PRINT Workshop

Five Shreveport artists were chosen to join in a two-day screen print workshop with Modern Multiples’ Richard Duardo in mid-August — and I was one of 'em! It was awesome learning from a master (plus he's a really cool dude). The workshop was offered as part of the current PRINT exhibit at Artspace featuring seriographs by Richard and other print makers and designers, including street art rockstars Cryptik, Shepard Fairey, and Banksy! Whhhhaaaattttt?

The exhibit is up through October – so go check it out if you’re in the area! You can also view Richard’s artist talk for all the behind-the-scenes info. Definitely worth checking out (crank up the volume).

Many thanks to Shreveport Regional Arts Council for making this happen, and to my fellow UNSCENE Street Team artists: Ben Moss, Taffie Cragon Garsee, John H. Lomax, and Jeormie Journell. See more photos on my Facebook album. Rock on!

Our playground - a recreation of Richard's early workshop space.

Ben and John making magic as Richard looks on.

Experimenting with spray paint on our demo prints.

Drying racks.

Richard during his artist talk - this is some of his "pop schlock" work, as he calls it.

The gang - it was honor to work with these talented artists. Left to right:
Jeormie, me, Ben, Britt, Taffie, Richard, and John.

Happiness Happens Day

With coloring sheets and t-shirts in tow, I headed out to Happiness Happens Celebration Day in Bossier City this past Saturday. The event was put on by Holiday Lanes (in cahoots with the Secret Society of Happy People) and it was a really fun time – bowling, bands, bubbles, hula-hooping, activites, plus TOOMASOOBA coloring pages and free stickers for all.

 My table was outdoors and, no lie, the crayons began to melt after several hours. Holy cow! August in Louisiana ain’t no joke, friends. Below are several photos of happy people being all happy and such – take a look!

Robin put on the event...and chose some great colors for Eureka, too.

A couple of little dudes putting their own spin on RoBoy.

More TOOMASOOBA coloring!

I did not envy the folks rocking out these mascot suits, let me tell ya.

TOOMATUNES Vol. 1

When the time came to find music for our TOOMASOOBA mini-doc, I knew just where to turn — my long-time friend and talented musician, David Brooks. I've known Dave since 8th grade and we've always had a great creative partnership...and before I knew it he had written an AMAZING original soundtrack for the film.

It was so amazing, in fact, that we thought to offer it as a FREE download on Bandcamp! Listen below (and put "0" in the price field) to grab the ready-for-iTunes collection. It not only features the four songs from the doc, but a handful of demos and experiments that led us to the final recordings. Oh, and as an added bonus — 3-year-old Jack Bailey kicks off the collection with a TOOMASOOBA battlecry. I think you'll like it. Download, listen, enjoy, and share!

AHA Moment!

Back in May, I was invited to participate in the Mutual of Omaha 2013 AHA Moment Tour when they rolled through town — and of course I accepted! I shared my passion for art in an Airstream trailer decked out like a mobile studio. It was pretty rad.

Will my TOOMASOOBA ramblings end up on TV? Probably not, but the video is up at their website nonetheless! Check it out below.

Color Schemers

Believe you me, judging the TOOMASOOBA coloring contest was a tough task — but myself, Hector, and Tinker sat down and picked out some favorites! Below you'll find the winners — thanks to everyone who came out to the premiere and a special thanks to those who sat down to put their own spin on TOOMASOOBA characters.

Want to download and color some pages yourself? Well then, click here — Share your work and maybe it'll end up on the website or blog!

Evie's "Blue Fire" Claymore.

Alan's Eureka got big points for adding the spaceship!

Billy's Hector reminds me of David Bowie for some reason.

Hayden's RoBoy brought in a lot of cool patchwork color!

Launch Party Success!

Whew! Between the Shreveport Farmers Market and last week's mini-doc launch party, June has been packed — but I wouldn't have it any other way.

When I decided to create a video for TOOMASOOBA at the beginning of this year, I'd planned to post it on Facebook and that would be it. My girlfriend, however, suggested having a viewing party — and it was a great idea. What I'd initially envisioned as a gathering in my living room for 10 people ballooned into a crazy-awesome time in an amazing venue with well over 100 in attendance.

We had a packed house!

I was even able to raise awareness in town about my work and make an impression that wasn't possible before — I appeared on a local morning news show and was featured in a couple of newspapers as well.

I won't bore you with the details, but a lot of hustle went into the evening and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends. Many thanks to Chris Lyon for producing the mini-doc, David Brooks for creating the original music, Krystle Beauchamp and LaToya Hemphill for making the event (and food) happen, Neil Johnson for the awesome space, Nathan Pizar for being an audio-visual beast, James "Rex" Gilcrease and Mark Flentge for running my merch table, Renzi Center for spreading their mission at the show, and Brandon Oldenburg for sharing kind words while introducing me before the premiere.

My friend (and creative dynamo) Brandon hangin' with Kid Cupcake.

Can't forget my super-cool sponsors, either: Fairfield Studios, Middlebrook Bakery, and Aw, Snap Photography. I was over the moon with the way things went and I truly, truly appreciate the support — now to keep the momentum going!

Below are more photos (you can view a full gallery on Facebook). Did you miss the premiere? No worries, you can watch TOOMASOOBA: The Birth of a Brand right here on YouTube!

When Seth draws TOOMASOOBA, it's always awesome.

A handful of coloring sheets from the evening...contest winners will be announced soon!

Not sure what's going on here with Dylan and April, but I like it.

Hangin' with Ty — he's a good artist and a cool dude.

The McDades represent TOOMASOOBA!

The Mini-Doc is Here

After months of prep with Perennial Media and a hugely successful launch party last Thursday (more on that later this week), I'm finally able to share the mini-doc online! Check out TOOMASOOBA: The Birth of a Brand below, and spread the word to your friends, enemies, lovers, fighters, second cousins, and favorite pets. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out...I hope y'all enjoy.