WHAT'S NEXT?

HEY THERE SPORTS FANS, AL HERE WITH THE LATEST:

THE SCRATCH AND BURN ART SHOW:

As of this posting the The Scratch and Burn Art Show Will have been up for a couple days by now.   And I hope it is a successful show like the NWIPA and Slingshot Show of the past.  All good times.

But now, like the question in the title above what's next for the kid.
Funny you should ask because I am thinking that there are a few places I wanta hit up in Portland.  Now mind you these are not high brow art gallery destinations (at least not in my opinion. But they're in high trafficked areas of PDX) but like what has been proven to me over the last couple of years is that my style of art seems to work better for more working class stiffs in pubs and biker bars than some downtown venue but that has been changing which is nice.

There are two galleys that I want to hit up right now.
SO with the web sight up and the show that is going on currently at SeeSees it would give other gallery's and their curators to see the work. I have yet to hear anything from Cafe Vita Coffee Shop out off of North East Alberta but I still have a few places to hit before my other show comes down from See See's.
Also like any cold call from a marketer I had also sent out an email to the Antler Gallery out in North East Portland.   I had just gotten an email from them (Antler Gallery) about my interest in showing at their gallery so now I wait to see if they'll bite.Ultimately I would love just to show in a gallery and away from the cafe/bar scene.  Though mind you there is nothing wrong with showing in either of those type of venues.  Remember that's where I got started.  But the public perception of a gallery and being shown makes the art work much legitimate. 
So hopefully, if the galleries are interested they will be able to see how it would look in their place of business.
But until that happens I'm gonna be sending out a general introduction email with a link to the website and a invite for the curators to take a look.

Keep your fingers crossed.

UPDATE on S.A.B.A. (S-cratch A-nd B-urn A-rtshow)
Good placement against walls, good turn out for show and good sales on related materials.
Postcards sold, limited edition prints and small original 5"x7" scratchboards also sold.  A nice interjection to move stock.

DREAMS OF ELYSIUM NEWS:

Separate images spliced together for the epic monster battle on the beach in "Dreams of Elysium"

Still moving forward pretty good with all the stuff that has been going on for the show but once Scratch and Burn is up and running its also back the drawing table and see what still needs to be completed before the end of the year.
D.O.E. is one on the high end of things to complete.  The marker comp version of this mega monster book is huge and the finish will be even more huge.
ALSO with the marker comp I may print up a limited addition for collectors so there is a comparison between the thumbnailed version and the final scratchboard addition.  And though there may be not a high demand for that I think it would be cool to have.   Along with some liner notes of the script as well.
THE OTHER BOOK Corpse Cop- "Inhuman Torch" is still

needing to be edited.
I still have two shows to make it to this year that I am obligated to do. 

One thing that has really come to me  recently was what do you really want to do?  

Comics or Artwork?

  Artwork to me is the thing I am working towards.  The comics have and always will be the way I trained myself to do work. 
But that's the way it works.  What can I say?  All the artwork will be influenced comics.

ODDITIES:

Not at the moment- unless I look in a mirror.

More of this info can be found at  www.thevelvetcoffin.co.

and at Ratchet Raven Productions.

OTHER NOTE WORTHY THINGS :

If your wanting to look at some of the older blog for Black Box Comix you can check them out here. Black Box Comix Blog.

There is also Twitter https://twitter.com/blackbox13 to follow and Tumbler The Other Scratchpad

blackbox13.tumblr.com/   as well 

Or if you're interested in purchasing something that catches your eye  check out here on the Big Cartel web site.  Big Cartel.

And of course is always the backlog of comics here at Indyplanet.

And the kid is out of here!

Website!

Growing up I was heavily influenced by sci-fi movies and television of the 1950’s and 60’s, as well as the “Sword and Sorcery” movies and books of the 1970‘s 80’s.  I loved anything that twisted and distorted reality.

I had a natural gift for drawing, and in art school I learned many artistic techniques that could be applied to my stand-alone scratchboard pieces.  I am extremely motivated and a self-starter, so I’m always working towards a new plateau in the medium.  Scratchboard is it for me.  I imbed the work with serious content and distort the masses!

I breathe, think, and sleep art.  My work reflects many of my passions and interests. 

I am many different things to many different people.

IT'S ON!

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

Well the website is up!  After a long debate personally and where the website is finally going up.
Kinda a big deal for the kid because up to this point both personal and business material and artwork had been being shared on social networks like MySpace and Facebook.
Not so much any more. 
Business is important to keep separate from personal.  And to be successful you have to keep' em separated.
So here's a peek via jpeg what the home page looks like.

Pretty cool- even if it's a screen shot.  But it gives you the idea what's going on.  And the fact that it has so many other sites interconnected at one central hub is fantastic.   But it also means that I have to be much more diligent on the upkeep of my other sites as well.  So I have a lot of work still ahead if me.

THE SCRATCH AND BURN ART SHOW:

The website couldn't have happened at a better time than now with a new show coming up.   With the scratch and Burn I have technically four new pieces going up and in frame.  One has already been seen a little but that okay.  Gentle Giant had gone up as a separate piece of art without a frame but now he gets his chance to shine properly.   Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

 

Next week should have almost everything ready to go.  Only thing left to get is new business cards.  I'm still working on that.  The new design for Black Box Visual Arts has to be incorporated into the new design for the company as well as what contact info I want to have on the card.    I think it's safe to say that I would call it "Art Nouveaua"
Anyway if you happen to find yourself in the Portland Oregon area and are looking for a cool spot to hang for the next month or so check out See See Motor Coffee.

DREAMS OF ELYSIUM NEWS:

Well the graphic novel is moving forward slowly but that's a good thing.  It means the design of the book is taking its time in its presentation.  It feels when I work on the thumbnails that this is almost a surreal comic project.  But the scale and scope of the art that is to come, it will be FANTASTIC!   Of this I can promise whole heartedly.

IN OTHER COMIC NEWS;

There are always slow times that come and go at work but it's the kind of time where you don't have the time to really do some serious work so you doodle on breaks and occasionally you find your mind slipping into comic mode.  Well Corrax the Seeker and Robot Monster are two characters that I have had a lot of fun with in the past so here you are.

So yeah, comics are never far from my mind no matter how much I say.  It's just an art form that I love and wish I could make money at but that's not the case for me.  But they are fun to do for a break.

ODDITIES:

Not at the moment- unless I look in a mirror.

More of this info can be found at  www.thevelvetcoffin.co.

and at Ratchet Raven Productions.

OTHER NOTE WORTHY THINGS :

If your wanting to look at some of the older blog for Black Box Comix you can check them out here. Black Box Comix Blog.

There is also Twitter https://twitter.com/blackbox13 to follow and Tumbler The Other Scratchpad

blackbox13.tumblr.com/   as well 

Or if you're interested in purchasing something that catches your eye  check out here on the Big Cartel web site.  Big Cartel.

And of course is always the backlog of comics here at Indyplanet.

And the kid is out of here!

ON TOWARDS THE WEBSITE... and other things

Hey there sports fans, Al here with the latest:

  Well things are moving ever closer to that so called good looking website and a whole new design for Black Box Visual Arts.  I guess you could call this a branding issue.  Since almost everyone including their Grandmother's dog has a website out there it made sense to get a real one working for me as way if sharing any artwork and style to those who either didnt have the time to look or had the time to talk to me directly or write me what kind of work tha I do.
  If they were intersted.
  So the website redesign from Vista Print set up that I had years ago is being given a major facelift and new breathing space that can include this blog as well as my online store and other e-commerce.  

Original Black Box Icon 1998

  Keeping up with the Jones I guess for the 21st Century.
  Of course that

Black Box Icon 2002

facelift also comes with a long look at a design that I have had for over 10 years now.  And since my declaration for switching from doing comics to fine art things had to drawn up again.  
So the icon and logo of BBVA is changing from my old simple graphic to a better looking design that mirrors the art that I am currently doing rather than the black box recording device I was using during a major upheaval that I had exsperinced years ago when still doing the comics.
  So here I am to show off what I have learned so far.
A mastery of scratchboard and moving into color and painting.  The last two items are something that I thought I would never do.  Boy, what did I know.
But I guess things come full circle and color is one of them.  Gotta do it.
As the new show comes within roughly a little over two weeks for See See Motor Coffee show

"Scratch and Burn" .
  With that it, just like it was earlier this year at Crypticon I will be selling the postcards, t-shirts and limited edition prints, theres gotta be a new business card and and above all that, a website.
I have known that I was going to have change that concept of a website and it looks that move is going to happen soon.
  So much self promotion, it isn't even funny.  

  AND IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH...
DREAMS OF ELYSIUM. 
  I know that I had mentioned that I was going to make that huge shift to doing comic book related  art work but I can't totally turn my back on that medium that for years gave me the pleasure of dreaming of doing comics for a living.  I'm just not fast enough to crank out the art as fast as a major company would want me to do.  I think that a lot of fellow artists that I know would fall into that same situation I am in.  
 I was concerned a bit by the reaction of my peers to this change up in the art and story but I think that they realize that after my many various tries at making a viable character to sell it just ain't happening for the kid.  
So far not so much.  Perhapes the only exception to that would be Corpse Cop.  Im still trying to work out the details how to handle him right now.  

But the biggest deal is getting this graphic novel off the ground.  It such a massive undertaking for me that I can only look at it in small chunks and NOT BE OVERWHELMED. by the scope of what I am trying to do.  I want this book to do well.  That the reason for the lack of actual written dialogue in the work- even the lack of of sound effects are not included in this work.  It's kinda a Hitchcock Manuver letting the mind fill in the blanks.

  I really want this to be a major hit as well.  My biggest stumbling block according to my friends is that the conceptual ideas are awesome, it the written conversation that fall flat indescribing the motivation between characters.  
  And I sure wasn't going to hire a writter to fill my blanks for me.  I'm a creator not an idea man.  

IN OTHER NEWS:
  As artwork comes and goes for the art show and the graphic novel, other artwork is being drawn up and rendered.  And such is the case of of "Last Monster on EARTH".  I still have a crazy story with him in it and other monsters for him to fight in the grand ol'd style of Kirby.  That is on thing that I would love to see in print along with everything else that would come under the title "Weird Atomic Tales".
   My Robot Monster would be awesome in his own title but that might wait for another day.  Right along with the relaunch of Corrax the Seeker.  To me, both would be awesome and Corpse Cop would be fun to work on but I need a lot fan support before just going into it..... and a lot of capital.

"Last Monster on EARTH!"  11"x14" Scratchboard
2014 Copyright Alan Bennett and BBVA

Other that there isn't much other work to make comics of unless I had carte blanche with a couple of Marvel characters or one DC guy.




I can dream....

ODDITIES:

Not at the moment- unless I look in a mirror.

More of this info can be found at  www.thevelvetcoffin.co.

and at Ratchet Raven Productions.

OTHER NOTE WORTHY THINGS :

If your wanting to look at some of the older blog for Black Box Comix you can check them out here. Black Box Comix Blog.

There is also Twitter https://twitter.com/blackbox13 to follow and Tumbler The Other Scratchpad

blackbox13.tumblr.com/   as well 

Or if you're interested in purchasing something that catches your eye  check out here on the Big Cartel web site.  Big Cartel.

And of course is always the backlog of comics here at Indyplanet.

And the kid is out of here!