With Beer Engine brewery and pub coming closer to opening, I was beyond excited when I learned that they had chosen to hand paint their building signage, which sadly, is such a rarity in this day and age. I was amazed when I learned Kirby Stafford painted them using only a print-out piece of paper for reference. Brian sent me these pics as soon as it was wrapped up. It's always exciting to see your work nice and big for all to see. I love the skull, and how Kirby's rendition of my work has somewhat of a folky twist to it. Many more good things to come from Beer Engine. 

So about 14 months ago, I accidentally deleted a few old eps files when transferring them to a back up drive. Though most of them were from my early stages of vector illustration, they were certainly of sentimental value. This week I happened to find a file I thought was lost forever, and I'm super stoked. I think its from around christmas 2008, as I did it as a print for drew & derek up at On your left cycles. Total throwback to the good 'ol days of bmx. Mind melting colors and all. Kinda strange, but I still love it.

There's nothing quite like being given a project & theme, and then told to "just run with it". It can be like a fresh breath of air. So when I was commissioned to do an illustration involving city living, I went back to an idea I had sketched out months previous, featuring brooklyn inspired homes, crammed together, but showing several streets stacked one upon the other. The question then began, whether or not to set it at night or during the day. Well, why not just do both? The addition was then approved, and so began the task of creating the buildings, windows, rooftops, etc... one peice at a time. All with a tip of the hat to mid-century modern illustrations.

I wanted to keep signs of everyday life to a minimum. A plant in a window, someone's cat, unevenly drawn window shades, or a light left on, leave only hints that everyday life exists within the walls of these structures. I even wrestled with the idea of an airplane seen up in the clouds, but felt it was too personal. I decided to rely on shades of grey, with the subtle pop of yellow. Very minimal, yet painstakingly detailed.

I was asked to sketch up a monogram for a family friend's upcoming wedding ceremony, and found the project to be quite fun from start to finish. A simple typographic treatment, but none the less, quite pleased with the end result.

Happy anniversary Mom & Dad.