Whaleboat 7" Release Show Poster

AHOY! So, I've been in a candy comatose since Halloween ended and haven't had much solid work to show the masses. However, I'm slowly getting over the "Post-Halloween Blues" and I'm getting some work done and polished up for everyone to feast their eyes upon. A few weeks ago I was commissioned to do a poster illustration for a local band called Whaleboat. I went the fairly literal route (much like the Bear Fight illustration) and drew...well...a whale and a boat. The band has used similar elements in their designs and album art before and I really loved it so I decided to do my own rendition.

Whaleboat's music has a nice shoegazey, melodic sound but is also a bit rough around the edges. Heavy on the reverb and rhythm with a lead singer that wails with emotion, they are a great local act that shouldn't be missed. I've really enjoyed all of their shows that I've been to, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with them. Check out their latest single 'The Socialist' below and see you at the show on January 25th!

Whaleboat Facebook

Whaleboat Bandcamp

Whaleboat Website

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Well, it's been a hot minute since I've had any creative news to spew onto the masses but I just got wind that my final submission to be selected for production over at Dottinghill.com went into print a week or so ago. I had assumed they would wait until this moment (Fall/Halloween season) to release it. They look great in the pictures (I'm ordering a few sets for myself as I write this). If you're not familiar with Dottinghill.com it's a site that sells designer temporary water-based tattoos, or "skin-accessories" as they dub them. They are open to art submissions from anyone that wants to join the horde of an already growing number of designs. I suggest you check them out if you haven't already. Also, be sure to look at my two previous designs up for sale on the site.

In more exciting news, I got a piece selected to be in an upcoming exhibit at Black Orchid Tattoo. The exhibit is entitled "Things That Go Bump in the Night" and will feature all Halloween inspired artwork. I'm sure I'll fit right in. The show will run from October 1st until November 30th so there is plenty of time to stop by get yourself inked and gaze at spooky art. The reception dates for the show are October 7th and November 5th which are both the first Fridays of each month. I hope to see some familiar faces out there on those dates.

Gnarmageddon

Bear Fight's first album 'Gnarmageddon' is unleashed upon the masses TONIGHT at their release show at the Jinx. This shit sounds soo good! Hopefully you all think it LOOKS good too, as I was responsible for putting the design together. The art on the front cover was done by my brother, Deighton Abrams, while everything else was illustrated and pieced together by yours truly. Anyways, hope to see some familiar faces at the show. I look forward to the inevitable hangover and ear ringing tomorrow morning.

The Neverending Story: "Fight Against the Sadness!"

After completing my 'Secret of NIMH' art a few weeks back I got inspired to turn it into a series of artworks that I'm dubbing, "Childhood Cinema". The series will highlight those great movie watching moments that I had as a kid that have stuck with me as I've transitioned to adulthood. These scenes in particular have inspired my art or imagination in some way or another. I plan to add more and more to this series as time goes on.

For this entry I depicted one of my favorite movies of all time, 'The Neverending Story'. I picked the scene of Artax' (the horse) death because it was such a powerful moment for my young mind to witness at the time.

Also, the movie's soundtrack is bitchin'.

Here's the scene itself for though who haven't seen the movie (or who want to reminisce and cry their eyes out.)

The Secret of NIMH: The Great Owl

Any 80s kid should recognize my newest piece. It's a fan-art of The Great Owl from the 1982 animated classic, The Secret of NIMH. I grew up on Don Bluth animations (An American Tale, Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven) and his work is a great influence on my own. The fluidity of his character's movements, the brilliant lighting effects, and the dark, gorgeous backgrounds are some of the traits that made me fall in love with his style. Although my piece was just a quick tip of the hat, I hope you all enjoy it!

Stahlen Mixtapes

Drawing his lyrical style from his hardships growing up in Springfield, Mass. and being raised by his single mother of five, Stalen Wright (stage name 'Stahlen' for pronunciation purposes) is stepping his foot into the rap game. He currently resides in Greensboro, NC and is hard at work sending his music to Roc-Nation in hopes of a record deal. I was commission by him a few months back to create the covers for his first two mixtapes. He had the rough concept of what he wanted and let me color inside the lines, so to speak.

 

 

For the first mixtape (above) I went with a crumpled paper look to try and emphasize 'throw away rhymes'. The "beast mic" concept was what Stahlen came at me with. I liked how it almost symbolizes that the microphone comes alive when he starts to rap. The second cover (below) is almost a carbon copy of the first with a few tweaks/color variations and more of a darker, nighttime feel to it. Be sure to listen to these mixtapes over at his ReverbNation.

 

  

Stahlen ReverbNation

Stahlen Myspace

Stahlen Twitter

Bear Fight's Album Release Show Poster!

 

The countdown has begun! Only two months and six days until Bear Fight releases their first album! This should be a doozy of a night with heavy hitters like Manray and Lazer/Wulf as the opening bands. It's gonna get sweaty and violent!! Matt Collett (Guitar/Vocals) of Bear Fight asked me to come up with a poster design for the show. He gave me the reigns to do whatever the hell I wanted. So, naturally, I did. Boxing bear. Violent and brootal. The party goes down at The Jinx on July 6th at 10PM with a $7 cover (so save them duckets!). Let's tear Savannah a new one!

Bear Fight! Bandcamp
Bear Fight! Facebook
Lazer/Wulf Bandcamp 
Lazer/Wulf Facebook
Manray Website
Manray Facebook

WillRock

Ladies and gents are you ready to sweat off five pounds and dance until you can't feel your toes? Good, then lemme introduce you to my good friend and EDM DJ/Producer, WillRock! If you frequent local wall thumping joints like SEED Eco Lounge, Hangfire, 51 Degrees, or freshly-minted Taco Abajo then you may already be familiar with his skills on the 1s and 2s. A handful of months ago Will asked me to assist him with coming up with ideas for a simple, yet instantly recognizable, branding for his stage name. After going through a few ideas, I ended with the jagged and spaced-out logo you see below.

 

While I'm not sure exactly where this will end up, I can assume you'll see it on his gig flyers around town (or out of town, whenever he takes that next step!) WillRock is hard at work in the labs creating his own original productions (which I personally can't wait to hear). He has also been releasing a handful of mixtapes called 'The Sound' which you can find on his mixcloud page. Make sure to check him out every Friday night at Taco Abajo for his "Stoopid FR#SH Fridays". 

The Sound Episode 3 by Willrock on Mixcloud

WillRock Facebook

WillRock ReverbNation

WillRock Twitter

WillRock Beatport DJs

WillRock Mixcloud

Tattooing without ever picking up a needle.

While I know I just recently posted about someone getting one of my older designs tattooed on their body, it seems that someone else has taken the plunge! This time it happens to be a fellow deviantart user, Ian aka theGHOSTofCHE. Way back in 2007 he became infatuated with my "Octo" design, so much so that he drew it on his arm in sharpie and posted pictures for me to see.

That was then, now he has finally gone ahead with it and the design is forever on his forearm. I'm  sincerely flattered that anyone would want to permanently alter their skin with one of my designs. The tattoo was done by Cliff at Oshkosh Tattoo and Good Girl Piercing. Good, clean work!

Speaking of tattoos, if you like the design Ian got but don't want it for all eternity then I have some good news for you! As of today, you can now purchase the above design (as well as others) in temporary tattoo format.

 

Last summer I sold three designs to a website called Dottinghill. Dottinghill is an online community for designers who are looking to apply their craft in a unique medium called "skin accessories" (aka temporary tattoos). Much like the many t-shirt voting sites such as Threadless and Design by Humans, Dottinghill welcomes you with open arms to submit your work to be rated by it's "residents" and your peers.

 

The beta version of the site launched today after a handful of delays and I hope you all take some time to head over there and check it out! I was the first (according to the lovely write up about me on the front page...daaaw <3 ) to become apart of this amazingly talented community and I hope you'll join me.

dottinghill.com
Dottinghill on Facebook
Dottinghill on Twitter 

Bear Fight!

What the hell is Bear Fight,  you ask? Well, if you don't know yet then you're not cool...don't worry you'll have time to catch up. For those not in the know, they're a Savannah band consisting of some of my good friends and they know how to rip your ears off, stomp on them a bit, and then tell you to quit bitchin' and just sew them back on. The music is loud. I'm talkin' ears ringing on into the next two days, loud. To try and compliment all of Bear Fight's face-melting qualities I came up with some artwork to make your eyes bleed. Bright colors to grab your attention, touches of gore/violence , and some sludge to keep you there. The plan is to have these made up into stickers sometime in the future so keep your eyes peeled, Savannah.

Also of note, Bear Fight's addition artwork has been provided by my brother, Deighton Abrams. Bear Fight will be releasing their first full-length album, 'Gnarmageddon', in late May 2012. Listen to two tracks off their album below and "like" them on Facebook.

Bear Fight! Bandcamp
Bear Fight! Facebook

Tattoos, Dogs, and Charity...but not tattooed dogs up for charity.

Late last year I was randomly contacted by a man named Brad Jones who had seen one of my older designs over on my deviantArt page and wanted it tattooed. Apparently the girl I had drawn greatly resembled his wife (minus a few color alterations and the original design had a pair of vampire fangs). So we agreed on some colors and I went ahead with the alterations. Well, about a week ago I awoke to an email from Brad showing me the final product! My artwork, permanently embedded into his flesh! The tattoo was done by artist Mike Roche at Hart and Huntington in the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, NV.

In other news, friends and family have been clambering to get an original portrait of their beloved pets from me. I haven't gotten a chance to get any good photos of some of my latest works but I got a spare moment to scan my MOST recent one in. This one was for a good friend of mine, Katie O., who wanted to immortalize her family dog. He is a sweet old half lab/half boxer mix. The scarf around his neck was added because she told me a story of how he used to drag her and her brother around by their scarves. Also, I thought it might make the whole piece that much more interesting.

And last, but certainly not least, if you live in the Savannah, GA area (and haven't been under a rock) then you've more than likely heard of the 'Statts Block Party'. A great benefit show to help raise money for a local artist/legend who was was shot in the neck back in '08 during a senseless crime and is now paralyzed from the neck down. Put on by all his friends and loved ones, the show's goal is to help raise money for his piling medical bills. In addition to a huge line-up of great local bands there will also be raffles and art auctions. I did a small owl piece specifically for the benefit.

One hundred percent of all proceeds will be going directly to Statts. So go out, have a good time, and bid!! For more info on the Block Party or Jason Statts, visit any of the following links.

Statts Block Party Facebook Event
Friends of Statts Facebook Page
Friends of Statts Official Website

Mountain Dogs and Sweet Potato Pie

Just a quick art dump of two of my most recent illustration projects. The first is for the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog National Specialty in St. Louis, MI. The design is planned to be printed on t-shirts and embroidered on various swag.  A large chunk of the proceeds will go to the dog rescue program.

The second illustration never really took off but I put alot of work into it so I wanna show it off, regardless. So, without further ado...

I have a bit more in the works so keep an eye peeled.

Etsy Shop and Freelance Work

It's been a few months since my last entry so here's a quick update on a few of the projects I've been working on. To start things off I recently opened up a shop on Etsy.com. I'll be selling original artwork, prints, t-shirts, and any other knick-knacks that I can come up with. Head on over to The Bizarre Art of Schuyler Abrams on Etsy to see what's in store!

Below is one of my most recent work, "Fires of Hell", which is painted on a vintage 12" vinyl record. It can also be purchased in my Etsy shop.

Since I've been absent I've also picked up some freelance work. I've been providing illustrations for Stephanie Usery, who is a local graphic designer. I have a handful of projects in the works with this client so I can only show you what's been completed and accepted so far. The logo design below is a collaboration between Stephanie and myself. I provided the horseman illustration while she spruced it up with the text and surrounding objects. It felt good to branch out from my norm.

 

I still have some work from December that I'll post at a later date so keep an eye out for that.