January-February Gig Fliers

Free Throw's show had me super pumped. Knowing of a few friends who really liked them, I wanted to do something special. My friend Nick ran into me at a show not long after returning from Fest - they mentioned hanging out with the band while they were down there. I asked them what the poster should look like for their Columbus show. They instantly said, "Hotline Bling... and Pokemon." "Put Ash's face on Drake's body." And when I asked them which Pokemon to include... they didn't hesitate to say Pidgey. I scoped their Instagram and understood a little bit of why. Voila!

Wanted a quickly made look for this poster, so I totally was tracing Pidgey, Drake, and Ash. I hand-did the type in a sketchbook page and slapped it into Photoshop. The only downside of the haste was this incredible tangent I ended with, which haunts me. But not enough to change it after the fact.

Can you find the evil tangent?????????????????

----------------

This poster was requested by my buddies in the Wind and the Sea - after making their flier for a show a year ago, which one of the bands even made screen prints of! One night a week or so after I finished it, I ran into one of them. He happened to let me know that his bandmate and him have had a photo archive of dead birds going on for a good amount of years - they found this drowning bird fitting.

Last year's flier had a whale in the sky, so I wanted to make this year's about a flying animal underwater. The color scheme of last year was derived from the lemonade cups they squeeze out at fairgrounds (mostly because their was a band on the bill called 'Lemon Sky'). This year was an homage to my favorite soda as a kid... Welch's Sparkling Grape.

----------------

This poster right here is honestly my poster to end all posters. This is my favorite band of all time. As terrible and miss-matched my music taste is, The Queers reign as my favorite. The demographic they speak to may not be I, the high-schooler blasting a $2 copy of Love Songs for the Retarded 15 years after it's pressing. Or me and my best friend who got matching Felix the Cat tattoos in their honor after finally seeing them three times. Maybe their demographic isn't the type of person to go to a bar that doesn't allow mosh-pits!

But god dammit I was so excited to see this show posted, and my friend booking it - when he asked if I'd like to make a flier, I was beside myself! This is a dream flier! The window of time I had to make it was short - it was the holidays and I had done most of the flier on an airplane - and I didn't want to look like a POSER spending too much time on the piece. So here it is. There's a Kobo Live reference (the venue that existed in place before the current venue took over), references to a few of their songs, their label, and even a reference to a book of the similar band vein I'm currently almost finished reading (Weasels in a Box):

More posters on the way for next time. Shout out to the promoter buddies who made the shows (and a bunch more) happen here in sunny Columbus, Ohio:

Bravoartist / Distinct Populace

<3

Sketchbook Retirement/Cool Noise Bro

Here's the last of the six small life drawing sketchbooks I scanned from the summer-fall.

Looking back, it's been quite a ride from start to finish. There's a sketchbook that was started in February that has been on the back burner - and two more sketchbooks after those - in progress. 

This last booklet might be my favorite of the set. Less time was spent "fixing" the drawings because the line slowly got more confident. Huzzah for learning. And Happy almost New Year!

  

A quote from a show that I drew at the very end of this sketchbook:

Random drawing of Things Fall Apart:

Drunk selfie:

Polyphia, being sparkly with their musicianship!:

"Age 21 and Heavy Drinkers" actual thing I heard someone mention about them:

Someone asked me this at the bar:

Customer and bartender realize they were friends in high school:

My take on why there was a few cool kids missing from the show:

Smash up drawing of ERRA:

Guy watching and later clapping: 

My favorite drawing of ERRA:

The Browning going to TOWN being SO FUN TO DRAW:

Lots of quotes needed to be written down from the set:

Just a disclaimer they didn't say they were The Brownies:

Also Being as An Ocean:

These past six were a fun way to keep track of personal progress in life drawing after school. I will post a follow up to all of these soon! :) Thanks for sticking around everybody.

Alt Press Warped Tour Map!

Warped Tour will always have a special place in my heart. I first went in high school, and have always had a field day running around, push-pitting, singing, sweating and getting sunburnt. I have certainly toned down on the mosh lifestyle over the years, but I still enjoy the trip.

Hayley and I in a Taco Bell bathroom after Warped Tour is one of the very few photos I have as evidence. Circa 2009.

Fortunately after almost all of my friends lost interest, I begin dating someone who manages a few bands who played the tour this past summer. A 23 year old with a good excuse to go to Warped Tour? The 16 year old inside of me wouldn't have believed it.

A pic of me when I really liked Warped Tour, circa 2010.

As though I couldn't be more excited, my favorite magazine as a teenager - Alternative Press - asked me to create their "Midway Map": an illustrated list of various Warped Tour sponsors that lives inside their free mini magazine and is handed out all cross-country tour long. Surprised and honored, I jumped at the chance and started sketching according to their suggestion of "people zoo" theme. Here's one:

I based every character off of friends of mine. Ones who have went to Warped Tour in the past as well as friends I like to imagine would have a fun time there.

When I started my Warped Tour phase, my feelings about drawing people where 100% unhappy. My comfort zone was cartoon animals and monsters - but I struggled immensely when trying to draw a person. I started drawing everyone in my classes, at school events, etc. The drawing classes I took helped inform and continued to shape what I was doing.

First attempt of filling a page with people doodles, also circa 2010.

After years of observation drawing, I was finally comfortable with making cartoon people! To imagine getting a "people zoo" theme and not being overwhelmed by the challenge would be even harder for 16 year old me to believe than the fact I'd get the chance to tour the Alternative Press office in Cleveland! Or that I'd still be looking forward to Warped Tour 2016.