3rd Annual Black Landlord BBQ Poster

The following piece is a poster I just designed for Black Landlord. I have done work before for them in the past. You can view a gig poster I recently did by clicking HERE and a flier I designed a couple years back by clicking HERE. I love their music. I love that they rock a full-on funk band and have Maxx S. Williams as lead MC. It’s just really great music. It’s strong, home-grown Philly party music. But it’s also smart and well executed. So I am happy when Black Landlord asks me to do some work.

I’m always going on about music on here, about how it affects the lines I draw while I am working. Music is super-important to me and my work. I rely on it like fuel. So to have my work associated publicly with music that I really like is a great promotional portfolio piece for me.

This poster is for the upcoming 3^rd Annual Black Landlord BBQ. It’s pretty self-explanatory. The BBQ is a local summer music festival. I tried to portray Maxx (as I always do) as a larger than life party animal. I had a lot of fun messing with transparency gradients in Photoshop for the subtle smoke and charcoal layers. I know the subject matter is very simple, but I was pleased with this project. People who know me know that I am a BBQ maniac. I’m always rocking my Char-Griller and slow cooking ribs, chicken, etc. It’s nice to get a project like this. Even though there was a decent amount of work involved, the hours flew by because I had so much fun doing it. Plus it is for a great cause.

Fishtown Shad Fest 2011 - April 23 at Penn Treaty Park

This coming Saturday I will be at Penn Treaty Park (on Delaware Avenue) for Shad Fest 2011. This is the 3rd year I'd reserved a table. I hope the weather holds out and brings a crowd. I will have new Fishtown T-Shirts and ladies' softball tees for sale. I will also have some of my comic books I'd be happy to sketch in.

By far though, I think the most fun item I will have at my table is a limited edition silkscreen printed gig poster I illustrated for Shad Fest's headlining act, Black Landlord. For those who don't know Black Landlord, they are a full-on funk/hip-hop group based here in Philly led by Maxx S-Williams (formerly of The Goats and Incognegro). There will only be 100 prints. Each will be hand-signed and numbered and up for sale at the festival.


I went over different concepts with Maxx. We discussed several versions. One was a spoof on "Where the Wild Things Are" with him in the wolf suit on a boat labeled "MAXX". But we decided this concept, inspired by Slim Pickens' famous Dr. Strangelove scene, was way more fun (except we had him riding a giant fish instead of a bomb). Joannie helped me out with the blue and orange color scheme. I wanted something festive that'd pop on the white background. The awesome dudes at AwesomeDudes are making the screens and will be doing the printing this week, so we can have them hot off the press by the weekend.

BLACK LANDLORD Sample Art

BLACK LANDLORD is a local band I love for many reasons. They're hip hop, funk, and all Philly. They're fun, intelligent, and full of many talented musicians. In college, I was a Goats fan, so I really like what MAXx is doing this go round. He is backed by a full-on funk band (one of them being their mega-talented, multi-instrument playing sax man Ken).

I was supposed to get some sample work to the band well over a year ago, but for one reason or another, I just couldn't decide on what approach to take. I had a cartoon character of MAXx, sinsiter looking, like he'd scare the rent out of you. But Ken said they wanted to project more of a fun vibe. So when I had some down time betwen yesterday and today (about 6.5 hours), I used a concept from an earlier drawing I did, but took a much more fun approach. I drew it in pencil first, then ink, then scanned it and did the colors in Photoshop. I'm not sure if they're going to use the art for anything, but I threw some quick text on here to push their show. You should go if you even remotely like hip hop or funk music. It's always a great time. CLICK HERE for info on the show.

There have been a few quotes on their myspace page with "landlordy" sayings like "Rent is Due" and "Apartment for Rent." So that stuck in my mind. I took the landlord concept and made a really cartoony version of MAXx as a puppeteer, pulling on the strings of Philly houses and projects. I pooled my influences from a few different places: the band itself, Maurice Sendak (as I often do), Miles Davis' "On the Corner" album cover, photos I found online of Philly projects, my own photos of rowhomes, and Max Fliescher type dancing houses from the old-tymie cartoons.

Also, every second I was drawing this, I was listening to music to fuel me. Here is a sort of mix tape of some of the songs I was listening to while doing this:

No War (live in Rittenhouse Square) - Black Landlord
Hard Times - David Fathead Newman
Daylight - Aesop Rock
In Walked Bud - Thelonious Monk
Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley & the Wailers
Confessions of a Pig - Monkey
Today Was a Good Day - Ice Cube
Summertime - Billy Stewart
In the Ghetto - Eric B & Rakim
Compared to What - Les MacCann & Eddie Harris
Dear God - Black Landlord
My Automobile - Parliament