I’ve been working with NestEgg Builders for close to 8 years now and we’re always coming up with new ways to reach out to agents and help them make their business easier with fantastic back office support. Back in ’04  we created Earl E. Bird, a mascot for fiscal and smart financial planning. If you go to his site www.earlebird.com you’ll find a blog dedicated to educating the consumers on how to invest wising in the future. The concept is take the MetLife campaign with Snoopy and flip it on its ear. With a crazy cast of character we plan on changing the way the American Saver buys annuities for there retirement. After the break you can see the rest of characters created to accompany Earl on his journey.

Because the alternative is unacceptable. I’ve worked my entire adult life. Even part of teenage years starting at age 14. I’ve worked for small businesses and large corporations. I even did a stint working for a non-profit for 5 years. At each opportunity the outcome was the same, either I walked away or I was asked to leave.

Most people shun the times they were fired but I wear them as a badge of honor. Every time I’ve been fired it reaffirmed that I can’t be tied down to a desk in someone else’s office affixed to their arbitrary schedule of when I should be creative. I am not a 9 to 5 guy. I’m not a morning person. I generate my creativity when I am inspired. Which is something the corporate world doesn’t understand.

Artists aren’t based on numbers (unless its fractal design) or accustomed to manufactured creativity. The best artistic moments of my life came during moments when I wasn’t thinking about what I should do. An artist needs the flexibility to seek out inspiration in moments of frustration or when one can’t really perceive an innovative way to produce the desired message in their current work.

A 9 to 5 doesn’t allow this. You can’t do this when IT is tracking every website you surf. HR is counting every second you are away from your desk.  How can you seek out new direction when your connection to social media is blocked. Your email is monitored. You put creative shackles on every time you log onto your computer at work.

I don’t thrive in that environment. If I can help it, I’ll never have to spend another moment in the corporate landscape. I enjoy my freedom. It makes me a better artist and person. I need to come and go as I please its the American way. The self-employed life is harder by all means. You never know when you’ll get your next client. Will they pay on time? How will I pay for health insurance? Should I work or clear one more undiscovered fort in Skyrim? What’s new on Netflix?

A job is stability. Self-employment is freedom. As that old saying goes “freedom doesn’t come easy.” If I have to choose between a cushy, restrictive job that I hate or a hard, fulfilling life of creative freedom; that’s an easy choice to make.

So if you ask me, why am I self-employed? Its because to me the alternative is a creative death sentence.

written in a coffee shop at 12pm on a Friday afternoon.

There are many things that I excel at: Illustration, graphic design, making women laugh, playing StarCraft 2, being a good dad… The one thing that has always escaped me these many years has been my ability to paint. My skill in that is god awful. I’ve tried time and time again and I just get frustrated. So over the weekend. I bought a set of acrylic paints, brushes and a pad with the goal to do like I did with everything else… teach myself how to paint. Eventually I’ll take a class but for now I’ll just mess around and see what transpires. What do you think?

If you’ve been following my Facebook Page The Atlas of Pope, You would get the latest info on new projects that I create. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of T-Shirt design and art shows. I’ve decided to create more art on a more frequent basis with hopes of keeping my work circulating and your interest high. First up is my Carmen Sandiego shirt inspired by a meme I saw last week with Waldo with the same concept. I saw and immediately thought of her. Boom, bam, new t-shirt. Don’t forget to buy a shirt or sticker right this instant.

Check out the other shirts after the break.

Next up I went back and did a full color version of my RoboHolmes Tshirt (check out the original here). I think having it in full color makes it more interesting and hopefully more appealing to customers. What do you think? Don’t forget to buy a shirt or sticker right this instant.

Over the summer I participated in a contest for PLNDR and won to the thrill of the masses. Now its finally on sale. It looks really great can’t wait to wear this shirt. You can see a close up version of the shirt but checking out the product page here. Don’t forget to buy one right this instant.

Well that’s all the new stuff. Next week I’ll be posting up flicks and images of the show I did at Ella on the 10th.

I love Halloween its the one time in the year where you can let your crazy out and nobody cares. Over the last few years my friends and I usually dress up in a group character. One year we were all ninjas and another year we were Terminators. This year not so much. So since we can’t decide I’m gonna be Nick Fury, which everyone has been asking me to be since Sam Jackson took the role. Easiest costume ever… I got the bald head and beard already locked down. I just need an eye patch and a turtle neck. What are you gonna be this year?

To me, Red Fox is a legend. While growing up I watched reruns of “Sanford and Son” and loved his brash brand of humor. He was the king of the put down joke and would battle endlessly with is co-star, LaWanda Page aka Aunt Ester. One of my favorite performances was he played in Harlem Nights with Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. The old near-blind card dealer, Bennie Wilson. Being only 35 I wasn’t even alive when he was starting out doing stand up but his TV shows and Movie career made him a comedy legend in my eyes. So this is a small tribute to a comedy great. Congrats Fred, you finally made it home to Elizabeth.

“After awaking in crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan sometime in the near future, Sherlock Holmes is killed and rebuilt as a super-human cyborg detective known as “RoboHolmes”.”

That’s the story of Sherlock Holmes replacing Murphy as the cop working for Detroit Police force. This is the first piece in my mashup series I got a couple more in the works. If you want to wear this on your chest head over to my RedBubble Page.

My goal is to produce as much work as possible and post it on this site whenever I can. With that said here is Steampunk Spider-man. With his hydraulic based webshooters and climbing mechanism, Steampunk Spidey can climb any surface and fights crime in this industrialized city of New York.

I think I’m gonna turn this into a t-shirt and sticker which you can find over at my Red Bubble store.

As I’m still waiting to hear about the outcome of the PLNDR contest I put this poster together. My friends any I were discussing the legacy of Lebron James. Of all the stars in the history of sports none have been more scrutinized as he has. Yes they call him “King James” and yes he anointed himself “The Chosen One.” with that tattoo. He is constantly analyzed and dissected by media and sports reporters. A year ago he participated in the Decision and just yesterday EPSN2 did a two hour recap of the effects of this show one year later. Who does that? 

Love him or hate him, LeBron has left a mark on the sports world. He’ll definitely make the hall of fame whether Cleveland wants to see him fail or not.

So I can’t paint. Well, I can. I’m just not that good at it. One of my summer goals is to learn how to do it more proficiently. I think part of it has to do with the amount of time I spend actually painting… the other part of it has to do with learning to master lighting better then I currently do. My plan is to spend roughly 10 hours on this piece. Working and re-working the shapes, lighting and textures of this piece. Each hour I’m gonna create a jpeg to show the progress. This is the results of the first 3hrs. After the jump you’ll see how it all began. 

Hour Zero: Rough sketch to layout the face so I have something to work with.

Hour One: Laying down flat colors to start building the shape.

Hour Two: Filling out the hair and cleaning up the line weights of the painting.

FYI, I used a lot of reference to do this piece… a lot. Basically I worked from a photo. But I’m just using this as a process to understand things better then I currently do. Hope you enjoy this look into my process of self education.