Larry West Productions: The Blog

Ron Paul 2012 - Official Philadelphia Shirt Design!

2012-01-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

Mind. BLOWN!

I was asked by someone working with the Ron Paul 2012 campaign to design a t-shirt for a Philadelphia Fund Raiser that takes place February 6th at National Mechanics. The event is being organized by Patrick Rodgers, the incredibly brilliant man who not only owns and runs Digital Ferret Records and Nocturne at Club Shampoo, but also foreclosed on a Wells Fargo branch.

The brief was simple: A 3-color design for an upcoming fundraiser that showed Ron Paul, the Liberty Bell, and the headline "Philadelphia. Liberty. The Constitution." After messing around with a few different ideas and concepts, I went with what you see here; a fairly straight-forward design with a focus on showing how presidential he is.

The shirts will be available at the Ron Paul Fundraiser in Philadelphia on February 6th at National Mechanics, which starts at 6:30PM. For a small donation of $20 you get access to some great food and political discussion. Oh, and you can buy this shirt while you're there, too.

Also, you can check out the piece itself on my DeviantArt account.

The photo of Ron Paul come from Gage Skidmore, who I can't thank enough!

Ash of Ambitions

2012-01-24T08:37:00.000-08:00

I was contacted by my good friend and author Y.K. Greene to design the cover for her latest book, Ash of Ambitions. The job was actually rather different for me; Instead of being asked to illustrate or just design a cover, she also wanted me to do the photography as well.

So after a long search for the perfect model, we hired local model Niishie Elf who has done some amazing stuff and who I met at another shoot. We did the entire shoot in the Philadelphia Subway system on a fairly cold day. During the shoot itself I contacted Greene to make sure we got the pose she wanted.

Designing the title was fairly easy and a lot of fun, and I'm incredibly proud of the final product!

You can also check out a larger version of the cover here.

Plus, you can buy her new book here!

Larry West - Gig Poster Portfolio - NOW AVAILABLE!!!!

2011-11-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

Larry West here!

I've compiled my 10 favorite Gig Posters and put them together in an ULTRA-LIMITED EDITION SET! I've been designing and creating gig posters for years and I decided it was time to present them in the best way possible!

Each poster is printed on 90lb Vellum Paper stock and comes in a one-of-a-kind folder designed and assembled by myself! Each set includes:

Each set is shipped flat via USPS Priority Mail and comes with tracking. The first TEN BUYERS will get a SPECIAL SURPRISE!!!!

As an added bonus, if you guy the set on Black Friday (November 25, 2011), I'll actually toss in a FREE SKETCH!!!! Remember, its only for tomorrow!!!

It's all yours for only $100! CHEAP! Especially since each print tends to sell for $20 or more, this is a DEAL! So come on, buy one! NOW!

Looking for Photo Shoots

2011-11-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Looking for a photographer to do your next goth or punk photo shoot? Do you want someone with experience who can take photos that can put others to shame and make you the envy of all your friends? Are you looking to take your modeling career to heights you haven't been able to make it to before because you don't have great photos?

Then what the hell are you doing looking around for?! You've got the photographer you want right here!

If you live in the Philadelphia area and need a photographer, I'm your guy! I've been practicing for years and every model I've worked with has said that I've been the best photographer they've had worked with. So why settle for the rest when you can have the best?

Check out the Photo Shoot Packages I offer:

Package A:
10 Photos
High-Res Images
60 Minute Shoot
$100

Package B:
20 Photos
High-Res Images
120 Minute Shoot
$200

Package C:
30 Photos
High-Res Images
150 Minute Shoot
$250

Each package allows you to change your outfit as much as you want, but it needs to be within the time of the shoot. It also includes only one location, and if your interested in multiple locations we can work that out.

If you're interested, send an e-mail to larrywest@moriseomics.com and we'll set something up!

MAYHEM - 2011 Gig Poster - The Mouth of Madness!

2011-11-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do something COMPLETELY different as a gig poster than I had ever done before, and since Mayhem has always had an aura of terror and mysticism about them (anyone who knows Norwegian black metal will tell you that!), and I wanted to capture the feeling I got from them when I listen to "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", specifically the title track.

MAYHEM will be playing The Trocadero November 4th at 7PM!

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The idea of the monster was that it was this... thing. I didn't want it to be anything, actually, just this weird otherworldly creature. Its a mix of Chtulu and the monster from Watchmen, with a bit of my own weirdness mixed in.

One thing I loved about doing this piece was the fact that it reminded me of how I worked back in High School; sitting at my desk at night drawing the most Satanic and terrifying things I could imagine!

I did do the type separately in this case, and I drew it by hand and scanned it back in. Getting the tentacles to wrap was something I wanted, but I also wanted everything behind it, too.

Other than the way the entire typography was handled on this poster, the other big change is the way I showed the main band name; I decided to let it bleed off the page. I knew it was easy enough to read that passing by you would go, "Oh fuck, MAYHEM is in town? I need to go! NOW!"

Wednesday 13 - The Bride of Frankenstein!

2011-10-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

Check out the piece on DeviantArt!

When I heard Wednesday 13 was coming to town, I knew I HAD to do a gig poster for it! He's one of my favorite musicians, and his mix of horror, punk, and metal is just awesome! He has a sense of humor to his music that gives it a large amount of appeal, and his later work has taken on a more sinister tone that has given it a different life!

I wanted to do something that was a mix of classic horror fun and great illustration. I knew I wanted to do one of the "classic" horror movie monsters, you know, the Universal Studios monsters, and I knew I wanted to do them as women. I wound up going with The Bride of Frankenstein, which also happens to be one of my favorite songs written by Wednesday 13!

I decided to do this as fast as possible because I wanted to capture a mix of the old-style movie posters and the grindhouse ideal as well which were both heavily present in his music. I'm pretty happy with the end result!

WEDNESDAY 13 will be playing The Trocadero October 30th at 7PM!

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Art-wise, this thing was insane! I had wanted to do it since August, but I never had a solid idea. With less than a week before the show, I knew I wanted to do something, so I came up with an idea Monday and Tuesday after I got home from work I went ahead and tried to do it full-tilt!

I wound up laying out everything twice, the second time just ignoring any of the rules I knew and having fun with it! That wound up being exactly what I needed, and I think there's a good feel to the illustration that makes it come alive! I also did a live-blogging of it while working on it.

The hardest part, just like all of my posters, isn't the illustration itself, it's designing the actual poster. I got to it around 11:30AM and thought it would only be 30 minutes. How wrong I was! The design was the single hardest part of this piece!

I wound up using a bunch of grunge textures on it because I definitely wanted the piece to look a little old, but at the same time I wanted to make sure the colors still popped.

More than anything, though, I've wanted to do a great Bride of Frankenstein drawing for about 3 years now. I never really tried until I had an idea I loved, and I hope you enjoy it! She'll be used in another piece soon!

I Stand with Occupy Philly

2011-10-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week.

On October 5th, I went to a planning meeting with the newly-formed Art Committee for Occupy Philadelphia. I knew I wanted to help out in any way I possibly could, and I figured the best way for me would be to design protest posters. They were designed that night, and I had prints ready the next morning in time for the protest. We got donations on the spot to make more copies, and we now have a system in place for producing posters.

For the past week, I've been going to meetings, helping at the actual art station along with Paul from Panadelphia, and I've also learned a lot about working with a team again. This entire movement is semi-leaderless, so you have to work with other people in a way you wouldn't normally, which makes it a bit more exciting! I was also put in charge, to some degree, of design. I'm working on some new designs as I write this.

To help everyone in Philly who wishes to go down there to protest, just go to this site and download and print a poster for yourself! They're designed for 11" x 17", but they till look good on 8.5" x 11" paper!

NOFX "Obama Clown" Poster

2011-09-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

Check out the poster on DeviantArt!

NOFX and Anti-Flag. Easily two of my favorite punk bands! Every time NOFX comes to Philly it sells out immediately, and this time around they're not selling tickets until the day of the show! I love doing posters for bands coming to Philly that I enjoy, especially if there isn't any other promotion for them, so this time around I jumped on the NOFX poster.

I loved "The War on Errorism" and "Cokie the Clown", and considering both the political nature of NOFX as of late as well as Anti-Flag, I figured skewing the current President would be appropriate.

I'm not anti-Obama, or even pro-Obama. I think the guy has done some great things and some incredibly bone-headed things as well. Caving into Republicans all the time? Really? Obama has put on the clown makeup for getting the U.S. into another pointless war or not closing Gitmo like he promised, and the Republicans threw the pie since they got him to cave in and change the date of a speech, among other things.

In other words; Obama is making himself look bad and into a joke, not me. ;)

That said, I sincerely hope everyone enjoys it! To all my liberal friends, know it was done tongue-in-cheek, and to all my conservative friends, know it was done tongue-in-cheek.

NOFX KICK ASS!!!!

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Just like most of my posters, drawing it was a lot easier than designing it! I sketched a layout I liked, and drew Obama in almost near-final detail on the street (true story!). I got home, finished the details, and inked it in almost the same time it took for me to draw it.

The hardest part in the design was nailing the carnival look. The NOFX headline was done using a tutorial I found at letterheadfonts.com [link] After that was everything else. I wound up using a bunch of different fonts and styles until I got something I was happy with.

Hell Needs Women - My Latest Photoshoot

2011-08-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

I did a photo shoot with two awesome goth / alt models Jernike and Chrissy in an abandoned factory in Philadelphia. It was a hell of a shoot, involving danger, hobos, blood, and dying batteries! Thrills and chills awaited us in the shoot, and I'm glad to share this with the world!

Check out the full set of "Hell Needs Women" on Flickr!

June 2011 - The Fierce Demoness Wallpaper!

2011-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

After much delay, I am pleased to bring back the monthly calendar wallpaper to the world! The Fierce Demoness is here to strike fear into the hearts of those who dare to cross her path! The propaganda-style will help to induct the poor saps who dare to resist her beauty!

Think the world is going to end May 21, 2011?

2011-05-19T20:26:00.001-07:00

Then I've got the site for you!

Holy Grail - The Troc - May 3rd: Gig Poster!

2011-05-03T05:08:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAIL - The Trocadero - May 3rd, 2011

This should be one hell of a show! Holy Grail will be playing the balcony at The Troc, and admission is only $10! So unless you're a starving artist, I think you should be able to make it, have a damn good time, and enjoy some awesome power/thrash metal!

Click here to check out the poster on DeviantArt!

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I sketched out the poster idea about a week before I decided to work on a finish. It wasn't a very developed concept; a woman with snakes. I always like trying to add more and more to a piece like that, and I decided to do an ode to Leviathan.

At the same time, I was looking more and more at the work of my contemporaries, especially Godmachine. His work is consistently amazing, and I wanted to try something in the style he did that seems to be, in fact, the modern illustration style (my opinion, and nothing more). That said, my apologies if its too close!

I'm pretty happy with the result. I worked on it originally as a t-shirt design that I was going to turn into a poster, but I kept running into the same problem; I didn't like how colorful it was, especially on the poster. The original has a LOT of green, and on a whim I decided to make everything red. It worked great for the poster, and so you have this.

A lot of blood, sweat, and annoyance went into this piece. The woman's head was a nightmare to draw, and it's my biggest weakness. I love drawing women's heads, but I suck at drawing them looking up. I think I got it this time. :)

Live Not On Evil Gig Poster!

2011-03-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is: The OFFICIAL Gig Poster for Live Not on Evil!

Check it out on DeviantArt!

This was a lot of fun to do and I have to say Rob was a great guy to work with! We wound up going for a Punk-Rock Cowgirl for the poster, and I was influenced heavily by Western movie posters at first, which led me to a more rockabilly-meets-classic horror look to the poster in the end. For the girl we agreed it would be awesome if the end of the branding iron was the Liberty Bell to keep well of the fact that the band was from Philly.

Actually, in the background, you can see the original pencil art! I talked to a friend of mine who said the original pencils were awesome and I should use them somewhere in the piece, and I figured the background was a great place to put it since it helped tie everything together.

The Stench of Redemption - Deicide 2011 Gig Poster

2011-02-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

DEICIDE - 2011 Concert Poster

This is what happens when you go to Catholic School for 13 years, folks!

I love drawing nuns, relying on symbolism, and just being blatant at times. In this case, that's exactly what I wanted in every possible way.

I heard Deicide was coming to town and wanted to show my support by doing a gig poster for their upcoming show. I had a vision of just some praying nun with horns coming out of her head, and a Rosary in her hands.

To be honest, this piece is as deep as it appears, and then some. As much as it may be about some nun turning to Satan, it really isn't. In essence, I wanted to convey that the same love and devotion that can be shown to God can be shown to Satan. Is it really all that bad? Isn't faith and love in something and someone more important than who, ESPECIALLY if they're wind up otherwise being a good person for it?

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DEICIDE - February 18th - The Trocadero - 7PM!!!!

GET TICKETS HERE FOR THIS AWESOME SHOW!!!

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The more Artsy Stuff

So for this poster, I did something I normally never, EVER do; I did my own hand-drawn typography and did it as a vector! It was the most draftsman-like thing I've done as an artist in about 3 years because of how technical it was. I used Adobe Illustrator and for the first time turned on Smart Guides. I wished I had done it sooner! It made the curves much smoother and I love how the "e's" came out. The typography was inspired by some classic Gothic Blacklettering, but also a bit of Art Nouveau.

EGYPT IS FREE!

2011-02-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

On February 11th, 2011, the people of Egypt did what very few people imagined was possible: They peacefully forced their dictator of 30 years, Mubarak, to resign and hand over his power to someone else! The hope? That this will be the start of something big! That this will be the dawning of a new age fore the people of Egypt full of democracy and freedom!

When I created my original "Free Egypt" poster, I had no idea that the people of Egypt would be able to achieve something so amazing so fast! My heart goes out to the people of Egypt and I sincerely hope that this works out for the best!

You can buy a print of the poster here on Zazzle.com.

You can check out the original artwork on DeviantArt here.

Die Hipster Scum! Stickers for Sale!

2011-02-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

Check out the awesome original piece here on DeviantArt!

Yes, now you can be the envy of everyone on your block with this awesome sticker! Measuring at a WHOPPING 4" x 4" square, this sticker is large and in charge! A great way to show hipsters that, well, THEY SUCK!

Stickers are only $2 plus shipping! I'll start shipping soon, and yes, I can do international shipping!!!

FREE EGYPT! - Support the Cause!

2011-02-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

On January 25th, 2011, the people of Egypt took to the streets to protest against a government that they felt was false. They demanded that their "president", elected in fraudulent elections for 30 years, leave office immediately so that they could have truly free elections and a government that they felt really reflected their concepts and values.

While many of us can't fight in the streets with them, I wanted to do something to show my solidarity with them and give myself and everyone else a chance to show their support as well.

I created this because, for me, the events in Egypt is the embodiment of what freedom truly means. It is simply inspiring to see the events in Egypt, and I am proud of the people of that country for protesting peacefully. They have taken to the streets, to their cellphones, and social networks to cry out, speak out, and cry out against the tyrants in their land!

They want democracy, TRUE democracy! They want the same rights and freedoms we take for granted daily, and for that I greatly support them!

Check out the piece on DeviantArt and please spread the love. :)

February 2011 - The Ace of Spades Wallpaper!

2011-01-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

After the success of last's month Xecutioner wallpaper, I am proud to announce that for February I'm giving out a wallpaper of The Ace of Spades! Yes, the Ace of Spades! So put on some Motorhead, get out some cards, and make this your new wallpaper! To be honest, I'm pretty proud of this one! It looks really good on a wide-screen monitor!

My Skateboards from 2010: Demons and Robots and Hell, Oh My!

2011-01-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to show off the skateboards I've done over the past year on ArtsProjekt, so check them out!

The decks available are:

Tour Posters for Sale! Benefits the CBLDF!

2011-01-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

I'm selling a few prints of my tour posters on eBay right now, and the auctions end next Sunday, January 16th.

Each print is a measly $25, and each one is on 80lbs vellum paper stock and looks GREAT! Not only that, but you can also help out a worthy charity! I had these leftover when I did my initial batch for each band and had a special set for my friends and the band.

10% of all the profits will go to The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! Yes, the CBLDF! The First Amendment Right group for Comic Book artists and cartoonists!

Up for auction are my Gig Posters for Obituary, Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend, Anvil, and Municipal Waste!

So go to eBay and BID BID BID!!!!

Just click on an image to see the listing, or click here for a full list!

Why Can't We Have More First Amendment Remedies?

2011-01-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

The above is a video Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords reading the First Amendment on January 6th, 2011. It was part of a larger act where members of the United States Congress read the US Constitution aloud in hopes of reminding everyone of just what our nation is founded on.

On January 8th, 2011, she was shot in the head.

Sharron Angle, back in January of 2010, made a comment that for most of 2010 wound up haunting her. This is her exact quote:

You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.

I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.

On January 8th, 2011, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head.

I've constantly have fought for the First Amendment, and truthfully, I never truly understood it until today when I saw that video of her reading it aloud. When we think of the First Amendment, we normally think about Freedom of Speech, followed by Freedom of Religion.

But how many of us even think about the fact that we are also given the ability to peacefully assemble? How often do we remember that we also have the right to petition out government when we don't like what they're doing? That our freedom of speech is actually more than being able to simply say what we want, but to also change things by petitioning them?

On January 8th, 2011, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head while giving a speech by a 22-year-old man who was mad at his government and wanted to change it.

After all the talk we've had over the past year, with so many people alluding to violence against politicians, why? Why violence? Why "second amendment remedies"? The first one alone would have fixed it.

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To that end, I would like to encourage everyone to do more to help the First Amendment. Please, give to the ACLU, The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, or The First Amendment Center. We need more people using the 1st Amendment instead.

January 2011 - Xecutioner Wallpaper!

2011-01-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well, its a new year, and with it, new hopes and promises! I've decided to do monthly wallpapers in collation with the months of my calendar, which is still for sale at Zazzle.com! SO BUY IT, DAMN IT! Pick out your size and download it for yourself.

1920 x 1080

1600 x 1200

1280 x 1024

1024 x 768

Darth Vader Chick - Bred to Kill! Not to Care!

2011-01-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do something a little different than what I normally do.

As much as I like to say I do "pop-art", I really haven't done much in terms of skewing pop culture or mixing and combining things. I liked the idea of women wearing iconic masks from Star Wars and I thought it would be cool to take a classic pin-up pose and just mix it up. The words "Bred to Kill, Not to Care!" is from the Metallica song "Disposable Hero's".

So enjoy and let me know what you think!

And, hey, check it out on DeviantArt!

Ozzy Osbourne with Yuto Miyazawa - My Favorite Photo of 2010

2010-12-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

I didn't want to go to Ozzfest in 2010.

If there's anything I'll remember about this photo, its going to be that. It was late August and I wasn't sure if I was going to go. The forecast was rain and other than the main stage, with Halford, Motley Crue, and Ozzy... I kinda didn't care. Nevertheless, my friend Murt talked me into it. I wound up getting last-minute Pit Tickets. Once there, we were met with fundamentalist Christians telling us we were going to hell to see Ozzy and drizzle, and all I could do was laugh and wonder if it was 1985 again.

Fast-forward to the end of the night. I'm watching Ozzy from the front row of the pit and all the fucking crowd surfers are just pissing me off. Granted, I'm the new concert cliche myself; the guy taking photos during most of the show. For me, its fun. Who knows, maybe one day I would take one that was kinda cool. So I'm taking shots when all of a sudden this 10-year-old Asian kid walks out on stage with a Randy Rhodes guitar!

I'm simply scratching my head, and the next thing I know, the kid is playing "Crazy Train" like a he's done it a million times! I'm taking as many shots as I can because its obvious this is something big, something you're only going to get to see once! Meanwhile, I'm trying to dry myself off from Ozzy hosing down the crowd with foam (one of my favorite moments at ANY Ozzy show!) when I see it; Ozzy has the kid in his arms!

OZZY HAS THE KID IN HIS ARMS! ITS THE RANDY RHODES POSE!!

I grab my camera, position the shot, take it, and I'm getting ready to get a few more for safety and to get maybe a better photo. Before I get the chance, the security guard in front of me is making a motion; there's a crowd surfer on the way. I put the camera away, help the schmuck, and the kid is down. I was a little bummed, but still enjoyed the show. Once I got back home, I immediately uploaded all my shots to see what I had. When I saw how the one photo I got of Yuto and Ozzy came out, I was shocked!

Out of 400 photos, I picked about 40 to adjust and upload to my Flickr account. After finding out who was in the photo and finding your Yuto Miyazawa's Twitter account, I told him about the photo. He liked it enough to re-tweet to his followers. What happened next took me entirely by surprise.

I got an e-mail from someone at Rolling Stone magazine asking to use the photo. I said yes. Need I say more?

OK. IT MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF ROLLING STONE'S WEBSITE!

From what I've been told, it also made the magazine.

It also got picked up around the world! Zimbio picked it up, as well as Ekstra Bladet and Blow the Scene. It was fun going to work and telling people about something like this!

The entire experience made me want to focus on my concert photography again. I went through my files and found a ton that I loved and decided to try and sell. Hopefully I'll have them up soon.

Is there some grand lesson from this? Yes. Sometimes being a schmuck who takes photos at a concert pays off!

"Your Life In Flames" Men's Hi-Tops!

2010-12-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

You're Life In Flames by MarkSkull
Browse Evil Shoes

These are the Men's Hi-Top sneakers of my piece "Feel the Realness of Your Convictions", available through ArtsProjekt. I've had the concept lying around for a while, and finally decided to release it after some more time and effort.

Well, enjoy! Get one! Heck, they could be an awesome Christmas Present for someone!

Larry West Featured on ArtsProjekt!

2010-12-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

This was pretty damn sweet:

ArtsProjekt, in case you didn't know, is an awesome website dedicated to some of the greatest artists on EARTH... to sell you t-shirts and mugs designed by them. I AM ONE OF THESE ARTISTS! Not only that, but I got featured on the front page! AWESOME!

So check out my shop on there and support me! I've got tons of new stuff, so... yeah, check it out!

Someone Stole My Work, and I am NOT Happy!

2010-12-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

EDIT: Well, its down and I'm happy about that. I've decided

Back in 2007, I decided it would be cool to have a piece I had done earlier go out into the world and speak for people who were censored. The piece was called "Government Censorship: Protecting YOU From Reality". It was an obvious parody of the Parental Advisory sticker, and at first I wasn't happy with how it looked. It took a while for it to grow on me, and I decided to put it on my Zazzle account to try and sell a few posters, and an image of it was posted on my website.

After that, my image started to pop-up in a few places. I periodically would do searches and sometimes see it up. I would let the person using it know I was the person who originally posted it, and to please give me some attribution, and that was about it. Since it was going on so much, I decided to post it on my DeviantArt account and make it fairly clear what the rules on it were; you can use it as long as I got credit and you never, ever, tried to sell it.

You can see where I'm going with this.

So on December 2nd, I decided to just check how my stuff was doing on Zazzle. I did a search with the name of my image and noticed that my piece was showing up on something I didn't create. Shocked, I checked it out and, lo and behold, someone else was selling it!

Here's the image on my site:

http://www.morisecomics.com/portfolio/GOVERNMENT-CENSORSHIP.jpg

The original image being used on Zazzle, complete with date of creation:

http://www.zazzle.com/government_censorship_poster-228099302315531500

The piece uploaded on DeviantArt with the license:

http://fav.me/d29q6kd

And the offending person using my image on their products:

http://www.zazzle.com/sovereigns/government+censorship+protecting+you+from+reality+gifts
I was shocked and annoyed, and ready to just simply report them to Zazzle to let them know what's going on. The person doing it is the problem.

The company is "Sovereign Citizens, LLC", but treally its just some guy going by the name sovereigns on the site. The guy is fairly politically active, and if the term "Sovereign Citizen" is any indication, this is NOT the type of person I like using my image for their own ends, let alone making a profit off MY work! Check out THIS on their own Blogger page!

Not only that, but this person is a PRO-SELLER on Zazzle! A Pro-Seller on Zazzle is someone who has consistently made $100 or more a month using Zazzle over 3 months, and its likely, even VERY likely, that this guy is making some serious money using my work without permission.,

I contacted the person with a Cease and Desist letter the same day. No response. I posted about this on the Zazzle forums, and the main point I heard is that the person doing it claims on their site that they're trying to use non-copyrighted pieces. Then today I found out that they stole someone else work!

A piece by NINE INCH NAILS!

The original wallpaper by Nine Inch Nails:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nineinchnails/3042172875/in/set-72157609404567115/

The ripoff by Sovereigns:
http://www.zazzle.com/censored_for_your_protection_poster-228627089888590143

This person doesn't have any regard for my work or for anyone else who create art!

So, what can YOU do to help?

I've contacted Zazzle already and I'm doing what I can to handle it through them. Feel free to go through their products and post my original product link. Feel free to go to their Facebook page and tell them what you think PERSONALLY. Contact them on MySpace and tell them you're mad about this!

Or e-mail them directly at this address: sovereigncitizens@gmail.com

Julian Assange - Truth at Any Cost?

2010-12-10T04:35:00.000-08:00

Check it out on DeviantArt.

Well, there's quite a bit about this one...

This is Julian Assange. As you may or may not know, he is the man behind Wikileaks. What is Wikileaks, you ask? Well, that depends mainly on who you ask.

Some people say its a massive plan to take down the American Government. Others say he's a hero for pointing out what the US Government is doing.

In actuality, Wikileaks has been around since 2006, and no one has been credited as the actual founder. In fact, Julian Assange is on the advisory board for the group, and has served as the face of the organization. Its also worth pointing out that Assange is actually an Australian Journalist, so he can not accurately be called a traitor or someone committing treason in the US.

Within in the past 2 weeks, the site has exploded after exposing the US Diplomatic Cables. The single best thing to come out of it, the one thing that, more than anything, I'm glad to see come out of this was the fact that the US Government has, in fact, LIED about the threat North Korea posses.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

When I created this piece, I didn't have a fully-formed opinion about Julian Assange or Wikileaks. More than anything, I just had questions. Is he a hero or a villain? Is what he and Wikileaks doing truly the right thing? Does it cause more harm than good?

In the end, I still don't know. What I do know is that this reminds me more than anything of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the State in George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four. The vilification, the charges against him... it doesn't seem real.

This piece isn't in support of him, nor is it really against him, either. Instead its just me trying to get my feelings out about this.

The one thing that makes me scared about this, about all of this, is the threat this may pose to free speech and dissent in America. During the Bush era, everyone was afraid of our freedoms being oppressed and of the government crushing dissent. Now, someone has released something showing the problems with the way the US does things... and they are trying to shut him up.

That, more than anything else, scares me.

=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=

The photo of Julian Assange comes from Flickr User espenmoe (Espen Moe), who I greatly appreciate for allowing everyone in the world to use: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20402566@N03/4466613035

The Wikileaks logo comes via Wikileaks themselves and is used under a Creative Commons license of free use with attribution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikileaks_logo.svg

Also, as for use of this image: NO COMMERCIAL USE AT ALL WITHOUT PERMISSION. That's about it. Otherwise, enjoy!

So Obama Hasn't Been Quite the President You Tought, Huh?

2010-12-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

OBAMA: OBEY FALSE MESSIAH Distressed by LuvataciousSkull
View other Barack obama Posters

As we see Obama essentially fail on everything he said he would be, I am reminded of a lyric; "I beg your pardon/ I never promised you a rose garden."

In a way, that's the case here. He never really did promise us the moon and the stars, and he never said he would bring about world peace. He did, though, promise us "Hope" and "Change", among other things. So far, he has failed to shut down Guantanamo Bay, delivered a really mediocre health care bill, kept up warrantless wiretapping, sent more troops into war the same week he got a Nobel Peace Prize, and now he's given the Republicans something else they wanted; a tax cut for the upper-class.

As weak as he's been... it would be ignorant of me to ignore the good he has done. A really awesome site to see all of this is "What the fuck has Obama done so far?" It's really good, incredibly informative.

One of Those Years...

2010-11-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

Its been one of those weird years for me. When, during the entire time you're bitching and moaning about nothing happening, where you don't think ANYTHING is really getting done, and you feel like you're spinning your wheels the entire time.

Then, when you need to sit down and put something together as a sort of retrospect, you look back and go... WOAH! I did more than I thought! Its been a pretty good year!

I launched my Black Label line this year, and even though I didn't do as much as I wished for now, I have a lot more in my back pocket planned for the future. I also entered a contest to try and create a new logo for the City of Philadelphia that I'm incredibly proud of! I got an awesome Ace of Spades design that, in turn, finally helped me form an idea for a playing card deck!

I did gig posters (on my own, mind you!) for Anvil and Arch Enemy, Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend, Kreator, Hole, Fear Factory, and Otep! WOAH! I just realized I did eight of these this year! I also almost got to meet Otep, but I met a lot of great people because of these posters, and had a ton of fun doing them!

I also put on an awesome art show in September, "Monsters in my Head", at Digital Ferret in September! It was a lot of fun, and a LOT of work, to pull it off! I still plan on getting a book together of all the piece that were in the show, as well as a few that weren't!

Also, I did my first album cover for the awesome pop-punk band from Colorado, Left Foot Green! Their album "Fun With Vengeance" should be out soon, and it sounds AWESOME!

As we go into December, I'm quite pleased with where things seem to be headed for me as an artist. I've got some new ideas and projects in the works, and the concepts in the past may soon blossom into great things!

For now, check out my new calendar, "The Artwork of Larry West". For the first time ever, I sat down and actually created a full poster of my work! Head on over to my shop on ArtsProjekt run by Zazzle and check it out.

Belial's Servant

2010-11-19T09:38:00.001-08:00

"Belial's Servant" was created out of passion more than anything else.

I wanted to get back in touch with my religious roots, and it felt really good to work on this. I originally had no concept in mind for this, and it really wound up drawing itself.

I used the Celestial Alphabet on her chest to have some fun. It says "Pure Evil"... yeah, a bit cheesy, but I like it.

Other than that, this is a fairly seriously piece. I took the symbol of Belial and put it on both of her arms. For those who don't know, Belial is known as the spirit of the Earth and the master of mankind. In The Dead Sea Scrolls, he's known as the Prince of Darkness.

Her axe has two different symbols. The first is the symbol of Astaroth. The second is a bit more complicated and depends of who you ask. The double-cross and infinity symbol have been associated with sulfur in relation to Alchemy and also with Lucifer himself and a never-ending reign.

At the same time, I wanted to create a symbol behind the servant to show her affiliations. Belial's in the center with another one to the bottom left, the symbol of Lucifer above, and the symbol of sulfur and never-ending power to the right.

In terms of the execution of the piece, it was incredibly difficult... and a LOT of fun! Not much to say, really. A ton of inking, a ton of coloring, and a lot of lost sleep!

Check it out on DeviantArt.com!

Feel free to support me by buying some merch here at Zazzle's ArtProjekt!

Work In Progress: Belial's Servant

2010-10-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I just sit down and draw.

Inks are done and the colors are now being worked on.

Lewis Black is Always Right

2010-10-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading Lewis Black's "Me of Little Faith" two days ago. While it has a bit to do with religion and a bit to do with his personal life, it has two fairly big moments about writing. As someone going through an artistic spiritual crisis, these parts spoke to me pretty loudly. I really enjoyed the book, so it was shocking for me to see him write, on more than one occasion, that the hardest part of writing the book... was just writing.

He conveys that sometimes he would stare at a blank screen and have no idea what to say. Lewis Black. My god. Wow.

His solution was simple; Just write.

Turn off the little critic in your head, or at least do everything you can to ignore it, and just write. Sometimes it'll lead somewhere; sometimes it won't. He wrote that some of his best stuff came from just sitting down and writing something and seeing where it went.

As a teenager, that used to be my philosophy, or really just what I did more than anything. I didn't think about people thinking my work sucked, or that it wouldn't lead anywhere. Instead I just drew because I loved it. But over the years, because of teachers, classmates, and partly thanks to the internet, I started to doubt myself. It got to the point where I rarely every drew for the joy of it. Instead, I always did sketches in my countless sketch books, and periodically made one into a full piece.

That actually stems from something that happened way back in high school. I'm fairly strong at composition, and I had someone teaching me on a weekend course who asked me to show my thumbnail sketches of a piece I had been working on. I told them I didn't have any, and she was shocked and asked that I make some to show the class to prove that I didn't just come up with it but it took more work than it really did. It basically grew from there. There's an Ayn Rand reference in here, I'm sure.

Yesterday I decided to take his advice and just draw something. At first it was based on a sketch, but it grew into something else entirely after I didn't like the original piece. After sleeping on it and going back to it the next day, I actually started to really enjoy the piece and started developing more and more stuff into it. It was partially inspired by about 10-20 sketches I've done over the past year, but it felt really natural to do.

I have some sketches I did today that I do plan on developing soon, hopefully in the upcoming week. There's a few other things in the work as well. It just comes down to just doing it.

MONSTERS (In My Head): The Disturbing Illustrations of Larry West

2010-09-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Monsters are no longer confined to under your bed!

Philadelphia Artist/Native Larry West returns to the Philadelphia Art Scene with his next art show, "Monsters (In My Head)". After 6 years of toil, agony, and fear, Philadelphia Artist Larry West unveils the monsters that reside in his head! An exhibit in the macabre and disturbed pieces of art that he constantly refers to as "The art of a madman", the show will show 10 of the most raw, imaginative, and heartfelt pieces of the illustrators life.

The artwork deals with a lot of lost that the artist has gone through. "I call them the monsters in my head because, well, that's what they are. But in a lot of ways, they're the ones we all see. Pain, misery, loss, anger, anxiety... they all take different forms. Some are scarier than others, but all of them are always clawing away at us at one time or another."

This marks Larry West's second art show, as well as his second at Digital Ferret. Larry's art will be shown in conjunction with live performances by Worms of the Earth, Vicious Alliance, and DJ Stalagmike.

The opening reception will be held September 24th at 7PM - 10pm, and the show will run until October 20th. Prints of all the pieces will be available for purchase.

Larry West's artwork can be viewed at his website:
http://www.larrywestproductions.com

About Larry West: Larry West is best known for his 2007 run for Mayor of Philadelphia. He has since then taken a larger turn towards his artwork, and still comments constantly about politics in Philadelphia, and the world.

Spray Paint, I Think I Love You!

2010-09-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

To say there's a bit of a disconnect between people who do street art and graffiti and everyone else is a bit of an understatement.

For basically my entire life, I've had the viewpoint that most graffiti (99.99%) was junk and should be removed, especially on stuff around where I lived. I still think that, though the percentage is down to a whopping 98%. But about 2 years ago I met someone who actually just opened my eyes to this world. Through this person, I learned to appreciate it more and more as an art form, something I had begun doing for a while but this person really brought it out of me full-force.

Tonight I finally took a plunge. No, I wasn't tagging property. Instead, I decided to just decorate a piece of cardboard.

Its actually a practice for a large piece I'm working on for the garage door. I was talking to a few people before I started tonight about what to do and how, exactly, to even start. Should I get those caps that adjust sizes? Should I get paint markers for small details?

In the end, I learned a few things. For starters, next time I'm wearing a mask. The fumes, man, the fumes... Second, I'm better with a can than I thought. There was a lot of over-spray, I had more feathered edges than I would care for, but for the small piece on cardboard, it worked great! Seeing the paint slowly drip over the piece, especially the red, on a propaganda-style piece made it look even better to me! I need to get a new red paint marker, though; the hue on it is far too bright and pinkish, but that could change once everything dries.

It was a ton of fun, I might do more pieces like this, and I'm looking forward to the garage door now.

OTEP: Smash the Control Machine!

2010-06-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

This started as a dig at BP, and it wound up being a really subtle one instead.

The girl in a bikini with the gas mask is meant to represent the devastation that BP is doing to the Gulf Coast, as well as to the beaches of Florida. The fact of the matter is, at the rate this is going, the only way you can go to the beach is by wearing protective clothing. OK, so maybe she isn't THAT well protected, but you get the point.

In the design process for the poster, I had a really weird feeling about the design process and I decided to basically let the piece design itself. Sounds odd, I know, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I wanted to go for an gas poster look from the 1950's or earlier, and the flat colors were part of that. The font choice was done to reinforce the idea as well. It seems odd, but "OTEP" seems to have a sort of weird feeling to it in whatever context it's in, and in this one it just feels like the name of an oil company. I don't know why, but it just seemed to work.

That said, the girl in the gas mask wearing a bikini was the main idea and I think I got a great poster out of this. It feels a little weird and awkward, but it actually helps in giving you a creepy feeling about the poster and kinda draws you into it.

OTEP, iwrestedabearonce, and Stray from the Path will all be playing at the Wizzards Lounge at 3801 Chestnut Street June 26th at 7PM. I've actually never been there before, so I can't say much, but hey, it's OTEP. It's bound to be one damn good show!

HOLE 2010 Poster - Hail Courtney, Full of Grace

2010-06-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT THE POSTER ON DEVIANT ART!!!!!

You know what I love? Pop art, the 90's, and Hole.

I bought the album "Live Through This" for the first time only a little more than a month ago. It's astonishing that it came out when it did, only a few days after Kurt Cobain's suicide. Songs like "Miss World" and "Violet" are abrasive, in you face, and to me, showed a woman who wasn't afraid to show who she was.

This piece is a reflection of a lot of things from that album, but also as a way to see her in a different light.

Courtney Love is a lot like Nancy Spungen in that she was... well, meant to be with Kurt Cobain like Nancy was meant to be with Sid Vicious. In fact, Courtney Love demanded she get the roll of Nancy when "Sid & Nancy" was being filmed.

Some people see her has this drugged-out loser, and I just don't see her as that. I see her as someone who actually is really beautiful, but has had that light hidden from the world for one reason or another. Someone who was never afraid to be who she is and be herself, no matter what, for better or worse.

I remember growing up that mom once said I always tend to draw the worst in people. This wasn't meant to prove her wrong, but I did want to try hard to do the opposite and show her in a different light.

Why Mary, you ask? And with a cigarette?

Well, Mary was just a woman, wasn't she? She was married to a carpenter and gave birth to something that changed the world. She was just a normal woman who one day was picked to do something amazing. I think updating the idea to Courtney Love kinda reminds us of that, and just makes you question what your conception is of both her and Mary.

As for the cigarette... well, what can I say other than I can't imagine Courtney Love without a cigarette.

FEAR FACTORY - June 6th - Meet and Greet and Concert!!!

2010-06-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Fear Factory. The name alone commands a respect very few metal bands have. Having been one of the biggest driving forces of heavy metal during the 90's, and still keeping the flame strong during the better part of the last 10 years, the band went on "hiatus" in 2006.

This year, they came back in a BIG way.

Enlisting the help of Strapping Young Lad's rhythm section, the newly-reformed Fear Factory will be playing The Trocadero on June 6th with the help of Prong. This comes with the release of their new album "Mechanize".

Not only that, but FEAR FACTORY IS DOING A MEET-AND-GREET AT RELAPSE RECORDS AT 5PM AT DIGITAL FERRET!!!!

Yes, kiddies, you read that right; Fear Factory will be at Digital Ferret Records signing the new album, old ones, and anything else you can bring, even boobs! I plan on being there, snagging some photos, hanging out, and maybe even getting a slice of pizza (Guys, trust me, more people will come if you offer FREE PIZZA!!!).

So, there you go. Get your shit together and make sure you come out to this!!!!

FEAR FACTORY - Meet-and-Greet - 5PM:
Digital Ferret - 32 South 4th Street - Philadelphia, PA‎

FEAR FACTORY, Prong, Silent Civilian, and Thy Will Be Done - 6PM:
The Trocadero - 1003 Arch Street - Philadelphia, PA 19107

EDIT: Yeah, the poster says 7PM. That's because I'm stupid and made a mistake. DOORS AT 6PM, and show starts at 6:30PM. On the plus side, it may be for the better if you get there at 7PM...

FEAR FACTORY - New Poster Up!

2010-06-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Fear Factory Tour Poster 2010 by *luvataciousskull on deviant ART

So here is the latest piece from me, a gig poster for Fear Factory's Philadelphia show for June 6th.

This piece wound up being a personal fav by the time it was done, and Fear Factory is one of my favorite bands, so it was nice to be able to do something before they came by.

50% OFF ALL PRINTS!!!! THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

2010-05-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

I Try To Keep My Faith Alive! by LuvataciousSkull
View other Pop art Posters

So Zazzle is having another sale on posters, and that means that, for a limited time, ALL of my posters are only 50% OFF!!! Myself? I plan on ordering at least one for myself to go over my bed, namely this piece. At only $20, it's a bargain, and 100% worth it. And, mind you, that's for a 52" LONG POSTER.

Want in on the deal?

Use Promotional Code: MEMORIALSALE

R.I.P. - Frank Frazetta

2010-05-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010

Inspirational Music Videos

2010-05-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

This post is a long-time coming!

When I was younger, I loved music videos. They were the only way of learning of a lot of bands when I was that age, and so many of them were cool. Nowadays, I actually try to avoid them if only because the ones in my head tend to be better.

But for you, here is a collection of the best ones I've ever seen, in no order at all.

Enjoy, and be inspired!

HOLE- "Celebrity Skin"

NINE INCH NAILS - "Head Like a Hole"

MARILYN MANSON - "The Beautiful People"

AEROSMITH - "Jaded"

TOOL - "Sober"

LAMB OF GOD - "Ruin"

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - "Bend it Like Bender!"

GUNS 'N' ROSES - "November Rain"

CYCLE SLUTS FROM HELL - "I Wish You Were a Beer"

CRADLE OF FILTH - "Born in a Burial Gown"

METALLICA - "Blackened (Seattle '89)"

MEGADETH - "Peace Sells"

OVERKILL - "Elimination"

I Declare War

2010-05-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today, I've finally had enough.

I'm sick of not getting my decks into the shops... I'm sick of not getting gallery shows... I'm sick of not having apparel in stores while a bunch of fucking hipsters with a silk screen machine make shitty shirts and a killing off them!

Today, I'm going to start to take down this whole fucking system, or at the very least, put up one hell of a fucking fight.

New website is coming soon... new merchandise is coming as well... decks will be in stores before the end of the month, and look for a TON of new art.

Like I've said before in the past, I'm out for World Domination.

It starts today.

HOLY CRAP! $4 OFF ALL T-SHIRTS!

2010-03-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Don't! (Tread on Me) by LuvataciousSkull
Browse Gadsden T-Shirts

Yep, $4 off all of my t-shirts! So now you can buy this awesome Don't! (Tread on Me) t-shirt I made, or even better, my DIE HIPSTER SCUM t-shirt!

St. Patty's Day Sale! $4 OFF ALL T-SHIRTS! Use Code: 4OFFPATTYTEE

One of the Dumbest Thing I've Done to Get Freelance Work

2010-02-24T18:06:00.001-08:00

Back in 2008, I had just gotten my first full-time job and was starting to feel really confident about my work. So I decided to try and drum up some new business by handing out stickers to people I thought might like my work.

I got to meet the metal band Meshuggah at Relapse Records and I was pretty excited. I had a bunch of CD's with me, and I had been listening to them for about 5 years at that point. I wasn't, and still not, the biggest fan of them in the world, but I really enjoy their work. I also want to point out that I was also there to try and get some work as an artist. Now, anyone VERY familiar with Meshuggah will know that the band members actually do a ton of the art themselves. Well, at least, the art direction. That said, I wanted to at least try.

It was my turn to meet the band, and the cool thing about Relapse Records and the meet & greets was that you could actually meet and hang around the band for a while, so I took my chance to smooze a bit. I handed out my stickers to the guys in the band, and they had this puzzled look on their face.

"Oh, these are just a little something I cooked up. I'm an artist myself.", I said, grinning at my work.

The guys in the bands started talking to each other in some language I didn't understand.

That's when I realized my mistake: I had given out stickers about the 2008 US Presidential Race to a bunch of people who lived in Sweden.

Needless to say, I never heard back from them, but they all seemed to take it in stride and we all had a good laugh. Oh, and I got all my CD's signed as well as a massive signed Obzen poster, so alls well that ends well!

PS: Oh, and on the off-side chance that the guys in Meshuggah read this... I'm still available for freelance work! - Hey, can't blame a guy for trying, right?

New Skateboard Out: EVIL PRIESTESS OF HELL!

2010-02-18T10:29:00.001-08:00

Eternal Priestess of Hell by MarkSkull
Use the skateboard designer on zazzle

The Eternal Priestess of Hell, sent to earth to enslave those who oppose!

SNOWMAGGEDON 2010!!!

2010-02-10T13:30:00.001-08:00

I woke up around 7AM, and the room was still bright white.

Though the sun was barely peeking through the clouds, a soft glow filled my room, my heart, and my mind. Turning on the TV revealed a shocking picture; the snow wasn't that bad, SEPTA was still running, and life still went on. The end wasn't here... yet. The main caution from the stations was that, although things didn't seem that bad at the moment, they were going to get worse, much much worse.

Around 7:30 I went out to start shoveling. Now, for some people, this is a pain and something they despise. For me, its a joy and a treat. The snow for the past few years has been light, fluffy, and easy to move. Even the 28 inches that fell this past weekend was nothing to me, almost the same as if it was 5 inches of heavy snow.

You can only imagine how frustrating it was to realize that the 8 inches that had fallen last night was now heavy snow with slush on the bottom. Each load felt like pushing around two feet of the white stuff, nearly 20 pounds per shovel lift! To make matters worse, the shovel itself was starting to fall apart and the day had barely begun. After about 10 minutes the short sidewalk and stairs to my house were done. The other two houses I had to do were still ahead.

It was around 11AM that I had stopped shoveling anything and everything I needed to do while the storm was in a brief lull. During this time, the snow had stopped and turn to sleet, promising to turn back to a heavy snowfall.

This is where my troubles began.

As the snow began to fall and the winds began picking up speed, a fear came across my eyes! The snow began to pile up quickly, growing as high as 1.5" an hour! Howling winds at 35 mph threatened to destroy the overburdened branches in the area. Sitting in my house, the sound of large amounts of snow falling made me worry about where they were coming from and why. Report of roofs in the city collapsing under the immense girth of both this storm made me worry about my neighbors with flat roofs. Some trees fell to the forces.

As night falls, the sky is filled with an eerie orange glow. The howling winds are still going on, and cabin fever is coming over the entire Northeast. Power is out for over 50,000 PECO customers, and things aren't going to end anytime soon.

Yet, on a plus side, they are calling for sun everyday through Monday. Hope is on the way.

Comic Book in Progress?

2010-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

So, I want to address something that comes up a lot, and that's me working on comic books.

One common thing I hear whenever I show my work to just about anyone is that I should do comic books. When I started to draw, and I mean REALLY get serious about then in 1998 when I was 13, it was because I wanted to draw comics. Bad. Really bad. That's virtually all I wanted to do throughout high school and most of college.

I guess you're now wondering what happened?

Life.

I wanted to do a book for years and years, and I have one book series in particular that I really want to do, and have since 1998. It went through a bunch of reforms, ideas, reinventions, etc, and I actually had a few finish issues. So why is there no comics? Why is there nothing online about this?

In truth, there is. Morise Comics was the name of the company I started, and the domain is where I host all my art. I posted some pages, merchandise... everything. In fact, its still around only to see if there's any interest. But because I wasn't happy with everything, I scrapped it.

Over the last five years, the originally idea went to the background and I decided to simply start over. That, in turn, went back and I let it go. It wasn't easy, it wasn't enjoyable, but it had to happen. In 2007, I had an idea for a book based on a sketch, and I really enjoyed the idea and concept, and I decided to knock this out as a series before working on the series I had basically spent 9 years developing.

And here we are today.

I haven't published, in nearly 12 years, one comic book. I've had ideas and ideas, and more sketches than I can name. I've rewritten the script for the series I want to do now more times than I can count, and I can't commit to something I like. Its frustrating and irritating, and to a point, devastating. You can't imagine how many times I've done to my art desk to start on my book, only to stop, stare at the paper, and walk away because I wasn't happy with something.

The pencils aren't good enough, the backgrounds don't look right, the style of the book is inconsistent, I didn't leave enough room for a word balloon... it really sucks. I KNOW I can knock out a great comic, I know I can write an incredible series, and I KNOW I can do something awesome!

But I still haven't in 12 years.

Is there a comic book in progress right now? Yes. Will I ever get it done? I have no idea.

NEED AWESOME LOOKING GIG POSTERS?!

2010-02-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Are you in a band? Are you sick and tired of not being able to get a decent looking gig poster so people will be at least interested in your band? Are you tired of people pointing and laughing at how utterly lame and horrible your posters are?

THEN HIRE LARRY WEST!

Yes, Larry West, the single greatest thing to come out of the Philadelphia's Art Scene ever! But don't let me overwhelming modesty stop you from picking this one-of-a-kind illustrator and designer of all things cool, why not listen to these awesome unverifiable quotes:

"Dude, you should work for bands!" - Random poster online
"AWESOME WORK!!!!" - Metal fan at a concert
"You need to start working for bands! Seriously, quit bugging me!" - Devin Townsend

Yes, you, too, can have work done metal and punk gig poster master and legend Larry West! But don't let the humble ego of this artist and these quote deter you, why not check out the work yourself!

WANT MORE? WANT TO GET SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING?! WANT SOMETHING AWESOME FOR YOUR BAND?!

STOP SITTING AROUND READING THIS AND START CLICKING! HIRE LARRY TODAY!

Just click on the image below to check out more work:

KREATOR - "Evil Priestess of Hell (Enemy of God)"

2010-02-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

CHECK OUT THE POSTER OF DEVIANTART!!!!!!

This piece is actually less about Kreator and more about the subject matter. It's weird; it basically drew itself, but the design took a while to do. But it's also based largely on the album cover for "Enemy of God Revisited"

On the surface, this is just a semi-generic piece, with a skull, inverted cross, and some hint of nudity. Below is some actual meaning and purpose. Is the piece a statement of the futility of religion in and of itself? Am I saying that going down the path of "evil" will lead to your demise?

The odd thing is I don't honestly know.

There's a meaning to this piece, a sense of purpose here, that even I can't honestly explain. In the end, it could be nothing more than me taking a bit of a poke at Catholicism without really thinking about it. Why?

The inverted cross, while modernly referenced to Satanism, is actually a symbol of cleansing and purification. In fact, Peter, one of the 12 apostles, asked to be hung upside-down as he didn't find himself worthy of being killed the same way as Jesus. As you may know, Peter was "the rock" upon which the Catholic Church is built.

At the same time, upon this head, we see a skull attached to a woman's body. In reference to that last point, am I saying that this is, in fact, a dead church? And since there is a woman's body, that said dead church gives life at the cost of death?

Maybe. Now that I think of it, it could be.... or maybe I did just want to draw something that looked awesome.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

KREATOR will be playing The Trocadero March 4th, 2010 at 7PM! They'll be playing with Voivod, Nachtmystium, Evile, and Lazarus A.D.

I Present to You... THE CHOSEN!

2010-02-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

The Chosen by MarkSkull
More The chosen Posters

So I recently joined the incredibly awesome ArtsProjekt on Zazzle.com! To celebrate, I decided to release a new poster of one of my favorite pieces, "The Chosen"!

I had started working on an illustration that I had in mind for about a year. The idea was to create a sort of shield in a medieval feel. The piece shows a demoness in rage in front of a light gray shield. The elements surrounding her are vectors that were assembled from various sources and places.

The coolest part to me is that this was inspired by the song "The Chosen" by Unearth.

Coming Soon: Playing Cards!

2010-02-02T19:10:00.000-08:00

If everything goes as planned, I will have playing cards in the upcoming days and weeks. If you would be willing to pay maybe (MAYBE) $4 a deck for something that would feature custom Aces, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and a Joker, please let me know! If enough people are up for it, I will make this happen!

I Can't Draw Bicycles

2010-02-01T05:14:00.000-08:00

Strip Courtesy of Pearls Before Swine and Stephan Pastis

When I was a kid, I could never draw a bike. I just couldn't do it for one reason or another. Actually, I know why; the damn thing was too complicated for a kid! It was so insanely complicated, annoying...

The thing is, you KNOW what a bike looks like in your head. In your mind, you know that there is a generic shape to a bike, and you know it should be easy to draw. But when you sit down and work on it... nothing looks right! Oh yeah, you can draw the wheels, maybe the frame... but the details? Putting it in 3-Dimensional space?

Ugh.

Well, here I am, 25 and an accomplished artist (Hey! Let me build myself back up a little bit!) , and I can't recall the last time I drew a bike, or even tried. Well... motorcycles I've done. I need to post those soon. Huh. Well, maybe I should give it a shot. Maybe have one of those latte-sipping jerks with messenger bags who run red lights go straight into a bus or something...

How to Stay Creative and Productive as an Artist

2010-01-30T08:23:00.001-08:00

When I look back at the last 6 months of my life, I see a constant struggle to be creative and stay creative and busy. In early October, I was on a massive creative roll! A ton of ideas and piece came to mind, and I was excited about doing them all! Well, then I wound up getting sick, which made me mad. It took me a month, but I got back to speed... only to have it happen again in December. When I got sick that time, I was out for nearly a month.

So looking back at the last month, its incredible to say the least.

I wound up taking it only a little easier than when I got sick the last time and I kept pushing myself to be as creative as possible with everything I did! Not only that, but I stopped falling into the traps we set for ourselves.

Trap #1: I can do it later.

How often do you come up with an idea on paper, only to say "Well, I can draw or do this later"? How often do you actually come back to it? Even more importantly, how often did that piece actually get worse with time?

This isn't to say I encourage you to just do a piece of art just because its fresh in your mind, but it does tend to be the best time... well, at least for me. A teacher of mine once said it best; If you let an idea sit for too long, it can get stale and stagnant, and it won't look as good as if you simply did it at the time you had the idea. I've had a few ideas fall into that trap, and in the end, they were lost to history.

If you know for a fact that by just sitting down you can knock out a piece that you'll be happy with, if you know you're ready for it, sit down and do it.

Trap #2: Money Shouldn't Be the Only Motivation

Being able to make money off your art is a good thing, but it shouldn't be the only motivation. I wrote a while ago that part of art has become merchandising, and that's still true. Munny dolls, t-shirt designs, posters... they all are artistic venues and statements. In the end, though, if you're going into art to make money, you will be sadly disappointed.

Trap #3: Forcing an Idea instead of Allowing Them to Come

This is a tricky trap, because it isn't so much a trap as it is a skill. One thing I mentioned was that I wanted to get more consistent with my art, and the best, if not only, way to do that is by drawing a lot. Sometimes you'll get an idea, put on paper, and spend a ton of time on it and it just won't work. Sometimes you'll knock out a piece and not be thrilled with it but it works.

The main thing is to realize when a piece isn't working and to let it grow. If you're spending 20 hours on a piece and all you have is the basics and it isn't going anywhere... let it go. Move on. Maybe the piece isn't meant to be, or maybe you need to go back to it later down the line.

Trap #4: Listening to Nothing but Praise

This is the easiest trap to fall into, and its also the easiest to realize... but it can be the hardest to escape sometimes.

Imagine going to a place where no one is really that creative. They don't draw, they just kinda live, work, and die. You come along and you have some talent (maybe not a ton, but some) and your immediately praised for your talent and skilled. You're thrilled with it, happy to get it, and all you do is get positive feedback. Imagine how much it would suck to go up to a major magazine, show them your stuff, and finally be told the obvious: You're not that good.

I LOVE getting praise for my work! We all do! But to grow as an artist, no matter what your skill level, you need to take the bad with the good.

I grow incredibly suspicious whenever I don't hear a negative criticism for a long period of time about my work. At the same time, it can get to a point where when you do hear one from someone you know and trust, yet are getting praised from everyone else, that you don't know what to think. You need to be your harshest critic, and even online you may get more praise than you could expect.

Go on forums, get feedback, and learn how to improve. Remember: Even the best artists still get negative reviews.

Trap #5: Listening to the Critics Too Much

Listening to too many peoples opinions can actually be detrimental to a piece of art, or anything, really. Sometimes your vision and idea is actually right. Imagine if the guys in Metallica listened and decided to turn down the volume of the guitars and not play so damn fast. Metal as we know it would not even exist!

If someone is telling you that you draw too much of the same stuff (in my case, skulls, Satan, and tits), leverage that against what you want to do. Maybe that's just what you enjoy right now and maybe that's just what you do.

It can even get to a point where you rely on critics to finish a piece or even start one! I, sadly, fell hard into that one and it can be incredibly hard to get out of it.

Trap #6: Not Taking Any Time to Relax!!!!!

Get out of your house, go out, watch a movie, TV, read a book... just don't spend all your time working! The reason you were so creative int he first place was because you took in the world around you. Well, if your world is just creating, its hard to do anything else outside of that. Get out, have some fun, and live!

DEVIN TOWNSEND and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME! 1/31/2010! THE TROC!

2010-01-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

Check out the Devin Townsend poster here.
Check out the Between the Buried and Me poster here.

So, this one needs little help from me, but I'm still pleased to do so with a double-shot of posters!

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will be playing in Philadelphia at The Troc on January 31st at 6PM. Not only that, but Canadian Music-Master DEVIN TOWNSEND will be opening the whole affair!

YOU CAN GET TICKETS HERE!!!!!

Now, personally, I'm not a big fan of the headliner, Between the Buried and Me. For me, this show is all about Devin Townsend. He is, without a doubt, one of my favorite musicians. He's start came via playing on Steve Vai's "Sex and Religion" album, after which he went on to start his own label and release albums from more styles than you could imagine! From alt-rock to ambient to the heaviest fucking metal ever, and all the way to punk and even progressive rock and metal, Devin's talent lies in being able to mix and match styles and, through it all, perfect them all.

My favorite albums written and performed by Devin Townsend?

"Ocean Machine: Biomech"
Punky Bruster - "Cooked on Phonics"
Devin Townsend - "Infinity"
Strapping Young Lad - "City"
Devin Townsend Band - "Accelerated Evolution"

I hope I see you there!!!!!

Arch Enemy, Exodus, and Arsis - THE RISE OF EVIL!

2010-01-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

Arch Enemy, Exodus, AND Arsis are coming to Philadelphia on January 21st to The TLA! Tickets range between $16 and $20, and starts at 8PM!

Feel free to download this poster, make copies, and just spread the word about this show!

Get your tickets either at the box office or online.

--- Now, on that note, I want to take some time to do something I do almost as well as I draw and design: Complain about crap that's pissing me off!

My blog, Angry, Young, and Poor, has become a sort-of defacto newsource for major metal shows in Philly and Larry West Productions has done all we (well, I) can do to help in the effort of supporting metal in Philly. To that end, I am disappointed that a majority of blogs that devote time and effort to posting about shows and concerts RARELY post about metal, and only then to either do it ironically or to make fun of it. Granted, this is not a flat-out truth, nor is it true of every blog out there in Philly. That said, it is still frustrating seeing some annoying hipster band that acts as background music get more press than, say, a national long-standing group that comes around and actually challenges its listeners to think and be active.

To that end, I am going to encourage my local partners in Philly Concert Blogging to step up to the cause of promoting MORE acts in this city!

Now, some may scoff at certain blogs about this idea. To that end, I would like to point out that you simply never know who's really is into metal and willing to come out to a show. Its shocking going out around town and talking to people about concerts who are clean-cut and in suits, and hearing how annoyed they are that they missed seeing Municipal Waste come to town because no one told them!

My goal, as both an artist, musician, and just someone who fucking LOVES metal, has been, and will be, to make sure national acts and even LOCAL acts (Just contact me! I'm looking at you, Ray-Gradys!) get the word out and as much press and exposure as possible! But I can't do it alone. I've drawn, designed, printed, and handed out all the flyers you've seen posted all by myself, and its a lot for one guy to handle.

If you want more metal and punk acts to come to Philly and NOT Allentown or Atlantic City, then you MUST support toe metal scene HERE! THAT'S what its going to take, and THAT'S how we keep getting bigger and better shows!

Support the cause and stay true to your metal and punk roots!

New Facebook Fan Club!

2010-01-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

You didn't know? Larry West Productions now has a fan page on Facebook! Its one of the easiest ways to find out what I'm up to and what's going on in terms of new pieces, promotions, sales, and much, much more! So if you love art, supporting Philadelphia artists, or anything else like that, make sure you join today!

HELP HAITI - Hatian Earthquake Relief Effort Poster

2010-01-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

This flyer is not for me.

Watching the images coming out of Haiti, the level of devastation

The earthquake destroyed lives, and devastated a weakened nation. It was nothing short of inspiring that, despite all the problems that have plagued this country, that they have gathered together to make sure that everyone stays safe and survives.

This flyer isn't for me. Its or you. Download it, distribute it, and tell everyone you know about it. Tell them to do what they can: Donate money, blood, clothing, food... anything they can. Help the people who need it more than you right now.

Donate to the American Red Cross online.

If you want to support me, that's great. Buy one of my other prints, but this one will not be for sale from me on this site.

I only ask you don't sell it. Just do something to help them.

My SWINE FLU Poster Made the New York Times!!!

2010-01-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

..... OK, their art blog, but still!

Conversely, the poster titled “Swine Flu Beware the Pandemic,” by the artist with the nom-de-crayon LuvataciousSkull, (available through the online poster and T-shirt store zazzle.com), which shows an eerie drawing of a pig’s head atop the universal toxic waste symbol, suggests the film “28 Days Later,” in which a virus turns the world’s population into zombies. This is not exactly the scenario we want to conjure when thinking about the flu.

Pretty sweet, huh?

So, want an awesome poster for yourself? Check it out here:

SWINE FLU - Beware The Pandemic! by LuvataciousSkull

Introducing BLACK LABEL - 25 Years in the Making!

2010-01-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Well, today's my birthday, and I am THRILLED to have it! My god, 25 years old. What's that line from that Megadeth song "Of Mice and Men"? "At 25 I was surprised / That I was even half alive / somehow I managed to survive!"

On top of that, I am pleased to basically announce a bunch of things at once!

First off, I am pleased in ways you can't even begin to imagine to announce the new "Black Label" line of products! "Black Label" has, in my life, always stood for quality and brilliance, and the best of the best! Also, I love the Lamb of God song "Black Label" as well. The Black Label emblem has been in the works for over 10 years, and I finally created the one I like the most and works the best. You can read all about the piece on Deviant Art.

Next, I am pleased to announce that the new LARRY WEST PRODUCTION SHOP is now up and running! What is it, exactly? The purpose of the shop is to basically connect all the shops I own to on pipe-line that's easy to navigate and highlight new products and lines that I have available! Zazzle, Cafepress, and Board Pusher are all here! Look for new partners, special offers, and original artwork and prints to come REALLY soon!

Finally, I'm pleased to note that I am now officially old enough to run for either Mayor of City Council in Philadelphia. So corrupt and inefficient politicians beware! Next year could get interesting!

Logo for the City of Philadelphia 2010: A Graphic Design Odysee

2010-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

What a long, strange trip its been!

OK, its not. Actually, it was a really short one, but incredibly fun! On New Years Eve, I found out Technically Philly was having a contest to see what design should be submitted the city to replace the much-despised current logo that was revealed last year. The deadline was 4:15pm the following Sunday. I had an idea in my head for a project concerning American Patriotism and decided to tweek it and use it for this instead.

After a lot of hours of work and tweeking, I finally got something I thought was perfect and sent it off!

Feel free to check out the logo here on DeviantArt!

Sadly, I lost, but to something really good. Congrats to Sara DeMarco on winning!

I still love my logo, and I wanted to make the most of it. So feel free to check out the full line of products on my shop on Zazzle.com.

THE ANVIL EXPERIENCE: Coming to Philadelphia January 17th!

2010-01-04T06:03:00.001-08:00

-Check out the full-sized poster on DeviantArt.com

With four clicks on a drum, the song begins. As the first verse goes through your head, you know something epic and triumphant is coming. As the song slowly builds up to the chorus, the refrain comes in and the fists start pumping.

The song is "Metal on Metal", and the band is ANVIL.

Anvil took the world stage by storm last year with the documentary about their life and struggle of starting a metal band and never, ever, EVER refusing to cave in and surrender! "ANVIL: The Story of Anvil" has won awards, prizes, and the rightly-deserved fame and recognition they deserve. You can watch the trailer for yourself.

On January 17th, 2010, Anvil will come to The TLA here in Philadelphia.

What you see above isn't the official poster, but my art inspired by the story of this band, and my love of their music. Back in 2003, I bought the Metal Blade 20th Anniversary box set and there were two songs on there by a band called "Anvil". The songs always stuck out in my mind and in 2009 when I heard that Anvil was coming to town based on a movie about their lives, I had to go. Since then, the band has always held a place in my heart.

About a week ago I got a copy of "Metal on Metal" and thanks to that AND the fact that they were coming to town, I decided to do a tour poster for them! It was inspired by the feeling I get from them and their music, and the fact that, music aside, they've become something bigger than themselves: A symbol of the triumph of perseverance.

Carry on, ANVIL!

Tips for Upcoming Web Designers

2010-01-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm far enough along to announce this: There is a new website in the works.

Its not a revision of my current site; its a brand-new, never did it before site. And it is going to rock!

I just want to add this for all the upcoming designers and coders. Here are some tips for always staying fresh:

ALWAYS do something different for every site you do! Back in 2008 when I redid my personal website, I broke out of my habit of using HTML Tables for the entire layout of my site and switched to CSS. This time, I'm learning how to use Javascript and PHP.
DON'T always follow the heard. It's tempting and easy, but don't. I've written about my hatred of Web 2.0 a lot. It isn't about the technology, but how bland it is. Be daring and exciting, and more people will come to your site!
Learn a lot about SEO! I was talking to a friend about naming conventions and if they meant anything to SEO. In terms of CSS coding, it doesn't, but name your images and pages what they are. And read SEO 2.0! GREAT blog!
Learn some new web technology! Its smart to stay ahead of the curve, or at the very least, start catching up with everyone else. HTML 5 is coming soon, and so is CSS3. Learn some and start building your sites around them.
Take a Break! If you're like me, you can't stand not working on a web site project until its done. Make sure you get up, have fun, and enjoy life!

Well that's all I have for now. Stay strong and Happy New Year!

20.10% OFF ALL T-SHIRTS, MUGS, AND BINDERS!

2009-12-29T03:23:00.000-08:00

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU!

I'm having a massive sale on all t-shirts, mugs, and binders! Be sure to head over to my account at Zazzle.com and check out the selection!

The sale runs from now until January 5th! Use coupon code NEWYOUZAZZLE !

Now You're Playing With POWER! by LuvataciousSkull
Design ring binders on zazzle.com

Gas Mask A by LuvataciousSkull
See other Gas mask T-Shirts

Don't! (Tread on Me) Mug by LuvataciousSkull
Make mugs on zazzle

THE RULES DO NOT APPLY: New RULES Sneaker!

2009-12-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

THE RULES DO NOT APPLY! by LuvataciousSkull
Create custom shoes on zazzle

Really am thrilled about this! I designed a brand new sneaker based on my RULES series and this one is a lace-up sneaker by Zazzle. Check it out today!

MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP!!!

2009-12-07T06:08:00.001-08:00

Municipal Waste, for the uninitiated, is a crossover thrash metal band from the great state of Virgina. For years, they have built a loyal and dedicated fan base here in Philadelphia, and have played at the First Unitarian Church to countless applause and moshpits!

Thursday, December 10th at 7:30PM, they will take the stage yet again at the First Unitarian Church and destroy all in their way!

Make sure you download and hand out the original poster, which you can get here!

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW NOW NOW!!!!!

And check out the video for their latest song, "Wrong Answer":

GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP Mug Sale: But One, Get One Free!

2009-12-04T10:11:00.001-08:00

GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP Mug by LuvataciousSkull
Make a custom travel mug with zazzle

Zazzle is having a deal where you can buy one mug and get a second free! Check it out, and enjoy! :)

Coupon code: 12DEALS2MUGS

Authority Is Love. Feel Secure.

2009-12-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

Authority is Love by LuvataciousSkull
Browse more art available on zazzle

Back when Obama was about to take the oath of office, I had an idea of printing out a ton of these posters and posting them around Philadelphia. Sadly, I never got the chance.

Inspired by all the pro-Obama hoopla, I decided to take a subtler approach against it. The idea was to put up posters that, on first look, would appear to be simple slogans most likely directed at Bush. Upon further inspection of the Presidential Seal, it would show that the seal, in fact, had the Obama campaign logo on it.

Why Modern Art and Design Sucks Part 1: Whats Wrong?

2009-10-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

I'm 24, and I already feel like the old man on his porch complaining about why things were so much better when he was younger. I can only imagine how bad I'll be in another 40 years.

There are a lot of things that, frankly, piss me off about modern art and design. I hate using generic fonts for everything, I hate that people seem to have forgotten that seeing an image is more important than filling the space with typography. I hate the fact that non-sequiter images next to words and logos are celebrated and not ridiculed for being stupid, pointless, and detracting from the actual message. I am sick of bubble-esq effects on everything, and the idea that a great big white world is the best way to layout and design things.

I'm sick and tired of no one daring to be creative where it counts. There are countless inspiration websites and blogs, but in the end, the ideas and concepts are either overdone or not applied in ways that would work. If I see one more fucking "exploding person" effect, I will punch the designer who did it in the face as hard as I possibly fucking can and piss in their face. I'm sick of automatically trying to re-create the style of Def Leopards album covers using modern effects, and in turn losing all the fun and creativity that was made there because the designers and artists doing it bring NOTHING to the table.

I'm sick of animation being boring. Animators not picking up pencils and learning and understanding character design and traditional techniques and rules, and then learning how to bend and break them to create something brilliant for themselves. I'm sick of cartoons not being daring, trying to do anything new or different, and I am sick and tired of those fucking assholes at Williams Street Studios trying to pass off another shittly-animated and poorly-written cartoon as "brilliant" down the throats of people who actually LOVE animation! I am sick of ABC, CBS, and NBC not trying to create new programming for children, new animated shows, and instead play it safe with shows that only meet the E/I standards and that SUCK.

What's wrong with modern art and design? NO ONE HAS THE BALLS TO SAY IT SUCKS AND DO SOMETHING DARING!

We're at a point where we have some of the most powerful and dynamic artistic tools in the history of mankind at our disposal, and we are forced-fed mediocrity time and time again. In truth, it would be arrogant and foolish to pretend that this was never the case; truly, the history of all mankind means mediocrity rises while creativity falls to the wayside. The problem now, though, is that thanks to the world we live in, thanks to the cohesive nature of the world we live in now where anyone can get their idea to the world in a week if they try hard enough, it is easier to spread crap and praise it and harder to praise genius and creativity.

So what's wrong? No one is willing to take a chance and really follow their dreams.

Who am I? Who am I to come out and try to act like I know what I'm talking about, like I'm some big shot? I'm not. I'm just an illustrator/designer from Philadelphia who's pissed off as hell about what he's seen and dealt with and wants to create things and help everyone make this world a better designed place. Or at least more interesting.

IN FLAMES Poster Up For Sale! EXTREMELY LIMITED PRINT!!!!

2009-10-03T11:02:00.001-07:00

For sale until Sunday on eBay is a print of the EXTREMELY-LIMITED run of In Flames tour posters! I only made 10, and right now only 1 is up for sale!

Make sure you check it out

Drinking Coffee Liberally - New Poster, Awesome Group!

2009-09-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Back in March, a group I periodically attended called Drinking Liberally decided to do something different: Instead of meeting at a bar at night, why not meet on a Sunday afternoon over coffee? The result was a larger group, lively discussions, and a lot of fun!

But it was at that time that we discussed a new poster. We were "sponsored" by the national group, and they didn't have anything for coffee drinkers. While talking, I took out my sketch book, worked out a quick idea, and everyone agreed it would be great for me to do it.

Well, time passed, and the idea simply sat around, periodically being mentioned and me groaning about time or something or other. But since I was being so productive and creative, I decided now was the time to take a chance and work on the poster and see if the national picked it up.

The version I did relied on the imagery already used by the organization and the original idea was to do a radial as I've done in a lot of my work. I passed on that idea because it just couldn't work with the font, space, and limited color I wanted to use.

This version plays off Art Deco and the same ideas and concepts used for New Deal programs under FDR.

If you live in Philadelphia, namely the Mt. Airy area, please come out to Drinking Coffee Liberally ! The group meets up Every Sunday at 12:30PM to 2:30PM at Infusion Cafe at 7133 Germantown Avenue. Tell 'em Larry Sent 'Ya!

Feel the Realness of Your Convictions! - In Flames Tour Poster

2009-09-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

This is another poster I did for fun: Again, not commissioned by the band or the venue, but me trying my damnedest to help both.

I was on the train home this time around when I started sketching out the layout of this piece. I threw on "Come Clarity" and just started to draw what came to mind. A big-horned Demoness with flames coming out her eyes.... man, I wonder what THAT means? Seriously, I wonder what my subconscious was trying to scream out at me about.

I'll post the sketch soon, but I was really happy with the way the sketch came out. On top of that, I had already done a quick sketch for the Obituary poster that I've already posted, so when I got home I went straight to my art studio and cranked out the pencils in about 30 minutes. No, I'm not kidding. 30 minutes. The Xecutioner took about an hour or more because the pose was hard to get, along with the proportions... but that's another story.

The next day I went back to working, this time inking everything. I had wrapped up inking on the Xecutioner, and I was a little worried about this one (again, another story), but there was a really nice, easy flow to this one. The fact that this one wasn't even close to being as urgent helped. The inks on this were about an hour or more, and it involved doing the logo on a separate piece of paper. If you look at the pencils, even my scanned-in inks, you can see I had plotted out the logo. I took a piece of copy paper and a light table and inked the lettering onto the paper.

Scanning in everything was easy, and coloring it was fun. I made it as simple as possible and decided to stay as true as how I would do it by hand as possible. I'm contemplating doing a "painted" version one day, but for now, I'm thrilled with this.

Behind the screaming demoness is a symbol. Now, those familiar with In Flames will see something familiar yet strange. In Flames has adopted a few symbols over the years, and there was a sort of tribal one used back in 2006 for Come Clarity. I decided to take the idea and make it my own. In this case, it involved turning it into the symbol of chaos as well.

There's some writing on the original piece, but I had to take it off the smaller versions of the posters because it didn't read well. I was listening to "A Sense of Purpose" while penciling it in and one lyric in particular came to mind: " Feel this up your conviction!" To me, though, it sounded like "Feel the Realness of Your Convictions!", thus the name of the piece. The lyric is from the song "I'm the Highway".

But while I was listening to the album, another lyric came screaming out to me: " Thought I was unbreakable, but this is killing me!" This lyric is from "Delight and Angers", and it just felt perfect. Now, as soon as I wrote it, I was worried about the way people would interpret that. I didn't want it to look as if I was saying, "Oh no, Satan is evil and will betray you!", but its more along the lines of two old sayings: "Pride comes before the fall" and "Be careful what you wish for."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=--=-=-

IN FLAMES is playing The Trocadero October 4th at 7PM. They will be joined by Between the Buried and Me, 3 Inches of Blood, and The Faceless.

Download and hand out your own flyer HERE.

OBITUARY - The Troc, 9/28, 6PM - Be There!

2009-09-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

"Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution". To me, these are words to live by.

I love metal shows, and I love concert posters. So its always a shock and annoyance to me to never see posters or flyers for metal concerts coming up in Philadelphia. The local blogs seem to tend to ignore them, instead opting to post (as I've ranted a million times before) about some indie rock or trance/electronica band.

On Monday, September 28th, Obituary, Goatwhore, Krisiun, and Warbringer will play The Trocadero at 6PM! Tickets are only $17.50, $20 at the door, and it should be a good show!

You can download the awesome flyer yourself to print and hand out by clicking THIS LINK.

So go out, spread the word, tell your friends, and jump in the pit!

---

I'm really am happy about this piece. I did it over the week, and I'll post the full-color version soon. This wasn't commissioned by the band, venue, or anyone: This was 100% ME. I got the idea back in August to do this. Obituary was originally called Xecutioner, and I liked the idea of having a female executioner posing with an Axe. The idea went from her having a sort of metal-chick head to... well... this. The idea quickly became more about making a woman with a hot body, but looked like she would destroy you. Basically, tempting you to get close, but watch out!

The X on her shoulder was also based on the bands old name. I'm a big Pushead fan and I wanted to use a similar font style on something, so I picked this.

I hope you enjoy it!

After 11 Years, I Finally Found my Drawing Style... For Now

2009-09-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it took 11 years, but I finally found a drawing style that I think works.

What am I talking about?

When I was 13, I had been drawing for about 3 years. At that point, I was just copying drawings of cartoons in magazines and I had both run out of things to copy and reached a point where I wanted to express myself personally. Over 11 years, I sketched, painted, inked, and got into habits and routines I enjoyed to create and crank out pieces.

What I mean by "I found my style" is that I finally found a way of drawing at my desk that works really well for me.

I've spent the last 2 years doing a lot of sketching in my sketch books, and I've found starting with a 2H for sketching, a hard lead pencil, that I can lay out everything I need. I went from using Ticonderoga 2B pencils to simply using a Papermate 2B Mechanical Pencil. I've found that, in the end, it makes sense since my finished tend to be fairly matriculate.

Today, I added something else that made sense to use a million times before: A 4B pencil for the outline. Since a large number of pieces I do have a thick black line around them, using a really soft lead to get the line weight makes a lot of sense.

In a previous post, I wrote about how I ink my work now, so combined with this, I feel really confident in my work to a degree I haven't in years!

I want to give some advice to anyone who reads this and is struggling with sitting at their desk and drawing: Don't give up. I spent years having an on-again off-again love with my drawing desk, and for me it was because I couldn't get the same sense of emotion in a finished piece that I did with a sketch. My advice to you? Experiment, experiment, EXPERIMENT! Don't give up, keep on trying, and keep going until you find something that works for you.

Octopus in a Jar

2009-09-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Octopus In a Jar by LuvataciousSkull
Poster printing by zazzle

Last weekend I did two different conventions: A Crafts Fair and a Alternative Comic Book Convention. In the end, this was the top-selling print I did. Cool, huh? I did this last year based on a photo of an octopus in a jar.

Cyber-Goth Chick

2009-09-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Cyber-Goth by LuvataciousSkull
Browse Cybergoth Posters

I did this back in 2006 and at my first art show in 2009, it was a big hit! So I thought I would share it with the world! I did the image based on an image I saw in a magazine at the time, and had some fun with it. I haven't done a piece like this in a long time, and I really wish I did again. Who knows, maybe this is the start of a new series for me.

Logo Design is Lot Like Car Sales....

2009-08-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

"I need a logo for my band! $20.00 in it for you."

These were the words spread across the message board to alert the members of the metal music forum of a need for a designer. Someone, somewhere, needed a logo for their band. In return, they showed they were willing to pay someone to do it for the sum total of $20.

Some people joked around, and some basically said that he was nuts for offering so little.

Me? I was polite but blunt. "No offense, but $20 for a logo? Bump it up to $100, you'll get more bites and a better logo. Anyway, my 2 cents on that and if you can bump it that high, give me a call."

Fair enough if you ask me. Just some advice from someone who does it professionally. Well, the peanut gallery just loves to chime in, and this was a fun bit of retort! Someone decided to point out that "Dude, in this Effing economy work for whatever. It's just art. Get over yourself and make a quick $20."He ended it with this little pearl of wisdom: "Don't try to price your stuff as a BMW when it's a used car economy."

So I made a rather blunt point about how it cheapens the work and the field, but if someone was desperate enough for it, more power to them!

But the last point they made stuck with me. Pricing yourself as "high-end" in a tough market... that's a damn good point! In this case, it was total bull (since $100 for a logo tends to be less-BMW and more, say, used Honda), but it was still valid.

In this modern market, we've seen logos go from $10,000 corporate identities to $120 symbols for a small store. In a lot of ways, its always been like that, but today there are even websites that will give a small web start-up a logo for free based on generic text and clip-art. All the while, graphic designers around the world get angry and mad at this practice and how it "cheapens" what we do.

Does offering something for free cheapen something that normally would cost anywhere between $250 - $1000 to do? Well, yeah, it does. It takes it away from being a skill and turns it more into a commodity in the sense that its almost worthless. Yes, The Sistine Chapel was a commission, but he got paid well to make it. That's basically the entire point I'm trying to make.

So, as designers, what should we do? If you are at a BMW-level of quality and demand, do you keep your prices or do you lower them to stay competitive? Well, its up to you, really. If you find keeping a fairly decent price tends to attract a better type of client or you're able to keep it up, then stay there. If its getting to the point where your prices are just too much for people, even those who have been faithful and love your work... well, now is the time to start lowering your price.

What is the main key in this? What is the secret formula? It's simple: Never got lower than 20% what you would charge for the job.

You get a client who wants a logo for their web start-up. The logo they described to you would cost them $1000, all rights included. They can't afford it and want to go lower. If you can, you go down a little based on what you think works. If they want it for less than $800, think about if the logo will add to your portfolio, if this possible client will result in more connections that will, in turn, equal more work, or if this is just something that's going to sit there... or pay a bill.

Most designers already know this, so this article is more for the people... well, like me.

Say you're semi-well known. People have seen your stuff, they like it, and they want to hire you. The problem, though, is that they can't pay you much, if at all. Here's a good example: There's an artist named Christophe Szpajdel who has done over 7200 logos in his nearly 20 years as an artist. His rate? Anywhere between $50 to as much as he thinks. In return, he's garnered a reputation as a workhorse and the man in the field of death and black metal logos. It pays the bills.

In the end, working with people to get a price you're happy with, as well as one the client is happy with, means more work and exposure for yourself. Does that mean sometimes lowering yourself to make yourself about as affordable in a used-car market when you're a BMW yourself? Sometimes. Then again, if you're already a semi-used Volvo, you don't have far to go.

Photo courtesy of the blog Miss Pink Slip

The Demoness Said KILL! - My Sweet New Skateboard from Zazzle!

2009-08-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

I came home yesterday to my custom skateboard deck made by Zazzle.com. I've trusted these folks with helping to spread my art and designs through merchandising, and they've yet to disappoint. This morning I finally cracked open the package of the skateboard I ordered and, well, it was AWESOME!!!!

For the skateboard techs, here are the stats:
Independent Stage 1 Trucks
Ricta Natural Wheels
Bullet Bearings

Really happy with the deck! Took it for a test run, and it ran smoothly out the box! No lie! Easy glide, nice turns... it was basically fine-tuned out the box! SWEET!

Make sure to get your own here:

The Demoness Said Kill! by LuvataciousSkull
Browse Demon Skateboards

DIE, RABBIT, DIE!

2009-08-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

"Die, Rabbit. Die!" Print by LuvataciousSkull
See other poster designs on zazzle.com

I want to say that this piece is "out of the crypts", and to a degree it is. I did it back in 2004 and its a fairly rare expressionist piece I did with pen and ink. I've been asked a lot what the piece means and, really, I don't want to say it. Its a deeply personal piece in terms of that.

I posted it online after I finished it and a lot of people liked it so I decided to turn it into a poster. It's a piece and style that I've gone away from as of late, but I thought it would be nice to just put it out there again.

Well, enjoy!

RULES! - The Larry West Snearker!

2009-08-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

RULES 2 Sneaker by LuvataciousSkull
Browse other Rules Keds Shoes

I originally designed this a year ago, and I've finally had a chance to bring it to life!

These are a pair of sneakers designed and based around my series of propaganda-based pieces called RULES. This is in a series of sneakers I personally designer!

A Few More Notes on My Piece "False Messiah"

2009-08-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

What you see before you is a piece I did in May of 2008 called "OBEY False Messiah". I wanted to explain my piece a little bit. I created the piece in a time where I felt mixed in my opinion both about Obama and the direction of the nation in terms of support of this man during the election and what I felt this all meant.

I was, admittedly, afraid. Not of what Obama would do as president, but what it would mean in terms of being able to criticize and lampoon him. Not only was he going into this as the man of Hope and Change, he was going in there with a large number of people who also had faith in him. When people put so much stock into someone, I feel there is a need to remind people of one simple fact: They are, in the end, only human.

During the election, I wanted another Teddy Roosevelt, another FDR, someone to go in there, clean up Bush's mess, and get America strengthen out. I didn't feel like Obama was that man, although little-by-little I think he might. Its still early, very early, to tell if he is. We'll have to see.

But one thing I didn't think about when I created this was the overall reaction. One goal, one hope, of this piece was that it would become viral and get people to just ask what, exactly, did I mean by this. I wasn't being anti-Obama; I was being pro-independent thinking. That's always been who and what I am.

I wanted people to remember that he couldn't do everything he wanted and that he didn't have some sort of magic wand. What he was saying, to me, wasn't entirely common-sense stuff and nothing new. I didn't see him as a beacon, and I didn't see him as making himself into one; everyone else did that for him. He remained humble through most of the election, elevating himself only when he saw a need to. I respect him for that.

Sadly, my image never spread during the election and still hasn't to this day.

Over the last few weeks, an image of Obama as the Joker with the word Socialist has popped up and gotten viral. Some has taken it as anti-Obama. To me, it's just funny because it is and it isn't. You, the viewer, don't know if the joke is that he is a Socialist and you fell for his trick, of if he's trying to say you're a fool for thinking Obama is a Socialist. To me, it's incredibly clever, smart, and funny.

To others... well, why so serious?

Which brings me to today. I saw the image the artist created used for hate speech today. I saw his image defaced and used, not to spread the original intent of the message, but racism, pure and simple:

It may sound cheesy, it may sound lame, but I honestly cried a little when I saw this.

I thought about my piece and how people react to it. I want people to think when they see my piece, I want them to question their leader, to ask if he is doing everything that's right. I want people who show dissent to enjoy the image, and I want those to dissent to the image itself to at least respect the intent.

I don't want my piece to ever be used by hate.

What I Learned about Philadelphia on First Friday

2009-08-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I outlined, in very blunt terms, what I thought about the Philadelphia Art Scene and why, in turn, I despised it.

Last night I did my 3rd First Friday and my second of the year, and it was really interesting seeing people react to my art. I was surrounded by basically what you would expect: Framed photos of buildings, silk-screen t-shirts with abstract designs, and hand-made prints. Across the street from me was Geek Boy Press, setup not too far from Brave New World's comic book shop who was holding the "8-Bit and Beyond" show for the Autumn Society.

Then... there was me.

I was set up next to Christ Church, mainly because it was the last spot I could get on the lower-half of 2nd Street. Since my pallet is mostly primary colors... well, it's hard to miss me. I had all my prints mounted and on display, and the star of it all was my "False Messiah" piece hung in the recessed side of the church, creating a sort of alter for it. Reaction was generally positive, and whenever anyone asked what the piece meant, I was able to explain it pretty easily. I was a showman through-and-through, doing my best to sell myself and personality to people who were interested in my work, giving out my card and whatnot.

It was refreshing. The previous month I felt largely ignored, but looking back, it was largely because I wasn't on a good side of the street more than anything else. Getting positive feedback is good, ad even negative works well. I had some lady say, "You suck!" because of my Obama piece and then run off. Coward.

I came back home to a bunch of hits on my website and some e-mails. I've gotten a few requests to do gallery shows in the coming months, some for interviews, and from people who liked my work and wanted to buy prints. Working since February on my art show in May was a big deal and June was a fairly quiet month in comparison. In a lot of ways, it was the only month I had off and now I'm doing as much stuff as possible.

I wrote in the pass that the Philadelphia Art Scene annoyed me for one reason or another and, in reality, I now see what the problem is. I learned that it isn't the art scene that's the problem. No, that isn't it. The problem isn't with the galleries, either, and I'm willing to admit off the bat that I haven't tried to do a "gallery" gallery show yet since I don't have the money to get Gicelle Prints and a lot of fancy things. No, the problem is with what certain people think is "good" when, in reality, they seem to be out out touch with what people like.

People like a pop-artist who will tell them to their face that the person they admire suck and is willing to actually be himself. Who knew?

DON'T! (Tread on Me) - New Piece!

2009-08-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Don't! (Tread on Me) by LuvataciousSkull

I did this piece back in July and finally got a chance to post it today. The piece is called "Don't! (Tread On Me)" and is based on the Gadsden Flag that was flown at the birth of America. In my version, it's a recoiled snake skeleton ready to pounce on any and all who dare to cross it!

This piece was a lot of fun, and work, to get done. The research drove me up a wall and the inking took hours. I really dig this one!

MAJOR SKATEBOARD SALE! 40% OFF ALL DECKS!!!!

2009-08-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

OK, this is just plain AWESOME!

Zazzle, the company that produces my skateboards, has a sale going on where you can get 40& OFF ALL SKATEBOARD DECKS! No kidding! 40%!

Basically, the decks cost about $25 - $30, which is the CHEAPEST you'll ever find these for anywhere!

The sale is going on until Monday, August 10th! In order to get the deal, just type in the coupon code BTS40OFFSALE.

Order today and get one soon! Who knows, maybe you can shred around Philadelphia on one of these! Skateboard shops Nocturnal and Exit: GET THESE DECKS NOW! This is basically a wholesale price for you guys, and if you get them now, you'll be able to buy them cheap!

Please check out the selection, I'm sure you'll be amazed!

Now You're Playing With POWER!

2009-08-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

I did this piece for an upcoming art show called "8-Bit and Beyond", which is being held by The Autumn Society of Philadelphia, a group of illustrators from Philly and the surrounding areas. It was really humbling to get to do something for it, and I was really psyched to get it done! My friend posed for this and, well, it was a ton of fun! Mixing illustration with pop-art techniques and elements of 80's graphic design... good times!

Special thanks to everyone who supported me in this, and I can't believe what I went through to get it done! From taking risks by just doing the sketching and seeing what happened, inking it a lot more loosely than I normally do instead of being incredibly rigid, the adventures of going to Center City to get a reduced copy only to realize I left the original on the copier and being forced to get it back, to coloring it.... Just so much fun!

How I'm Now Inking My Work - Part 1

2009-07-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

I started inking a new piece and I decided to do a little self-serving thing and talk about my "process". I like inking by hand, its something I've always enjoyed. Later we can discuss that, inking over originals, etc... When I was in college, I thought about getting a job as an inker since it was, oddly enough, it was one of the things that was kinda calming in art. Its an art form in and of itself, but its a really nice way to relax.

So what does an inker do? Well, Chasing Amy did a good job of explaining it:

Which, oddly enough, is part of the reason I didn't get a career as an inker, as well as why I made this tutorial; to show what an artist does in terms of inking their own stuff.

Step 1. One problem I had for years was not being happy with the line weights and getting something consistent. In order to change this, I decided to do something different: Start with a small pen and work up. Sounds simple, and to a degree it is.

So I start by mapping out most of the detail I want and some basic shapes. I tend not to work on the outlines yet and wait until later to give them extra power.

Oh, and listening to KMFDM helps. A lot. For some odd reason, it helps me to concentrate.

Step 2. With all the fine details done, its now time to start using another pen to start adding some emphasis and details. Now, one thing people may ask is what type of pen I use. Well, until 2003, I didn't have a standard pen. I, like everyone reading this should, used a lot of different pens to get what I liked. I went from Straddler Rollingball pens and Sharpies to Micron Pens and Sharpies. I've never been good with a brush, and I envy the guys who did!

I use something called Faber-Castler PITT Artist Pens. They come in 4 really simple sizes: Small, Fine, Medium, and Bold. Simple, right? They use actual India Ink and the Bold is a brush. The downside is that the Bold dies faster than the others so I tend to buy more of them. If I need to do a really bold outline or some really interesting effects, I take out a brush and a bottle of India Ink.

So, at this point, I'm using the Fine pen to map out a lot more places.

Step 3. OK, this is where it gets tricky. Everything from here on out is nothing more than knowing what works and what doesn't, and trying to make it all make sense. At this point, I take out my Medium pen and start working on some more of the thicker lines. In the case of this piece, its mostly based on perspective, so the more something is upfront, the thicker I make the line.

Step 4. I consider this the part where I make the piece sing! I take a Bold pen and start adding the dark shadows and really thick lines. Its actually interesting how I got to a point where I use a thick line around most of my work! In 2003, I met Joseph Michael Lisner at Wizard World 2003. At this point, I had met him a few times and I had just finished inking my first comic book (which... well, I won't show it to anyone these days). I also showed him my first attempt at drawing Tattoo Flash art. He looked at the two and asked, "Hey, did you ever think about putting a bold line around your ink work? It seems to lend itself really well to it."

I've done it ever since.

Step 5. Well, after all the hard work, we have a finished piece... or, really, an almost finished one.

From here is just refining and taking care of details before scanning it in. I need to erase all my pencil lines and certain things pop out more than usual at that point and really, its not as interesting as you may think.

Oh, and the nearly-finished inks:

This time, the pools of black REALLY helped to make it pop! I was worried about if it would work until the very end when I got to this point, and it really was worth it, you get a sense that this thing just emerged from the water and is read, and willing... TO KICK YOUR ASS!

Look out for Part 2 soon!

Some Useless Notes on Inking

2009-07-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of inking 2, count them, TWO new pieces right now. I finished up the first (for now) and have started on the second. Its actually is amazing to me; to draw normally takes longer than to actually ink a piece! For this piece, which I call "Don't!", was actually a change. It is of a snake skeleton and if you've never seen one... well, they're a lot more complicated then you think, especially the skull!

I started with a sketch in my sketchbook and blew it up to trace it since I loved the feeling and emotion of the sketh. The problem? The skull wasn't accurate and I had to go back and fix it! So after getting the gesture, spending an hour on a sketch that didn't help at all, I went back to the piece and it came out looking just great on the first try!

I spent, maybe, an hour sketching the piece and refining it. It took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to ink it! The skull alone took over an hour to ink!

I don't know if its because I'm a little out of practice, but I think its actually because of the sheer amount of detail in the skull alone. I tried out a different inking techinquie then a lot of my recent work, with more of an emphesis on hatching than just clean lines. I've wanted to do that for a while and never got the amount of detail I wanted. This time, though, I got very close to it and its looking very faithful to the pencil sketch, a VERY hard thing for me to do!

The next piece I'm working on is similar to a few pieces I've done lately, but the final should be greatly different than a lot of what I have done! I've been inspired by a lot of my peers, and its in the early stages right now. I've got 2 hours until I head out, and if I want to do that, I need to get this one done AND done right! Or, at the very least, enough so I can take a well-deserved break.

I have a few notes on inking by hand versus digital and vector, but I'll save that for later.

Why Is Modern Graphic Design So Damn Generic?!

2009-06-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

Helvetica. Arial. Futura.

Why has is become so standard to use simple and generic fonts for everything?

I am, quite frankly, not happy with this. It isn't entirely because of my hatred of the Web 2.0, although it is safe to say that is part of it. No, its largely because it seems to take away from a lot of creativity that is, in the end, is being zapped from it. I think it works sometimes, and even then, its only when you actually do it.

I'm just sick of this "less is more" philosophy that has dominated graphic design. Is there anything wrong with actually doing something that requires more than 10 minutes of thought? Granted, not all simplicity is what it appears; sometimes if boils down to hours and hours of work to achieve the result, but then it tends to be clever and smart. Simplicity for the sake of simplicity is the order of the day, and the "empty room" philosophy.

To a degree, its kinda ironic: People have gone on and on about their hatred for the fonts Papyrus and Comic Sans, complaining of their overuse more than their actual design. Like just about anything, it isn't about the material itself, its how its used. Such is the case for the overt-simplicity and generic fonts I see today.

So, what would I rather see? Or, in a way, what would I like to see come back?

Well, its a lot, and to a degree, its filled with things I hate that did come back.

One thing I like is Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" album cover. It combines the greatness of the majesty of the original incredibly ornate album cover with a wonderful simplicity and beautiful typography with a fairly simple font.

Now, a lot of this is done now, where a dynamic is attempted with the chaos against an otherwise simple background. The problem, though, is that it is incredibly hard to pull off in a way where the effect doesn't come off as contrived and, in the end, generic in-and-of itself. So while I'd like to see it come back, I also don't unless you know you can make it work.

So lets go to something else. In fact, this may be my favorite movie posters of all time. It sure ranks in the Top 10:

That's right: Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire. The movie isn't good at all, and the comic book its based on isn't much better (although in a way it inspired the comic book I'm working on now, but that's something else). But this poster is awesome for a ton of reasons! For starters, there's an immediate contrast created by the fact that it is the stunning Pamela Anderson Lee in her prime. Her blonde hair is up, flowing in the breeze. She's dressed in black that goes into her gloves. The black highlights on her face, from the eyes to the eyebrows to the gun or given extra contrast thanks to the black background. Her bright red lipstick works with her rich skin tone. To round it all up, you have bright red-and-yellow text that's given a light grunge effect that works in contrast to the other cleanliness given to Pam Anderson.

The poster and all the artwork related to this film is stunning and beautiful. The fact that I am a Pam An fan does play into it, but in the end, the reasons I gave for why this poster is an excellent example of both graphic design and simplicity done right is valid. It is minimalistic while still being exciting and interesting.

So what's the point here? Its simple: In order to achieve simplicity that is strong, effective, eye-catching, and above all INTERESTING, relying on simple retro-effects or overt-simplicity doesn't have to be a be-all end-all thing. A great deal of interest can be done more so by using interesting fonts and images against the simplicity of a one-tone background to create impact.

Keep designing and STOP USING GENERIC FONTS!

My Art Show Went Really Well!

2009-05-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a night!

After 4 months of planning and a ton of work, I finally had my art show! I had everything laid out at home, it took a while to print, mount, and hang everything, and the flyers made were wrong, and there was little to no press about it, or the two bands playing.

In the end, the opening night of the show went great! Most of my friends were able to make it, even people I hadn't seen much in the last 6 months, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive from the crowd! The bands Red This Even and Ninetwelve played, they did a great job! Red This Ever really dug my stuff, which was pretty cool.

I sold 5 prints myself, I have one more in the wait, and demand is pretty high. My boss even bought 2 of my pieces, which simply floored me! It was incredible, very flattering, and I'm enjoying my little moment right now.

If you live in the area or will be in Philly during the weekend or from now until mid-June, the show will still be up, so please feel free to come down and take a peek.

THE YOUTH IS REVOLTING! - The Art of Larry West at Digital Ferret Records

2009-05-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE -

THE YOUTH IS REVOLTING! - The Art of Larry West at Digital Ferret

Nearly 200 people turned out to the first art show of Philadelphia-native Larry West, turning it into a massive success for all involved!

Fed by a steady stream of blog posts, flyers, and sheer word-of-mouth, Digital Ferret Records 4th Friday event featuring the artwork of Larry West and the bands Red This Ever and Ninetwelve went off without a hitch! Larry, best known for his 2007 mayoral run, came into his own as an artist with pieces that showed not only his political side, but also a focus on artwork that drew influence from artist Pushead and Roy Lichtenstein, a style he likes to call "Sub-Americana".

Larry came in dressed in all black with goggles on his head. When asked why, he stated, "Its because the art scene in this city seems to be littered with people who try too hard to be 'hip'. Too many pastels, too much of the same... this is me, in essence, rejecting it with something better. This is my personal revolt."

West went on to sell a record number of pieces that night for both himself and Digital Ferret. West received strong criticism during the lead-up to the show from Obama supporters for including his piece depicting Obama with the word "Obey" behind him in a piece he calls "False Messiah".

"I'm very happy with this turnout!", West remarked. "I'm just thrilled so many people enjoyed my work!"

On top of a strong opening night, the show will run from today until June 24th, 2009 at Digital Ferret Records at 732 S 4th Street.

Larry West's artwork can be viewed at his website: http://www.larrywestproductions.com

About Larry West: Larry West is best known for his 2007 run for Mayor. He has since then taken a larger turn towards his artwork, and still comments constantly about politics in Philadelphia, and the world.

How a Boring, Benign Thing Made Me Happy

2009-05-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

I've been depressed. Really depressed. To a degree, it doesn't make sense: My first art show EVER is Friday, I have almost everything ready to go, and I should be thrilled. At the same time, I've been depressed about the show for every reason someone would be: "Will anyone come for my art?" "Will people like what they see?" "Is it just going to be people I know, and thus a failure at my goal of achieving a new audience?"

Then there's a lot of other things... but I'll save them for later.

I got home late last night. I was just going to Digital Ferret, drop off my work, print something, and go home. The entire thing wound up taking nearly 4 hours, when it should have only taken 2. Why? Because I kept screwing up. Oh, and Kinkos suck ass. A lot. Fuck Kinkos. Especially the one at Marriot Hotel. By the time I got home, it was 10 at night, I hadn't eaten, and I just wanted to go to bed. I didn't dream of anything, I woke up early, and decided to just get ready for work and the show. Then I realized I forgot to do the name tags and print out something else. So I got to my computer, made up the tags, and again, a quick thing took longer than I think it should.

I made the labels, printed them out, took them outside, and spray mounted them on foam board. No guides printed, just me using my brain. I cut up everything while listening to some Anthrax. Then, I started to smile. The tags are about 1" high and vary in length in accordance with the names. They look... nice. Really nice. There was something nice and comforting about seeing something so perfect and uniform against my art. And something nice about the sort of draftsmanship there was in it, too.

It made me a little happier and sure about the show.

My Art Show: 90% There

2009-05-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Wow.. its been a really productive weekend!

On Friday I went to my old college and printed out just about all my artwork for my show. I couldn't print out 4 of them since they are incredibly large, but the majority of is now ready to go. I mounted everything last night and today spent the day getting the show ready. I have a wall at my house large enough to mock up the dimensions of the wall of the show, and I spent the afternoon setting everything up.

So far... its really frustrating and annoying.

I'm really am just angry at myself: I had a backdrop planned for my show, but I only today did the cost analysis for it, and it was way too expensive. On the plus-side, there really wasn't a good plan in place to get it to work, and the design on it wasn't really important.

But on top of that, its the placement of the work. I took a fairly smart step: I made a mock-up wall in Photoshop with everything to size so I could just plop up everything without a problem. The problem that arose was, well, mock-ups aren't real life. The size of the pieces did differ than what I had planned, and not everything on the computer seemed to make sense. I have black-and-white versions of the prints I ordered that are almost to size (off a few inches, shouldn't be a problem) to help with placement. I guess the colors are throwing me off.

I'm looking at the wall on-and-off and getting frustrated with it all. I... I really wish I had more room, you know? I only get a wall... but its a HUGE wall. Its more than enough room, that's for sure! I'm just annoyed that I'm having a problem composing it right now. Certain pieces don't seem to work the way I thought they would and others seem like they need to be dropped, much to my dismay.

Part of my problem is that I like to have A LOT of work up. Its part vanity, and to me, part value. I like giving people a chance to see a lot of stuff they may like, but at the same time... well, it can get cluttered. The comps look fine, but the wall itself is something else. Nothing really seems to get its moment, and that's a problem since my art does kinda demand a bit more inspection to really kinda get it.

Its irritating. I've got at least one more piece to print out that I forgot, and right now I'm playing around with the idea of re-printing a piece larger.... at a cost. I'm toying with the idea of dropping a piece or two for the benefit of the show.

This is frustrating.... and I don't have a lot of time left.

Art Show Is Coming Together!

2009-05-16T07:06:00.001-07:00

So, here's the story:

As of Thursday, I didn't have anything ready for the show and no supplies. As of today, 90% of my artwork is ready to go, needs to be mounted, and that's about it. I'm settling on the layout now on my computer so its set when I put up the show.

I had to actually order a few of my own pieces since, in the end, 99% of my work IS digitally-based. The prints I've ordered are from Zazzle, and will be for sale mounted at the show, mounted and all. I won't say what the pieces are... but I will say one of them is that incredibly controversial Obama piece I did.

The pieces should get here soon... I don't have any statues ready, either, which sucks. We'll see.

Just Got the Flyers for My Show!

2009-05-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've had a really, really, weird week up to, and including today. I've had a feeling of impending doom mixed with malaise mixed with other things. Really, I've just been kinda depressed. I have a little over a week left before my show and, so far... I have nothing. Nada. Everything is planned out, but nothings printed, I still didn't even order my business cards, and I don't feel like I measure up as an artist as I should. I think a lot of artists go through that last bit.

So today I got a call from Digital Ferret saying the flyers for my show came in! BLEW ME AWAY! I couldn't believe it! Something like that... well, I've been planning this show since February, and after a while, the show becomes more of an "abstract thought" than a tangible thing. Getting the flyers for your show in your hands... well, it makes everything a lot more real!

Only 10 days to go, and I'm getting really psyched now!

New Project in the Works: Redesigning a Heavy Metal / Punk Radio Station!

2009-05-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

Really excited about this one!

I relaunched my radio station, Mark Skull Pirate Radio, and in turn am working on a new design and layout for the website. The website has, to date, gone through 3 different versions, and this one promises to be the best.

So far, I can't say much at all. Its fairly secretive at this point, but look for more info very soon!

Also, feel free to check out the station yourself!

What Happened To Branding?

2009-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel older than I should.

This isn't a figure of speech your about to read, nor am I over-simplifying what happened. I woke up this morning, eyes aching from the attempts to open them after basically rubbing away the protective layer on them last night and then having it grow back this morning. After I got both eyes open, watching TV, I realized something: There is no branding anymore.

I was watching "Morning Joe" on MSNBC when that hit me. I was watching the logo in the background as it was displayed on a screen and that made me think about what it meant, which, really, was nothing. It's a sloppy logo. Joe Scarbrough is a straight-laced Republican and the logo is a liberal-minded, coffee-shop logo. It doesn't work. It's not a brand. The show was slapped together after the Don Imus thing and they never made the logo work for the show. Joe just doesn't look good against the logo, against this "brand", and he always looks awkward.

Then I started to think about my logo and branding.

To me, I've done a damn good job. I rarely think highly of my own work; my friends will tell you that for a fact. But I think I've always done a good job when it comes to branding myself. Ironic, since I hate being branded myself by people. God I hate irony these days, but that's another day and another post.

The point, though, is that I branded myself. It's a simple identity: Red, Black, and White using hard shapes and a mixture of art deco, constructionism, and punk. It's a lot simpler than I made it sound, but the idea is always there. The website, the blog, my MySpace, my business cards... they all follow the brand.

These days, it seems we have an anti-branding mentality.

Look at most recent logos. They all tend to be simple, generic... and insanely boring. They all have white as the dominate color, periodically using pastel versions of red, blue, or green. God they love green. I am sick and tired of white and green logos! Honestly, why? Is this use of color to convey some yuppie idea of being "earth-smart"? I blame it on Web 2.0 graphic design and this unhealthy obsession with trying to take what Apple did with advertising and use it for yourself. In turn, we are now left with what a smart teacher in my college called "The Empty Room".

There was a great post at LogoBlink.com that explains it down to a science!

Ultra-simple, ULTRA-GENERIC, and uninteresting the the highest degree! This? This is modern-day branding?!

Or we get a ton of faux-retro logos, and that kills the idea. When I did mine, I knew I wanted something retro, but I also wanted to keep it fresh. A truly hard mix! How do you keep people in a certain mindset without being cliche or doing something that has been done a billion times? Easy, just be YOU. The entire faux-retro thing is annoying since two trends are coming back and only one is good; 70's-style advertising refuses to die, despite the fact it's use of bubbles were done better in the 90's. At the same time, turn-of-the-century advertising is coming back, with it's focus on iconic imagery over banality. I prefer the later concept, and I'm glad to see more of it, but not too much.

But back to branding. Well, here are a few modern logos, and tell me how the imagery around it could be used to brand anything and everything from cups and mugs to bed sheets (yes, bed sheets!)

The two best concepts of branding I can think of in the last 10 years are Apple and... Spongebob Squarepants.

Apple created a brand for themselves in 1998 with the iMac, and it has not changed much in the last 11 years. Bright colors against white and the "empty room" with very simple fonts, morphing from a Serifed font to a Sans-Serif font. Elegant and simple mixed with a sense of pop-culture; a rare hybrid to get to work, and one that's been emulated to death by everyone else.

On the flip-side, you have Spongebob Squarepants. He is, to me, the embodiment of really good, really smart branding. It's downright hilarious to me that they, literally, were able to get him on anything and EVERYTHING. If you wanted to, if you really wanted to, you could create a 100% Spongebob Squarepants room.

Hell, this is from the Mall of America!!

Photo thanks to Bludog!

In the last 10 years, can you honestly name a NEW branding that has come out that has stuck, let alone stuck in your mind?

OK, there are a few more, but they're all based on things from the 90's and 80's. Watchmen, with it's arresting black and yellow logo and Futura font was easy to market, although I'm sure Alan Moore isn't thrilled, and rightfully so!

Then you have Sin City by Frank Miller. Miller's style was given a tough of 3-D reality and created a style of limited color that did, in a lot of ways, spit in the face of Apple.

Here's a quick rundown of a few logos and companies that are doing decent jobs as well:

Geico - Cavemen, Geckos, and more.

Esurance - The ads have been brilliant and simply theirs!

Cingular - While they lasted, they had an easy to identify logo and look

Virign - Red, White, Black, and brilliant all over!

The White Stripes - Red, White, and Black... wait...

I picked these because, in the end, you knew what the brand was and it was interesting. It's hard to see that these days with 99% of the logos out there.

In closing, I want to encourage everyone out there who reads this, future designers and those who are looking to hire a designer, to consider everything I've said. The future of graphic design should not be mired in mediocrity and simply but in being creative, and even more importantly... YOURSELF. Don't try to go out there and change the world, don't try to make trends... simply be yourself and strive to do it well.

Helping Out Agains the Swine Flu

2009-04-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

It's safe to say that, while this event seems to be overblown, there is reason for people to get involved, if only to help others understand what's going on out there. To that effect, I've created a flier with facts to help everyone out there. Also, 50% of all the profits from products with this image from now until May 22nd will be donated to the Red Cross.

We are currently seeing this become close to being a Level 6 Pandemic by the World Health Organization. While I think we are all over-reacting right now, I wanted to do something to try and help educate people about this, as well as help a chairty along the way.

Click Here for the Informational Flyer - Here for "Beware the Pandemic"

SWINE FLU - Beware The Pandemic! Poster

2009-04-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

SWINE FLU - Beware The Pandemic! by LuvataciousSkull

As of 4/28/2009, Swine Flu has been upgraded to a Level 5 Disease by WHO, which is a step away from a full-blown pandemic. In the eyes of myself, and many others around the country, this entire situation is overblown and a joke. At least, hopefully its all this will be.

Larry West on The Art of Politics 2008 - "False Messiah"

2009-04-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Back in early 2008, I entered my "Your Candidate Sucks!" series to The Art of Politics 2008, a contest to get artists around America to submit art based on politics. I was happy that my pieces "War Without End" and "False Messiah" were chosen to be nominees, and really excited that I was a finalist, finishing 6th out of 30 runner ups. The piece got to travel across the country and I wish I could have attended one to see how people would react to it!

The site was taken down before the election, and I was sad to see it go. During a search, I stumbled upon the site again!

Check it out for yourself here!

Thanks to Invisible Fire for keeping the site alive!

What Makes An Artist "Legit"?

2009-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Someone on a message board I got to started a new top called "What makes an artist legit?" It's an interesting question, and a lot of people have opinions on it. The topic alone got around 80 different replies and comments in about 24 hours!

My opinion, my 2 cents on this matter? I have no fucking idea.

"What makes an artist legit?" is, to me, a fairly new question in human history. I think we can safely assume to a large degree that until the beginning of abstraction in art to such a large degree thanks to Impressionism and Dadaism, we were forced to ask, "What is art?" in the first place. We went from artists being these figures of society that were looked upon in aw and given money if they were smart to... well, the same thing.

When we think of an artist being "legit", we tend to come up with ideas such as "honest", "sincere", "sheer expression", and "not doing it for the money".

So let's look at two people: One person was commissioned to work. A lot. I mean A LOT! More work, in fact, than he could handle alone. In return, he hired people to work for him on his art while we focused on the more important stuff. He did really well and built up a great reputation. Another person is constantly drawing, painting, and creating pieces and loves art. The problem, though, is that he never sold any of his work. Nothing. Nada.

To most people, the second guy is more legit since he slaved over his work non-stop and never made a dime off it. If I mentioned he was always depressed and into self-mutilation, it starts to seem like someone who doodles and draws and writes bad goth poetry and wonders why no one likes their crappy anime drawings they have on Deviant Art. The first guy sounds like the type of guy most artists want to punch in the fact because it seems he's distant from his art... like he's a Creative Director or something,and most of society would say he's not an artist, or a "legit" one.

Well, you guessed it, these people are actually really famous. Leonardo Da Vinci was able to get a ton of work and commissions thanks, not just to being brilliant, but for getting his name out there and working hard. Meanwhile, Vincent Van Gogh spent his entire life working and toiling in obscurity, wanting to sell his art and become a famous artist. In the end, he died alone, went color blind, and his art was worth millions.... and he never saw a cent.

In the eyes of many, both artitsts are legitament, not for how they created their art, but because of what they created.

I have a problem that I am willing to admit and share: I fell into the hype of the "artist".

Society today has a meaning of "artist" that isn't the reality. Many people think an "artist" is someone who spends their life in poverty and pain, putting paintings in the fire to stay warm and go through mental anguish and pain. Well that is true, it's only half the reality. These same people also think that the output of the artist is always "honest". It rarely ever is.

When I fell into the "hype" of being an "artist", I stopped being honest. I went into a funk that lasted years where I just hated myself, yelled at myself, just felt worthless because I never thought that what I thought was "honest" WAS "honest"! Why? Because when you love what I do and create what I do, people come to the conclusion, as unfair as it is, that it's NOT "honest".

What is unhonest for one honest is pure honesty for someone else. I like Bill Watterson, and he always had a view of art different than me. When he created Calvin & Hobbess and went for syndication, he didn't want anything more than the strips. He didn't want to make cartoons, plush toys, greeting toys, stickers, t-shirts, or anything like that. In the end, he is known for being brilliant at what he did and taking the stand he did against a syndicate, something incredibly rare for an artist to take.

On the other side is... well, me. If Bill Watterson was the anti-capitalist artist, I'm the pro-capitalist one. I was born in 1985 and watched a lot of TV when I was a kid. I mean A LOT. I went outside and played, and I played with my toys a lot, but I was still a really ad-observant kid and its part of who I am. If I create something, something I want just for me, I can't help but think how cool it would be on a shirt or an action figuer or something! I love toys, and I love having fun and decorating the things in the world around me.

A lot of people have taken this route in the modern day, too, namely a lot of street artists who I'm sure are considered "legit" despite the fact they could be making a nice tidy profit.

So what makes an artist "legit"? In the end, it means only one thing to me: Were they happy? IF you enjoy what you do, you're as legit as anyone.

Photo thanks to Banksy! You kick ass!