New Year, New Venue, Same Great Party!

Welp, here we are folks, the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 and it means one very important thing is coming our way: The 13th Annual NY NIGHT TRAIN NEW YEARS BALL! This baby is going to sell out fast so get your tickets ASAP. An added bonus to all this is Jonathan Toubin and Co. have gone and opened up a new venue, T.V. EYE, for the big night, plus many more amazing nights, and it sounds like it is going to be a doozy of a place. 

I hadn't given it much thought but now that I am being inundated with end of year/decade lists at every second, it's made me reflect on my first full decade of being a part of the illustrator working force. A lot has changed, and a lot has not changed. I'm going to kick back, reflect on what all this means, where I'm headed, what new and interesting ways I can wear white tees with blue jeans, and hopefully I can compile a list of some of my favorite pieces from the last 10 years. But, for now, enjoy my final piece, I think, of 2019 and of the 2010's.

Ahh, yes, that moment where you get stuck at a spot in the piece and are a little nervous about what way you are going to push this forward. At first I totally imagined this blue gradient and then it began taking so long around all the text I knew I had to change gears. I figured I could fade to black but where on the piece was really giving me some trouble. Luckily I had the baby, rocket, moon, fireworks and daddy long legs to help obscure any shortcomings I might give away on fading the blue into black. 

Left Field Coal Candy

Recently illustrated a couple labels for some holiday treats from Queens-based menswear brand, Left Field. One bag is full of milk chocolate candy rocks and the other is full of something not quite as tasty, or edible for that matter. I always loved checking out candy wrappers when I was younger for all the crazy designs and colors so this was an especially cool little gig for me. Big thanks again to Christian McCann at Left Field. These are available in-store or online at LEFT FIELD

The Phil Ashworth Store for Super Cool Gifts

It's that time of year again; To support the small people trying to do big things! Oh, and buy your loved ones some super rad gifts. If you just don't know what to get your cat, coffee, rat, neon sign, soul music, Snake Plissken loving friends this year well, I am here for you. Get those orders in asap before it's too late!!

SHOP HERE

Final BK Bazaar Soul Clap with NOBUNNY!

Time got away from me this past month and I forgot to post this before the show. With Nobunny headlining, Jonathan and I thought the iconic Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd skit, "What's Opera, Doc?" would be a fitting look for this month's show. The Brooklyn Bazaar shut its doors for good at the end of November so things went out with a bang as the bunny ears were attached, pants were shed and pipes were hung from at the final Soul Clap & Dance-Off at this venue. We'll be seeing y'all in January. 

Prison Rodeo

A recent logo I did for the DJ, PRISON RODEO. As you can tell by the logo the music leans strongly into the outlaw country genre so we cooked up something that would echo those 70's aesthetics when Willie, Kris, Merle, Waylon, and Johnny Paycheck (coolest name ever) were changing the game. Check his instagram @prison.rodeo if you wanna catch where he'll be slinging country tunes, which seems like a rare treat in NYC.

Process sketches below.

One Last Snack

As we enter the final days of "Character and Narrative" let us reflect on the things that almost were before August 15th. I had intentions of putting this lil' guy in the group of pieces I was bringing out for the show but time just ran too short and I couldn't land on a composition I liked so, I regretfully put it aside and got the pieces I was 100% sure on finished up. Luckily, Touchstone Center for Crafts reached out to me after I returned from Colorado to submit a couple pieces to their annual fall benefit and I knew exactly what piece I was going to submit. 

As much as I really wanted to include it in "Character and Narrative" I think I just had to walk away from it and give it time to be worked out in my head. I told some of my students this past summer that I like to think about my work in a cinematic way, in which I take a lot of my cues from how cameras frame a shot to convey an emotion. There's one shot that I particularly love and that is the classic, close-up angled shot from old horror movies when something bad is going down. And that was really all it took to lock the final look down. This, and another piece, will be for sale on October 18th at the Annual Touchstone Fall Benefit at the Pittsburgh Field Club. 

Final week for "Character and Narrative"

It's the final week to see "Character and Narrative" at the Foothills Art Center in Golden, CO. The show wraps up on Sunday the 20th at 5pm so get yourself there before then if you haven't seen it yet. Here's one of the last few pieces from my body of work. 

Haunted Brown Latte Throwdown V

Another Halloween is here and that means it's time for another Haunted Brown latte Throwdown! My good bud Trey Kirchoff has been throwing these bad boys for the past 5 years, mostly at his coffee shops, Passengers Cafe (RIP) and Coffee Coffee Coffee in Cleveland, OH. We used to collaborate on a ton of stuff when he lived in NYC so I always whip up something for him to use for promotion so we can keep the collaborative dream alive. I've included a few others along with our poster for this year in honor of 5 years of the Haunted Brown. 

HAUNTED HOP 2019 EDITION

Here's my latest poster for the GREATEST HALLOWEEN PARTY IN NYC that goes down at the KNOCKDOWN CENTER on OCTOBER 31st (unlike all these posers throwing their party the weekend before or after). These posters are always a fun challenge and sometimes a frustrating challenge in how I can balance a buttload of text along with a fun image. I think I've managed to keep them entertaining while mostly being informative these past 3 years. 

Jonathan Toubin always brings the heat every year and they just keep getting bigger and better. If you've never seen The Make-Up live and have always wanted to, I suggest you bite the bullet and do it this Halloween. Be sure to get your tix asap! Link is included below along with some of my process pics. 

TICKETS!!!