Allow me to introduce you all to the wacky world of Bob Martian. He's just a regular, boring, middle-adged white dude. EXCEPT HE'S A GREEN MARTIAN?!?!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when I am in a creative slump, this is the high callibur of concepts/doodles you can expect from me. At no extra charge.
--Andrew
Well, I'm not dead after all! My apologies for the more-than-a-week absence from posting. I've been on a mildly dry spell in the creative department this past week (and I can't yet promise it well let up in the coming week either, though I certainly hope so). In the meantime, I have at least finished one project...a commission by my friends Richard & Jessica to do an invitation for their daughter's (my honorary "neice's") upcoming 2nd birthday party. And yes, the little girl on the invitation is a caricature of her. Obviously the blank spot on the cake is for text. And there you have it! Enjoy....
--Andrew
Once again I am hijacking my art-centric blog to post personal pictures and ramblings instead of art. Will you accept my insincere apologies if you were hoping for new art this time? Thanks. Last night, May 3, 2006, I went with my friend Richard to see the incomparable They Might Be Giants performing live at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA. And what a show it was. I am not normally much of one to get terribly excited about going to concerts, but there are a few exceptions, and I'm prone to geek out over those exceptions just like I geek out over any of my other geeky interests. And since TMBG is one of said exceptions....please pardon me while I geek out for a bit.
This was my second time to see TMBG live, and both were great shows, though the first one took place only shortly after I'd first been introduced to the band, so I naturally was able to better appreciate this show, now that I've had a couple of years to develop into a full-fledged fan.
The opening act was Michael Leviton, who performed most of his set accompanied by only his ukulele. (That's right. Ukulele). I was completely unfamiliar with Leviton before this, but I was entertained by his show. Most of his songs were extremely cynical-yet-humorous takes on love and relationships. Basically the sort of lyrics that would come out of me if lyrics were ever inclined to come out of me (which, probably fortunately, they aren't). For the last part of his set, Leviton was joined on stage by the lovely Leah Hayes.
Then, of course, came TMBG. Equally gifted in talent, showmanship, and the art of witty banter, frontmen John Flansburgh and John Linnell most certainly know how to entertain. (The other three members of the band, Dan Miller, Danny Weinkauf, and Marty Beller are equally skilled.) I'm not going to bother going into songs that were highlights for me, as that applies to almost all of the ones they did. Having now experienced a show both as a newcomer and as a fan, I honestly believe that absolutely anyone (who doesn't have an unfortunately narrow taste in music) can have a great time at a TMBG show.
An unexpected treat (well, unbilled, but not entirely unexpected, since it happened last time they were in Atlanta) was a special appearance by Strongbad from homestarrunner.com in the form of a puppet. Being as I quite love the Homestar Runner gang, I was made very happy by this turn of events. It turns out you haven't really lived until you've watched two grown men trade banter and sing songs with a surly puppet in a Mexican wrestling mask.
At the end of the show, as is common, Flansburgh stuck around to sign autographs and take pictures with some of the fans. What a swell fellow. And that was that. Now I guess I wait until the next time they come near the area.
Below you will find text links to all of my pictures (worth using), in chronological order (inclduing repeats of the few samples above). Enjoy!
--Andrew
Michael Leviton and Leah Hayes.
Another picture of Michael Leviton and Leah Hayes.
Alphabet of Nations
Zimbabweeeeeee!
Linnell with accordian.
Flansburgh with guitar.
The band.
The band again.
Flans on guitar.
Strongbad makes his appearance.
Flans tries to talk Strongbad down.
Linnell takes a picture of Flans trying to talk Strongbad down.
More of the band.
Flans and Linnell.
Blurry Flans and Linnell
Linnell
Still more Linnell
I think this is a rather funny picture.
Flans.
Why Does the Sun Shine?.
More accordian action.
The band...again.
The...what? The band.
The band...yes...once more.
Flans.
Linnell and Marty Beller getting rather..."funky".
Flansburgh meets Andrew.
Signed Venues DVD.
Signed "The Spine" booklet.
No, it's not a bad country song about the newst addition to your growing roster of former wives, but rather it's Marvel's female answer to the ever-popular Wolverine, X-23! I'm actually not very familiar with this character, other than a general knowledge of her existence, but I drew this piece for a Character Jam on the Drawing Board. Here you have it, with original pencils included as usual.
--Andrew
It was about time for a silly Batman drawing. I think this one qualifies. This one was a lot of fun to do...as well as a lot of WORK compared to my usually far less involved pieces (I often tend to shy away from overly time-intensive projects, as my nature is to get bored and want to move on to the next one before I'm done). Overall I'd say I'm happy with the end results, though I may do a bit of tweaking on some of the colors when I get a chance, per suggestions that have been made to me. But as I'm not getting around to that tonight, here it is as is....the Bat-B-Q in all its glory!!! (I've also included the pencil prelims, which are actually several different drawings collaged together to make the final).
--Andrew
