Witness a Return...

It's been a while, just got done with something fresh and tasty, hopefully the band digs, they seem too. I'm hoping this will be the new cover for the next Better Times 7". This is a live shot of the guys in their favorite show space, the Funeral Home. I tried to give this a live photo feel, with the people further away being kind of "washed out" and the action happening up front (just like at a show). And for all you Youth Crew peeps, see if you can spot a good friend of the mine, as well as the band's, up front singing along! Post a reply and let me know what you think.

Live at Cornell...

Not really, but what an amazing record. A fine gentleman, who shall henceforth be known as Roa, and I came into contact in a not-so-unusual way. He did stuff I liked and I told him. One thing lead to another and we started talking about a band that he had been in that never really came to fruition but had recorded some songs and that he wanted to see them brought to light in some way, shape, or form one day. I told him that I knew a guy who knew a guy. Well, that guy crapped out on him and he finally hit paydirt with a local label that decided to do a limited 7" of the band which shall henceforth be known as Rule of Nines. He decided that I was the man to do the cover, how could I object? We got to talking and he guided me towards something that he was looking for and when I finally mentioned the name Charles Mingus, it was the nail in the coffin. So here's the original drawing.

Here's the finished drawing, everything, including the logo was hand done. This is the first HC-related art that I've done with any painting on it (I used printmaking ink for it).

And here's the Mingus record that inspired it.

Don't Fear the...

I was recently contcated by Stan from Out Crowd (check into them, they're amazing), to see if we could work something out that was similar to the Pressure Drop drawing that was never used. We combined their logo, after tweeking it around just a little bit, and added the lettering and this is was we came up with.


It was a real pleasure to work with them, but it was just as cool to have a crack at the Reaper Records logo for the back of the shirt, as OC is now on Reaper and wanted to tie the front (and therefore the band) to the back so I used the same style for the R.


And here is the final mock-up of the shirt, beyond stoked at how this looks.

Back With a Vengeance...

It's been a looooooong time, after a long hiatus, I'm doing some work for bands right now and here's the first piece done. I don't plan on doing a lot, my personal project is on hold right now as I finish my basement, so I figured that I'd do some art after being asked to by several bands. This was done for a band called Truth, a revised version of their original hoodie/varsity jacket wearing logo guy.


After showing the band the art, they asked me to come up with something for a possible pocket print for the image above, lettering that resembled the crumbling wall so here's what I did.

Moving Onward and...

So it's always cool for me to hear from people that have just happened to come across my art and are stoked to have me do something for them or their band, and when it's as far away as Italy, it makes it that much cooler. Gianluca contacted me to see if I would do something for his new band Upward. They wanted a graf logo, but nothing too "hip-hop" so here's what I went for.


And here's the final version.


Then he was cool with a re-working of a drawing that really never got used and with some tweaking, this was what we arrived at.


And here's their design upon completion.


Give these guys a listen, they're really great youth crew-sounding HC.

Stay...

I got a call within the last couple of months from Flint from a band out of OK called Stay. Now being that I am in no way, shape, or form up on anything within the Midwest relating to HC (I know, I'm an ass), I hadn't heard of them. Flint told me he was good friends with Corey, the chap that I recently did the shirt for (see below, No Remorse) and was into having me do a shirt for them. They wanted something kind of old school and new at the same time and this idea was all theirs, I have to say it was cool and I really like the end result.

This is an image from Matt Wagner's amazing Grendel (if memory serves, it's from one of my favorite crossovers of all time with Batman), just straight up pencil.


This is one of my first attempts at cramming a shit ton of characters into one space and seeing if I could juggle wel. This is an illo of an early Jim Lee Wildcats image (I believe from an ad for the trading cards from years and years ago):

Has The Edge Gone Dull...

I figured it was time to put up another old pic, this is the one I did for Hess' first issue of his zine (when's the next one coming out, dammit?!). Here's a high res scan of that art, much more cartoony than usual.

In the days and weeks to come (as time permits, I'm going to post some pics that I did in HS. At the time (and for many year prior to that) I desperately wanted to become a comic book artist. The fates were against me (actually, not really, I just draw very slowly and never developed a portfolio). These are all illustrations, that's fancy art terminology for good copies of other artist's work. These are not tracings, they're much larger. I look back on these with lot of fondness, it was a fun time in my development of my drawing style. Kind of funny to say that since I was copying but it went far in helping me.
This first one is from Frank Miller and Geof Darrow's classic Hard Boiled:

And this one is a favorite piece of Wolverine, done by Art Adams, perfect version of Weapon X in my opinion (the original, not mine):

This Isn't The Specials...

A mystery band that never was. Contacted by guy to work something out for a shirt, this wasn't what he had in mind and the other idea never came to be but I like it, lots of early NYHC influence on this one (and maybe just tad bit of Oi!). Now here for your viewing please and so it doesn't fall by the wayside. This one is from about 3 years ago.

And The Winner Is...

So after a large amount of politicing, it was decided that this will be the new mascot of our school. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked that this will represent the school.

Fuck Art, No Respect...

Bucky is one cool guy. I've had respect for him and what he stands for for years. When I heard about Noose, I had to do something for him and the band, this was used for their record release show for the 7" on React!
The drawing:

And the flier:


Remember... Fuck Art, No Respect.

Looking Ahead To...

Better Times, what a great name for a band. I've not much to say except that this was fun and they dig it and that's what matters (I like it too.).
Here's the original drawing:

And the actual demo, you can't beat a good varsity logo:

And the shirts:

We Will Soar...

I think that one of the things that I've learned over the year with doing art is that, unless people know exactly what they want, it's hard to please them. I say that half-seriously and half-joking. The school that I teach at has an eagle for a mascot and it was decided that we needed to come up with a new one. The committee in charge of stuff like this came to me and asked me to do 3 different eagles to choose from. I thought I'd post this one because of how similar it is to a lot HC-related and tattoo-related things that eagles like this have been used on.

I'm Damaged, You're Damaged...

Another one with Justin, he wrote and asked me to do a shirt for Injustice System, something totally different. We both liked the idea of broken glass, I couldn't help but be inspired by the cover of Damaged. Drawing by me, logo by TL.

More Than Words...

I'd like to think that I've got things to say, but I could be wrong. I was just interviewed for a new hardcore art blog, http://unitetodowhatsright.blogspot.com, you should check it out because it's about something that I'm extremely fond of. Here's the interview, http://unitetodowhatsright.blogspot.com/2011/02/jay-jacoby-interview.html

Locals Only...

I've known some of the guys in No Remorse for quite a while now, they're good guys. It's high time Wichita had an old school 'core band again and I'm stoked that these are the guys doing it, this is for an upcoming shirt they're printing, a different take on the "band photo":

Hoods Up...

I have to say that I still enjoy doing hoodies and cargo shorts, no matter what I do, I come back to it time and time again (and I get asked to do often, LOL). This is for a demo for a band out of Cali called Alive and Well.

A Small Group Possesses The Power...

I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with INJustin, the guy's got fantastic ideas, and this one is no exception. I very much enjoyed making this one and I think it came out great. This image is pretty in-your-face, just like the band and their lyrics. I hope that I've come close to capturing that/them.

Here is the original drawing.


And the silkscreened final piece.

Pit Of Equality...

Man, I don't get many opportunities to do sports-related pics, so I jumped all over this one. When Dan Lapuz contacted me (all the way from the Phillipines) to see if I'd be interested in doing something for his zine, I said "Hell yeah!". He said he wanted something a little old school and a little similar to the Ten Yard Fight logo character. You can't get anymore old school than the Heisman Tropy or the "pose" so I took that and when all illustraion-esque with it and this was the result. Dan is great peeps and I can't wait to see this one.

Not Yo Momma's Straight Edge...

Jeff from Bloodtype contacted me about doing something for them last year, not only is Jeff good peeps but he thinks differently than most which is always hella cool in my book. Blootype is not a "typical" straight edge hardcore band and they're fucking brilliant. Be on the lookout for tons of stuff coming out for them this summer and fall, including a tape comp and a split with the almighty INJ/SYS. This first image started as kind of a joke, a "bloodtypewriter". Should be the record label for their side of the split. This still makes me laugh, even though it was a nightmare to compose. =)


Thought I'd put this up too, this is what the labels ended up looking like.


This next one is the cover of the above-mentioned tape comp featuring several older songs and a cover. The whole idea is based around the famous cover of Bringin' It Down, only with Bloodtype's bassist as "the" guy. The tape is called Bringin' More Stuff Down.


And here's the actual cover.

Back, back, back, it's waaaay back...

You know, doing this for bands, the whole artwork thing, shit can be extremely satisfying, I really enjoy doing this for the most part. Every now and then though, I've run in to some peeps that should just not bother. I was contacted by a guy from another country who asked me to do something for his band, with a baseball theme, this was his idea (goes along with the name of the band). After talking this through with said individual and getting details knocked out, I finished it. When I asked for some dough (a very small amount to pay for the scan, as the scanner I have is not nearly high enough resolution), dude threw a fit and flaked on me. Subsequently, I've talked to my man XSlabaX (whom I talk to frequently about art and bands) and something similar happened to him with the same guy, not only for this band but the guy's previous band as well. So here we are, out a bunch of time for nothing, for something that will probably never be used (aside from something on myspace or facebook). Sucks, but here's the finished the product, thought I'd put it up here anyway.
PS Best sport ever. That is all.

We Must Fight...

So I'm about done with doing art for bands for a while. I'm working on something pretty big and it will take up an enormous amount of time. But as I've been finishing up a few pieces a couple of people have contacted me about doing something for them and there's 3 that I couldn't pass up. This is one of them. Justin Arnold (one of the hardest working dudes ever), of Thunder Lizard fame (among others) is in a new band called Injustice System, or INJ/SYS as you see them called sometimes. I actually had purcahased the demo so I already new them and fucking love them. Justin approached me with this idea and I loved it. I felt like this was my chance to pay homage to Raymond Pettibon, one of my favorite artists and biggest influences. So here's the original drawing:


And here's what the silkscreener extraordinaire did with it:

Brothers In Arms...

Another one of the highlights of my weekend was finally meeting XSlabaX, one of the other main guys doing art for bands these days. He and I go back and forth quite often, just shooting the shit, bouncing ideas off of each other, and just generally being supportive of one another and our respective work. One of the most genuinely nice positive guys I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Stand fucking hard:

It was cool singing along and sharing the floor with him.

Where The Kids Still Have Their Say...

So here's my story. I’ve been doing art for years and over the last couple of years, I started doing the art you've seen on this blog. Russ Braun's art for Up Front was a big inspiration. Being so centrally located and not really having had a chance to see a lot of the older bands, when I found Up Front was playing a reunion show of sorts at ATWR, along with a lot of other bands that I had done work for, I had to fly out (with my wonderfully understanding wife) to PA. I also contacted Jeff Terranova to see if they’d let me do a new shirt design for them. It’s an homage to one of my all time favorite records, the Spirit LP, and the band, but also to Russ's original art. Up Front have a long history of using art with their shirts and records and it's cool to think that something I've created is now a part of that.
So here's the artwork:


It was amazing to get to the show and see my art hanging up on quite a few things, but this was probably the highlight:


The guys in the band couldn't have been cooler or more appreciative, aside from all of the shout outs from many of the other bands, Jeff took the time to thank me on stage for it. This was the sign hanging next to the shirts:

Another One Bites The Dust...

So I talked to JP from Reveal the Truth about doing something for them and asked if I would be interested in doing a special ATWR cover for the split with RTT and Outlast and I jumped at the chance, love both of those bands. He wanted something simple and text-based. So I through the X in the back as kind of an homage to the old Turning Point cover. I liked the way it looked but both JP and I felt it needed more (and I had the date wrong!). So here's the first one:


And this was a simple fix that looked good:


But alas, it was not meant to be, the record wasn't done in time for the show so this was never used.

Reaching A Critical Point...

I started talking to Dave from Pressure quite a while back about maybe doing something for his side band Critical Point. He and I both had a hard time coming up with image ideas and this one was his. Everything on the image is a specifice request, one of the things I pride myself on is all of the little details I throw in. This was to be the cover of the demo but they decided to go with something else and to put this with the liner notes.

Then And Now...

Got this stuff from Attila a while back, was really stoked to see my art on the cover of a zine and this turned out really well. He never told me he was doing it up as a sticker so it was a nice bonus.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

About a month and a half ago I was going through some of my old prints from when I was working on my BFA in printmaking in college. I found the first big linoleum cut that I ever did, this is approximately 18" x 24". It was just something I did for fun, I thought it turned out pretty cool.

So I shot a pic of it and sent it to Keith in Alert and he loved it. I jokingly told him that someone should use it for shirt or something. He kind of laughed sheepishly and said, "Can we?!" I said of course! And this is the fruits of their labor, I am so stoked to see this, these look fantastic and I was happy to find out that they had them printed up for the pre-Edge Day show. Here's the mock-ups: