This section contains a wide selection of the people and places that contribute and inform my work as a artist, human, and/or cubicle dweller. At the top, a regular "Who's Who" of idealistic genius losers, workaholic film makers, lovable eccentrics, and talented but ultimately doomed misfits - a real Rogue's Gallery.

My understanding of living as an artist in a industry that tends to chew up artists comes partially from how these extraordinary people succeeded and also failed. Below this gallery you'll find a short resource section with interesting web sites I've come across. If you find a broken link, true believers, please report it.

Ralph Bakshi, (1934 - ), Animator and Artist that created some of the most emotionally resounding animated films of the 1960's and 70's including Wizards, The Lord of the Rings, and Heavy Metal all using rotoscope and beautifully hand drawn cels. He is rumored to be cantankerous.

Jello Biafra, (1958 - ), Punk and political icon of the West Coast Jello (aka Eric Boucher or Osama McDonald) has been involved in his own searing brand of social justice since the late 1970's - even running for Mayor of San Francisco at the age of 21. He's recently had his legal action against his former band The Dead Kennedys dropped and owes them $200,000 in bogus fines and court costs. Hell of a thank you. eh? Don't worry, in a culture that worships excess and greed - there's always room for Jello...

Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett, (1910 - 1976), One of the finest and most original of the Mississippi blues men. He had such a raw rich sound that, in his mid-sixties, he went on to perform with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and influence both Led Zeppelin and the Doors.

William "Bill" Burroughs, (1914 - 1997), A haunted titan of literature who lived it like he wrote it. Old Bill was a deeply troubled man with a lifelong addiction to junk that only seemed to fuel his genius. His career stretched across five decades from Kerouac and Ginsberg to Gus Van Sant and Kurt Kobain.

Tim Burton, (1958 - ), This eccentric, talented, and unique artist/animator/director has been a force in film and animation since making "Vincent" with voice-over courtesy of Burton's long-time idol Vincent Price. Years later Burton would direct him again (in Price's final film role) in Edward Scissorhands.

David Cronenberg, (1943 - ), One of the best directors working today - with a body of films that includes Naked Lunch, The Fly, Videodrome, and Shivers. I had the luck to meet him in Minneapolis after a film screening and lecture. The softest mitts in Canada and a wild sense of humor. His daughter, Denise Cronenberg, is a SFX make-up artist and headed up the work on the excellent Dawn of the Dead re-make. The current phase of his career is in great shape with Eastern Promises and A History of Violence winning commercial and critical success.

Robert Crumb, (1943 - ), Infamous comic book artist of the 1960's and 70's. He now lives in southern France, has grown a professor beard, and is suing Amazon.com over trademark violations.

Mark Oliver Everett, (1963 - ),The Eels are the compulsively creative Mark Everett. The live show wanders from pointed humor to melodic moments. Everett reaches inside personal tragedy to form it into a musical journey.

The Eels official web site claims that Everett responded to a request for a quote for Kurt Cobain's posthumously published diaries saying: "Please don't do this to me after I kill myself."

Dian Fossey, (1932 - 1985 ), Dian Fossey was one of renowned paleontologist Louis Leakey's trio of handpicked long-term field anthropologists that included Jane Goodall in Tanzania and Birute Galdikas in Malaysia.

Dian attended a lecture by Dr. Leakey on Great Apes and visited the Leakeys in 1963 in Tanzania. In 1967 she established Karisoke Research Center. She trained anti-poaching rangers in the volatile border region between the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. Over the course of her career, she worked with National Geographic photographer Bob Cambell on ground breaking studies about endangered mountain gorillas in the war zone.

In 1985, after two decades of fighting for the gorillas, Dian was murdered. The killer has never been brought to justice. According to Wikipedia, the last words in her journal were: "No, I won't let them turn this mountain into a goddamn zoo."- referring to the Virunga Mountains where Dian was eventually buried in Karisoke Cemetery right next to her friend, Digit one of the many mountain gorillas she spent her life defending.

Jim Henson, (1936 - 1990), Being an 80's kid, I was enthralled with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. When I saw The Dark Crystal - it blew me away even as a kid. It still remains one of my favorites. Without a doubt, Jim Henson continues to make a positive impact on generations of kids and adults alike.

Lewis Hine, (1874 - 1940), Lewis, born in Oshkosh WI., studied Sociology at the University of Chicago then Columbia. He turned his photographic talent to documenting the strength of men, women, and children surrounded by crushing poverty.

Hine traveled with the Red Cross to Europe, worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority during the Great Depression in America, and helped end exploitation of Child Labor with his photos of sweat shops in New York and coal mines in Pennsylvania. Among his most famous photos are of immigrant families coming to America at Ellis Island among his last were of the Empire State Building being built.

Jack "The King" Kirby, (1917 - 1994), He defined the look and feel of almost every popular Marvel (and it's prior incarnation Timely) comic powerhouse of the 1960's. Most notably, his one of a kind work on The Fantastic Four and Silver surfer still reverberates in pop, animation, and comic culture today. Long live the King!

Dexter Romweber, (1966 - ), From nuts and bolts Rock 'n Roll to Rock-a-Billy, Dexter Romweber's prolific musical output only continues to grow. He claims Elvis, The Coasters, and Pavement and is still cranking out music years after the 1999 break up of one the most influential groups of our time The Flat Duo Jets.

Syd Mead, (1934 - ), One the most successful concept artists in movie history with credits like TRON, Star Wars and Blade Runner being his most widely recognized accomplishments.

Hunter S. Thompson, (1937 - 2005), “One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” The gnarled wooden bastard finally quit the battlefield - leaving us alone to brood on it. He turned writing into a contact sport and made no excuses for it.

As the web continues to expand it's rubbery tentacles across the planet - the quality of work has begun to mature. Take some time to explore these sites that I've come across.

NonRom Hunter's KFS Animation and Design in MPLS, MN.

NonIllustrator Jesse Philips is the man who smiles but eats your lunch anyway New Mexico.

NonIllustration-styled animations at SCHIZOID BRAIN. En Francais, biznatches.

NonMr. Alan Rath is hot for robots.

NonAdam Luhrman is the best screen printer in Minnesota.