Bastard Samurai and Illuminating Scriptures.

 Just a quick post to let everyone know that the High On Fire "Bastard Samurai" shirt design is now on sale at their merchstore and at live shows. You can pick one up here: highonfire.warnerbrosrecordsstore.com/ .

 I've also run across a shirt that I designed a few years back and have never seen. It's the "Illuminating Scriptures" design for Job For A Cowboy and was one of  2 designs that I created for them.  If you'd like to purchase that shirt, you can go here: www.districtlines.com/Metal-Blade-Records/Job-For-A-Cowboy . I hope that I can get one of these for my own collection. I guess I'll have to shoot Mr. Davy an email.

 There you have it. You can go buy a shirt and cover up that naked torso of yours. 

May is Kylesa month!

 It's looking like May will officially be Kylesa month for me. Besides designing the front and back cover of the new album, Phillip has informed me that the cover art will be expanded in other designs associated with their stage set-up. I'll be designing drum heads, a backdrop banner, and smaller banners for the sides of the stage. It'll be a total art overdose. 

 The project is coming along great as both Kylesa and the label want me to take part in helping them come up with packaging for the new cd/lp. It doesn't happen too often, but it is a good day when a band actually let's me a part of designing the items that my art will be going on. So, be prepared for a unique CD package on this one. 

 Other than most of the month being dedicated to Kylesa, I'll be working up some sketches for projects that need to be started or finished up. Some of the projects have been harder than others to come up with and not every idea given to me by bands or individuals are good. Others, leave it open for me to work and that's when I work best. Thanks to those who allow me to let my mind loose. 

World wrath.

I know that I had posted new Lamb Of God "Choke Sermon" shirt design in my last post, but it's turned into a bit more than first intended. Mark liked the design so much that he asked me to do a back design so that they can use it as a tour shirt for their "World Wrath Tour". So, here are the final designs for both the front and back. The shirts are being printed and will be available starting May 15th in Bangalore, India. They'll more than likely be available for US tour in July, too. To find tour dates go to www.lamb-of-god.com/tour.php.  More Lamb Of God designs are coming in the near future.

Seeing that myspace is a graveyard these days I have started a Facebook page to go to for art galleries and news. Go to www.facebook.com/santos.illustration. Check it!

A visit home and a sermon to choke on.

 The month of April is almost over and it's been a great month of news, rest, vacation, and finished projects.

 This month, I was finally able to pull away from the art table and take a long needed trip home to Colorado. I stayed in Denver with one of my best friends and had a great time hanging out and seeing friends and family that I hadn't seen in years. While in Denver we were able to catch the Colorado Avalanche play the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pepsi Center. It's been awhile since I'd been to a hockey game and anyone who knows me knows that I am a hockey fiend. It was a great birthday gift and the bonus was my wife getting to see her first hockey game 

and Blackhawks game (She was born and raised in Illinois). We also traveled down to San Isabel, Colorado to check out Bishop's Castle, ate at Pass Key in Pueblo, and sat in the front yard of my grandmothers housewhile my cousins drank and played dominoes. Ah, visiting Colorado is an experience. It feels good to go home, but it feels better to leave.

 I had started the inking process on the Lamb Of God "Choke Sermon" design before my trip and am happy to announce that the design is colored and ready for the next LOG tour. It was easy working with Mark and he let me go off after a general idea was established. I like that. I find it easier to come up with something and not work under constraints. From the sounds of it, this looks like it will be the first of many designs for Lamb Of God. Fuck yeah!

 Well, the Avs just lost and are out of the playoffs. They had a great season and I'm sure to take a small ribbing from Mike Fisher (San Jose Sharks fan and sick artist) but there's always next year. And, next year we're planning on seeing the Avs play in Chicago. Hopefully, the Avs win this time.

 Work on the new Kylesa album cover has begun.

A few things...

 The poll is now over and it looks like the first run of the High On Fire "Bastard Samurai" prints will be in blue. Red came in second and may be the color set used if I make a second run in the future.  The design will be available in shirt form, on their tour with Priestess and Bison BC. Check www.highonfire.net for dates.

 I'm working on the detail on the Lamb Of God shirt and have been sketching out ideas for the new Kylesa cover. The inking should be done in the next week or so and then I can start on the Kylesa cover. I also just added The Ocean to my schedule and will be doing 2 designs for them. It's going to be a minute before that will happen, though. 

  Warm weather is here and I watch the seasons through the window. I need to remember to get out and frolic once in a while and break away from the art table.

Bad Acid Tab 9

 Here is a link to the Bad Acid Tab 9 page: www.badacidmagazine.com/page12.htm  . Glad to see that it became a monthly publication. 

All That Is Heavy & Bad Acid.

This morning, my best friend Jenny sent me an email that she received from All That Is Heavy

 (www.allthatisheavy.com ). I had forgot about these postcards, but it looks like they are available now when anyone orders from their online store. Here is the direct link to the postcard page : www.allthatisheavy.com/scripts/free_art_print.asp. ATIH started the idea of postcard prints as a way to cut down the amount of waste that their postcards were creating. They said that they were sending out postcards with orders and realized that people were just throwing them out. So, they came up with the idea of getting some artists together to donate images for limited edition postcards. The postcards are included in every order and are printed on recycled paper. Other artists in the series include David D'Andrea, Arik Roper, and Malleus. 

  The other good news that I received was an email from Dave at Bad Acid Magazine in the UK. It was an email announcing that Tab 9 is out and available now. I had been asked a little over a two years ago to design Tab 9's cover and now it is finally out. For those of you who haven't run into any issues, Bad Acid is a music magazine crammed full of music and insights on bands and the music scene around the world. Every issue comes with tons of interviews, reviews, news, a 90 minute dvd (containing music videos, short films, and art galleries), and a compilation cd with 64 bands. 

 As well as doing the cover, I have an interview and an art gallery on the dvd. The art gallery goes through my portfolio and is set to Lesbian's cover of "Bad Man". I thank those guys, again, for donating that song to the project. You can see the cover and order an issue at www.badacidmagazine.com .

 I couldn't finish this post without announcing that I'll be doing a shirt for the Southern sludge masters, Buzzov-en. That may not seem exciting to a lot of people out there, but they were one of my favorite bands until they broke up a few years ago. They're back and putting out a new record this year along side the Relapse release of their recoding sessions pre-1995 called "Violence From The Vault". It'll be great to hear some new music from them and be able to draw them up a design. 

  Oh, and I'm in the process of working up some prints of the new High On Fire "Bastard Samurai" design. I'll post more when they are close to being printed.