I recently completed a very interesting and eye opening illustration project for local rap dudes Ground Up. The project called for album artwork and some web banners to be used for their latest mixtape "Up Late" (actually released today April 5th, 2011). The guys contacted me out of the blue, and had a very high level of enthusiasm for my work from the get go. At first I was a little nervous to work with artists in this genre of music because I wasn't quite sure if my art could fit in with their sound. Once I did some research, and extensive listening to past mixtape efforts such as "Girls Who Smoke Cigarettes" and "Higher Ground" my gut feeling changed and I felt that I could effectively collaborate with these guys to create something that everybody liked.
I've also never really shared my collaboration process for client work with the internet, and figured that this project in particular would be a good case study to direct prospective clients to in the future. So above I also posted the first two rounds of black and white concept sketches, the color sketches, and then of course the final product. This was a unique project because of the high level on client input, and also because the project took on a completely new theme half way through, which then led to another round of "Late Night Talk Show" themed concept sketches.
All in All I am happy with how the artwork turned out, I tried some new things with the computer and I think the result turned out a little slicker than usual. You never know when change is gonna come. A BIG thank you to: Malcolm, Al, Bij, Jon, Frank, and the rest of the Ground Up crew for initially contacting me and then turning this into such a memorable project.
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Enjoy,
b
Tomorrow the second issue of BAM!POW!, a zine put together by friend Kevin Wallace who is a part of the Chernobyl Arts Collective, will be released at Philamoca (531 n. 12th street, Philadelphia PA). I have contributed the three drawings above, there is also a great group show and some film/psychadelic art shows all put together by friends of mine. There is a ton of stuff to see and do tomorrow for first friday, but this event is definitely worth a look.
I think the fact that I drew this might be a little ironic, being that I am not the mellowest dude, but I like how the letters turned out none the less.
is something that I could use a little more of ... be on the lookout for some new projects and web updates in the near future.
This is a pen and ink drawing about an astronaut's space journey, and their triumphant return home. Yes, said astronaut is also from Texas.
I drew this with water color pencils, which I really enjoy using. Anyways, this is loosely based on a great song by Built to Spill with the same name. Thanks Built to Spill.
This drawing feels a little morbid to me, but the funny part is that I looked back through some sketch books and realized that I draw skeletons more than I thought.
roughly one quarter of a robot's head, and maybe about two thirds of its face.
This is a typeface that I had floating in my head for awhile, it's called "Indigenous." It's inspired by a book that I saw in Maine one time called "Indian Magic." Anyways, I did this layout for The New Kids on the Block, an art show for recent graduates of the illustration department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.
Me and my good friend Chris Arizzi recently wrapped up the Urban Outfiiters Benefits Newsletter for 2009. We were able to work on this project through our jobs at 168 Design, and it was a really enjoyable experience. Yup, this was a good one.
this is my first post to my first blog, so i figured it would be appropriate to share a drawing about the path to infinite. i look forward to blogging forever and ever.
