We completely forget we had the camera while Rob Zombie was on, but we managed to get a few shots of Ozzy. This one was during Mama, I'm Coming Home.

Our little chainsaw princess. I tried to get her to do her leatherface impression (she just raises the chainsaw over her head and growls at you), but she wouldn't.

This is a painting of a silly little rocket car toy. Not bad for my not having lifted a brush in ages, but it still looks dumb.

Derek in Ink, and I'm Talking About Concerts, MAN!

This is Derek, playing himself a badass upright. I think the hammer soundholes are a good touch, perosnally. This is an assignment for Illustration on portraying a person and their passion. He doesn't have an upright bass, but he wants one and hopefully will get (or make) one soon enough. He likes cars, none of which you see in here except for on the poster, and he likes pinups. The chick in the poster isn't necessarily the kind of pinup he likes, but she'll do for now. I did try to give her Betty Page bangs.

I have a new page up on the BoneDaddy blog, but it confused Karissa, so it might confuse you, too. Any questions, just ask (on that blog, dummy).

Somehow, but for the grace of Doug we got a room in St. Cloud for 11/3. We're going to Hellyeah, and it's gonna be awesome. Granted, I would have loved to see Dimebag on stage playing, but seeing Vinnie Paul will do just fine for me. Otep, Bloodsimple, and Zetus Deamos are opening for them. I haven't heard much of Zetus Deamos, but Otep and Bloodsimple are cool (most of you who read this won't like them). Otep is fronted by a blonde chick who can hold her own among her male couterparts in metal.

The Ozzy concert is coming up before that concert, and that's gonna be awesome too. I feel kind of bad that I'm not that excited about the Ozzy part. To be honest, although his new stuff is cool, it's starting to sound the same. Not that he can't create new shit, but I think he relies on more formulaic songs. I am excited for Rob Zombie, at least. There's another band opening before both of them called "In This Moment" They're pretty cool, and they're also fronted by a pretty blonde who can scream.

Organ Grinder and a Musical Weekend

Ignore the crappy song, I made up a quick chord progression of DEAD...'tis the season and all... Anyway, I found out this is called a chord organ, and they're typically pretty cheap. I didn't realize they made fun little organs like these, but then again all the organs I play are huge...no laughs? Fine. Go fuck yourselves.

Karissa didn't feel very good Friday, and ended up not going with me to Devils Lake. Even though I sleep during the day, I like having a warm body next to me on weekends, so that sucked. Isabella didn't behave too badly, she ate pretty well, too. I'm letting Headstart take credit for her eating habits. Getting to eat with a bunch of kids seems like a good way to integrate her into a routine.

I went to Tab & Derek's Friday, and we went to the back wing to see if we could get into his storage. The manager of the theater rented out the back wing to make a "Haunted hotel" attraction, and access is now very limited. They've even run wiring and everything to get power back there, temporarily. When Derek and I went back, he tried opening the door but it was locked up. Suddenly we heard someone shuffling up to the otherside, so Derek pushed me into the adjacent room, and we stood there like idiots for about 30 seconds while the guy at the door looked out to see who was trying to get in. I was waiting from him to peek around the corner and see us standing in a room, trying to think of something clever to say, like "hi." But he just shut the door and went back to his work. So I ended up back at their place, looking through his Rockabilly magazines and having a little whiskey Coke.

I should mention that about this time, Derek had stumbled upon plans to make an upright bass out of cardboard and wood flooring. They have videos on youtube of guys playing it next to a real bass, and it is amazing that they both sound the same! So now we need to experiment with cardboard instruments.

The next night I went back, bring with me some bass tabs for Derek. We managed to get into his storage to get his bass & amp (Kevin your drums are safe, by the way) and I showed him some of the stuff I'd been working on. It turned out to be a really good little jam session, because we finally got in tune with eachother's guitars, and were sounding okay playing together. I felt bad not having Kevin there, because he's always good for musical input, even if he couldn't play any drums in their room.

It's here I should mention that our ideas for making a cardboard bass evolved when Derek realized he could make a custom bass out of aluminum. I drew up some designs, and at some point he's going to work on them. We also talked about a guitar. People have already made electrics out of aluminum (they must have worked out the whole "risk of shock" thing), so it's not impossible. I think it would be awesome, and can't wait to get started. We can still try cardboard for experimentation of soundhole cuts and whatnot.

I finally got to watch Planet Terror and Death Proof this weekend! The first was really good, the second was okay. For a car chase movie, Death Proof was excellent, but Tarantino is notorious for overuse of dialogue. We also watched Chainsaw Sally, which was terrible (Jason's pick). Not quite a title-taker, but close. The best scene, however, made good use of acid as a laxative. All I'm gonna say.

"Down by the side of the road, I saw

I saw a young woman, just sittin' with her thoughts

Down by the side of the road, I saw

That everything about her just seemed so wrong

Down by the side of the road, I saw

What's left of my home get swallowed by a swamp

Down by the side of the road, I see

That there is nothing left for me..."

This is the view of my old front yard. Nearly 10 years ago, you'd see a big yard, a faded blue house, and the road running by it, standing right at this spot.

Nose Grabber and Bonedadder

I don't have too much right now to say. I got a new page of Sweet Hell up on the BoneDaddy blog, starring noneother than Satan himself. I got a very cheap organ from the 70's from St. Vincent de Paul's Thrift store. I'll post a pic of it shortly--it's sitting in my garage right now. I think it's a beginner's organ, but it's cool and it was marked down to $10 from $35, so I think I got a deal. I could believe they had another organ, bigger, for $35 and a friggin upright piano for $100, and it still works! That's crazy. Anyway, here's a video of Isabella stealing her uncle Jason's nose.

Self Portraits, Jack!

I'm never above doing a self portrait, though I'm nothing compared to Bill Moore, a true master of facial expression in self portraits. But it's not too bad. I know, I was a little liberal with the moustache.

Me playing my little geetar.

Our Jack-o-lantern, carved last sunday. There's a scythe cut into the back that is projected onto the wall, though it doesn't show very well.

Playing Ketchup & Mustard With Figure Drawing...

This was a late assignment I just got done. I like how she turned out, and she's got a sexy little back.
Scroll down to see the rest. I may have some more coming pretty quick.

This was an extra credit assignment that could've been done better. I bet he's wondering why he got that haircut.

This guy's trying to pole vault with a little pole.

An exercise in foreshortening.

This is our homework in foreshortening.

I actually like the fact that it turned out a little fuzzed. I don't know if that's camera blur or if my lines are too soft, but it kind of helps enhance the perspective.

Sketches and a KABOOM!!

Back to doing some naked chicks! I know I'll still have to draw guys, but oh well. Her outline is a little bold, though.

I think I'm getting my sketching groove back, which is good, because these were done late, and I've got to get my ass in gear to do more.

This is more or less about shapes. I thought it turned out pretty good!

This assignment for Illustration was to depict an incompetent owner without showing the owner.

Just so you know, that is not a fucking tree.

Advertising!! And a Week or Two in Review

I can't say that I don't get by with a little help from my friends. April & Kevin had a few of these shirts made for me. They and Karissa kept this from me for TWO WEEKS until they were finished! These shirts are awesome, I like the reversed black/white, and I would wear this to work if I could get away with it.

We WILL be wearing these to the Ozzy/Rob Zombie concert for damned sure. I'll be sporting this to the Hellyeah concert as well.

Thank you April & Kevin!!

Quick recap of the last couple weeks:
Karissa, Isabella and I went with her mom and sister to see her great grandma in Bismarck. It was unseasonably hot, but we had a good time. Her great grandma's almost 100 years old, and is still pretty aware of what's going on around her. While in Bismarck, we checked out the museum at the capitol and I took some cliche tourist pictures of Karissa and Isabella on the capitol steps--which Karissa will eventually post on her own blog...someday.
The museum was pretty cool. We got Isabella a dinosaur dig kit and a plush mastodon, plus I managed to surprise Karissa with a Native American cookbook. We stayed at the Super 8. The rooms were small but clean.
Before leaving, we checked out a big pumpkin patch. By pumpkin patch I mean big fucking pumpkin celebration. There was a concession barn, a train ride (made of metal barrels, Isabella rode it twice), a haybale maze, and a pumpkin catapult. Oh and a huge god damned load of pumpkins of every variety you could think of. It was fun to just wander around and look at stuff. Seeing all the pumpkins and drinking cider and eating pumpkin pie & pumpkin cookies made it feel like fall. It was like a big pumpkin Auschwitz, I tell ya.
The hornet problem is pretty much gone, but we had to contend with a new nuisance last weekend: yardwork.
Karissa raked leaves & cleaned house, I pulled out the garden and took down the vine, which proved to be a bitch. Vines are strong and I swear to Doug it fought me. As it was getting dark, Karissa and I sat at the back porch, and I braided pieces of vine together to make a cool Fall wreath...a manly Fall wreath. Then we watched Django while I made a second, smaller wreath.
The whole hornet thing had screwed up my first week of school, so I've been spended a lot of time catching up. At least that's what I tell myself. It could really be that I've had it easy during the summer with the Golden Brown comic, and now that I'm getting down to serious drawing, my anti-student brain kicks in and slows me down. Whatever. I'm getting back to somewhat normal scheduling, so I'm good.
Unfortunately, I've put Golden Brown on TEMPORARY HIATUS. I mean strictly temporary. I promise he will return and I will fix the cliffhanger, but right now I've got to focus on my school work. I have posted a new comic, which will only be a few pages long when finished, but at least you can enjoy something in the meantime, and I will keep you posted on the status of Golden Brown as we go. Also, a little preview of a short comic to come: a fairytale. That's all I'm sayin'.

Not Boring Anymore...

This is an exercise for Illustration class where we take a photo of a boring room, and make it something else.

Ooops, I Arted Again.

This guy is being attacked by a lion, but we didn't need to draw the lion, so I didn't. So now, he's waving away a jalapeno burrito fart that had infected his toga.

Although he looks like a gay ad from the 1980's, this is a statue called "the Prisoner" by Michaelangelo.