Getting the lead out

Paul Saitowitz

His works are as mysterious as their image.

In fact, the mystery behind his art may just be the crux of its

image. Tool, the seminal art-rock band fronted by Maynard James

Keenan -- a man few of his fans can even recognize -- has always

remained under the radar despite platinum album sales.

Better recognized for their semi-demonic and occult images than

their physical appearances, Tool has sponsored a zeitgeist for

disillusioned music and art nerds to cling to.

Enter Cam de Leon, better known as Happy Pencil, the man with the

peppy nickname behind several of the band’s most powerful and

enduring images, including the “smoke box” on the cover of the

critically heralded and commercially successful “Aenima” album.

De Leon, who exhibited last weekend in Costa Mesa at the Third Eye

Gathering Music, Art and Philosophy Festival, first began drawing

after an adolescent injury.

“I started drawing at about 15,” he said. “I was riding my

skateboard and broke some bones, which made me unable to practice

playing drums. I have a fanatical aversion to watching TV, so I

started drawing.”

An innate ability to draw and render figures, coupled with an

uncanny drive to use his art to make a living, helped him land jobs

creating graphics and renderings for local architects and newspapers

a year later.

After high school, he moved from his native Northern California to

Los Angeles with hopes of attending the Pasadena Art Center. Although

his skills afforded him advanced standing in the school, his bank

book allowed him no standing.

“I realized that there was no way I could have afforded to go

there, so I got a job at KABC-TV doing news graphics,” he said.

After about a year there, de Leon went through a litany of

advertising art jobs until he got fed up with the lack of creativity

and moved in a different direction.

“I was really disillusioned and just found no satisfaction in

drawing things like nachos on a cloud,” he said.

He was back at the bottom of the barrel and got himself an

entry-level position at the Creature Shop, a makeup house, where he

worked on movie makeup effects and costumes for films like

“Ghostbusters” and “Jacob’s Ladder.”

It was there that he met another artist named Adam Jones. The two

became fast friends, and when Jones’ band Tool eventually started

putting out albums, de Leon was a natural to be involved.

“We worked on a lot of albums, T-shirt designs and videos

together,” de Leon said. “My thing is that even if something is

disturbing, and it freaks people out, it should still encompass

something beautiful. That was what we were going for on those

projects.”

While working on ideas for videos for the band, he suggested that

the members stay out of any film projects and keep it mysterious --

something Tool has continuously adhered to.

“We wanted to make mini-films, not commercials for the band,” he

said.

De Leon went on to start https://www.happypencil.com, a site

artfully constructed with an ethereal soundtrack to display his

artwork. The site is listed as a link on Tool’s site and gets between

50,000 and 70,000 hits a day. It is the home for his latest drawings,

posters, sculptures and various other works.

While the site does bring in an income, de Leon -- a father of two

-- still does animation work in the film industry.

“Everything I’ve worked on and done has helped to get where I am

today, but I am ready to fully dedicate my time to working on my own

art,” he said. “That is all I want to do.”