Friday, January 28, 2011

From The Vault: Bruce Hornsby - 2001

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I don't remember the particulars of this piece, other than musician Bruce Hornsby was running a contest for artists to design his next tour t-shirt (I think) and the winning entry would get free tix to a concert and some other freebies, not to mention the chance for their work to be seen all over the country, if not the world.

I designed this piece, very soon after I started doing all my work digitally. Looking back over it now, it seems like a pretty weak illustration--not enough detail, and I don't know what the hell I was thinking not coloring his left sleeve, that just looks weird--but at the time it was where I was at. So I was happy with it, and sent it in.

A few weeks later, I was told that I didn't win the contest, but Bruce Hornsby was so impressed with it that I was sent an unscheduled, unplanned "second prize" award, which was free tickets to a show. To say I was thrilled was an understatement!

I never ended up claiming the tickets, because I never was that huge a Hornsby fan (I saw him once live, and while it was a fine show--he even whipped out a Dylan cover--it didn't inspire me to go see him again). But that vote of confidence (Bruce Hornsby made the extra effort to say how much he liked what I did!) really helped me keep going during that dark time in my career when I wasn't landing any work, and wondered if I ever would.

Thanks, Bruce!


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