Boardwalk Bar part 7

 

My car is back to functioning again, so that means a day in the Studio.   During the time I was stuck at home without a working vehicle I did a little more drawing.  What I wanted to do next was put in some figures at the back of the bar, very small, barely indicated.  After thinking about it a while, I came up with a source- Mister X.  This was an 80's comic book, originally conceived by Dean Motter, but other than some cover art, he never had anything to do with it.  Instead, the first four issues were given to the Hernandez Brothers, who were doing their landmark Love and Rockets at the same time.  This proved to be a problem, as the team of Gilbert writing, Jaime drawing, and Mario contributing a short story now and then, only got out four issues in two years of what was supposed to be a bi-monthly book.  However, they were amazing issues, far better than any of the artists or writers who replaced them.  One thing I remembered about the book was that the visuals included lots of small figures in the backgrounds which struck me as the kind of thing I wanted to do with this piece.  So I pulled out my square bound copy of the reprint of those first four issues of Hernandez work (the original comics are still in storage) and studied what Jaime had done.  I didn't copy anything directly, just was influenced by it.  No one could do a crowd scene like Jaime, as you see in the center panel above. (that's Mr. X as the dark figure in the deep center background)  I added my small figures, with an idea of how I'll carve and color them.

Today I had three things to take care of.  First was to see what my supply of Japanese paper is, before I place an order.  Now I know how much okawara I have, and that will help determine the order I put it for supplies.   Second was to cut out the margins of this new block.   Got that done as well.   What I got done today was the complete top and bottom (the long sides) and part of all the verticals, including the space between the panels.  I need to expand the outsides, but that can wait until next time.  Third was to check with Jeanne about the status of the upcoming show.  What she told me is that she sent out an email with a deadline to respond, which will be the end of the month.  How many responses she gets will determine how many pieces we get to put in.  I haven't checked that email in a while, so I will later today.  Meanwhile, below if the example of today's work:

Although I haven't listened to all the stuff I brought back from storage, today I broke with that process and for music pulled something out of my rock/pop book, something I've listened to in recent years, influenced by that television show, Jeopardy.  Sometimes the categories are little jokes that most of the audience doesn't understand, but I do.  (it's also possible that some are jokes I don't understand and don't realize are there, but I'm not worried about that today)  Anyway, the last three categories on this particular day last week in the first Jeopardy round were, "X", "Los Angeles", and "I Love That Album".   My parents probably didn't get it, but I did, as Los Angeles is the debut album from the band X, and I do love that album.  In fact, the combination of their first two albums is one of the discs in my rock/pop book.  (a more detailed write-up of this two record on one disc set can be found on this blog back in June of 2020)  In an odd coincidence, the first issue of Mister X includes a scene where Mercedes (a main character of the book) thinks she is alone and sings to herself lines from a song that I did not recognize.  Years later, I realized that they were lines from a song by X on their second album- Los Bros Hernandez were big fans of the L.A. punk scene, and X was a big part of it.  (I don't think that the book was called Mister X had anything to do with it)