Jack Morgan's Poetic Posters

Skull Maze

2011-06-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is another maze I did for the upcoming Murder Bros. package. I think people are going to really like this. It's going to be a really cool thing you can get at our shows.

Knife Heart Maze

2011-06-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is part of a rock and roll maze thing I'm doing for the Murder Bros. It will be awesome. There will be a CD in it, and we'll sell them at shows.
If you want, you can print this one out here, and try it. If you have fun, let me know.

Staunton Clocktower Maze

2011-05-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Climb up the Staunton Clocktower in this maze.
If you have fun with it, let me know.
Thanks.

Elephant on Stress in America

2011-05-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

If you click the image, you'll probably be able to read the speech balloons.
I thought this little comic was funny. At the Darjeeling Café, our mascot is an elephant, and we want to put a little magazine together that extends the Darjeeling Café's brand and message of well-being and thriving lifestyle, and that would include a comic from time to time with an anthropomorphic elephant. We are constantly worried about people thinking that it's a republican thing, but I've resigned myself to it. Artists' work is often misunderstood because it does not really belong to the artist once it is thrust out into the world.

Anyway. It's anti-circus and animal violence and pro therapy. I hope you like it.

Super Rocket Car Maze

2011-05-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

I created this Rocket Car Maze. I was inspired by a fairly horrible film called Hooper - The Greatest Stuntman Alive with Burt Reynolds. It's pretty awesomely bad. This maze is part of my book-length project I'm working on of mazes.

Click the image to make this Super Rocket Car bigger then print it out and solve it. If you like it, please let me know!

Tea Maze

2011-05-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I think it's better to start this Tea Cup Maze at the handle so that you're going left to right, unless you're left-handed, and you can solve this moving right to left. That's what I was thinking about when I did this. I also thought maybe you could have a tea at my wife's tea shop when it opens back up after a year-long expansion and find this on your table and solve it while you drink. Wouldn't that be a nice way to spend a few minutes? This should take less than 60 seconds to solve, so you could finish it while you waited for your tea to steep or while you waited for it to cool down to the temperature you prefer.

Anyway, this is another maze I did. It's part of the book I've been working on. I hope that you click on it, get the bigger size, and print it out and solve it. If you have fun doing those things, please let me know.

Pegasus Maze

2011-05-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Most people don't know this about me, but I love making mazes. I am fairly obsessed with them. Well, very obsessed. I am working on a book-length maze project that is part art-book, part puzzle-book, fun/interesting for adults and kids, and in black and white. I am also working on rock and roll-themed mazes so that when you buy the new Murder Bros. album, you also get a little book with a few mazes. I think it could be a very cool thing for people to go home with from a show.

Anyway, here is a maze for Pegasus I drew a few years ago. I like it a lot because it's kind of psychedelic. If you click it and get the bigger image, you can print it out and do it. I hope you have fun with it. Let me know.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (9) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Nine (9) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten (10) pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (8) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-05-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Eight (8) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten (10) pages here.

Sorry for Snake Cover

2011-05-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

I drew this on Illustrator a few years ago, and when I came to find it here, it wasn't around. So here she is. I really like this piece. Thanks.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (7) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-05-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Seven (7) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten (10) pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (6) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-05-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Six (6) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (5) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-04-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Five (5) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (4) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-04-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Four (4) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (3) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-04-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Three (3) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (2) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part Two (2) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

Jacob Applebock, or the Lilies of the Field (1) by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German with Illustrations by Jack Morgan

2011-04-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge. Part One (1) of a translation project I am almost finished with. I translate the verfremdungseffekt of Bertolt Brecht's poetry with images and text, incorporating comic book, poetic, literary, and translation theory. I will post all ten pages here.

I might have forgotten to tell you that I studied German at UC Berkeley and graduated with Highest Honors. Translation theory was one of my main focuses.

Murder Bros., Hey Girl, and Astronomers

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

I made this photoshop disaster for the Murder Bros. show with Hey Girl and Astronomers. I like the way it turned out because I was really going for that obviously photoshopped look. I thought "tiger" because a lot of people think that tigers live in Africa (Disney's Jungle Book at fault?). I thought "Brazilian super model" because a lot of people think the Nile is in South America, and i figured if Brazil was in Africa, it would be where Egypt and Ethiopia are on that continent. I thought giant nebula back ground because a lot of people like Astronomers.

I guess I over-thought this. But, I love the way it came out, and a lot of people complimented me on it. I think that that's the most rewarding thing about designing things like this. It's not about people "getting" what your process was, but just going "NOICE" when you hand it to them. The guy at the door at the Blue Nile loved it, and someone meticulously drew tattoos on Alessandra (the woman pictured) on one of the flyers taped to the door. It looked awesome. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out. I love when people take work I've done that's been hung up and start drawing on it or adding to it. It's happened a bunch of times, and I'm always glad someone bothered to go to the trouble.

I do want to point out how incredible my background isolation is, by the way. It's one of the holy grails of a good designer or at least photoshopper, but no one outside of the design community ever comments on it. And you only really get to talk about it when someone blows it. For people not paying attention, the catalog perusers of America, the painstaking work that goes into background deletion or alteration goes unnoticed. So when you look at the .psd above, I want you to look at how that background looks like it belongs there it doesn't look like I grabbed another image from somewhere and duplicated her a couple times, did a quick mask, and blurred edges, and used various layer blending options to make it all look like it belongs.

The tiger head on the other hand, was a joke, and was meant to look a little cut and pastey. . . but there's actually an art to that, too. I did adjust the light source a bit to look like the light on the tiger was the same light that was on the girl's body.

I hope you count yourself, dear reader, as one of the people who enjoy this flyer.

Tiger Lilly

2011-04-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

I drew this and then colored it in Photoshop. I only used a mouse. I never use a tablet. I've thought many times about getting one, but I never got around to it, and I'm crazy good at using the mouse.

Murder Bros. and Life in a Foxhole at the Bazaar

2011-04-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I made this for the Murder Bros. and Life in a Foxhole, who will be playing in Roanoke on June 11 at the Bazaar. It's $5 and starts at 9pm. It's going to be a great show.

Skeleton Martini Drawing

2011-04-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

I drew this picture of a skeleton holding an empty martini glass while watching a burlesque act involving a martini glass. Sometimes my doodles make me happy... or sometimes I'm happy with my doodles.

My Outlaw Cowboy Skull Is Used at a Self Defense Site

2011-03-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to see your stuff altered and reused.

The Murder Bros. and the Courting Harlots

2011-02-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Murder Bros. are continuing their Murder Bros. and friends shows this weekend. This Saturday, we're appearing with the Courting Harlots. Very awesome.
The above photo was pilfered online. I do a lot of photo downloads when I see something for my morgue. I dug it up and love that it's simultaneously formal, violent, sexy, and artistic. The alteration and of the photo and the composition took a little work, but I like the way it turned out, and it looks deceptively simple.

This is the poster of the first Murder Bros. & Friends show. It was with Wasted Year and Pete Stallings. They are all great musicians. I got this picture from the Men's Fashion Illustrations from the Turn of the Century. It's by Kno. J. Mitchell Co. I messed with the scan a ton. And the poster had the other acts' names at the bottom of the page. I will use one more drawing from this book before I return it to the library. I trawl the library a lot for images to either inspire me or to steal. I love Old Glory in the background of this one. I like that they look like they're all carrying weapons, but look very dapper doing it. There's a story in this image that makes my imagination run a bit wild.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Production in Scranton

2011-02-21T13:35:00.000-08:00

A man in Scranton who works or the high school there wanted to have a poster for the 30's hobo-themed A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM they're doing there. Sounds awesome, and I wish I could go.

He found me on this blog because I did a hobo drawing a long time ago and stuck it on this blog for kicks. He quickly found out that I do a lot charity work and love Shakespeare.

The finished product looks like this. I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's supposedly going on a billboard and some other spots. I enjoyed doing it. It doesn't look great on my screen right now, and I suppose it's because I worked in CMYK and didn't do a proper turn to RGB. YMMV.

I hope you like this poster, too.

Murder Bros. in Concert with the Judy Chops on December 25

2010-12-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

For many reasons, I've been on a hand-drawn kick lately. I really enjoy the inherent messiness of doing it this way—especially when it's your goal to be punk rock! There's a rush like trapeze without a net when you're working like this. I use no erasures at all. I didn't even have an eraser near me. I used no measurement or drawing aids of any kind. I desired a young feel that seems edgy and unrefined, but I want there to be a classy component, so I drew a picture of a classy lady. I wanted the text to be grungy but legible. I especially love how the logo works hand-drawn.

I enjoy the way it came out, but I think I might do an illustrator poster next time round. People aren't as impressed by illustrator work, but they should be. Drawing by hand is as easy as murder.

Meantime, my band the Murder Bros. is really taking off and doing quite well. We recorded a demo, and we're playing lots of shows with great acts from the area. Keep an eye out.

Intentional Disaster

2010-11-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Murder Bros. is having their first gig in Harrisonburg this weekend, so I've designed a punk rock fly-poster. I'm a big fan of Jay Ryan's design work and his ideas about the destruction of text. I wanted it to be off-center and bent and make the copy simultaneously difficult and compelling to read. I thought working in hand would accomplish this best. In fact, it's almost always contrived-looking to do this digitally. Maybe it is by hand, too.

Anyway, it's difficult to make something ugly on purpose, but I'm a form follows function kind of guy, and I thought that we needed a fly-poster that looked punk. The skull in the middle is modeled after a turkey skull I found online, and I put intentional "mistakes" in there, too. I hope not to have gone overboard, but I had a great time making this thing, and that's mostly what it was for. . . and to promote the gig and the band of course. With any luck, you'll think I did both with this design.

Fill the Void Try

2010-11-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

I've always thought Bau Haus was a bit metal. In a lot of ways, the sentiment is similar. . . at least to me. So, when my friend's band put on a logo contest, I designed this. I think the key to logos for bands is to keep it as simple as possible so that it's immediately recognizable and easy to put on picks, tees, guitars, drum heads, and anything else you can think of in an any color you can think of. Plus, if you design clean, you can dirty it up in process or digitally. I've designed grungy stuff, and it always looks disappointing. It's a lot easier to dirty something after designing it than it is to clean something up. My advice is to design super clean and start your conversation with a client about the level of noise they'd like in the piece. Some clients think that your first draft is the last one, but this logo above can be changed in every way fairly easily.

Also, grunge is so 1992. Grunge graphics and typography looks incredibly dated to me. I think a great deal about typography, and sometimes I just build my own text the hard way. I didn't here, but I did for my own band, and I would for a corporate logo that needed to be clean or for someone who just wanted some thrashier copy. For a long title, I think manipulation of a black typeface works fine. I have strong feelings about altering someone else's font in a way that's too obvious to not burn your eyeballs, so I hope my alterations aren't noticeable in this poplar.

There are some subtle alignment things in this that I like very much.

The Murder Bros. Halloween Show

2010-10-27T13:04:00.001-07:00

I made this poster for the Murder Bros. show this weekend. It took a long time, but I'm in love with the way it turned out. I'm extremely excited about this show. The Smell of Death will also be playing.

She's supposed to be a ghost getting ready to party.

Flying Elephant in BW

2010-10-19T15:09:00.001-07:00

I needed an image to break up some text in a menu for Darjeeling Cafe, so I grabbed this from a poster I did for a poetry series at Pegasus Books in Berkeley. I reduced it to grayscale one piece at a time. I hate the way programs want to do it for you. It's never right. I really like the way it turned out, and I thought I'd stick it up here while I was posting Darjeeling stuff.

Darjeeling Cafe: Elephant in a Teacup

2010-10-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

This is a little thing I did for Darjeeling Cafe in Staunton. It will appear on Tshirts and on small things like postcards and those little stickers that go on people's loose leaf teas. I think it's pretty awesome because it's very abstract and still quite clear what it is. In one color!

I enjoy limiting things to one color. In fact, a lot of times, small illustrations I do in many colors don't make it onto this blog because I'm not as proud of them. They're good and everything, but working with every color in the rainbow feels like cheating sometimes. It feels easy.

Joel Salatin Poster

2010-10-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

I designed this for a speaking engagement promoted by Transition Staunton Augusta. Joel Salatin is a hero in the slow/healthy/local food movement. I visited his farm last year and was impressed. Being a vegan, I don't buy in all the way, but I like the sentiment I guess. Michael Pollan talked about him in his books.

Darjeeling QR

2010-05-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

So it's CMYK, which might look lame on the monitor since I didn't convert properly. I just wanted to get it up before I got it printed and in the window of the new location of the Darjeeling Café. If only one person knows what the hell a QR code is, this will be worth it. I worked a long time on it.

Experiments in QR Codes

2010-05-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

These are experiments in QR Codes. At the moment they bring you to a dummy page that I'd like to make a reality eventually.
I think they can be an incredible new way to engage audiences. I see nothing but potential in this technology.
Imagine a world in which you can engage the companies you like on your own terms. A lot of people are afraid of privacy, but I think that this gets around that issue nicely. You actually invite more content by scanning the code. Thus, you only get the advertisement that you really want.

But speaking of privacy, wouldn't it be great to only be advertised things you might really want? I feel like the filter on my brain doesn't need to be as active if advertisers already know to not bother with pitching stuff to me I won't ever want or need. The question "what can they do with all that information they have about us?" always comes up when talking about the future of media, but I have to counter it with, "what would they want to do with it?" The only thing that makes sense is to sell us stuff. . . which is exactly what businesses have always been doing. Now they can more accurately target us. Targeting is a good thing. It keeps you from having to deal with Viagra and Lipitor commercials when you're 15 and from dealing with World of Warcraft ads when you're 72.

Anyway, aren't QR codes cool?

Some Banners I Made for ASC

2010-04-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

I made these banners because we had to wait on photography for our coming season. There needed to be something visually compelling there, so I put these on the webpages corresponding to these titles as placeholders until we get said photos. The boss likes photos of actors, so that's what he'll get when the photographer gets us everything. I think these are some pretty snazzy stop-gaps. They normally appear at 500px.

Some Banners I did for ASC

2010-04-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Above is an artificial bokeh effect that I made and liked because it looks magical. It appears on a gray bg, so that it looks like it has rounded corners. It would normally be sharper and readable, appearing at 500px wide.

Most of the Blackfriars Playhouse is wood, so I thought it would be nice to have a banner that reflected different shades of wood.

This was an experiment in kinetic typography. I tried doing it in flash, but no one liked the effect but me. It started like this, and I like the way it looks. I think it makes Ben Jonson look edgy and fun. We used that quote in our marketing for the show.

I like doing the odd banner here and there. It keeps my skills sharp and lets our graphic designers concentrate on some heftier things. It's good to keep one's production artist skills fresh.

Murder Bros. Logo

2010-04-20T07:34:00.001-07:00

I wanted a very simple logo for my band, the Murder Bros., that would work in any color and would work on tshirts and CD's. It had to look good at any size. I really love starting off projects like this, making them extremely complicated, and then simplifying them so that they end up looking effortless. It's easier to pare down than to build up.

A Second Stab at Infographics

2010-02-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

We wanted a military metaphor for marketing, but I didn't want it to be reminiscent of a real war from any era. So I drew tanks from different countries and colored them in ridiculous shades. Same with the jets.

The idea is that Marketing is to Sales what Air Support is to Ground Forces. It's a commonly used way to describe the relationship between the two. So, I used it for our org chart. Then the Goals, Strategies, and Tactics page echoes the military thing, but it's color-coded and uses short launch ideas rather than explain everything. These were used as visual aids in a staff meeting at the American Shakespeare Center.

A Stab at Infographics

2010-02-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

I would have polished this a bit more, but we went a different direction before I finished the comps. I love infographics. This one attempts to illustrate the relationship between Marketing and Sales with a metaphor that might be a little tired. The second page is an internal goals/strategies/tactics chart to get our department on one page and creatively portray our vision to the rest of the company.

In the end, this is a rough draft. Don't be too critical, please. I'm proud of my Adobe Illustrator skills on that chicken and egg, though.

End of World Animals

2009-01-24T14:39:00.001-08:00

Jerome bought my series of paintings called "End of World Animals" last year. They are acrylic on cardboard. He hung them up and took a picture of three of them. There are five altogether. Four are red and one is green. There's a crow, a bear, a rabbit, a squirrel, and a deer. I like the way my artwork looks on other people's walls.

A lot of people have been calling me legend lately. At first I kind of liked that. I am a legend in my own mind. Do you have to be dead to be a legend?

Jack Morgan = LEGEND ?

Staunton Green 2020 Logo

2009-01-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

I designed this logo for Staunton Green 2020. We want to make Staunton a "green city" by 2020.

American Shakespeare Center's Survive and Thrive Campaign

2009-01-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

I made this logo/badge/button for the American Shakespeare Center's Survive and Thrive Campaign.
It would be nice if you joined the American Shakespeare Center's Facebook Cause.

Hobo Silhouette

2008-10-14T01:28:00.000-07:00

A little silhouette of a hobo I drew for SeeqGeist.

Pirate Flag

2008-10-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

I made this little pirate flag for my Pirate PodList on SeeqPod.

Punk Riot Grrl

2008-10-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

I drew this a while back, but I just used it on the SeeqPod blog, so thought I would throw it up here. I like it a lot for some reason. It isn't my best work or anything, but it somehow reminds me of the old days when I used to hang out at raves and late night clubs.

She also kind of reminds me of Tank Girl. It's always good to be reminded of Tank Girl. Not the movie, though.

Cowboy Outlaw Skull

2008-10-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've been really enjoying working in black and white lately. Not sure why I've been doing that.
I drew this one for an article at Seeqgeist.

Crying Poet

2008-10-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is a crying poet I drew. I'm not sure if it's the crybabies of the internet who keep poetry from being anything but an insular, incestuous second-rate art form or if it's me who can do nothing but cry about people like Ron Silliman ruining everyone's fun. I wrote an article on it at Seeqgeist.

Pirates Vs. Ninja

2008-10-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

I drew this in Illustrator for a post at Seeqgeist because I was afraid of taking a picture of a real ninja or a real pirate.

Studio One

2008-06-14T01:49:00.000-07:00

I am working in Illustrator almost exclusively these days. This is the summer season poster for the new reading series. Look at those names:
C.S. Giscombe, Ann Svilar, Trevor Calvert, Barbara Claire Freeman, Jack Morgan, Kaya Oakes, William Moor, Daphne Gottlieb. Wow.

I wanted it to look like you were looking up on a cool and clear summer night. And the series is in Oakland, paid for by the city, and everyone always uses the whole tree when they make things for Oakland, forgetting about how iconic the oak leaf has always been as a sign of strength and knowledge.

National Poetry Month at Pegasus

2008-04-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

A fun month for everyone. National Poetry Month is more wondrous than Christmas time.

Samson Agonistes

2008-04-11T10:30:00.001-07:00

This is for a play from the poem, "Samson Agonistes," by John Milton. I read it, and it's a play that was never supposed to be staged. It's a hard play to do ao poster for. But here is mine. I don't know if I like it or not. I like parts of it very, very much, but I don't know. It's gory! I like that.

MAPP April

2008-03-31T22:06:00.001-07:00

When it comes to poetry, I often feel like an abused clown/spouse. So I thought a lot about what it means to be either, and I came up with a mime. No one seems to know what to make of this one, and I love that. I tried to push with "free because I love you."

"I did it because I love you," something abusers say and "I come back because I love you," are both ways I feel about poetry. I beat you because I love you and I let you beat me because I love you. It's a messed up situation, and it looks glamorous to people outside of it.

Anyway, this MAPP is going to be great.

Barbara Claire freeman, Elizabeth Robinson, and Rusty Morrison at Pegasus

2008-03-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to draw kind of a sharp-looking pegasus who still looked kind of soft. A lot of the image is forced, but I think that it looks effortless. I wanted to make something that a lot of people would think that they could do but couldn't.

Holloway: Nathaniel Mackey

2008-02-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel Mackey is everyone's favorite poet. He is good. Some people like the poster I did for his reading.

MAPP in February

2008-01-30T10:22:00.001-08:00

This is for our second MAPP.

Live painting: Elizabeth Howe
Prose: Ben Pricket
Poetry: Cameron Jackson, Del Ray Cross, Eleanor Bayne Johnson, and Sharon Zetter.
Music: Justin Botros and Chris Stroffolino

L's Caffe, 2871 24th St.

Pegasus: Sorry for Snake: Logan Ryan Smith and Hillary Gravendyk

2007-12-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

Hillary Gravendyk and Logan Ryan Smith are reading on the 24th of January to celebrate the second issue Sorry for Snake at Pegasus Downtown.

Tiki images are fun to think about in the winter. In Polynesia, they are not too cold to go to a poetry reading, so maybe you won't be either.
I enjoy the colors of Tiki designs. Also, there is often a dark element to Tiki stuff, which is why I wanted to have a girl holding a snake in a tropical paradise setting. And who doesn't love a girl with a cocktail umbrella in her hair?

Cupcake and Poetry Party

2007-12-23T11:20:00.001-08:00

I made this poster for a party I threw with master baker and painter, Liz Howe. She baked the cupcakes, poets read poetry, and everyone drank sherry and port and ate cupcakes, too, of course. It was a great night.

It's kind of my take on art deco made a bit more fun.

Dearest Children of the Revolution, I Am Pleased to Announce My Resignation

2007-12-06T09:58:00.001-08:00

Dearest Children of the Revolution, I Am Pleased to Announce My Resignation
By: Jack Morgan

Only five smackers!

Stocking Stuffers

2007-12-01T17:58:00.001-08:00

I did these for Connecting Through Dance. They are an organization that teaches sight-impaired individuals how to partner dance. Pretty cool. The banner at the bottom was printed on vinyl. Both were hung at their Christmas gala. That's why they're Christmasy.

Pretty cool.

Holloway: Rachel Levitsky and Gillian Osborne

2007-11-10T19:19:00.001-08:00

I did this poster, the last one for Holloway's Autumn 2007 series, with Adobe Illustrator.
Rachel Levitsky is a good poet.

William Moor and Jenny Drai for SORRY FOR SNAKE

2007-11-09T20:35:00.001-08:00

William Moor and Jenny Drai for SORRY FOR SNAKE.

Mia You: Objective Practice

2007-11-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

Mia You is coming out with a chapbook. It is a very good chapbook. There was a poem in particular that I liked very much that had a sparrow in it. A poem has to be pretty good to make me believe sparrows more colorful than they actually are.

The coolest thing about this design is that they stole the concept and didn't credit or pay me. Oh, life in the big city.

MACBETH

2007-11-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

That's right, Jack Morgan is an actor now. I did the poster, too. Come see the play. You might like it.

Amiri Baraka

2007-10-29T01:21:00.000-07:00

Amiri Baraka and Michael Bigley are reading at UC Berkeley this Wednesday as part of the Holloway Series in Poetry. I am a little giddy about seeing Amiri Baraka. He is supposed to be a thrilling reader, and I enjoy his poetry very much. Wholly excited about Wednesday. It's kind of an early reading, so you should come in your costume if there are parties to get to after it, which I am sure there are. I think it will be worth stopping in before Hallowe'en actually starts.

MAPP: Mission Art & Perfromance Project, San Francisco

2007-10-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Salinger says that rush jobs yield the best results. I think he is wrong, but he might be right in this case. This was a major rush, but I think it turned out pretty, pretty good. The colors are a little washed on line, but I don't have time to correct them for the web right now.

It's for an event called the Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) in San Francisco. I think it might be the coolest thing I am ever involved with.

There will be poetry read by Jack Morgan, Jarrod Roland, Paul Ebenkamp, and Jenny Drai.
There will be music played by Diana McCullough and Casey Speer.
There will be art displayed by V.E. Grenier, Helen Tseng, and Jack Morgan.

OCTOBER 22: Patrick F. Durgin, Dolores Dorantes, Jesse Seldess, and Jen Hofer

2007-10-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Patrick F. Durgin, Dolores Dorantes, Jesse Seldess, and Jen Hofer are reading on the 22nd. It is going to be great. This is my first poster for Moe's Books in Berkeley. I am a little proud.
The girl is supposed to be sacrificing herself for poetry, the only art form she cares for. She's okay with that. She doesn't care how you feel about it.

Holloway: Ted Pearson

2007-09-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ted Pearson for the Holloway Series in Poetry.

Holloway: Rae Armantrout 2

2007-09-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

This one is the second Rae Armantrout poster for Holloway. I think I will stop using Photoshop unless I absolutely have to. I don't like the way digitally constructed and/or altered images look. I think that hand vectorizing things is fun, and it looks crisp and clean. I hand draw, then drop it into or recreate it in Illustrator. I like Illustrator very much.

When I got my first job in graphics, the only thing I used was Photoshop. I digitally created cell phone antennae and superimposed them in real-life so that cities and clients could see how they would look finished. When I worked in advertising, there were people doing amazing things in Illustrator who I thought had magical powers or something. I like to think that I might be one of them now.

October is the New April at Pegasus

2007-09-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

If I can find an excuse to use hot pink and blue line drawings, I will; BEWARE! So I drew everything in Illustrator and used some cowboy text even though it has nothing to do with cowboys.
This was for the Eyeball Hatred Reading Series that Clay Banes does at Pegasus. I read the title at the top as an imperative. FREE POETRY READINGS! THIS OCTOBER!!!
I am a little more proud of this than I should be, I think, but I do like it very much.

Holloway Fall 2007 Season Poster

2007-09-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

There is something that I like very much about the way this turned out. I am unsure what it is.
Rae Armantrout, Ted Pearson, Amiri Baraka, and Rachel Levitsky. It is very cool to be in a place where you can meet poets like these.
It's all in Illustrator.
I think it will be the last poster I do in Gold and Blue.
I hope that Amiri Baraka, Rae Armantrout, Rachel Levitsky, and Ted Pearson like it as much as I do. I hope that you like it, too.

Holloway Faculty Reading

2007-08-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Really Famous Poets Like Lyn Hejinian, Bob Hass, Geoffrey G. O'Brien, John Shoptaw, and Cecil Giscombe.

I wanted to make an overly school-spirited poster for poets, who are normally not considered very school-spirited. This is the way it came out. Most people don't get what I was trying to do until I tell them, so maybe I failed. . . or maybe I am subtle.

Holloway Prototype: Ted Pearson

2007-08-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Would you like to see something cool?
Well, I think this Ted Pearson thing is cool. It took me quite awhile to do even though it's unfinished.
I do these by hand. I don't think the automatic one is good, and isn't that cheating letting the computer do everything for you? It won't be used now. I was using an old photo as a model. But there are new photos. So it's back to the drawing board.
I have this now, too:Technorati Profile

Flying Gator for Tao Lin

2007-08-10T18:54:00.001-07:00

I drew this for Tao Lin because I gave him nightmares about alligators and bats and mosquitoes. I wanted to draw one of each, but it turned out like this. It's a blood-sucking flying alligator. Sorry.

David Larsen, Alli Warren, and Dana Ward

2007-08-04T20:37:00.001-07:00

The Eyeball Hatred reading series at Pegasus Downtown is one of the reasons why I am happy to be alive.

NEW YIPES! Lara Durback, Stephen Beachy, and Martha XIV

2007-07-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

New Yipes! at Oakland's 21 Grand is one of my favorite things in the world, so I was thrilled to do their poster/flyer. There was only a short time to finish it, but I think it looks pretty awesome.

Most of the lines are done by hand, vectorized, and superimposed over hand-drawn blocks of color and shading on top of that. A little photoshop, but mostly done in Illustrator.

Scott Bentley and Douglas Rothschild at Pegasus

2007-07-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

This one was fun.
All good poets go to hell.

Keep it Local Berkeley

2007-07-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is the B&W representation of a logo I entered in a local competition. I don't think I won it, but you can't win them all. I still like the design, though, so I thought I'd throw it up here even though it doesn't have anything to do with poetry or poets.

They wanted a crafty 1940's look, so I did it all by hand because that's the only way to get a crafty, rough look. The colors all go in via Illustrator once it's hand-vectorized so that any color scheme is quickly achieved. I tried also to combine everything people love about Berkeley: 40's detail, 60's DIY craft, and flowers. Berkeley loves its flowers.

Noah Eli Gordon and Andrew Joron at Pegasus

2007-07-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

God I love poetry.
Thank you for blessing me with the gift of speech so that I may partake in the highest form of art.
Cool poster, too, no?

Alan Bern at Pegasus Downtown

2007-07-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

I've been a little obsessed with elements of art nouveau lately. Alan Bern is a Berkeley poet. Pegasus Downtown is the best bookstore in the world. That is mostly due to the efforts of Clayton Banes but also the poets who contribute to the vitality of the independent bookstore scene.

The Book Zoo Reading

2007-07-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was a little reluctant to put this one up. It is the first one I did for the Trainwreck Union. It was our first reading when we thought that anything was possible and that we were the coolest thing the poetry world had ever seen. I think that this poster really captures that energy, so I am proud of that.
It was done in Illustrator. I love line art and technical drawings, so I was trying to destroy that a little along with what I thought was a Jay Ryan attitude toward text. I wanted grunge and elegance to coexist. I think I might have thought about this one more than any other, and that's not always bad. But I think I love this one most of all for nostalgic reasons.

Naomi Guttman and Robert Lipton at Pegasus

2007-06-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Naomi Guttman and Robert Lipton at the one and only Pegasus Books Downtown.

Watchword Press and Instant City Poetry Reading

2007-06-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Instant City and Watchword Press at Pegasus Downtown.
Done entirely in Adobe Illustrator.

Trainwreck Open Mic.

2007-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

When this event fell apart at the last second, I felt horrible. I really loved the poster, though.
Things like this are often taken for granted. No one ever thinks about all the time lost/wasted on something like this when they are giving up at the first sight of difficulty. People are so willing to give up. I was outnumbered.

Joshua Clover for Holloway

2007-06-14T10:49:00.001-07:00

Joshua Clover loved this poster. He was worried that the Jorie Graham one might be even cooler, but he loved his.
It's done, more or less, all in Illustrator.

Debeljak and Morrison at Pegasus

2007-06-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

For their reading at Pegasus.
Hand, Illustrator, Photoshop.
There's a bit of a color shift here.

Stormy Petrel: Jack Morgan: Your

2007-06-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

I wrote the poem(s), sure, but I also designed and bound the book and drew all the images within.
My dear friend, Nina, helped me with the binding.
It is a very limited edition. The idea is to make every book from Stormy Petrel a unique piece of art.

Jorie Graham

2007-06-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is another one for the Holloway Series in Poetry. Constructed wholly in Illustrator.

Pulp: True Adventure with Poets Jack Morgan and Sara Mumolo

2007-06-03T22:57:00.001-07:00

For Article Journal's reading featuring poets Jack Morgan, Sara Mumolo, and artist John Chiara. Made for on line purposes only. Main image lifted from an old magician's poster.

Aaron Kunin and Holloway

2007-06-02T17:48:00.001-07:00

Aaron Kunin thanked me for the rats when he signed my copy of his book, Folding Ruler Star. This was for his reading with the Holloway Series in Poetry. Most of the grunge text is by hand, and the rest is Illustrator.

Nabolom, Nabolom!

2007-06-02T17:36:00.001-07:00

The Trainwreck Union open mic. Good times. Hand drawing and a little Illustrator.

Mama Buzz and Trainwreck Union

2007-06-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

This reading was a cool one. I think the poster for it is very cool, too. Photoshop and Illustrator and lotsa hand stuff.

Cole Swensen Reading

2007-06-02T11:08:00.001-07:00

This poster was made for the Holloway Series in Poetry. Done almost entirely in Adobe Illustrator.

Grand Central

2007-06-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

For the Trainwreck Union's reading at 21 Grand.
Image lifted off a book I found in the street by Rebecca West: The Birds Fall Down. (Illustrator not credited). Created in Photoshop.

1979-03-06T17:20:00.000-08:00