WES ANDERSON ARTIST PROOFS

A very limited amount of artist copies of my Wes Anderson prints for Spoke Art and the Castro Theatre are now up in my shop. THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, both in regular and variant editions, all 18x24," printed at Nakatomi Inc. and signed by me. The ROYAL TENENBAUMS variant colorway in particular was selected for a Christmassy look, which reminds me, these will ship in plenty of time for the holidays! Get em here.

12 HOURS OF TERROR

I''m heading over to Kangaroo Press to whip up these screenprints for the Belcourt Theatre's second annual 12 HOURS OF TERROR, an all-day horror movie fest Saturday October 27th from noon 'til midnight. I'll be there selling these screenprints that afternoon, so come down, see some horror classics, and pick up a commemorative print to spooken up your bedroom until next October. Get tickets here including a special bundle that includes a screenprint. 

Oh and follow this tumblr for a taste of what's in store.

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.

STONE FOX / NATURAL CHILD

Another poster for The Stone Fox, for a show next week featuring one of Nashville's best rock and roll bands, Natural Child. I'm going to try to do these as often as I can. If you're in Nashville, check out The Stone Fox!

Design Bookshelf: GRAPHIS ANNUAL 72/73

Selected scans from Graphis Annual 72/73. Designers credited below each image. Click each image to enlarge. Remember you can pick up Graphis Annual: The Essential 1952-1986 for a great overview of these decades in design. Pictured above: cover for the graphic design magazine Gebauchsgraphik by the great Roman Cieslewicz (see more covers in this Aqua Velvet post by Sandi Vincent).

G. Leblanc ad, Dean Michalkiewicz / Chuck Wimmer / Ray-Domingo

Art Directors Club of Los Angeles newsletter, Don Weller

calendar illustration, Clarence Taylor / Claude Sanders

Cairnmiller Institute annual report, Barbie Tucker

book cover, Willi Baum / Jane Teiko

Clifton W. Karhu / Henry Steiner

Medicament & Environment booklet, Walter Baumann / Studio Rau

Bang & Olufsen booklet, Werner Neertoft / Vagn Henriksen

Naturwissenschaft cover, Erwin Poell (see more at Things To Look At)

GUINNESS TIME

If you're like me, your favorite beer is Guinness. And you'll want to head to this eBid search page where you can pick up any of these wonderfully illustrated Guinness staff magazines for around $5 each (except the one above, cause I just bought it). Sadly I don't know who illustrated any of these, except for the cover above which was done by André Amstutz, a British illustrator known mainly for his children's book covers for Allan Ahlberg, including a series of playful covers for their "Funnybones" series.

BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH

    

Here's one of a few illustrations I'm doing for the Nashville Symphony's 2012-2013 season. I approached making an image for this titanic piece as I would in creating an album cover, and the fine art directors of the Symphony encouraged me to have fun with it and explore whatever direction the music inspired me to explore. I was inspired by a legendary quote of Beethoven's that supposedly said the piece might recall "fate knocking at your door," as well as the idea that his fifth Symphony remains an intimidating and iconic composition for the ages. 

THE STONE FOX PRESENTS

Children's Bookshelf: YOSHIKAZU TAKAI

While in Japan last year I couldn't resist picking up a book by Yoshikazu Takai. He's a children's illustrator who, if the little information I've found online is correct, was a part of the 2006 Bologna International Children's Book Fair, and has released a series of books of Kuro ("Black Bear") seen below. Here are some of his other illustrations. I'd love to know some more about this artist, if anyone knows anything. 

VERTIGO ARTIST PROOFS

I'm putting my artist copies of my VERTIGO print in my shop for sale, beginning now. The initial run of 100, commissioned by Spoke Art for the Castro Theatre, is sold out and these are the last 10 prints that will be available. Click here to purchase.

QATSI ON CRITERION

Here are my designs for The Criterion's Collection upcoming release of Godfrey Reggio's QATSI TRILOGY, out on Blu-ray and DVD December 11th. Beginning with 1983's well-known KOYAANISQATSI, Reggio's films-- all scored by Philip Glass-- are a portrait of humanity and our relationships with Earth and technology. They are truly films of and for our time. I could go on and on about how much these movies mean to me, but I'll save it for another post where I might share some of the process behind these designs. Below are larger versions of each cover, and the cover of the boxed set.

2X JENNIFER CONNELLY

After her first film role in Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, a young Jennifer Connelly was cast in the leading role of PHENOMENA (aka CREEPERS), a classic of 80's Italian horror that remains somewhat underappreciated despite being a personal favorite of its own director, Dario Argento. The next year, she starred in Jim Henson's LABYRINTH. When Spoke Art and the Castro Theatre asked me to pick a new poster subject from their fantastic September slate, I went right to Friday the 14th, where the Castro would present a late-night Jennifer Connelly double feature of these two 80's Connelly classics. If only I could be there to see them back-to-back in 35mm.

For the occasion, I am so proud to present these two screenprints which are now available at Spoke Art and which will also be for sale at the Castro this weekend, where early patrons will also get a commemorative lobby card. We printed these at Kangaroo Press, each an 18x24" two-color print in which the 2nd layer reveals these glow-in-the-dark hidden images:

Thanks for the movies Jennifer, and thanks to Spoke Art and the Castro Theatre!