Alnitak_Kid Collaboration

Collaborative projects are always tough work and lead to some sort of conflict...this is what I've always thought until I collaborated with musician and long time friend, Alnitak_Kid. We met in high school and now, nearly 13 years later, we still hang out together. In the past 13 years we've had a lot of collaborative ideas, most of which we just lost enthusiasm for, but not this time. Alnitak_Kid wanted a cover for his new release beat tape, Daymares&Nightdreams. After weeks of throwing around many good and bad ideas we came up with this one, a collection of his instruments and equipment that made up the tape, including samplers, mixers and records.

We tried a few styles and found that brush and ink suited the flow of the illustration best and discovered that we wanted the equipment to be recognizable but not too realistic. We also created a sticker to accompany the tape which is below. This has been my favorite collaborative project to date and has restored my hope in the collaborative process.            

(detailed closeup of line and texture)

(sticker)

This is a promo of my artwork that Alnitak_Kid made especially for this post...THANKS!

Check out some of Alnitak-Kid's tracks below and if you like what you hear, make sure you check out some of his other releases on Bandcamp. 

Letters

In my spare time I create music under the alias jPEG invisible. I recently made a song called Letters where I tried to capture the feeling of receiving a handwritten letter. After I had finished the song I began mapping out an illustration that reflected the ideas in the song. A few days earlier I just happened to find a pile of old postcards that my wife and I had collected from op-shops over the years. I took a photo of them, which became the backdrop of the illustration. The foreground image is one of my old illustrations that I recycled titled the storm. They worked so well together in creating the feel that I was after that the only other thing I did was add the title.      

 I created a stamp inspired title to blend in with the postcards

The collection of postcards that formed the backdrop of the illustration.

Sound Check

I took my sketchbook with me to a Fringe music show called Vane of Barbs and had a few moments to draw the drum kit during soundcheck. I've always had a fascination with drum kits, all the slight adjustments and fine tuning that can be done on each stand and drum make up some real interesting shapes that are really fun to draw. Got a few strange looks from audience members who must have thought I was reviewing the show, hehehe, I guess I was in my own way.

Jazz Cat

The past few months I've been creating some minicomics in secret and tested a lot of new techniques and refined some old ones. It's been a really cool experience making pages that don't really have to make any sense and creating bucket-loads of characters that don't have to be constantly refined or ever introduced in a second issue. For this comic I wanted to see if I could create some interesting perspectives in each cell and capture some of this cool cats cheeky nature.

Bearded Gypsy Band

I was recently approached by the band manager of Adelaide's Bearded Gypsy Band, who asked me to design a poster to promote their upcoming gigs. I was pretty familiar with the band having gone to many of their shows, which gave me the advantage of taking a few notes on how they played their instruments and interacted on stage. Their gypsy, jazz, folk styling inspired the sepia earth tones, and vinyl shaped centre. If you dig bands that are better live than on CD, check out the Bearded Gypsy Band.

Rock'nRoll

You know those people you see that you swear have grown up in the wrong era. I recently went to a gig where there was a guy that looked like he walked off the set of Wayne's World. He had the biggest hair I've ever seen and a denim jacked with cut-off sleeves. I'm pretty sure he somehow gained access to The DeLorean from Back To The Future and rocked his was to 2012 to make our ears bleed with his insane riffs!

Barndance

Nothing lifts my spirit like seeing a group of people enjoying themselves. The type of enjoyment that is infectious. It spreads through the body, causing your feet to tap and your head to bob. You find yourself joining in, so caught up in the moment. From my experiences, a lot of people seem to find this at nightclubs, which is cool......but give me an old fashioned barn dance any day.      

Pascals

A couple of weeks back I went to WOMADelaide, a world music and dance festival that brings out my inner hippy every year. I made my rounds of the stages and was on my way to see a band I had heard on the radio, when suddenly, my ear was caught by a strange and amazing mix of sounds emanating from the distance. I couldn't help but divert my path and find the source of this beautiful sound and when I did, nothing could break my trance like state. A 16 piece Japanese band playing the most unique blend of instruments I have ever seen and producing sounds that felt like zero gravity. I created this illustration as a tribute to the Pascals music, not as an accurate portrait, which is why some of the band members are missing, but my aim was to capture the indescribable energy of the performance.

Feedback!

I thought I might introduce the new year with my first sketchbook entry of 2012. I've been watching a heap of cartoons recently and loved the expression that animators can give a 2D character. I tried to capture that same energy and expression in this character and though this is a static illustration, you could imagine what he would be doing if he was moving......and if you can't, it means you need to watch more cartoons.

Smooth Grooves

This is the first piece in a series of Jazz inspired illustrations that are going to be sold as framed prints. The smooth sounds of the sax that jazz produces, flow through this in tune player, who is caught up in the moment of music.

The Teacher

I was looking at old records the other day and came across a couple of Jazz covers that really leaped out at me. The smooth style and dress of the musicians
coupled with their brass instruments captivated my imagination. I combined a few of the musicians to come up with this illustration of a fictional character who I thought looked like a Jazz Teacher.

CHECK!

Nothing compares to the feeling of picking up a mic and emptying the thoughts you've congested over the weeks through what is commonly called, band practice. The intensity of what I feel when playing a live set can't be described in words so I used the art of illustration in the hope of communicating the pure rush that runs throughout my body when I approach the mic.

Day and Night

Images from jazz and blues clubs have captured my imagination for as long as I can remember. The atmosphere and lighting in the clubs make it such a interesting subject matter to draw and the people who hang out inside fascinate me. In this illustration I have tried to capture the expressive movements of blues and jazz pianists playing day and night.

BanjoMan

Every Sunday I tune into the local radio station and crank the Bluegrass, there is something about the energy and insane tempo that the banjo brings to Bluegrass that makes me want to run around in a circle kicking my legs like crazy. I triet to capture that insanity in this illustration.

Punk Postcards

This is a series of self promotional postcards I illustrated surrounding the theme of punk music and ethos.

Rhythm Deck

This is a series of deck's I created for an independant project. I was going for the blues/roots feel.

BB King Portrait

This is a single line portrait I did of blues musician BB King.

Ben Harper Portrait

This is a self promotional piece that I did of Ben Harper. I created it using single line and ink wash.