EYES WIDE AWAKE

Dang! This video turned out awesome. Special thanks to Dennis at Thought & Theory and Varickfor making it, you guys rule.
Sorry If I’ve been overloading everyone with I’M BOARD IV recaps but I just had to show this video. I feel it does a great job capturing the look and feel of the show.

These decks were created for Blue Llama Studios upcoming film VEER!, which begins shooting this week. DieNasty is a fictitious skate company created for the film and they needed pro-model decks designed for each team rider and a logo. I started with the logo and decided to go with a tattoo style script font since tattoos are mentioned in the film and to give it a unique look on screen. While reading the screenplay, the decks are given to each of the skaters and they are represented as a warrior. Visually I needed each one to stand out so I decided to give each deck a bold color for the background and a somewhat simple illustration of the warrior face in the foreground. I tried to give the faces a simple look without having to much detail which would get lost on screen; yet make them not seem cartoonish. After a lot of sketches and playing with color options I feel I found a good balance that I was looking for. In person these things pop with color. Overall this was an awesome project to work on and I hope to do more skateboard designs in the future.

Thanks to Patrick Barry, Jesse Gay and Jesse Whitaker for involving me in this project.

I created these T-Shirt mocks a while back but haven’t been able to show the completed looks until now due to client requirements. Now that I can show them, here they are. These were done for Submission, a clothing line geared towards the MMA crowd. Creative Direction by 2one5 who wanted to take the line in a different direction them the typical all over print style of Affliction and the tattoo flash style of Ed Hardy, yet maintain a tough, and edgy look favored by the type of people who would wear an MMA clothing brand. Two main requirements for the designs were that they must include a lion (or reference to a lion) and a crest.
This project also has a bit of a funny side to it because while I was going through the creative brief I kept reading Submission as the submission requirements and was a little confused at first (submissions for submission, get it?). Anyways, here are the looks I came up with. ROARRR!

Well “I’m Board 4″ has come and gone, and it’s difficult to describe the whole event.  It’s been a mixture of joy, frustration, relief, but ultimately happiness. This year there were over 160 submissions from local and national artists on display at 229 Hogan and thousands of viewers. I feel great knowing I put on what some consider the best art show in Jacksonville (not my own words), and it’s a great feeling knowing that all the hard work and organization has paid off one more year.

I would like to thank all of the artists who participated in the event.  It wouldn’t have happened without all of your great submissions. Thanks to all my friends who helped me set up, hang, create labels, and prepare for the event. Thanks to Matt Abercrombie, Tom Pennington, Crystal Floyd, Clay Doran and the rest of the artists at 229 Hogan. I would also like to thank Red Bull, Burro Bags and Urban Jacksonville for supporting this event. A big thanks to DJs NickFRESH and B-Ryan for playing some great music all night long. A special thanks to the Main Ingredientz Crew who entertained the crowd. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who came out to see the fantastic artwork and supported this event.

I hope “I’M BOARD 5″ will be more exciting next year.

Photos by Point Shoot Enjoy, you can see her photo set here

Here are some more photo sets.
Crystal Floyd
Arturo Clothing
Logan Zawacki
Can We Kick It?
REAX along with some Artwalk photos
Philip Collins

Here is a video of my friend Tim Lenore working on his piece and my interview with Bus Stop Magazine

*** SUBMISSION PICKUPS ***

You can pick up your submission Saturday, Feb 6th from 2-4 PM or Saturday, Feb 13th from 1-4 PM at 229 Hogan

I’M BOARD 4, the 4th annual skateboard art show is almost here!

The event will take place on Wednesday, February 3rd from 5-9 at 229 N Hogan (next to the UPS store) The show will feature local and national artists along with DJ’s Triclops, NickFRESH and B-Ryan along with the Main Ingredientz Crew

I would also like to thank Red Bull, Burro Bags and Urban Jacksonville for supporting this event.

The people of Haiti need some serious help. Along with making a monetary donation I knew there was more I could do and the chance arose yesterday when one of our clients contacted us about helping them with some flyers to gather donations and supplies for the people of Haiti. I jumped on the chance and created this illustration graphic to help them in their efforts of gathering donations and supplies for the Haitian relief.

If you can donate money or supplies you will get some good karma points.

Oh, say word? Custom typography I created and mocked up on a T-Shirt. I might get a few of these printed and see how they sell.

Sick of the same ol’ boxy, army style stencil font? Well, let’s create our own custom stencil font.

Step 1: Sketch It!

Choose the word or phrase you would like to make a stencil of, and start sketching. Try to avoid letters such as o’s, a’s, e’s, etc… since these letters have a counter (internal space) and you will have to include a gap in the letter. I decided to go with the word “Word”, I like to say it and the letters are interesting and vary greatly. I wanted it to have a classic feel but also a modern, hip look so I sketched it out with loopy curves and a slightly upwards angle. It also has an “o” and a “d”, so you can see an example of how to solve the problems these letters create for stencils.

Step 2: Cut It!

Use an xacto knife with a fresh blade to cut the letters out. If you have a very detailed stencil,  begin with the details and work from the center out. This will help the paper keep it’s strength. When cutting the stencil also be careful of the direction you cut. I tend to cut into points, for example, if you are cutting a V shape I would start at the upper left and cut down to the lower right ( \ ), then cut from the upper right, down to the lower left ( / ). Once you have your stencil cut, place it on a dark background to see if there are any stay pieces of paper or any areas that need extra cutting.

Step 3: Use it!

Use flat spray paint since it doesn’t drip as much as glossy and stencil it on canvas, shirts, whatever.

Hope you enjoyed this quick little tutorial and come see this stencil on some shirts for the T-Shirt Art show at 229 Hogan this Wednesday from 5-9 for Artwalk.

The AIGA Jacksonville chapter will be celebrating it’s 21st birthday this year and I created some custom typography for the number 21. This was a fun little project where I was able to create some elaborate type that will be used for the branding of the event. Now that the AIGA Jacksonville is 21 lets drink!