Call For Entries! Um, No Thank You…

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It's that time of year, people: Everyone from How and Print magazines to the AIGA and Society of Illustrators are sending out their "Call For Entries" emails and promotional mailers. What an exciting time to be a communication artist, right? Wrong. Instead of buzzing about putting all of my entries together, I'm recycling all the mailers and deleting the emails immediately like I always do. Why, you ask?

• I value my client's praise and their willingness to hire me over and over again above and beyond anything else. Be it a book design, an ad, a marketing tool, or an album cover – that's all I'll ever need to be happy doing what I'm doing.
• I value my money and with fees of $65 per entry, I'd rather play the state lottery for $1 and have a better chance of winning.

But most of all…

• I've never been a schmoozer and when it comes to competitions, it's all about who created it ("Oh, wow, their agency is fantastic – I love this!") and what the subject matter is ("Check out this Elvis Costello CD and this Vampire Weekend tour poster!"). I can't tell you how many times I've seen the worst turd of a piece appear in these "best of" annuals that I wouldn't have even shown the client – let alone submitted for competition. Good luck finding anything that strays from the political left (that isn't mocking it), underground (that isn't ironically trendy), or non-hipster (that isn't ironically non-hipster) in the winner's pile – and that's not mere coincidence.

Now, I understand that it's exciting to see your work in print and that many people live for this time of year – for whatever their reason. For me, however, it's just not my concern and 2011 isn't going to see that change.

Puttin' The "Neutra" In Neutraface!

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Inspiration for the wildly-popular Neutraface font by House Industries, architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970), a native of Vienna, Austria, moved to Los Angeles in 1925 to work with Rudolph Schindler on Frank Lloyd Wright's Barnsdall Park project. In 1929, Neutra became famous in his own right with the completion of his landmark Modernist Lovell House in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. Over the next 20 years, Neutra became one of the recognized innovators and leaders of Modernist architecture.



We're talking Neutra today because I recently came across a real estate flier that listed the Neutra Office Building in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA. Listed for auction with a starting price of $3.5 million, the office may or may not still be available for purchase. While the attached photo doesn't do it justice, here's the full details from the real estate flier:

"The Neutra Office building, a pristine example of the work of one of the seminal architects of the Modernist movement in Los Angeles, has come on the market. It is where Dion Neutra, the present owner, has presided over this creative epicenter for the past 40 years and where the Chavez Ravine housing, US Embassy in Karachi, Los Angeles Hall of Records, Gettysburg Memorial, Orange County Courthouse, Huntington Beach Library and many other masterpieces were designed. It is a City of Los Angeles Monument, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a focus of pride for Silver Lake where so many Neutra buildings have defined the area. Dion Neutra, son and partner of Richard Neutra served as Project Architect supervising Red March, the Neutras’ favorite contractor.

"The incomparable value of this property derives from the fact that it is literally the only remaining example of Neutra commercial design, still with its original look. This is a Trophy property for an owner/collector who will carry the Neutra legacy proudly into the future, co-branding their own ventures and mission with the power of this icon."

For a jaw-dropping, mouth-watering, awe-inspiring exploration of all Los Angeles real estate listings linked to Richard Neutra, go here.

And, of course, to buy the Neutraface font, go here.

New Release Book Pages (a.k.a. NRBs)

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The NRB, the ultimate sales tool. Or something like that. When employed in-house at EMI/Capitol Records, I was in charge of overseeing, scheduling, and designing many of the New Release Book pages for use by the sales department. What often felt like a chore, we were given a great deal of creative license when designing the pages. This, despite the massive amount of copy, bullet points and required elements of course. Looking back, I'm pleased to have found a selection of titles that I think rose above a simple marketing tool.

The Design That Didn't Make It Home

(above) The original cover and title treatment I created.


(above) The revised cover I saw, for the first time, online.

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Whilst digging in the archives putting the portfolio site together late last year, I came upon some files from the spring of 2006 that reminded me of what can go wrong for a designer.

I art directed illustrator Travis Smith and designed the package for a band on High Impact Recordings, an imprint of Metal Blade Records. The band was named A Love Ends Suicide and I worked with the band directly on creating their package. Everything was approved, I delivered the files to Metal Blade, and invoiced them accordingly. Done deal.

Weeks later I saw a press release on a music website about the album coming out and followed the link to see if they posted the album art as well. What I found was extremely disturbing: the original layout for the cover was completely different. I immediately emailed the label president who hired me in the first place to ask "was there a problem?", "was it all changed?", and to let him know that I was upset about not being contacted to make any revisions and nor was I aware of any revision requests from the band. I was even more upset because what tainted the new version of the cover was "basic, sophomoric, Photoshop, small-time stuff" and that "I hope my name isn't attached to all of that." I would never have assumed it was my contact's fault but I simply needed to find out more.

He wrote me back saying that "the band decided that they wanted to use a different logo that they would be using for this record cycle. I assumed they had spoken to you about possibly using a different logo. Nothing else on the record is changed other than the lyrics which were added to the tray card." He kindly added: "It was not my intention in anyway to upset you or be sneaky. I wanted to go with a logo that the band was happy with and I assumed everything was communicated. Knowing the situation know I would have handled things differently." He then mentioned that the band were "copied on this email so we can all communicate about this" and then apologized once more.

I replied to all, thanked him for the note, and told him it was greatly appreciated. After all, it wasn't his fault – it was the band's. He was just left to clean it up for them. I added that "I just needed to air my concern to those involved with the project. The bottom line is that what my name is attached to I want to actually be my own work... and I think that makes sense." To which he replied to all saying that "I absolutely understand."

The band got the emails, of course, but never had the decency to reply or apologize. I wasn't surprised, to be honest. In the end, although the album didn't do well and the band broke up, perhaps they'll be in another band one day, send their album off to the record label only to have the label remix it without their knowledge. Maybe then they'll know what it's like.

New Artwork For 2011

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This is the first in a minimalist series I'm working on this winter featuring organic noise and digital composition. So many sketches and compositions coming to mind. The hope I have for this series is a CD package comprised entirely of these works and typography.

How Not To Be An Art Thief.

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a.k.a. The Ballad of Thomas Porostocky vs. Dave Warren

First, don't steal another person's artwork. Second, don't lie about stealing another person's artwork in a public forum while belittling the original artist and boasting about your apparent legend.

Further, when not stealing their artwork, don't arrogantly state that you came up with it yourself via "free clip art" only to later admit that you had someone else at your agency in charge of this – and that they obviously did steal the artwork. So there you go, a lesson on how not to be an art thief.

Enjoy, and follow the paper trail…

Dawn Of The Modern (Caffeinated) Santa Claus

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Thomas Nast, famous illustrator and cartoonist, is credited with creating the modern image of Santa Claus. He first drew Santa Claus for the cover of Harper's Weekly in January 1863. He was shown clothed in the Union flag, memorializing the sacrifices made by the north early in the Civil War, and bringing gifts to the troops encamped on the battlefields. Nast is also often credited several Santa Claus traditions, including his workshop, writing letters to Santa, etc.

Essentially, Nast combined the tradition of Saint Nicholas with another German folk tradition, elves, to draw his Santa. Luckily for Coca-Cola, Nast chose red and white for Santa's "color scheme" and they began integrating Santa into their holiday advertising in the 1920s. Up until this point, Coca-Cola was considered a summer drink but Coke's "Thirst Knows No Season" campaign quickly changed that forever.

2010: A Reading Wish List

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From the legendary Alvin Lustig and the beautifully agitating James Victore to Cees De Jong's collection of Typography from the early 20th century, I'm filled with consumerism-based desires for these three books released in 2010. Admittedly I'm not as much of a reader like I used to be, but I never tire of visual inspiration and I'm thinking we all need to hop on these for 2011.

"Graphic design is a big fucking club with spikes in it, and I want to wield it."
– James Victore

"I make solutions nobody wants, to problems that don’t exist."
– Alvin Lustig

Thin the Herd, the Great Cull is Coming Down…

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While I worked this past week on my brush lettering typeface, I found myself inking the name "Killing Joke" (and later, the cover graphic) while playing their outstanding new album, Absolute Dissent. There's nothing quite like the feeling of putting that brush to paper and seeing the ink come alive. It's something a Wacom tablet never will – no matter how hard it tries – be able to replicate.

"Thin the Herd, the Great Cull is Coming Down…"

In Memoriam: Peter Christopherson

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Peter Christopherson – legendary commercial artist, designer, photographer, videographer and musician – passed away last week on November 25.

In 1974, Christopherson joined forces with Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powerll at Hipgnosis and went on to create many famous album covers including Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Animals and Peter Gabriel's first three solo albums – most notably the legendary "melting face" artwork. For the record, Christopherson said this regarding his time at Hipgnosis:

"I worked as a free-lance photographer and contributor, then promoted to an assistant to Hipgnosis before becoming a partner, and continued to act also after I officially left the organization. So my contributions range from attempted but rejected artwork or design work, to partial contribution in either/both as an assistant, to being fully responsible for all design and artwork, such as the Peter Gabriel LPs. What you wish to document is up to you."

Christopherson went on to form Throbbing Gristle, early pioneers of industrial music, only to later join Psychic T.V. before forming his own group, Coil. As a music video director, he worked with Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Robert Plant, Rage Against the Machine, Sepultura, Paul McCartney, The The, Van Halen, Yes, and many more.