April: AoM. Nick Pendleton.
It's time for a new artist. The month has turned and the style is shifting. Nick has done some freelance work for BitB in the past, including shirts like "Live Your Dreams" and "Sock Monkey" ...which hasn't made it to the presses yet, but it will shortly. After following his works, we knew he was going to be someone that we wanted to showcase. Style, artistic ability, and humor. Three things required to be a shoe-in for our selection commitee. Well. I'm the boring writer, let me kick things over to Rebecca Riot. She is the one that gets paid, I'm just the one that laughs.
- Tom
Designs this month are brought to us by Nick Pendleton who, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a bit of a jack of all trades. The bio on his blog lists "Illustrator, writer, designer, producer, voice actor" as his resume`, if you will, and he's got the links to back it up. Definitely surf on over and take a look at them.. as soon as you're done reading this, of course. When asked how he got into at least the art portion of that round-up of talent, Nick says that while he's pretty sure all kids draw, he was one of the ones who just never stopped doing it. He's had a little schooling here and there but it seems like for the most part he's just got a natural talent for it that he has been able to translate into his professional life, which also includes experience in the world of publishing. As far as what mediums he enjoys producing art in, he tells us that both pen and brush ink are his favorite and that he also enjoys sculpting with wood and plaster. Painting, however, he is not such a big fan of, saying that although he did experiment with it a little while he was in school he never really enjoyed it all that much and so after that, he just never really returned to that medium.
No worries, though, for we'd say that whatever appeal painting doesn't hold for him is more than made up in the myriad other projects Nick has worked on or is working on. Not only has he done voice over work for radio productions, but he also writes/co-writes his own comic stories (as well as illustrating them), has written a collection of short stories, is in the process of writing a novel, and is also currently involved in both writing stories for and designing cover art for a short story collection called COVER STORIES: A Euphictional Anthology.. According to Nick, the concept of euphiction is that of "a type of flash fiction inspired by a piece of music," what he equates to "the literary version of a music video." He says he's written ten pieces based on Interpol songs that will appear in the second COVER STORIES, which comes out on June 21st of this year (which is World Music Day.)
As far as his voice over work, Mr. Pendleton seems to lament a little the fact that most of the projects he donated his time and talents do never came to fruition for whatever reason-- Be it the editing out of the character he was voicing, the project fizzling out, or as in the case of one, the discovery that the writer had plagiarized the majority of the script. He says that it was just something he was doing for fun after he'd started recording readings of short stories for his own podcast, when he tried out for parts in amateur productions of radio plays, something he's always loved. Now he devotes that time and energy to reading for his podcast, MusionCast, which started out as a venue for showcasing his own fiction but has as of late, he tells us, expanded to include the work of other writers he is friends with. Not to be deterred by his less-than-stellar experience in the world of professional voice-acting, Nick says that he would still someday like to try his hand at recording an audiobook.
And now, moving along to the reason why Nick is with us this month. He tells us that he has actually done some designs for clothing before, although it was more along the lines of making custom t-shirts and other clothing for his kids in their younger years. (So. Jealous.) He says he also did silk screening back in his high school days, when he made t-shirts featuring a character of his own creation, Mr. Condom. Nick says that the shirts were popular among his friends but not so much so with the administration at his school, who banned the articles of clothing. He also says that having the design he'd created be censored at school made him feel like a little bit of a rebel or a bad boy, but that it was ironic because it's not like he was even getting laid. Oh, to be a teenage nerd again.
We're pretty sure that none of Nick's designs for Bored in the Basement are going to get you kicked out of school or anything, although he does say that they (like most of his art) are reminiscent of the things he loved in childhood-- growing up in the 70's and 80's and being nostalgic for that, he thinks, are what inspire a lot of his art.. Much like, he points out, it seems most of the world is doing given the abundance of remakes in everything from music/movies/tv to toys and candy. Fair enough, personally this writer felt like a few of his designs were slightly MTV-ish, from back when MTV used to actually play music and then those cartoons between videos that would gross your parents out.. An era I think most people are probably nostalgic for.
Nick also says that designing for clothing as opposed to creating/drawing concepts for comic books (and other projects he's involved in) is quite different. He tells us he feels like when designing for a t-shirt, it is important to convey what he calls a "conceptually whole" image-- both the image and the concept must come across together, and as a whole, at the same time rather than, for instance, being able to develop a plot or concept over the course of a short story or comic book. He says it also needs to be something that will grab peoples' attention and not only make them want to buy the shirt, but also make them want to wear it repeatedly rather than put it on once and then relegate it to the corner of a dresser until the day comes when it's used as a rag for a car wash. And lastly, you want it to be something that people will remember, a lasting impression, that they will hopefully tell their friends about, who in turn will also go looking for the t-shirt. (Remember: boredinthebasement.com for all your t-shirt needs!)
And you know, of course, that we had to throw in the completely irrelevant questions.. and we did.. however, one of Nick's answers really jumped struck a chord and so, we leave you on that note.
BitB: Dream concert line-up? And why?
I'm turning 38 in May, so I no longer have the constitution for large concerts like I once did. But I would absolutely dig a sort of Austin City Limits type venue - maybe a bit smaller, more intimate - with groups like The National, Interpol, Grizzly Bear, Steve Mason (formerly of the Beta Band), The The, Blonde Redhead, Tori Amos, Dean & Britta, and probably Mike Doughty (only he would be forbidden to play anything from the album Golden Delicious). Then at the end of the night, when we were all drunk, we'd resurrect Ian Curtis and rock out to Joy Division until sun up. Something like that would be awesome.
Sounds like an excellent time to us, Nick. .. Are we invited, or are we just gonna have to crash it?
-RR
