I was very excited when the guys at Switch Skate Shop in Newark, De contacted me about doing a painting for a shop board graphic. I go way back with co-owner Joey Simpers – we grew up skating together in the late 80s, and continued to stay in touch as our paths crossed over the years in the DE music scene (some may remember Joey as the dreadlocked bass player in Walleye, one of my favorites back in their heyday). Although I slowed down on skating shortly before they opened, I’ve always respected Switch and everything they’ve done for the local skateboarding scene. The decks are available 8″, 8.125″, 8.25″ sizes as well as a really cool old school shape so grab one before the holiday shopping rush hits. You can pick one up at their new location, 54 East Main Street, Newark Delaware. And be sure to stop by Rainbow Records around back and grab some new and used vinyl. That’s a win-win set-up right there.

Thanks again to Tyler and Joey for making this happen.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s much more satisfying working on a 12 inch record, rather than a rinky-dinky CD jacket – I love the larger format as well as the look, sound and ritual of vinyl, so I’m always excited whenever I get the opportunity work with a band putting out a record. It was also refreshing to have that band tell me that they did not want their names on the front sleeve – only one of my collages, of which I had total creative freedom with when creating it.  Again – rare but very liberating.  This gem of a record is a split 12″ EP featuring two great up and coming indie rock bands from Delaware – Atlas and My Friends.  Both are worth checking out for your listening enjoyment.  Only 300 copies of this limited edition EP were pressed and all are hand numbered, so get one from your local independent record store or from the bands before they are gone.

Sometime this past August, I was approached by the MTV World Design Studio in Buenos Aires to create a “gig-poster style” print ad for their 2011 European Music Awards, which will feature a live performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Now, as a late 1980′s skate rat, I grew up on the Chili Peppers, picking up the Uplift Mofo Party Plan on cassette after watching them live via VHS at the Vision Skate Escape, and even though I haven’t really followed the group over the past few years, I was still excited to work on something for the band.

MTV provided a specific reference photo for the illustration, as well as the EMA logo, a style guide and three specific colors that needed to be used (the pink, purple and dark purple that you see in the poster, which, as you might imagine, proved a little difficult to work with.)  After a few rounds of back and forth, what you see above is what we came up with.

Internally the folks at MTV Design liked it, but higher-ups in the company decided to go in a totally different direction, preferring to use a photo of the soon-to-be-announced host instead.  A bummer for sure but what can you do. So, instead of leaving this to languish in some digital graveyard, I decided to post it here for your enjoyment.

I love to travel and although I’ve slowed down over the past few years, I was very excited to work with esteemed travel writer Beth D’Addono’s on a new web header for her wordpress travel blog, Unchained Travel. The site focuses on locally owned places of interest – whether it’s a funky little restaurant on the edge of town or a one-of-a-kind hotel overflowing with timeless charm.

As Beth states: “Unchained Travel celebrates the joy of discovering real people and places out on the road.  When I find an amazing restaurant, whether it’s Acherberg Olm in Oetz, on the side of a mountain in the Tirolian Alps, or Louie and the Red Head Lady, a funky roadside diner in Mandeville, Lousiana, I’ll tell you about it.  I’ve loosely categorized UT into Eat, Drink, Play and Sleep, but often hidden gems will fit into more than one category.”

The concept for the chosen design (above) comes from an old trunk covered in vintage travel stickers, recalling a time when the uniqueness of the travel experience was something that people wore proudly like a badge of honor.  And the various locals featured on the selected stickers speak to the global focus of her writing.

And, just to give you a little insight into the creative process, below is a first attempt at the banner. This design was influenced by the classic American road signs of the past, and an homage to the Route 66 frame of mind.  In the end, it was decided that the look was not global enough in focus (which is true) so we decided to go a different route.  I still like the way it turned out, and since I’ve never made a realistic looking sign from scratch before, I included it here for your enjoyment.

I recently had the pleasure of working with First Edition Publishing on a pair of hardcover books for Marvel Comic’s Annihilators‘ collection.  With two different covers to choose from, each book contains the complete 4 original issues of Annihilators and well as Rocket Raccoon and Groot plus a few extra pages of sketches and original concept art.  You can pick one these up now at your local comic shop or bookstore.

I’ll be honest, I never really got into Steely Dan – I had heard stuff over the years of course, but they never really moved me and it just wasn’t my thing, no big deal – so when I was asked to create a poster for their sold-out performance at the Tower Theater this weekend, I was a bit at a loss on how to approach it. Doing some research though, I found out they took their name from a line in William Burroughs‘ infamous novel, Naked Lunch.  Being a fan of Burroughs, I decide to take the whole thing full circle and do an illustration of the famous author.  I hope the band dig it.

These were printed by ABNRML and were presented to the band as a gift from Live Nation.  It’s a two color screen print on 130lb Black French Construction paper, size 12.5? x 19?.

I’m very honored to announce that Science Skateboards in the UK has just released my first ever skateboard graphic as part of their latest series. The idea for the deck came together after talking with owner Chris Morgan about some of his favorite graphics from the past, including this 1992 James Kelch board on Real – he also mentioned that he liked my painting Mt Cook Avenue Reflections, so we decided to try a cross between the two. I think it came out pretty cool. The original painting, entitled Mount Cook Avenue Reflection #2, is oil on canvas, 24? x 48?.

This one is definitely a dream come true  - I’ve wanted to design a board graphic ever since I was a young teen, eagerly flipping through the pages of Thrasher and soaking in artwork from Gonz, VCJ, Neil Blender, Andy Howell, Ed Templeton and Chris Miller (and years later, guys like Evan Hecox, Don Pendleton and Andy Jenkins, among others). Plus, as a music fan who has a heavy love and obsession for the Manchester scene and British music in general (The Smiths, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Clash, Stones, Kinks, Sabbath, Suede – the list goes on and on), it just seems fitting that my first board should come out of the UK. Like I said, a dream come true and a real honor. Thanks to Chris at Science for making this happen. Nice one!

Theses boards will also be available stateside in the coming months so stay tuned.

I was recently asked to design a limited edition poster for  Death Cab for Cutie’s recent show at the Mann in Philadelphia. The chosen design (pictured left) is a 2 color screen print on 100# Construction Steel Blue French paper, and was printed by ABNRML. These were limited to a run of 40 and were a gift to the band from AEG.  I have a few copies of these that will be available for purchase in the next few weeks, so stay tuned if you’re interest.

Now, originally, I had the idea of doing a Death Cab poster that was a direct parody of ACDC’s infamous Highway to Hell album cover, because when I realized the band’s initials were DC4C, it seemed like too good of an idea to pass up, and one that I thought must have been used previously (after a couple hours of solid research though, I never found anything).  And, honestly, you couldn’t ask for a greater contrast in sound or attitude than between these two bands, which is what made the whole idea humerous.  Plus, I figured that, given the age of the guys in Death Cab, they were probably into metal at some point of their pre-treen lives, so they would get the joke.  In the end, AEG passed on the design, wanting to go with something much less cartoony, which is totally their perogative, no hard feelings, we’re all professionals here, etc.etc – but I was happy enough with the general idea and execution that I figured it was worth sharing here.  Consider it an unreleased B-side. Enjoy.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to design something really, really large but this past spring, I had the pleasure of creating a vehicle wrap for Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia’s new truck, which will be used to pick up donations for their brand new Restore.  Just to give you an idea of the scale here – the image on the side of the truck measures 183 inches wide by 80 inches high, which pretty much makes it a billboard on wheels. For those unfamiliar, a Restore is a retail outlet that sells quality used home improvement goods like furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances at a fraction of the normal price. The proceeds are used to help fund the construction of Habitat homes within Philadelphia. The grand opening for the Restore is September 10, 2011 at 2930 Jasper Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134, so mark your calendars accordingly.  And remember, to make a donation, please call 215-739-9300.

As you can probably tell by our lack of recent blog posts, we’ve been keeping busy here with a decent crop of fun projects. Most recently, we had the pleasure of creating a logo and website for Morning Circle Media. A recent start-up, MCM primarily produces  children’s books, workshops and digital media projects that promote bilingualism and cultural competence in young children, for both families and educators.

For the logo, we incorporated the brand’s rising “morning sun” peeking over a horizon line that draws it’s inspiration from an open page of a book.  For the website portion, we created a fully functioning webstore, complete with a shopping cart feature with paypal integration, as well as a blog feature for updates on upcoming engagements.  The site was created in wordpress so that it’s user friendly and easy for the client to update regularly.

Morning Circle Media recently published their excellent first book, Slide! with a second book to follow Fall 2011.  For more information, please visit morningcirclemedia.com