Mike S Graziano Illustration - Reigning Invocations

Fraktur Street

2011-12-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

After 17 hours of tutorials and editing (and more than a few dozen curses thrown at the computer) I finally finished the video for my Typography class. The alphabet rendered is based on a variation of the German blackletter typeface Fraktur. If you want to find the project to see it in person, all i can say is the bridge is built over rt.24 and has no road access, happy hunting.

Abandoned Highway

2011-12-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the lag time between posts, but the end of semester crush is on in a big way. Today I finished up my final project for a Typography class and its been one of the most fun projects Ive worked on in a long time...for now i can only give you a sneak peak, as im producing a video with a fellow type maven and designer Alberto Reyes. Some of you from NJ can tell where this is and I encourage you to see it in person before some young high school vandals draw a bunch of poorly scripted obscenities and genitalia all over it. Tomorrow night will be a most heavy occasion in Montclair: Kyuss, The Sword, and Black Cobra. Much thanks to The Obelisk for providing the tickets, not to mention being an incredible site for stoner metal/ hard rock.

Black Snot (The Scratchbord Artist's Bane)

2011-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Really feeling the end of semester grind, but here's some sneak previews of new artwork that should be done any day now. The illustrations are based around the Ray Bradbury short story "66".

This piece is made from doing a xerox transfer through an etching press, super nasty and textural.

I've also got another project on the way that is essentially a contemporary version of an old "wound man" anatomical illustration. Trust me, it will be nasty.

The grind

2011-11-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

Another busy week. I got to see the always amazing Russian Circles at Maxwell's in hoboken, and met the current drummer for Pig Destroyer and Misery Index on top of having some refreshing Yuengling straight from the tap...Big ups Maxwell's. Ive got some more scratchboards coming later this week, and next friday I will be shredding with a bunch of the gnarliest folks i know at the warren legion hall. Thats Black Friday, dont buy x-mas gifts for your loved ones...pay five bucks to see me and swill cheap beer!
Current Projects:

Ive been taking a type class that focuses on hand made typography, making a logo for myself using a variation of blackletter - old german-style calligraphy.

Making your own font takes forever...I think i hate the letter S now

A monoprint based off of a photo i took of miss Ashley Jane last new years eve.

More in the pipeline

2011-11-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

In the next 5 weeks im going to be making between 9 - 12 monoprints in my studio classes. I want to make portraits, and what better subject matter than my friends? I need some of you to step up to the plate and model for me. Im going to be shooting photos for reference and each shoot shouldn't take more than 30 minutes each. I want you to decide how you want yourself lit, if you want any objects (hats, cigarettes, what have you), and ultimately your expression. I need at least 3 people for this weekend. No nudity or anything weird, just your time. In return ill make sure you guys get a print once the series is finished.
I also have another project coming up that im starting now and will probably take until February to finish. Im calling the project Swampland and I want to capture all the things we've done and continue to do living in suburban New Jersey. This one is going to require outdoor shoots, exploring, and much more time. There will even be a few scenes that will require nudity and making out in a car, so if you're game for the racy stuff let me know! Again the photos will only be used for reference and wont be seen outside of me working on the project. The end result will probably be rendered in scratch board. Im still writing all the possible scenes, but i need your input too. So far the scenes are going to be:
-Smoking in the woods -vandalizing a parking garage -drinking horrible beer in someones basement
-making out in a car at night -playing with fire -a bunch of people overstuffed in a car
-swimming in a lake -people puking/toilet hugging
basically all the things we already do. If you have any more suggestions let me hear them, im trying to get started ASAP. Yes some of these things are illegal, but im staging most of this stuff so dont worry about being arrested or anything like that. I'm thinking ill need between 6 and 10 people for this one, so if you're down tell me.
Ive got some photos ill be posting later tonight...keep watching.

The Big Website Question

2011-11-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Now has come time for you all to help me decide what to do with the website. The question im posing to you all is which background works best....really just a judgement call. If you have any other critical observations, lay them on me. No mercy.

oh, and before you ask...yes, these are smaller than the final.

2011-11-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Scratchboards and collages .

New etching in progress...all that brown is basically tar.

See that shit? New work!
Most of this greatness isn't finished yet, but give it time. My self imposed moratorium on drawing skulls is going better than i thought, can't draw dead things/corpses/guts forever...whom am i kidding, yes i can. Tomorrow ill show you guys the two color possibilities for the website, you guys have got to help me pick one out!

Ready for more?

2011-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

This is the first post to launch the new blog to keep you guys updated on the day to day, week to week creation of work. I feel like my website (currently being redesigned) isn't updated enough to reflect my current work, so im finally augmenting it with this. So far im planing on just using it to showcase the new works in progress and get feedback from you guys, however that will probably get pretty boring. Here is where you all can come in. Tell me what you want to see here! Sure art is great, but how about other projects from friends, musical endevours, photos from my daily NYC grind, tips on slicing deli meat, or horoscope advice? For this blog to be worth a damn to me, it has to be worth a damn to you! Dont be quiet! Ill have another post tonight with some new etchings in progress and a sneak peak at the new website.