Usually I have more than one project going on at once, so here’s the scoop-a-loop on the other illustration I’ve got in the works. If people tell me they like my work for whatever reason, a good chunk of the time their favorite is the one with the pigeons looking depressed and drinking away their sorrows at a bar, which is deliciously titled “Stool Pigeons.” Since I live by the ocean for a good chunk of the year, and some people and watering holes have asked for copies of the Stool Pigeons painting to hang up, I decided to do a more appropriate bar painting, with seagulls instead of pigeons. But the main reason I’m doing it is so I can name it “Sand Bar.”
There’s a little more of a story with this one than with the pigeons. The jukebox screeches to a halt when a crab, thinking he’s in for the night of his life, walks into a bar infested with seagulls, who want to eat him. I’m trying to represent every stereotype of a bar crowd in this one: the Sam Malone of seagulls is hitting on a lovely dame; a big fat party animal is drooling over the sight of the crab, even though he has a plate in front of him; the biker gulls are playing pool in the background. And obviously in the shadows there is the gull who is staring into his empty mug, drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Everybody stops to feast their eyes on the entree that just walked in the door (except the depressed gull, who is mesmerized by the pain of his life). That’s pretty much where I’m at with it right now – I do want to make it a lot more detailed than my other bar scene, with a lot of little things to notice.
