ROOSTER INTERVIEW

I did a recent interview with Boulder-based Rooster Magazine. We discussed life as an illustrator, inspiration, my recent gallery showing with wife Shannon Bonatakis, Paper Diamond, and more.

PAPER DIAMOND + MUSIC VIDEO

I've been doing a ton of fun stuff for Paper Diamond in the last couple of months (some of which hasn't been released yet), including a music video, new EP cover, promo illustrations, etc. Here are the highlights:

This is an image that was inspired by my "Can We Go Up" single cover. It's being used for apparel and promo.

This is the cover image for PD's latest EP "Wavesight" via Mad Decent.



This video debuted last Wednesday night on MTV, and here's the uncensored version from PD's youtube page. You'll notice my greasy little fingerprints in a few places in the video. I'll explain.



This animation test showcases the custom type and background layers I created for the project. I didn't have anything to do with the animation in the actual video, but I put this together for myself to see how my illustration loop was working. Interesting to be back working in After Effects again. I've been doing a lot of commercial illustration work for animation lately, and I'm really enjoying it.

My smoke layers isolated. The following are screen grabs of the final product as it appeared in the video. Looking forward to working more with Paper Diamond in the future! Lots of fun projects in the works right now.

HIPSTER FABULOUS PT. 2

I did another beer inspired piece for this round of PBR art festivities. I used salvaged junk wood for the surface, and built 3 small boxes from it. I then transferred my sketch and just tried to have fun with the faux vintage look, pushing and pulling with paint and sandpaper. Overall, it was a good exercise in simplicity for me, allowing my surface to provide. Now all I have to do is get PBR to give me some real work! I think I've got their demo down. How cool would a whole campaign of these characters be?

PBR put on 3 art shows in the area, but I was most excited to make something for the Sundown Saloon show in Boulder. That was my favorite spot back when I lived there. It's a basement bar, low light, full of old beat up wooden furniture and odd smells. The perfect place to duck into after being dragged to froufrou cocktail spots all evening. I think my piece captures the place affectionately known as "The Downer" splendidly.

PAPER DIAMOND SINGLE

I recently did some artwork for Boulder-based recording artist Alex Botwin, AKA Paper Diamond. Alex is a really rad musician, and I now have the distinct pleasure of calling him and his Elm and Oak partner Berk Gibbs friends of mine. Look for more cover artwork in the near future, and some top secret collabs between myself and PD's micro army of arty allies, Lifter Baron and Nook. Exciting stuff! And according to Interview Magazine, I'm best known for my work on Gorillaz... Yep, that was totally me (we had nothing to do with that Jamie Hewlett, I swear).

You can download a high quality copy of the music on Soundcloud, where the track has been steadily kicking ass since it dropped in September. Or you can just click on the youtube clip below.

GAME GUZZLER AD

Coming to a video game magazine near you, I just kicked out this print ad/promo shirt combo for Game Guzzler. It's a job website for people in the field of... you guessed it. Phil was super cool to work with, and I think we gave his beloved monkey mascot a much needed facelift with this piece. Check them out if you're job searching in the industry.

NARCO

Let me just say upfront, I do not in any way endorse violence, racial stereotypes, or drug use. The following project is a series of commissioned apparel designs inspired by Mexican narco cinema. If you're offended or confused, just watch the previous link and you'll understand. They're B-movies that share a lot in common with American grindhouse, which means silly over the top with sex, drugs, and violence.

This was a very... difficult project to work on. I think at several points I even considered turning it down because I wasn't sure if it was ethical. "What the hell am I doing?! I'm drawing decapitated cartel victims..." was something that came out of my mouth at some point. And for the love of god, never google image search "drug cartel" with the safe search off. I've seen things I wish I could unsee while researching this project.

But for all the difficulty I faced getting started, I took it as a challenge. What started as morbid sketches that no sane person would ever want to buy or wear, slowly became fun comic book villain-esque character studies. So I put on my Tarantino hat, and just had fun with it. Best not to over think these things right? Bad guys kick ass!

WHAT IS IT YOU'D SAY YOU DO HERE?

Since flying solo almost one year ago, I've been staying crazy busy doing this and that for startups, agencies, and big companies alike. While I'm very happy with the kind of work that has been coming my way, MOST of it will never end up on my blog because it's either (A) too far outside my wheel house, or (B) under a strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). But thankfully I've got a grip of non-NDA work that's fit to post, so here are two good examples of the kind of thing I've been up to this year. More tomorrow!

CROCS™ Chameleons Ad

agency: Friends of Mine x Sleeping Giant

I've already done two projects with Friends of Mine, and they've quickly become some of my favorite people to work with. The following is a commercial that was put together on a very tight deadline, and still came out pretty great. The boys at Friends of Mine came to me to create a hefty library of elements that they could then animate. I cranked away for several days, handed over the elements, and a few days later Crocs had this magical little children's ad on their hands.

Backpocket Brewery Woodcut Illustrations

client: Backpocket Brewing Company x Can of Creative

If you know anything about me, you know that I frequently lust for a good microbrew (the hoppier the better). Needless to say, I had a lot of fun drawing in a completely different style for Backpocket. They approached me about illustrating some common objects that would eventually brand their various beer styles. This was to be done in a rustic, woodcut style that would gel with their existing design work. To be clear, I did not design the labels, only the first image layout and all of the elements within.

2010 SKETCHBOOK

I finally got around to scanning and putting together the 2010 Sketchbook section of my website this week! Almost forgot to do it, I've been so slammed between working and planning my wedding. Only four months until I never think of napkin patterns again people!!! You have no idea what that means to me.

Maybe I'm not posting enough sketches on this "sketch blog," because most of this stuff never ended up here until now. I'm posting little snippets and thumbnails like these more frequently on my twitter account if you'd like to keep up with that.

Enjoy all 18 pages of my 2010 Sketchbook at josholland.com

STS9 POSTER / TECHNIQUE PROCESS POST

I was asked to create another Conscious Alliance poster for STS9's upcoming winter tour, but unfortunately one of the band's members became ill and the tour was cancelled. This poster will be completed and sold at a later date, but I wanted to document my technique in the meantime for those who have been asking.

STS9 poster (without tour info)

pencil/digital

1. The rough sketch for this piece was done digitally to save time. I begin by pushing and pulling shapes until I've achieved an idea that's polished enough to move forward with. Normally I do a color study at this stage as well. This omission of my process came back to bite me in the ass, as you'll soon see.

2. This is what my final pencils looked like scanned, cleaned up, and isolated on their own layer in photoshop. The drawing is not 100% complete, but will suffice as the base layer of the piece. Time to make with the color.

3. My original idea was to make the space eel radiating rainbow colors, and keep a neutral color palette for the rest of the piece. I begin by isolating sections into shapes below the drawing layer, and painting onto those shape layers. This is tedious work with the pen tool, but necessary for easy changes later.

4. The piece begins to take shape as color is applied to the line layer and additional background shapes. I begin to second guess my rainbow palette at this stage, when the colors aren't allowing bright enough values. I then bang my head into my desk repeatedly, as additional punishment for not doing my color study upfront.

5. Being a winter themed tour, I decided to change the rainbow colors to minty greens and an all cool palette. The omission of rainbow colors is allowing the eel to pop and glow against dark space in the way I originally intended. I plop the STS9 logo into place indiscriminately. That needs to change already...

6. I find a better place for the logo, add lighting effects, and sketch in what will be the final drawing elements digitally. Time to go back into drawing mode.

7. This is the final drawing layer with the included stars, lightning, fire, and transparent figure details. These were not done in the original drawing stage because they overlap the underdrawing, and I wanted them to be transparent.

8. The final image takes shape with subtle halftones and color applied to the remaining elements. My desired level of polish is achieved, and the client calls to say nevermind. Just another day in the life of a professional illustrator.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

When I was asked to participate in "The American Dream" group show at D-Structure (opening tonight), I was happy to take on this challenging theme. Most people see the American dream as the promise of potential economic prosperity; a rags-to-riches success story in the making. But as my vocation might suggest, I'm not particularly interested in wealth. So what about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" I think this iconic declaration comes much closer to capturing the true American dream, the simple freedom to pursue our own personal beliefs, kinks, indulgences, and obsessions. This important freedom to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, religious opinion, and social restraint is what I think America is all about, so that's how I chose to depict it.

The Pursuit of Happiness

acrylic and coffee on wood panel

ART THAT FEEDS

Just finished this poster design for Conscious Alliance, a non-profit organization that collaborates with musicians and artists to help impoverished communities through food donations. I was very happy to be able to do a few charity pieces this year, and would like to encourage everyone else out there to donate a bit of your time, money, or expertise this holiday season. Our current recession has left charitable donations largely down, and many more people in need than ever before. Think about it.

As for the art, I'm super happy with the results. I've been meaning to incorporate more type into my artwork, and I think concert posters is a good avenue for me to explore in the future. But for now, back to the grindstone!

DENVER DOES DENVER

I was invited to participate in the second Denver Does Denver show opening this Saturday night. I chose local art ally John Fellows as my subject, and created this Vegito-esque merging of our two styles in the cooperative spirit of the show. It was a lot of fun dissecting John's linoleum cuts, and experimenting with his palette. Overall I'm happy with the result, and from what I've seen the show should be a lot of fun. See you there.

"We're Connected, You And I"

ink, paint, transfer on wood panel

MONSTER ENGINE COLLAB

Just finished up a piece for Indyink's Monter Engine show. If you're not familiar with The Monster Engine, here’s the big idea. David Devrie takes children’s drawings and works them into fully rendered paintings, maintaining the wildly imaginative and ininhibited essence of the original drawings. David will have some work in the show, as well as Denver’s finest and their equally brilliant pint-sized partners.

Upon being invited to participate in the show, I realized that I no longer know any young kids. Scrambling to come up with something, I posted to my Twitter and Facebook accounts looking for an imaginative youngster to collab with. My buddy Markham "Shitty Kitten" Maes (One of my favorite local artists) came to my aid.

Meet my new drawing partner Lilly Maes, age 5. With a father like Shitty Kitten, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She's got an amazing imagination, and made me a handful of awesome drawings to choose from. This was so much fun.

This one was my favorite out of the bunch. As Lilly describes the scene, the girl is happy because she wants to eat the ice cream monster. I'm sold. According to Markham, this was one of her first attempts at using Photoshop. I think we've got a future illustrator on our hands.

I toyed with David Devrie's technique of using the child's exact shaping to render a ralistic image, and decided that it wasn't working for me. With just a week to get the piece out, and a full schedule to work around, I decided to take Lilly's scene and reimagine it in my own style. This was the chosen thumbnail.

Fleshing out the thumbnail design, I added a few elements of my own to continue the vintage manga look I've been working with as of late (speedlines-a-go-go!). The Japanese writing dictated the title of the piece "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." This was an intentionally shoddy translation, as Japanese translated into English often makes me laugh. I like to wink back at the Japanese with my work sometimes, all out of love of course.

The final digital file was then transferred onto wood, and the corners roughed up to resemble a tattered manga book cover. I'm happy with the final result.

Lilly putting the finishing touch on "Frozen Fruit Giant Man." Thanks so much to the Maes family for all your help!