The Art of Samax Amen
It's Just Goldie by Samax David Rodriguez and Playdough KILLED it at Hip Hop Helps Heal! Playdough is one of my favorite rappers, and David Rodriguez has got the live art performance on lock... so when the two combined unexpectedly at last weekend's Hip Hop Helps Heal show, it was out-of-control-awesome! ArtLoveMagic dropped the videos on their youTube page, and i combined 'em together into one playlist for easy viewin' pleasure!
enjoy!
-samax
Hey Fam!
i did this a few years ago, when i first started freelancing. The client owns a shop that makes stuff for people in black fraternities and sororities. after doing a few pieces for him, he just stopped giving me work all at once. he never told me what the problem was, and to my knowledge never printed any of the pieces i made for him.
i'll be in the house doing live art for this Hip Hop show benefitting The Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas. If you're gonna be in Dallas on Saturday June 13th, swing by the Bone and drop $5 to help stop Domestic Violence. among others, look for the poets and artists of ArtLoveMagic, plus the rhyming excellece of Playdough, Solomon Infinite, and more, combining to bring you more art, rapping and assorted what not than you can shake a stick at. let your weekend boozing serve a purpose! i'll be doing live art, and i'll bring some books and other stuff to sell. sponsored by mad folks... click the flyer to enlarge.
Serene by samax.
those geniuses at Lulu.com decided to list my book Spontaneous: Spring 2008
on Amazon.com! that's awesome because i know some people don't want to buy it straight from me (for whatever reason). in other totally awesome news, Lulu has removed the 30% markup they put on the books they list! so you can get that joint for just $24.95. anyways, if you already have it, help me out by going to amazon and rating it and writing a review. i appreciate the feedback, plus it helps them recommend the book to people they think will like it. once your review is visible, send me a link and there might be a FREE gift in it for you!
during my Sketch Fundraiser last week, one girl popped up asking for a drawing of her original comicbook character KaMu. it was a nice change of pace, since for the most part, i'm doing fairly realistic portraits for the Sketch Drive. this was particularly fun to draw. i banged it out with a ballpoint pen i stole from my wife. hey! she gaffled it from her job... i just took it back for the black man!
Okay, so last week i finished the graphic novel i was working on for my client, and i just finished reading the script for my SECOND assignment from them! this one is a little bit shorter, but it will still be a great assignment for me. this one will give me a chance to work on my horror storytelling skills. it's a prequel to the previous books, focusing on some of the older characters when they were younger, and revolves around ghost stories!
yo... i'm working hard these days, tryn'a wrap up this graphic novel asap. here's a panel from page 67. the client is really wanting me to go as fast as possible, but the story is so well written that i find myself wanting to do it justice... what a dilemna to be in, huh? so i'm cutting corners where ever i can, but it's getting to a really juicy place in the script! ah, what's a boy to do?
the event was at the Deep Ellum Community Center in downtown Dallas, so i saddled-up rolled out. even though i had to be there at the ghastly hour of 8:30 am (yes, freelancing from home has spoiled me) i was actually on-time and ready to rock! and rock it did! Mike and I did a drawing demonstation, but there were painters, a potter and graf artists in the house sharing the love of the art with these kids, who were mad eager to learn and show what they could do as well! 
it's very rewarding to get a chance to touch somebody's life, especially kids. Artists are so seldom seen as valuable for teaching kids not only about art but also about life in general, but that's what makes artLoveMagic cool, 'cause that's what we do. i encourage artists to look for opportunities large or small to teach what they do. 
one of the downsides of being a freelancer is that you don't get sick days, so i've been drawing through my flu-like symptoms (which my doctor insures me are not Swine-Related) as much as possible, trying to knock out more pages and get to bed. i do take breaks to play with my daughter, watch teevee, read comics (and write reviews like this Kill Bill joint) etc. 
anyways, i made mad progress today, so yay me! So here's a couple panels from the comic i'm working on now. i'm about 2/3 finished with it, and completing pages much faster than when i started. as much as i appreciate the assignment (and the money!), i'll breath a big fat sigh of relief when it's done. it looks like i will be getting more work after this from the client, so i'm excited about the light i see at the end of this tunnel. oh well, i hope everyone had a good saturday! now i gotta get back to my orange juice and drawing board...
greetings, party people! congratulate yourself for getting through monday alive! i've been sluggin' away on my freelance project, watching a lotta basketball games, and trying to master the art of twitter. jury's out on that, but here's a panel from page 55.