ART EXHIBIT: Brandon Duncan

my old roommate and friend Brandon Duncan, who also runs the design/anti-consumer art website Corparate Demon is having his Masters of Fine Arts exhibition. It runs for the next month at Moss-Thorns Gallery of Fine Arts. It’s truly impressive. You probably won’t be able to imagine how one human made all that art in 2 years.

The above design is my entry into a tribute-book Duncan’s squeeze put together for the event. The logo is a cross between his Corporate Demon logo and this character from his short film The Cocktail Party.

Go check out his show.

From the Portfolio: Lady-face.

just finished up my portfolio and thought I’d gradually post it. Here’s a poster I designed long ago for a class and then re-designed/refined slightly to distance it from it’s sordid past. 

ALBUM ART: HIDDEN PICTURES

Here’s a new album cover I designed for Kansas City folk/acoustic duo Hidden Pictures. I’m pretty happy with how this one came out. The music is pretty quaint and cozy, yet the lyrics are sometimes just slightly left of normal. I thought if I could characterize them in an animal it would be the seahorse. Enjoy.

For Design’s Sake #06

This one comes courtesy of my brother Austin Gray, a designer in Nashville, TN. Lover of vintage women, typography, and stringing the two together with profanity. Enjoy.

RIP: Stan Winston

Many know me to geek-out over movies like Aliens, Predator (not the combination), Terminator, Jurassic Park, etc. A large part of that is due to the fantastical, yet convincing effects and creature designs.

So it’s with a heavy dose of sadness that the greatest of all makeup artists Stan Winston passes on. The world didn’t find as much use for Winston as it pushed ever further into the realm of CGI, but I think I speak for a lot of movie nerds when I say that practical effects like the ones he was so brilliant at are sorely missed in today’s cinemascape.

RIP

Graphics Zero: #01

My last post got me thinking about how I’m pretty positive on this blog. Rarely do I mention just how bad design can be. Well, this new column is dedicated to all that is bad about design. Let’s face it: it’s fun to talk shit.

The name comes from a design-police created by some friends back at my university. Our various graphics classes were labeled Graphics One, Graphics Two, so-on and so-forth depending on your level of advancement. Stickers were created and placed on projects or items that had such poor design the creator should be sent to (the fictional design hell) Graphics Zero.

First up is the absolutely zero-rific poster for the new movie Righteous Kill. I heard Robert Deniro and Al Pacino are supposed to be in the movie somewhere. I think they’re cameo parts. Also the gun from The Departed must play a supporting role as the loose-cannon rookie cop.

Ultimately this kind of poster is expected for a movie that’s only real selling-point is it’s two stars, but this clearly wasn’t laid out by an even marginally competent designer.

ONE-SHEET WONDERS #04

It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these, because, frankly, one-sheets haven’t been that cool lately. This one from Canadian genius Guy Maddin however really brings a smile to my face. I love it’s non-traditional approach, use of typography, and you can really feel the Criterion Collection’s influence crossing over into theatrical film art. Enjoy.

LAST WEEK TO VOTE: FHTA

Twitterific

For those of you out there hip to the whole twitter thing, you can follow me here. That is all.

MOTION GRAPHICS: HUMANS vs VAMPIRES Trailer

I recently was hired by Lance Weiler for Seize the Media in conjunction with Hammer films and Myspace TV to create a trailer for a game which is serving as the first ever Myspace Ap. Myspace is giving it some pretty heavy promotion and I’m pretty psyched about this one. The game is a cross-platform community builder for a Hammer film called Beyond The Rave (their first film in over 30 years!). Check the trailer out HERE. (sorry it’s a myspace link since I can’t post the actual video here in their format).