The Last Logo

2023 has been a big year for Weaverwerx; a resurrection of sorts after years of little to no activity. I have taken a workspace in the old Kino Studios in Riga, Latvia and have begun to pursue comix, drawings and film projects again. As part of this new era, I have revamped the Weaverwerx website, which was the perfect opportunity design a new logo. Now embarking on a new logo design may seem like a simple process, but even the "richest" and "smartest" person in the world can fuck it up, resulting in losing years of positive branding, good will and billions of dollars. Luckily I don't have those kinds of pressures on me. I'm just this guy trying to carve out my own tiny niche in the real and virtual world. The only person I need to please is myself, but that is easier said than done. I'm a fickle, difficult to please customer when it comes to my own work and have a special mutant power for overthinking that would give Professor X a headache. Somehow I managed to find my way, creating and discarding a dozen different concepts before landing on one that feels right, so right in fact that it will likely (always leave yourself an out) be the LAST WEAVERWERX LOGO. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the new look.

Yes, it is a critter, animal, creature of some type and needs a nickname, which I am puzzling out. Any suggestions? I think of artistic ideas as being like creatures roaming around looking for a worthy person to be their portal into our world. These ideas animals can be enormously powerful and lucrative and creative people bring them forth with nothing more than a pencil and blank sheet of paper. This critter here is hungry and lustful and curious. It wants your attention. I wanted this logo to be part watchdog, part chupacabra, part feral cat, and part alien from another world. I want it to guard my back, but also push me when I need it, like everyday. From a design point-of-view, I wanted an image that would stay in folks' minds and not be confused with another thing; not too complex, but not too simple. Maybe even something that will provoke some affection. I also think it'll look damn fine on a t-shirt!

Time to show how the sausage was made. Here are my raw, rough brainstorming sketches as I worked through various possibilities, including some boring, too generic non-character options.

Some of those "shrunken head" and Tiki God-ish designs could wind up making cameo appearances in some future comix stories, so keep your eyes peeled.

The previous Weaverwerx logo was a simple hand-drawn W with scribbly circle around it, which I call the "Hairball Logo". I'm ditching it because it is too generic. It could be used for a hair salon or a bar or sock company, whatever. I like the hand-drawn quality, but that's about it. I only used this one for a couple of years, so it was really just a placeholder.

Before that one, I had been using this dapper chap with the square head and formal suit. This design originated in the late 1990s and was fun, but it looked too much of it's time. I do like the "round peg in the square hole" head and the "W" suit collar. It was also a load of fun to animate, but times have changed, so time to say adieu.

Now that the Logo saga has been been settled, time to get on with creating some actual content or something...

Keep smiling,

OK HW

The Devil Rides Out

 

I've been occupied in mind and spirit by this terrible war. I am astounded at the massive display of evil deeds that the ruzzian (the way I choose to write "Russian" now. Small "r", double zeds to show my disdain) army has perpetrated. The pain and suffering being inflected is too disgusting to imagine. I cannot understand this depravity. In response, I'm trying to find ways to support the Ukraine people and their awe-inspiring strength and courage. I am an ally of Ukraine and anyone else who desires a world free of aggression. 

If you would like to learn about supporting Ukraine, Support Ukraine NOW is a great place to start.

Today's drawing is a Kanyok hunting fetish I found on the Instagram account "african_artefact_art". I choose it because it looks like the devil. The puka shell eyes give me the creeps because they look like mouths with rows of tiny, sharp teeth. The odd shaped head with the black, horn-like protrusions and mouth open in a frozen scream also are unnerving. This is a face that projects evil and fear. Perhaps the Kanyok people needed such a fierce talisman to face the dangers of the jungle?

Wishing everyone peace.

OK HW

Draw Angry

 

The war rages on. I am in awe of the Ukrainian people, soldiers and President Zelensky. The grace under pressure they display every moment is inspiring. It is gut-wrenching watching the horror and seeing that the Western countries are unable to respond for fear of triggering WW III, but most especially a nuclear exchange. I don't know what the right answer is, but I am glad to see the lines between the free world and the so-called "strongmen" is clear now and the fight is on. My hope is that this dark time will lead to a new, bright era. One thought that won't leave my brain alone is wondering why this had to happen? Why couldn't putin turn all of that effort, resources and planning to something positive for the common good? This war is a horrible disaster in every way and will set back Russia decades. Russia is a huge, beautiful country and could be a true world leader, not the corrupt crime joke it is now. Why is it more difficult for some people to create instead of destroy?

All of those emotions were swirling around in me when I made this drawing of a an African "We" Mask from "feereafricanart" on IG. I decided to run at it fast and loose and let that rough, frustrated energy flow. I exaggerated the eyeholes for effect. The mouth was a definite attractor for me with those big, fat lips and sharp, tiny teeth.

While the war rages, I have volunteered to help preserve Ukrainian digital culture through Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) and have been working to archive Ukrainian websites. 

Glory to the Ukrainian people!

OK HW

Keep a Diamond in Your Mind

 

From the Tom Waits' song "Get Behind the Mule".

Never let the weeds get higher

Than the garden

Always keep a sapphire in your mind

Always keep a diamond in your mind

These are days that make me think of this song, because this song is a reminder that very often it is hard work to live a life. For some people they never get a break and never know comfort or love or security. These last couple of years it feels like we are all sliding in that direction, being pulled into the virus horror show and seas are rising and the wind is picking up. Or maybe it's just how I'm feeling because I finally caught COVID-19. I was fully vaccinated and boosted, but even so a breakthrough can and does happen, especially if you take your mask off in a bar and talk to many (6-8) maskless strangers over the course of a night. There was one tiny voice of warning providing a commentary track throughout the night, "This is not a good idea. You really need to put a mask on. You do know the pandemic is still raging?", etc., but it didn't matter. I'm as weary as most everyone else is of this new, shitty COVID-19 lifestyle and just decided to take one night off from thinking about it and that's how I got it. It has been an inconvenience, but only because I was vaccinated and boosted, otherwise I'd likely be in a hospital right now with a tube down my throat or worse. 

So here's my first, and hopefully last, COVID-19 drawing, actually done will the virus was in my system. It's an Ibibio Mask on found on "feereafricanart" once more on Instagram (I need to find some new sources as I hate to fuel Zuckerberg's fortune) I choose this mask because I love the top-heavy shape and Frankenstein-like head bolts. Also the overall look of the face, the wide, full lips and arched, dark eye sockets. It's maybe not my best drawing, but it made me happy to make it while I tend to my runny nose. 

"Keep a Diamond in Your Mind". What do you think that means? For me it means you focus on the positive, on that hard, brilliant piece of you that understands no matter how dark the world gets, you still have something to give. Something I have to give is my art. I make it for myself, but share it because I hope someone else will enjoy it, maybe be inspired to learn more about African Art or find a few minutes to cultivate their own creative life as others have inspired me to do. As I feel my body fighting back against the virus, it also makes me realize that I need to do more, make more art, focus on my creative life, finish the many half-completed projects because time is running out. 

What will you do with the time you have left?

OK HW

2022 - Let the Games Begin...

Happy 2022! I hope your New Year Eve's activities were fun and satisfying. I had such high hopes for 2021 as many people did, only to see those hopes crushed pretty quickly by the horrific and disgusting events in the US capital on January 6th and then the Delta and Omicron variants keeping the COVID-19 party going, not to mention the extreme weather events and WW III threats. Bah. I haven't read or heard one optimistic outlook for 2022. It seems everyone is holding their breath and keeping their heads down. But you don't come here for my lame world-weary commentary, no I'm guessing you want to see some art. 

Before I talk about this week's offering, let's set the ground rules for this year's Friday postings. I've decided to open it up to any kind of creative expression; drawing, sculpture, photography, short film, animation; whatever I am playing with at the moment. 

This week's post is a doodle I made of the Mohawk Man figure I posted December 10, 2021. Often after I make a drawing, that image stays in my mind for some time, cached in my short-term creative RAM. I find it to be a fun exercise to draw from memory and see how I unintentionally change the image. This version made me think of the main character from Napoleon Dynamite. 

What creative plans do you have for this year? I would love to see what you are working on, so post a link in the comments section.

Don't let the bastards get you down,

OK HW

52 Fridays - The Center Isn't Holding Like it Used Too

This week I tweeted, "Looking through the news most days I feel like I am living in a prequel to Cormac McCarthy’s #TheRoad". If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, it's a tale of a father and son trying to survive and also keep their humanity in the face of an all too realistic dystopian near future of extreme weather and marauding bands of cannibals. I read the book once and saw the movie once and that was enough to haunt me. I don't think we are heading to the "end of the world", that would be too easy. No, I think we are moving into a new challenging era of chaos caused by climate change, the pandemic and hyper-tribalism that will just make life less pleasant than it's been in the Western world in the last century or so. Of course for most people in the "undeveloped world", it's more of the same. Life is never easy, so if they get flooded or there is a drought, those people pick-up their few belongs and move somewhere more friendly. In the west, we continue to build on the coasts, binge-watch streaming video in our air-conditioned McMansions and order shit we don't need from Amazon. Nothing hurts and the good times will never end. William Gibson the science fiction author once said, "The future will not be evenly distributed." I think the same thing can be said for this creeping dystopian environment we are living in. Parts of the world are burning and other areas are literally drowning. Some countries have more vaccine than they can ever use and the virus numbers are dropping quickly, while other regions haven't vaccinated anyone and the virus is running unchecked and unmeasured and the variants have fertile ground to mutate and get weirder and stronger. 

So what does all this DOOM TALK have to do with this week's drawings? I'm glad you asked. I drew the same face three times this week and realized that it feels like a scream. My scream. This is my version of Munch's "Scream". It's all I can manage in the face of such existential dread. It's the face I make while, "...listening to the terror through the wall." (Ginsberg) I hope it is not my death mask. Mixed in with this darkness is some light, some hope of reset and finding a new way to live. That a new society will carry on, despite the difficulties, but it will be a bumpy ride.

This is a "Keaka Head" created by the Ejagham People from Cameroon region of Africa.  I found this on "feereafricanart" an Instagram feed I have pulled from before. I was immediately hypnotized by the eyes and teeth. Also made me think of Jack Kirby, the legendary comic book artist's work. I did three versions to explore that face. Two drawn with a cheap-ass ballpoint pen, directly referencing the photo and one from memory with a marker type pen and intentionally trying to channel Kirby's style (and falling short).

Which one do you like?

Do you feel the DOOM as intensely as I do or do you think I am being melodramatic?

See you next week...

OK HW

There Goes the Neighborhood, UP! - 6/24/2015

The neighbor across the street is rebuilding his place. The old place was falling down and kind of scary, so we were glad to see it go. The lot was vacant for seven months. During that time we had an unobstructed view of the Cheasepeake Bay, then the building began. We were told the new building wouldn't be any higher. Yeah, right! The old place was only three stories and this one is four. It'll be interesting to see if it starts a trend in the neighborhood. OK HW

Image for November 26, 2011 - The Santa Menace

Here he comes, are you ready? That Ho-Ho happy man that will make you empty your wallet, maybe even go into debt. He'll make you eat too much and drink too much and surf up long-lusted for childhood toys on ebay. His massive, unavoidable form will obliterate everything else and even though you have the best intentions to do things different this year, ultimately, it never works, so you find yourself shellshocked and whimpering into your eggnog while watching It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray] for the hundredth time. It's OK really, because I'm right there with you. I have a love-hate relation with the bearded one and the season. My favorite part is decorating the tree. I still feel that glow of happiness as we transform our living room into a mini-shrine of Xmas joy. Still do the stockings. Still hang-up the Xmas cards. Once all the gifts are bought, wrapped and shipped, I can settle down and enjoy the madness.

OK HW

Image for 4-29-11 - The Old Castle Town

The castle is the symbol for Edinburgh. I saw this old relief logo on the side of a small utility shed (or was it a public toilet?). I'm a sucker for peeled paint and I like the icon design.

I pulled the photos off the camera last night, all six hundred and fifty-two of them. I know my pal Dave shot about double that. It was a very well documented journey. We saw and did a lot in the twelve days we were on the ground there, the trip featured a little of everything, some hiking, visited new places I had not been to before in Scotland, catching up with old friends, some urban exploring and finally, Dead by Dawn, my favorite horror film festival. It's been six years since I last set foot in Scotland, also for DbD, as my circle of horror film friends refer to it. I was surprised at how little had seemed to change in Edinburgh, a few new shops  here and there, but when the city's essential layout was made in stone hundreds of years ago, there's no easy way to modify that without obliterating part of your history. Tidewater (I refuse to use "Hampton Roads", a rant for another time), seems to revel in destroying any building new or old that stands in the way of "progress", I use the term loosely as it generally means making way for a parking lot, chain drug store or, more likely, luxury condos. I'm sure that if I lived in Edinburgh for a while, something I'd love to do, that I'd see the creepy corporate influence there as well. On this trip, I was blissfully happy to wander The Meadows (a large park in the southern part of the city) or hang out in the Grassmarket ( area with pubs and shops in the shadow of the castle). Oh Edinburgh! I love you!

OK HW

Norfolk Airport Carpet

Yeah, still stuck here. Flying sucks. OK HW

Image for 4-26-2011 - The old Space Park

This was taken at the old Air & Space Power Park in Hampton, Va. I remember visiting this park on a field trip back in second grade. The park was in much better shape back then. It's sad to see all the rockets and jet planes rusty in this unkempt and forgotten place. I recall as a child wandering among these technological wonders and dreaming of a future full of space adventures. Now, with the Space Shuttle nearly retired and nothing to replace it, it will be the first time in my lifetime that the US will not have the ability to but people into space. NASA's current budget is about eighteen billion dollars a year. Considering the fact that we're spending two billion a day on the wars, it's hard to believe that we can't find the money to keep America on the leading edge of space technology. Hopefully this park of decaying relics is not our future.

OK HW

Off the Lot

Just watched the first episode of "On the Lot", the new "reality TV show" for filmmakers from Spielberg and Burnett and I give it a thumbs down. Too frantic, too many contestants and too closely modeled after The Apprentice for my taste. They never stay on any one person long enough to allow the audience to get to know them, so when the ax starts swinging who cares? There may be an assumption that the audience has done their homework by reading up on all the contestants on the web site before hand, something I did not do. The three judges, Gary Marshall, Carrie Fisher and Brett Radner are charmless and forgettable and I got the feeling that their most honest and entertaining comments were cut. Comparisons to "Project Greenlight" are inevitable, and from my perspective PGL at least felt sincere and authenicate, where Lot just seems like the typical hyped-up Hollywood horseshit. I watched this hoping to feel inspired or maybe learn something and actually I guess did learn something. I need to turn off the TV and work on my own films.

zahdah

OK HW

The Obligatory My-Laptop-Died Post

After years of faithful service, my little old iBook's hard drive went senile, then kaput. Luckily (guess it wasn't luck, I did pay for it) I had the AppleCare Protection and so they fixed it up in no time flat, so here I am back at it. Besides replacing the hard drive, the technician also loaded Tiger (I was using Panther) and swapped out my aging battery with a better, longer-life one, so thank you repair person.

Much has been happening since my last post A MONTH AND A HALF AGO. Man, how did that happen? I'm amazed to see this old blog continues to get hits despite my long neglect and I must admit I'd probably drop the sucker if absolutely no one were reading it, so thanks' to those few folks who check in regularly to see if I'm still alive.

No new news on Happy Walter. I finished up the last of the graphics I needed to do for Zoje and she's busy getting the PR campaign together and entering festivals. Probably won't be any news for awhile until the festivals start to respond. It should be interesting.

Working on a Halloween project with my pal, Sam Hundley. Every year Sam goes all out decking his yard and front porch out with a themed display to amuse the adults and thrill the kids (or is it the other way around?). This year we're working on an alien autopsy thing. Photos soon.

Finally, I just returned from a trip south to Mississippi to visit my Dad on his birthday, then onto New Orleans for a few days hanging with my buddy Lord Nelson. For those into NFL football, turn green with envy because I got to see that killer Saints vs. Eagles game in the SuperDome, my first live game. There was a lot of love all over that soggy town after the Saints kicked that winning field goal with three seconds left. Yes, yes, a fine time it was.

So, that's me, how you doing?

OK HW

Escape from New York (A Rant - you have been warned)

We've decide to move back to our beach home in Virginia Beach, rising oceans and hurricanes be damned. Rochester has been wonderful in many ways, but we miss our house and our friends in Va., not to mention that the winters are a little easier to deal with and the taxes are a fair bit lower. The last few weeks have been a mad dash of packing and goodbye's, the usual transition routine. My wife and I both have jobs lined up beginning this week and the original plan was to load the rental truck Saturday, get up early Sunday morning and hit the road. Arrive in Va. Beach in time for some dinner and maybe a little unloading. The fact that it's Tuesday afternoon and I'm typing this from our empty, very hot apartment in Rochester might be a clue that things didn't quite go like we thought.

Plot twist #1: I don't want to name names, so I'll just refer to the truck rental company as "U-HELL", they called Friday afternoon to let me know that they didn't have my "equipment" available for Saturday morning and would call sometime Saturday whenever it would be ready. I asked the nice lady, "So, if I haven't heard from you by noon, should I give you a call?". With more then a slight hint of irony in her voice she replied, "Ah, sure, if you like.". The next day, I got up early and finished packing and started cleaning, still hopeful that I'd get a call, but noon came and went. I tried calling the number I was given and sat on hold for over a half hour before giving up. I tried several times throughout the day to get through, but no joy. Ultimately, I would not receive a call from them until 5:35 pm Sunday afternoon. When the happy chap who called asked, "When would you like to pick-up the truck?", I replied, "Yesterday morning at 8 am.". I got a real problem with poorly run corporations who think it's o.k. to screw their "customers" over as was done in this case and will not give old U-HELL anymore of my hard earned money. If a company causes me great inconvenience and pain, then they had better be prepared to share that pain by offering discounts or something. Also, I received exactly two calls from them, one Friday night and one Sunday night, nothing in between to provide an update or status report. Bye bye U-HELL.

Plot Twist #2: As the truckless Saturday sunk in, we became resigned to the schedule shifting a day and went out to eat Saturday night. We had a lovely meal at a wonderful restaurant called "Basha" here in Rochester. Pay'em a visit if you ever visit. The great food and wine worked wonders on relieving the tensions of the day, until we got in the car to go home and the damn thing wouldn't start. I won't bore you with the details of the night, waiting for the tow truck in the rain and all of that. Let's just say I was wondering why God or whomever was picking on me, but then again, switching the news on put these small inconveniences into perspective, but even so, we all feel 100% of our own grief. The punchline is, "$720.00 plus tax and it won't be ready until Tuesday afternoon". Am I getting ripped off? Who knows, at this point, I'm a tad shell shocked and just want to get out of this frickin' town. BTW, the car is an old SAAB (pronounced SOB, as in what you do when you get the bill) and any repair seems to run $500-$900, I know, because we've had to take it to the shop too many times in the last year.

So the morals of the story are, never use U-HELL and never own a SAAB (unless you have loads of money you wish to give away).

Next post, hopefully will be from an air-conditioned place somewhere far south of here.

Wish me luck.

OK HW

the empty inbox

I cleared out my e-mail inbox last week for the first time in I can't remember when. There's always a few lingering e-mails, links forwarded on by friends that lead to sites too fat for my dial-up connection or some digest of messages from the Tom Waits group I belong to or the occasional note from an old acquaintance that gets left like leftover Chinese food in the back of the fridge offering promise and possibility, but eventually just has to be dealt with. But this last weekend, I had time and desire and weeded my way through the dozen or so bits and reached that coveted goal of zero. Now the emptiness stares back at my like that white page or canvas or lump of clay, but even worse, this emptiness isn't filled by my hand but by the whims of the great e-mail god (or goddess? yeah, somehow, makes more sense to me that he is a she), so goddess blessing my meager dry little box with the sweet rain of communication, ah yes. But until then, silence and white space.