Home

For the past several years, Brent Amacker has been the Primary designer for two of Mobile's MARDI GRAS Floatbuilders. Craig Stephens' CARNIVAL ARTISTS and Steve Mussell's MIRTHCO, Inc. have been masterfully shaping the look of MARDI GRAS in Mobile for a while now, and Brent has helped by translating the themes into images in order to present the concept ideas and to provide visual reference for the builders. Though unfortunately YET AGAIN only partially credited in the newspaper, the designs clearly bear Brent's signature. A few years ago he rendered a new float for Mobile, Alabama's only daily newspaper, The Mobile Register (though this also was uncredited), seen below:

It has since been altered to reflect the NEW (Again) moniker "Mobile Press-Register"

The figure was a re-tooled "Genie" from a previous "Aladdin" float. Brent's job for the builders is to envision the existing sculptures and creations to incorporate in the current year's theme, in order to save 'tear-down and rebuild time' for the framers, sculptors, and paint artists.

NOTE: BRENT did not design the INCA floats this year (2013) due to scheduling and timing issues. Please be sure to inform The Esteemed Order of INCA Organization of your displeasure.

The BEACH

Dog River

HAWAII

HUNTSVILLE

Las Vegas

NEW YORK CITY

RUSSIA

WASHINGTON, D.C.

(Original Good & Evil float shown below was an homage to M.C. Escher, and features images from his "Angels & Demons" series. Members didn't like the 'bats', so we changed it to the more traditional design above, which was built and paraded.)

Although Brent didn't remember to do this on the above "Egyptian Archer" float, he usually includes the name of the parading 'crew' in heiroglyphics or alphabet signs in the language of whatever the subject matter. The "Mongul", "Samurai", and "Persian" floats below all display the name "Incas" in the respective languages.

This year, Brent was commissioned by Craig Stephens and Carnival Artists to design a permanent "Flagship" or "Title" emblem float for this parading organization.

The front features a mermaid on the bow, with flowing hair and crashing surf morphing into ornate sculpture. The center is made to represent a galleon, with ornate windows and lighting. The skirt includes crashing waves, a narwhal, and the Mystic Society's Crest.

The Children's Floral Parade pays homage to the Mystics of Time Title float Verna Dean with a 3-Part Caravan:

In the Float below, I paid homage to the ROGER DEAN painting for the first ASIA album design:

The two floats below feature DAN POVENMIRE'S "Herman the Fish" as an homage to the Animator:

The 'theme' featured "Classic Toys", and we tried to incorporate as many toys from the actual introduction year of the main figure throughout the rest of the float.

Below is a REJECTED "Live & Let Die" design, deemed 'racist' because of the Voodoo priest figure. Apparently, the people protesting never saw the movie, as this was a prominent character in the film and is rendered here JUST as he appeared. Anyway, here's the drawing: