We Are The Union

fast dudes" who make "fast tunes" supergroup We Are The Union asked me in october if i could step on the gas and make some shirts in time for FL's The Fest 9 as well as their European tour w/ Less Than Jake (you may or may not have seen the following ad-mat, like this one sighted in Glasgow Scotland by Jeff "bleeding edges" DeSantis... )

they were looking for something a little more iconic, and i tried to look and listen to a lot of what they were saying in their songs and who they were as a band and all they've gone through, and of course have a lot of fun.

so i gave them a couple of sketches...

(click for larger view if you like)

and they chose what they liked the most:

she said yes!

Covenant House PA

(click for larger view)

i'm so lucky

for a lot of reasons. lucky because i have a home. lucky because i grew up in a loving home, with a loving family. lucky because there are a lot of young people today who do not have the same fortune of stability and shelter like most of us do and take for granted.

luckier still because there are places like The Covenant House, and friends of mine like Dave Reis who work hard to help the homeless youth in our country. The Covenant House of PA has been helping the homeless youth of Philadelphia with shelter and other services since 2000. Dave has been working there full time for years, and his incredible rock-and-roll real-deal super group The Improbables are putting on a benefit concert THIS SATURDAY at 7pm to help raise money for CHPA. it's going to be an amazing event for a very important cause.

i was proud to contribute the above design for hand silk screened posters as well as t-shirts printed by our friends at Awesome Dudes Printing

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please come and help! it will be a great time!

Saturday November 13th - 7pm!

at Tritone (1508 South st) Philadelphia PA

more info HERE

Sailor Jerry Presents!

this friday! at the Sailor Jerry shop in Olde City Philadelphia, a great art show curated by Jeff "bleeding edges" DeSantis, paying tribute to the godfather of tattoos, Norman "Sailor Jerry" Collins.

my piece was a take on one of my favorite traditionals, "Man's Ruin":

the man himself:

why don't you come by! there's going to be free rum, and great work by great folks at a fun location

coming soon to a stadium near you!

(click for details if you like!)

above: 15 foot backdrop

this will actually be 4 scrims divided and duplicated flanking the band

as the group begins a new renaissance while continuing to conduct the rock n' roll choo-choo, i am continually excited and honored to be a part of the people's [visual] history of my good friends, Less Than Jake. the thought here was something classic & clean, and broad & malleable (in concept and theme, as well as color). so we went black and white to allow the colored lights of stage and set work all the wonders. i can't wait to see this in person

while the art references both the band's icon of the "evolution kid" (did i really draw that 15 years ago?) as well as their beloved "Gainesville Rock City" (which LTJ certainly built), i had a little phrase running through my head the whole time: "Propaganda of Fun". seemed like the fun of that paradox helped pull the oxymoron into subtle territory, with hopes that in the end, it would just look awesome

cheers,

pw!

"Dead of Night" Radio !

The Autumn Society brings you 6 new & chilling artwork covers for Dick Grunert's DEAD OF NIGHT RADIO series.
STAY TUNED as we release a new cover each night @ Midnight, starting OCTOBER 29TH to NOVEMBER 2ND.

Available on iTUNES under "Dead of Night Radio"

ABOUT "NIGHT DELIVERY"
Meet Eric Ryder. He's about to receive a special... Night Delivery!

ABOUT DEAD OF NIGHT RADIO
From the horrific mind of writer/director Dick Grunert, Dead Of Night Radio is an homage to the old time radio horror shows like Inner Sanctum and Lights Out... with a modern twist!

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Peter Wonsowski loves cartooning and designing record packages, so getting to illustrate the romantic and terrifying image for an imaginative radio performance this halloween -- in the beloved square format -- was a real Halloween treat! Peter has worked with bands like Less than Jake, Adam Arcuragi, Coffee Project, and more!

ABOUT THE AUTUMN SOCIETY
The Autumn Society is a collective of Illustrators from around the world. From art galleries, art books, to fundraisers, the Autumn Society will rise to any creative need or challenge.

Music by Lance Madzey and Sound Design by Krandal Krews

Dead of Night Radio is recorded at Sunshine Studios in Studio City, CA.

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above is actually the version that almost went out (i wasn't even done) when a horrible (happy) accident occurred with the red. i decided it was without a doubt the way to go and gave it a much more subtle and scary mood for the old-timey audio-terror.

(click for a larger view!):

thanks to Joe Game for sprucing up the bio i submitted, and especially including me on such a horrific & terrific (and terrorrific?) project. be sure to check out all the other artists and stories at Dead of Night Radio!

Sullivan's Sluggers - Casey's Wallop

(click for a larger view!)

well, we don't know the results yet, but The Autumn Society was invited to submit a pin-up for Image Comics' new fun athletic horror comic "Sullivan's Sluggers", and Image Comics would be picking their favorite 2 to publish, and the rest to help advertise. above was mine, and though certainly inspired by the book's team's coach, i was thinking of dear Rollie Fingers the whole time

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meanwhile, my good buddy Justin Gray submitted this staggering monster of a piece that keeps unfolding more horrors and treasures the more i stare at it. i just had to post it here for people to click on. you should absolutely check out his blog HERE as well.

by Justin Gray:

happy halloween!

The FEST 9 !!!

THE FEST, now in its 9th year, is the 3 day punk rock festival in Gainesville Florida, and every year it just gets better and better

well, this is the 2nd year that the Fest will be curating a special Art Show to coincide with all the rock and roll mayhem, and i was honored to be asked to be one of the featured artists, among such an incredible group of amazing pioneering punks, photographers, designers, and illustrators such as John Dyer Baizley, my good buddy Richard "Horsebites", social storyteller Cristy Road, and so many more amazing artists.

read all about the art show (and peruse my awkward bio) HERE !

read all about the FEST 9 event HERE

if you live in or near Florida, the fun starts Friday October 29th!

i am showing a dozen pieces, including the interior art for the Riot Before's LP, as well as 3 little cartoons made exclusively for The Fest....

special thanks to Edie, Ted, and Buddy for thinking of me to be a part of something this special

here's a great article about the Art show as well!

Less Than Jake presents: The TV/EP !

(feel free to click for larger views if you like)

Today is the official release day for Less Than Jake's TV EP ! it is still a blast getting to be a part of the visual history for a band that very much influenced where i am today and where a lot of my creative and professional passions lie.

When the band went to record 16 cover songs (in 11 minutes!) from various television theme songs and commercials, they wanted to give the impression that pop-punk has taken over the air waves and you are randomly flipping the channels.

that being said, we've engineered a very special collector's edition 7" vinyl record (to go along with the CD and the digital, available now) where, depending on how you fold the panels of your record, you will actually be able to "change the channels" and determine your own cover through a die-cut television screen!

channel 2....

channel 3...

and the "inside" of your tv (with some fun filaments)...

it's a strangely proud moment for me personally, when there are plenty of people who make me doubt my versatility as an unmarketable product, that there can't be a whole lot of folks who would've excitedly tackled all the visual parodies and styles the band asked for here. it's another reason it makes our long friendship and these kinds of projects so especially meaningful.

check out the whole EP (with a great video Buddy made) at LESSTHANJAKE.COM !

pw!

The Swing (An Old Fashioned Necromance)

(click any image for a better view)

This Hallowed Halloween, The Autumn Society and Philadelphia Cartoonist Society, curated by the amazing Sam Heimer, bring to you an incredible artist exhibition "...exploring all the elements that make Halloween creepy, imaginative, and fun." (check out the full Press Release HERE!)

pencils

and yes, i couldn't resist the urges to add some glow-in-the-dark flourishes on the tentacle suckers for extra fun spookiness...

here's the info! we hope you'll join us for an amazing Hallowed Halloween!

Coming This Fall To A Stereo Near You...

what's the amazing secret project i've been working on coming out in

Less Than a month?

well you can get a hint HERE, but you can read more about it HERE

you won't believe what we've done with the packaging! thorough blog post to follow around the release date....

-pw!

design money to raise money

(click for larger view)

above is a raffle ticket designed for the amazing Homebase Skateshop in Bethlehem PA. with each purchase, money is raised to complete the next construction phase of the Bethlehem Skateplaza, and you can win a $610 shopping spree!

it was a lot of fun being a counterfeiter for a little while!

Mixtopia Logo

new logo for radio B104's MIXTOPIA show, brought to you by "your hater's favorite DJ", Cap Cee, every friday night from 9-12 on your favorite dance floor.

some preliminaries:

the final:

Vegan Treats Gift Cards

the perfect gift for the sweet-tooths & dessert-lovers in your life, Vegan or carnivore, so one size really does fit all

VEGANTREATS.COM

Exquisite Corpse

this was a blast!

if you're not familiar, the game of The Exquisite Corpse was started by the Surrealists art movement, wherein someone would draw one part of a body, cover their third (and extend the lines connecting segments) and pass it on to the next person to blindly continue, cover, and pass on. no one knew what the creation would look like until the very end

our good friend, obscene talent, and crazed renaissance man in California, Ryan Gannon has been doing loads of these with friends, but it was a thrill to do one with both Ry and the legendary Justin Gray. it really harkened back 8-10 years ago making mischief and artwork in our UARTs studio together, and was a small, fun, reaffirming testament to that kind of creative collaboration that ignores geographical separation.

below are links to their sites that come with the absolute highest recommendations to click and explore.

legs - RYAN GANNON

torso - JUSTIN GRAY

who you gonna call?

it doesn't get much better than this

what else is there to say? Ernie Hudson next to my painting of Ernie Hudson!

Call Winston!

Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) for the 3G Show at Gallery 1988 in LA (7020 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles CA 90038).

(click for larger view)

There was never any doubt at any time, I was always going to pay tribute to the great Ernie Hudson. I have been a huge fan of his since his portrayal of the under appreciated Winston, not to mention his heroism in "Hand That Rocks The Cradle", and especially his role of Warden Leo Glynn in OZ. But Winston Zeddemore is a special guy to me. When applying for the job that everyone thinks is such a coveted thing, they ask him if he believes in a long list of paranormal oddities and supernatural wonders. Winston simply replies, "If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say"

I can relate to him on a lot of levels there... so this one's for Winston, and more so, for Ernie

say, did you notice any strange slime on the painting above? that's because it's glow-in-the-dark paint. hard to take a photo, but i detailed the ghost as well as all the ghostbustin' equipment

Z for Zeddemore

(special thanks to Joe Game and the rest of the Autumn Society for letting me be a part of such a great show with such talented individuals, and to Gallery 1988 for allowing us to show)

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UPDATE:

well it's only been on line for a day and the bloggosphere is exploding! it seems some folks are really excited about the show too and it couldn't make me happier! here are some amazing links to checkout:

slashfilm (gave me a nice quote too!)

blast-o-rama (said: "What’s my personal favorite of the show? That “Mogwai” LP is amazing, hands down."

some great blogs:

Rampaged Reality (called it an "Ectoplasmic Masterpiece" !)

Hello Zombie (says it's "kick @$$" !)

The Kessel Run (included a hilarious Zeddemore quote)

Zuppa di Vetro (is in Italy!)

the Grotto

私の記憶を保護する

good enough for goonies

for the 3G show at Gallery 1988 in LA !

this was my piece for the Goonies. not a film i cared about in youth, but watching it on the Balcony at the Trocadero in my 20s, when Mouth delivers this - one of the best movie speeches -i wanted to stand up and cheer

the Gift of the Mogwai

howdy!

this spetember i will be a part of the incredible 3G show at Gallery 1988 in California! it's a great space that houses big names in the art world specializing often in retro homages. it's a great opportunity for me and bg deal to be asked to participate. i've been so excited about being a part of this incredible show, but, long story short, it has come during a time of great artistic (and professional?) turmoil as i muddle through the cliches of "what am i doing" and "should i just throw in the towel" etc etc booh-hoo. point being, my pieces for the 3G show aren't typical for me, at great risk (comes great failure), but i used each film as a jumping point to try something drastically different (from each contribution as well), and despite my hesitance to submit them, at best, they really have pulled me out of a hole and helped me get my groove back, and for that i am eternally grateful.

when i think of Gremlins, my first thought is of Mogwai, the name of inarguably the most influential modern instrumental post rock band from Scotland. since my first love, pipe dream, and bulk of current freelance work is elaborately packaged vinyl records, i thought, "wouldn't it be awesome to make a fake record for Mogwai?"

i actually went on ebay hoping to score a 7" from the Glasgow mega-snakes, and in turn actually found TWO story book records from childhood of the film in question! even better! my goal was to pay tribute to the incredible and adorable keyboard scene, as well as pay homage to the gestural illustrated blue-note jazz LPs of the 50s and 60s, using only colors found on a Gremlin

here is the "final" inside its plastic sleeve:

the back:

and the inside, which contains a bonus abstract Gremlin made of felt to safely house the precious vinyl tales of the Gremlins, as well as add some tactile feedback to the whole experience:

the labels, as they are, with far better illustrations than i could do:

the entire package will be spread out and in display in a frame specifically made to eventually house a 12" LP. the idea being that if someone purchases it, they can, and should, remove it, play it, and house it in their own record collection, AND have a frame they can use for other vinyl treasures. that the art comes from removing it all, constructing it, enjoying it, experiencing it, and doing more than just tacking it on the wall

the Riot Before LP !

an amazing day for mail (thanks Vinnie, and thanks Dave at No Idea)! The Riot Before LP came out absolutely smashing. sometimes you wait for months nervously, wondering if everything is going to come out manufactured ok. late nights staring at a ceiling thinking "will the double window die-line line up to reveal correctly?" or "will the CMYK vinly labels on the lighter paper be too desaturated"? i'm going to be a wreck if i ever have kids. but it came out marvelous. Paper+Plastick continues to reach for the stars and then some, and Walt and the fine folks at iloveimprint.com know how to get it done beautifully.

wouldja believe they sold out already? not even out three months! they're getting repressed though, so worry not, you'll be able to get them in all their color variations soon. be sure to check out The Riot Before in a town near you!

(closed)

look! a movie of it opening! thanks Whetzel!

and if'n you missed it, i had a lengthy post with more of the artwork to look at HERE

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UPDATE:

how nice is this!?!? Brett and The Riot Before have been giving all sorts of interviews since there's been amazing reviews and well deserved acclaim since the record dropped on April 27th. they were incredibly kind enough to even mention me in their interviews in Punknews as well as Beyond Race !

here are some excerpts:

So this is your first record for Paper and Plastick, did you guys go all out on the vinyl? Can we expect some surprises?

"...The artwork itself is amazing-because someone else did it. Specifically, Peter Wonsowski. He was incredible to work with and was like Gandhi…patient with me when I'd give him really really vague direction and then change my mind. The artwork rules. Get the record, if anything, to look at it."

(and)

How do those themes fit into the rebellion cover art Peter Wonsowski created?

"I wanted the punk rock per se to be the cover art. I was reading through Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov. There was this chapter called “The Grand Inquisitor” I was rereading last March and the chapter before that is called “Rebellion.” ...And when I did I stumbled across this quote that said, ‘One can hardly live in rebellion and I want to live.’ And that just struck me super hard because I’m 27. I feel like there is a certain part of your life where rebellion is really necessary, you have to throw away everything you once knew and you’re rechecking stuff. It’s a really an important part of growing up. But at a certain point you just can’t keep rejecting stuff and you have to figure out what you’re for and I think I am definitely at that point."

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How awesome! first time my name has been part of a Question! very exciting, thanks everyone