TV Party

A detail of my Richmond Clash deck was included in a collection of art produced by RVA Magazine. The collection is called "TV Party: A collection of art." More info here.




An image of the cover so that you can spot it easily.

New Work: Weapons of Mass Change

I was asked by Shane Pomajambo, Executive Director/Editer and Cheif of the gallery Art Whino, to develop this logo for a project called Weapons of Mass Change. Weapons of Mass Change is "a traveling group show to benefit humanitarian missions around the world." It takes prolific internationally recognized streets artists and asked them to modify an oppressive weapon. Gallery5 will be hosting the exhibition in April that will expand its reach around the city through exhbitions and live mural painting. More info here.

Some of you might be saying "Man that is one complicated logo." It is, but the context and uses are different than your typical business. Like many street art identities, the logo functions more as an image than a logo. When reproduced small the custom designed logotype is to be used by itself. The weapons that create the anatomically incorrect skeleton are a sampling of what will be used in the exhibition. The point of departure for the stencil type was the use of stencil type by both street artists and armies. Enjoy.

Vectorizing the Richmond GMB of the IWW cat.

I was asked to produce a vector version of this image for a union screen-printer to make shirts for the Richmond GMB of the IWW. To cut down on colors I used a vector halftone pattern in masks (for the light grey and light red) and used the color of the shirt for my outlines. Below is the result.

Original


Vector


Detail. Original on left. Vector on right.

New Work

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been busy working on a few projects. Enjoy.

Gallery5 business card redesign.


My wife's valentines day gift. It was coupled with an alternate version of a Richmond Monuments print and the Les Mis musical soundtrack.


These are long overdue. I've been holding out because I wanted non-iPhone photos, but continuously forget to bring my camera, or the battery is dead, or the memory card missing, etc. The images are from a typesetting and embellishment job to compliment Jesse Smith's cartoon screw. The image was applied to stickers, signage, a web banner, vinyl banners etc. Loose Screw Tattoo can be found in Richmond's Carytown.

Catfish Kraken Returns

For the past two years I have participated in 1708 Gallery's "Monster Draw Rally." Artists draw as groups in shifts. All of the finished work is up for sale and 100% of the proceeds benefit 1708 Gallery. Above is this year's drawing. I made an alternate ink version of my Catfish Kraken Skate Deck design. You only get an hour, so I have been showing up with a really tight pencil drawing to ink. To give you an idea about how time consuming it is, I didn't even finish inking the above image. I still had some more hatching and was in the process of thickening up the outside edges of the beast.

Real world problems. Real world solutions. Real world action. Design Rebels.

Hello VCU Graphic Design Students!
Are you ready for the real world of graphic design?
Sure you know about leading and kerning, but do you
know how to make a difference in your community?

Design Rebels introduces you to the world of socially
conscious design and gives you a chance to make
a real impact with your skills before you graduate.

Join us at the Design Rebels class. Cours number, GDES 491-003.

I will be teaching Design Rebels in the Fall of 2012 with Noah Scalin. I was a student in the very first Design Rebels class and now I will be co-teaching it. It is a great honor to have been asked to co-teach a class from a teacher who I have looked up to as both a professor and colleague. I am confident that this is going to be a great semester of intellectual engagement and introspective enlightenment.

Richmond Monuments process

I haven't put in much work for "The South Rises Again." It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me with, finishing up an ART180 Program (teaching 5th & 6th graders comics), the school semester ending (I teach graphic design at a governor's school), pro-bono work and freelance design work. I feel kind of bad about the wait, so I decided to show some of the Richmond Monuments process.

First I come up with a general idea of the strip and sometimes make some sketches of the layout like the Arthur Ashe sketches below.


I then go to the physical site and take several photos of the monument.


I use the photo references by printing them on a black/white laser jet printer. I place the prints next to a blank sheet of standard 20lb computer paper -or whatever scrap paper samples I have lying around. I usually draw with a cheap disposable mechanical pencil. It isn't very environmentally conscious, but I have a big stack of them at home right now. Sometimes it is difficult to see the details on the black and white print, so I view the photo with my computer and zoom in on areas I have questions or concerns about.


Below is a better image of the final penciled panel. As you can see in the image, I do take some liberties with the monuments. The monument podium and Maury statue are a little thinner and taller to exaggerate the panel frame and the individual figures are very stylized (partially due to the drawing scale).


I ink the pencil drawing using a tracing light box, a separate sheet of paper (Again, whatever is around.) and a combination of .03 & .005 Micron flet tip pens. The below image's actual size is only a few inches square.


I scan the image and adjust line work. Finally, I digitally color the image using a combination of copyright free photographic textures, custom brushes and a whole lot of layers. I also add text and panel borders during this stage, but intentionally left them out since this comic doesn't come out until next month. I'm trying to get better about considering the actual dialogue before I draw and color the strips. I've experienced situations where I have to redraw a panel or multiple panels.


I hope to record a sped up version of the entire process in the future.

The South Rises Again

I'm working on a zombie sub-plot to Richmond Monuments. Six strips have already been written and character designs are being worked on. It is yet to be decided when the comic will be officially released.

This strip will be more "cartoony" and black/white. My plan is to have these strips appear on the off weeks of normal Monument comic strips. This way you'll get a strip every week!

Cat Comic. Prallel Narrative Experiment

Below are the first five pages of an experiment that will eventually be translated as an "infinite canvas." To keep my interest I've been completing 5 pages at a time instead of doing pencils, then inks, then coloring. (Click images to enlarge.)

Cheats Movement: RVA Profiles

Taken from The Cheats Movement.
"I first saw the web comic Richmond Monuments in print. It was the second place winner in the 2011 Style Weekly’s comic strip contest. I noted the name of the designer Bizhan Khodabandeh and remembered him from Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40 a few years ago. I then saw the now bi-weekly web comic posted on RVANews.com. Its now syndicated home. Most Richmonders would say that the history of RVA is alive. Well, Richmond Monuments tells a comedic tale of just that — historic monuments coming alive in modern time — often nailing a comedic true about our beloved city. I met up with Bizhan at The Shop to chat about the origins of the comic strip, his process of creating the strip, and his plans for the future. Make sure you check out RichmondMonuments.com every other Sunday to see Bizhan’s latest strip."

Check out more profiles at thecheatsmovement.com