WILLIAM TYLER POSTER

 

Copies of my poster for William Tyler's sold-out show last week at the Belcourt Theatre are now available in my online shop. This one's an 18x24" screenprint made at Kangaroo Press, one color on 100lb Orange Fizz French Paper, in a signed and numbered edition of 80.

My Levon print also back in stock!

Grab either at samsmyth.wazala.com.

LITTLE HEROES SERIES 2

Hi! Here's a new set of three Little Heroes mini-prints inspired by a galaxy far, far away, available in limited quantities in my store now. Also available once again are the first three prints in this series, in a newer cuter 4x4" size. Three random orders of either set will include a new mystery print. Pick them up in my store while supplies last!

JOE PISAPIA - NIGHTVISION

I'm very proud to share the art and announcement of Joe Pisapia's new record Nightvision, the follow-up to the Nashville producer/songwriter/musician's 2000 record Daydreams. I co-produced the album with Joe and will also be playing with the Pisapia band every Thursday evening this month at the Pisapia Love-In. Beginning March 19th, CDs will be available at the Love-In through  joepisapia.bandcamp.com, where you can also stream, download, and pay what you want for the album. There you will also find three singles Joe has released from Nightvision.

Nashvillians know Joe as the bandleader of Joe, Marc's Brother; others know him as the producer and collaborator for Guster, k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, and Ben Folds Five. Joe's music has always meant so much to me, and it was an honor to collaborate on this project which I believe is the culmination of his musical life and work thus far. Have a listen to the singles and please enjoy Nightvision from this March 19th!

ANDIE LOU

New album cover for Andie Lou. Check out her fantastic EP, produced by Joe Pisapia, at andielou.bandcamp.com. 

KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER

Here's a new poster I designed and illustrated for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, being released this year by Amplify.

UPDATE: This is now available as a signed and numbered 24x36", 10 color screenprint produced by Burlesque of North America. Wow! For sale now at Posteritati.

Also: Japanese magazine Gigan featured the poster and a short interview with me about the design, which you can check out here.

MÉTAMORPHOSES

I'm happy to share this new theatrical poster I designed and illustrated for the release of Christophe Honoré's new film MÉTAMORPHOSES. Below is another snap of the poster, just sent to me by Christophe, in an alternate wide version for French theatres and subways. Look for the film in France and around the world this year.

MAGICK LANTERN CYCLE PART 2

Here's the second poster I made for The Light & Sound Machine, presented by Third Man Records and the Belcourt Theatre, for Kenneth Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle Part Two. A very very limited number of prints will be for sale at the event, Wednesday night at 7pm at Third Man. A few of last month's may still be available, and both posters pair together in an 18x24" frame. Stay tuned for possible copies available in my shop at a later date.

SUPERCHUNK + BULLY

Here's a new poster design, for this Friday's SUPERCHUNK show at Mercy Lounge with BULLY.

NOW AVAILABLE in my shop in an AP limited edition of 20 prints.

2013 WORK

It's been a fun year filled with great and interesting design projects that I've felt fortunate to work on. Here's a long look back. 

HAMMER CHILLERS

I was asked by Hammer Films to illustrate a cover for their upcoming audio series Hammer Chillers. Here it is! Learn more about the series here.

ELIJAH

New illustration for the Nashville Symphony, for next weekend's performance of Mendelssohn's ELIJAH. 

Process: RICHARD III

For Criterion's release of Laurence Olivier's RICHARD III, I designed the package around an incredible Janus Films poster originally designed by Lee Reedy. In these DVD menus, as well as throughout the package, I tried to respectfully adapt Reedy's illustrations and supplement some of my own to create a visual theme for the release. (Click to enlarge)

The trickiest part, however, was in carrying through the lettering style used on the original poster. After consulting with some colleagues who knew more than I did about Roman and Gothic calligraphy, I realized that the title treatment was a custom job and I couldn't easily replicate it with a font. So I set about to teach myself the basic ropes of calligraphy and then replicate the lettering style of the title treatment to create headings for the rest of the package. It was painstaking, but hopefully worth it. 

The Avant Garde typeface used in the billing was too good not to carry through, bringing a touch of modernity to a classic, folky, almost medieval design. It's always a pleasure and a humbling challenge to carry through someone else's work and create a package that holds it up with admiration. The new restoration of RICHARD III is out now on Criterion DVD and Blu-ray. 

SCORSESE

I made this set of nine Italian mini-prints for Scorsese: An Art Show Tribute, curated by Spoke Art for Bold Hype Gallery in NYC. I was able to be at the opening last weekend at it was a great time and a big success. The prints are now available for sale online in the Spoke Art shop here. They are available individually for $10 each or as a set of nine prints for only $60.

The prints are 5x7" each and I imagined them almost like a series of book covers: small, iconic and connected through a repeated motif. I was interested in how Scorsese's films are often about men and the transformations that these man undergo by way of exposure to a new world or way of life. I thought that using Italian titles would look neat graphically and would also serve as an homage to Scorsese's Italian heritage. Just something a little different!

Congrats and kudos to all the other artists and to Ken at Spoke Art for making this happen.

LORD OF 'THE RING'

Here's a new illustration for the Nashville Symphony, for their upcoming concert of Wagner's Ring Without Words. I said a little more about at Country Life as well. If you're like me, you'll pay admission just to hear the symphony play the Das Rheingold Prologue alone...

POST TENEBRAS LUX

Just finished this poster for Carlos Reygadas' POST TENEBRAS LUX. It was my first time designing a UK quad poster and I gotta say I love working in this orientation. Look for it featured in this month's Little White Lies. Carlos Reygadas' new film won the Best Director prize at Cannes last year and will be in cinemas in 2013.

NEW ART PRINTS / CASES

I've put a few of my illustrations up at Society 6 where you can order top-quality art prints, framed prints, stretched canvases, cards, and even iPhone cases of these select pieces. Have a look here and pick something up if you'd like for yourself or a friend. 

And if you're still in the holiday shopping mood, a couple of my Wes Anderson screenprints are still available here in my shop. Cheers, and stay tuned for some exciting announcements soon.

BRESSON'S BYAKUYA

Here is an illustration I was commissioned to create for the Japanese 35mm release of Robert Bresson's FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER ("BYAKUYA" in Japanese). My first piece of art made specifically for a Japanese audience, I couldn't be more proud to be involved with this restoration of Bresson's most rarely seen (and uncharacteristically romantic) feature, coming to Eurospace theatres just after the esteemed retrospective of Bresson's films made its way around the US. This illustration, as well as the drawings below featuring some memorable images from the film, will be featured in the program book for this release. Learn more at Byakuya2012.

BACK TO NORMAL

When Way to Normal was released I made this drawing based on the album cover, with the fantasy of turning it into a tour print. It never saw the light of the day so, after finding it on an old hard drive tonight, I'm posting it now.

HOTELS & HIGHWAYS / MIA DYSON POSTER

Here's a new poster I made for my dear friends Hotels & Highways and Mia Dyson who will be touring together once again this fall. This fearsome squad are always up to creative and promising things, and Mia Dyson fans will have something to look forward to very soon in the form of a great new record produced by Syd and Patrick Cupples from H&H. Always great to collaborate with my musical family. You can pick up a poster here or at one of their upcoming shows.

SEBASTIAN HOOTS

Now available in my store is a new screenprinted gig poster I made for my friend William Tyler and his label Sebastian Speaks as well as a text-free art print version. The 18x20" gig poster is a 2-color print in an edition of 40, some of which will be available at the show and a small number of which you can get in my store; the 16x20" "Owl Spirit" art print is an edition of 20. Nashvillians should be sure to catch what promises to be a fantastic show at an interesting venue, featuring a rare performance from KORT as well as William's own Tyler Family Band. Here are a couple of detail shots from our night of printing at Boss Construction: