Armyofcats - Process...

#buymorerecords Giveaway Results

2012-01-23T10:16:00.001Z

Thanks to all those who Tweeted me the choice secret shames and hidden gems from their record collections. Some people nominated embarrassing records which I actually own, so I don't know what that says about me...

But anyway, here is the result and a couple of honourable mentions:

My favourite embarrassing record has to be from Joe Maples with his Never Ending Story record with the words cut out from Smash Hits magazine and sellotaped on the back. I think the personal touch just gives it the edge. Well done Joe, I'll get a shirt sent off to you.

Other contributions worth mentioning are Beefy with a seemingly endless cursed-treasure trove of ska-punk, and John Tarbet Walker with a Wombles record which was the first record he purchased, coincidentally also the first record I ever bought.

Thanks guys, that was fun!

Shirts are now available on the AoC Shop, and I'll be sending out 7" records with the first 10 orders.

Buy More Records

2012-01-21T13:20:00.001Z

Following quickly on from my previous record related post, I have a new shirt design available featuring my friend and yours, Mr. Recordshop. He misses people and would like to see them a little more often...

See the full gallery on Posterous

These were printed by the lovely people at Awesome Merchandise, who you may recall teamed up with myself and the other Poster Roast artists to design some rather fetching tshirt-garments.

BUY:

This shirt will be available to buy from the AoC Shop on Monday 23rd Jan at 10am GMT.

The first 10 orders will be sent with a random 7" vinyl record from my collection!

WIN:

I am giving away one shirt & random 7" before they go on sale - in order to win all you have to do is:

follow me on Twitter: @armyofcats
send me a tweet telling me the most embarrassing record in your record collection and including the hashtag #buymorerecords
the record owner I take the most pity on will win a free shirt and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning when the shirts go on sale

PS (Include a picture of your embarrassing record and you are far more likely to snag a shirt)

Thanks for looking and I will speak to you soon my Internet comrades. x

Goodbye Lookout Records

2012-01-21T12:52:00.001Z

As regular readers are aware, much of the work I do is connected in some way to music. The vast majority of my friends were met through a shared love of music and I could not live without it - either listening to it or making and playing it.

One of my first musical loves was the output of an independent record label from Berkeley, California -- Lookout Records. They specialised in pop-punk and are perhaps most widely known for putting out the first few records by Green Day, before they moved on to major label success.

Strangely, even though Lookout largely documented the bands of the Berkeley scene, thousands of miles away from me, it gave me a taste for music that inspired the listener to get involved, where anyone could be in a band, start a zine, or start a label.

As well as the actual music, there was a very specific visual aesthetic that accompanied the label - it was very much a hand-drawn, cut & paste endeavour, and all the more characterful for it.

Without a doubt, Lookout Records nudged me onto the path that got me involved not only with punk & DIY music, but with producing art for music, and I remain ever fond of them for that.

Sadly, after a rocky few years Lookout have had to shut down permanently. The reasons are varied, and far from black and white, so not something I feel I want to focus on...

For now I'll just say, thanks and farewell.

Creative Review - Monograph Screenadelica feature

2011-11-25T16:03:00.001Z

Earlier in the year I picked up a subscription to Creative Review magazine, which is a great way to be exposed to new ideas and imagery which I might not come accross (or even search for) when in front of the computer screen.

Subscribers also get an extra little publication called Monograph, which is almost like a nicely printed little zine about a different subject each month.

For the December issue, Monograph features some of the gigposter art by various designers involved with Screenadelica, including my Lucero poster.

It's an absolute pleasure to be included alongside quite a few friends & peers, thanks to all involved!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Lucero Gigposter

2011-11-25T14:31:00.001Z

Some of my posters were recently displayed and sold at the Orlando Calling Festival in the Shining Lands of America, thanks to the hard work and constant travelling of the Mobile Screenadelica Exhibition Crew!

The Screenadelica designers were asked to produce posters for some of the bands playing the festival, and I was chuffed to do one for those good ol' Lucero boys:

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]An edition of 50, with a delightful colour-blend, I hand printed these beasts myself and they are now available on the AoC Shop here.

Lucero Gigposter

2011-11-25T14:30:00.001Z

The Screenadelica designers were asked to produce posters for some of the bands playing the festival, and I was chuffed to do one for those good ol' Lucero boys:

An edition of 50, with a delightful colour-blend, I hand printed these beasts myself and they are now available on the AoC Shop here

I Am Kloot gigposter

2011-11-25T14:19:00.001Z

A little while ago I was asked by the lovely Mara Piccione to contribute to a special 25th Anniversary Exhibition for the Netherlands Venue EKKO.

Each designer in the exhibition produced a poster for a band that had played excellent and memorable gigs at EKKO. This is the poster I designed & printed for Manchester krooners, I Am Kloot.

This is a super-limited run of only 32, and the few that I have left are now available on the AoC Shop.

Screenprinting Course

2011-11-14T15:45:00.001Z

So this weekend myself and good friend Cameron Steward (twoducksdisco.co.uk) taught our first Screenprinting Course at WYPW, the place where we both print. I'm very happy to report we were both really pleased with how it went.

As well as taking everyone through the print process we spent some time showing our enthusiastic group of 6 a few tricks for prepping files in Photoshop, such as trapping and halftoning.

I designed a 2 colour print as a sort of certificate for the course, and each student took home the one they printed.

The students were keen and enthusiastic and were an absolute pleasure to work with. Everyone was able to print their own artwork on the second day, and you can see a few of the prints here, here and here!

Fantastic stuff and I look forward to teaching further courses in the future!

Skulls are...

2011-10-31T11:38:00.001Z

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Not only is this portentous day signified by mischievous ghosts and goblins making merry by the moonlight, but it is also the launch of my design for the Awesome Merch Vs Poster Roast Series.

The design will be sent out as postcards and posters with each order placed with Awesome Merch throughout November and will also be available in gruesome t-shirt form - although move quickly human, there are only 50 available!

Just for fun, I have also adapted this design for wallpaper, which you can download for free!

Available sizes:

1280 x 800 / 1440 x 900 / 1680 x 1050 / 1920 X 1080 / 1920 x 1200 / 2048 x 1152 / 2560 x 1440 / ipad / mobile

Be Spooky; Stay Safe.

Screen Printing Course & Exhibition

2011-10-12T13:44:00.001Z

LEARN TO PRINT!

Myself and my esteemed colleague Cameron Steward (www.twoducksdisco.co.uk) will be facilitating a 2 day screen printing course, taking place at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, the studio where we both print much of our work.

The course is aimed at people who have an interest in printing gig posters, so will cover such topics as:

Working with bands/labels & the legalities gigposters
Making your design 'screenprint friendly' - understanding the pros and cons of the medium
Using such techniques as trapping and overprinting
Screenprinting accurately and at speed!

The ideal participant would be someone with a sense of humour, who is willing to ask daft questions and get their hands dirty. Also they must be aged 18 or over.

For more info, please go here: http://www.wypw.org/courses/18/Screen_Printed_Gig_Posters.html

And if you are interested - move quick friend as I think there many only be 1 or 2 places left.

At this very moment there is also an exhibition of gigposters at the studio, aptly titled 'This is a GigPoster.' If you were interested in having a look at the studio, you should swing by soon and check out the work on show.

Gig Posters Volume 2

2011-10-11T21:18:00.001Z

Very pleased indeed to have been included in the new Gig Posters book. I received my copy through the post today, and let me tell you it is absolutely beautiful and each page is perforated so you can pull out and display your favourites.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The book is not out on general sale yet but you can preorder it here, and it should be readily available in lots of places when it is out. A perfect gift for music and art fans.

Playful & Passionate

2011-10-08T14:43:00.001Z

Opera North recently commissioned myself and animator Ash 'Broken Pixel' Dean to put together a short animation to raise awareness of the programme of classical music taking place in the Howard Assembly Rooms.

It was a pleasure to work with Ash again, and great to see my illustrations brought to life. We both took a few process screengrabs as we worked on this, so look out for a process write-up some point soon.

Revival Tour posters available this week

2011-10-05T13:45:00.001Z

I will be putting 10 copies of my poster for The Revival Tour up on the AoC Shop this Friday the 7th October at 3pm GMT (that's UK time, so convert accordingly).

In order to let people have reasonable chance to grab one, there will be a limit of no more than 2 per customer. They might all go in minutes, or they might last a week or so - we will see!

The posters are still available to purchase at Revival Tour shows - if you are able to make it to one, please go and support the guys. They put on a really inspiring and positive show and Danny on the merch stall will be happy to sell you a poster.

Cheers & Stay Lucky.

Revival

2011-09-30T10:05:00.001Z

I'm very pleased to have worked with the super awesome Chuck Ragan in putting together this Tour Poster for the 2011 UK/Europe leg of The Revival Tour.

See the full gallery on Posterous

This is an A2, 3 colour screenprint, with an edition of 270.

Thanks so much for the positive comments on the poster so far, it's been a pleasure to design and the print job is absolutely beautiful. Because I'm getting asked the same set of questions, I'm going to try and cover all that stuff below.

INFORMATION:

These weren't at the first few shows -- really sorry to those at the earlier UK shows who worried that they missed them or that they'd sold out. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get these printed in time for the start of the Tour. They will be available from the Newcastle show onwards.

Online Store -- I will have a small number of these available from my online store which I will put on sale sometime next week. In order to make it fair for everyone who wants to grab one, I'll announce the date & time in advance, and after that it's first come first served.

Support the Tour! -- If you're able to get to a show and purchase one from the band directly, please do so - as mentioned above, I will not have many for sale, this is merch for the Tour. Get to a show, have a great time, and pick up a cool limited edition reminder in poster form!

Hand printed -- for those unfamiliar with the medium, these posters are hand printed, and then signed & numbered by the designer (that would be me). Each one is an individual piece of art, and a unique memento of what I'm sure will be an amazing tour. Once the run of 270 is gone, they are gone.

However... if there is enough demand, there may be a second printing in alternate colours, or with some other way of indicating a second print run. No details confirmed yet!

I think that's it -- thanks again for the interest in this print!

Mellow Update!

2011-09-27T13:38:00.001Z

The KLCTVEfusion Bicycle Art Show held at Mellow Johnny's in Austin, Texas took place while I was away and it sounds like it received a hugely positive response, raising over $2000 for Livestrong. Amazing news, and I'm honoured to have been involved.

Photographer Chris Gomez documented the show, and you can see more photos here:

http://www.chrisgomezphoto.com/mellowjohnnys

Flatstock Europe 6 (AKA FS 32)

2011-09-13T12:53:00.001Z

You know the drill by now -- the Flatstock Poster Convention is the largest gigposter event in the world, and Flatstock EU is now it's its 6th year.

As usual the event takes place in Hamburg, Germany as part of the Reeperbahn Festival and promises to be a lot of fun.

Flatstock will be situated on the spielbudenplatz of the Reeperbahn district and will be open Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th September, from 3pm to 11pm each day.

Poster artists from around the globe will be displaying and selling their prints, posters and other nick-nacks. The list of luminaries reads thus:

Crosshair (US), Piccione Illustration & Art (NL), Lil Tuffy (US), FugScreens Studios (US), Mark McCormick Art (US), Scrawled Design (GB), Damien Tran (DE), Adam Pobiak (GB), Grace Helly Graphics (DE), Pink Slip Press (US), Handcooked Posters (GB), Michael Cowell (GB), tattoo freestyle (DE), Douze Studio Dresden (DE), Kevin Tong Illustration (US), Tara McPherson (US), ARMY of CATS (GB), Luke Drozd (GB), monkeyink (US), The Comet Substance (CH), Strawdogs (NL), IdleBeats (DE/CL), Atzgerei (AT), clockwork pictures (IT), horse (GB), Slowboy (DE), Zeloot (NL), Fritte (DE), Mitchum d.a. (DE), Voodoo Catbox (US), The Red Can Co. (DE), PopFuel (CA), Boss Construction (US), Methane (US), Sean Mort (GB), Workspace (US), Walking Bodybag (DE), Arrache Toi un Oeil (FR), Rocket & Wink (DE)

Hope to see you there!

Always check the Terms!

2011-09-08T11:56:00.001Z

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I was recently contacted by an online 'Designer's Gallery' in its Beta stages asking me to sign up and upload some of my work.

The site was well designed and had plenty of submissions already up there. As I usually try and do these days, I took a look at the Terms of Use before I made a decision on whether to sign up, and the following rang a few alarm bells with me:

"By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on [this site], you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials."

For me personally it's the "create derivative works of" that is most concerning.

While direct 'rips' of work tend to get exposed quite quickly on the Internet these days and can result in bad press for the author of the derivative work, more subtle rips - especially of concepts or ideas - can be harder to spot. There would be nothing worse than finding out your work had been appropriated and that you had actually (unintentionally) granted the rights for it to be taken and used.

On this occasion I decided I did like the idea of granting anyone with these rights concerning my work, and did not sign up to the site.

Out of interest, I took a look at the Terms of some of the other sites I use and noticed that for some of them, the language used is far less ominous and all-encompassing. The terms of Dribbble.com, for instance, only state: "By uploading your screenshots to Dribbble you give Dribbble permission to use or distribute your screenshots on dribbble.com or affiliated sites" and they also go on to mention "As Dribbble asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others."

Essentially, the only right you grant in this instance is the right for your images to appear on the site; which comes across not only as reassuring but also in a tone much more supportive of creatives and users of the site.

Though the chances of your work being appropriated by a site to which you uploaded it may seem slim - and my scouring of Terms of Use Agreements my seem suspicious and maybe even paranoid - it is always worth being aware of what you are agreeing to when using a site.

Given the ease with which unscrupulous sorts can steal images online, and our current climate of so many designers and illustrators giving up their work for free via Crowdsourcing and other activities, it becomes increasingly important to understand the value of - and protect - your creative works.

Thanks for reading - stay safe!

Wedding Illustration

2011-09-01T12:30:00.001Z

Wedding artwork is not work I would typically undertake, but when I was approached by a friend of mine to come up with an illustration depicting him and his wife-to-be, I couldn't resist.

See the full gallery on Posterous

This was a pleasure to work on; my friend's input was 'just the right amount' considering the personal nature of the project, and I even framed the final print for them. A lovely project with a happy ending.

Bicycle Artshow at Mellow Johnny's, Austin TX.

2011-08-25T13:07:00.001Z

I am honoured to have been asked by one of my newly acquired Austin friends (and all round super good guy), Bobby Dixon, to be involved in a bike themed art exhibition taking place at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop in Austin, Texas, happening this September.

A limited number of my 'Ride Hard...' prints will be available to purchase and all proceeds will be going to LiveStrong, the organisation set up by the legendary Lance Armstrong. I'm humbled indeed to be able to contribute to this event and hopefully raise further awareness and cash for the awesome things that LiveStrong do.

Plus, just look at how my name sticks out amongst that list of amazing artists and contributors. Blimey!

I would love to make this event, though sadly I fear it's a touch too far for me to cycle... If you are an Austin local, be sure to check it out!

Poster Roast at Radfest III

2011-08-25T12:38:00.001Z

My hardworking friends at Poster Roast recently represented the work of a few UK poster artists at the recent Radfest III event, and I'm pleased to say some of my work featured among the colourful offerings of eye-noms & poster tidbits.

They even put up a few pictures which you can see here: http://posterroast.com/site/2011/08/25/radfest-iii-2/

For those unaware of the cool stuff Poster Roast do, you should absolutely go and view this rather nice videomational reel, with immediacy!

'Ride Hard & Earn the Downhill' now available

2011-08-23T10:45:00.001Z

Pick up my latest bike themed print from the online shop:

http://armyofcats.bigcartel.com/

Pick one up now to get FREE POSTAGE to anywhere!

ARTCRANK London 2011 - Opening Night

2011-08-10T10:47:00.001Z

Despite the riots and turmoil in London, plans are still rightly going ahead for the ARTCRANK London event, the opening of which will be on Friday 19th August. It promises to be a great night, so definitely try and swing by if you're around.

My prints have now made the magical transition from pixels to ink and paper and look great! They are A2, and limited to a signed/numbered edition of 60. They will be availble to purchase from Look Mum No Hands as well as from the AoC Shop after the event.

Until next time: Stay safe friends!

Worst. Service. Ever.

2011-08-05T08:50:00.001Z

I recently emailed a supplier of a product I am interested in, mentioning that they were recommended by a mutual friend, and providing some very clear details of what I was interested in. I asked a couple of questions about how best to supply artwork and also asked for a quotes for various order quantities. While it contained a few details, my email wasn't overly long, and it expressed some positivity about the prospect of doing business with said supplier.

This is the reply I received:

"Please phone me next tuesday"

Now. Perhaps I am naive about how the industry works and this response is perfectly reasonable; par for the course, even. Perhaps, were I to call on Tuesday, I would be given another set of instructions leading me to a hidden locked box or providing me with a puzzle to solve. Perhaps after a treasure hunt style chain of events I would even be allowed to order the product I am interested in, having proved myself worthy to my secretive supplier.

Or perhaps this is fact the worst customer service I've encountered in a long time. It's impersonal on so many levels. Right from the get-go.

My first response was to laugh incredulously. Really? Then I hit reply and typed, "Nevermind, I'll find someone else." Hit Send.

The lesson to be learned is that if you're running a business and someone takes the time to enquire about your services, how you reply communicates an awful lot about how you might conduct yourself later on in the process. It sets a precident for the level of service a customer should expect. It reassures the customer that they've made the right choice in coming to you, and that you appreciate the enquiry. It might just give you the advantage if they've emailed other suppliers and recived poor responses... like the one above.

ARTCRANK London 2011

2011-08-01T12:26:00.001Z

I was chuffed into smithereens to be asked to take part in this year's Artcrank London Exhibition. Artcrank is a poster party for bike people, where you can hang out and chat, drink, view and purchase fantastic, limited edition pieces of art.

I just finished my design and will report back again here once it's printed.

As with last year, the exhibition will be hosted by the awesome Look Mum, No Hands venue. Last year the atmosphere was great on the opening night, so it's definitely worth a visit.

Incidentally, my wife and I (both fans of outdoor adventuring) completed a run / ride / kayak adventure race this weekend and, clearly bitten by the bug, have now entered a Sprint Triathlon too -- so I'm glad to be riding bikes as well as making art about them.

My print from last year contained a Tour de France reference, and this one is no different - see if you can spot it!

Out of Spite XI process & art print

2011-07-11T09:36:00.001Z

See the full gallery on Posterous

Nice and easy print session. 2 colour, A2, edition of 35.

Midway through the print process I decided do an art print version of the design - super limited edition of only 5!

See the full gallery on Posterous

The main run will be available to purchase at Out of Spite Festival next weekend, happening at The Well, Leeds. (Click here to see the Facebook event).

The art print version is up on the AoC Shop now!

Out of Spite XI

2011-07-08T07:30:00.001Z

Out of Spite is a long-running weekend music festival held in Leeds and run by friends of mine. It's sort of become a landmark event within the circles of no-longer-young, UK, 90's punk rockers - of which I am proudly one! Here's a poster I whipped up to commemorate the event, which I hope to print this weekend in order to have a stack for sale during the fest.

The sweet official poster/flyer design, as used to advertise the event, was designed by a friend of mine, Ben Whittington, and he'll have screenprints of that design also.

Stay tuned for some snaps of my printing process...

Stornoway Silkscreen Concert Poster

2011-07-07T13:18:00.001Z

I recently designed a poster for alt-folky Oxford lads, Stornoway to commemorate their appearance at London's impressive Somerset House.

See the full gallery on Posterous

I pitched a few sketches for the concept, one of which was the idea that the band might want to have a practice gig using a 'home-made' prop of Somerset House to try and capture the vibe. The band liked the idea and - with the addition of a few key island/nautical elements - that's what we went with.

Stornoway will be playing at Somerset House this Saturday, 9th July, and the posters will be available form their merch stall. I should also have a few for sale in the AoC Online Shop soon.

Textbook - Out of My Universe

2011-06-29T12:51:00.001Z

Textbook are a great three-piece pop-punk band from Chicago and have a new EP out called 'Out of My Universe' which I whipped up the cover for.

One of the band members is a fan of certain long-running, BBC sci-fi series, so there is a little reference to that which you might spot.

The 6 song EP recorded and mixed by Matt Allison (with help from Justin Yates) and availble to purchase online from those agreeable chaps at Boss Tuneage Records for the princely sum of only £3 - you should head here immediately and pick one up!

Textbook are on their way to our inclement shores so UK folk should have a look at their tour dates and swing by to see them if you can. They are lovely lads and would appreciate multiple drinking companions.

Red Robot Media logo design

2011-06-29T09:25:00.001Z

I recently worked with new start-up Red Robot Media on coming up with a new logo for them and some direction on branding and type.

See the full gallery on Posterous

For a very detailed walkthrough of the design process please head on over to my Behance page. This covers my thinking and rationale behind some of the design choices and also talks about the importance of involving your client in the process. Hopefully this will be of interest to young designers or potential clients wanting to see more of the process.

If you're interested in hiring me for your design/logo/branding project: get in touch, I'd love to hear from you!

The AoC Guide to Silkscreen Printing

2011-06-06T07:50:00.001Z

The slides are prepared and I'm actually quite pleased at the way in which they convey the printing process.

All that we need now is an audience to absorb the information and pretty pictures: 'Better Culture' IX, takes place this Tuesday 7th June from 7pm at Stylus, in Leeds University Union. Tickets are £5 and can be purchased here. http://bettakultcha9leeds.eventbrite.com/

See you there!

BettaKultcha IX

2011-05-26T10:52:00.001Z

BettaKultcha, which I will be henceforth refering to as Better Culture, is a night of presentations given by all kinds of different people on all sorts of different subjects - the interesting thing is that everyone gets 5 minutes to present 20 slides, each of which will be displayed for only 15 seconds.

I will be presenting at the next Leeds event which takes place on Tuesday 7th June from 7pm at Stylus, in Leeds University Union. Tickets are £5 and can be purchased here. http://bettakultcha9leeds.eventbrite.com/

"What the hell will you be waffling about?!" you screech to the heavens. Good question. My presentation will be titled:

The ARMYofCATS Guide to Silkscreen Printing:
A Better Culture Public Service Presentation

For many readers, I'm sure you have had just about as much screenprinting/silkscreen coverage as you can possibly take. For people such
as yourself who already posses an all too keen understanding of the process, I will attempt to make the presentation mildly entertaining.

Wish me luck, and please come along if you're Leeds-based or nearby. You can see some videos of past presentations here: http://bettakultcha.blogspot.com/

Vintage Mail Van

2011-05-26T10:45:00.001Z

The process went like this:

Watching David Fincher's Zodiak, I spot a great little vintage mail van.

Pause DVD.

Quick sketch in my sketchbook.

Take photo of sketch using iPad.

Upload photo to Dropbox.

Drag into Photoshop.

Create final illustration.

Screenadelica 2011 pt2

2011-05-23T14:07:00.001Z

A huge thank you to everyone who got involved with Screenadelica, especially Gary for his organisings and a varied cast of other helpers, who will sadly remain un-sung heroes (for now).

See the full gallery on Posterous

I have to say, it was an absolute pleasure to meet so many people genuinely enthused by the work on show, and willing to splash out on a few prints here and there too. As a gigposter artist, in an environment where tastes and trends ebb and flow, it's often easy to feel a little burned out by investing so much time into something where you don't always get what you might feel is a fair return on the work you put it. For many artists and designers, producing gigposters isn't a wholly commercial venture and is done out of a love for music and the bands they work for. Coming away from an event like this one, however, you are reminded that there is real value in the shared affinity you get when people not only support what you do, but also understand and share the reasons why you do it.

An Australian fella I spoke to shared a simple but quite poignant thought with me. He said that in 20 years time he will very likely not be still wearing a band shirt he purchased at a gig; but he may well still be displaying a framed gigposter on a wall, or at the very least have that poster stored away as part of a larger collection, something perhaps that he may even pass onto his kids someday. This observation is so simple, it's never actually occurred to me before but it makes a lot of sense and provides real encouragement in continuing to design and be involved in the work that I, and other, artists do.

Sincere thanks, Liverpool, you've been a lovely place to visit. See you next time.

Screenadelica 2011

2011-05-17T12:30:00.001Z

Fellows! I will be in attendance to this here exhibition-slash-selling event which takes place in Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Sound City festival.

19th, 20th, and 21st May from 3pm daily at 34 Slater Street (former International/Art Organisation Gallery) (see map here!).

THIS EVENT IS FREE TO ENTER

Here is some Official Screenadelica Blurb:

"Screenadelica is a gig poster exhibition, celebrating the art of the screen printed gig poster, held during Liverpool Sound City festival. Playing host to both UK and international artists, Liverpool shall see a wide variety of styles promoting the bands the artists love, inspired by the music they hear. With digital download taking over the music scene, the desire to still own something physical makes the screen printed poster all the more important, driving artists to create pieces of art for each show which encapsulates the music in their eyes. This then means that rather than one artist representing the bands sound, they get a whole range of interpretations of their music thru the screen printed gig poster."

Other artists in attendance include: Luke Drozd, We Three Club, Nick Rhodes, Tiny Little Horse, Michael Cowell, Horse, Paul Rafferty, Craig Robson, & John Biddle.

The gallery space will also have a bar with a specially curated line up of bands and visuals featuring from 8pm each evening, and there will also be live t-shirt printing taking place where you can take away a shirt-based souvenir of the event.

Bonus event!

This happens to be going on at the same time: Ghosts of Birds Gone - "Raising a creative army for conservation through a series of multimedia exhibitions that breathe artistic life back into extinct bird species, celebrating their diversity thru paintings & sculpture, talks & poetry, installations & live music."

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/ghostsofgonebirds (apologies that's a FB link, I know some people are loathe to have an account...)
As a fan of birds, I also sometimes like to look at pictures of birds, even extinct ones, so I'll probably check this out.

See you in Liverpool then, yeah?

Forgetters poster process

2011-05-05T11:02:00.001Z

My WYSAS friends and I were pretty excited about putting on the Forgetters from Brooklyn, NY being that it's the new musical outlet for Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker fame. I decided to whip up a very small run of posters to commemorate the gig.

I was inspired by the opening track from their 7", Vampire Lessons, which contains the line, "I need a companion to stalk the night," which brought to my mind the image of a cloaked figure stalking the night. Blake's lyrics are well known for their dark-but-tender leanings, so the idea that this cloaked, devil-like figure might actually be a lonely soul is something I wanted to convey with him protectively cradling a heart.

I wanted to keep things simple and work quickly on this one, so went with a silhouette and floral texture background. Here's the end result:

The printing session went well - I actually think I spent the most time on mixing the inks to get the exact shades I wanted. With simple designs such as this, colour is hugely important. If the blue had been too bright or saturated I think it would have spoiled the mood of the piece.

Here's some snaps of the printing process:

See the full gallery on Posterous

I also put together a flyer/poster to advertise the gig, which obviously has a different purpose and needs to contain more information than a poster designed as a memento, but fortunately I was able to tie the two designs together:

The gig itself was great, I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to everyone who attended, the other bands who played, and the soundman for doing a spot on job of making it all sound sweet.

As mentioned, this is a super-limited run and they are now available in the shop: http://armyofcats.bigcartel.com

Behold Behance

2011-05-04T08:09:00.001Z

I've started to upload select projects to my Behance Profile, beginning with the work I did on FLOOD.

I've gone into a little more detail behind some of the decisions with the logo and type choices, and you can have a look here:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/FLOOD-UK-Poster-Journal/1249963

Poster Roast - Camden Crawl 2011

2011-04-28T11:57:00.001Z

The zesty and wonderful blast of screenprinted goodness known as Poster Roast is upon us once again, and the Camden Crawl festival in London is it's willing vehicle. Climb aboard, I say, climb right on!

The exhibition will be hosted at the Camden Arms pub from 12-6pm on Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May. There will be live music & DJs, as well as live screenprinting and a shop from which you can purchase many of the prints on display in the exhibition.

Some of the artists will probably be loitering around in the shadows too... seek them out, and they can no doubt provide answers to your endless gigposter-specific questions.

More information can be absorbed here: http://posterroast.com/site/events

See you there true believers!

iPad 2

2011-04-19T08:31:00.001Z

FLOOD

2011-04-12T22:51:00.001Z

See the full gallery on Posterous

Flood is an 8 page newspaper publication showcasing the UK Poster Association artists who recently attended SXSW Flatstock.

The contents were put together by Crispin at British Underground, my good friend Luke Drozd did the cover illustration, I designed the logo and did the layout work, and www.newspaperclub.com did a splendid job with the printing.

This first issue was given away free at Flatstock and we still have a few left - if you would like one, drop me an email: gdpilling AT gmail.com You can also download a PDF version from here.

UKPA Banner

2011-03-30T22:16:00.001Z

Here is the banner I designed to represent my fellow countrymen and I while we exhibited our fine goods in Texas.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Having work shown alongside seemingly hundreds of other artists (many of them very talented indeed) meant that we needed a USP, in this case (perhaps rather cheaply) simply that we are British.

The little figure is based on the Monopoly man, except I added the hair, mustache, hat and tie.

Burwell Basement Casino

2011-03-29T22:59:00.001Z

A couple of years back, the lovely Guy Burwell of America told me a great story while we sat drinking coffee in the heart of Hamburg's sleepy red light district.

The story revolved around Guy's father building a sort of cardboard casino for him and his siblings to play in and may (or may not) have involved fleecing the neighbourhood kids out of their pocket money. Anyway it was one of those stories that sticks with you and I decided to commemorate this great yarn with a tshirt design.

Who knows if it was really true? Perhaps Guy told this story knowing that he would one day get a free shirt out of it. Clever chap.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Thank you Austin, Texas, America.

2011-03-26T18:39:00.001Z

I am back from SXSW! Some pictures (and hopefully video) to follow, but for now I'd just like to extend a huge thanks to Mark Pedini, Farley Bookout, Geoff Peveto & everyone at the API involved in organising Flatstock, and everyone we met whether they be fellow artists, new friends, people who were interested in our work, or just swung by our booth and said 'good day.'

Extra special thanks, of course, go to British Underground and the UKTI for their gratefully received financial support.

Photo by Farley Bookout

Flatstock 29 - SXSW 2011, Austin TX

2011-02-23T14:17:00.001Z

Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Posters of Army of Cats!

I am very pleased to announce I will be taking part in the 29th Flatstock Poster Convention in Austin, Texas, which is part of the SXSW festival.

Flatstock is, as we all know, the greatest rock poster convention in the world and if you want to attend the SXSW event you should know that it is FREE and it is happening like this:

Dates: March 16th -19th, 2011
Hours: Wednesday 3/16 from 2:00pm – 6:00pm / Thursday 3/17 through Saturday 3/11 11:00am – 6:00pm
Location: Austin Convention Center, Level 1, Ballrooms A,B,C

Here is a lovely poster by strawberryluna which advertises the event:

More information can be found here: http://flatstock.wordpress.com/

I will be there with some well-known fellow Brit poster comrades under the guise of organisation: yes, the UK POSTER ASSOCIATION has been formed. Massive thanks to http://britishunderground.net/ and http://www.ukti.gov.uk/ for providing us with the resources to represent our tiny island in the medium of ROCK POSTER.

In other news, we are making a newspaper style publication to take with us. Watch this space!

As a foulness shall ye know them...

2011-02-10T08:43:00.001Z

It's rare that my work steers into the territory of obvious political commentary. While I do my best to be as politically informed and active as I can, I think that unless you are a very good writer (which I am not), it's not something that is easily written about on the internet without you coming across as just another reactionist internet pleb.

Verbally grumbling with likeminded folk over a pint of ale in a good pub, however, is absolutely fine (this is practically an English tradition), as is occassionaly making derogatory pictures and posting them on your blog.

I hold in my heart a special place of loathing for UK politicians. I find them smug, self-serving, evasive, slimy, and downright dishonest and it is very rare that I see one speak on television and am not filled with a mixture of rage and revulsion.

The quote, which is taken from the work of H.P. Lovecraft (of whom I am a massive fan), is something I am often reminded of when confronted by the suited, smiling devils.

Poly: meaning many; Tics: meaning blood sucking parasites.

This is a very quick thing I whipped up just to get the idea out of my system, however, watch this space for more specifically Lovecraft-themed work coming soon...

Tough Guy II

2011-02-05T17:47:00.001Z

A quick update to say I survived! My team mates and I completed the course with only a few scrapes and bruises, thankfully -- apparently around a thousand people didn't finish!

While it is certainly probably the 'toughest' thing I've ever done, it was also an amazing and truly inspiring experience.

Here's one of my favourite pictures taken shortly after jumping through fire!

You can see more photos on my Flickr page here.

Tough Guy Challenge 2011

2011-01-25T11:31:00.001Z

I've been rather quiet on the blog front over the past few weeks. Obviously Christmas and New Year's can account for some of the inactivity, but to top it off I had the unfortunate business of getting the dreaded Swine Flu which well and truly knocked me out for a time, and has left me with a bit of a bad chest even now. I hate succumbing to illness!

My main endeavour at the moment has been training for an event I am taking part in at the end of the month: Tough Guy Challenge.

"TGC is the world's safest, most dangerous taste of mental and physical pain, fear and endurance."

Essentially, it's a 6 mile cross country run through mud, ditches, rivers and up a variety of hills followed by The Killing Fields: a fiendishly designed assault course where competitors must crawl through tunnels, wade through freezing water, climb cargo nets, jump through fire, run through electrified wires, and even 'walk the plank'. There is also a lot of mud. A lot.

While I've always considered myself to be at a reasonable level of fitness, it wasn't until the beginning of 2010 that I decided to give running a try. With some encouragement from my wife (who, I hasten to add, is a very good competitive runner) I decided to enter a few 10k races and found I really enjoyed them.

Entering a race or event before you feel you're ready for it is a great motivational tool - it pushes you to improve and forces you to make sure you are ready. As a Project Manager I wouldn't ordinarily endorse the idea of 'leaping before you look' but in this case it's really quite effective.

This was the mentality behind myself, my wife and a friend of ours entering one of the toughest endurance races in the world...

The event takes place on Sunday 30th January -- wish me luck!

If you're interested in finding out more, there are some great photos here. No. 26 was actually a huge inspiration for me in deciding to enter.

You can also visit the TGC website here: www.toughguy.co.uk

No Means No Means Printing

2010-11-25T16:41:00.001Z

Here's some photos of the printing session for the No Means No poster. I also printed a small run of just the design itself, without any of the text.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

Both the gigposter and artprint version will be in very limited supply (less than 20 of each version), and there are no plans for these to be sold at the Leeds gig. If you are interested in one, get in touch and I'll see what I can sort out...

Thanks for watchin'!

Poster Roast Leeds

2010-11-25T09:27:00.001Z

A little late in sharing these, but here are some snaps of the Poster Roast exhibition which took place alongside Constellations Festival.

See the full gallery on posterous

I managed to catch a few of the bands (highlights for me were Liars and Chickenhawk) but by far my favourite band of the night were Les Savy Fav. I managed to take a few photos of the good stuff.

See the full gallery on posterous

Many thanks to everyone who came along and had a look through the posters, bought something, or just stopped by for a chat.

Let's hear it for lists!

2010-11-12T10:02:00.001Z

The phrase "Lists Make Life Livable" is something I've had written down in my sketchbook (and, funnily enough, my ideas list) for a while now, just waiting for me to do something with it.

It's something of a platitude* but it really is true. I cannot function without lists. I have lists written on the back of envelopes, lists on my iPhone, lists on post-it notes stuck to my desk, lists on virtual post-its stuck to my desktop... etc. etc.

Often it's not simply a case of me being unable to remember things unless they're on a list, but rather that the physical act of writing/typing the thing down is what reinforces it and allows me to remember it. PLUS, it's also really satisfying to tick, strikethrough, highlight or otherwise complete something on a list.

As a sort of experiment, I decided I would submit this little piece as a Threadless shirt design. I sort of find it funny when people go on a mad marketing crusade asking people to vote on their shirt designs, since I don't feel voting actually sways whether or not a design gets printed. Threadless have a very successful business model and I'm sure they're more than capable of picking out designs on their own.

It is a tricky one, though, as I certainly feel Threadless shirts, while not adhering to one visual style, do have a sort of specifc 'light heartedness' that makes them a Threadless shirt. Trying to tap into that can be somewhat hit and miss.

Does this illustration seem like a Threadless shirt? I kind of hope so, but who knows? As mentioned, more of a fun experiment to see how it does. I'd like to think the moustache helps.

Let's hear it for lists!

* Thanks to my friend Andy for providing me with this word when I asked, "What's the word for saying something obvious and passing it off as clever?" It's a great word. Designers use platitudes all the time.

Poster Roast Leeds

2010-11-10T16:14:00.001Z

Look at that massive C there. It's massive. What does it mean?

It means Poster Roast is coming to Leeds, of course, in conjuction with Constellations Festival taking place on Sunday, November the 14th, at a few different venues here in Leeds.

Not only can you watch such awesome bands as Les Savy Fav, Chickenhawk, Broken Social Scene, Liars, Four Tet and many others, but you can now also peruse an exhibition of gigposter designs from some of the very best poster maker people in the UK.

There will there be posters for sale, and you can also meet many of the artists themselves. Look at their faces! Peer intently at the back of their heads, in an effort to understand why, why, why, why... Feed them treats directly into their little hungry mouths -- but remember, FLAT PALMS, or they'll nip.

I would like to think that the exhibition element of the event is free to access, but in all honesty I don't really know. I'm pretty sure there are windows to peer in through, though.

If you require more information you could always try and dredge something out of the pretty but ultimately completely fucking inaccessible website they have set up here: http://www.constellationsfestival.com/

I was hoping to find a page containing all the useful exhibition which I would like to give out to potentially interested parties, but I can't find anything, and I've given up. I no longer care. I'm really looking forward to watching Les Savy Fav and having a beer.

NoMeansNo

2010-11-08T12:19:00.002Z

Poster and flyer design for Canadian punk rock super legends NoMeansNo, who are one of my absolute favourite bands.

See the full gallery on posterous

The design is a reference to the song The Tower from their 1989 album Wrong which contains the lyrics:

"From a burning building, a man leaps to his death,
I stand above these mansions of the dead,
Red tombs and above us looms, The Tower!

I see a tower against the sky, Beneath a red unblinking eye."

For ticket information about this gig (which you should absolutely strive to attend, at all costs) swing by here.

I aim to screenprint a very limit amount of these as souvenirs of the gig, but will also be doing an art print version of the design, without the band information and other text. Watch this space!

The Black Keys

2010-11-07T13:38:00.001Z

My silkscreened poster for Ohio 2-piece The Black Keys. This was for their Liverpool, UK gig on 6th Nov 2010.

See the full gallery on posterous

The shape of the landmass on which the buildings are sitting is the shape of the state of Ohio. The speech bubble says 'Welcome to Akron' and is (roughly) where the city of Akron sits in Ohio.

Akron, where the band hail from, was a boom town in the 1800's and a hotbed of many industries, which is what I've tried to capture in the design.

This was available from the gig but can now also be purchased from my online store: armyofcats.bigcartel.com

Garden Grow music video

2010-10-26T13:44:00.004Z

I recently did some work on another music video, this time a Broken Pixel production for Bella Union band Our Broken Garden.

As well as providing a tiny bit of concept art, I lent a hand decorating the set and painted the thorn bushes & foliage you can see in the background.

Watch the video here.

Ashley & Kevin Roper (along with assistance from Ash's parents), did an amazing job of building the set and creating the wonderful props and creatures which inhabit it. The shooting of the video saw the arrival of comrades Danny North & Tim Blackwell, whose experience behind the cameras helped bring the whole thing to life.

I was lucky enough to spend a few hours on set and watch a handful of shots unfold - see some of the 'making of' photos on Flickr.

A little thing taken from my sketchbook.

2010-10-22T10:56:00.001Z

Poster design for 'Carrot Cake Soup' a short film by the Folkman Brothers.

2010-10-21T11:25:00.001Z

Carrot Cake Soup is adapted from a short story by Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade fame and will be appearing as part of the forthcoming LA Comedy Festival. You can watch the film online here.

I'm very pleased to have done further work for these guys - not only are they a talented pair, but they're a pleasure to work with and I'm sure their hard work and positive approach will continue to lead them onto ever cooler successes. Good work lads.

www.folkmanbrothers.com

The Currency of Opportunity & Exposure

2010-10-14T14:05:00.004Z

Here is an email I received today. It being my birthday, typically a day associated with the giving of gifts, I decided I would furnish the sender with a generous reply. (Pesonal information has been removed.)

Hello
My name is __________, I am from midlands band _________. We recently won the surface unsigned competition at the london indigo O2 where we beat 12000 bands to first prize. All three judges gave our band 16/16 in the judging criteria.
we have won a pr deal, a full days photoshoot, a single release, a press release to 55000, online banner deal, radio backing and a slot at the sziget festival in Budapest to 390,000 people plus more.

The one thing we did not win was a design package. we are currentley looking for sponosorship from a designer/design company to help us design everything from tshirts/flyers/posters/website/myspace/cd artwork/press pack. anything at all, obviousley on each part we can make sure you are well advertised. we will also being doing a press release early next year to 55,000 so we can make sure the sponsorship is advertised there also. This is a great opportunity for anyone involved.

we are extremeley proud of our band, we are working as hard as possible to take it all the way to the top

We will be releasing a single and video with believe digital and zimbalam and we will begin our PR campaign and send out our press release in march 2011.

kerrang radio have featured us as there unsigned band of the week, radio presenter for kerrangs unsigned show Alex Baker has already championed us on his show “they are up there in one of the best live bands I have ever seen” and he will also be backing us with our release.

BBC introducing midlands (The Beat) have Agreed to back us, they will receive first play of the single and we will be doing a live video in there studio to coincide with the single release which will go up on there website.

Idol magazine, London, will get first play of the video on there online magazine, there have an impressive 200,000 online readers every month.

We already have a hardcore fan base with a 900 fans on face book, rising everyday and 2000+ fans on Myspace, over the next few months we will be taking our show nationwide to help raise awareness of the band and the forth coming single. We plan to do a tour just after the release in march.

If you feel you want to help us in anyway please contact me.

Thanks for your time
_________

call me on: ___________

Sent from my iPhone

Hello _______,

Thank you for the summary of your band's achievements. I agree, it is a real shame that a full design package was not included in your impressive list of prizes.

Sadly, I'm afraid I am not in a position to provide my services to you for free.

Unfortunately, I have discovered, quite shockingly, that opportunities and exposure don't really get me very far in fiscal, real world terms, although let me assure you it's not for want of trying:

I was quite convinced I was onto a winner when I approached my Mortgage Provider and proposed that they buy me a shiny new house in return for me proudly stencilling their logo onto the external brickwork of my new abode, making sure that every passerby knew who was generously sponsoring me with the provision of shelter and lodging.

"I know loads of people," I explained, "I will definitely put in some really positive words about you when we have friends round for dinner or if someone delivers a parcel. I'll even hand out business cards or flyers. Think of the exposure!"

Keen to expand on my initial idea, I also planned to approach my local supermarket and ask for free food and provisions -- my wife is a great cook, so I expected them to jump at the chance to have their ingredients associated with some truly delicious meals.

With all the money I would be saving thanks to my generous food and shelter sponsorships, I realised I probably wouldn't have to work anymore and so decided I would like to take some time off to go travelling around the world. Think of all the people and places I would see! Think of the exposure potential! It seemed only fair to share this kind of monumental marketing opportunity with as many businesses as possible.

My next goal, of course, would be to find not only a clothing company excited to reap the rewards of providing me with all my travelling essentials, but also travel companies, hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping centres, safari parks, luxury retreats, and basically every type of commercial service imaginable, all ready and willing to lend a hand.

Just as I had come to the conclusion that it would, in fact, actually be quite rude of me to exclude anyone at all from what was clearly an entirely win-win situation, my dreams were promptly shattered.

BEHOLD! An unrelenting deluge of replies from my would-be sponsors, all seemingly colluding together in their unified and resounding choruses of: no, negative, nada, absolutely not.

...

Do you see? Despite all the magnificence of my planning, I had neglected to consider one, simple thing: respect.

I had forgotten that to truly appreciate the value of a thing, one has to show respect to the passion, craft, blood, sweat, tears, and above all time that goes into it's creation. When one genuinely values and respects something, they understand the importance of not asking someone to give that thing away for free.

On that day, despite my glorious plan having burgeoned, bulged, and burst into sad little ribbons, like the gastric band of some greedy obese man, I had at the very least learned a valuable lesson.

And so here we find ourselves.

What a sad state of affairs things are nowadays, with our celebrity-obsessed culture of handouts and get-fame-fast schemes; of manufactured Saturday Night entertainment wrapped up in the guise of talent contests; of overnight online success stories, publicity stunts and marketing virals; of double rainbows, and the coming apocalypse, and the 'cats-and-dogs-sleeping-together' mass hysteria of it all.

What a shame when one man suggests to another man, without the faintest hint of sarcasm, that he might feed, shelter and clothe himself and his family with the suggested currency of opportunity and exposure.

Sorry I can't help you on this occasion _______, but I wish you all the best with the band - and I do genuinely mean that. The music biz is a tough old game these days when you're looking to be appropriately rewarded for all your hard work.

Yours sincerely,

Graham D. Pilling

Flatstock EU 5

2010-10-03T14:48:00.001Z

This year might have been my favourite Flatstock so far. Thanks to everyone who bought prints & posters, supplied beer, fun and good times, or was involved in the organisation of this fine event in any way, shape or form.

See you next time.

Myself, Luke, and Jeremy (whose photo I stole).

Exhibition Stuff

2010-10-03T13:22:00.001Z

Artcrank London - I was absolutely blown away by the attendance to the show's opening night. Not only was it busy with people drinking and socialising but people were actually taking a real interest in the art and actually purchasing prints to take home seemed to be highly encouraged. Fantastic stuff and a big thank you to Artcrank and Look Mum, No hands for all their fine work.

You can see photos from the opening night here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyouel/

The editions of my print which I supplied for the show are actually very close to sold out, so you can also now purchase from my Online Store.

Rockers' Original - Some of my original pen and ink drawings appeared in this exhibition taking place recently at the Feinkunst Kruger Gallery, in Hamburg.

The exhibition featured the original art from gigposters and had an impressive list of contributing artists: Tara McPherson, Diana Sudyka, Jay Ryan, Mara Piccione, Senor Burns, Justin Santora, Lars P. Krause, Mark Pedini, Guy Burwell, Luke Drozd, Casey Burns, Graham Pilling, Michael Hacker (Atzgerei), John Howard, Gary Houston, Fritte, Bongout, Michael Michael Motorcycle, Dan Grzeca, Tim Lotz, Nicks Rhodes and Derek Hess.

See the full gallery on posterous

Thanks to everyone who came along to view and buy the work (both my pieces sold) and special thanks to Ralf for putting the whole thing together.

RUMPFEST

2010-10-03T12:12:00.001Z

In just under a fortnight's time a rather grand musical event will be taking place at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.

RUMPFEST is an allday beer and music festival brought to you by the fine WYSAS (Ents. Div.) folks and features an absolutely great lineup of bands and artists. Just feast your meaty eyes on these:

For more information, including band descriptions and ticket bleat, visit the WYSAS Blog or the handy Facebook event page.

See you there!

Out of the Woods shirt design

2010-10-03T11:45:00.001Z

I was asked by the lovely folks at Out of the Woods cafe in Leeds to design a t-shirt to commemorate their soon-to-be-opened new shop.

They often get referred to as simply a 'Juice Bar' when they actually also do really amazing sandwiches, soups, sushi, coffee and other good stuff so I wanted to make sure this came across clearly in the design.

The men's shirt is is a 2 colour front print and also features a logo on the back left-hand-side. I'm really pleased with how these came out!

I imagine they will have these for sale at some point soon - definitely swing by if you're in the Holbeck/Water Lane area of Leeds. (Secret Super Insider Tip: try the Breakfast Smoothie with Blueberries).

See the full gallery on posterous

Squeegee! - Die Siebdruck Bewegung

2010-10-03T11:19:00.003Z

Another very pleasant surprise at this year's Flatstock occurred when the delightful German gent Senor Burns swung by the booth of Luke and I and presented us with copies of a book he has produced: Squeegee! - The Silkscreen Movement.

I had actually sent Berny my content thinking it was merely going to be used as part of an exhibition he was putting on and completely unaware that it was going to be published in such a great looking (and smelling) tome. I was blown away by the quality of the book. Senor Burns, I salute thee!

The book is full colour and features around 28 artists from around the globe, but with a particular focus on the Europeans. The text is in a mix of English and German (educational!) but the main focus of course is the lovely, lovely work on show.

I don't currently have any of these for sale but if you happen to be interested, drop me a line and I'll procure some. I know it would look pretty sweet on your bookshelf, coffee table or prison cell bunk.

See the full gallery on posterous

Cool story, bro...

2010-10-03T11:19:00.001Z

It is something of a tradition for Flatstock artists to create a poster for the actual Flatstock event itself, as sort of a souvenir and something which can be traded with other artists. The great thing about Flatstock posters is that they can often be a great vehicle for poster-nerd in-jokes or other absurdness which wouldn't usually fit on an actual band poster.

With a mixture of pride, humility, and a not unpleasant tingling strangeness I present Dan Macadam / Crosshair's recent Flatstock Europe 5 poster, featuring the 3D Glasses-wearing face of yours truly. Interestingly, that is Chris '3D Glasses' White with his arm around me while my mortal enemy Luke Drozd looks on, like a jealous sod. Honored indeed!

Dan is a very skilled screenprinter and also a genuinely very nice chap - you should absolutely go look at his amazing work here: www.crosshairchicago.com

Flatstock Europe 5

2010-10-03T11:18:00.001Z

Flatstock Europe is once again upon us. Taking place in the Reeperbahn district of Hamburg, Germany, as part of the annual Reeperbahn Festival, FS-EU is a choice poster-artist retail and exhibition exposition, which the public at large and general 'crazies on the street' are most certainly encouraged to come along to.

There will be drinking.

See you there.

ArtCrank Ahoy!

2010-10-03T11:17:00.001Z

Just another reminder that the Artcrank London exhibition is kicking off this Friday -- I'm looking forward to hanging out with some of my London friends as well as meeting a few new people.

Hope to see you there.

Updatey-Dumpey

2010-09-02T12:54:00.004Z

Three updates today, you lucky so-and-so's, as for some reason my Posterous feed wasn't autoposting to the Blog...

While I've fixed this now, and service should resume as normal, it is worth me pointing out that the best way to keep up to date with my work is to use my Posterous feed:

armyofcats.posterous.com

Cheers!

Artcrank London

2010-09-02T12:50:00.006Z

I am very pleased indeedy to be involved in the first Artcrank London exhibition, taking place in a couple of weeks.

Artists from around the globe will be contributing bike themed poster art, all of which will be affordable to fans of both bicycles and posters. I still don't know any of the other artists involved, but if past Artcrank shows are anything to go by there will most certainly be some recognisable names and some amazing work.

For my contribution, I decided I wanted to depict, not just a bike, but the land and environment in which bikes are most at home. For me, riding a bike is inextricably linked to the British countryside and the idea of getting away from civilisation for a while. I spent countless hours in my younger years riding nearby chunks of greenery, such as The Penine Way and though these days I mostly use my bike to commute to work, I certainly like to get back out in the countryside when I get the chance.

This will be a 3 colour Risograph print (my first time trying out this medium), approx. 15" x 9" in size and limited to an edition of 45.

The opening night is taking place on Friday 17th September at Look Mum, No Hands in London.

I'm not yet sure if I can attend myself but, if you are nearby, this really shouldn't be a factor in you making up your own mind to pedal on down to what will no doubt be a wheely good time.

Sorry.

The Army of Cats Guide to Twitter Annoyances

2010-09-02T12:50:00.003Z

I am an avid Twitter user, I think it's great.

Twitter allows you follow a constant stream of information on whatever subject matter interests you; to connect with like-minded individuals; to get involved with new projects; but most of all to be able to do all this in a concise and manageable way. Mostly.

Sometimes, though, Twitter makes me grumble like a cranky old man. For no real reason other than to get them off my chest, here are the things that I grumble at the most:

1. Direct Messages are not a replacement for email

Though this list is by no means in order of magnitude of annoyance, this definitely deserves to be mentioned first.

Direct Messages are a handy means of passing on information to a specific individual without it cluttering up your main timeline of tweets BUT they aren't actually a very effective means of correspondence.

If someone DMs me about something that requires more than 140 characters worth of discussion, then I will politely request that they drop me an email (and of course provide my email address). Why? Because I don't want to be bound by the 140 character limit, and because I like to have my work/project communications all in one place, and because I use Gmail's various little tools to organise my work, AND because having to send multiple DMs back and forth is just bloody stupid!

On a few occasions now, I have made a polite request to switch the dialogue over to email only to have the other person completely ignore this and continue to send further DMs, usually asking questions that cannot possibly be answered within 140 characters. I've actually had one DM-athon where I requested that the other person email me THREE times, before I eventually gave up and simply stopped responding altogether.

I am utterly baffled by this behaviour.

2. Attempting to use Twitter to instigate in-depth debate

Similar to the above, this basically boils down to understanding what Twitter is good for, and what it is not good for.

The denizens of the Twitter universe can be very knowledgeable and helpful. Sending out a tweet saying, "Hey guys, where's a good place to buy novelty hats in London?" will no doubt inundate you with practical suggestions on how best to facilitate your London-based, novelty hat buying needs.

Sending out a tweet asking people to engage in a multi-layered discussion about... well anything... basically results in: a lack of clarity in the question being asked, lots of truncated responses to various interpretations of the question, and no means of keeping everything on one page or in one place, or in a relevant thread. Not only that but you lose the input from some people who may have had something valuable to share but are put off by the limitations of trying to use Twitter as a vehicle for this sort of detailed discussion.

To add icing to an already idiotic cake, the original author of the Tweet will often decide to retweet choice responses to the question to their followers, meaning you end up feeling involved in the discussion even if it was something you had no real interest in.

Here's an idea: set up a proper forum for meaningful discussion and just tweet the ruddy link.

3. Conversations between two people which have absolutely nothing of value to anyone else who might be following them

There's nothing wrong with a quick back-and-forth, but as soon as it becomes a full blown conversation, just take it to email. It's not that interesting that the whole internet needs to know. You do know that you're essentially posting to everyone, right?

4. People who constantly go over the character limit

Using services like http://www.twitlonger.com basically means you can go over the character limit and a link will provide readers with the text which overspilled from your tweet. Perfectly fine when the situation calls for it but people who do this regularly are sort of missing the point of Twitter. Perhaps just get a blog?

5. Endless self-promotion

My favourite Twitter users are the ones that share cool or interesting links, post daft photos, whimsical thoughts or responses, sometimes talk about what they've had for lunch, and also update the world on the work they produce or the thing that they do. The key thing here is that they share some of their personality in their tweets, they don't just use them as little advertising slots to mention when something goes on sale or to spam about some event or other.

If you do insist on trying to use Twitter solely for marketing and PR, here's a website I would like to recommend: http://www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/

6. Retweeting the tweet of someone who just retweeted your tweet

This is a somewhat new phenomenon in my experience but one that appears to be on the increase.

User A sends out a tweet to their followers. User B retweets it to their followers. User A then retweets User B's tweet, even though it is exactly the same as the original tweet they sent out to their followers perhaps only moments earlier.

OK, I get that sometimes people like to advertise that so-and-so retweeted them, but at least do it in the form of a 'thank you' rather than essentially sending out the same thing twice. Essentially sending out the same thing twice.

---

By way of a caveat, I am by no means the authority on how Twitter should be used, nor is there even a set of rules on the matter. Use Twitter however you find it most valuable to do so... but, like all media, never ignore your audience.

Rock Paper Show - Flatstock Volume One

2010-09-02T12:50:00.001Z

My copy of Rock Paper Show arrived today and it is a very niiiiiiice book. Let me tell you more...

Published by the lovely people at Soundscreen Design, RPS is basically a visual guide to the first 20 Flatstock events - 312 colour pages of photos, interviews, writing and, of course, posters. This is a chunky mother of a hardback and the overall design of its shiny, booky innards is very impressive. It also smells very nice. This, to me, is hugely important as I often judge the quality of a book by its unique bouquet. And let me tell you, this one smells like a beaut.

I am sincerely very proud to have some of my work appear in here, alongside a vast number of artists and designers whose work I admire and enjoy. In fact there is plenty of work in here by people I'm very honoured to call my friends. Basically, if I attempted to document my Flatstock experiences in some sort of scrapbook, then Rock Paper Show would be it. Except that Rock Paper Show is so awesome that it documents a bunch of Flatstocks I never even attended. If this book gives me a warm feeling, I can only imagine that it is a sincerely gratifying piece of memorabilia for some of the poster stalwarts who've been involved with the API and with Flatstock right from the beginning. Seriously good work all round, people; you should be immensely proud.

You can see more of the book's contents here: http://rockpapershow.com/ and you can most certainly order it from there as well. Which I really think you should do.

And on the subject of Flatstock, the 5th FS Europe taking place in Hamburg, Germany as part of the Reeperbahn Festival is only a few months away. See you there?

See the full gallery on posterous

Shop now open

2010-07-12T12:15:00.002Z

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are open for business.

You can now purchase my posters and prints using my shiny Big Cartel store - it has prices and images and buttons you can click and everything.

http://armyofcats.bigcartel.com/

SPECIAL OFFER: for the next 10 days, if you purchase TWO prints or posters, you may choose a THIRD poster or print to be included in your order for FREE.

The free print must be the same value or of lesser value than one of the prints you are purchasing -- simply include a note in your PayPal order to indicate which free print or poster you would like.

Hot Water Music, Leeds UK gigposter

2010-06-18T09:54:00.002Z

I can't keep these things under my hat for too long, so here we are.

Hot Water Music have such strong and instantly recognisable album artwork that my immediate response was to try to capture some of the feel of the excellent painted work of Scott Sinclair, using already established visual language that fans of the band will pick up on; elements such as the sombre, angular figure, the vines, the birds, and the Russian dolls, etc.

Hopefully I've captured the feel of the band's artwork but kept everything within the realms of my own style.

This will be available to buy from the gig on Tuesday night, as well as from me via mailorder afterwards. I'll update with some pics of the final printed posters as soon as I have them in my grubby mitts...

Posted via email from Army of Cats

I've seen heroic falls, busted lips from microphone brawls

2010-06-16T14:41:00.001Z

It's been a very busy past couple of weeks, mostly with work that's not quite fit to show yet.

I also just came back from a trip to Lisbon, Portugal. Though the purpose was to celebrate the final, free days of a friend who is getting married, the trip also just happened to coincide with the world-renowned Sardine Festival. Needless to say - good beer, good sardines, good times.

Thankfully, my recovery was swift enough to allow me to finish the poster design for Hot Water Music, which has now been sent off to print. See below for a sneaky peaky...

I'm also involved in putting the Leeds gig on, which is a-happening on Tuesday the 22nd June. If you're looking forward to going and don't have a ticket - MOVE FAST, they're very nearly all gone. Details here: http://wysas.blogspot.com/2010/02/june-22nd-2010-hot-water-music-plus.html

This promises to be an awesome night. My silkscreen poster will, of course, be on sale directly from the gig and via mailorder from myself afterwards... Watch this space for the full poster reveal soon.

Posted via email from Army of Cats

That fancy Danny North and his fancy business cards...

2010-05-26T13:13:00.002Z

While working with Danny North on a recent project, we both realised I'd never actually seen the businesscard I designed for him in the dark and misty past...

Spot-varnish on black, with details on the other side. Looks great!

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Poster Roast 2010

2010-05-05T10:35:00.002Z

A few years ago, I can recall a series of posts on gigposters.com where there was some discussion of the state of "the gigposter scene" within the UK. Printing facilities seemed few and far between; we didn't have things like Flatstock and there wasn't really a scene of collectors - in fact there wasn't even really much understanding of screenprinted gigposters as a 'thing' in general.

Between my chums and I, it's something which has been oft debated and I think the question it raises largely boils down to:

How do we encourage people to be interested in a really niche-of-a-niche thing, while not patronising people by attempting to convey its level of importance as something which it is not?

On the one hand, I want to be acknowledged and have people take an interest in something which I do; but on the other hand screenprinted gigposters are just one small part of my involvement with music & art: screenprinted gigposters aren't my life.

The idea behind Poster Roast has always been to exhibit gigposters in a realistic and appropriate context, in an environment which is conducive to providing a weekend of socialising for the people that create and take an interest in those posters; and to make sure that bands, music and people getting together and having a good time is the main focus.

The humble gigposter is merely a memento and an accompaniment of the important bit; it goes on the wall and it soaks it all in.

As usual, this 'Roast was a thoroughly good time. A huge thanks to Chris & Alex for all the work they put into making Poster Roast a success.

And if I haven't put you off posters too much, you should swing by the 3D Glasses store to purchase the collaborative poster. Yes, do that!

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

That F*cking Tank

2010-04-28T11:20:00.001Z

These will be on sale from the band or from myself from May 1st onwards.

Posted via email from Army of Cats

That Printing Tank!

2010-04-26T12:09:00.002Z

Yesterday I spent the day in the studio printing up some posters for my special friends That Fucking Tank.

My hard-working assistant for the day was Ben Whittington, who took a few snaps of the printing process.

The posters will be available to purchase at the Camden Crawl festival - the band will be playing, and I will also be in attendance along with some of the UK's other finest gigposter maniacs making up the magical and awesome POSTER ROAST event. It's going to be a right hoo-hah, you should totally join us!

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

The Letter R

2010-03-29T18:44:00.002Z

As part of a collaborative poster design being compiled by all the artists involved in the forthcoming Poster Roast - behold the letter R!

I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go with this, so my initial sketch was the house design... which, while I liked it visually, I decided there was no real connection between the design and the letter. I wanted a better IDEA than this one.

So, I decided to do something much more typographical in nature, which allowed me to make a statement pertinent to the letter in question.

Head on over to the Poster Roast site for more lettery goodness.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Carry the Fire

2010-03-17T00:12:00.002Z

So I went to see The Road a few months back and thought it was awesome. The phrase 'Carry the Fire' really stuck with me and I found myself putting together a sketchy little piece of something using the words.

Then I put it to one side and forgot about it. I believed it to be only half-finished and thought I'd return to it at some point and finish it off... except I found it now and decided I like it just the way it is. Nice and simple.

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Stuff and links to more stuff!

2010-03-11T13:49:00.003Z

SXSW

Folks from far and wide will be converging on Austin, Texas in a few days for the South by South West festival (Westival?).

Astute readers will know that SXSW incorporates a Flatstock as well as all the other hot music-on-music action. What better place for gigposters to rear their colour-sep'd heads?!

I won't be attending SXSW in person but fortunately some of my work will be there to speak for me.

The benevolent, fleshy being known as Luke Drozd will be taking some of my poster work over there with him to display alongside his own fine wares -- not only that but he'll be displaying the work of other UK gigposter artists and there will be a little printed booklet available providing art and info regarding said poster-folks as well.

It will be like we're all there representing the UK together! Except in reality it will just be Luke.

AMERICA: do not judge Luke Drozd too harshly, for he knows not what he does. He merely is.

If you happen to be going to SXSW, have a great time! I will not see you there!

BANDJOB

You would be forgiven for thinking that Bandjob is a new social networking site for Satanists to upload and share pictures of skulls, goats, guts, devils, and undead freaks -- BUT it's actually a wonderful new site devoted to music-reated illustration & design work.

The site is still in its infancy so at the moment there appears to be a lot of imagery which one would typically associate with 'evil'. This isn't always a bad thing, however, and there is some hugely impressive work on display. I have no doubt the site will take off and be a valuable resource and happening community.

If you have even the teensiest interest in music-related art, head over there and join in the fun: http://www.bandjob.com

POSTER ROAST

The UK's premier gigposter event is back in 2010 and this time it's roastier than ever!

Poster Roast is an event designed to increase awareness and enjoyment of gigposter art, specifically work which is being produced by UK artists. This year Poster Roast is taking place in conjuction with The Camden Crawl and I'm delighted to have been asked to be involved.

Although there will be all kinds of stuff going on as part of the 'Crawl, Poster Roast itself will be taking place at the Black Heart pub on May 1st and 2nd.

To keep up to date with the latest nuggets from the news-pipe, join the Poster Roast Facebook Group!

And while we're on the subject of Facebook Groups - I hear tell that there's a new group dedicated to fulfilling the needs of the AoC affectionado or haterino. Yes, that's right, it's the Friends and Enemies of ARMYofCATS Design group!

Join today for special 'facebook only' discounts and offers on various printed goods!

I'll give you a few moments alone now.

Just to take it all in.

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Someone set us up The Bomb!

2010-03-03T09:45:00.002Z

Here's a poster I whipped up for another gig I'm involved in putting on - The Bomb all the way from sunny Chicago.

Posted via email from Army of Cats

WYSAS Flyers

2010-03-02T22:44:00.003Z

WYSAS (Entertainments Division) is a groups of friends who who put on gigs together, each bringing our unique skills to the table in order to get done the stuff what needs to get done, when putting on a gig and stuff.

One of the things I usually get involved in is the flyers, posters and promotional art.

Here's the latest batch of our gig flyers fresh from the printers. Double sided, lithographically printed. Boy do they smell good.

Regarding the Hot Water Music Flyer, it should be pointed out that the hand drawn type and background illustration is actually by the talented Horsebites Design. The artwork was provided as a template by the tour bookers, and the additional type & layout was done by myself.

Keep up to date with all the WYSAS Gig Bleats by visiting the nifty blog!

http://wysas.blogspot.com/

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Tweenbots -- results may vary...

2010-02-12T13:45:00.001Z

www.tweenbots.com

"Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal."

I came across this link earlier and was not only captivated with the whole idea but pleasantly surpised at the results the creator observed.

It reminded me of a similar experiment I conducted back in 2004. I took a plastic, toy robot (quite large but slightly-broken) and left him in the street outside my house, holding a sign reading, "I HAVE BEEN DAMAGED... PLEASE REPAIR."

I then left for the day, assuming that the robot would either still be there when I returned, or that someone (student or child) would take it away, under their care, off to live a new life.

When I returned, however, I was most dismayed to discover that Robot has been smashed to pieces. Not just cracked and broken, but smashed into a shower of many, tiny pieces so as to be completely unrecognisable.

My housemate had observed the results of the experiment and filled me in: apparently the Robot had been set upon by a small gang of children, who, not content with the damage done by their fists and feet, went away and returned with a cricket bat and used that to smash Robot into smithereens.

Posted via web from Army of Cats

Behold the brass fly

2010-01-11T13:56:00.002Z

Over the winter break, I reorganised the ArmyofCats studio and tidied up various books, LPs, files and boxes with the help of Ikea -- Tak Ikea! I now have suitable shelving to adequately display just some of the weird items I hold dear to me.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Quarry House process pics

2010-01-09T14:46:00.003Z

Here's some snaps of the process by which I built up the illustration of Quarry House and its wacky denizens. I've also included a snap of some of the notes and sketches generated along the way.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Army of Cats

Merry Yak Shaving Day

2009-12-24T12:07:00.001Z

In the belly of the beast...

2009-12-17T11:05:00.001Z

Many years ago I had a Civil Service job and worked inside the belly of a giant building known as Quarry House -- it is memorable to most denizens of Leeds as it cuts quite a swarthy silhouette on the horizon. There are many rumours about the building, my favourite being that, had he won the war, Hitler planned to use it as his base, no doubt tying up his zeppelin on the giant protruding spike.

Anyway, I still keep in touch with a couple of people I worked with and a few weeks ago I was contacted, in hushed and conspiratal tones, regarding a fiendish idea... The head of the department I formerly worked for was leaving and they wanted to commission some sort of ART as a leaving gift, something which would provide a memorable snapshot of time spent working there.

Quick as a flash, we established a budget, timescales, and a plan of action.

My idea was actually sparked off the poster I did for The Hold Steady, where I tried to fit in as many references to the band's songs as I could. A meeting in a pub provided the perfect starting point, and a few sketches later the idea was taking shape. The plan was for me to create the scenery backdrop and a couple of characters to provide scale within the week, while the client came up with all the ideas for things each character could be doing. We would meet again in a week's time, and then I would have a further week to populate the backdrop with all the little folks doing various things.

Half way through the second week I thought to myself, "This is actually quite weird -- I'm being paid to draw pictures of everyone I used to work with."

Thankfully, everything was completed before "CRUNCH TIME", the A2 Giclee print arrived on time (which looks gorgeous), and my old work colleagues are all very happy with the final illustration:

Click here to slightly bigginize.

This was painted digitally, using my Wacom, and I managed to take snapshots of the piece as it took shape. These I will duly post at some point soon.

Overall, a unique and enjoyable project.

D4 Print process, Coke, No Ice.

2009-12-15T23:33:00.002Z

The printing went well. Here are some pictures depicting the wellness:

Thanks to those that followed the live printing process on Twitter - hope you enjoyed it.

I would love to say that these are available from Dillinger Four on their current UK tour but unfortunately I understand the band have sold them all.

I still have a small stack of these left and hope to have some with me at the (now sold out) Leeds gig of their tour.

If you're wanting one and not going to be at Leeds, I will be selling them through the usual online means after the tour - drop me an email (gdpilling@googlemail.com) if you're interested but move quick, these won't be around for long!

Feels just like summer in October...

2009-12-03T13:25:00.001Z

So! Dillinger Four are touring the UK and it has been years and years since they were here last. I recall the Leeds gig with fond memories only slightly tarnished by the nudity that ensued...

I'm involved with putting on the Leeds gig this time around, and through my contact with the band - lo and behold - if I haven't wound up designing a tour poster for them to sell at each stop along their jaunty UK journey.

Here she be!

I will be printing this on Friday. As with the last time I printed a poster, I will be Tweeeeeting the live printing action-progress via my Twitter feed which you can follow here: http://twitter.com/armyofcats

Look out for further updates once these things exist on live, actual paper.

Mug Mug Mug

2009-12-02T11:46:00.003Z

I was about to start this entry with a caveat about how I have yet to use this blog for shameless gig promotion... but then I realised that I essentially do this each and every time I post a gig-poster design. So you are no doubt EXCITED to hear about this latest musical event, yes? I knew! OK!

While I don't play in a 'regular' band anymore like I did back in the day, I do continue to make musical appearances here and there. Here is something which I am excited about:

As the name implies, DESCENDAGE is a Descendents covers band; we first played together around 10 years ago and only play every few years, when the planets and stars are aligned. That glorious time is once again upon us.

In case you are not familiar with the Descendents, they are an American punk band often credited as pioneering the early US Pop-Punk sound. They are abrasive, vulgar and sometimes juvenile but also have many melodic, uplifting, sensitive, and just downright GREAT pop songs. They have a career spanning the entire length of time I have been alive and, for a punk band, they're actually pretty outstanding musicians.

Though they're still around, they don't play all that often, so it's a real treat for my comrades and I to be able to play tribute to one of our all time favourite bands.

We will be playing THIS SATURDAY the 5th December as part of a Punk Rock Stars in Their Eyes night at The Portland Arms, Cambridge, CB4 3BA 01223 357268

If you're in the area, please come along! The setlist promises to be allular...

We will have a few other appearances in the New Year, most certainly something a little closer to home... Watch this space.

"Believe and you shall achieve... ALL!"

----------------------------
Visit the Descendents online home here: descendentsonline.com and you can also buy their stuff on iTunes and the like.

Busyness Cards & Record Collecties

2009-10-29T10:43:00.002Z

Here's a nice bit of work I just completed for a client from the good old US of A. The Folkman Brothers -- it's not just a snappy name, they are actually brothers!

The initial brief was to produce a design which was mirrored, each side containing the contact details of one of the brothers. After the first draft of thumbnail ideas, we decided to go with all contact info on one side, and a nice bold design on the other.

This was an enjoyable project and I'm pleased with the end result.

Here's something else I recently produced for a friend's site. The site is currently a work in progress but the idea is that it will be a resource for record collectors. The banner image is supposed to convey this idea that even when our civilisation comes crashing down in a broken heap, record collectors will still be detirmined to track down that rare first pressing of the 'Chalky and the Smash-Hammers' EP on beef coloured vinyl!

I'll be sure to give a head's up when the site is live.

I'm working on a couple of projects; updates soon...

Update Drei

2009-10-13T13:01:00.004Z

So. Euro-Flatstock 4.

I sort of think there should be an addendum to the the definition of Flatstock from the API site, with a seperate description for Flatstock Europe.

In theory they are both very similar creatures (and to be fair, since I haven't attended a US Flatstock, who am I to suggest they are different at all?) but after numerous chats with some of my US poster-comrades, I am reliably informed that what the Euro event lacks in commercial returns, it makes up for in camaraderie and, most important of all, mayhem.

Over in the States, Flatstock draws a crowd of actual gigposter collectors and enthusiasts: people who's most highly regarded passion is the collection of screenprinted gigposters. They often buy 2 copies of posters they like -- one to line their nest with and the other to be archived away in the hopes that it one day be worth a million in US Sterling. Some artists actually make so much money from selling posters they suffer from "Fiscal-Flu", literally an illness brought on by an overdose of cash.

Flatstock Europe, on the other hand is a loose cannon. A wild card. A Thunderdome. A potential death-trap.

About half way through a three day event where you sit at a stall surrounded by your own work, in the middle of Hamburg's red light district, you are hit by the "Flatstock Malaise". You start to tire of having bemused passers by ask you "What is a Melvin? What do these posters mean? Why are you doing this?" and you start to question the legitimacy of your very existance. I mean really, is this behaviour becoming of a gentleman? Why are these lovely German folk buying armfuls of posters from some artists and completely ignoring others? Is it time to start drinking yet??

At this point it is vital that the Euro'Stock Artist put aside every shred of negativity and doubt. It is essential that the fundamentals of the event are understood: You might make some money, you might not make some money; but you WILL have a lot of fun.

I was lucky enough to make a few sales and come away with a very small profit; but of far greater importance was the camaraderie and good times. It was great to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Everything from the 5am drinking to the Sunday Boat-ride to the constant in-jokes were tackled with aplomb, and that for me is the real success.

I took plenty of photos and there are numerous others doing the rounds online but in all honesty it's hard to choose even a handful which will adequately sum up the experience. Here's a shot taken by Dina Howard of myself and boothmate Cameron Two Ducks Disco, whose pleasant company and tolerance of my nonsense was much appreciated!

A billion thanks to everyone involved in this year's Flatstock Europe -- from all the other artists, to the Reeperbahn Fest people, to the API (and the real API), to the boat-driver, and to the punters who bought stuff (and even those who didn't).

See you next year.

Update Zwei

2009-10-09T11:16:00.005Z

The next exciting addition to the Flatstock Europe parade of goodness was the Beatles themed print exhibition which took place at the newly opened Beatlemania Museum.

The brief was to produce a print inspired by a Beatles song of the artist's choice but without using any obvious Beatles imagery, song lyrics, or anything otherwise held tighly within the giant blue fists of copyright control. The last thing we would want is Paul McCartney turning up with his flamethrower and torching the place (as we all know he is want to do)...

Being a fan of winged and beaked beasts, I chose the song Blackbird. The song isn't bad either.

The printing process went incredibly smoothly and this is one of the rare occasions where, at least to me, the final print is actually far better than the Photoshop file I worked from.

I actually photo-Tweeted the process while I was printing this, something which I hope my Twitter followers enjoyed. This is probably something I'll do again, so if following hot print action, live as is performed, is your kind of thing you could do worse than follow my Twittery goodness.

Anyway, here are some snaps of the print process (mostly using Drying-Rack-Cam):

and the final print, signed and numbered:

4 colour screenprint, signed/numbered and limited to 50.
£22 including postage within the UK -- drop me an email if you are interested in purchasing one.

The exhibition opening was a lot of fun and very well put together. There was a free bar and a two-piece Beatles tribute band played which Luke Drozd and I very much enjoyed heckling. An additional, and very welcome, surprise was that the exhibition space also contained a selection of photography work by contemporary music photographers -- some of which were by none other than my old mate Danny North! Small world and all that.

Here's some pics of the museum entrance, as well as the exhibition space. I'm particularly proud that they translated my daft artist biog into German:

The work by the other artists involved was superb, I'm sure much of it is floating round the web for your viewing pleasure. A hearty well-done to everyone involved and a big and sincere thank-you to Dan McAdams for his sterling work in liaising with the right folks to get this off the ground, and of course Monika and everyone at Beatlemania Museum Hamburg.

Thanks for reading. In my next update, we will journey into the booze-breathed maw of the Flatstock 4 beast itself!

Stay tuned...

Update Eins

2009-10-08T12:19:00.005Z

I think I'm now sufficiently recovered from my Hamburg trip to be able to regale you, dear readers, with some tales...

Of course, the main reason for being there was to take part in Flatstock Europe 4 but a welcome addition to the activities for this year was a couple of extra exhibitions organised to work in partnership with the 'Stock, and with the Reeperbahnfest as a whole.

The first event which took place was the Squeegeedragger exhibition at the Galerie auf Halb Acht.

Organised by good Northern lad Nick Rhodes - Switch Open, the brief was sent out to various poster designers and print makers to paint, decorate or otherwise customise a squeegee handle -- the wooden fella that is used to pull ink through the mesh during the screenprinting process.

Now, confession time. I found this a bit of a struggle. I haven't physically painted anything in quite a while, and my current style of quite crisp shapes with plenty of texture is not one easily replicated in paint. But after a few false starts, I'm pleased (read: no longer horrified) with the end results.

The most important thing is that it challenged my otherwise normal creative process and that I got to contribute to a worthwhile endeavour. And that there was plenty of beer at the opening.

Without further ado, here's some snaps of the exhibition opening as well as the piece I contributed:

These photos were taken by Nick Rhodes, (you should check out his workhere) and you can see more pics of the exhibition and opening night on this Flickr page hither.

Mega-thanks to everyone involved in the show!

More Germany updates to come...

Auf Wiedersehen

2009-09-22T07:57:00.003Z

I'll be back in a week with tales of Euro Flatstock 2009, taking place at the Reeperbahn Fest in Hamburg, as well as an exhibition at the Halb Acht Gallery, and to top it off another exhibition at the Beatlemania Museum.

See you in a bit. x

Satellites

2009-09-15T11:53:00.003Z

I recently did a spot of work for local singer-songwriter Daniel Pearson. Daniel commissioned me to come up with a logo and cover for his soon-to-be-released record, entitled Satellites.

Once budget and deadlines were all agreed I got to work on some ideas for the logo. I also produced some very quick thumbnails of possible directions the cover might take -- at this very rough stage, this was just to see if anything jumped off the page in terms of concept, colour or composition.

Daniel had given me some insight into the themes of the record, mentioning that 'communication' was a strong one. For me personally, I liked the idea of the circular telephone motif, as it was indicative of an orbiting satellite without taking the too-obvious route of actually using an illustration of a satellite.

As luck would have it, Daniel liked this design also, so I set about refining the idea:

While I would have been happy with moving forward with any of these designs, as soon as I had mocked up the black on red version I knew I'd found my favourite. More and more, I'm finding myself attracted to the idea of refining something by removing the elements which don't contribute to the overall idea -- leaving only the idea or concept behind, with no distractions.

Knowing that the record was being released digitally, it made even more to sense to have a bold but simple, almost iconic, cover which would really stand out at the sizes it would be displayed in the iTunes store.

I always try to be as sensitive and diplomatic as possible when outlining my own opinions to a client. Obviously I want to create work that I'm happy with but at the same time ensure that the client is happy and that the choices are made as a partnership rather than me dictating the direction of any particular project.

I think that when the right design is there, however, there is no need for discussion! Once again, I was chuffed to have Daniel share my preferences and give me the go ahead to produce the final cover design:

In terms of the process from initial ideas through to final design, this was almost a model project from start to finish -- delivered on-time and to-cost!

Daniel was a pleasure to work with and you can check out some tracks from the record on his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/danielpearsonofficial

Kane, Ku, Lono, Akua!

2009-08-17T21:03:00.003Z

Night Marchers posters are printed!

Here are some photos of the process in all its hot printing glory:

Taking a quick iventory of my inks.

Your most humble host for this session!

This is a closeup shot of the wall inside the washroom room, which is almost entirely splattered with ink (and a good example of why I could never run a screenprinting setup in my own home!)

Pretty loose and dirty registration -- just how I like it.

A chunk of these will be winging their way to the band and the rest of them will be for sale just as soon as I can sign & number them.

More work very soon!

Finally Marching...

2009-08-04T22:08:00.002Z

Firstly, here's a quick photo of the exhibition space from the Holbeck Music & Art Festival which was pretty well attended and had some varied and cool work on show. The space was pretty large -- look out for a follow-up exhibition sometime in September.

In other news, I'm happy and relieved to be preparing to print the design I did for the Night Marchers gig back in October of 2008 -- finally! I'm printing these primarily for myself and my friends who put the gig on, as a souvenir of an awesome evening.

Here's how the seperations are looking thus far:

I hope to do the actual printing sometime in the next couple of weeks.

A couple of Eventfuls

2009-07-30T08:51:00.006Z

Some of my poster work will be appearing in two places in the country, simultaneously, this weekend.

HOLBECK MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL
Saturday August 1st, 1pm - 9pm

Taking place near the Cross Keys and Midnight Bell pubs in Holbec, Leeds -- you know where I mean? -- this is a FREE event with music and art and very likely plenty of good beer (try the Leeds Ales in the 'Bell, and the Organic Cider in the 'Keys, respectively).

Click here, to have a look at the Facebook Event listing for directions and more info.

...and also...

SERIPOP
A weekend of printmaking, illustration and live music
Friday 31 July – Sunday 2 August
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead

Canadian super-art-ers and noise-rockers SERIPOP (Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau) have joined forces with guest curator Sophie Brown to bring a weekend of design, print, illustrations and live music to BALTIC.

Somewhere in amongst the extensive list of fantastic stuff going on will be a few posters by me.

For more information, click here.

This promises to be a great event, and it's a shame I'm unable to make it myself. The BALTIC is a fantastic looking building -- just look here!

For anyone else who plans to attend either of these events -- or if you plan to attend neither, and perhaps just stand outside in the rain, cursing the skies -- have a good weekend, all.

On Your Wall

2009-06-30T13:11:00.003Z

Some of my HIDDENS prints are on display this forthcoming weekend as part of Leeds Met Gallery’s On Your Wall event, an exhibition & art sale featuring the work of 25 carefully selected artists (or should that read 24 artists... plus me?).

There will be an opening drinks event taking place this Friday 3rd July, 5 til 7pm. I will be there, feel free to come and join me.

The event continues over Sat 4th - Sun 5th, 12-4pm each day.

For further information swing on over to: www.leedsmet.ac.uk/arts/whatsone.htm

Landscrapes!

2009-06-26T08:38:00.004Z

Here's something I've been working on over the past week which I think is now just about done.

Hopefully this won't destroy the horizontal scroll of my Blog!

Click HERE to see a bigger version.

No plans to screenprint this, as it will form the banner and a couple of other elements for my new website. I'm enjoying putting together, actually, it's quite fun to be doing something a bit different and brushing up on my XHTML and CSS skills.

Portsmouth Poster Roast

2009-06-24T10:19:00.001Z

Portsmouth will be home to another of the UK's reknowned band, beer & poster events: POSTER ROAST.

My work will be on show along with sterling work from the UK's usual suspects.

If you are Portsmouth based or nearby, head down and enjoy the festivities (which I believe includes a burlesque act):

Saturday 27th June- Fat Fox, Albert Rd, Portsmouth.