Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Thrashlab Interview



This interview I did for Thrashlab has been out for a little while, but I wanted to make sure I mentioned it on my blog.

Interview conducted and filmed by Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Coachella 2013

Original untitled painting for Coachella 2013 t-shirt design
6" x 6"
Acrylic on Panel
2013

This year I had the good fortune of being invited back to contribute another t-shirt design for the 2013 Coachella Valley Music And Art Festival. While my first design focused on the unbearable heat of the Palm Desert, for my second I wanted to create something that felt like "Rock 'n roll" and complimented a music festival such as Coachella.
To achieve this "Rock 'n Roll" style and have it gell with my personal visual aesthetic, I took a bite from David Bowie's iconic "Aladdin Sane" cover art, and slapped a red/pink lightening bolt across my bear's face, I then modified the bolts point, and turned it into tears dripping from its right eye. 
I still don't know what I'm trying to say with the illustration, but I want to believe that the graphic looks good on a shirt. I hope attendees at the festival will think so too. 
This, and all the other custom artist shirts will be available for sale during the festival at the Coachella Boutique (NOT with the regular Coachella t-shirt venders).
Coachella runs from April 12th - April 14th, and again from April 19th - April 21st.



Finished design for Coachella 2013 t-shirt design
To be printed on dark grey t-shirts

Friday, April 5, 2013

Bartholomew Punchyface

Sometime around 2012, my friend & colleague Scott Tolleson and I decided it'd be fun to try collaborating on a toy project. Tolleson, a stylistically eclectic artist, is probably best known for his "Nosellot" plush toy line. A collection of cute stylized characters, almost all of his Nosellot's don his signature glasses and argyle. Taking some of these elements and combining them with my signature bear and tragic narratives, and the end result became "Bartholomew Punchyface".

When we decided to design a plush toy, one of the things we wanted to incorporate was "playability". We accomplished this by giving it underwear from which you could give him a "wedgie". We also incorporated the classic school yard prank, "kick me", sign on his back, and roughed him up with blemishes on his knee and elbow, decked him out in argyle, corduroy, glasses, and topped it off with bowl cut. The coup de gras is a black eye on its right and a tear from his left.
"Bartholomew Punchyface" was three dimensionalized by the London based A Little Stranger and produced by 3D Retro. It will be released on April 13th 2013 with a release party hosted by Giant Robot (Saturday, April 13th 2013 5pm - 8pm). Afterwards Bartholomew will be available for purchase at 3D Retro's online shop.
The original version of Bartholomew Punchyface is limited to 400 pieces.