Life goes on.
and on.
………. and on.
This is an artifact that every molecule in this entire universe shares and holds dearly. In our world life is a very tangible and delicate experience. Life is our most treasured posession. It is respected. It is cared for. And most heartbreakingly, it can be taken.
I have tried to live a life ripe with honest interactions. From time to time you bump into another person who shares this perspective. You can see it in the way they listen to a story you tell. You can …

I was invited by the great Georges Le Chevallier and preeminent Paul Friedrich to participate  in a three man art show entitled “3 the Hard Way”. The concept behind the show goes like this:
Each artsist will start will three pieces. A 3×3, a 2×2 and  a 1×1. The medium and materials is of the artists choosing. Once the three pieces have been prepared and painted on, there will be an exchange and each artist will trade out the work he has for a set of the other artists. We will …

The legendary North Carolina based bboy crew, Swoon Unit, is celebrating their 10th anniversary. They have put together a multi-layered series of events that include an open mic MC battle, a NC graffiti Wall of Fame event and a large format Bboy battle. It will be taking place at the Boys & Girls Club in downtown Raleigh on Sept 26th from 12-5. I have created a custom painted piece of linoleum for the battles to take place on.
When we first came up with the idea I figured it would be …

I am very excited and proud to be down with the BOMBED show at the LabourLove gallery in the Goldenbelt complex in Durham this Friday the 18th from 6 – 9pm. The show will feature Matt Scofield, Victor Knight, Greg Davis, Franco and myself. We did some live painting in the gallery last weekend which was a paint fume infested good time. I am still picking teal and baby blue boogers. The show will also feature  some digital illustrations, paintings and custom bridesmaid shoes… yep, you heard that right. There …

I am going to be participating in an art-based fundraiser supporting Toxic Free NC. The event has two parts: a bug drawing competition on First Friday in August, as well as a month-long exhibit of mixed media art.
All proceeds from sales of the art will be going to support Toxic Free NC’s courageous work to fight pesticide pollution in North Carolina. More on that at www.toxicfreenc.org.
Should be a cool event. You know I am always game when there is competitive creativity in the mix.
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It took me a little while to …

Me and the great Matt Scofield have had an eye out for a studio space for a little while. We both needed a space to work bigger and not have to worry about a paint mess, toxic fumes or man dandruff. Thanks to Matt we were able to link up with Bonded Llama Studios and score a basement studio. The location may seem a little rough around the edges but this is exactly what I was looking for. The spot has massive potential for many reasons….. It’s good.
I swung by …

A little while ago I sat down with my daughters and showed them the art of the paper bag monster. Little did I know that this session would give birth to two little buggers named Zoopy and Billiam and would entertain my daughters and their friends like crazy. What quickly emerged was the Zoopy and Billiam show which was made up of some raw dialogue between a southern yee-haw (who suffers from untimely flatulence and a tendency to think anythink is edible) and an upper-class Englishman (who knows his manners …

Mario at the Green Hill Center for NC Art hooked up a time lapse of the murals progression. We took a little longer than the time lapse lasted but it came out cool regardless. Check it out:

I am being featured in this months Skirt Magazine in the “He’s So Original” section. Each month they choose a guy who is on his hustle, put him in a skirt and feature his particulars. Luckily I chose to wear a long skirt so that all of my particulars weren’t featured, nahmsayin?
The magazine is well done with great photography and engaging stories. My coworker and friend, Libbye Morris put together a fantastic essay and was also featured in this issue.
Check out the online version here.

I am participating in another group show with the collective that hooked up the Windows Down show.The show will be in Greensboro at the Green Hill Center for the Arts. I have to admit that due to all of that intensity that has been going on in my life, I wasn’t completely clear on what was going down for the show. I had also caught wind that the Obama show I had participated in was going to be travelling to Greensboro. It wasn’t until this evening that I realized that …

A few years ago I met up with the legendary KRS 1. We had a collection of conversations about building a kids book project together and things seemed to be moving right along. I was at a doctor appointment for my youngest daughter Makayla and I let her play with my cell phone to keep her occupied. At some point the phone disappeared along with my phone number contacts. I fruitlessly tried to find an alternate was of connecting but it wasn’t meant to be…..at least for that time.
I have …

About a year ago I was contacted to submit some artwork for a scene in a movie called “Streets of Blood“. I’m not talking about conceptual art for the design of the movie….. I’m talking about art for props. Apparently there is a character that is an artist and they wanted to use some of my work to hang on the wall to look as though it is the work of that artist. Outside of his information, I know nothing about how it will be shown…. if at all. That …

I just received an email from the Visual Art Exchange looking for artists to submit a piece for the the May First Friday exhibit titled “Unfettered”. For quite a while now I have wanted to do a series of portraits that are painted on found objects from the birthplace of the subject. Given the title of the show and the geography involved, I am going to do a portrait of jazz legend Thelonious Monk. He was born about an hour from here in Rocky Mount, NC. I have gotten a …

I have been invited to participate in a fundraiser/silent auction where artists will paint/customize a ceramic pig. The proceeds will go towards the Whole Foods charity “Feed the Farm“. It is sponsored by Whole Foods and the auction will take place at The Pit on March 6th. It took me a day or so for a concept to crystalize but when it did….. oh yea. Ladies and Gentlemen, I will be presenting to you…. the Notorious P.I.G.
Here goes nothing….
The Base
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This is what each of the artists starts with. The blank …

I have been desperately searching for an avenue that I can use to relax. I was hoping I would find a place within meditation but ironically I just haven’t been able to find the time or place to achieve a good meditative state. This Tuesday I decided to go downtown and take part in a group figure study. The session went from 7 to 10 and it was by far the most theraputic, meditative experience I have found in memory. I will be trying my best to make it every …

I was invited to showcase at a celebratory art exhibition to commemorate the innauguration of Barack Obama. I am extremely excited and have begun a hustle to push a brand new, rock solid piece in. I will be painting directly on wood and will be detailing the process (you know how I do). Stay tuned…
Wood prep:
I want the illustration to reflect distinguished character that Obama represents while staying true to his grass roots texture. I decided that applying a dark stain to a defined wood grain could set the tone …

I have been chipping away at the great Tippy Wigglesworth book for some time. I thought I had settled in on the design of Tippy and had most of the book drawn in when I realized that Tippy wasn’t quite right. He was very loveable but the length of his arms limitted my ability to really get loose when creating dynamic illustrations. I decided to go with wild, curious, exploring arms and encorporate them into much more of the composition of each illustration. Now that I have him fleshed out …

Now that we have the BuckleyBoo set in stock, the webiste is live, and the stores are beginning to stock– We are going to be putting together a kids book to suppliment the toys. The idea is that we will design and build the world that the Buckley crew live, play and develop storylines in. I am taking special care to thin through as much of the detail as possible. The hope is that one day we can pitch a full blown cartoon and merchandising push. I will cronicle the …

I’m going to hook up another step-by-step for the Windows-Down Art Show panel I am painting. Stay tuned.
PENCILS
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Finalized pencils. I am going for loose and fun. I’m feeling this one.

PANEL PREP
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The panel is much larger than I initially imagined. I threw on three coats of Canary Yellow matte finish interior paint.

PENCILS ON PANEL
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I am a little worried that the pencils are not quite proportioned properly. It’s a nagging feeling in my tummy but I am going to push forward and potentially repair and awkwardness down the line.

PAINT PROGRESSION
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I have …

I ran across these while cleaning up some folders. There is something cool about going back and checking out the textured pencils. If you look close you can see that I do a tiny thumbnail skecth to flesh out the composition in the top corner of each page. I use them as reference as I build the rest of the illustration. The areas where the pencils are very very loose is set aside for elements that I plan on adding later digitally.

I have been at this “9-5 day-gig mornings” and “10-3 freelance evenings” for a few years now. I figure I have maxed out what I am capable of outputting using this model. I have decided to revise the way I have been working and starting October 1st I will be pushing out a whole new approach. The focus will be on a select handful of clients while grinding out some kid book projects that I have had on the shelf. I will also be pushing out a new series of …

I am working on a Halloween promo for my people at Luck Design + Media. I figured I was due for another step by step process post. This will be considerably different from my Drawing Blanks deck process because there will be a heavy amount of digital rendering involved. Here are the initial pencils that are based on the classic Night of the Living Dead movie poster. More to come..

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INSPIRATION
My initial concept was to replicate the look and feel of the classic “Night of the Living Dead” movie poster. The …

Lets take a second and remember the aliens at my going away party in Brooklyn way back when.

The first official photo shoot went down last week. Word was that the scene was a bit chaotic and crazy with all the kids but the photos came out solid. My daughters are lookign cute as crazy too. The photographer was Bryan Regan. His work is really solid. Check out his blog here.

You may know about this site. It’s fun as hell to use to go check out old versions of websites, especially your own. Most of the bigger image links didn’t hold but I was able to pull this gem out. I didn’t even remember doing this illustration. It’s kind of fresh though….

I have decided to create my deck using a bit of an experimental process. I am going to attempt to fuse some heavy watercolor paper onto the sanded down deck. From there I will render using pencils and watercolor. I will seal it up with a heavy mod podge lacquer. Hopefully I don;t blow the whole thing.
I have settled on doing a portrait of American Blues legend John Lee Hooker. I have been addicted to his “Big Soul of John Lee Hooker” album. If you don’t know it, you need …

I have been doing illustration for the street ball publication “Bounce Magazine” for about three years now. The editor in chief is moving on to something new and with him goes me. I have enjoyed the gig thoroughly and will miss it. Who knows, maybe I will fill the void with drugs and alchohol.
For now, a retrosprective…..

There is going to be a smoking hot show on June 6th here in Raleigh. They gathered a collection of artists on the grind and gave them each a blank skate deck or a white pair of sneakers. Each piece will be customized and sold for charity. The show will be split between FM Goods and Endless Grind. If your in the area your going to have to check it out.

The show went down really really well. I definatelt felt like I showed up a little unprepared because I really didn;t know what to expect. Next time through I will know exactly how to hook it up proper. Different sizing, different marketing etc. That said, the show really did go well. It was great finally meeting everyone and the crowd was crazy. I have never really seen anything quite like it. Well done.

We went to an Obama fundraiser downtown last Wednesday. The organizers were looking for someone to donate some time and effort towards painting a trailer that they bring to events. It would be pulled around Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill in the in-between time. I decided to hook it up strong. I went on a painting binge that went from Saturday morning 10am all the way through 6:30 am the next morning. Cold as hell…raining, sleet. Get er done!

Just got word that I am invited to show at the Art Beats & Lyrics group show in Charlotte. This is a really big deal. The last show they did in Atlanta was really big time and the fact that I have been invited to show next to some of the best in the industry makes my head spin a little.
Check it out:
art beats lyrics youtube
youtube video from ATL show
Good looking out Dubelyoo