When the British band Bring Me The Horizon sold out their Toronto show, my new friends at ScotiaBank Arena asked me to come up with a special Skys & The Starjammers poster illustration to gift the band members. I’m not even going to try and attempt to explain Skys & The Starjammers, it definitely qualifies as a IYKYK, and super fans of Bring Me The Horizon know exactly what is going on here — I will say that making artwork this was a hell of a lot of fun! The ScotiaBank Arena team printed an extra poster to give away to a BMTH fan — get details on how to enter over on their instagram @scotiabankarena
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Congrats to @bringmethehorizon on the massive show and thanks to ScotiaBank Arena for including me in the party.
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#bringmethehorizon @posterdrops #posterdrops #gigposter #judhaynes
The new band Krista and I are playing in, Still Ballet, is playing two back to back Fridays — then no shows until the Fall as one of the members will be out of the country all summer. Debut show is a week from today (May 1) at the Peter E Pub with @sickpuppyinc and @steeltoeband ; and then the following Friday (May 8th) at The Ship with @lizfaganband and Andrew Smith Band @andrwsmth0 .
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Poster @krista_power
Stan Rogers tragically died at 34, and in his short life managed to write many of the most celebrated Canadian folk songs ever. A massive influence on members of The Irish Descendants, they spent much of this past winter recording nearly 20 of their favourite Stan Rogers tunes and asked me to come up with some art & design for LP and CD packaging. I’ve heard the album and it’s beautiful — hope you will give it a spin when it launches this July at the annual Stan Rogers Festival. Pre-orders coming very soon for folks that would like to take one home.
I recently helped the @cowboy_junkies pull together their 27 song, triple LP collection “Open to Beauty”. Peter Timmins, the band’s drummer had created a series of art pieces and a design concept for the package and my role was straight up production designer. I don’t think I’ve worked on an album in this role in well over a decade and it was really fun taking art direction from Peter and his brother Michael (also in the band) and doing all I could to make their ideas sing. There was lots of room for my ideas when it came to layout, typography, colours, etc but mostly I tried to stay out of the way of Peter’s beautiful vision for the project.
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The final package is 3 LPs and a full size 12 page booklet housed in a triple gatefold album jacket with die-cut cover that allows artwork from each of the 3 inner sleeves to show through and become part of the album’s cover. We made a CD versions which include 2 CDs and a 32 page booklet in a six panel sleeve. Pre-orders are on now at cowboyjunkies.com and this new release comes out next month.
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The band have been getting a lot of additional buzz in recent months since their legendary version of “Sweet Jane” was included in the Stranger Things finale on Netflix (that tune isn’t on this new release, but I used it on this post for the Stranger Things reference). Thanks to @missbrittanybrooks for recommending me for the job — this was a fun one!
Getting to work as an illustrator and graphic designer always feels like a dream but every now and then a gig comes along that reaffirms how lucky I am to work on exciting projects for incredibly talented folks. Massey Hall are hosting a special concert with @choirchoirchoir and @officialsarahmclachlan (WHAT!?!) and I was invited to make the poster.
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Needless to say, this project felt like a big one. Thanks to Sarah, Massey Hall, and CCC!!! Tickets on sale today at 11:30 e.
New illustration work for a new client — Shane Steven Sound told me he loves comic book art, old Jeeps, and Gibson guitars. Me too! I had a great time interpreting his album cover vision and trying out an art style I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid. Shane’s new album is streaming now.
O’Brien’s Music have my 1978 RD Artist Bass for sale at their amazing shop (I’ve been buds with the family who run this store since we were teenagers and I trust my gear to no one more). The RD is waiting for you to plug in and try.
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I bought this 20 years ago, in 2006, and don’t play anywhere near as much as I did back then — so it’s time to let someone else have the next 20. The bass is 48 years old, made in the USA, all original, and an absolute badass. Pop down to O’Brien’s and ask to give it a try. Yes, they ship.
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#rdbass #gibsonrd
I posted all week about easter eggs I have worked into illustrations that most folks wouldn’t have picked up on…
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Today’s post is for the kids — often when looking to make something special for my music clients I’ll include a little reference their kids will enjoy. I know touring musicians are away from home a fair bit, so acknowledging their families back home is important. When I designed a poster celebrating @danmanganmusic ‘s Polaris Short Listed album I filled the art with references from his lyrics, but then asked what his kids were into — and when I heard certain famous movie wizard was a favourite I included Harry Potter’s glasses and forehead scar for magical fun.
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The Ron Hynes tribute album Sonny Don’t Go Away is full of visual references to his acclaimed song catalogue — but I wanted to include a subtle nod to his family — the four small Newfoundland silhouettes represented his kids with one extra one for his nephew, Joel, who Ron had a special relationship with as well.
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And with @wintersleeptheband releasing a great new album TODAY, I took a look back at the last tour poster I drew for them which included a boy by a lake fishing — meant to be Paul’s son. I asked Paul what his son was into these days and he mentioned he loves hockey, music and The Avengers, especially Captain America — so I added the symbol from Cap’s shield to his shirt. AND - as a second tie-in, across the lake I added a building, Wintersleep’s drummer Loel’s Nova Scotia cottage.
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This ends my week of easter egg hunting, the illustration edition… but real easter is next week, so happy easter to those who celebrate.
Spending this week reflecting on easter eggs I included in projects that folks probably never picked up on….
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When I set out to draw the interior of long gone beloved cafe Hava Java I began by collecting photos from staff and friends — what was really special is these were printed on paper as this era was before smart phones. No one had taken a big room photo, so I had to reconstruct the space by looking at little sections captured in dozens of pics. Thankfully, the cafe was covered in mirrors from it’s former hair salon days and zooming in on those would reveal all the little hidden corners (I had to ask owner Rob where the skull was as I couldn’t remember its exact location and it wasn’t in any photos).
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I filled the room with many of the people that made Hava Java special, the staff, including Rob behind the counter. For a laugh I snuck Krista and I onto the ledge, our favourite place to people watch. She worked downtown when we started dating so I’d spend hours every day at Hava Java while she was at her job (I was also working, what the kids call “remotely”). Because I don’t drink coffee or tea, I’d fill my day with hot chocolate, coke, freshly squeezed O.J., and all the treats…. So many great treats.
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In the bottom corner a musician passes the poster wall that I wasn’t able to fit in the composition (local bands and events would put their posters there to catch everyone on their way in and out) — this person entering was always meant to be @alanthomasdoyle — if he was in town you could count on his daily Hava Java refuel… The cafe was also the stomping ground of pretty much every local musician so I didn’t show Alan’s face in an effort to represent all the great musicians that made the cafe their second home. A couple people have surmised who that guitar player was and I’ve always told them they were right, even though no one ever guessed Alan… haha
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With Rob’s blessing we made t-shirts featuring this art at the time (long sold out) and a small run of 8x10 Riso prints by the lovely @nothingnewprojects — such a fun personal drawing project. Special thanks to @hearnenator - this project couldn’t have happened without their help.
