New Overheard - Recovery House

New overheard everyone - enjoy!

Antique Appreciators- New Overheard

Another Overheard done for the B Free Paper in Baltimore. This one overheard by John Irvine. Should be back to regular posting soon - more to come on the graphic novel progress as well as some other freelance I've been doing lately. Keep checking back, I'll do my best to have some new stuff up soon.

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New Overheard - Shore to Please

New Overheard below - this one heard in the workplace cafeteria. Enjoy!

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The Gantry - Album Artwork

Hello good friends. Though it has been a while since the last post, I think it is with good reason. I have recently been asked by my good friend Kevin Goldhahn to do some illustration for his band's album cover. My response? Of course.

Kevin is a guitarist and vocalist for the group The Gantry. You can check them out at www.thegantrymusic.com . You can also follow them on Facebook, and Twitter.

The project started out with some phone calls, discussions, and finally some concept sketches, which Kevin posted to get feedback on. These were the sketches as supplied.

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Kevin took the sketches back to show the band and told me that we'd be in touch after he got their feedback. Not a problem. A few days went by, and I assumed I'd be hearing from them soon. When I finally did, we had a couple of minor changes / adjustments to make, but I got the go-ahead from them for the full illustrations. They then asked if I wouldn't mind doing the layout for the packaging of the CD as well. Again, I said "no problem" and set to work. Here are the final illustrations for the front and back covers...

Pleased with how the illustrations turned out, I set to work on the laying out of the packaging. I know, I know, a HUGE risk considering the fact that I hadn't even gotten a final OK on the illustrations themselves. I like to live dangerously, what can I say? This roll of the dice paid off big; I sent Kevin my official "1st Proof" packet, and a text telling him "check your e-mail". Moments later, my phone was ringing, it was Kevin, and a fellow bandmate who apparently had just choked on a piece of sushi upon seeing the album art. They loved it.

So now it will be off to the printer with this one, with specs and proofs to approve, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peak at what Kevin saw that night. Remember, follow The Gantry on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date as far as release dates for the new CD! 

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Left Cover

Inside Right Cover

Check back, I will be posting the final hardcopies here once I receive them!

Shirt Design - For Philadelphia Flugtag Champs!

Whoa, two days, two posts! Imagine that. 

A few weeks back, a buddy of mine from work had asked me if I would help him with an illustration for some shirts he needed done. Of course, I would have said "yes" anyway, but when he told me it was for his Flugtag team, how could I say no? He was participating in the Philadelphia Red Bull Flugtag competition, his team, The New Kids on the Dock. Their flying machine was a giant lobster, and they were going with the whole nautical theme. 

He had showed me the sketches he had come up with for their vessel, and had an idea for a promotional t-shirt to raise awareness of his team. I received his sketch on a post-it note, and he asked if I could "do my thing" on it. No problem... here is my version of what his vision was...

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He also informed me that they would probably be printed as white on a navy blue tee. Drawing on my previous experience working at a screen printing shop, I set to work creating an inverse version of this, and setting up the printer file for him...

After sending him the final artwork via e-mail, (I included the original ink-work) the reaction was priceless. Sheer and unbridled excitement, and plenty of words I can't use here later, it was apparent that I had nailed it. I was told I'd be getting one a few days later, and that he wanted to "reimburse me" for my efforts. I said, just give me a shirt, no worries about reimbursement, when you win, give me an autograph. We had a deal. And now, the final product:

But it gets better... Not only did he take part in Flugtag... HE WON!! So who knew I'd be designing the shirt for the Flugtag champs. Crazy how things work out. Now I scored one of the shirts, and an autographed Red Bull can from the New Kids on the Dock pilot himself. Awesome.

Overheard- Not Really A Problem

Yeah I know what you're thinking... "Where have you been!?"

Well, I have no excuse. I had been posting pretty consistently when I was putting bits of my graphic novel up, but now that I have my full "teaser" up, I let my blogging fall to the wayside. Am I back? No. By no means. I can't say that I will be posting consistently because I know I can not keep that promise.

However, I do have some new work I will be trying my best to get up here. In the meantime, here is another overheard for your enjoyment...this one heard by Benn Ray himself.

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Color Vision Test

Hey good people,

Last week a co-worker of mine passed a "color-vision test" along to me. Essentially you go through the bars and create a perfect spectrum, or at least see how close to it you are able to come. I was astounded by the stats of females scoring so much higher than men. I don't mean to point that out in a sexist way; (like "Oh men can see just as good as females blah blah blah") regardless of who scored higher, it was shocking to see that it was such a large gap. I took the test and thought, well this should be interesting, and probably embarrassing, but what the heck. I took it, and was surprisingly greeted by this screen:

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That's right. PERFECT COLOR VISION. Haha. That was my first try too. I took the tests again, and scored a 3. I took it a third time: 2. So at least I am able to say I have a record of staying under 10, and getting an "A" for color vision.

Okay, I know, "Shut up and hit us with the link". No problem, here it is, let me know how you do! http://www.reddit.com/tb/vptnc