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The forth can for BrewLink Brewing Company was for a Cream Ale by the name of Crazy Dayz. This creamy ale is ridiculously easy to drink and is proving popular in the brewery’s tap room. The brew masters asked me to come up with a design to reflect the creaminess, drinkability and popularity of this craft ale. So obviously I went with a death theme! I was trying to capture the life long partnership the beer drinker and this beer might have. The go-to beer for any beer lover.

I thought it would be amusing to have a coffin with an arm reaching out to grab one last beer. Crazy Dayz, even crazier afterlife. It all came together when I added my signature doodle style to the background, flowing with the cream color palette well. This little simple cream ale is going to stick around and I think many cans of it will be consumed. They weren’t kidding when they said It’s ridiculously easy to drink.

Nutter Cup Chocolate Peanut butter Porter

More can designs for the BrewLink Brewing family are being churned out and the newest one is Nutter Cup Chocolate Peanut butter Porter. It’s a delicious deep peanut buttery tasting beer that I can personally recommend, yes they sent me samples! For this design I went with a pretty simple color palette and focused on the peanut character. The character, looking horrified as he gets snapped in half is accompanied by the slogan “Peanuts died to make this beer awesome!” which is darkly funny. A great project for a great brand!

Beep Bop, Beep Bop!

Enamel pins are on trend right now. As a fan of these little enamel beauties myself, I was chuffed to have my vintage robot and skull & crossbones art picked up by TeeFury. They took my original vector files and adapted them to work as 3D pins. They made my robot character into a cute little pin while keeping some really nice details! He’s a 1.25″ soft enamel pin and is a limited edition of only 500 pieces. He’ll only be available in this one pressing and judging by their other pins he should sell out pretty fast. The Skull & Crossbones logo is more simple and reflects the original art more closely. Only printed in 500 pieces, if you want one you should snag one now.

The Robot pin is available here.

Skull & Crossbones pin is available here.

What beautiful windows you have….

Brewlink and I have been working together for a few years. The projects we do together are always fun. They make exceptional beer and I help them brand it. With Brewlink we have always tried to push the traditional beer branding into a new, cheeky almost silly brand voice. As part of that ideal I was asked to design some window decals for the Tap room in Indiana.

Decals can be tricky because they are hand applied to windows and have to withstand a good weathering. Which is why we made them as complicated and detailed as possible 🙂 Wrap It Up did a great job of applying these monsters to the windows. Four huge windows, chock full of doodles. Look closely there are funny little details hidden in there. If you are in the area, drop by and buy a beer and support these awesome people.

San Diego Comic Con 2016 Panel

This year I attended San Diego Comic Con as part of the TeeFury artist panel. As part of being a member of their artist panel discussing ‘Artist Self Promotion’ I met some really awesome artists, whose work I really admire. Artists alongside me were Karen Hallion (artist/illustrator), Tom Hodges (comic artist and illustrator), “Artist Abe” Lopez (artist/illustrator), John “Captain Ribman” Sprengelmeyer (award-winning illustrator/syndicated cartoonist), Austin “RebelArt” Frankel (artist/illustrator), and me.  We shared our experiences as pioneers in the pop culture apparel world and provided practical advice on building an artist brand. Along with our ramblings, artist Abe conducted a live drawing of a fan-suggested design.

A Q&A followed with some great questions from the crowd. Highlights of the panel included this golden nugget of advice from Tom Hodges – “Never be afraid of art direction and critiques. Artists are stubborn & don’t realize they are trying to help you sell.” RebelArt talked about the tougher side of being an artist – “That artist thick skin is something that I think drowns a lot of artists. You can’t give-up.” Followed by “I don’t like hands and faces…I’ll draw you faceless and handless…” All of the artists were open and offered great advice. Considering their successes they were a very humble group, which made me feel very comfortable. The TeeFury after party was an extension of the panel with art related stories and laughs galore. It was a pleasure to kick back with art people who’s egos are fully in check and who’s experiences are similar to mine.

During the weekend TeeFury also gave out my ‘Cute Hunter’ pin design as a SDCC2016 exclusive. During the day I had a chance to walk the convention center floor and experience the madness. I got lost in the mass of collectable toy releases, amazing posters and awesome cosplay. ComicCon is always a great experience but this year provided a different perspective for me. I also got to meet some truly awesome people too. Hopefully I’ll be back another year to relive the experience.

Race Point Publishing release their Skull Sourcebook featuring wotto art. 

Race Point Publishing recently released their Skull Sourcebook. Referencing many artists, genres and symbols of the dead, this book is an in depth look at the skull. Skulls are one of the oldest symbols of our world, rich with cultural resonance and significance. From the origins of Aztec skull art and the Jolly Roger that was hoisted on pirate flags to the sugar skull for Mexico’s Day of the Dead, skulls have a wealth of source history and, of course, a long line of artistic tradition. Skull Sourcebook features hundreds of different skull images and artworks.

I was one of many talented artists to be asked to contribute to this book and was honored to be placed amongst some of my favorite artists ranging from the tattoo world to modern art giants. They selected several of my Day of the Dead skull pieces to showcase in the book and I am credited in the back pages with a small bio. When I received my copy of the book I was super happy to see other artists I know included. It’s always great to see your peers represented.

If you are into skulls, just getting started drawing skull or just want reference material this book is a great resource. It’s available in all the usual online places and comes highly recommended by me.

My Third Win at the Site Where it All Began.

Threadless has a special place in my heart. This is because a. I got my love of T-shirt design from there and b. I met my wife through that site! After an eight year hiatus I got my 3rd print, have to say it felt pretty great. I first got printed back in 2008 with my first ever submission to the site “I’m with…”. My second win, ‘Thou Shall Not Steal’ was a little later that year. So after many submissions and a lot of high scores I finally got a 3rd win with a design submitted to the Sublimation contest!

The new winning design is called ‘Many Layered Doodle‘ and it features a mass of layers filled with themed doodles; houses, dinosaurs, the ocean and monsters. This is the style I am most well known for and as an all over sublimated print it works very well. Threadless has changed a lot over the eight years, with a core of their catalog going to print on demand. The one disappointment in winning this time was that Threadless no longer do exclusive staff photography for the winners, so the images were all mocked up in Photoshop, which isn’t nearly as much fun. I did however get samples and the tees, cushion and tote bag were all printed very nicely.

The design is available in tees, tanks, pillows, tote bags, wall art and phone cases!  Threadless and I go way back and the brand has been a big part of my success. They will always bring good memories for me and I’m super happy to be back there.

Unique boutique City Kid Style wotto tees

Occasionally I am blessed with the opportunity to work with a brand who gives me a good amount of creative freedom. City Kid Style is one such brand. This unique boutique store offers printed “basics” and unique one of a kind hand made kids clothing. The brain child of a Washington mom with a local, sustainable and American made message, this brand has a great products.

I was commissioned to create a tee centered around a well know Oscar Wilde quote. The brief was loose and afforded me the luxury of letting the design unfold organically. I tried to represent the young kids who would wear this tee with characters, words and positive energy that reflected the spirit of the brand. A mass of characters and doodles developed into a unique slightly heart shaped composition. Happiness, Education, Home and Friendship were all represented in a fun and unique way.

My work allows me to work with giant brands and smaller boutique companies like City Kid Style. One thing is for sure it always feels good to support a small business lead by people with passion and a dream. We should all support our local, creative and sustainable businesses, it’s in all of our interests. Take the time to support this brand and pick up one of  their tees here.