"Congratulations! It's a Beast!" -- BeastPop Artworks is born!

Welcome to BeastPop ArtWorks! BeastPop is my brand new art and design brand borne from the ashes of PopMonkey Illustration. Why has PopMonkey been put to rest? Well, my personal (and professional) life has been a tumultuous and stressful storm for the past year or so, and I have been feeling the increasing need to just escape from all of that and start over, so to speak. I needed to rethink some things, get my rear in gear and my ducks in a row (or at least attempt to) and seriously refocus my efforts on who I am and where I want my art career to go. The personal stuff is still being worked out (and certainy impacts the professional efforts at times), but it’s time to go whole-hog or get off the dance floor, if I might juggle some metaphors!



I have operated under the Pop-Monkey brand for several years now, and in that time there have been several other “Pop-Monkeys” that have cropped up in the world of art and design -- most recently a major television production group with the same name has been created, so the name felt used and no longer exclusively mine. Even if I hadn’t felt burnt out and in need of a rebirth, there would have been some confusion and legal hassles down the line. In essence, Pop-Monkey needed to die, so that BeastPop could rise from the ashes. Don't worry, it was a nearly painless and quick death.



So, what does BeastPop represent? Well, not much has changed, stylistically. I am continually growing and developing as an artist (thank God), and I seem to be trending away from the overly cartoony/simple aspects of my work that held sway earlier on. The emphasis and influences are still the same: pop art, comic book, animation and pulp-inspired illustration and design. My tools are still very limited given my budget and workspace (near-nonexistent), but I do what I can with what I have, and I hope to make a serious push into the professional field starting... now!



There's a lot of posting to come as I've got some stuff saved up and I'm constantly working on new things, but we'll kick this blog off with some of my banner/ logo designs I cooked up. Enjoy and stick around!