Flickr.com is the new Blogspot.com

I've started a flickr account where I'll be posting images more regularly. Take a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookinglasseyes/

Because I feel like it.

It needs some work, and I'm not set on the font yet but...

Tape's Are Soooo Gimicky!

Juicy, fruity, and twice the flavor!

With this project being for a breakdancing event, I immediately told myself, "dont hiphopify it!" I could have drawn graffiti letters with drips, clouds and a guy in adidas doing a headspin, but I really just wanted to something simple and bright.
The character breaking out of the "O" and the phrase "For the Gusto are from a movie called CB4, which stars Chris Rock. The character can't make it as a rapper and end up getting tangled in gangster rap trying to make money.
A friend of mine who organized the event came up with the idea, which i liked. Somehow his idea and mine crashed into this...







It doesnt make a whole lot of sense, and maybe someone spraypainting while doing the moonwalk would have been a better idea. I think people would have associated it more with this type of event. I guess this works, too.

April Fools Is For Everybody!

Thank the good Lord above for Illustrator!

Type and logos can end up being a nightmare. Once you have your sketch or drawing traced with the pen tool, illustrator makes it easy to make any sort of variation from there. Making choices on what you like best now becomes simple. These were built from the Arial Black font and embelished with the thick graffiti style seriffs and connections. Now it has that hot new "street" look that the whole planet is on right now...

Club Orange's Chalk Art Show

Club Orange held a chalk art show this past wednesday with several local artists, riktor, aster, kier, dusk and others. The bar area's walls are coated with a chalk board paint. The room was broken into sections and Each artist was given their own space to work with. One of the things that made the night interesting was that none of the artists, including myself, had ever used chalk as a medium. A few of us where uncertain about how it would turn out but by the middle of the night people were getting adjusted. There was no subject or requirements, so everyone was pretty comfortable and the night ended up being a lot of fun....

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera for the show, (the photo here was e-mailed to me) so i don't have anything from the other artists at the show. A photographer from the City Weekly was there so we may see something pop up in one of the coming editions. I did overhear that this may turn into a monthly thing...

Club Orange
533 South 500 West
Salt Lake City

Waxpoetics Issue 34 Release Party

The "All Vinyl Nights" at Kristauf's have been bringing DJ's out of their houses and into a spot where they can share their music with a wider audience and on a better sounds system (it's a maybe on that last one.)
Everyone's favorite music journal, Waxpoetics is putting out their jazz issue this month and how better to partner up and celebrate the two? After speaking with some of the nice guys running the magazine, they've allowed us to promote their product and make it one big party! It's not an official Waxpoetics event, but is surely condoned and approved.

About the Design:

When starting to put this together, there was no finished product in mind, but more of a general feel of how I would like it to turn out in the end. After looking around at some old jazz and psych covers/posters I started putting things together. The elements were drawn in illustrator and then imported to Photoshop for some easy transparency. At that point, things started to fit together and make some sort of cohesive idea. Being a music fan myself made this poster really fun to work on, and came a little more naturally than other things I've worked on.

Fourth Street Music

Salt Lake City's Fourth Street Music is undergoing some big things. The upcoming change in ownership has shifted the stores focus from CD's to the good old fashioned vinyl format. Which is unheard of in the music business, btw.

I was happy when Chase gave me and other local artists a chance to create a new feel for the store's aesthetic.

These two poster designs were intended to get things going in some sort of creative direction, and not necessarily be a final product. There's also logos and other things in line to be created.

About these designs:

Herb Alpert - Wanted

Any avid record digger, collector, or DJ will testify to the ubsurd amount of Herb Alpert records you come accross when you're digging for vinyl. It becomes more and more frustrating when you go to you're favorite thrift store looking for that Velvet Underground with the orginal bannana sticker and get slammed with 50 copies of the Tijuana Brass instead!

Record Friends

I totally ripped this off from a cover of a childrens record called, "Care for Kids." The album's cover is simply these two on a plain blue background with the hand written title above them. It definately looks to be inspired by School House Rock's simple character design, and innocence. So, I used the cover as a template and replaced the "magic" the two kids were throwing into the air and replaced it with records. I've always loved the design so this is my tribute.