Category Archives: General

Obsolete Vernacular

Posted on by under General

Here’s another compilation from the man with all the right moves, Biff Swenson. Biff came to me after the success of his first compilation, and asked if I’d like to work on the album art for the next one, and of course I did. As many of you may already know, this is an instrumental compilation aptly named Obsolete Vernacular. The title comes from the movie The Royal Tenenbaums from a scene in which Eli Cash is describing his first novel. The title actually ties in perfectly with instrumental music, as it’s an “obsolete vernacular” in its own way.

While I can’t take credit for the art in the sense of painting the leopard, I will say that Biff graciously gave me complete creative control and I was able to accomplish the idea I had. As soon as I re-watched the scene from The Royal Tenenbaums in the context of this compilation, I knew I wanted to use an old painting involving some sort of wild cat. (If you’re familiar with the scene, this connection is fairly obvious.) This was a great exercise in dealing with public domain images. I was able to find this really awesome painting, and with a few tweaks it was just what I wanted. The type I used for this is different from the stuff I would normally lean towards, but again, I think it fits really nicely is the context of this grouping of songs.

I was also lucky enough to be asked to submit a song to this, which I did quite willingly. It was a challenge writing a song that was intended to be instrumental from the get go. You can’t rely on melodies of lyrics to save you. While this wasn’t the first instrumental song I’ve written, it may have been the first I wrote on purpose. Along with my track comes 21 others, from all sorts of bands with no lack of heavy hitters. Just as the first compilation Biff put out, you would silly to not check it out. It has tons of new music to expose yourself to, and above all, it’s F R E E. Unbeatable. Hope you enjoy the tunes!

You can download the compilation here: http://www.mediafire.com/?bg27sr008hdgo
Or get hooked up on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=136053693112331

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Ocean City, NJ

Posted on by under General, photography

So a few weeks ago, I went down to Ocean City for a day trip to the beach with some of my favorite people in the world. I brought my camera because I wanted to get some texture shots, but I wound up taking a few more pictures than that, and these are some of my favorites.
I’m not sure when the next time is I’m going to the beach, but hopefully soon, this day was one of the best of the summer so far.

1 Year Anniversary! 100th Post!

Posted on by under General, Nom Now, Poster



I can’t believe it’s lined up so perfectly, but today, and this post, marks both my 1 year anniversary of this blog, and my 100th post. It feels like I’ve been doing this forever, and at the same time, it feels like this past year just flew by. Much has happened in this time, I got hired full time (my initial reason for starting this), Nom Now has emerged as a tower of power (to add to the list of stuff going on today, we’re in our first real deal art show Power In Numbers tonight in Philly), and I’ve gotten a few awesome clients. It’s been awesome, and here’s to hoping this next year is as bonkers as the past one.

Two Europeans

Posted on by under General


Two Europeans is a project that Ian and I have been working on for nearly 3 years. The concept is simple: Two European guys enjoy eating some form of sweets. There is no talking (aside from the occasional “Ta’as La” or other other made up terms. These guys just love eating food (with each other) and taking videos of it. You can see the evolution of the characters from the first video to the most recent. They sort of become maniacs. I can’t guarantee you’ll like this, but the general response has been those who like it; love it. I find these hilarious to both make and watch, and I hope you get a kick out of them. Test the limits of this humor and see if you’re friends find this entertaining. All the installments (thus far) are below, in the order they were created.

European Swans – Demon Line Up

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I’ve talked a little about this album before, but it’s finally been officially released, and I wanted to take the time to talk about it a little more. European Swans‘ Demon Line Up is the culmination of almost 2 years of musical meandering through the mind of Ian Everett. It’s absolutely worth the download, as it comes with not only the music, but a book of lyrics, information, and pictures from the same session as the cover shot, taken by Ace Kieffer. Speaking of, the cover for this is one of the best I’ve seen ever, and as usual, makes me like the music that much more. It’s also one of the many things I see that I wish I had done first. Most of the songs feature help from friends/musicians, which simply makes for some really great stuff. I, fortunately, got to be one of those friends, and I made my way to the cover!

Anyway, download this, right now.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zdjwzzz2mwt

Cake Life Complilation Vol.2

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I got to design the cover for the newest Cake Life Compilation, which this time was split with some bands from American Buffalo, and what seems to be a few rogue stragglers who are friends with both. We Were Once Children has a song on here, so if you want to hear what that’s all about, now’s a good chance. So if you’re feeling ripe, head over to the Cake Life myspace, and check this out, or if you’ve finally made the jump to the new social media site Facebook, check it out here. Or if you’ve heard of downloading, have fun with this mediafire URL.

Julius Various

Posted on by under General, Nom Now, Poster, Printed Work

It’s been a long while, and I want to show some stuff that I did over the past few weeks, that slipped through the cracks and never got put up anywhere.

I made this poster for my friend Amy Fread for her birthday.

My friends from Black Churches asked me to help them out with a design for their new EP cover. I was happy to do so. The album was actually released today. Don’t be a dope, just listen to them.

The printed version was done up by Radish White Ice Design.

And lastly, here’s a Nom Now idea I had a while ago that I just forgot about until now.

I promise I’ll have more stuff up soon.

Camping

Posted on by under General

I seriously love camping. I was just going to say I love it, but I added the “seriously” to let you know i was serious. I’ve been camping with my family pretty much my entire life. But the past three years Kirby and I have taken over as the parents and organized the trip with our friends. This year’s weekend just passed and it was the biggest group yet at twelve people. It was also arguably the best.
Anyway, there are photos all over facebook, and in looking Kevin’s album titled “Wilderness Explorers” it inspired me to make this.
wilderness explorers

Venue Magazine

Posted on by under General, Magazine, Printed Work, Venue

During my time at Rowan I got hooked up with the alternative magazine Venue. I spent my first year with them helping out with graphics, and by the next year the position for art director opened up, which I ran for and was elected to. I really had a great time doing this. I had the privilege of sharing an apartment with the Editor in Chief, Dan, and I think between the two of us the magazine really progressed. In my year as director we put out three quality issues which I was lucky enough to have a heavy hand in designing and creating.

Venue1

v1

Venue2

v2

Venue3

v3

One Line Wonders

Posted on by under General, Poster

In digging around some old files and folders I found a few posters I made and figured I would put them up on here.

This is a poster speaking against censorship in books.
blogcensorship

This was a poster titled “Medical Miracles”
blog medical

And this is of my friends Brett and Jane, based off of an W.H. Auden poem.
blog auden poem