This hand pulled limited edition poster was printed on 100% cotton archival paper and fits nicely in any 12×18 inch frame! There were only 50 made and each one was signed by Michael C. Hsiung and comes with PCP’s exclusive certificate of authenticity. Support this local artist/company and get one before they’re gone! Visit Poster Child Prints for more info.

Images courtesy of Poster Child Prints.

• Date: Saturday, August 18th, 2012
• Location: Surf Ride Oceanside – 1909 S. Coast Hwy, Oceanside, CA 92054
• Time: 7p-10p

Artists include: Josh Bernard, James Tull, Steve Peek, Brooks Sterling, Eric Warner, Ariel Wilson, Matty Davis, Sarah Spinks, Chris Schindler, Austin Lane, Kevin Nestor, Zacc Woods, Taylor Lewis, Jamie Padilla, and more…

Music by: DJ TANNER

Sponsored by: Bull Taco / Pacifico

Check out the Sensory Overload Art Show Recap over at blog.surfride.com if you’re bored!

Where did the name ‘MR. DVICE’ come from?

My name is Dave Weidetz. I am from Encinitas, California and I go by MR. DVICE – The handle came from the first series I did on canvases a while back…They were all about the vices of life. All the things you want to do but are told not too…We all know what those are. So the series was called D.VICES – obviously for Dave’s Vices…So because I come from graffiti, I like alias names and it grew into MR. DVICE.

Can you tell us a little bit about your style of art and where you find inspiration?

I have gone though a lot of phases to really discover the style which is natural to me. Now I paint very freely. I paint from emotion, not logic. I try to put into pictures scenes of chaos and confusion to trigger imagination from the viewer and let each person take away their own thoughts from a piece. A lot of times people see things in my work that I did not even know where there. This makes me stoked. I dig abstraction and loose paint. I find inspiration in amazing people, different cultures, and of crazy times in history that I wish I was a part of. Sometimes I try to take myself there through my work and get lost. I am an insomniac.

You’re solo exhibit “No Rules Among Goons” opens this Saturday at Thumb Print Gallery in La Jolla. Can you tell us a little bit about the show and what inspired the title.

No Rules Among Goons opens this Saturday night and I have been painting my face off to complete this new body of work. The Goons are the creatures that I paint. They live in the depths of the night but surface when the moon is full for cannibalistic feeding frenzies. These varmints are a subculture born in the anarchists cookbook mixing molotov cocktails for dinner and M-80s for desert. The rotten bastards will either eat or be eaten. Ingest strange synthetic substances testing the limits of abusing ones own mind. The tipping point of pleasure on the edge of insanity. Stirring, dwelling, multiplying, feeding on and off each other. The ghouls in my head in a world where there are no rules and anything goes. The title comes from something I scribbled on my wall at about 4 am in my studio one night…

The Goons sound like an interesting group of creatures! Lastly, what type of work should we expect to see; screen prints, paintings, pen illustrations…

This installation of work is a balance of pleasure, chaos, fear and frenzy. I will have 18 new pieces of art all done in acrylic and spray paint on wood. All themed around the psychedelic mischief of the Goons.

Anything else about “No Rules Among Goons” or MR. DVICE that you would like the world to know?

I like to surf and I don’t sleep much.

For more information about the exhibit and daily updates from the artist, stop by MR. DVICE’s Facebook page.

Interested in being featured on We Love Creativity? Send us a link to your portfolio through our contact page for consideration.

Needless to say, we were able to gather a lot of great footage, photos, and words from Tyler Warren. So make sure to check the rest of the post after the video for the full interview and photos from our day with Tyler Warren. Now for the premier of “Tyler Warren Portrait” – filmed and edited by James Tull. Interview by Brooks Sterling. Enjoy.

The Interview

The following interview is the raw and unedited words of Tyler Warren. Read it once, read it twice…read it three times! Each time you read through it, you’ll learn something new about Mr. Warren. Promise!

How did you originally get involved with art and design?

Just like every little kid, likes to color and draw. I just always enjoyed creating my own little world, drawing Indians, or insides of tanks. Whatever my imagination wanted to see. I just never stopped, since I was young.

Your family is involved in art too, right?

My mom always encouraged me to do art. She was very inspirational. My whole mom’s side of the family is artistic. My dad too, he would always draw plans before he builds something. Like a table, or patio cover. My uncle is an oil painter. I work for him for a couple years and learned a lot. It was like art school. I always took art classes in school. I think its definitely inside me, just creating.

What influences or inspires your art?

A little bit of everything. Every day life. I really want to let what’s around me inspire me. Whether it be someone I knows vehicle, or a certain feeling of a time of day at my local beach. I’m starting to tap more into who I am, and where I’m from and what I do. But then I have all these influences of books I’ve boughten over the years on amazon, or stuff like that. You can see old illustrator work…I like anything from the 1900′s to 1960′s. 70-90′s all that stuff too. There is so much out there that can inspire you.

Take us through the steps of your creations.

To start a project or an idea. I usually will sketch it out at my desk in the morning while drinking coffee, or sometimes in my car at the beach. Things start with a small idea. If its a good one, it will keep reoccurring in your mind, and you’ll want to do it. After I do a loose sketch or idea, I will really hone in on what I’m drawing, and find imagery of it, or similar objects. Say I want to do Terry Martin’s van, that he ended up totaling, and now he has another one. But he had this one van he drove for 30 years, it’s all rusty and beat.

My idea was to put it in front of a glass shop. So I shot a photo of the van, before he totaled it. I worked from that, get all the lines going, a rough sketch and tighten it up. If it’s an oil painting, I’m usually working on canvas. I’ll put a transparent tinted jesso over it, 3 times, then sand it so its super smooth. The way I learned to paint, is just really thin. Blend your color, and slowly build it like a coloring book. Then you can go back over it, and do glazes and push and pull dark’s, bumping up the contrast, like on your computer.

Pattern work. My first commission job was for simple shoes. Now I really want to do oil painting and bigger stuff. I want to get into designing clothing more, like the actual article of clothing, and picking good colors. Basically designing an article of clothing that I want to wear. Like a bitchen pair of good denim jeans and plain t-shirt, nice colors. That is the next step, but have an art element to it.

How did you get involved in shaping surfboards?

I always loved surfboard design and the idea of designing a surfboard that you’re going to ride all the time. Certain boards would appeal to me more than others, because of the template, the curve, or the fins or the color. My dad used to do photocopies of board templates for me. I drew one and he would bring them back, and I would fill them in with color. I shaped my first board when I was 14 with my friend Christian Wok, and his little brother Carson. We ripped the glass off this old 70′s board and made a little single fin egg. We shaped it on the side of the street at the base of his driveway. The thing actually ended up coming out really good.

Then I think I made a board for Alex Knost after that, when I was 15 or 16. We shaped one together, in front of his house. That one came out a little more wobbly (laughs). Then I made about a board a year, for 10 years. But in those ten years, I watched almost all my boards get shaped. I’ve watched a dozen different shapers shape. Like Terry Martin, Malcolm Campbell, Garry Larson, Marc Johnson, Manuel Caro, Josh Hall, Chris Christensen. All these people that influence me, just so you can see what they’re doing. Because I liked watching my boards get shaped.

(continued…)

And then I was teaching this little girl to surf. She was 9, and I was letting ride this white pony board, one of Richard Kedman’s hydro dynamica projects. It was like four-eleven by 22 inches wide with a swallow tail. It was an epoxy, and she was some light little girl. I would swim out at Doheny and push her in, and she would just fly on this thing (smiles). And then her Dad wanted to get her one of these boards. So I told him I would shape her one. I finished it, and it came out so good, I’m like “I gotta keep this for myself!” (Laughs) That was my ninth board I think. And then I made her another out of an epoxy blank that Robbie Keigel gave me, a couple years ago for my birthday. That was my first epoxy. I made it a little longer and narrower for her, and it came out really nice. That was my tenth board.

Then I made a batch of 3 for an art show. Those were all Simmons inspired designs, but I changed every one of them. One had double concave, one had single concave, one had vee. They all had different tails, and then so that was the first Soaps. Then that took off, and I started making the Soap boards, and then quads, then 11 footers. It’s all starting to evolve right now. I really love shaping because its basically functional art. It’s like a painting, but you can fuckin’ ride it. You can stand on it, and go surfing, and go fast. It’s so cool. I love it.

Then you can change it. Like today I was riding like my sixty-first board. And I’ve made like 100 boards since then. I’m like dude I need a new board. But I’m working on one right now, that we’re gonna go see later, that I’m pretty excited about.

Do you have an advice for people who want to become artists, illustrators, designers, shapers? The people who follow their dream and passion, like you’ve done.

Basically something to tell people that want to do their own thing, and have a dream, I think you just…

People that want to follow their dreams, do some artwork, shape, be a photographer, a good place to start is to start doing it, and don’t stop. That’s all you gotta do. Believe that you can do it, and actually do it. Don’t just talk about it. Practice. I put so much time into my art, its crazy how long I spend sometimes on a drawing. I guess its not that long, but it seems long. I’ll sit sometimes for 6 hours, because I know it has to be done that night.

Take the time, to take your time. I’m still learning to take my time. Be patient with the work, shaping, really working out all the kinks. That’s a big thing for me, having it be appealing to the eye. Really shooting for what I want to see in life, whether it be like a beautiful woman, or nice wave, or a well shaped surfboard, or a buffalo standing in the hotel room, that Doug Aken shot. (laughs) Or just like a squiggly blue line with grape juice painted on water color paper. (laughs)

(continued…)

Yah so, I think there is always room for more creative people. People love that, musicians that are good, everyone has a different view, and everyone is living a different life, so nothing is going to be the same again. People need to express who they are. I think the more people do stuff by hand, or with their body or voice or actions to create something is good. Even if you are doing it on the computer, you can do amazing things. I think that working on oil paintings, or doing it how people were doing it 400 years ago feels good. It’s not dead.

Hand shaping a board like people did 50 years ago, before computers. I was thinking about it the other day, like shaping a board, looking at the template. This template had a couple bumps in it, then I thought. Those guys in Greece would do sculptures that were perfectly sculpted like a human, they didn’t have computers or lasers to cut the stone, they were chiseling it, and they got it like as smooth as a babies butt. Things like that are mind boggling. The statue of liberty. I dunno.

Be an architect, do something. Don’t work at McDonald’s. (Laughs)

Any projects?

I’ve been working on shaping surfboards and really enjoying that. It’s a constant evolution just like art. I want to keep getting better, and keep doing what I’m doing. I’m super thankful for everything that’s happened.

I’ve been working on a movie called the Tyler Warren Experiments. So hopefully that comes out soon. Which would be huge, because we’ve been working on it for half a decade. That movie is based on riding a bunch of crazy boards, and making your own boards. It should be an inspirational piece hopefully.

My main thing is that I want people to do what the love, and enjoy what I do, and yah, keep it all goin’. Keep the creative spirit alive.

James and I would like to thank Summer Browner for introducing us to Tyler Warren and making this interview possible. We’d also like to thank Tyler for letting us into his world for the day. Make sure to stop by artbytylerwarren.com to see what he’s working on. – Brooks Sterling, We Love Creativity.

photos by Tull

Artists include: Josh Bernard, James Tull, Steve Peek, Brooks Sterling, Eric Warner, Steve Sherman, Ariel Wilson, Matty Davis, Hillary Dunks, Kevin Nestor, Zacc Woods, Taylor Lewis, Jamie Padilla, and more…

Who is Alex Westgate?

I am a graphic designer, illustrator, musician, bike rider and cat person.

What city do you currently call home?

Toronto, ON

Can you walk us through a typical day in the life of Alex?

Being a freelance designer/illustrator, student & member of a touring band keeps me busy & all over the place. Somedays I will sit at my desk drawing and working on concepts, only getting up to eat, and others I will wake up in a 15 passenger van somewhere halfway across the country. Lately it has consisted of a lot of Zelda though.

When and how did you first get introduced to art/design?

I was always interested in making things and drawing as a kid and eventually attended art camps in the summer. I didn’t really get passionate about art/design until grade 8 or 9 when I started my first band. I always loved buying new cd’s and looking at the album art. I figured I might as well design my bands t-shirts/albums/etc. instead of paying someone else to do it.

Describe your style of illustration and design.

I use a lot of characters in my work, I love character design. I feel characters are such a great way to convey a message with emotion. They help people emotionally connect & build a story within a design. I draw a lot of influence from 1950′s lifestyle and illustration and like to keep things simple in terms of shape, colour and type.

What inspires the characters that can be found in your illustration and design work?

Anything can influence the creation of a character. Some of the time my characters are influenced by a certain point in my own life, how I am feeling at a specific moment or my family or someone I see on the street. I love getting inside the head of each character and developing there personalities. What are his ambitions? His faults? What does he love? What does he hate? What does he take in his coffee? Every minuscule detail.

What tools are a must for designers?

Pencil and paper. Everything else is dependent on the person. I think a pencil and paper is a universal necessity for any form of design or concept development though.

Can you walk us through your creative process from the conception to completion of a project/design?

I get a lot of ideas when laying in bed before falling asleep at night, or on bus rides. Anytime I’m not actively trying to come up with something I get my strongest ideas. I sketch a lot. I usually will have an idea of my final concept decided on before I touch my computer. Sometimes I start to digitally translate an idea but it doesn’t come across as well as I thought it would, so you have to adapt and sometimes even go back to the sketchbook.

What’s new for 2012?

Work. Tour. Work. Tour. Maybe even graduate. Other than that just trying to push myself to branch out and do all kinds of design whether it be packaging, identity, type, textiles, wooden toys, mouse pads, anything!

Advice for future designers?

Have fun.

Is there anything else about you that you would like the world to know about Alex Westgate?

I eat more pizza than you.

Want more? Stop by alexwestgate.com and follow his blog to check out his latest work.

Interested in being featured on We Love Creativity? Send us a link to your portfolio through our contact page for consideration.

Artists included: Raul Casillas, Gareth Changala, Ariel Wilson, Matty Davis, Jeff Donndelinger, Colleen Hines, Sam Larson, Scot Leverett, Taylor Lewis, Martha Martin, Nick Massey, David Michael, Monstrinho, Jamie Padilla, Steve Peek, Kelli Murray, Crystal Powell, Razian Roushan, Rebecca Shockley, Bryan Snyder, Russell Spencer, Sarah Spinks, Melissa Stager, Brooks Sterling, Ingrid Tomassoni, James Tull, and Eric Wixon.

Header font courtesy of Lost Type.

For those that don’t know…who and what is Jolby?

Colby: Jolby is a Design and Illustration studio in Portland, Oregon made up of Josh Kenyon and myself.

How and where did the two of you meet?

Josh: Colby and I met at the Art Institute of California – San Diego in one of his final classes. We knew we wanted to work together, but weren’t sure in what capacity. Along came the opportunity to work together on a clothing line which was our first foray into creating together and running a business. The rest is history!

What city does Jolby call home?

Colby: Portland, Oregon. Although we are both from California and have a lot of love for that state.

Can you describe Josh’s style of illustration/design.

Colby: Josh does all of our textures and patterns, so I’d say his style is meticulous, deep, and without it nothing we do would look like “us.”

Can you describe Colby’s style of illustration/design.

Josh: Colby does a lot the characters and overall layouts for our illustrations. He brings the goofy fun characters to life and drives the pieces I think. We both sit down together in the beginning of a piece and collaborate, but Colby takes those ideas and really makes them work and feel like a little world on a piece of paper.

Where do you find in inspiration for your work?

Josh: All over the place. We look to nature and our surroundings in Portland for inspiration and I think you can see a lot of that in our work. A lot of our work revolves around the forest and the ocean. Those two things are huge parts of our life and we try new interpretations of them but hope they are prevalent in our work. We are also surrounded by a ton of very talented creatives here and they push us everyday to get better at what we do.

What tools a must for any graphic designer/illustrator?

Colby: For me it’s coffee, a mac, and a sketchbook with pencil. I try not to leave home without something to sketch on.

Josh: Some good tunes, a coffee, and something to sketch on. When it comes to creating textures, with each body of work I try to come up with a new overall style that will help tell a story so we have a place to start with a color palette and overall look.

Do you prefer a tablet or pen/paper?

Colby: We both use pen and paper, but I’m going to start experimenting with tablets to see if it’ll improve our process at all.

Can you walk us through your creative process from the conception to completion of a project/design?

Josh: Each project is different, but it always starts with the two of us sitting down with pen and paper and sketching out ideas. Then, depending on what needs to be done we’ll divide the work while looking over each others shoulders and giving input. We then tag-team it until it’s finished, send to the client for edits, etc (they’re involved this whole time as well), and once it’s done, onto the next!

Your solo show entitled “Shapes & Smiles” will be opening at Subtext Gallery in San Diego on December 16th – can you tell use a little bit about the exhibit?

Colby: The show is about what has made Josh and I happy throughout our lives and highlights a lot of personal memories and moments in our lives. It’s our second solo show at Subtext and we’re excited to be showing there again. We really love those guys.

Josh: I can’t wait for people to see this body of work. It’s fun, bright, personal, but there’s a lot of room for people to interpret each piece the way they want to and put some of their own memories inside. We’ll be showing fine art prints, screen prints, paintings, plush, and home goods. We really tried to push our style and how we tell stories more then ever. The show will open along with “The Shapes & Smiles Companion” which is a mobile guide to the show that attendees can scan a QR code and be taken to a site that will tell them all of the inspirations for each piece.

What inspired the work that will be exhibited at the show?

Josh: We sat down and picked moments from our lives that we thought would be the best to represent in the show. So, in that sense, our personal experiences drove it. Another main point of inspiration for the show was music which plays a very big part in our creative process. While creating the artwork for Shapes & Smiles, we tried to surround ourselves with sounds that added to the vibe of the show and listen to bands that would really help bring it to life.

Colby: Originally, the show was just going to be home goods like tea towels, prints and other things that would just be in a house. However, as we got deeper into the memories we found a really cool opportunity to re-imagine the ideas from our past and present.

What type of work should we expect to see; screen prints, paintings, pen illustrations…

Colby: Giclee prints, screen prints, paintings on wood, screen prints on wood, big plush words, strange creatures, type, eyes, patterns, a blue fish, and Skatefoot!

Anything else about “Shapes & Smiles” or Jolby that you would like the world to know?

Josh: You can get a vibe for the show by watching the video made by our friends Matteo & Cohen. It’s a really up-beat and positive show. If people can walk away smiling then I think we’ve accomplished something pretty amazing.

We hope you enjoyed our interview with Josh and Colby of Jolby. Make sure to stop by Subtext Gallery on December 16th for “Shapes & Smiles” if you live within driving distance of San Diego. For more info about Jolby, visit jolbyandfriends.com.

What city do you call home?

Detroit, Michigan

How long have you been a designer?

About two years or so.

What tools are a must for designers?

Illustrator for sure.

Tablet or pencil and paper?

Pen and paper, I do not care for pencils.

Can you walk us through your creative process?

I’ll sometimes take an idea that I have and either sketch it down on paper or on the computer. I then take steps to see how much I can branch it out. After that, I move on to the next phases of just working the design until it is complete.

What are some of your favorite freelance projects from 2011?

I would have to say my identity design for Sweet Cakes restaurant & my hand-drawn title for Summer at the Lake.

What brands/companies have you done design work for?

I really enjoyed the work for Madeau-Wade publications, which is a local publication company.

Are you working on any personal projects right now? If so, what are they?

All the time. I am currently designing a new font that I will be releasing in March 2012. It is a script font that is inspired from the early era of the 1900′s.

Can you tell us about the Lost Type Co-op?

The Lost Type Co-op is a great project. Riley Cran developed a unique site that is all about designers benefiting designers. Not only are designers able to get their names out there by developing fonts, but it is very affordable with it’s ‘pay what you want’ donation system. I’m so glad to have my font Airplane on there, nothing but good experiences.

What artist/designers inspire you?

A few designers that I enjoy are Allan Peters, Mark Weaver, & Rob Clarke.

Plans for 2012?

Since I will finally be done with school, I would like to get a full time job somewhere. Otherwise, lots of design work to be done.

Advice for future designers?

If you have a true passion, go for it. If anyone tries to tell you you aren’t good enough, take that and transform that into wanting to prove them wrong. Always know what good design is about.

Is there anything else about you that you would like the world to know?

Never judge a book by it’s cover.

Want more Kady? Stop by kadyje.com to see what she’s up to.