Since I’ll have Beeboy be a street dancer as well as an emcee, I looked into the Jabbawockees for functional dancing gear, not so much a super hero outfit. I did this digitally completely in photoshop using a a Wacom Bamboo tablet. I am going to be looking at Daniel Acuña, Esad Ribic, John Romita Jr., and Michael Avon Oeming for art cues.
Mogadishu is fascinating to me, so I drew him a bit more for a video for the song Gunpowder and Toast. Below are some pieces i did for the video.
And here’s the video.
Filed under Art, beeboy, comedy, Comics, Entertainment, music, photoshop, story time
Mogadishu – A character from the Stunning Adventures of Beeboy entered my head the other night and I started writing verses for Mogadishu. Then I made a beat, then I recorded a song, then I created an image for the song. I get carried away sometimes. Hopefully another character from Beeboy will pay my mind a visit.
So right below is the original recording, and the original cover work.
https://soundcloud.com/abdowell/mogadishu
And here’s the more recent version for both the song and the art work.
Filed under Art, beeboy, Comics, graphics, logos, music, photoshop, pop culture, story time
So I decided to work on a video for the song Wanna Buy?. In doing so I worked up a new series of images featuring that little hellspawn Damian from the remake of the cult horror classic, The Omen.
You may notice the brand of soda he’s selling isn’t familiar, hopefully.
Also, a video below.
And let’s not forget the original image.
A mix I did mainly to work on my timing for samples and “Music Composition” in general. I’m an amateur at this game so I’m looking for the cleanest instrumentals and vocals. Aretha Franklin’s song, “Baby, I Love You” has long been in my head as a song that has that kind of potential, and I’m sure someone in the world has sampled it. So I got busy with that and maybe, just maybe went a little too far with that sample from the back-up singers saying “baby.” Any as it turns out today is Aretha’s Birthday. So I’m putting up the track, rough, though it may be, in her honor.
For the image I put together for this track I wanted to use young Aretha. I’m my search for an image I discovered she was once married to Glynn Turman, who you might know as Mayor Royce from the Wire, Col. Taylor from A Different World or that young playa, Preach, from Cooley High. With that information I found a pic from Cooley High and it was perfect, him looking over his shoulder with an expressive face. I went a little retro with the design. I like it and the track.
Filed under Art, Entertainment, graphics, music, photoshop, pop culture
Podcasts are so inspirational. A few months back, I posted a theme song for Get Up Off This, now Matt Robinson is asking for a Heavy Metal song about a kid in his neighborhood who sells soda on the corner and only speaks two words of English, which are, “Wanna Buy?” His voice has been described as similar to Joy Behar from the daytime talk show, The View.
Here’s what I think the kid looks like.
Now, I haven’t ever made a metal song before. I rarely listen to Heavy Metal, but I like a challenge. I think this might could work as some type of indie rock.
https://soundcloud.com/abdowell/wanna-buy
Lyrics
Wanna Buy, on the corner selling soda Wanna Buy? x2
It’s a hot day in California
I’m wearing my shorts and my tennis shoes
what do I see down the corner
one, one little kid with a lemonade stand a lemonade stand
I don’t understand why he’s wearing all black
he’s wearing all black
a wool suit and he has a question
Wanna Buy, on the corner selling soda Wanna Buy? x2
I’ve been making beats and mixes, with art work to support them. I think it legitimizes the music. Any I was going into this one with the idea that I wanted to make a Bass Music track about bottle service. I decided to look for sound effects with ice clanking in a glass and liquid pouring. So I found that through google at FreeSFX.co.uk. I laid down a basic Kick/Snare drum pattern and added the sound effects to sync up with the snare. I decided I wanted to try adding a vocal element, like all the cool producers, so I looked through my music files for nice clean vocals. I landed on young Tevin Campbell as a featured singer on the song Round and Round from the soundtrack to Prince‘s third film, Graffiti Bridge. I later looked for a rap vocal to sample, hoping for an acapella, and I remembered my partner Sub-Conscious had a few acapella songs on his debut album Lyric Lover’s Deluxe. Put it all together and made this. Hope you like.
Filed under Art, Entertainment, music, photoshop
Beefing up that portfolio. A Podcast I love, The Ratchet Hatchet, featuring two NY comedians that I love, Josh Homer and Jess Wood, was having a logo contest. Here’s what I came up with.
And a slight variation.
Filed under Adobe Illustrator, Art, logos, photoshop
Come With Me if You Want to Live
Well, it takes a while to explain. I’ve been working on some music production/beat making and I wanted to make a hipster song. So I named the track before I ever laid down any digital instruments. So I mustache you something important seemed appropriately in the collective unconscious, using the fingerstache meme. I laid some basic drum tracks and played out a bass line, then I decided to throw a simple place holder vocal track, and there was a dumb idea for a song I wanted to use for a pop song, the most quoted line from Terminator. After I discovered I really liked the come with me if you want to live line I started to listen to the theme for Terminator for cues. I snatched the iconic drums and copied a few of thos patterns, then filled out the track with softer instrumentals. I like the balance. You might too, have a listen.
The artwork came after the track was done. The Idea of a Terminator with a fingerstache was funny to me. So I made it.
Filed under Art, music, photoshop, pop culture
Ok so I saw this movie one Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Talked to friends about it and listened to a few podcasts and there were a few things that really stood out from this melange of Iron Man 3 experiences. I loved this movie otherwise I’m an idiot that loves to spend money on things I hate. While I love it, I can still see it’s flaws and similarities to other films.
Similarities to assorted Batman movies.
1. Nerd Scientist Becomes Sexy Bad Ass
Aldridge Killian(Guy Pearce) in the beginning is really reminiscent of Jim Carey in Batman Forever , where they were goofy geeky scientists that were not socially acceptable and then transform into slick and devious business-men .
2. Antagonizing Twist.
In Batman Begins, Ra’s al Ghul is thought to be Ken Watanabe for most of the film, but turns out to be Liam Neesen. We were led to believe The Mandarin was the head of this terrorist organization but it turns out not the exotic asian, but the suave european. This happens in the Dark Knight Rises as well where we think Bane is the brains behind the operation, but it turns out to be Miranda Tate the business partner and eventual lover of Bruce Wayne. The difference here is that Bane is actually a physical threat that literally cripples Batman.
3. The Clean Slate as a Thing.
The Dark Knight Rises shows that Selina Kyle is willing to work with terrorists to have her criminal record expunged by using the Clean Slate, a program or virus that for some reason is being developed by Wayne Enterprises. Tony’s Clean Slate is different, but it’s also powerful leverage in the film because it gets him back in Pepper Pott’s Good graces. As he destroys all of his armors and cuts down on his distractions. Not a big deal but something I noticed.
4. Exploding House.
Bruce Wayne’s mansion gets destroyed by his enemies and he has to crawl out the wreckage in Batman Begins. Tony’s house is also obliterated by his enemies. His enemies that represent a terrorist threat. Bruce Wayne needs to lift a wooden plank off of his chest, Tony Stark has to lift a huge structure of of himself, using his strength too, this AI he developed.
Filed under Entertainment, film review, hollywood, photoshop, pop culture, Uncategorized
Ungowa Soul Power 
