It's My Positive Artlook

Don't Fear the...

2012-02-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Back With a Vengeance...

2012-01-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-05-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-05-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-03-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-03-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-02-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-02-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-02-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-12-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-12-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-10-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

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:

Nothing Beats A Good Design...

2009-10-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

Dave and Outlast could not be better dudes, they're definitely one of the bands that I'm most stoked on seeing at A Time We'll Remember in November. They sent this to me in the mail the other day. This shirt turned out great, I think that they've got a great idea for HC design, it shows on the layout that they do for everything and this is no exception. Cool to see the FP rip-off guy used on a shirt.

Move Up Front And...

2009-10-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

So here's an update on the Shout Aloud art. Turns out that unfortunately Youth Crew Alex is not going to be able to repress the Shout Aloud demo. The good news is that Seb over at the incredible Just Another Day Records is going to put the demo out on a limited 7" and has asked to use my art. Really excited because Seb is good peeps and I'm happy that he appreciates the art and the effort that I put into it. Here's a mock-up of what was going to be the tape repress cover.

Patience Is A Virtue...

2009-10-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

One of the best hardcore bands going right now is All We Know out of Los Angeles. They've got a new record coming out this month and they're printing these up in conjunction with the release of that. Great band, great guys. They were interested in something similar to the Spirit LP artwork by Up Front. So hence the covered eyes/face aspect. I also thought that it would be cool to have them interacting with the logo ala the classic Turning Point design. I took some requests from them about what they wanted to be wearing and went to town. This is the result, they were stoked and I'm pretty satisfied with it too. Thanks to those guys for waiting on me.

The Finished Product...

2009-10-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

Got this in the mail in the other day too, Joe and the guys were cool enough to send me a TIH Edition of their new 7", was very stoked. I would love to do something with these guys again.

Back With A Vengeance...

2009-10-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd seen the last of this art, my first work for Alert. Needless to say, I was extremely psyched to find out that Alert was using this image for their Test Press covers.

Holy Shit, Ninjas...

2009-09-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

Oh man, this was great. Attila (great fuckin' name by the way), who does I Drink Milk Zine and tape label, got ahold of me after he won my X-Rated MAxi Swatch on Ebay (and paid immediately). He says, "Since I paid so much for the clock, would you consider doing something for the label=)?" I said "hell yeah" (I guess he doesn't know I do this for free). He told me that HoldXTrue was breaking up, I knew of them because of ThirdXParty Records releases but knew nothing about them. Attila told me that they were THE biggest and best edge band in Hungary and had been going strong for 10 years but that they were breaking up. He said that to commemorate their last show that he was doing a tape and a zine and he wanted me to do one and then Slaba would do the other. I asked them if they minded if I did the zine cover, as I had never done one and they were both cool with it. He said he wanted black and white and one color, and after some good feedback on the way I depicted the process of the Force Fed image, I thought I'd show the process of this one too.
First pic is the original drawing, they wanted a white ninja committing ritual suicide.

After some feedback from several people and statements that included, "His head is too small" and "He looks like a Muslim ninja", I went back and tried some other things, so here's #2.

I was much happier with this one so then I added the red, what other color was there?

I felt that that wasn't strong enough, so I thought, "I've got to go with a bloody splattered X in the background". I got some red tempra paint and a paint brush and went to town. I then laid that behind the drawing and traced it in Prismacolor marker and that's what this one is.

And as far as I can tell, this is the cover of the zine.

Goodbye Comfort Zone...

2009-09-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ben from Chapters is a good dude. Seriously, after much talk back and forth over the internet regarding art, I've come to the conclusion that Ben is just a good dude. I know I said it twice, but it's true. He approached me about doing a shirt for them. Up until now, there's been somewhat of a commone thread throughout most of my work in hardcore so far, either figure-based or letter-based. The guys in Chapters came up with this idea for a shirt that really shot me out of my comfort zone and here it is. The road is the one that these guys have to take out of their town to get anywhere, at least 2 hours to anywhere. The top one is the drawing, the bottom one is what Ben did with it, hopefully, it's going to go on a black longsleeve with white print.

Adjusting for Adjust...

2009-09-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Holy shit, this one's been a long while coming, I've been tweeking this one for quite some time, trying to get a good balance for the logo. Youth Crew Alex helped me out a little with the placement of the letters because of my lack of computer graphics skills. Pretty stoked on the figure though.

2009-09-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

I recently got interviewed for the first time, I wanted to give a big thanks to Ama Reeves for the interview, it was a really cool experiences. Here's a link, you should check the INTERVIEW out here!

Drum Roll Please...

2009-08-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just got this from Dave Outlast, could not be more stoked on the way this turned out. Limted to 15, the "Friends Press". Hail, Hail Floorpunch, Hail, Hail, Outlast.

The Russians Are Coming...

2009-08-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

My friend, and British wanker, Youth Crew Alex contacted me several months ago about one of the releases that he was doing on his label. It was for a really great band out of Russia, Shout Aloud. He mentioned that the band was really interested in having me do the cover for the re-release of their demo. I told him that I would love too, but I had a shit ton of stuff to do, to tell the band that and that if they were willing to wait, I'd do it. I figured I wasn't nearly that cool to be able ask a band to wait and actually have them do it. LOL But they were super cool and so was Alex, and here's the result. It's just 3 of the guys in the band (with requests for specific crucial shirts) with animal heads (if you can't tell, they're an eagle, a cougar, and an ape) rockin' the hell out. Dig.

Goin' to SC, Saturday Night...

2009-08-02T21:40:00.001-07:00

I've come to know Tom from Stand Clear through some funny ass exchanges via AIM, over the last 4-5 months. Stand Clear is a fantastic group of lads (as the Brits are now referred to by me) who make flat out awesome HC. I just found out one of the guys in the band has the fucking swine flu, so this make seriously affect their blitzkrieg tour of Ireland. Keeping my fingers crossed for those guys. So, to the matter at hand, here's a quick update. Tom messaged me earlier this week about doing a simple logo for them for a shirt for the tour. And if I'm to understand him correctly, this will be a big ass front print for the shirt (but who knows, those wankers speak different English than I do). So here's what we came up with, simple, but I think it's a nice spin on a tried and true font.
Here's a scan of it (I apologize for the fuzziness):

And here's what they did with it when they got it:

Start...Stop...Go...

2009-07-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

Dave from Outlast was kind enough to ask me to do a cover for a something special he's got in the works (don't wanna let the cat out of the bag for him) and that lead to me doing two things instead of one. It remains to be seen when these will happen, but I will keep this updated as I find out.
Here's an homage to the almighty Floorpunch.

And then Dave asked me to have the same guy in a different pose so I went with the take off for the mosh pose.

Insane Detail...

2009-07-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

When one of my favorite bands contacted me about doing a shirt for them, I was really stoked. Force Fed is a great band with a demo put out by HC heavyweights Painkiller Records. I had read somewhere that these guys had broken up and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they had not. They asked me to do pic of a bunch of harder edgemen (or edgemin as Pops calls them) beating the shit out of some Youth Crew type edgemen who have, let's just say, taken a turn for the worse. What I've included here is kind of a step-by-step process of how I put this together so you can see how I work. If at any time you want to see these steps let me know, I can shoot snapshots of them (just like I did with this). Very interested in seeing how this turns out printed.

This first pic is how I lay out a very rough sketch. Just kind of seeing where everything fits together.

This one shows the second step, where I started laying in detail.

More pencil detail.

This is the intial stage of inking.

Here are two very similar logos I did, still don't know if the band will use either.

And the final image. I ended up taking the Xs off the "edgebreakers" so they're wouldn't be any "Why are edgemen fighting edgemen?" This was the most time consuming image I've done and the most rewarding.

Let's Get...

2009-07-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Fired Up! This will be gracing a shirt for the almighty Fired Up! at some point (as per Mr. Mike Driggs). What can I say? Love this band.

The quote, as you could've guessed, is from one of their songs.

A Crowning Achievement of Mine...

2009-07-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

So this is honestly a real dream come true, my first record cover. This whole idea was Keith's brainchild and we worked together to flesh out the details. The graffiti was done courtesy of Jym 129 / graffitiishardcore (his art was featured in the first issue of Think It Through as well). He is an insane writer and really cool guy. Will be working with him again for the Shout Aloud demo. Turned out well and I'm damned proud.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

2009-07-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is for a new band, just recorded their demo, called Time's Up. All I know is that Tim is an awesome kid and this is what asked for. I guess I did well because his response was "That's exactly what I wanted!" The logo was not used and I've seen the rough of the demo layout done by Youth Crew Alex and it's cool as hell.

The Finished Product...

2009-07-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Down below is my post about the Face Reality art for the long delayed shirt. After much exchange of the enormous art between myself and Mr. James Face X Reality, here's the finished product in one cohesive piece with no page breaks. Also, here's 3logos I worked up for the front of the shirt but James took one and worked a much better one up.

It's the Right, it's the Right, it's the Right Idea

2009-07-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Considering I'm what you would call a Right Idea superfan, it was a dream come true when Mr. Jeff Lasich of the fantastic Bottled Up! Records asked me to do the Test Press cover of the Our World 7" he was putting out. We went back and forth a couple of times and he had his own "moment of clarity" when working on an incredibly large playset with friend. So this is what I came up with, it's a return to shading for me too, which I haven't done for a while. Little did I know that Jeff was going to use the art as a pre-order only sticker too. I love this thing!

Ahh, Delays, Delays, Delays...

2009-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

So here's a shirt design for Overload. I did this with the intent of showing this guy, kind of breaking out, that he's getting away from something, didn't want to be too specific as to what he was getting away from and I was asked to not have a youth crew-type character. I also designed the font for them too. So here's the logo and the art.

Skate Straight...

2009-07-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Man, one of the best bands going right now is Envision. Their Demo is phenomenal and they will be touring with Alert later this summer. This was a case of epiphone, the band didn't know quite what they wanted, I didn't either and then it hit me, "This band is about skating, good times, the edge, and HC". HAHA What better way to do that then with one of the classic vert moves in skate history with a varsity jacket added on for extra measure. I've included 3 things here, the first is the actual art, the X is two skateboard silohettes (a classic Cab shape from Powell). This was originally going to be for a pocket print with their logo over it but that idea was scrapped. The second is what the band did with the art and the 3rd is a pic of the actual shirt.

An Oldie but a Goodie...

2009-07-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Found this, thought I'd post it, this is from several years ago, done for an Aussie band featuring the awesome Mr. Dave Immerz. This band broke-up before it could be used for a shirt, but I still like this drawing.

A Fat SXE Bear Listening to a Walkman...

2009-07-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Man, this guy Alex, super cool guy, one of the nicest guys I've never met, seriously. Guy's just always posi and super cool. He contacts me and says "I'd like you to draw the logo for my label, is that cool, this is what I want..." Shit killed me and was a joy to draw, not everyday I do a grizzly doing a posi jump in a varsity jacket listening to a walkman (it's a demo label) wearing Nikes with a big goofy smile (because he's happy about the core). I did the art, he did the logo. Super stoked on this and he is too (which is what really matters). He says he's getting this as a tattoo, will post a pic when/if this happens.

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

2009-07-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

So here's what I'm hoping will be the 1st of many updates. I haven't updated this in a while, I kind of felt like I needed to get some more under my belt before I attempted to make this worth anyone's while (including my own). So what I'm saying now is, take a look again through this stuff and let me know what you think. I'd like to do something for you!

This is my HARD STANCE...

2009-03-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Another band I've had the good fortune "seek" me out and work with is Face Reality. These guys are fine young upstanding individuals with a good message. LOL Seriously, they're a great sxe hardcore band that will see their first 7" coming out, I believe, the end of May. They asked me to do a new shirt design for them and I wholeheartidly agreed. This piece is massive the actual rectangle is a piece of 11" x 17" Bristol Board and then the other pieces are attached. I learned a lot from this, most especially, don't do anything big, it's a pain in the ass for all parties. James is on the job, taking it to Kinko's to get it sized down so they can work with it. Here's a couple of rough digital photos.

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a...

2009-03-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

So, as stated in a previous post, when I was younger I wanted to be a comic book artist, but the more I practiced, the more I realized that I wouldn't ever make that happen, I'm just too damn slow. LOL When I got my copy of Think It Through, I immediately checked out the other artists who's art was featured. I contacted all 3 of them, one of which was RAM. I cannot say how talented the guy is, he sings for, at least as far as I know, the first and only cross-ocean 'core band, XRECLAIMX. The guy was kind enough to ask me to be a guest artist for them and design a t-shirt with an old school comic book cover feel to it. What you see below is the fruits of that labor, the whole 9 yards, done on "official" comic art board.

When good art goes bad...

2009-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Kurt comes to me one day and says, "I've got this idea for a tattoo that I'd like for you to draw, would you do it?" Of course my response was, "Hell yeah!", not even knowing what it was. Knowing Kurt though, I had a strong suspicion that it would be cool and/or hysterical, needless to say, I was not disappointed in either category. What you have to know is that Kurt was one of two guys that I would pick to have on my side in a fight. The guy is a scrapper through and through, but the cool thing about him, he doesn't have a chip on his shoulder like most guys cut from that mold. He tells me he wants a simple skull with a banner on top that says "STREET" and one on the bottom that says "JUSTICE". He knows jack shit about hardcore, but I couldn't help but be stoked about the Cro-Mags connection. I drew up a skull and then I added some damage and Kurt dug it. The first pic is of the original drawing. (Later on, I'll post the damaged one I did)

And here is the disasterous result of what can happen to a good drawing in the hands of a bad artist. For some reason, Kurt agreed to the artist's suggestion of adding red to it. The result speaks for itself.

Can't Decide couldn't decide

2009-03-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

So digging into my "archives" I found this pic that I thought I'd go ahead and post it. About a year and a half ago I posted on the Bridge 9 Board inquiring about whether any bands needed artists. I got a hit from a band out of Mass that said that they wanted me to do something for them. So after a brief correspondence we agreed on a 'post-apocalyptic zombie" theme. I got it done and sent it off to them. It was pretty cool because that was the first time I had seen my work anywhere on the internerd, it was posted on their myspace page. I was informed shortly afterward that they would not be doing the 7" that they originally told me this would be the art for, that it would just be a digital download. Needless to say, I was pissed, I felt that I had wasted my time. Then, to cap it all off, they broke up and evidently, threw my art away. I wanted to put it up here because it's a bit different than my other stuff and I am proud of it. I apologize for the bad pic, this is all I have left of the work, a scan the band did and sent to me.

Wheels of fire...

2009-03-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Growing up as a kid in the '80's , I was into skateboarding, looking back, it really shaped my aesthetic development; the influence of the Jim Phillips and Vernon Courtland Johnson (VCJ) can still be felt to some degree when I'm working. I always wanted to have my art on a skateboard so after developing an assignment for my art students involving skateboard graphics, I knew I had to take a crack at it and ordered a blank deck. I came up with the drawing, primered the deck and commenced work. I ended up using everything from pencil to Prismacolor markers, Crayola Markers to oil pastels. Pretty happy with the result, a little more abstract than what I've been doing lately but I like the shit out of it. Figured that I'd post these here (why the hell not?).

Here's some close-ups.

Reelin' in the years...

2009-03-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

So I figured I'd go back a little further and show the work I did for Jeff Hess's (Right Idea vocalist and all around outstanding guy) zine, Think It Through, or, as we in the "industry" like to refer to it as T.I.T. Sorry, had to throw that one in there. Here's the cover for issue number 1 with art by all-around good dude and artist extraordinaire, XSlabaX. Was really cool to be asked by Hess to contribute, especially with the fact that there is an art "theme" to it. Was even better to get it in the mail and see my name on the cover with both XSlabaX and RAM, who I've come to know because of the whole experience. There's also some mysterious graff writer in there but I'll go into detail about him later.

Here's my page from the zine, I tried to contribute two pieces that showed at least a little difference in styles, some diveeeersity. Also, if you're interested in using the COS gent, let me know, this is the only place it's appeared.

2009-03-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

My first go at doing some work for a band was with Alert. I had some work appear in the first issue of Think It Through, put out by the amazing Jeff Hess of Right Idea (more on that in a later post). Keith (Alert's bass player and someone that I would now call a friend) contacted me because of that. What follows are some things that I've done with them. The demo and the shirts are sold out, but keep your eye on Alert, they've got a 7" of their demo being released, which I'm honored to be doing the cover for, a new 7" coming out later this year and some new shirts that will be printed some time soon. Also, look for them to go out on several mini-tours this summer.

Here's the original art; I did the type on the computer, using the original Side By Side font, and then did the art by hand and combined them.

So here's what they did with it, really stoked about it. The first pics are both the black and white versions of the shirt. The last is the demo, the layout was done by Mr. Tim McAuliffe.

And last, here's the logo(s) that I tried for their new shirts, the pocket print. The first one is a something both the band and I agreed was not very successful. It was an homage to the famous Turning Point logo on the shirt that has the guys hanging over the logo (amazing shirt). We agreed that because their name was so short that it didn't look aesthetically "right". The second is definitely better, it's definitely a throwback to the Up Front Spirit logo.

It's my first time, be gentle please.

2009-03-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

So I figured that if I'm gonna do this art thing for bands seriously, I need to have some sort of site for people to see my art. Being a guy with a tremendous family that I love spending time with, a career (art teacher), and a great group of friends, I think that setting up a "real" website would detract from those things, and obviously from actually doing the art.

I've got a pretty full plate right now, but I'm always down to talk to people about work though. Some things you should know about me:

1) My style is pretty similar to that of a lot of comic book artists, lots of black line work, more of an illustrative quality, I guess. I can work in color, just ask me about it, I can also do shading no problem, I just know that when it comes to printing things up, for a lot of bands, this drives the price up too. I'm not going to compare myself to anyone. I always feel a bit pretentious doing that, but if you see shades of something or someone, pass it along, it's always cool to hear others' perspective.

2) I work for FREE. I do this because I love hardcore and I love art and this is my way of trying to give back a little to the scene that has given me so much. I can't sing, play an instrument, at this time in my life I'm not financially able to complete a zine (although one is in the works), so I figured that this is the best and coolest way for me to contribute. All I ask is that you send me 1 or 2 of whatever you use my work on and pass the word on about me.

3) Why art and hardcore? I think that hardcore has been lacking in the art department for a while, many people with Photoshop can do a layout with good pics. I'm def not knocking that stuff because I love it, a sick layout and good cover photo are awesome, but if a record has a great piece of cover art, I pay A LOT more attention to it...it just sticks out. Shirts are the same way, I think, zines too.

I will be getting this going over the next few days, so check back.