't Me, Babe" was met with mostly resounding silence. The most critical comment I got is that they didn't like my version simply because they liked the original too much. One site I posted it on got no comments at all. So, go figure...

And here I was looking forward to more "you suck!" comments. As much as those get under your skin I had planned to promote OilCan Drive's first album with quotes like that. I think there are far too many "this music will change your LIFE" comments out there trying to describe new music. A description filled with "critics say this band is the worst thing you're likely to hear this year. They should just smash there instruments right now and save us the bleeding ears. If you like good music, please, for your own sake, don't hit the button to the left and listen to this band's music!" would be refreshing.

A description like that I can't imagine anyone NOT pushing the button to hear what it sounds like.

So, yeah, I'm kind of dissapointed that no one really hated it. But, there is always next time.

It's the Small Things

Finally someone has mixed my loves of quirky British drama, underdog outcasts, midgets, choirs, and Blink 182 all in one place.

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you various clips from BBC's "All the Small Things"

(by the way, if anyone finds this on DVD you now know what to give me for Christmas!)







And, one of my favorite parts...one of the main characters talking about his love of Tom Delonge from Blink 182. Who comes up with a show like this???

From The Vault - OilCan Drive 2001

I figured I'd keep in the theme of OilCan Drive for this installment of "From the Vault".

These were the three sketch pages I put in the back of the first OilCan Drive book I "published" back in 2001. And, when I say "published" I mean printed out at Kinkos and pretty much gave away to anyone who wanted one.

The purpose of these pages was to try and explain where OilCan Drive had come from. I conceived the idea in early 2001 and this hodge podge of art is some of the first images of my cartoon band. Each page pretty much speaks for itself, as I put little blurbs of information next to the drawings and sketches. Click on any one of them to enlarge and read for yourself.

Looking back now I can see how far I've come as an artist. I cringe while looking at some of the facial structures and proportions of the characters. But, I guess when the day comes and I look back at my old stuff and find I HAVEN'T gotten better then that's the day I should give it all up.

Still, the initial idea and concept for this band is sound and I love it to this day. It's brought a whole new world of characters to run around in my head, has me playing guitar, plucking bass, hitting drums, writing songs, and trying to figure out how to sing. This band brought music into my life and I thank them every day for it. I don't know where I'd be today if not for these characters and what they've shown me.

But, geez...looking at the drawings...thank the Heavens above that someone out there was willing to give me illustration work and a viable career. Looking back, I just don't see it. Thank God someone out there did.

OilCan Drive - It Ain't Me, Babe!

Cover songs are always fun to do. You don't have to worry about coming up with the lyrics or song arrangements or chord changes or anything like that. You just have to figure out how to make an already great song your own.

One of the first things I did when I finished up the last round of Stone Arch kid's books was to set my sites on, yet again, the OilCan Drive project. I didn't want to just jump right into a huge project so I decided the band doing a cover song would be a nice way to ease myself back into the project.

Doing Bob Dylan covers are always a blast. His songs are always rock solid while at the same time simple enough to interpret parts in your own way. Doing "It Ain't Me, Babe" appealed to me for two simple reasons. One, I like the part at the end of the chorus where the line turns around and says, "it ain't me you're looking for, BABE..." right at the point where the musical phrase goes back to the one. And second, honestly, it was just too much fun to try and scream out, "NO NO NO" in as rock and roll a voice as I could muster.

The packaging for the final burned CD was a punk rock do-it-yourself project unto itself. Not only did I design the CD package to look like a well loved, beaten up, product but I like the actual design of the package itself. This was simple a piece of 11x17 cardstock that I printed, trimmed, flded up and then double stick taped together. For something that came out of a regular copy machine, the cover is something I'm really proud of. It doesn't get much more punk rock than sitting at a table for hours folding up your own packaging.

So, here for those of you who haven't heard it yet and those of you who I sent a CD but were too afraid to open up the nice plastic shrink wrap on it is OilCan Drive's live version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe":



And, if the embedded version above doesn't work, the direct link to the song can be found HERE.