Brad Albright (US)

First of all, a very Happy New Year to all of you dear readers. As you may have noticed, it's been a while since the last interview, but we will try, this year, to update the blog on more regular basis. If you have any artist in mind, silkscreening gigposters and who never have been interviewed here, please feel free to conatct me, I will be more than glad to discover new talents, as this guy we will talk with today: Please welcome, as our first guest for 2018, the very talented Brad Albright !!

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Great first question! Something heavy, definitely! Lately I've been rocking instrumental stuff like Animals As Leaders, Modern Day Babylon, Pomegranate Tiger... Djenty stuff with a lot of driving rhythm and syncopation gets my head nodding and my drawing arm moving. Other favorites are Nine Inch Nails, Intronaut, Meshuggah, stuff along those lines.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I'm a freelance illustrator, gallery artist, and pop-culture product designer based in Dallas, TX.

When did you start drawing?

I've been drawing since I was little, but really caught my stride in graduate school for illustration. That's when my line-art style really solidified and I started experimenting with old-school 3D for red/blue glasses.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

A little bit of both, really, but graduate school for illustration was where it all started to come together... how to merge the personal passion with a professional approach. And practice practice practice.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

I do work full-time as a product designer and occasional illustrator in my day job. But I also work constantly in nights and weekends pursuing my own work, gallery shows, and freelance illustration projects. All of it blends nicely together where it feels interconnected to support and inspire me to keep growing.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

My clients are more often bands and apparel retailers, art collectors and fans. Not often publications, though I'd love to do it more.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

The heavy music drives me more than anything... almost like synesthesia. But I'm also inspired by movies, comics, books, and other artists. Swiss scratchboard cartoonist Thomas Ott and underground comics master R. Crumb are my biggest artist influences, if I had to pick.

What are the principal steps in your work ?

These days I work almost entirely digital, start very loose with an almost blurry brush to explore compositions and concepts. Then I rework, refine, turn it upside down, and just sculpt at it until things start to feel right. Then I can enjoy locking down the shapes and going to town on shading and line work.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

Primarily computer these days, though I do love a good ballpoint pen on some cardstock.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

Anywhere from 10 to 30 hours, typically. It just depends how complex an image I'm building and if I'm struggling with anything along the way.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

For the most part I'm working on self-directed projects where the final product is what feels right to me. Thankfully I've been lucky to work with some really great bands who give me total freedom, and the outcome feels true to myself as well as the band and their music. While I COULD do an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, it's not really what I'm best at and don't generally have to deviate from my own processes. I'm very lucky to have a recognizable style without really trying for it, and thankfully that's what clients are looking for when they ask to hire me.

For which band have you already worked for?

Some of my favorite gigs have been He Is Legend, Comedian Marc Maron, Intronaut, Guided By Voices, These Old Men They Play Records, Daylight Industries, Sealion, and The Black Moriah.

For which band would you love to work?

Way too many to list! But just off the top of my head... Primus, Queens of the Stone Age, Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Meshuggah, and The Sea in the Sky.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

Occasionally I'll reach out to bands directly if I really believe in their work and feel like it's a good fit. Other times it's a surprise or a happy accident that we get connected.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

The designing is the fun part, through and through! Especially when they give a lot of freedom to take their sound and translate it into visuals that make sense to me. The most difficult part is almost always the business end... pricing, tracking down payment, following up. All the administrative stuff.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

I consider myself a part of the Dallas scene, for sure. I have a lot of close friends and colleagues here and enjoy the scene in the Deep Ellum neighborhood. I'm supported by Kettle Art Gallery and they continue to be a really important outlet for me and the community.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

I'm on Instagram @bradalbright ... etsy.com/shop/albrightillustration ... Facebook.com/albrightillustration ... twitter @bradalbright ... http://teepublic.com/bradalbright ... and last but not least my personal website carries all of my work http://www.AlbrightIllustration.com

The best praise you received lately?

A customer reviewed a recent 3D poster saying "I think this is the best art print I own, so cool and so creative!!" That was very sweet and encouraging!

What can we wish you for the future?

I'm expanding into dimensional wall sculptures as well using lasers and wood... very excited to be making actual 3D art that is tactile and organic while still being designed digitally. It's an interested blend of disciplines that I'll be sharing in my etsy shop, in gallery shows, and soon in art festivals at my own tent.

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

Stoner Jo (Jo Riou) FR

Stoner Jo (Jo Riou) FR
 

Once again, there's a kind of french touch flavour today and the site, but be sure this is not the only reason why Jo is here for us. Definitly not, his perfect music taste, his love for beer aare certainly what made me wonder to have him onboard, together, maybe ( ;) ) with his huge talent and the pleasure it has been to do this interview !

Hello,

Hello and thanks for this interview

Of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Music is my dope so it's very rare if you listen nothing at my home... In this case i'm probably dead. I listening all kind of music but probably 80% of my sound is Stoner/psyche rock!

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do? 

I'm French, 31 years old, living near from Paris. I'm an independant graphic designer since almost 2 years, and I make especialy posters for the Stoner scene in France, and when I could around the globe. Before that I was webdesigner in a shitty start-up during 5 years.

When did you start drawing?

As far I can remember, I begin very young. As a lot of people. Around 8/10 years I began to create my own stuffs and make some copies of Japan anime or French/Belgian comics. It's only around 12/14 I'd discovered American comics and began to take some Art courses at college.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

The both ! I take a specialised cursus in High School to learn « Arts Plastiques », and generally all the margins of my schoolbooks get a messy graphic aspect also sometimes that gone outside of the margins, a lot of tables had suffering because of me. After that I was make 3 years in specialization from Visual Communication / Multimedia création, and go to work as a Webdesigner.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

That's the plan. But it's not so easy. Currently this is only a few months that my activity becomes really consistent and allows me to consider the best for the future. Outside the posters I realized some album artworks, I have a lot of demands for various merchandising, and I have a lot of concert organizations projects, tour bands and exhibitions for occupy my time and try to make little money. Actually it's common for me to do odd jobs to complete my bills at the ends of month.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

My collaborations stop at the music scene. I am part of an association: "ARE YOU STONED INC", with whom we set up gigs in South-east of France, Thing I also do independently to help bands from my buddies or just by passion. For graphic stuffs I'm setting up an exhibition called « Stoned Eyes for Rock Ears » around graphics and Stoner Rock which I will invite many of my comrades!


Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

Mainly my influences come from american comic books, Art Nouveau, Russian propaganda posters, old inked engravings and of course all the psychedelic posters arts of the East Coast of the United States during the 70's and also all the artists from the Golden Age of Heavy Metal (the magazine). But anything can be inspirational, a photo, a book, some street-art, an idea, a dream, the music, an item... No bundaries to the imagination, it's very important to not be boring for a creative activity like ours.
But it's clear i've got a big list of inspirational artists very various but I can quote : Mucha, Moebius, Shepard Pharey, Hayao Miyasaki, Mike Mignola, Jack Kirby, Hokusai, Gustave Doré... And many of the actual graphic posters designer, but I could continue this list for days and days... So next question.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer? 

Actually the both. All the basics of my drawings are done by hand. First I realize several sketches, I chose one, I work the positioning of my various elements. Generally this phase there is either very detailed or it's just me who knows what it is. Then I ink in accordance with pens or chinese ink. And any final dispositions and colors are made by computer, using Photoshop and Illustrator. But for me it's impossible to do something without the handmade phases even the photomontages I realize throught by the sketch part!

How long does it take you to do a poster?

It depends on the level of details I put into a creation. But that does not exceed 15H generally spread over 2 days.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

I think I politely explain to the person who made me this request he didn't see my work for asked me such a request. I don't think I've a defined style but I love variety in my references and in my work, but that kind of request it's not for me. My rule is that : if you ask someone to do something for you, you need to know the style and the work of the person, it's like a tattoo. You're not going to ask someone specializes in black and white portraits for you to make an abstract colored one ...

Ahah

For which band have you already worked for?

I am fortunate to be in Europe or stoner scene is in full development like in France, Spain, Greece and Italy and where many bands and projects are taking place. So that's the biggest part of my job. So I have the chance to work with talented and various bands like PLANET OF ZEUS, DOMADORA, 1000MODS, DOT LEGACY, LIBIDO FUZZ, MOTHER SLOTH, the music label THE SMOKING GOAT, WOODWALL, and many others with whom it's a pleasure to work.
For bigger bands I have the other chance to participate in full of festivals and gigs, thanks to Are You Stoned Inc. that its own festival BLIZZARD'S MOUNTAIN FEST and JENS HEIDE and FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL, and Obviously the STONED GATHERINGS gigs in Paris where I began 2 years ago. Thanks to all of them, who opened me a lot of doors and full of possibilities. With them and thanks to them I could work for : KADAVAR, RADIO MOSCOW, SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT, MONKEY 3, THE FLYING EYES, NAAM, ENOS, MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN, NIGHTSTALKERS, ALUNAH, VIDUNDER and much more...

For which band would you love to work?

I dream to work for band like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, The Who, Ten Years After, Deep Purple, The Animals... and so many others, but it seems it's too late... No seriously it's not possible to make an exhaustive list, they're too many...

Do you choose the artists yourself?

Yeah I just realize I've got this chance too ! By thinking even the posters for venues or festivals I have the choice of the bands I could do! The rest of time it's me who contact the bands with whom I want to work. Or bands contact me and I chose if Yes or Not i want to do their projects.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ? 

Clearly find the idea who correspond to what expect the band, or their universe and something you can create... When this is ok, no problem at all... If not I don't do this Job haha !

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

From the start I think the fact to making rock posters place you in a type of « scene ». Maybe the proof I do part of something like that is your interview today Ahahah! But it's not an official stuff for me. I'm very close of my friend Antoine from Headbang Design with whom I share lot of friendship and projects. I get along with other artists also working on the same music scene than me in France like Arrache toi un Oeil, Will Argunas, Alexis Dr Big Al, Seb Bismuth... And that's cool. Maybe the exhibition project I've got will be the occasion to officialised something about that, we'll see !

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life? 

You can follow regulary my work and stuffs on my facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/Jo.Riou.Graphics and to see only my works without all the crap of facebook hive got my page here : http://jonathan-riou.tumblr.com/ . I should soon put in place a more comprehensive site where people can buy my posters, but also T-shirts, patches and I hope many other things.
2015 will be a big year for me and you could met me in a lot of places : April at the DESERTFEST BERLIN, I hope in May at my Exhibition in south of Paris, June at Siegen for the FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL, in July at « Le petit VAR WEST Festival », August in Greece at the « FUZZTASTIC PLANET FESTIVAL » and I hope so many other places !!!

The best praise you received lately?

Recently My Sleeping Karma that asks me to take a poster I made for them and turn it into a T-shirt because their fans and them like it too much ! Also the leader of Monkey 3 who wrote me to say he really loved my poster I made for them to the Freak Valley Festival. And again thanks to The Freak Valley who give me the possibility to make a poster for a 1969 band's and legend of Krautrock in Germany aka BRÖSELMASCHINE and discovering a lot of people asked me to print the poster right now because they love it hahaha... If it could be like this every day Ahah!!!

What can we wish you for the future?

 

You could wish me 1) all my projects succeed 2) I get really live with my work 3)And it happens to me full of good things again! Anyway this is what I wish to you haha!

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

Thanks and may the force be with you !

Headbang Design

After a long break, it's time for me to introduce new artists on the site and, because I am the one and only to decide who may or not appear here, I am pleased to welcome Antoine from Headbang Design to open this new season. With clients such as Pentagram, Sasquatch, The Sword, Lonely Kamel, Blues Pills or Truckfighters, this frenchy proves art has no boundaries...

  Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

I’m listening to something like 7 to 9 hours of music each working day, so I’m always in search of something new.

I have a deezer account with hundreds of favorite artists, and my office is overloaded with CDs and LPs…

The core is stoner and doom music – any cool band I can find, from Kyuss to Electric Wizard, Om, Clutch

and every other classic in these styles, to really underrated gems that no one knows. I’m also listening a bit of

classical music, pop artist such as Alt-J or even Phil Collins, all rock/blues legends

(Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Clapton, Bb. King…) there’s only too much to name, but if you come to visit me, chances are

You will hear a lot of guitar and drums, often stoner and doom music.

  

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I’m a freelance illustrator from France. I’m freelancer since I started working six years ago. I’m also

a Photoshop teacher and writer for magazines (photography, graphic design).

Headbang Design, my “music illustration studio” is only a small part of my working activities.

When did you start drawing?

During childhood as most illustrators. I started watercolor a 8 and my first ‘good’ oil painting has been made a 12.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

I’ve been trained a bit in “courses” from 9 to 12 years old, there was a kind man showing us

how to improve our paintings… Then I studied graphic design for 3 years after high school,

just before moving to freelance. Then I became a drawing and Photoshop teacher in a French school, and I have

to admit that I learned a lot while trying to teach what I already knew! Some embarrassing questions or suggestions

from students helped me to move on and work harder on my drawings.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

I’m living from my array of graphic skills. That’s to say I’m not living 100% from drawings commissioned by musical

clients, but I also write articles for magazines, about drawing, Photoshop and graphic design, and I also work on

graphic designs for various clients – not only on drawings, but also logo, website, I also keep creating tutorials

for a DVD editor called Elephorm… So I’m living from my skills, call it “art” if you want.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

I wrote more than 120 articles for graphic design magazines such as Advanced Creation, Photoshop Mag, 3D mag…

But I don’t work much with musical fanzines.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

What are the principal steps in your work ?

The only true direct influence that I have is Alphonse Mucha – I regularly get inspiration

and visual gimmicks from is work. I also look a lot to other illustrators’ work, but I never try to do the same thing.

I just try and get the mood and look I’m after, I can get some tricks from other illustrators, but in the end I only stick to

fundamentals – composition, colors, and maybe perspective if there’s any. The main steps are researching

(ideas and images for inspiration and/or drawing reference), sketching, final drawing and/or inking, then coloring.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

I mostly do everything on computer, with a Cintiq tablet – wich is a big 24’’ screen I’m directly drawing onto.

It feels really similar as a drawing table, but I use Photoshop instead of pen and paper.

It’s really close to traditional drawing, but with the additional magic of Photoshop. I love it.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

I’d love to say that I work 60 hours on a poster, but the fact is that it’s not the best job to get a good revenue,

so I try not to spend more than 10 hours on a poster. Most of the time the poster is done in something

between 5 to 7 hours. I know how to manage my time, so it all depends on budget.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

No problem at all. I have a distinctive style for Headbang Design, and another style for my other commissions.

In fact I consider I have no style at all. The only thing I couldn’t create is a photo-real illustration, because I’m not

as good as I’d like to be.

For which band have you already worked for?

I work a lot for festivals and promoters, so I don’t have so many direct contacts with bands. I had the chance to chat

and get cool e-mail from bands such as Blues Pills, Sasquatch, Freedom Hawk, Mothership,

House Harkonnen, Wo Fat…

But not that much – I only started Headbang Design one year ago. The fact is that cool promoters and festivals

gave me the opportunity to create posters for many bands – Pentagram, The Sword, Orange Goblin, Karma to Burn,

Valley of the sun, Truckfighters, Kamchatka, Gas Giant, Lonely Kamel, Glowsun…mostly stoner bands, as it’s really my passion.  

The sad thing is that I don’t have much contacts with these bands, even if some are really kind and let me know

they loved the artwork – but most just don’t care about the posters ah ah.

For which band would you love to work?

I’d love to have some direct contact with The Sword, it’s a band that I love since many years.

I’d love to create anything for Clutch, Electric Wizard, Sleep. But I also love to create cool stuff for

bands I only discovered, small bands, unnoticed bands…it’s also a great pleasure.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

Absolutely. I contact a lot of bands that I love to get commissions from them. But some bands also contact me directly,

generally smaller bands just after I created something for a huge band. After I created the Pentagram poster

for one of their show in Dallas, TX, I had a lot of new clients from Texas who contacted me – remember

I’m living in Tours, a 160,000 people city in the center of France, so it’s unusual. 

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

I don’t think there’s any hard part. For me poster creation is a refuge, like holidays, a great breath of fresh air

between two boring commissions for “regular clients”. The hardest thing over the years will be to have new ideas,

to try and avoid repetition, but at the moment this issue doesn’t exist. 

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

No, I don’t think so. The only artist I feel close to is Jo Riou, a friend of mine who’s working with me

on Freak Valley and DesertFest festivals. We appreciate each other’s work, we hang out sometimes,

we share our booth to sell posters. We both are “stoner illustrators”, and there are others but

we don’t know them in person.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

The best place to see my artwork on a regular basis is my facebook page. Http://www.facebook.com/headbangdesign

I also have a website for Headbang Design, but it’s just too boring to update, so I gave up trying for the moment.

If you want a chance to get signed posters, have a beer and chat with me, you need to come to

Freak Valley (Netphen Germany) in June, or DesertFest Berlin in April.  

The best praise you received lately?

Kamchatka’s singer told me my work inspired him to create more music, or something like that.

I love his work and his band, so it’s been a real honor. Lonely Kamel asked me to create the cover art for Shit City,

unfortunately I never did so, because of impossible deadlines, and they commissioned it to Vance Kelly,

a great illustrator. It’s one of my worst deceptions to date with Headbang design,

but I’m also proud to know they like my work, and I was proud to get the album title before my friends ah ah. Too bad.

What can we wish you for the future? Keep on living from my passions, keep on going to cools shows to sell my posters.

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

Merci!