freshly inked

this clip has had more lives than a cat over the
last few months and even though the clip changed bands
and songs and went through countless edits , in the end
we have a zippy little clip full of time lapse , long grass
cool costumes , bad cameos and amish kids dancing through
the night in the woods...now if you will excuse im gonna
go catch up on some sleep




also here's another behind the scenes pic
out on location

never mind the pollocks..

This artwork , as you can tell , is
very different to my usual work and was
something more abstract . the concept ( should
abstraction have a concept behind it ?) was a
rorschach test as possibly created by Jackson Pollock.

Are you a mexi-can or a mexi-can't

Firstly im so so happy for boy and bear 2011 and 12 ( so far) has been such an
amazing time for them and I'm pleased as punch to be still working with them..so the image on the poster is an idea i had a few years ago..
it was a kind of a "what if" moment when i fused the character from russell crowes film cinderella man with a mexican wrestler ...that waterfront look
with that crazy mask was an image that stayed with me and as with most things
with boy and bear its an idea i held onto until the right moment...
So i got my good friend andrew finnigan to pose for me and then held onto these images until the right job came along..thank god i did because the boys named their tour remembering the mexican and this screamed out as the most obvious choice

below are some other shots from that shoot

new is the new old

as you can tell i was stuck for a catchy blog title
so here is a collection of some of the tour posters
i have done in recent days , Stu and Tim are fairly straight
forward in design , Stu gave me a collection of photos
and i gravitated instantly towards the Wes Anderson-ness of
this pic ..the Howie poster was a little bit more of a stretch
trying to find a creative and dynamic way of mixing a head shot
with the album cover..

its aliiiiiive

Going directly off the title , i wanted
to do something with a bit of an evil dead
feel , i also like that strong image of an
arm coming out of the earth ..then there was
the dilemma of working in the guitar , so i took
inspiration from old Man Ray photos and in particular
how he changed a woman's back into a violin..the result
is this , i like how the tuning forks kinda give it a
Frankenstein kinda feel

building an empire

Here are some behind the scenes pics from the
'Amish musical " video shoot for the band electric
empire and their very fun song " yes I will "..

We shot over two days in Armidale (Rural NSW ) with
local teen performers ..It was an amazingly relaxed and
fun shoot and shooting the dance sequences provided a lot
of room for invention and play..which always makes for a
nice day at the office.

fresh from the oven

here's a couple of new posters featuring animals in hats
( a fave of mine ) the first is a bit of an old sea captain
fused with General Custer ( i liked the idea of a horse riding
a horse..is that like an animal version of a piggy back).

The second is a bit of a bower bird fused with tom waits..
i got hooked on that idea of a bird stealing all these things
needed for a post festival party...and then give him a top
hat ..cause you know..you gotta have one.

I'm a rocket , man!

I get influences and ideas from funny places..one of which
was Thomas Hoepker's very controversial 911 photo..i loved this
idea of something epic happening and the people in the foreground
going about their lives...









This work was a little bitter sweet though
as its the last artwork i will do for montpelier
as they will be going their own ways after this release

I hope i saved the best till last :)

have a little faith...

I was asked to mix music and coffee together
on a poster and after half a morning of throwing
away ideas that showered in obviousness ..i came
up with the idea that the spooling holes on a
cassette tape look a little or could function as
little coffee cup coasters..the results of that
idea are , well , seen above

the world on a string part 2

So here it is...



i wanted to capture the look and feel of a jean
pierre juenet film but on a much smaller scale .
I'm really proud of my FX work on this esp. the
blending of the puppet into the street scenes..

was a very relaxed , very fun shoot ..as it always
is with the delightful Avalanche city ..it was also
a joy trying to make one of my fave Sydney suburbs ,
MacDonaldtown , look and feel like Paris .

In the end this is a sweet little story that riffs
on the Cyrano tale but with hopefully my only little
stamp on it

and the winner is....

wow such an amazing and successful night for the boys..
if anyone knows my work then they know i have worked with
them since their beginning and have pretty much done everything
visual since then ..so their big win ( five arias ) filled me
with a lot of pride and gladly my visual fingerprints could be
seen through out the night .. as shown below.






the video below is a collection of influences i had on the night
from my thank you from the band in their best band speech , to the
use of my doco footage in the bands profile to the performance
of feeding line where my projections are played behind the band.



below is the footage used on the jumbo screen behind the band
its almost like video collage , in it is the wide shots and
landscapes from the feeding line video , plus a plethora of
natural elements shot in close up around my local area plus my
first experimentations with time lapse and mixing time lapse with
photography in the computer..the result feels , i hope , a collection
of old " found " travel footage..

the apollo mission part two

Here is my new clip for I Am Apollo ... its a homeless love story inspired by arthur stace ( the guy who wrote eternity everywhere) and stars the very very talented Penny Harpham and Kade Greenland..enjoy

don't get shirty!!

Just a few days ahead of their massive
national november tour here is a sneak peek
at the shirts for this tour , including the
retro t , the quill and inkwell man with
calligraphy pen peg leg and the silhouette design
with my fave quote from milk and sticks..

I'm so happy to still be doing their tour t's and
now having had done 3 of their major tours ..its
good times

the lions share

twins

done months apart but surprisingly both released
on the same day these two releases were albums where
i worked purely as an art director , it was nice for
a brief change not having the onus of coming up with a
crazy concept . Both come with booklets to which i might
attach at a later date the layouts and designs to those.

rin tin tin pt 2

Here is my new video for the very wonderful Patrick James . I'm very proud of this video and its based on an idea that's been floating in my head for years , could not be happier with the end result.

Rin Tin Tin pt 1

here are a few more pics grabbed off the screen
during the fx edit




Here is the latest tour poster for
sydneysider patrick james , the poster
is pretty much a preview for the upcoming
video for carry on..being we had not shot
it yet i had to construct it in the old
computer...




Here are a few screen grabs from the current
work in progress..its so so much fun building
a environment from scratch..

the apollo mission part one

here are some behind the scenes snaps
from the performance part of the I am
apollo clip , added to this will be a
very rich and heartbreaking narrative.






shooting on the sound stage that day was some
of the most fun i have had on a shoot as it was so
different and such a controlled environment that i
could really take my time on shots...more to come soon

the world on a string part 1

So working with avalanche city is such a
joy , they always give me a little of creative
room to breath , so when they ok'd the concept
of a puppeteer love story i felt i had free range
to come up with some pretty cute stuff , one being
this puppet theater backpack that my partner dimity
made and i decorated ..there is a making of it video
coming soon too







here a some early screen caps from the location
shoot , I'm having a lot of fun grading it to look
like the french film Amelie

putting the man back into manhattan

one off poster for their cmj music
festival gig ..

also heres a couple of happy new yorkers with
my previous poster for the last usa tour

always look on the east side of life

So I have been working with eastside
radio for a little while now and recently
we had a meeting to discuss a very firm branding
for the radio station (style , colour palette etc)

First off the bat was this shattered
record poster forming a human head , its a simple
idea but actually one of my faves for this year ,
i find myself very much drawn back into silhouettes




every now and again , I do something
i secretly hope becomes a fashion trend
tie ponchos , knitted bow ties , this time
its old school radio jackets..damn , I wish
I had one..fuck iPODS..this is where its at



tried to work a very 70's style jazz feel to this
kinda like it might have been for an underground
miles davis gig or something..wank wank wank...




here also is this years update
of the black gold poster

out foxed !

so here she is , my little ode to Andy warhol
and pop art in the guise of a music video..

..by any other name

this is an idea i have been kicking around since the
early-ish John Columbus days , this concept of being
able to project memories or dreams..its an idea i would
love to push further some day..





For mr chris rose and his band of thorns
i also did some promo shots..