Black Bulb Podcast

This week, Black Bulb Podcast is joined by Winston the Whale (https://www.instagram.com/winstonthewhale/?hl=en), a well-known tattoo artist based in Portland. He moved here nine years ago from Charlotte, North Carolina, and was heavy into graffiti writing. After some incidents, he started to rethink his art choices and decided to make stickers. Initially, he had a clown, an owl, and a blob. That blob eventually became a whale and became his icon. His tattooing however started off by doing stick and poke for a few friends and grew to become what it is today.

He has done interviews with both Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, which were then reposted by MTV and Teen Vogue as well as gained traction on Reddit, about his anaglyph 3D tattoos. This helped create more buzz around his anaglyph 3D style of tattooing, and tattooing became his career.

As always, thank you to Cascade Street Distillery (http://cascadestreetdistillery.com/) for providing their wonderful spirits for our podcast. We are always thankful to take part in sipping their alcohol as it is always a delight!

This week, McMonster (https://www.instagram.com/mc__monster/?hl=en) joins us on Black Bulb Podcast. An art style that is described as "whimsical," "dark," and "magical" graces our presence. While living in Austin, Texas, he sold some paintings and realized it was easy to do. He ended up making more money selling his paintings than he did working screen printing for 12 hours a day for 2 weeks. Here is his full story!

Next Halloween, him and Dr. Scott are putting on a show that everyone must see, so be sure to check it out!

As always, thanks to Cascade Street Distillery (http://cascadestreetdistillery.com/) for providing their wonderful alcohol for the show!

Coming from a family of artists, Mentalben (https://www.instagram.com/mentalben69/) (real name: Benjamin William Adams) has pursued art all of his life. He joins Alex and Ben this week on Black Bulb Podcast to discuss his history in the industry over a nice pour of Cascade Street Distillery's South Sister Gin. Mentalben is a sculptor, illustrator, animator, photographer, author, and carries a wide array of other talents. He attended Pacific Northwest College of Art in 1987, which at the time, was a part of the Portland Art Museum, as an illustration major before ultimately dropping out in 1989 as he had found a job. This job landed him at Will Vinton Studios, home of the California Raisins, where he worked for a year. While there, however, he decided to learn how to sculpt. With help and guidance, he learned how to do it in six months, which the work culminated in him creating a Michael Jackson Raisin. This was eventually given to Michael Jackson as a gift. Following that, he took an internship at Disney in Florida. Fast forward to 2006, Mentalben ended up at Laika (successor to Will Vinton Studios) where he was a development artist for the Boxtrolls and continued working there for 10 years. He is also an author of the Munchy Crunchy Bug Book. Check out the rest of the episode to hear more about Mentalben's life and his seeing of Portland change as a native throughout the years!

Mentalben also has an upcoming show, In the Valley of She, with many other artists where the art is based on 70's erotica. It will be in early March at Brassworks Gallery. We will update this post once we have the official dates and times.

As always, thanks to Cascade Street Distillery (http://cascadestreetdistillery.com/) for providing us with their absolutely delicious alcohol! It is always a treat to crack open a bottle and enjoy a smooth pour of any one of Cascade Street Distillery's available selection.

Bryce "Sandman" Wong (https://www.instagram.com/bbbrycewong/) joins Black Bulb Podcast this week to discuss his work and art. His name, Sandman, comes from a joke back in college. They would drink 4Loko, claiming to look for fights, but never fought anyone. His friends would ask, "All right, Bryce, who're you going to knock out? Who're you going to put to sleep?" However, a co-worker at Nike years later asked if he wanted to be called "Sandman." Bryce responded positively, and that was that. His co-worker has been introducing him as "Sandman" since. Bryce has been drawing his whole life and attended design school. Midway through his focus on product design, he realized he did not want to draw chairs, speakers, and the like. This has lead him to where he is now. Check out the episode to hear the rest of Bryce's story!

If you wish to check out Bryce's hard to navigate website, you can find it here: https://www.therealbrycewong.com/

As always, thanks to Cascade Street Distillery (http://cascadestreetdistillery.com/) for providing us with their delicious alcohol that has kept our hosts and guests (when they drink) relaxed and happy!

Spread over two days, Black Bulb Podcast hosted Manatee Commune (https://twitter.com/ManateeCommune) (real name: Grant Eadie) killing a bottle of Cascade Street Distillery's Broken Top in the process. Manatee Commune is an electronic artist from Washington State with genres described as similar to Odessa and Bonobo. He has been producing under the name Manatee Commune for five years, and his efforts have been paying off with an impressive Spotify biography boasting of his achievements. Although this was not his initial choice in life, he had planned on becoming an architect as a kid and envisioned himself as an orchestral performer with his viola; however, he fell in love with production while attending college in Bellingham, and this has lead him to where he is now. Check out the rest of the episode to learn more about Manatee Commune!

https://www.manateecommune.co/

As always, thanks to our sponsor Cascade Street Distillery (http://cascadestreetdistillery.com/) for providing their wonderful alcohol!

Esque brings a modern touch to a traditional style of illustration. He is as interesting as his artwork, and I really enjoyed having him come by the studio to share his perspectives on today's social media, mental health, and overall artistic wisdom.