Hobo Eaters Flyer

Artist statement (dirt on the show):

Hobo Eaters: Agents of Chaos

The term hobo-eater refers to an entity who, through ritual means, would take on by means garbage and liquor the sins of a deceased bum, thus absolving his or her soul and allowing that person of the street to rest in peace.

What was once a ritual performed by beggars and vagabonds in certain villages of bygone years is now performed in a reverse of roles by animated entities who take on the form of the hobo whose diabolical lifestyle is reflected upon the appearance of the hobo-eater. The hobo-eater would be brought to the dying vagrant’s curbside or stoop, where a neighborhood drifter would place a crust of dumpster pizza on the chest of the dying and pass a 40 oz. of malt liquor to him over the corpse. After reciting the ritual, he would then drink and remove the crust from the derelict tramp and eat it, the act of which would remove the sins and deadbeat-scars from the dying transient and take it into himself.

Often times hobo-eaters are not only filled with the sins and scars of the deceased but take on a ghostly appearance, ragged with the lines of deceit and chemical abuse of the former vessel. The result is a vaporous apparition whose tattered clothes and grungy attitude is forever portrayed among the urban environment. Thus the ethereal term Agents of Chaos has come as a contemporary descriptor for these aeon old hobo-eaters who are destined to drift the streets perpetually consuming fiendish souls.

Hobo Eaters 2010 Poster

Below are a few of the Hobo Eaters character pieces that are included in the show:

Vapor Trails:

Vapor Trails Ink & Wood Stain

Vapor Trails Detail

Vapor Trails / Bummin & Runnin

Below are some updated photos of some of the work included in the show. To avoid rambling on too much about all the pieces I am simply posting the pics including the detailed shots of the artwork. Enjoy!

GURU: Inspired by ancient sages of forgotten lore. The word bubble is Chinese for “Knowledge”.

Guru

Guru detail I

Guru detail II

Guru detail III

VAPOR TRAILS: Inspired by all the shredding skateboard bad-asses…you know who you are.

Vapor Trails Ink & Wood Stain

Vapor Trails detail I

Vapor Trails detail II

BUMMIN & RUNNIN: Inspired by old 50’s animations, bums, and liquor.

Bummin & Runnin Ink & Wood Stain

Bummin & Runnin detail I

Bummin & Runnin detail II

RUBIX DUDE:  Inspired by particle theory and physicists worldwide.

Rubix Dude Ink & Wood Stain

Rubix Dude detail I

Rubix Dude detail II

THE SHAMBLER:  Inspired by Scrooge McDuck, Robert Crumb, and A X-Mas Carol.

The Shambler Ink on Wood

The Shambler detail I

The Shambler detail II

CODED: Inspired by zen buddhism and hidden meanings.

Coded Ink on WoodCoded detail I

Coded detail IICoded detail III

ROCKET ROCKER: Inspired by the Rocketeer and dark rockers everywhere.

Rocket Rocker Ink on Wood

Rocket Rocker detail I

Rocket Rocker detail II

AGENT OF CHAOS: Inspired by Hells Angels debauchery.

Agent of Chaos Ink on Wood

Agent of Chaos detail I

Agent of Chaos detail II

Agent of Chaos detail III

LET THE WHEELS BURN: Inspired by Mars Volta album Octahedron

Let The Wheels Burn Ink on Wood

Let The Wheels Burn detail I

Let The Wheels Burn detail II

Let The Wheels Burn detail III

THE MANNIKIN: Inspired by Robert Bloch’s short story The Mannikin from his collection Mysteries of the Worm

The Mannikin Ink on Wood

The Mannikin detail I

The Mannikin detail II

The Mannikin detail III

The Mannikin detail V

LUMBERING JACK: Inspired by chainsaws and the Pacific Northwest.

Lumbering Jack detail I

Lumbering Jack detail II

Lumbering Jack detail IV

BLOOD LIFE: Inspired by gangsta females everywhere.

Blood Life Vector Print Poster

Blood Life detail I

Blood Life detail II

Blood Life detail III

Blood Life detail IV

RUBIX DUDE: 3 versions of all characters. 1. Ink on wood 2. Vector digital design 3. Oil painting.

Rubix Dude Oils

Rubix Dude detail I

Rubix Dude detail II

Rubix Dude detail III

Rubix Dude detail IV

Rubix Dude detail V

Rubix Dude detail VI

MICKSTER MCGEE: Inspired by unicycle chimps, hipsters, scenesters, 80’s cartoons, and underground comics.

Mickster Mcgee Ink on Wood

Mickster McGee detail I

Mickster McGee detail II

Mickster McGee detail III

Mickster McGee detail IV

OL TIMER: Inspired by father time, ferrets, chicken suits, tar & feathers, and explicit street vagrants.

Ol Timer Ink on Wood

Ol Timer detail I

Ol Timer detail II

Ol Timer detail III

PHANTOM BEARD & DOOB: Inspired by Norwegians, black death metal, k-9’s, rebels, counterculture, loud loud loud music.

Phantom Beard & Doob Ink on Wood (unfinished)

Phantom Beard & Doob detail (unfinished)

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished I

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished II

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished III

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished IV

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished V

Phantom Beard & Doob detail finished VI

Where's the bird?

Doob detail

Phantom Beard & Doob detail III

Phantom Beard & Doob detail IV

LYCOSA MASTER: Inspired by wizards, tattoos, medieval sorcerers, devils, demons, warlocks, giant spiders, and reckless gladiators.

Lycosa Master Ink on Wood

Lycosa Master detail I

Lycosa Master detail II

Lycosa Master detail III

Lycosa Master detail IV

Lycosa Master detail V

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For the intro to my process I am going to breakdown how I created Cascade Vagabond which was one of the first characters created from the theme. Cascade Vagabond not only was created as an original piece of art but also ended up as the winter 2009 shop deck for Snowboard Connection.

All designs begin with a light pencil sketch to define the linework that will eventually be the parameters for inking and coloring digitally:

Beery Method : Hobo Eaters

Sketch

After a sketch that defines the characters details I move on to hank inking the characters with Pigma Micron pens on vellum:

Inked

Here is a side by side view:

Inked Detail

After inking I scan the image and vectorize it in Adobe Illustrator. Once all the character is vectorized I move on to adding colors and gradients:

Cascade Vagabond Digital Version

Below is the final image put to product. In this case it is a pro line skateboard. See the blog archive for more close up details:

Cascade Vagabond Skateboard

Here is a breakdown of how I created Rubix Dude who is another character from the Hobo Eaters series:

Sketch / Ink / Original

Sketch / Ink / Original

Here are some close up shots of the materials and process:

Blue Line Sketch

Inked Drawing on Vellum

Ink & Wood Stain

The original piece was done utilizing the sketch by projecting on wood, tracing, hand inking with brush, and painting with wood stain and finish:

Rubix Dude: Ink & Wood Stain

Details

The fact that the above piece is hand inked makes it the “original” and one and only. I can create variations on this design by utilizing the sketch and inked drawing, but every new edition will be different. No one version is alike since I ink by hand using brush and pen. Some versions sit on finished wood, while others are absorbed directly into the grain of the wood piece.

Below is the digital version with added hues, gradients, and tones that make it very different from the original:

Rubix Dude Digital Version

Last but not least I printed up limited edition tees of Rubix Dude by printing transparencies from the vector output and screen printing to garments:

Rubix Dude Tee Shirts

I still have a few of these limited edition tee shirts available. Printed on silver AA fashion fit tees. Please contact me if interested in purchasing!

To continue this thread the following will be most of the characters from the Hobo Eaters: Agents of Chaos series. As to not be redundant I am simply posting the details of the sketches, inked versions, originals on wood, digital versions, and any products created with the designs. Enjoy!

The Shambler:

Sketch

Inked

Sketch / Inked / Original

Sketch Detail

Inked Detail

Original Detail

The Shambler Original

45 Mack:

Sketch / Inked

Inked Detail I

Inked Detail II

Original Detail I

Original Detail II

45 Mack Original

45 Mack Digital Version

Blood Life:

Sketch

Inking

Blue Line & Ink on Vellum I

Blue Line & Ink on Vellum II

Unfinished Inking Detail

Ink Detail II

Blood Life Digital Version

Coded:

Sketch & Ink

Sketch Detail

Ink Detail I

Ink Detail II

Coded Digital Version

Ol Timer:

Ink Beginnings on Wood

Final Inks on Wood

Ol Timer Tee

Ol Timer Digital Version

Rocket Rocker:

This design actually started in reverse. I did a digital rendering in Corel Painter which I then vectorized in Adobe Illustrator and added halftones. This design was eventually picked up by a Seattle skateboard company Nomadic.

Rocket Rocker Ink on Wood

Rocket Rocker Skateboard

Bummin & Runnin:

This design started as a pencil rendering which I then scanned and added a couple layers of highlights and midtones. It was originally created for soft goods production and ended up on tee shirts which are available from Portland OR based Tilteed.

Bum & Run Original

Bum & Run Detail I

Bum & Run Detail II

Bum & Run Detail III

Bum & Run Ink & Wood Stain

Bummin & Runnin Digital Version

Bum & Run Tee Shirts

As this post has become lengthy with photos of my process from concept to finals and even products I am going to put the rest of this series of characters in the following post regarding the Hobo Eaters show and series…

Beery Method Design Studio

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