CD Designs, Part 2

Here is the next batch of CD designs that I experimented with over the past few months. I have a buddy down in Columbus who is one hellava sax player and a teacher and if he had a website I'd link it. One day when he gets time in his busy schedule to record a CD I'll take a stab at doing the cover. So, I tried out a couple of images. Why the octopus? Why not. It's my favorite cephalopod mollusk if you need to know. Jeez.

And the other design is an early concept for The Good Leads (with sax-hater Chris Quigley I might add) with a title that they were considering.

Lots of stuff going on around here that I'm more than happy to pass along. I'm currently in the midst of my work on the Upper Deck/Marvel sketch cards, working on some unique greeting cards, as well as some commission work. Plus, I will be the new cartoonist for a Seattle health care newspaper, so I'm looking forward to that challenge. And today, I received an invite to be on a new sketch card set, but I've been down that road before, so we'll see. Busy, busy, busy.

CD Designs, Part 1

Prior to doing the artwork for The Good Leads single "Dead To Me Now," I did a few CD designs to experiment with a more graphic black and white look. I mixed and matched band names (The Good Leads, Chris Quigley, The Pseudo Strata Orchestra, [in which I have spelled that wrong on the artwork and apparently am far too lazy to fix right now] and James Miglia) with certain images just to see what would work. I will have another batch in the next post.

These were done in ink with a brush and pen and then tweaked in photoshop.

(Top photo right side image based loosely on a photo by A. Claeys)

Dead To Me Now

My buddy and Chicago musician Chris Quigley asked me to do some artwork for a song that he just finished recording. The song is called Dead To Me Now and is a mighty fine tune and you can listen to it by clicking the link. I remember about 20 years ago sitting in Chris's living room watching him playing Prince songs on his guitar with no amp or anything as we were as poor as hobos. I would sketch and he would twang and we were both bad. Now Chris is a bad ass rocker and still doin' what he loves and that, my friends is all that matters. And I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of all that than to do some artwork and hopefully you'll see more from this collaboration. A while back, I was fooling around with some CD designs for his band, The Good Leads, so I will post some of those soon.

Marvel Masterpiece III Sketch Cards

Here are the first of my approved cards of the Marvel Masterpiece III set put out by Upper Deck. Or as I like to say, the Mighty Marvel Mugshots, as I have chosen to to some pretty straight forward face shots. This is one goofy assignment, I tell ya. The first batch that I submitted for approval were all rejected and looking back at them some were questionable, but I did have a few that I was extremely happy with and they didn't make the cut. So, the next two batches that I sent in were much smaller in number and more were approved than not, so I was happy. But again, I had some pretty good ones that were rejected, so I don't really know what's going to work and what isn't. I just have to do what I think is best and cross my fingers.

For those of you not in the know of who's who in the Marvel universe, these are the names of the characters:

1. Jack O'Lantern 2. Juggernaut 3. Dreadnaught 4. Ego 5. Elektra 6. The Thing 7. Eternity 8.Galctus 9. Karkas

Homer Davenport Days 2008

In Silverton, Oregon they have an annual celebration in honor of the political cartoonist Homer Davenport. Besides the cartoon contest and exhibition they also have a slew of activities that you can check out here. This here is my inclusion in this year's contest. I remember some time ago, old "Dubbya" was bragging about being a war president (such an honor!), but he was really a downright peace loving kind of guy. I couldn't help but think about how many lives have been lost (by his actions) during his eight year peace reign.

Serenity now.

Blindness 2

What happens when you lose all sense of autonomy, when you lose any resemblance to independence? And then you literally go blind? Apparently, you become a giant bird skull.

This is the second of three drawings.

The Last Independent Spark

12x18

colored pencil on tinted paper

Icarus 1917

Ever since discovering Greek mythology as a kid the story of Icarus has always held a firm grip on me. The cynics out there will tell you that is because I would never listen to their wisdom and in not doing so fell to the obvious doom that always awaits those who fly too close to the sun. It goes much deeper than that and there is so much that even I don't understand about my fascination with the wax winged one. It's a cautionary tale and that's what has always been the important aspect. Maybe I'll "get" it just before they pluck my feathers from the sea, but I doubt it. 

I'm not sure why I chose a German WWI type Icarus. It was just one of those images that got stuck in me noggin awhile back and I went with it. Plus, I like the iron cross.

Icarus 1917

15x20

acrylic on illustration board