The Triple Big Head

This is how they do it in the big leagues:

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Media Blitz 4: Criterion pride!

...or I dunno, what's like a "blitz," only less so? A "donner"? A "zone defense"?

Anyway.

I was forwarded another nice article on Criterion design, and it occurred to me that, while I like the credit that we the Criterion art department collectively get for this stuff, each of those is an original work by a unique designer, and since the article doesn't mention them, I thought it'd be nice to give them some of the recognition they deserve. So, here's a brief who-did-what for their list:

The Battle of Algiers was designed by Neil Kellerhouse.

Pierrot le fou was designed by Steve Chow (both the Janus films poster and the Criterion DVD release).

The Bad Sleep Well was designed by yours truly.

Boudu Saved from Drowning was a poster from the original release, (the original painter of which I unfortunately don't know), with the english typography done by me. (This seems to be a favorite of a lot of people, actually, which I've never quite figured out... I mean, I like it fine, but I wouldn't have singled it out as anything remarkable.)

Breathless was designed by Rodrigo Corrall.

The Honeymoon Killers was designed by Aesthetic Apparatus.

Trafic was another original poster, designed, I *think,* by Tati himself. (Though don't quote me on that... can anyone confirm that bit of trivia?) The update for the DVD cover and follow-through on the menus and packaging was done by Jason Hardy.

Contempt was designed by Michael Boland; the illustration is from an old poster and again I unfortunately don't know the artist's name.

Berlin Alexanderplatz was me. (As you probably know, since I won't shut up about it.)

And Le Samouraï was designed by Michael Boland again.

So there you go.

More Wedding Invitations

I'm actually in Cape Cod this weekend, at the bachelor party of one of my oldest friends. So in honor of that, I thought I'd post the designs I did for his upcoming wedding invitations. (On all of these, by the way, what's showing up as yellow was actually printed as a subtle, barely-any-shine-at-all gold pantone, which looked pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself!)

The front of the invite:



The reverse:



The RSVP postcard (address and such on the reverse, of course):



And the original Save-the-date postcard (again, there was info on the reverse):



Congratulations again to Nick and Brianne!!

(Previously.)

Meet Mike...

Another illustration thing I did for a friend has just seen the light of day, in a somewhat... surprising context. (I just did the drawing; the slogans on the t-shirts I can't take credit for.)

Check it out here: www.mikehunttees.com

(Or, myspace or facebook, for those who frequent such places.)

Harlan Ellison

My first ever illustration-only job (i.e. not a design project that I took it upon myself to draw something for) has just gone live up at nextbook.org. It's a portrait of science fiction author and noted curmudgeon Harlan Ellison, and it was very fun to do. You can see it on the front page, uncropped at the main article here, or, just below:



And in keeping with the "process" theme of this blog, here's two rejected sketches:



Thanks to India for the job! And if anyone else is in need of any spot-illustration...

Sean Phillips does "Night and the City"

For all the Criterion noir fans in the crowd, here's Sean Phillips' take on Night and the City (click image for the larger version on Sean's blog). I love the blue highlights, especially in the background.



(And before anyone asks, that's for an article in Criminal, not any new Criterion edition.)

Out of Focus

Just noticed this: a very fun "commentary track" on Connor Willumsen's great short comics story "Out of Focus," from the upcoming volume 2 of Image's POPGUN anthology. If you follow comics, Connor is someone you'll definitely be hearing more about in the not too-distant future.

I had the privilege of collaborating with Connor on a short comics story (he drew, I wrote and colored), which I see he's uploaded to his personal site. (It's in the comics section, here; click "These Kids Today" on the left.) It's a bit small to make out the words, but if I get the okay maybe I'll put a more readable version up here when it gets a little closer to publication time.

And hopefully I'll have a little more comics-related news to share soon...