Floydfest 9 Breaking Ground :: Festival Art
Floydfest is a wonderful festival located 45 minutes from Roanoke, VA. Floydfest earns its namesake from nearby Floyd, a town of 500 people nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Prior to working with Floydfest, I had attended the festival 2 times and had become quite fond of the quaint locale and scenic setting. And well, the music lineup was always killer.
I was offered the opportunity to do the artwork during negotiations for my position as Street Team Manager by the promoter and owner of Across the Way Productions, Kris Hodges. We met briefly over lattes to discuss what he envisioned for the artwork. Working with Kris on a creative level was great because he had a clear vision of what he was looking for in the design which is usually a rarity among clients. Kris wanted a slick, flowy, Euro feel to it, bright colors. He specifically wanted a visually striking flower sprouting out of the music note seed. He also requested that Buck Mountain – an iconic mountain in Floyd, VA – be included and to somehow incorporate the number 9.
I ran with it and turned the final art over two days shy of the deadline. Less than a month later, a winter version of the original art donned 40,000 fliers and hit the street. 250,000 fliers later, Floydfest 9 Breaking Ground sold out. Unbelievable that so many people were exposed to my artwork. It’s like they say, life’s a garden… dig it.
I AM the Light of the World :: Painting
“I AM the True Vine, I AM the Bread of Life, I AM the Light of the World.”
Launched in 2007, this painting represents the first of a series of images that will be featured in my upcoming Re::Creation series. These paintings will attempt to illuminate the religious philosophy that I’ve developed throughout my life and experiences.
From my earliest memories of youth, I recall having an intense spiritual awareness and fascination for the mysteries of the universe. While the strict Christian upbringing served by my family should have reinforced my standing, the empty rhetoric and dogma of modern Christianity left me feeling diluted by unanswered questions. I sought answers.
Venturing forth on a mission of discovery, I vested hundreds of hours pouring over nearly every religious text and doctrine available. Then, I researched the art of religion. From the primitive cave paintings at Lascaux to the abstract musings of Bosch and beyond. If a man ever had a revelation or inspiration about God, I sought to pick the bone clean.
The perspective that emerged from my research was a tapestry far more colorful and intricate than anything I had previously conceived. I envisioned in my mind’s eye that all living things are connected on a higher plane and that the vast network of life combined is only a fraction of what the being we call God really is. I made the realization that man, being burdened by fear, and prejudice, could never fully grasp God’s entire being.
We suffer a great amnesia of our divine origin. Through this series of paintings, I hope to probe the core of modern religious structure, tearing away the archaic framework of old school and rebuilding our house anew with a higher conscious of mind. Reawakening.
And now the challenge of illustrating these ideas awaits me.
I have composed a poem to accompany the piece that reads as such:
I AM the fire and I AM the sword,
Broken bread of my flesh redeems the world.
I AM one beside one and one beside one,
Through me into this world you come.
I AM the Path of truth, for my Will be known,
Through Me you’ll pass when my glory is shown.
I AM the Creator and I AM the Trinity,
The fruit of my flesh, is the born of the tree.[/read]
Purchase this print in 16×20 size on Economy Matte.
Ana Sia :: Show Poster
Ana Sia is an electronic music performer from the Bay Area San Francisco, CA. So, when the show was confirmed, Third Eye Presents enlisted me to captivate the audience for her first appearance in Blacksburg, VA at Awful Arthur’s.
I was reminiscing about the poster days of old in San Francisco when the artwork pushed dimensions and tempted the boundaries of the imagination. I created the drafts for this in 3 pieces and pieced it together in Adobe illustrator lickety split. Threw in the color and moved the promo to the streets. My favorite part of the illustration is the white outlined space ships hovering with laser beams in the distant background.
MiMoSa :: Show Poster
This was the promotional poster I created for the MiMoSa show at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg, VA on May 13, 2010. I have always loved various culture’s versions of a dragon. This one is based on the Tibetan style.
I needed a quick dragon fix one night a while back and drafted up a fairly tight dragon that collected dust on the shelf for over year in my studio. When this show was confirmed, Third Eye Presents commissioned me to design the show poster and fliers so in a pinch, I resurrected the old dragon drawing and took it to my vector sanctuary in Adobe Illustrator. There it took on color. I chose red because of it being a fire dragon and drafted separate copy for the background, clouds and fire swirls and laid them out in a matter of a few hours.
The New Mastersounds :: Show Poster
The New Mastersounds are one of the most dynamic touring acts in funk music today. Their music calls to mind the bygone era of the late 60’s and 70’s when funk was pure & raw driven emotion. Live or on stage, The New Mastersounds easily captures a time of splendor, when acts like The Meters and James Brown first shook the stage.
When this event was confirmed for Blue 5 Restaurant in Roanoke, VA, I decided to thumb through the stack of old National Geographic magazines I have in my library, seeking vintage inspiration for the promotional poster. The ads from that time period – even those in black and white – were so vibrant and loud with texture and eye candy. I was in heaven.
After drafting some rough sketches, what began to emerge was a kind of Pam Grier, Super Fly, Spy Movie poster vibe, which I relish. Instead of redrafting finals and scanning the hard copies, I created this piece entirely in Adobe Illustrator utilizing my Wacom Bamboo Graphics Pen Tablet. This was my first official venture with the tablet and I was excited to see how the product would ultimately turn out.
The final result hit the mark with the band as well as the fans. The original pressing of the promotional poster billed Salvador Santana as the opening act. However, Santana’s last minute schedule change put up and coming Chicago power funk act Lubriphonic on the bill instead, the result of which left us with an abundance of spoilage from the initial run. So, as an incentive perk to the ticket buyer, we handed out signed copies of the print at the door.
Ooah of the Glitch Mob :: Show Poster
This show poster harkens to the glorious, now legendary time when I was booking live shows in Blacksburg and Roanoke, VA. Ooah of the Glitch Mob was the semester wrap party and I created this poster to commemorate our final show of the semester.
The artwork itself was crafted in essentially three parts. I drafted the foreground in pen and ink and added color via premium Prisma-tone markers. These are amazing markers that allow one to blend various shades to get a smooth color transition. The mushroom huts were inspired by Roger Dean’s album cover work in the early seventies. I grew up staring long hours at his album cover work for the band Yes.
Once I completed the foreground, I found a suitable sky/cloud photo from a stock photo site and tweaked out the colors. I was looking for something dreary with thick stratocumulus cloud cover. I placed the background graphic and then pen tooled the flying, black, gargoyle-looking arial crafts coming through the clouds. The overall feel I was going for was one of impending doom, for the sole purpose that Ooah was our last show and ultimately one of the last ever events at the Lantern before it closed for good.
The show raged epic that night. DJ RahBee and Savoy crushed the opening slots. One for the books. Ooah really enjoyed the artwork and I had him sign several copies for the archive.