The photos above are from 1984 when I was working for Alamo Advertising in Waco, Texas under Tom Prisk (hi, Tom!). I originally did a billboard for the zoo, but I have no photos of it. If anybody does, please send me the scans of that. I'd love to have photos of it.
I was 24 and nervous about doing the billboard but I told Tom I thought I could do it, to which he responded, "Good, because I told them you could."
So I found whatever it took to do it and I discovered something about doing graphics that day. Doing anything worthwhile is sometimes a matter of just jumping in and believing you can. And then giving it all you have.
So a week or so later, Tom comes in and says to me, "Hey, do you think you could paint that little lion on a van?" To which I responded, "Well, I put it on a billboard, so, why not?"
And then he dropped the other shoe.
"Good, because I told them you could," he said, "Oh, and by the way, you have to put it on the van three times. Once on each side and once on the back doors."
It snowed that weekend I did the job and my wife had pneumonia so I drove her to Temple, just south of Waco, to be with her mother. I mixed the auto paint in two batches, one that I painted with and one I sat in front of a space heater in the office to keep it from freezing because the warehouse I was painting in was not heated and outside it was snowing. It snowed three feet that winter in Waco, Texas and the entire United States was frozen, or so it seemed.
I was 24 and nervous about doing the billboard but I told Tom I thought I could do it, to which he responded, "Good, because I told them you could."
So I found whatever it took to do it and I discovered something about doing graphics that day. Doing anything worthwhile is sometimes a matter of just jumping in and believing you can. And then giving it all you have.
So a week or so later, Tom comes in and says to me, "Hey, do you think you could paint that little lion on a van?" To which I responded, "Well, I put it on a billboard, so, why not?"
And then he dropped the other shoe.
"Good, because I told them you could," he said, "Oh, and by the way, you have to put it on the van three times. Once on each side and once on the back doors."
It snowed that weekend I did the job and my wife had pneumonia so I drove her to Temple, just south of Waco, to be with her mother. I mixed the auto paint in two batches, one that I painted with and one I sat in front of a space heater in the office to keep it from freezing because the warehouse I was painting in was not heated and outside it was snowing. It snowed three feet that winter in Waco, Texas and the entire United States was frozen, or so it seemed.
Trading Cards
Art done for Hall Digital Imaging. This art was for a series of trading cards based on Konami game system characters. Each card featured a "boss" and had tips on how to beat that particular boss on the back of the card. Word of mouth proved faster than the sale of the cards though and so the second set of cards, the set containing the art I did, was never published. I actually did many more pieces of art for them, but this is all I was able to recover from the job.
More Trading Cards
Artwork done for the Marvel Metal Cards through LaserTech Color. Marvel supplied LasterTech with a sketch and I painted the sketch in Photoshop. Apologies for the Shadowcat. This is a scan from the card as I don't have the original art file anymore.
Fantasy Art
Illustrations done for Wizards of the Coast and a local auto trader magazine. The Wizards Illustration was done through LaserTech like the Marvel cards were and the magazine illustration was done through a friend who worked for Shoestring Advertising at the time. Both are digital pieces done by sketching the layout and then painting the finished art in Photoshop.
Line Art
A random sampling of some of the line art I have produced for Glass Creations for the etched glass they have done for their clients.
T-Shirt Design
Carla Ja is a sports legend in Houston, Texas. She supports local boxers that are up and coming by creating media exposure with her interviews and her publicity events. She also is a beautiful human being who is a founding member of a human organ donor foundation in Houston and she cares deeply about the problems created by teen pregnancy. To combat this issue, she contacted me and together, we created a series of sportswear with slogans concerning STD awareness and safe sex. Today Carla continues her fine work and can be found all over the internet. Check her interviews with boxers on YouTube.
Fine Art/Painting
Examples of my paintings for various projects. The angle art was done for a charity auction, the werewolf was an unused book cover, the watercolor on the far right is a portrait of my daughter, Holley.
Logos
Various logos done over the years for different clients. I start with a sketch and work my way through about six layouts which the client then picks from. Color, layout and other variations can then be made.
Packaging and Illustration
While working at Hand Tools International, I had the opportunity to create packaging and decals for Sears Craftsman tools. I also did exploded view illustrations for the user manuals and some photography. The job involved following strict corporate guidelines concerning packaging and design and was very detail oriented. Software used was Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
Photography
In the past few years, photography has become an interest, with nature and my grandsons being my favorite subjects. I have, on occasion, done product photos for web usage as well.
Retouch
Retouch. I took 23 photos of the Dallas skyline and, removing the poles and wires in them, merged them into a seamless image.
Postcards/Mail Programs
Examples of postcards I have done for Glass Creations.
Comics and Graphic Novel Art
From a projected graphic novel, a parody of Batman, called BatGuy, with Joel Schumacher as the villain.
Arizona Highways Roughs
Arizona Highways Cover Concepts
Arizona Highways is the current graphic novel project I am working on. Don't want to say too much, but this is a science fiction project unlike anything that has been see in comics before. Twisted and strange, this maxi-series will, I hope, open up the doors and the eyes of publishers out there when it comes to my creative abilities.
We'll see.
We'll see.
NEW STUFF as of March 4, 2015
Just finished some page layouts for a pitch to Image that Bryan Hoover has written. Bryan posted on ZWOL.com looking for an artist. We've been hacking this one out for a little while now.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.