ILLOSTOP !!!

i am always feeling undeservedly fortunate and humbled with awe by the amount of amazing people i am lucky enough to be surrounded by. well i am proud to be included now in ILLOSTOP !

Created and curated by Chris Whetzel, Illostop is "a collective of artists working in the illustration field who have come together for community, collaboration, and group opportunities. With backgrounds in drawing, painting, and printmaking, the illostop collective is sure to feature an artist whose work you will enjoy."

big thanks to Chris and the rest of the gang who i look forward to getting to know. be sure to check it out, as you may find a lot of great new work by some great new artists

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Happy New Years and be sure to keep checking back for some huge new projects in the works in 2010!

THANK YOU!

-pw!

Dave Sommers Benefit

Recently our friend Dave Sommers, of the amazing Philly band CLOUD MINDER, has been going through a lot of surgeries and treatments to battle a serious brain tumor. to help him and his family with the costs, On December 18th, i was proud to contribute some artwork for silent auction during his benefit concert in Philly.



it was an amazing turnout; folks gave a lot of themselves in many ways, and to date, over $3,000 was raised!
here's Dave with our good friend, amazing artist & musician, Bob Stokes III (great photos taken by Philadelphia photographer Gene Smirnov)



good news: you can help too! right now, when you visit Anthropic Records, or HERE, you can make a donation (pay anything you want, no donation too small ! ) and download music from Cloud Minder (click to hear)! The site is completely secure and you get the entire first Cloud Minder album, "The Territory of this Contract is the Universe", for your donation.

great music, great deal, great cause

THANK YOU!

it'll be a hot time in the ol' town tonight

collaborative poster (and commemorative screen print - pictures up shortly) with the great Justin Gray. Hopefully there will be MANY more tag teams with him

see a few of the society's contributions HERE!

Happy Halloween!

and huzzah for my two favorite seasons!

(please click image for a better view)

Vegan Treats!

hear ye hear ye! check out Vegan Treats to find out if some of the best desserts ever are near you!

also, check out these cool new clothing products available! they fit and feel awesome, and the screen-printing came out gorgeous as well

Paper+Plastick

here are a few fun projects for old friends and new ones

this is a silk screened limited edition poster celebrating the release of This Is My Suitcase's new record out now on P+P!

this is unfinished and changing a bit, but i am having a blast working for this fun punk band's upcoming 7"

here was a great ADMAT i was honored to get to work on

everybody was really happy. it's amazing that i created this little character when i was a sophomore in high school and 13+ years later i'm still being asked to draw him!

"I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return"

this painting was done for the Autumn Society's show celebrating "Dia De Los Muertos" at Philadelphia's Proximity Gallery (2434 East Dauphin Street!) October 1st - November 1st

feel free to click for a larger view!

i also burned/carved into a frame for the piece

the piece came a bit from a lot of sources. one is the Catrinas of Mexico, which are elegant female skeletal figures intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else is. i like how a "king may go through the progress through the guts of a beggar" from Hamlet illustrating death as the great equalizer. my disdain for celebrity worship and the upsetting things popular culture and the media often celebrates were the impetus here

Octavio Paz observes that, undaunted by death, the Mexican has no qualms about getting up close and personal with death, noting that he "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love." even old samurai thought upon death just enough to find peace with it, however and whenever it came. my favorite is when my Dad coined the term "Miracle of Death" that coincides alongside the Miracle of Life. that would be something i would love to touch upon artistically someday

for now, the show should be a fun one. happy holiday!

Coco Chanel

wow, what a day

Alarmcaster !

Philadelphia's Alarmcaster started off as 'friends of a friend' and quickly became 'friends'. we weren't sure if i could achieve the look they wanted at first, but we chipped away at it until the band was really excited about it, which of course is the best result i could hope for. Keats was a really super guy to work with and was terrific about the whole collaborative process. This awesome blistering CD is getting hand screen-printed on eco-friendly cardboard by the talented folks at Sire Press

concept thumbnails:

i really liked this next direction, and were getting close and feeling better, but not quite

The Final (click for larger looks if you like!) :

I 'heart' Harlem

moving to NYC and Harlem in Manhattan has been incredible so far, and thanks to an amazing support system of friends here, the enthusiasm of family, and of course Sarah Daisy Baugh as the best partner you could ask for in any adventure, it's hard to believe we've already/only been here for one third of a year!

the neighborhood and community has been wonderful, and we must be assimilating well as neighbors because I have already helped out two local Harlem entrepreneurs!

this photo is of a possible new club that may be opening, who needed a simple realistic logo of a leopard to get the branding rolling


this led to working with Harlem's historic jazz club the Lenox Lounge, a 70 year old institution like the Apollo Theater. They needed a new logo and updated menus to go along with their famous Zebra Room! I was very grateful and excited to work for such a local landmark

Augustus : viva la vinyl!

just because it was quiet on the blog doesn't mean August was without activity! I hope to make amends with that with the next few posts

as always, feel free to click on the images for larger views

one fun LP i got to work on was for TN's amazing Blacklist Royals. It was fun to design and I hope came across classic and authentic. The LP comes with playing cards for a drinking game, so be sure to check it out when Paper+Plastick releases it
I am actually pretty proud of these labels for the 12". I hope it looks like an old LP you might find in someone else's attic
layouts are hard, and making a lot of type look nice is always a challenge, but hopefully I did the guys and their lyrics justice
next up was formatting a diecut LP for the band FUN. I can't take credit for the terrific artwork and design here, but setting up elaborately packaged colored vinyl is a pipe dream of mine and working with Paper + Plastick as well as Nettwerk records (sometimes while I was driving from NYC to Texas i might add!) put me on cloud 9
and did i mention....Adam Arcuragi's 2nd long player "I Am Become Joy" is out!?!?! now, between you me and the lamp post, the record doesn't officially come out on High Two records until September, but if you go and catch any of Adam's live shows now, you can put it on the Victrola in the atrium NOW! I can't tell you how VERY proud i am to have been a part of this record both sonically as well as artistically (the art for the CD, LP, and digital itunes and emusic versions all vary!). Adam came over and let me approve the test pressings, and bias aside, this is a gorgeous collection of songs that are so genuine and true i don't dare try and describe it (so click on his name and preview some tracks on myspace!)

uncle sam, ready for business

here's a bit of a failure i did a few weeks back. there's a lot being said about government's role in business among other things, and i wanted to say something a bit more ambiguous about what's going on, despite (or because of) my own concerns & worries yet conflicting appreciation, but mostly because i rarely like smack-in-the-head illustration, unless it's profoundly clever. i suppose i have my opinions, but i also have my experiences, and a distant curiosity to see how things play out. that's fair. everything needs to be measured in qualitative, not quantitative measurements, and measured against the axis of short term good versus long term great (and short term good and quantity should always always lose that battle).

still, in the end, nothing is very strong, readable, or likable about this piece, but i'll post the stinker regardless

thanks for looking!
-peter

mr president

op eds always welcome!
-pw!

and Iran, Iran so far awa-a-ay...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

one of three, in an attempt to be a better citizen of the world.

there's a lot going on in Iran the last few months. weeks ago i could have attempted empathy, only to put myself in the shoes of a people who are well briefed, more open to talk than we think (so long as we follow the rules of Bazaar negotiating seriously), and attempted reasonable [centrifuge caps] compromises, despite much infighting (rumor has it some fight over who gets the credit repairing Iran's relationship with the US, restoring it to more prosperous eras). as of 2 weeks ago though... the election, the protests, the media blackouts and blockage, the blatant depressing treatment of women and of course the government engaged murders (both of which i hope i subtly implied here), it's almost impossible to find the bright side.

with corrupt and iron willed politicians, as well as religious venomous clerics behind (clerics, who are demanding the execution of voting protesters now), i am curious to see what happens next. no country, nor its people, should ever be judged by the ruler. i think American's can certainly relate to that. speaking out and making waves of change is also not exclusive to our American democracy. the people of Iran are speaking, louder than ever; so who's listening, and what's next?

Richard Stark's Parker

Hi!
I am a huge fan of Darwyn Cooke. i think he is one of the best storytellers and artists in comics, hands down; he is certainly my favorite. in about a week, his graphic novel interpretation of Donald Westlake's (a.k.a. Richard Stark) novel 'The Hunter' is coming out. You can see a 21 page preview HERE! it looks amazing. Stark's main protagonist/anti-hero/no-hero is PARKER, who was the basis for characters played by Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK, as well as Mel Gibson in PAYBACK. basically fantastic crime/heist/betrayal/revenge stories.

there is a great interview with Darwyn about the project HERE and a review of The Hunter HERE

here are 2 quick pieces i did in the excitement of potentialy winning a signed copy from a fan art contest. cross your fingers!

-peter


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UPDATE 8/16:
hey whaddaya know! i got an honorable mention, which comes with an incredible prize of a personalized copy of the new book! i'm so excited!
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UPDATED (9/25/09):

! ! !

thank you Calum and Darwyn!

Animal Summer: the A.K.A.s (are everywhere!)

Hi!
recently, Philadelphia's dance hall fight musicians 'the A.K.A.s' asked me to help them with a special project. While they are on tour for Van's Wared Tour, they will be giving drum lessons to those interested parties who sign up (via their myspace. drummer Chachi Darin posted HERE). The winners will have a chance to win a painted drum head! i was really excited about this; i've never been a 'prize' before! Mike Ski has been an enthusiastic awesome guy. we switched places from Philly and NYC on the same moving day, but plan on meeting up for donuts eventually.

in the meanwhile, here's some process pics, but i'll be sure to post more as the band sends me news, ads, and promos
thanks everyone!
-peter

getting a good dance pose was not easy for me. thank goodness for my extensive collection of records and books (about record collections) involving the twist

it's a tiger...in jams!

the drumhead. iridescent gold here too, like sun on the water, to play with the orange black and pink color scheme, a la The Endless Summer

the icons were a small spoof of icons on signs at the beach, but also with a lot of thought regarding the AKAs, their new record, lyrics, past merchandise, and anthems.

"...save me from this darkness..." *

the world does not need another Johnny Cash portriat, and sometimes, perhaps in the case of film and fans in recent years, it would be a more fitting tribute to not pay homage at all. Cash, like many of the great songwriters, left music that will speak for itself and last the test of time; in a way that artists (and certainly, sadly, illustrators) rarely ever come close to achieving.

but i have always been a huge fan. both prison recordings, though very different, earn the adjective of 'landmark'. if there was a personality test where you had to pick a set of cards with the faces of music icons (lennon, presley, hendrix, dylan, etc), Cash would probably be one i would instinctualy grab.

this is the first in a series of portraits i am doing about musicians/icons in an attempt to just do more portraits, and also to do a little more editorial work. it was important for me to do things with more to say than your average big head-small body caricature.

fellow Highwayman Kris Kristofferson once said in an interview (that i can not find on-line, it was in Filter or something around the time Blade 2 came out) how relationships and creativity rarely successfully coexist. That you are always sacrificing one for the other. if you're lucky though, maybe you find that one in a million...
so this piece is, in truth, a tribute to June Carter

thanks for looking
-peter

* subject quote from 'I See a Darkness', actually written by Will Oldham, but what a duet they made of it