Tag Archives: design

Nom Now Wheat Pasting

Posted on by under Nom Now


This past weekend I took a trip into the city with my brother in graphic design, Mike Smith, along with a few helpful friends to continue the spread of Nom Now. I’m kind of a baby (at least for right now) when it comes to this stuff, but I wanted to help further this idea as much as I could, so I decided to film it and compile a video. It documents the work, and immortalizes the often short life of street art. Nom Now is all about making yourself a better person and the world a better place. These posters are largely inspirational. Those two facts are far from being new notions, but the approach to them is what sets them apart. These aren’t the inspirational posters hanging in your elementary school classroom. I hope this inspires all of you to become active and creative. No one is going to give you permission to make the world a better place, you just need to go ahead and do it.

Keep an open eye for this stuff, it’s popping up everywhere.

Rotten Pampers

Posted on by under wallpaper



There’s no shortage of bad smells in our apartment. This in most part is due to our downstairs neighbors, who always seem to be deep frying a diaper. At least that what it smells like. The term “rotten pampers” soon got coined and ever since it’s creation, it’s made me laugh. Whether someone else says it, I say it, or I just think it, I usually blow my cool. It’s thankfully been a good way to make light of the fact that at certain times it honestly smells like rotten pampers.

Anyway I don’t know who else would have an interest in this, but I wanted to make something cool involving this small piece of insanity within my life. Click for full size, and save as wallpaper from there!

Vulture Desert Wallpaper

Posted on by under wallpaper


I started making this wallpaper with the idea that I wanted to make something rich with texture, and I wanted it to be a desert, but I didn’t really have much else mapped out in my head other than that. Which is kind of a dangerous way to work, but also sometimes very fun. Thankfully this had no deadline and I was able to spend time making revisions and going back to it after spending some time away from it.It’s 1680 x 1050 and if you click it you can view it full size, and save from there. Hope you enjoy!

Black Churches Shirt

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My good friends in Black Churches asked me to help them with an idea they had for a shirt. All they had in mind was some sort of three eyed monster. So I gladly took on the challenge, and this is what came of it. These guys are seriously tearing it up, and they also couldn’t be a nicer batch of dudes. Grab one of these shirts at one of their shows.

Dark Surfers Poster

Posted on by under Poster



So about two weeks ago I got to catch my friend Yapes’ new incarnation of music project he’s been working on for a while called Dark Surfers. It’s a full blown band now and they are doing things alllllll right. I was inspired to make this after I saw them. The poster is dark, yet also has a light side, much like the music…and the name! It’s a good example of the classic balance between silly and tough. Make it a point to catch a show with these guys.

Music Monday 4.12.10

Posted on by under #musicmonday


Still heavily feeling Cymbals Eat Guitars.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang did me right throughout the week. It amazes me that he is capable of writing so many songs, doing some many collaborations and keeping it fresh all along the way. He’s a magic man.

Last Friday I had the pleasure to catch Truman Peyote in a basement. They quickly exceeded me expectations. They are kind of a more human Animal Collective. Some of their record is a bit too noisy for me, but their New Wife, New Life is just too good. I listened to that on repeat because I literally could not get enough of it. Check that song out right now, and if you can catch them live, do so, it’s a dance fever.

I finally got into Alex Bleeker and the Freaks this week. Upon first listen I thought it just sounded like a few guys jamming in a garage, which I didn’t care for. But maybe I just listening to the music at too low a volume, because upon revisiting, and turning it up a bit, this was exactly what I was looking to hear. Not as good as Real Estate, but still good.

Listened to Dinosaur Jr. for pretty much the first time ever time this week. I feel like I’ve heard so many people talk about or reference this band in the past year or so, that I wanted to finally understand what that was all about. Some songs are awesome and sound like they could have been put out this year. Others sound dated, not necessarily in a bad way, but it is indeed very 90s. Sometimes it also sounds like Eddie Vedder is singing. If that’s your thing.

Ramona Falls is the solo project of the dude from Menomena, who I haven’t yet heard, but have been told I would like. It’s pretty decent, as you can tell I didn’t listen to much, but what I did hear was alright. I don’t want to say too much because I really don’t have the right too say anything at this point. I’ll be giving this some more time.

Sun Araw is certainly the strange pick for this week. A cross breed of dub and chill wave and who knows what else, this is some lo-fi music to relax to. I honestly feel like the time I spent listening to this was kind of a blur. All the songs are super long and wind you up in a weird cocoon of fuzz. If you’re feeling wild, give it a shot. Also, backwards this bands name spells out War Anus. I tried to figure out if it was intentional or not, and couldn’t. Either way, I like it a bit more because of that.

Last.fm friends dude.

iPad and iPhone Wallpaper

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So my good friend and all around tech-savvy guy, James Ramirez, asked me to make a wallpaper for his new iPad, and his old now seemingly less cool iPhone. I was up for that challenge. Now, the interesting thing about the iPad wallpaper is the because the iPad operates both horizontally and vertically, the wallpaper rotates to accommodate how it is you’re holding it. So it’s a square layout, but that’s so it can be of service in both ways. For any of you already have your hands on an iPad, or for the larger mass of of you using an iPhone, feel free to use these.

James actually just sent me a photo of this actually on the iPad! Feeling so futuristic right now.

Cymbals Eat Guitars!

Posted on by under Poster, Printed Work



Billy O’Brien asked me to create a poster for this Cymbals Eat Guitars show and I couldn’t have been happier to say yes. This is going to be such a great show, and yes, it’s only $2. I’ve had their album on blast for the past few days, because it’s so awesome. I am super stoked about these guys, and I’m hoping this poster will get me into their inner circle…I can hope right?

From Awesome To Awful

Posted on by under Poster



Sorry things have been so inactive here for the past two weeks. I am happy to say that it’s because I’m busy and my time is being filled with lots of work.

Anyway, my friend Oscar has been doing a project called “Ten Minute Designs”, he takes a phrase he hears at work and creates a poster for it in a ten minute time frame. So then one day Mike is telling me how he made something awesome for work, and it got shut down and he was literally told to make something “less cool”. I told him things went from awesome to awful in a matter of minutes, and he relayed that to Oscar, who wanted to use that for his TMD. Still following? So Oscar asked me to make one with him, and that’s what we have above. Mine is on top, and his is beneath. Interesting to see how we went in almost complete opposite directions. Check out his blog for more of his TMDs.

I promise I’ll have some more stuff up here soon, and like I said, I’ve thankfully been very busy, and as soon as some stuff wraps up, I’ll be putting it all on here.

Wallpaper

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Here is a wallpaper I made. I feel guilty because I usually only remember to make these after Mike does. But even so, I had fun with this one. You can click it to get it full-size, and then I’m sure by now you know how to save something from the internet. Downloading, they call it.

River City Extension Record Release Poster

Posted on by under Poster, Printed Work



I had another great opportunity to make something for River City Extension. This time, the poster for their record release show. I wanted to do something reminiscent of an older movie poster, which wound up only serving as a loose guideline, and I was somehow influenced by the thought an old army band or something like that, which is where I was pulling the color scheme from. This show is going to be insane, and I highly recommend everyone doing everything they can in order to get there. Something tells me this night is going to be one you won’t want to miss. You’ll also finally be able to purchase The Unmistakable Man, which you all know by now, I designed. Confirm your attendance on facebook!

River City Extension And The Unmistakable Man

Posted on by under Clothing, Printed Work



Wow. It’s been a long few months since taking on the project of designing the new River City Extension album The Unmistakable Man. Let me tell you, that nothing has made me happier than to be given the opportunity to work on this album. Aside from it being a designer’s dream to be able to take on such a healthy sized project, the band is by far one of the greatest bands going right now, and to be affiliated with them in any way is so awesome. This record is going to send them into a stratosphere beyond belief and I’m so glad to be a part of it.
The Unmistakable Man comes out courtesy of XOXO Records on May 11th. If you’re familiar with RCE, or if you’ve heard nauticalsabbatical you know what this band is capable of. Sort of. This new one blows the roof of the whatever house you tried to put them in. This is the album to be excited for. Right now, they are selling advance copies at out of state shows, so if you can catch them out of NJ, pick up an album!
I went to see them last night in Philly where as usual, they wowed me. I also finally got to see the record in person as well as the “skull with mutton-chops” shirt I got to design for them. It’s so great to see something you created come to life, and I couldn’t be happier with the whole record.