Condition: Very Good, some creasing...

A different sort of travel poster. In this latest Bad vamp illustration, 'Los Angeles', I played around with using some of the defects that you sometimes find in mass produced printing, including: off registration, dot patterns, bad cropping, color overlap etc. I also incorporated more of those great worn effects (creases, folds, chips, sun fading etc) that often add character to the vintage paperbacks and posters that the Bad Vamp series is partially inspired by.

An Infographic Tale...

I found this great vid posted on a friend's Facebook page. It's an updated version of Little Red Riding Hood using infographics,with added details like the nutritional value of Granny etc. The concept comes from a Royksopp music video that also uses information graphics.

Deconstructing Lucha...

Planning on finishing the color separation of my poster Lucha de Gato( detail above) this week with Spencer at Loose Limbs Press. This involves building a new Photoshop document with the elements arranged according to the 4 colors that will be used. The tricky part of the process will be re-creating the textures and smudges from the original file on the prints. Spencer's got some tricks up his sleeve for this. Once we screen print the 17x24" posters (sometime this Spring) they will be available on the Loose Limbs site, and here.

Also working on another Bad Vamp image with a Los Angeles theme which I'll post when it's done.

fwiw

Here's an illustration/design I did recently for an Express Jeans project to promote an entertainment industry backed 'responsible driving' campaign targeting young drivers and texting later this year. Potential use would be for T shirts, stickers etc. I've admired some of the great graphics Express has put out over the years so it was cool to be able to have a chance to work with them on this. gtg.

Thrills and Spills...

Last weekend I checked out a piece of Richmond's subculture called Slaughterrama. I'd heard about this event for a few years and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it when my brother-in- law called and said he was going. Local bike clubs and their national 'chapters' compete for bragging rights in the steel skeleton of an abandoned factory along the James River. The favorite bicycle competition I saw had to be the bike jousting, where competitors holding PVC poles with stuffed animals attached to the 'business end' of them are pulled into combat on metal chariots.

The various club 'coat of arms' displayed on banners and the back of denim vests, along with the 'unrehearsed' organization of the event gave it the feel of something you might see in Mad Max or some renegade biker gang movie. There were also some incredible modified bikes being peddled around. I got to take a short spin on the chopper bike above, which was just there for viewing purposes. Being 6'3" it wasn't exactly smooth peddling, but still fun (fortunately no pics of that).

Green Future...

This was an illustration I did recently that appeared on the cover of the Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times. The article was about 'Reinventing America's Cities" by improving their infrastructure with WPA styled initiatives like functioning public transportation and public park systems, and innovative architecture.

In a small nod to the newspaper industry (and actual investigative journalism) in the future, while the web will be bigger and better than ever, people will still read newspapers- at least on their morning hi-speed train commute. : )

Robotics...

"I need electricity- If you wanna make me flip- Hit me with a micro chip- I'll be a diode, cathode, electrode- Overload, generator, oscillator- Make a circuit with me..."
'Make a Circuit'- The Polecats

Where would the 'future' be without robots? Not the kind that explore far away planets, or diffuse bombs, but ones like Rosie from The Jetsons, C-3PO, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, or the robots gone bad in I Robot. The streamlined parts and geometric industrial shapes on robots like these help add style and intrigue to 'the future'- and inspire new mechanical creations like the one I did above.

Check out illustrator, and all around good guy, Danny Pelavin's robot page, which features robot art done by various illustrators. You can find one I did in the third row.

Some amazing mechanical men-and women made out of found objects can also be found on this cool robot site.

Intelligent Tinkering...

One of my favorite quotes is “The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts" by Paul Erlich. This could also be modified to apply to moving stuff out of and back into a workspace.

I had a new carpet put down in my studio last Friday, which meant I had to move everything out on Thursday, then move it all back in and get reconnected Friday afternoon. It was a little tough on the back, but worth it- and so far everything is back together and working. : )

I took advantage of having to empty cabinets and move flat files to go through a lot of the contents and get rid of stuff I no longer need. Illustrator 6 for Dummies, Photoshop 3 User Guides, a rubylith pad (!), outdated mailing lists, old promos, and now defunct ISP software were a few of the things that got tossed.

Like a lot of people, but maybe more than most, I like to collect things- lots of things. Everything from old ashtrays (ceramic and metal), to coffee mugs w/ company logos, to clothing hangtags, to matchbook covers. All are relatively modest compared to my collection of old paperbacks- which, like the kudzu in my backyard, continues to grow and take over my bookshelves. I've also collected a fair number of odds and ends which don't fit into any category other than they're stuff I like. When I put my studio back together I rediscovered some of these. Above are a few I scanned.