Productive July.

 July has been a great month for completed projects, future projects, and tons of sketching. I have to turn up the speed on getting designs finished as I have a full load of incredible projects coming up. So, I'm sketching as much as I can when I can find the extra time.

 I've sent out the Buzzov-en sketch to Kirk and will be re-working the design and trying to get it to look more ominous. There's more to come on that one.

 A sketch for a new Lamb Of God shirt was just finished and sent off for Mark's approval and ideas. It's based off of the song "Condemn The Hive" and will be another detail fest. I'll have that one inked and colored in the next few months. After that, Brian Mercer (www.mercerrock.com) and I will be collaborating on another design for Lamb Of God. I'm psyched to be working with Brian on the shirt design and can hardly wait to see what he comes up with to start the project. If any of you have been out to the Mayhem Festival this year, you've no doubt seen a few Brian's designs. It was nice to go to the merch tent and see my Lamb Of God shirt next to designs from Brian and Mike Sutfin. It's good company to keep. If you weren't able to go to the festival and wanted one of the "Choke Sermon" shirts, you can get one here: http://lambofgod.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=800_30451&pc=BGCTLO79

 Speaking of Lamb Of God, I have to thank Mark Morton again for the hook-up on the concert tickets, backstage passes, and for hanging out for a while a few times during the day. Mark's a great guy and is helping me with some contacts of bands that I would die to work with. Plus, continuing to work with them is a good thing, too. 

 August 1st I'll be starting work on the cover for L.A's Hell Hath No Fury (www.facebook.com/pages/HELL-HATH-NO-FURY/335880005869?ref=ts ). The album will be titled "So Shall You Reap" and will probably end up with a massively detailed cover because the idea is has so many elements to it. I love that kind of shit though. I've been working on a sketch and a few ideas for the piece over the few days and am pretty sure that I have a solid design in mind. The cover will be the first time that I have worked with HHNF, but i've known the guitarist/lead vocalist since we played together in Sistema Nervioso back in the mid-90's. She's a good friend and I want to create a sick cover for her band. We'll see what madness comes out the sketching process.

 Also, sketched are a shirt design for Blackbird Clothing Company, 2 shirt designs for The Ocean, and looking to finally finish a shirt design for Better Than Everyone Records (I've been trying to work this design out with the idea that I was given for over a year now and have had a hard time. I need to just make something brutal and fitting). Busy, busy busy and a small vacation coming up at the end of August/start of September.

 Time to pick up the pencil and get some of this shit out of my head.

Halfway there.

 The year is half way over. I can't believe it. Just the other day it was winter and I was hoping for the warm weather to come. Well, it's not quite here yet, but July usually means that the heat is coming soon. Along with waiting for the sun to shine I'll have to wait until October to see the release of Kylesa's new album. The art is finished and the packaging is being finalized this weekend, so I can breathe a small sigh of relief. 

 The new Kylesa album will be released on Season Of Mist and is scheduled for a mid to late October release. The album will be titled "Spiral Shadow" and there will be 2 versions of the CD, as well as being issued on vinyl. The first version will be a limited edition 3D lacquered digipak that includes a CD and DVD.  The 2nd will be a regular edition in a standard jewel case.

  I have to thank my friend Casey for doing a fantastic job with the layout and graphic design work on the cover. It looks incredible. You can see some of  Casey's design work, sketches, and artwork at www.myspace.com/mckinleyillustration . He's a great guy and a sick designer, so if you need any graphic design work get a hold of him.

 Next up on the schedule is the design for Buzzov-en. The idea from Kirk is that of a phoenix and the sketch is coming along smoothly. I'll post up a detail of the sketch soon. Until then, go out and play in the sun. If you live here, go out and frolic in the rain.

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.