UL Symphony Halloween Orchestra

When I saw that this Friday's UL Symphony Halloween Concert didn't have a Facebook event to promote it, I decided it'd be fun to quickly illustrate a "poster" to help promote it. So, I came up with this and used it on the Facebook event page, which I just made. Haha, just helping out in my own silly way. Hope it gets some additional people to attend!

Album Artwork

Here are some of the illustrations I was just commissioned to do by local singer/songwriter Sean Bruce. He asked for a quick style that is reminiscent of etchings and hatchwork of around the 1890s. There are 11 illustrations total; one for each track. It was a fun project!

Random Guitaring

Another quick installment of "Play, Burt, Play." I know, it's not drawing; don't hate me. But earlier today I was watching Fringe and messing around on guitar when I played something that reminded me a lot of the White Stripes. It's the first thing I play in this video. The rest is just improvised. I thought it turned out pretty fun,
so here it is.

My mom, if anyone, gets a kick out of these videos, hahaha. At the beginning of the vid, when I laughed, was me thinking "My mom is going to watch this a million times."

Brass Bed - Gramophone Shirt

My friends in Brass Bed asked me to come up with a shirt design! They wanted to have something for the release party of their second album, Melt White, which is coming up on Sept. 10th. That's going to be a super-fun show. Great music, too. Check 'em out!

I did a few thumbnails of different concepts based on the initial thoughts they gave me. They all lit on this direction, which was a horse pulling a giant gramophone; here's the final product. It was a really fun project to accept, and as an added bonus, I stocked up on a few ideas for future illustrations. Woooo!

Name that Toon

One of my coworkers is in a chorus called "Sweet Adelines", who put on a performance every now and then. This year they are having a Broadway show-tunes theme, and I was asked to illustrate a cover for their program. A small, fun piece with a lot of creative freedom. This is the kind of freelance stuff that an illustrator just lovessssss.

Actually I'm sure freelance illustrators love all work. Since I usually just do things like this for fun, it's nice to actually get paid to draw silly things!

Music Tangents

Alright these are a couple of non-illustration videos, but don't be upset. It's still creative / artistic, right???

This first one is my first attempt at trying out my violin through a loop and acoustic amp. Pretty interesting.




This second one is me trying out a couple of new guitar pedals (POG2 octave and vintage Tube Screamer, along with a sweet Frantone fuzz pedal that I already had), with a funny ending.



Don't hate! I'm just making up stuff on the spot so it isn't exactly Mozart caliber, haha.

Striking Chords

A couple of weeks ago at the Creative Summit, I started this illustration in my moleskine while waiting in between guest speakers. Not really sure why. The idea to draw Elvis Costello jamming with Jimi Hendrix just popped into my mind. And as it progressed, I decided that it'd be neat if their guitars were jacked into each other. Awesome music = awesome music, right? Very different music styles, but both very influential. I'll let you pull your own concept out of it. That's what art is about, eh? Or, at least one aspect of it.

Anyway, I really like how it came out. I'd say it is one of my favorites! And I have it saved at SUPER high quality, just in case.

;)

Color of the Blues

I was commissioned by LaLouisiane magazine to do a series of four illustrations. Each illustration would represent a new course being offered by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The magazine selected a few of the new/interesting courses to which students have taken a shine.

The one above is for The Color of the Blues, which covers the influences of Blues music across our culture. I would have loved to have taken that course!

Featured above is Robert Johnson making a little pact with a certain character of ill repute.

Birdwatching, Pt. 2

Andrew Bird will be playing this Saturday (October 3) at Tipitina's in New Orleans. I've had my ticket for months. And this drawing has been done for months. Unfortunately, I've just gotten around to finishing it. Though I won't have time to print this out, the least I can do is post it online.

I'll state again that Mr. Bird is my favorite musician and was my inspiration to buy a violin and start learning how to play it. That instrument is quite a noble beast.

If you haven't heard any music by him, I implore you to check some out. His earlier works are very old-school jazzy, while his newer albums have drifted farther from that, into more of his own genre of violin, guitar and quirk rock. I'm not sure "rock" is the term to use. Eh, why not? Listen to Fake Palindromes and tell me it doesn't rock. I dare you.

Illustration Friday - Impatience

James Brown was known by many names. The Godfather of Soul comes to mind as one of them, for sure. And The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz, as well, eh? He did love to dance for his audiences.

You may be asking yourself "Yes he did, but why is he your subject for this week's theme, Impatience?"

Well, if you think about it, Mr. Brown's exclamations were rather insistent. And demanding. And constant.

SAY IT NOW! Get up offa that thing! Follow me! Unhhh! I need it! HELP me! Do it to me! I NEEEED IT! HEY! PLAY IT! Put it where it's at now(???)! HO! Unh! HO! HAH- Watch me now! DO IT WITH THE GOOD FOOT. Come on, get it AH UNH!

Etc.

You get the idea. All these exclamations, so little time for you to execute them before the next musical command hits you. You just can't say no, but sometimes you can't keep up. Sometimes he seems a little impatient with us, doesn't he?

Never thought of it that way, did you? That's why I'm the hardest working man in showburtz!

See, in this illustration, a flashy move caused Mr. Brown to get his tie caught between locked knees, preventing him from continuing to spray the funk all over the crowd. And yet his cries of "HELP ME! UNNHH!" only excited the audience even more. This went on for ten minutes before a band member remedied the situation.