Advent Conspiracy 2009

Well, the holidays are upon us and once again we are trying to stay in line with the Advent Conspiracy over at Jacob's Well. The goal is to focus on Christ and avoid the pull of consumerism that has taken over Christmas. Nate and I were asked to do some artwork again this year, which is always fun and conceptual. This year we are going with water drops to signify not only the fresh water wells our advent events help fund for the Pekot tribe in Africa, but also the overflow of love that happens when you follow Christ. The theme of "awe and wonder" will also be a part of the sermon messages, and so we decided those would make some pretty great t-shirts. "Wonder" is designed by Amber Goodvin, an amazing lettering artist. So come on down and be a part of some really great reflection, art, and music as you wind down instead of up this Christmas.

Homemade Halloween

Once again we teamed up with our good friends Jenn and Chris Bohatyritz this Halloween and dressed up as Olympic Figure Skaters: Vivi & Günter from Sweden vs. Claude & Claudia from Russia. For the third year in a row, we raided our local thrift stores and found all the pieces and parts to make our costumes. Sam found a great mother-of-the-bride dress that ended up being essential to her seamstressing. One of our biggest challenges this year was coming up with a solution for our skates. We ended up wrapping our shoes in fabric and fabricating faux blades from silver foil paper mounted cardboard. See photo above of Chris working his blade magic!

Pie Night!

Part of an invite I designed for a friends party. Did the type myself. I feel proud about that.

Rocky Mountain Tour

On Friday, August 28, Tarkus Attacks! is heading west to embark on our first mini-tour! We made this flyer to promote the Denver show using a painting collaboration by Jenn and Chris Bohatyritz. The quirky style of the drawing mixed with the bright colors makes it strangely celebratory...well the little cupcake in there also makes it strangely celebratory. So why are we taking the band on the road to celebrate in Denver you ask? Check out our MySpace blog to find out!

Mad Lewis'

Nate and I had a mini photo shoot so we could enter the Mad Men casting call contest. Its a show set in 1960 about an Ad Agency. PLEASE VOTE FOR US!!!! You can vote once a day until the 11th and we need all the votes we can get!

VOTE FOR SAM HERE !
VOTE FOR NATE HERE !

You can see more photos from the shoot here. Nate and I took the pictures of each other.

Da Bears

My sketchbook was littered with bear heads from trying to work out the perfect bear for the Babybear label down below. So while on the plane to see my dad in CA for a surprise Father's Day visit, I went from page to page with my micron and gave them a life of their own :)

Is that kitsch kosher?

The recipes for our last two Tarkus Attacks! flyers have been one part red meat, two parts kitsch. We're not sure why, it just sort of happened. Perhaps it's because one of summer's key ingredients is backyard barbecues. Maybe it was our new patio that inspired us. Whatever the reason, each one works in it's own kitschy way.

Picture perfect weekend!

This was a whirlwind weekend so get ready for some major picture viewing! Nate and I headed to Dubuque to see our new nephew and it turns out he was waiting for us! We hungout all day Friday (May 8th) and he was born that night at 10:29 pm. You can see pictures from our drive and hanging out (pre-hospital) in Dubuque here. You can find pictures from Mercy Hospital and the night Thomas Russel Higgins was born here. The next day we headed out to Chicago to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. We stayed at the Sofitel Hotel of Michigan Ave. You can see pictures from our Chicago trip here. Enjoy!

1st Anniversary!

Nate and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary, May 10th. I made this card for Nate on the car ride to Dubuque, Iowa, where we were present in the hospital for the birth of our nephew, Tomas Russel Higgins. We then drove up to Chicago and spent a fun filled couple of days celebrating. What an amazing weekend! Stay tuned for pictures...

what are you looking at?

Diana at Babybearshop asked me to illustrate a pregnant story book bear with her baby, and this is what I came up with. Some of my peers thought it could be a giant fine art piece for the sheer strangeness of a pregnant bear wearing clothes and looking at you in a way that says "What are you looking at?" as if this would be a perfectly normal sight to see on any given day. It will be a replacement illustration on the label of the Mama Belly Oil, for avoiding stretch marks during pregnancy and after.

Tang

Been awhile since we posted. I can't stop drawing these shapes!

delicious bookmarks

I decided to add a little accessory to our blog. It's a web feed from a site called Del.icio.us that allows me to save my bookmarks to a public server so I can access them from any computer, anytime.

I love researching on the web, and I wanted to share what I'm looking at to get inspired. The feed updates on the left side of the blog every time I add a new bookmark. I think it's a fun tool, so enjoy and get your own Del.icio.us set of bookmarks.

Babies and Chocolate...need I say more?

Nate's sister Abbey and brother-n-law, Aaron, are having a baby boy this May. We were in Iowa this weekend where I helped host her shower with my Mom-in-law, Ruth. It was in a winery, the space was great, and the shower went very well. For the occasion, I designed these chocolate bar wrappers and re-wrapped three kinds of chocolate by Gillham and Grand, Hallmark's own chocolate brand.

The Utimate Battle

Due to the positive feedback we received from our Tarkus Attacks! poster, we decided to submit the artwork as a t-shirt design to Threadless. So what is the ultimate battle; tarantula vs. scorpion or designer vs. threadless??
You can see the results of our entry here. Though the results were less than satisfactory (tough crowd), it was fun.
You won this time Threadless....

Doodles gone wild

It is what it is. Bottom one is a detail.

Versus

Tarkus Attacks again! Nate and I went back on forth on this design quite a bit, and settled on simple type and bright color. BUT We collaborated and I love that! While in New Orleans, Nate got inspired by a taxidermy shadow box in an antique store with this exact scene happening inside. I'm proud to say that Nate drew the insects himself. It reminds me of gummy worms, or cheap plastic toys you buy in attempts to scare someone. In case you can't see it on screen (it reads fine on the printout ) the show is at the Record Bar.

Art for Africa

My best friends, the Bohatyritz's, along with a group of others, are holding a silent art auction in efforts to join the All Nations ministry this May, posted in Cape Town, South Africa. It's being help tomorrow night, March 7th, at the Boiler Room Church at 3829 Main Street, KCMO. I did these three gouache paintings last night to contribute. They are all African birds, the middle one is about 4"x 6", the other two are 8"x 12."

This was done for the back cover of the Avant Ministries publication, which they are in the process of redesigning, along with the website. They gave me this quote and some demensions, and this is what I came up with.

Secret Garden

This January, Nate and I went down to Hollywood, FL, the town I spent my childhood in, for my Aunt Carolyn's Wedding. We stayed with my grandparents who have lived in the same house forever. My Grandfather has built a little paradise in his backyard, a photographers gold mine, with more knickknacks and kitsch than you can imagine. The garden is complete with hand painted signs, gnomes, and hand- built stands for many a bonsai plant. You can see more pictures here.

Hooked On Phonics

Once again, Christmas was very different for us this year. We tried to make as many gifts as possible or give the kind that give back. I made my friend Chris Bohatyritz this website to help him promote his paintings. And just in case you don't know how to pronounce his name, I've included a little phonic translation on the home page.