Sketch Reed
Art And Design

Yes, as you may have heard from my Facebook page, I'm doing another show at the Rock Island Art Gallery in Leslie, MO. The only difference here is, instead of just me, it's a whole festival; other amazing artists will be there, there shall be food and drink and music, and a good time will be had by all.

Here's the lowdown on what I shall be doing.

I will have 15 FREE mini-posters available. Just get there, go to my booth and pick one up. Supplies will go fast, though, so get there quick.

I will be selling original art and hand-drawn stickers for $7.00 and $4.00, respectively. The stickers will be 3 to a sheet, and will be very sticky.

I will also be doing caricatures in my signature cartoon style, and they shall be priced at $6.00.

So if you're in the mood for some kick-ass art and stuff, be sure to hit us up. If you need directions, just go to Google Maps or whatever floats your boat. It's from 10 to 4 at the aforementioned Rock Island Art Gallery in Leslie, MO.

Keep rolling the dice and drinking the java; the fun times are still to come.

SKETCH REED

There's been an idea in my head lately, dear readers; an idea that I've always been wanting to do but never really had the resources or the skill to do. Nowadays, however, this idea seems all the more plausible...fun, even. However, before I announced this, I wanted to get your opinions.

The idea I am thinking of, as you may have figured out from the title of this blog, is none other than a live show.

I've been wanting to do a live show for quite some time now; get a bunch of people, fans or no, into a theater or some other venue, put on some metal, crack some jokes, draw some stuff, maybe have visits from some of the cast of characters in my head, and just generally have a good time. My question to you is this: What would you want to see in a Sketch Reed live show?

Obviously it can't be something like "strippers and ketchup" or something perverse like that; but nearly anything art-related is fair game (except chainsaw carving...i don't like sharp objects), along with stand-up comedy, slapstick, and other stupid stuff like that. So please, make your voice heard; comment on this blog, message me on Twitter or Facebook or Myspace, or even go old-school and send me an email. If you don't want to see me do a live show, feel free to say that too--just give me reasons why not. Also, if you know someone who owns a venue like that, please, by all means give me their number or talk to them for me. I would deeply appreciate it.

I look forward to hearing from all of you on this.Godspeed.

Sincerely,

SKETCH REED

WARNING: The following blog entry contains strong language and harsh but truthful statements, and is not appropriate for children, the easily offended, or the faint of heart. Everything you are about to read is what I truly believe; the words I type, although offensive to some, are my own beliefs, and I stand by them without remorse. Please remember that YOU HAVE THE CHOICE to read this; if you are offended by what you read, remember that I have the choice to say what I believe, just as you have the choice to shut me out if you so choose.

    Last month, I was an atheist. I had been a hardcore atheist for some time; however, my issues with the ruler of the universe, although partly the cause of my unbelief, paled in comparison to my issues with those proclaiming his name. Everywhere I looked, there was some Christian group or another telling me I was going to hell. They didn't seem to care about my problems; in truth, they probably didn't. All they seemed to want to do was hound me at every turn to “turn to Jesus”. Even at my grandmother's funeral there was no respite; after her body was laid to rest, I was told by some sick individual that, because I was an atheist, I was never going to see her again. These comments, although masquerading under the air of “Jesus loves you”, still stank of a despicable hatred that led me further away from God.

    Even now that I am a Christian, I still see these assholes harassing me at every turn; I walk into church and people stare at me. Why? I don't pretend to know, nor do I care. But I have a question for you, you who preach the name of the true Savior of humankind, and yet do not give a flying fuck about those who you profess to be trying to save. I have a question for you, you who preach the name of the merciful God, and yet have no mercy in trying to destroy and demoralize those who disagree with your views.

    I ask you, all of you hypocritical “followers of Jesus”: HAVE YOU NO SOUL?

    It is because of people like you that the name of Jesus is spat upon and despised. People like you, with your disgusting signs proclaiming that “God hates fags”, are the reason why the homosexuals hate the name of our Lord and turn away from him with their sexual immorality. People like you, with your priests and molesters stealing the innocence of your youth, are why young men are turning their backs on God and hating His name.

    It is because of SCUM LIKE YOU that people are going to hell.

    Most atheists refuse to believe in God and acknowledge his existence because half of you who preach His name are shitfaced hypocrites who say one thing and turn around and do another. There are those of you who truly care about your fellow man and truly believe in what Jesus stands for, but for every one of these good, humane and caring individuals, there is an ignorant asshole who the media shines their spotlight on, and these individuals who make the news are the “preachers of God” who proclaim their gospel of hatred and bullshit and, in the process, turn decent, caring people away from Him.

    I ask all of you who are not one of these hating, ignorant imbeciles to do one simple thing: WAKE THE FUCK UP. If you want Christianity to flourish, if you want the true light of Christ to shine, and if you truly care about the atheists and truly want them to go to heaven, you MUST silence and denounce the haters and the bigoted fools who defame and degenerate our religion.

    Atheism and hatred of Christianity in all of its other forms is mainly founded in the hatred of what our church is portrayed as: a bunch of uninformed, hate-filled, intolerant people who waste no time in tearing down others while ignoring their own faults and imperfections. We as a church must STAND UP and proclaim Jesus's love by SHOWING IT TO OTHERS. Proclaiming to people that they are going to hell, calling them fags and telling them that God hates them WILL ONLY TURN THEM AWAY FROM THEIR SAVIOR. Do not attempt to convert a homosexual by telling them that they are fags; show them Christ's love by being kind to them and politely introducing them to Christ and his mercy. Jesus himself said to be a light to the world; he did NOT say to be a fucking hate-fueled beating stick. If you are rude and hateful to those who do not like you or understand you, then you WILL GET NOWHERE in trying to save them. Show them kindness; show them the love of our Lord through your actions. Some might not come to Christ right away, and some may not altogether; but when you stand before Christ at the last day, AT LEAST YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SAY YOU TRIED.

    In conclusion, I would like to speak to the atheists reading this. I was an atheist myself; I felt alienated by the church and I felt that God did not care about me. I want to tell you this myself: God does not preach hate.. There are good Christians, and there are hate-mongering Christians; but GOD IS NOT HATEFUL. God loves you, and Jesus died so you can live forever. It may not seem like God loves you; it may not seem that he cares...but He does. Accepting Christ will not change your life immediately--people will still be dicks, life will still seem to beat down on you, and at some points you might not feel like continuing on--but once you put your trust in Him and let Him guide you, He will help you. There is a sweet comfort in Christ's name. It may seem corny, it may seem childish, but JESUS WANTS TO BE YOUR FRIEND no matter what anyone says. He loves you no matter what you have done.

    Go with Christ and follow him.

    --SKETCH REED

There are those who wonder who I am,and what I stand for. This is meant to be a simple introduction into who I, Sketch Xaviar Reed, am, and what I represent in this world.

I am Sketch Reed. Some would say thatI'm evil. And to a point, I am inclined to believe them. I suppose that thinking that a painless death by lethal injection is not nearly an adequate enough punishment for rapists, child molesters, and murderers of innocent children and babies would be considered evil by some. I assume that wanting to do bodily harm to anyone who would hurt the love of my life is seen as evil to the eyes of a few. I guess that the fact that I swear and curse when talking about all that deserves to be sworn and cursed at, such as injustice and oppression, may be viewed as evil to a part of the populace. So, in that regard, I suppose that I am evil.

But who am I exactly?

I am the defender of the downtrodden,the warrior of the unconventional. I speak what many think but that no one else has the mettle or guts to say, and I am usually looked down upon because of it. If you are rude to me and do not respect me,I will become your enemy; but if you show kindness to me and are respectful to me, I will stand by you to the gates of hell. I am extremely protective of my few true friends and the one I truly love,and if you do anything to kill them or hurt them, you had better pray to all possible deities that I don't find you. The God of our universe had mercy on those who turned away from Him and killed his only Son. I am not God; and I show no mercy to those who harm me, my friends or my love.

There are seven things that matter to me more than anything else: my God, my girl, my friends, my country,my ideals, my art, and my gaming. I am a Christian, and although I hate most of those who claim to be followers of Jesus because they treat me like s**t, I worship my Lord Jesus because He loves me despite myself. I love my girl, Lacee, and I would do nearly anything for her. I have a few good friends, and I stand by them, and I am there for them when they need me. I am proud to be an American, and I hold dear this country's values, especially freedom of expression. I say what I believe in, and even if you don't agree with me, I will fight to the death for your right to state your beliefs. I draw incessantly, and I play board games, card games, and other tabletop and strategy games religiously. This is what matters to me.

This is who I am.

SKETCH REED

I don't believe this is coincidence.

8 days before yesterday, I nearly met my fate. I was changing the channels on the radio when I smashed into the back of a tractor doing 60. By all standards of measurement, I should have died--the windshield glass was shattered, air bags deployed--yet the only injury I sustained was a small scar on my left forearm. If you viewed the wreckage of my car, it would seem that I should be a corpse--yet for some strange reason, I walked away alive.

For the next few days, I drove carefully--obeying speed limits, looking both ways; anything that you're supposed to do, I did. But just yesterday, I came close to death again.

I was driving my friend Mark home. I was pulling the car out of the parking lot at school...when Mark yelled, “STOP!” I looked to my left--and saw a semi heading straight for me.

Time stood still. I remember every detail in perfect clarity--the scraping of the semi's wheels against the front bumper--the look on Mark's face when I looked over--even the look on the trucker's face as he narrowly swerved...but when the smoke cleared, for some reason I did not know, I was still alive.

Is it coincidence? Is it a coincidence that a margin of not even an inch kept me from leaving this plane of existence and never returning? Or is it the work of a being more powerful than any of us?

I don't believe that this is coincidence.

I have come to terms with God. I was a die-hard atheist...not believing that a God exists, much less that if he did, he cared. But I believe now that, for some reason, God wants me around for something. I don't know what he wants, or even why he wants me, for that matter. But yesterday, he saved me from certain death, and I don't pretend to believe that this is an accident.

All I know is that God exists...and I believe in him.

Today,I found a truth that I will cherish forever. Her name is Lacee Carlisle, and it is with her that I found my first kiss.

It was a unadorned heaven, our kiss. By Hollywood's standards, it wasn't much--our lips barely brushed, no soothing violin melodies in the background or soft glow of the moonlight--but I will always treasure the moment when our lips touched and I felt bliss. At that moment, I found the truth that only those who find themselves in Cupid's heavenly iron fist will ever know--

--the truth of true love.

I love you, Lacee, my angel.

<v^v>

FIRST KISS

by Sketch Reed

<v^v>

I sit at night

And think of you;

How could I ever know a love like this?

You are my girl

And while I sleep

I savor memories of our first kiss.

It wasn't much,

No candlelight

Nof fireworks in skies or moonlight glow;

But as I dream

I realize

Our love's the only truth I'll ever know.

The greatest compliment an artist can ever recieve, in my opinion, is having one of his images permanently engraved into anothers flesh in the form of a tattoo.

This being said, I must thank a friend that I met online, PickaBooka, whose husband had my armband design tattoed recently. Here's the image and the tattoo:

I thank PickaBooka and her husband for their patronage, and thank you also to the tatoo artist who did such an amazing job.

--SKETCH REED

Wow. The Gasconade County R-II High School end-of-the-year talent show has come and gone...and it was incredible. I was one of the people involved this year, and it went extremely well.

I was the fourth act up. For my act, I decided I would do the only thing I'm actually semi-competent at--draw. And draw I did.

When I got to the stage--well, if you can call a couple wrestling mats a stage (and I'm not complaining, just stating a fact)-- I set my easel down, and grabbed a microphone, thinking I would introduce myself and explain what I was going to do. "Hi," I said into the mike, "I'm Sketch Reed." And then the audience did what I never thought anyone at this school besides my friends would do--

--they started cheering.

All my life from 3rd grade on has been spent living in Gerald, MO. I went to Gerald Elementary, then moved on to Owensville Middle School in 6th grade and finally went to Owensville High when I was 14. And all that time, I had been mocked, scorned, made fun of. Why? Because I was different. Because I didn't fit in.

Because I didn't belong.

I realized early on that I would never conform. In my early years I tried, but try as I might, I could never manage to fit in. So I did the exact opposite of fitting in. I relished my nonconformity, and I reveled in the ability to shock. I yelled in the middle of class, I annoyed friend and foe alike, and I found a niche that no one ever thought I would succeed at--art.

The first thing I ever drew was a comic book. It was completed in the summer of 2000, and it was called "Terry The Radioactive Turtle" (named after a stuffed turtle I won at Six Flags). To coin a phrase, Terry the Radioactive "Turtle" looked like a radioactive turd. I remember my fellow classmates' scorn and hetred, and as they stood there mocking what my hands had created, I made up my mind that no one--nothing--would stop me from showing them that me and my art was indeed worth more than the idiodic insults they came up with.

That is mainly why I continued to work in art--revenge.

Fast forward to 5th grade, 2002. I had a few friends now, but mostly I was putting up with the same morons that scorned me just a few years back. It was at this time that I created a character named Wakiki (named from an old Bugs Bunny short film--of course, I had no idea that Wakiki was really the name of an island in the Pacific Ocean...). Wakiki was inspired from a game I got for my Super Nintendo, Kirby's Avalanche. Of course, my fellow classmates wasted no time in insulting and degrading it, and soon I was being called a "Kirby wannabe" in mocking voices in the hallways. It seems that ignorance has no limit, no matter what the age of the ignoramus.

Now flash forward to my freshman year, 2007. Gym class. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am no athlete. My idea of of "push-ups" involves working my thumb on the "channel down" button on the TV remote. To make matters worse, I rediscovered what I already knew--P.E. does not stand for Physical Education for the weak, but rather, Public Embarrasment.

At this time, I had recently discovered a moderately successful show on TLC called Miami Ink. The work of Ami James and all the other amazing artists inspired me like nothing I had ever seen before. I was immediately drawn in and consumed by the incredible talent of the artists, and I decided that I wanted to be a tattoo artist. (Of course, I decided against it later, but for those of you who want a tattoo from me, it's still an option, don't worry.)

So it came to pass that one fateful day in gym class, we were all walking on the track. A group of people who I knew somewhat were walking in a group ahead of me, and I decided to try and catch up to them. They were talking about metal music.

Now that year, I had discovered the band Underoath, and I was enthralled by their work and began to fall in love with metal. However, most people at school, for one reason or another, thought that I was just "one of those losers who listens to folk music and Celine Dion and all that junk". But I didn't know that, so I jumped in the conversation.

"I like metal," I said.

The leader of the group looked at me with a skeptic glare on his face. "What do you know about metal?" he demanded. "Name a metal band."

I was on the spot, and I was determined to save face."Killswitch Engage," I said.

"They're OK," said the leader. "Got any more?"

Frantically, I said, "How 'bout Underoath? They're pretty good."

The guy's sceptic look changed to one of semi-respect. "Underoath is one of my favorites." he said smiling. The man's name was Nick McBride, and I had just made a friend for life.

He introduced me to some of his friends, and showed them some of my artwork. Sure enough, they commissioned me to draw a logo for their band. After I finished it, they showed it to their friends, and their friends showed their friends, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I was finally respected. My goal I made back in 3rd grade was complete.

Flash forward to the present. The talent show was here, and it was my time to shine. I grabbed the microphone, and said "Hi. I'm Sketch Reed".

I heard the crowd cheer, and for once in my life, I felt like I was someone.

I felt like I belonged.

SKETCH REED

Yesterday, while I was designing a few things, I had an idea. It may or may not work, but I'm putting out here anyways. The idea?

Sketch Reed Art And Design T-Shirts!

Now, if you want a T-shirt, please post a comment on this post. I haven't found anyone to make the shirts yet, so I'm just trying to gauge the interest. Who knows, if enough people want one, I might make 'em.

Stay tuned..

SKETCH REED

Well, the title says it all, and here's how the exhibit's going to go down in terms of stuff.

• There will be 25 copies of each black and white print and 10 copies of each color print. If we run out, fear not--you can special order them.
• I will have at least 15 18x24 original drawings for sale, for 25 bucks each.

Oh yes, and here's the kicker--

• I will have one of my sketchbooks, filled with 50 pages worth of tribal designs, available to purchase for $45.

I look forward to seeing all of you there, and bon voyage!

-SKETCH REED