Welcome to the Bahr Art web site, Frederick W. Malone Jr.'s collection of drawings and images. I've been drawing now for a number of years, starting mostly when I was about 16 with a friend of mine, trying out 'flash art'  for a new tattoo he wanted to get. Somehow, something worked and we discovered I could actually draw ( a fact I still have trouble accepting, nearing 28. :) Well, I started drawing nearly  constantly after that.  It was a turbulent time in my life, dealing with various court systems due to a stupid mistake I had made, dealing with anxiety disorder unmedicated and a problem with alcohol, and going through  a separation in my main family structure, then the reunion and reorganization of that same unit. Most of the pictures have been lost (Left in the care of my now ex in CA. No matter what she claims, it's been a year in 2000. I'll never see them again.)  The few recovered here are even older then those though, dating back past a decade. Well, I started college after I cleaned up my act a bit, intending on receiving my BFA (Bach. Of Fine Arts). Unfortunately most of the art classes were full my first two years, giving me a basis in just a little art history and some advertising principles  to put to my art credits.  The Pri-Eye seen to the right become my long time logo, and the first 'official'  project I made in college. Unfortunately, all I  had left after was the rough draft, rather beaten up, but..:) While in college, I met a young woman via this new fangled thing called the internet. Working through text based connection, Archie, gopher, and other 'antiques' of the net now, I started MUSHing and met the young woman. A while later, I quit college and relocated to be near her. For a few years, my art was only a mild hobby. Writing became a fast interest though, and in time a spark reignited inside me. A fantasy story and novel I was working on called 'Realms of Fantasay' (later a short lived MU*) brought out the drawer in my again, to form and solidify the chara's involved. The support I received was decent,  but drawing  still seemed like it will be nothing more then a hobby. I was a computer user, a near expert in some areas just due to experience and experiments. I was learning every comp  lang I could, perfecting my trades in that area and still growing artistically in the meantime. Things change, and I moved back to NY. A while later, that relationship thankfully split before we reached the point of despising each other :)  I took some time off from my drawings, while I reorganized my life.  Then a good friend of mine helped me out a lot. She started taking an interest in my artwork, and even went as far as sending me colored pencils and art paper. This may seem a little gesture to some, but to me it became a recognition I sorely needed at that time. I had begun working in color shortly  before then, modifying my talents and experimenting with new ideas. There was no going back from there.  Something again clicked inside, and what I was doing began to grow very quickly when  nourished and critiqued gently. I began trying to learn new styles at an amazing rate, producing nearly 120 pictures in under a year. A new series became born from the images, a mixture of mages, animorphs, vampyres, and cyborgs called ShadowWalkers. I began to write again, and felt the old drive in myself again, the creator. But still something didn't fit..    All my writing, all my work was always  over the computer. A major part of my life was spent behind this screen, and somehow  the answer alluded me still. So I started experimenting with different styles and formats, making use of colors, inks, and contrasts,  figuring out the ways to manipulate the visuals a bit more. And I'd keep scanning them in, adjusting them on the PC, fixing effects, and trying to place just what felt off... It didn't fully grab me until one evening when Angie (My best friend) mentioned 'The kiss of a rose' or something with Sailor Moon. I had always had an interest in Anime, but the childlike looks didn't appeal to me  as a creative outlet. Bryan (my cousin and other best friend) and I got the movie, and while watching it I started critiquing it, trying to figure out how they did the shadows and the smoothness of the skin. Try as I  might, no matter how much blurring I tried, I couldn't get my images to look anything like that. They all looked like colored images modified with a program. I'm nothing if not stubborn. I stumbled across a web site that described how to draw Anime on various computer programs, printed out the instructions, and decided to give it a try. There was the latest click. After my first image, I knew something felt right. Since then, I've been adopting the style and integrating it with my own art styles completely, learning as I go (and breaking half the rules anyone had told me about the CG media :) And now, all of the sudden, it feels perfectly  right. The medium is ideal for me, a computer and hand drawing convergence that can be integrated with me writing. So that brings me to now, a new age in my drawings, a new gallery, and a new century just starting (Literally, 2001) Where's it going to here? I have no idea. I'm just thankful every bit of what's happened happened. If any one person had not been present, or any one situation had not happened, I never would have been able to find this new spot in my life. Like it or hate it, it still would have been a shame to have wasted that time. So enjoy, critique, browse, and enjoy yourself. Fred Malone, 1/7/01