communication arts 2013

Friendlies,

five of the images I created for the new Camper Van Beethoven release “La Costa Perdida” have been accepted by the 2013 jury to appear in Illustration Annual 54, the May/June 2013 issue of Communication Arts.

Exciting!

xm

4 New Posters

Friendlies,

I’m finally catching up with the work I’ve been doing in 2012. So TODAY! FOR YOU! there are four NEW! entries on the Wertzateria shop page. Work I’ve been designing (and printing) for the Oakland Museum of California, ALO, and the Camper Van / Cracker Family is all up now and purchasable through this lovely invention called PayPal. Have you heard of it? It’s sweeping the nation!

All of these were lovingly printed by hand (by me) at Bloom Press in Oakland. Go check ‘em out.

xxm

Hear’s Hiss Pop!

Good morning friendlies,

Sara Thacher asked me to contribute graphics to a game (Sara calls it a “playful narrative experience”) for The Exploratorium called Hiss Pop. You’ll be able to play this game (and experience a bit of authentic San Francisco musical culture, including custom-crafted 45rpm records) if you make the scene at The Exploratorium’s After Dark event on March 1. Don’t be square, be there!

Here’s a preview of the imagery. We referenced groovy LP graphics for these, and put our own spin on it.

Turn off the glowing box, jump on the train, and getcherself some cool, dads. The Exploratorium is where. It’s. At.

xm

p.s. Remember these?

new prints & books & tees up in the shop!

Hey kids,

It’s been a busy summer in the silkscreen studio, and finally I can share some of the work I’ve been producing. There’s a mess of new stuff to peruse on the shop page: the collaborative book by Mister Jim Winters and myself, Queen for Two Weeks, numbered and signed and packed up pretty in a cellophane wrapper. The super-tall-and super-fifties Sutro Tower screenprint. The longer-than tall Lake Merritt (featuring the also-longer-than-tall Lake Merritt Monster). There is also a photograph of an attractive young man modeling the t-shirt design (it looks just like the Sutro Tower print) I did for therethere.

xm

West Coast Passport Campaign : Hostelling International

Friendlies,

recently designer Pete Friedrich from Charette Communication Design and I had a brain bubble: wouldn’t it be cool if we created a Passport and a set of Illustrated Stamps so that when one travelled from Hostel to Hostel (along the West Coast) one could collect the stamps in one’s very own passport? With enough stamps (and a few blisters – that’s a long hike), one is eligible for a t-shirt.

Yes, this would be cool. And, if I do say so, they are. Very cool. Here’s the stamps I created. And here’s a bit about the campaign on the Hostelling site.

… and here’s the Passport cover.

Neet, huh? This was a super fun job.

xm

The United Way : “Make it Be”

Dear Friendlies,

earlier this year, Connie Wood from the United Way in San Francisco commissioned me to do portraits of inspiring Bay Area figures for their “Make It Be” campaign. Here are a few of my favorites from the collection. One of the goals was to create sightly-differently-styled illustrations for each portrait.

Ed Oh:

Regina Jackson

Dave Eggers

Happy Summer,

xm

A new bag design for Rickshaw Bagworks

Hey friendlies,

check it out. This is a bag design for the rickshaw bag company, which is located in the historic Dogpatch district of San Francisco.

This is why I was up until 2:30 in the morning yesterday and why I can’t spell properly today. It’s totally worth it. I’ll let you know when these are available for purchase!

xm

Silkscreened Ox pillow cover from Karie Aineb

Friendlies:

look what my friend Karie sent me! It’s a silkscreened pillow cover based on this image. We spent a day silkscreening the ox image onto different fabrics, and then Karie did the rest! The back of the pillow is a lovely dark blue velvet. It’s beautifully constructed and sewn. Neet, huh?

xm