Rock On!

When I was approached by the 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame' to design the poster for their 'Summer in the City' event I swung back in my chair and played air guitar to celebrate.

They liked the tribal tattoo art I've done so I agreed to work in that style.

I have to admit I am not exactly a 'Head Banger'. I grew up listening to classic rock with bands such as 'Journey', 'Dire Straits' and 'Huey Lewis and the News' and my personal childhood favorite which class mates paid me to draw on their pee-chee and jean jackets 'KISS'. Actually my first ever paying commercial gig was to draw Peter Criss for a neighborhood kid who lived down the street, but that's another story.

On this project I knew I wanted to do a flaming type of guitar motif but I knew it had to reflect enough of the real thing or else I would run the risk of getting ultra-scrutinized by Rockers everywhere. So I asked my buddy a true 'Head Banger' to be my art consultant to make sure I was on the right track visually speaking.

(Click Image to View Poster)

Vonster Doodle Brushes

I love to doodle. Doesn't matter where I am at or what I am doing if I have a chance to put something on paper chances are I'll be all over it. I've found that if I am in a meeting I can pay better attention if I am doodling. My mind doesn't wander. I save all my doodles too. I have binders full of them that I can refer back to years later. It's fun seeing these obscure thoughts and images captured in a moment of time.

I took a handful of them and have created some Photoshop brushes.
Download the 'Doodle Brush' set here.

The Bat is Back!

I am constantly amazed at the variety of people who view my web site and take the time to email me with a response. It's a whole lot of fun hearing back from people in regards to my work. One style that has caught the attention of a lot of tattoo lovers nationwide is the tribal face tattoo art I do. Recently an ad agency guy in Florida contacted me about designing a personal tattoo he could have on his back.

He wanted a bat tattoo in the tribal style. So below is the art I created. I mocked up the tattoo on the back just so you could see how it would look in context. It's kind of strange knowing that someone will be walking around with my art on their body and then eventually be buried with it someday.

Now if I can only get someone to let me do a monkey on their back, now that would be fun!

(Black and White Art)


(Tattoo on Back)

Portrait - Jacob Renfold

Back in like 1995 me and my wife noticed our phone blinking meaning there was a message left. I went over to the phone and hit the button to listen and the following message played.

"Hello this is Jacob Renfold. I called to get my ears cleaned. I think there full of wax. I can call back again later. Thank you."

At first I thought it was my goofy friend Matt who loves to do stuff like this just to mess with my head. But then the more I listened to it I realized some elderly guy had dialed the wrong phone number. I saved the message and then played it for my wife a few minutes later. We both laughed.

We kept that message saved for about five years until we had to switch our phone service. We'd play it for friends who came by to visit. How odd that a complete stranger would be such a source of entertainment for us without him ever knowing about it. It made us both wonder over the years who Jacob Renfold is and if he ever got his ears cleaned?

Fear of Math

I've been asked many times how I knew I wanted to do this for a living. I have often replied by saying "Fear of math." You see it was a clear case of math anxiety that would ultimately lead me into a career in communication arts. You see Pythagorus, and his numerical cronies equations never came easy for me, and the thought of college level mathematics kind of freaked me out so when an art school rep came by our class in high school I immediately knew I had found a creative escape route via art.

The style of this piece is basically how I draw when I am just entertaining myself. Most of the time I have no idea up front as to what I will be drawing or how it will come out, I just pick up a pen and let it simply flow out of me onto the paper. I often look at the art and try to figure out what if anything makes any kind of coherent sense on any level. Sometimes I am surprised by what I discover and other times I have no clue why I drew it, I just did. So I guess I enjoy the mystery of this style?

Lately I've been wanting to use it for a paying gig but couldn't find a good fit. That is until I got a call from an agency who was wanting background art created for the next incarnation of Windows Messenger they were developing a special site for. I immediate thought of this style and asked them for direction in terms of content etc. and they literally said the only limitation to the art is "No naked people or guns. Other then that anything goes." I responded "Giddy up!"

Thus 'Fear of Math' was born.

(Click for larger preview)

Super Doodle

As you've probably noticed by now my blog header and footer contains an illustration I created. I've never posted it on this blog but it's one of my all time favorites.

I call this style my doodle style. Most of the heavy lifting creatively speaking is done outside the box (computer) I use a black flair pen and just start drawing. When done I scan it into Photoshop and start painting in colors and textures.

Don't ask me what it means because I don't have a clue. That said, you'll notice desert landscapes, serpents, flames, winged creatures, hands and nebulous shapes are common themes that appear often in this style.

This specific piece I labeled 'Super Doodle'. That is because the original was about 12 inches long. It was a personal piece I did for myself. Up until the time I did this I had never used this style commercially. It's been one of those styles I've kept to myself. But recently I've decided to leverage this style and use it in a current project I am working on. I'll post more on that later.