Jay Swanson Vlogs

Daily vloggers are a phenomenon that seems to draw those seeking quick fame and results, and while some attain that it is more likely a long and arduous process. My brother Jay Swanson has been vlogging on YouTube daily (DAILY!) for almost three years now, and what started as a way to have a creative outlet while he was stuck in a crap situation in a small town has turned into an engaging channel with 20k+ subscribers following along as he lives out his dream life in Paris, France.

He has a growing support system through Patreon where he offers rewards to Patrons for financial commitments to his creative continuation and growth, and has recently asked me to help with some of those items.

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He opens each vlog with a character who is different for each day of the week (seven characters in total) and thought they’d make a fun appearance on his Shirt of the Month, so I drew each out.

He then went on a long encompassing trip through India with Puxan which was AMAZING to watch (really made me want to visit), and at one moment of crowded touristy thirsty exhaustion while staring at a monument they couldn’t muster up the energy to go see, Jay said to the camera “We came. We saw. We need coffee.” and they left. A good moment that felt appropriate to memorialize into another Shirt of the Month.

Featuring his sunglass’d invader style logo.

Featuring his sunglass’d invader style logo.

He’s currently working on a new ambitious project that is yet to be announced and has asked me to draw up some items for it, which I can share a small bit of.

Arc De Triomphe by Kaarins

Arc De Triomphe by Kaarins

Bridge by Kaarins

Bridge by Kaarins

Showbread

I was really excited when Josh approached me to help his band Showbread with some graphics, a project that rolled into multiple projects for the band as well as for him personally (he's an amazing author). A dream client to work with as our styles jived well together and he gave great direction while also holding the reigns loosely and trusting me to follow my inclinations.

The first project involved some shirt designs. Knowing their love of cats as well as Christian anarchism played in here.

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After that, they were set to do a ten-year vinyl release of their original hit album No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical (original artwork by the superhuman Clark brothers). We completed the outer jacket and had the innards laid out by the time the label nixed the project, but it was still a load of fun to work on 're-working' a classic piece of art (if you were into that sort of thing in the early 2000s, which I very much was).

From there I worked on some personal items for Josh, and then came the sad news that they would be releasing their final album, Showbread is Showdead. Josh's request was to take a simple element from the cover art of No Sir and pair it with a reaper, completing the circle of life of the band.

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Legitimately some of the most rewarding projects I've been graced with working on.

The Sweeplings

The Sweeplings were looking for some unique graphics for each stop along their album release tour coming up, so we worked together to find something that fits their style (desaturated, full of texture, dramatic) as well as translated the information effectively into online posts and printed posters. I had fun diving back into Photoshop after a bit of a hiatus to dedicate more time in Illustrator lately. I'm pretty okay with how these turned out! Here's just a sample. Also check out their new singleeeee!! (That I got to watch them film, it's okay to be jealous)

And of course! Gotta include a client reject because those are also always a bit fun too! (maybe not always but sometimes?)

Land of Plenty.

Really honored to have been asked by Karli Ingersoll to be a part of the Land of Plenty art show in July, 2015.

The idea was to get a group of ladies together, as musicians, photographers, and designers, to collaboratively create. The musicians submitted a song to a photographer, who then created an image they felt fit the song they were given, and then both song and photograph were passed off to a designer to work the song's title or lyrics into a typographic piece over top.

Photography: Kaarin Howard  //  Design: Danielle Davis  //  Song: Magpie, by Mama Doll

Photography: Kaarin Howard  //  Design: Danielle Davis  //  Song: Magpie, by Mama Doll

I contributed as a photographer for a collaboration with designer Danielle Davis for the song 'Magpie' by the band Mama Doll, and I designed for a collaboration with photographer Alycia Lovell for the song Lifting the Darkness by Abby Gundersen.

Photographer: Alycia Lovell  //  Designer: Kaarin Howard  //  Song: Lifting the Darkness, by Abby Gundersen

Photographer: Alycia Lovell  //  Designer: Kaarin Howard  //  
Song: Lifting the Darkness, by Abby Gundersen

You can view all the art at The Bartlett until October 2015.