New stuff for you....

I've got a new "Rock N' Roll Halftones" vector set & Photoshop brushes, based on my cyanotypes up at The Golden Black. Swing by and grab a copy!

vacation....?

I know, i know... i've been neglecting my blog. In my defense, I was ultra-busy for the past month or so. I was trying to get ALL of my freelance work, etc.... done BEFORE i left for a 2 week vacation back home to Illinois. We were going for a wedding and decided to also head to my home, Chicago, to see my friends and family, etc.... I haven't had a non-2working vacation in over 9 years. Ahhh... the life of a freelance artist. I don't know why I thought this year would be any different, but hey, I tried. Well, we saw my family, some of our best friends, ate at some of our favorite places, and generally had a pretty good time. I still want to move back here, and leave Florida in my wake, but who knows.... time will tell. Some quick crappy cell phone pics that are from the highlights of the trip...

I love mail!

So, the other day I got a HUGE box of Sharpie™ goodness from Whitney at Sanford! She thanked me for doing my interview with them. I have soo many Sharpies now, I'll never have to buy any again! My favorite is the Stainless Steel refillable marker. Soo classy...

I also got a goodie package from my friend Shirley who's hubby works at High Voltage Tattoo in Hollywood. That's Kat Von D's shop in case you thought her shop's name was really L.A. Ink., like the show. Anyway, I love getting suprise packages filled with cool stuff in the mail. Makes my day!

Dinah Might - for sale

So, luckily for you all, I had a commission fall through. I'm offering this piece at a reduced price of what these normally go for.

"DINAH MIGHT"
2009

Enamel on hand riveted, weathered sheet metal - 48" x 40".

Check out the pics & visit my shop to add one of these awesome pieces of art to your wall.

sneak peek of a project I'm working on...

Quick crappy "work in progress" cell phone shot of a project I'm wrapping up for a collector out in California.



Beer, rivets, sheet metal, paint and a pin-up chick. Yep, that's how I spend a lot of my nights.

Stay tuned for pics of the final piece when I wrap it up.

my SHARPIE™ interview...

Check out an interview with me on the official SHARPIE™ blog:

Rob Schwager

Big Sal - Brandt Peters & Kathie Olivas

Above are some shots of my packaging header design for Brandt Peters & Kathie Olivas' Super7 Big Sal figure. Below it, are pics of the actual figure. Sold out yesterday at ComiCon.

Brand Studio Press - Summer 2009 Collection

My bud Alberto runs an amazing blog, Process Junkie. He also puts out some of the most beautifully printed art books on the planet. If you're a die-hard art book fiend like I am, you've probably already been to Alberto's publishing site, Brand Studio Press. If you haven't, do yourself and your eyeballs a HUGE favor and check out his latest arrivals, the "Summer 2009 Collection"

While I figure out what body parts I can sell in order to purchase all of his amazing books for myself and early Christmas gifts for my artist friends, here's just a small sampling of the Summer 2009 line...

New cyanotype art prints....

So, it's been a while since I've done some cyanotypes. I usually just do "one-offs" and never do the same thing on every print. This time I did it differently. I repeated the same image 15 times. I'm really happy with how they came out. I created this image to be included in the Bros. Washburn's new Color Ink Book. Go out and snag a copy if you can.

https://www.colorinkbook.com/

If I get a good response with this, I'll be doing different cyanotypes prints in the future.

Here's some info:

"SPACE CADET" cyanotype art print. Approx. 13.5" x 20.5" in size. Done on hand-torn, heavy watercolor paper. Signed by the artist (that's me).

Cyanotypes are a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print.

Each cyanotype is independently created by hand. Variations in the exposure and the coating process give each one of them a unique quality that adds to their individuality. As you can see from the few jpgs that I've posted, no two are alike.

Very limited. Only 15 pieces were made. Once they're sold, the image will be destroyed and never made again.

Available at my website's store: robschwager's store

my Serv-o-matics packaging, part 2...

My Serv-o-matics case design.

Mindstyle changed some stuff on my case design too.

That back cut-out with Slap-happy on it, wasn't in my original design. My original concept was that I was going for more of an old radio-tube box style look.

my Serv-o-matics packaging....

First pic I've seen of my Serv-o-Matics packaging design for Brandt Peters. Mindstyle changed some stuff on the slipcase cover, (like adding the painting of Slaphappy on there) but otherwise looks pretty good.

I really hope they didn't change my case design. Time will tell....

Tattoo Highway...

So, tonight is a special night for a Bro I sorta know, Thomas. It's the premier of a his new TV program, Tattoo Highway on A&E. Some of you might remember Thomas Pendelton as the Hart & Huntington tattoo shop manager on the INKED tv show, set in Las Vegas. Well, Thomas was always the most interesting person for me to watch on that show. Everybody else had no depth and personality. Thomas had it in spades. He was a REAL person and artist set against all the phony Vegas fluff and posing that took place on that show. I've been following his work for a while now. He is a true artist and he works VERY hard for what he has. I'm looking forward to watching him again. I think you should watch too. Wed. May 27th at 10pm est on A&E. Best of luck with the show Brother!

Scream, California SCREAM!!!!!!!!

Today is the day! If you're in the El Segundo area, make sure you drop by Gasoline Gallery for one of the best art shows on the planet. Check out the roster of artists on the flyer. Good times!

ZOMbone - on sale now!

Being a bit of a custom type nut, this is a huge thrill for me.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been designing a bunch of new fonts lately.  Well, I'm proud to present my first font, called ZOMbone. 

It's in my store and on sale now!  

It's a royalty free custom display font inspired by zombies and old punk rock flyers and posters of mine that I used to print.  It has a killer hand-drawn feel that is ready to be customized for use on any project.  Comes in 2 versions, Solid and Lined.  Buy one, or buy both!  Either way, snag a copy of it and have fun!  Thanks!

New work...

A couple of new faux bomber panel pieces that I've finished recently for gallery shows, private collections, etc... Enjoy!

"Lady Liberty" 2009 - Enamel on metal - 53" x 40".

"California Kitten" 2009 - Enamel on metal - 52" x 39".

Zombone - the font

.
My Bro Hydro got me thinking about fonts a while back. I used to hand letter all of my poster designs back in the day. I loved drawing that stuff. I went through my flat files and found a bunch of old posters and illustrations that I could pull from. So, he offered to help me pull together some fonts and vector textures from my archives.

My first offering is Zombone.

Zombone lined:

Zombone solid:


It will be available for purchase in my store the first week of May. I'll also have some vector and bitmap texture packs taken from my cyanotype work available at that time as well. Stay tuned!

sneakie peekie....

Quick glimpse of a new bomber panel that I'm finishing up. 

Stay tuned for final pics.

*or you can follow me on Twitter and see some process pics I uploaded over the weekend*

for LIFE... again

As I've mentioned before, it's always strange, and yet an honor when somebody gets my art tattooed on themselves. I have 3 of my OWN designs tattooed on myself, but that's on ME. I designed em, so for them to be on me, that just seems normal. Anyway, I came across yet another fan of my Ol' Nasty image.

Anybody else out there that reads this blog and has seen some of my art on somebody or has it on themselves, please, drop me a line. I'd love to meet you. Thanks!

Rob

Who's House...?

As many of you faithful followers of this blog already know, I work closely with the fine artist duo of Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivas. I've been blessed that they enjoy my work enough and enable me to do design and packaging work with them. Plus, they're also great friends. This morning I awoke to find out that something I designed for the packaging of Brandt's latest toy release, the Peacemaker 32.9, ended up on national television.

On last night's episode of HOUSE, my design, (which I re-worked for printing on a large banner for Brandt's solo show at Gallery1988 this past February), was spotted in the background of one of the scenes. Now, I personally don't watch HOUSE, but nevertheless, this made my day.

Check out the screen capture and other images below.

Much love to Brandt and his awesome work! Also, many thanks HOUSE set dressers/art directors for having such awesome taste!

Cheers!


Rob

Where does it all go...?

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog as of late. Between the day job, my night time freelance work and trying to be a better family-man, my time has just been at a premium lately. I've been doing some awesome toy stuff recently. Mostly package design work, as well as some turn around work for a VERY well known artist friend. They're having a major release at a certain limited edition artist toy company next year, and I was honored to be asked to help them out.

So, i'm back to Twittering again. I've already quit it twice in the past few years. I considered it too much of a random time suck, and yeah, like I needed yet another distraction in my life.... Bummer part is, it's the only way I can keep up with what's going on in some of my friend's lives. They don't return e-mails or calls, because they're soo busy too. So, I had to sign up again.

Speaking of trying to be a better family man... 2 things have come up in the past week that have caused a paradigm shift in the way I've been trying to live my life as a husband and father. First, I've been listening to a lot of Mars Hill Church podcasts lately. My bro Don goes to Mars Hill in Seattle and he tipped me off about em a year or so ago. Really good stuff. So, this past weekend Don texts me and tells me that I need to strap in for the latest sermon, cuz it was epic. He was right. It's called "Marriage and Men". I think every man that calls himself a believer, should be made to watch this message. Secondly, I went to an seminar last week about learning how to control your anger. I've had anger issues for a while now. So much so that I've had to see a therapy specialist over the course of four years about them. What I learned last week, and how I affect my family and children when I DO rage, was extremely enlightening and beyond amazing. Now I just pray that I can retain what I've learned and continually put it into practice every waking second.

Upcoming gallery shows... Sat. May 9th at Gasoline Gallery in California.

Quite possibly my favorite gallery show that I do every year. The roster of artists is incredible, and the art is second to none.



Here's a sneak peek of the piece that I'm trying to finish for the show:



Stop back in, as I'll hopefully have more pics of her and other ones I've been working on up here soon. Thanks!


R.