Nine Best Albums of 2009

dru — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:27:26 +0000

It was so hard to come up with a list this year because most of 2009 was such a down year for good music. It seems like most of the music industry runs on hype now and the legit mainstream stuff gets bought up quickly and inserted into Cadillac commercials.

Still, it wasn’t all bad so here’s my list for the best new music of 2009. I’m not entirely sure the order is right but I tried to go off of how much I listened to them over the last year.

09. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
08. Jay-Z - Blueprint III
07. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
06. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
05. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
04. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
03. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T
02. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is!
01. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Like I said, pretty crummy stuff this year. Leave me note if I’ve missed anything or if there is something out there I gotta listen to. Hopefully 2010 restores some of my faith in the industry.

One Oh One

dru — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:15:45 +0000

Here’s my entry for this year’s CD101 Calendar Poster. It looks even better printed.

Channeling Jim Steranko

dru — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:20:19 +0000

I wanted to make an illustration similar to old school Jim Steranko stuff. It’s true what they say about Steranko being a total rock star in the illustration world. He’s a guy I would love to meet, shake his hand, and thank him for all the great work he’s done. He’s a true innovator.

When It Rains It Pours

dru — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:48:12 +0000

I just wanted to re-draw the Morton’s Umbrella Girl and add a little twist—I have no idea why. I think this would make a great cut vinyl decal or t-shirt someday.

Be cool to animals everybody.

Venus Painting

dru — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:01:10 +0000

I’ve been trying out a few new ways to make oil-like paintings in Photoshop. It’s only a study but I thought I’d share it with you guys. I have a ton of stuff I never show and I’m working on to be more open with it so please be kind. Anyhow, I think this one turned out pretty good for a first shot at it. Might try the real thing next or make these a series.

The 10 Best Albums of 2008

dru — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:06:35 +0000

I’ve being mulling over whether or not to do a Top 10 list for 2008 for a while now. The fact is that 2008 was a crummy year for music no matter how you want to slice it. There wasn’t a great selection of new stuff to choose from but I finally made it down to a final ten so I thought I’d share it with you. (All the links go to youtube vids.)

01. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
02. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
03. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
04. No Age - Nouns
05. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
06. Beach House - Devotion
07. Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets
08. Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head - Glistening Pleasure
09. Black Milk - Tronic
10. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

Better late then never right? As always, let me know who I’m forgetting!

Comfest 09?

dru — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:27:42 +0000

I designed an entry for this year’s Comfest theme. The contest is on March 4th so I should find out sometime soon if I’m going to see this on some beer mugs. Wish me luck! Also, I know the site looks a little plain jane right now but give me some time to fix it up. I want it to look nice for you.

Overprinting 101

dru — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:29:19 +0000

Here’s my entry for this years CD101 calendar poster contest extravaganza. The judging isn’t until the November 1st gallery hop so I don’t know if I’ll even make the final 20 yet. I figured since I have no shot of winning I might as well try my hand at something new, a 4-color PMS job with some overprinting. I’ll be amazed if it looks right when I get it back from the printers. I’ll let you know how it goes.

High Flyer II

dru — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:00:05 +0000

High Flyer

dru — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:12:20 +0000

Here’s some (extremely small) pictures of the last 2 flyers/posters I made for concerts. One for Yummy Fight and one for The Hot Damn, both at the LC Pavillion in Columbus. The work I don’t get paid for is always my favorite type of work.

Hopefully, I’ll put some more rock posters soon.

I’m the chairman of the bored

dru — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:42:09 +0000

I’m a lengthy monologue…

Turn the Radio Off

dru — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:14:01 +0000

CD101 had their annual poster/calendar contest again this year and just like last year I entered it and made it to the final show. Also just like last year I was beat out by the same guy. That’s right, the same guy has won the last two years in a row–Can we please change the format so someone else can win? Anyways, this is my entry and I was really happy with my type treatment so I can at least show it off here.

Check out this years winner. Better luck next year eh?

Top 15 Albums of 2007

dru — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:45:37 +0000

This year was pretty much dominated by Noah Lennox of Panda Bear and Animal Collective fame. Some people out there just aren’t ready for Animal Collective yet and I understand that. For me, they represent one of the most consistent acts making music who continue to put out great records with vision and Noah is at the forefront of that. Great year for music–Here’s how they broke down this year for me:

01. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
02. !!! - Myth Takes
03. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
04. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
05. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
06. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
07. Black Milk - Popular Demand
08. The National - Boxer
09. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog
10. Pop Levi - The Return to Form Black Magick Party
11. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
13. Pharoahe Monch - Desire
12. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14. Menomena - Friend And Foe
15. Future of the Left - Curses

(All links go straight to the iTunes store.)

Please let me know what great albums I’m missing! I hate knowing that there are killer records out there that I haven’t even heard. See ya in ‘08!

Open Source Graffiti

dru — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:36:57 +0000

The recent news out of Boston has shown that people are starting to push the notion of using new technologies for good old fashioned vandalism (see Graffiti). Enter Graffiti Research Lab. They recently have come up with a system that allows you to “paint” a building with a military-grade laser pointer, and then have your movements projected onto the side of a building. You have to watch the video, it’s unbelievably cool. Honestly, everything they do is unbelievably cool.

The Big Bonus:
Arcade Art Library - Hands down the best resource on the internet for classic arcade marquees, bezels, fonts and logos. It’s really an interesting community of people and worth checking out if the word Galaga means anything to you.

The Canadian Design Resource - I’ve got my eye on you Canada.

Joseph Kosinski - He’s the creative guy resposible for that fantastic Gears of War meets Tears for Fears commercial.

Spinto Band (Oh Mandy) - OK, I have to admit I love this music video and pop song. Great idea and well executed. So catchy!

Insert Coin to Play

dru — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:51:48 +0000

Bored? Need something to entertain you for a while? Well, I made a short list of some awesome flash games (with stars for added blogging equity)! They’re all fun and simple to play but beat my high score and we can’t be friends anymore.

NEO GEO Bowling
I used to waste quarters on this at the bowling alley when I was a kid (how ironic). This is an exact converstion of that game and it’s still tons of fun for me. Brings back a lot of fond memories of me owning my friends.

Tower Defense
The aim of the game is to kill the creeps before they reach the end of the maze, do this by building attacking towers on the grass around the maze. Yep, there’s some strategy involved.

Line Rider
This is more of a toy than a game but it’s extremly creative and creative, simple games are usually the most enteraining. Using your imagination is always fun.

Chronon
The purpose of this game is to let the little yellow dwarf out of a center cage. The master of this house will come back at 7pm. Time is your weapon.

Sesam Katapult
Catipult a little Norwegian guy as far as you can. I’m sure there is pleanty lost in translation in this game but it doesn’t make it any less fun so have at it.

Sushi Samurai
This is a copy of the old arcade game Burger Time except instead of making burgers you’re making sushi! Delicious, delicious sushi!

RED
Another simple game that is really well executed. It’s similar to Missle Command if you’ve ever played that. I hope someday to be involved in a project like this.

Master of the Flying Guillotine

dru — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:49:39 +0000

I’ve been playing around with building a flash video player that matches the site. Here’s what I came up with:
The video is the opening to the movie Master of the Flying Guillotine, one of my all-time favorite kung-fu movies. They just don’t make title squences like this anymore which got me thinking about some of my other favorites. I found some that you might be interested in.

To Kill a Mocking Bird (1962) - Saul Bass
Panic Room (2002) - The Picture Mill
Thank You for Smoking (2005) - Shadowplay Studio
Casino (1995) - Saul Bass
Charade (1963) - Maurice Binder
Catch Me If You Can (2002) - Florence Deygas
Alien (1979) - R. Greenberg

Heavy Pulp

dru — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:59:07 +0000

So I’ve got a thing for good old fashioned pulp art. I love those old school cover illustrations filled with suspense, action, and drama but I’ve noticed lately a new style of pulp art out there in the form of heavy, computer-assisted, collage. It looks vintage but screams computer made. For practice, I decieded to try to make a collage in under 4 hours using whatever I could find through google images. Here’s the result, which turned out more like a crappy 1970’s spy movie poster than a 1940’s pulp cover. I’ll go back and add more nazis fighting snakes later.

Anyways, i just want to thank you for stopping by the site again. I hope 2007 is a fantastic year for each and everyone of you. Peace.

Station to Station

dru — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:31:36 +0000

CD101 is a radio station in Columbus that tries really hard to be cool. Every year they have a calendar poster contest and the winner gets some cash and some free prints. After entering for the last two years I’ve realized that it’s more of a popularity contest then a design contest so I’m not sure if I’ll try again next year. Just so nothing goes to waste, I figured I’d share my poster design for 2006. If you notice a lot of the elements in it gave way to the over look and feel of this blog.

This reminds me — I really need to redesign this site because it’s getting pretty old and played out. I’m going to start working on a portfolio site as well that links to this. It will probably replace this URL but I’m not sure yet so stay tuned.

One of Columbus’ Finest

dru — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:25:40 +0000

Anthony Yankovic III is a fantastic illustrator from right here in Columbus. He just got picked up by Alien Workshop Skateboards in Dayton to design a new line of pro decks. In his own words, here’s what insipired him to be an artist:

“Art is deeply rooted in my family history. My great, great,great, grandfather brought the first paint brush over to America on the Mayflower. During the voyage he feared that the fine hogs-haired bristles would be damaged on board the crowded vessel. He had no other choice but to hold the brush above his head like a torch during the trip’s entirety. Due to the poot living conditions and lack of blood flow, his arm fell ill, turned black and died. Upon reaching land his fellow countrymen were in dire need of extravagant oil paintings the only tool of the trade was stuck in the blackened death grip of my great, great, great grandfather’s deceased hand. After little discussion they lopped his arm off with a wooden axe. Still unable to remove the brush, the resorted to stuffing and bronzing the limb. The appendage-brush became that of legend and has since been put on display in the parking lot of the Akron Art Museum.”

So there you have it - makes perfect sense. You can check out Anthony’s and many other talented artist’s (like Elephont) work at Alien Workshop.

Also! - James Jean is at it again with a poster design for the upcoming Nike advertising campaign Space Race 2020. I have got to get a copy of this poster when it comes out. It’s amazing how talented this guy is.

Everybody Loves Bansky

dru — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:47:42 +0000

Bansky is everywhere. For those of you not familiar Bansky, he is the mysterious guerrilla artist that’s brought you serveral popular news stories in the last few years. Some people like him, some people hate him. I think it depends on your defintion between what makes something a work of art and what makes something a prank. I think most people simply hate the fact that he makes you think about the difference between the two.

Some of this greatest hits:
Paris Hilton Targeted in CD Prank
Banksy Hits New York’s Most Famous Museums (All of Them)
Spray Can Prankster Tackles Israel’s Security Barrier
Artist Banksy Targets Disneyland
Natural History Museum Exhibits an Unnatural Specimen
Artist’s Cold Call Cuts Off Phone

Anyhow, he’s having a show in LA right now called, Barely Legal. It’s kind of a big deal for a couple of reasons, he’s from the UK, he takes a lot of potshots at western civilization, and he’s not well liked by a lot of powerful people. Either way, it’s interesting stuff.

3 Albums I’m Listening to:
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
Iggy & the Stooges - Year of the Iguana