The Velvet Volcano
An Eruption of Groovy Ideas

I decided to try out a few new techniques tonight in Ye Ol’ PhotoShop, and ended up creating a little Valentine’s Day Wallpaper. Seeing as how I’m not really a fan of little babies shooting arrows, I’ve replaced him with a charming little fellow named Memphis. Enjoy!

Without love, what are we worth?  Eighty-nine cents!  Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely.

-Hawkeye, M*A*S*H

Wow. It really has been awhile.
Since, I haven’t posted anything new recently I decided to put up my newest sketch, art exercise.
I’ve always been a fan of the music group/art experiment known as Gorillaz. I even went to a concert, which was definitely an interesting experience.

The art behind the group is the main draw for me. It is created by the fantastic Jamie Hewlett of Tank Girl fame. His work is twisted, bizarre, and so delicious looking I could eat it with a spoon.

While going through my music collection I came across the Gorillaz- Greatest Hits album.  After a few minutes of music, I found myself drawing Hewlett inspired sketches. Slowly, but surely, my narcissism won out and I began to draw a Gorillazied self-portrait. I affectionately refer to it as Blairz.

Of course, I couldn’t stop there and decided to take it a step further. One of the more common pieces of Gorillaz art you’ll find involves a meshing of the real world with the cartoon characters.

I decided to do the same to Blairz.

Now… Does anyone know a good band that Blairz can be the front man for?

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt…If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.”

- Thomas Jefferson

Well, I’ve been reading and listening to hours of Political commentary tonight and I realized I needed a break. So I decided to finally take part in the fun little comic survey that made it’s rounds, oh about three years ago.

1. What was the first comic you remember reading?

I’m pretty sure there were other GI Joe and Transformers book, but the first one I actually remember reading was Transformers #13.

I think the reason I remember it so well is because it told such a bizarre story. A screw-up Mob Hitman is about to be snuffed, and he stumbles upon Megatron who is stuck in his Gun mode. The Hitman then turns around and uses Megatron to take out his Boss, and his entire crew. It was a very bizarre one and done that I would actually like to find again someday.

2. What was the first comic that made you realize that you might be in this for the long haul?

I had been a comic guy all my young life, but I always figured come College I would put away, “Childish things.” Then I started to apply to College for Illustration, Design, and Art Education. While I was going through the “Required Reading” I stumbled across a few books I’ve never really heard of.

One of those books was Maus. This story blew me away. It completely warped my entire perspective of comics and their potential for story telling. The way the Nazi’s were portrayed as cats, the Jews as mice, and the Allied Forces were dogs. It seems simplistic at first glance, but in the end it allows you to relate to this tale of the Holocaust more then any other book I’ve ever read.

This was my first discovery that comics could be for “big people.”

3. If you had to make a snap decision to take one comic or one comic run to a desert island, what would it be? Don’t think too hard!

I’ve thought about this one a bit. I could bring the epic Bone collection. The high adventure Star-Lord series. The gritty Dark Knight Returns. The beautiful created Tellos Colossal Edition.

In the end I decided to go with the one series that combines all of those things.

Hellboy Library Edition is my choice. This series won me over with the way it was described to me, “It’s a Demonic version of Indiana Jones.” I have had a long-term love of mythology, folklore, and legend. There is no book that explores these stories better then Hellboy.

So that’s how you’ll find me, sipping coconut milk and reading Hellboy beneath a palm tree. Hopefully I’ll still have my pal Wilson when you find me.

As I was cruising the internet the other day, I saw an interesting post over on Laughing Squid. Apparently there is a new Meme going on that involves artists drawing themselves as their Teenage-selves. Well, seeing as how I’m still a kid at heart I had to attack this one myself.

Enjoy this glimpse into my strange past…

So, I decided to do up a little Shag-inspired Self Portrait.

If you don’t know who Shag is, then I pity you. He is a fantastic artist that is very, very into the whole retro scene. If given a chance, I’d gladly live in one of this paintings.

Check him out at Shag.com

• I’m 26 years old and my birthday is on December 28th.
• I share the same birthday as Denzel Washington, Seth Meyers, Dame Maggie Smith, Woodrow Wilson, and Stan Lee.
• I actually was born on the exact same day as Sienna Miller and the First Test Tube Baby, Elizabeth Carr.
• I can get pretty bitter over how my birthday gets lost in the holiday season.
• I’m the oldest child with a younger sister and two brothers.
• Being the oldest has warped my persona. I’m extremely protective of people I care about and I’m as loyal as a Golden Retriever.
• I love to draw and create art. Sadly I haven’t figured out how to that passion it properly to make money.
• My dream job would be to be the owner of a relatively small coffee shop. I’d spend my downtime sipping the inventory and sketching.
• I still haven’t decided what I want to do with my life.
• At one point I wanted to be an art teacher. One year of student teaching the third grade made me realize I would never survive in an enviroment made to stifle kid’s imaginations.
• During my younger, “I Like school” days, I wanted to do something with math. I interned with an accountant for a few months after school. I realized I could never do that!
• If I could live in any time period, I would travel back to the late ’50s, early ’60s and live a Beatnik, Tiki-cultured existence.
• I’ve gone by many nicknames in my life: BJ, Beej, Blair Bear, KahunaBlair, KB, Big K, just to name a few.
• In order to set myself apart from the crowd, I once spent an entire year wearing nothing but Hawaiian Shirts. Hence the aforementioned Kahuna nickname.
• For some reason people have a hard time with my name. After they see it, they seem to want to insist I wrote/said it wrong. They continue the conversation calling me Bill, Brian, or Brad.
• I have an unhealthy obsession with MSPaint, and I if given the choice I always seem to want to use it over Photoshop and more sophisticated programs.
• I have an even more unhealthy obsession with Lost. It’s the only show I truly watch on TV these days.
• When I was younger I spent a summer as a “Student Ambassador” and went to Europe for a few weeks. I loved Spain and Germany and long to one day return there.
• My spiritual history is one of the strangest I’ve heard. I was raised Roman Catholic and at one point wanted to be a Catholic Priest. Around the age of 13/14 I had a mental breakdown and became an atheist. By the age of 16 I realized my craziness and became something between and agnostic and a New Age/Buddhist. Three years ago I returned to my roots and I now am a Christian.
• Even though on the most basic terms, I am a Christian I find that I have no where near the same principles as other people that use the same label. That fact scares me. I really don’t know what book these people are reading sometimes.
• My Music taste is pretty ecletic. I’ve asked my friends to describe what I listen to and they classify it as, “Wacky Crap”. Take from that what you will.
• This List is only a brief smattering of facts, and I’m actually happy that I can’t break down every aspect of my life into bullet points!

Well, I’ve done it.

After months of owning this web address I’ve finally created a new blog. Hopefully this is going to be a new creative outlet in which I can share some new ideas I’ve been wanting to start up.

So pour yourself a martini, put on some Sinatra, sit back, and relax.