Scharwath Carwash

Last month, 181,000 people reached the limits of their 99-week unemployment benefit. As the unemployment situation in the United States reaches epic proportions, our lawmakers in Washington are busying themselves with balancing the budget and winning mid-term elections. Some people are, understandably, mad as hell.

I was asked yesterday by the New York Times Op-ed page to submit an illustration to run alongside letters from some of these severely fed-up people. It’s a heartbreaking and extremely difficult read. Being a freelancer and feeling the effects of this recession myself, this was more than just an assignment, it was a chance to write my own letter.

If you are gainfully employed today, be thankful for it!

Read the letters here. See the full-size illustration here.

I’m on vacation this week, but managed to roll out some important new features to the site. There’s a new header up top and a roll call of VIPs under “Salty Salutes” on the right. Go ahead and click those links. I’ll throw in a coupon for free wiper blades.

I’ll be rolling up my sleeves and painting a few skateboards for One Way Or Another, a fundraiser to benefit Contributor. Contributor is an organization that gives skateboards to poor kids. These custom commisioned decks are selling for $150. You buy a deck, and I paint it for you.

50 talented artists including Max Erdenberger, Todd St. John, Jordan Crane, Don Pendleton and Mike Perry will be donating their valuable sweat. The decks can be purchased here.

A few months ago I was invited by my friend JC to create a few wallpapers for Poolga, a site dedicated to providing quality original artwork for iPads and iPhones.

It became the perfect opportunity to point out the similarities between all the boards (planks, slates etc.) in my life. Head over to Poolga for the free download and never forget to be thankful for the board under your feet (or fingers).

Unique LA is an event held in downtown Los Angeles where independent local designers can sell the cool stuff they make.

My friend Sonja Rasula asked me to design this re-usable shopping bag that will be given out to everyone who comes to the show.

This event is becoming a major player in a new movement that really empowers creative individuals. Avoid the Glendale Galleria, choose UniqueLA!

The $10 admission fee gets you a bag and free drinks.

Unique LA Spring Show
This weekend – April 24th & 25th, 11am – 6pm
California Market Center’s Penthouse
110 East 9th Street

In 1990, with a Walkman and two Suicidal Tendencies tapes in my pocket, I was dragged to Central Park by my mom for something called Earth Day. There were 500,000 people there for a concert with the B-52’s and a few rowdy speakers, one of which was César Chávez, who gave a speech there just 3 years before his death.

Looking back on it now, that little trip to Central Park made an impression. Those 90’s neo-hippie grooves penetrated my brain even more than the Suicidal tapes, resulting in a certain degree of earth-consiousness.

Although I came away from Earth Day 1990 with a slightly different perspective, I can’t say I’ve gained any enthusiasm for the holiday itself. With our climate problems looming large, one day of flag waving seems like a bit of a joke. Luckily there are people out there like Scott Massey who are thinking about these things all the time. Scott’s RRR.002 ezine, which has a theme of Recollect, Reclaim, Recover, is out today with art by myself, Andrew Holder, Brian Willamont, Greg Lamarche, Gary Benzell, Mike Afsa, Mike Perry, Peter Kaplan, Will Bryant and many more.

I dove straight into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and came up with what you see above. Download the RRR.002 ezine here, and also head over to Public School’s site for a nice interview with Scott.

I’ve had the opportunity to work on some incredible projects in my career, and this is one that I’m very proud to have been a part of. I was asked to be guest art director for GOOD 019, The Neighborhoods Issue, and I couldn’t be happier with how it came out, or with the experience I had collaborating with my friends at GOOD.

Despite the popularity of social media networks, a neighborhood is still the ideal community. GOOD 019 focuses on the issues surrounding the places we live and our relationship with them.

For the art in the magazine, we selected many different visual creators to show us their unique perspective on what a neighborhood is. Valeriya Volkova (Brooklyn, NY), Lorin Brown (Los Angeles, CA), Miss Lotion (Copenhagen) and Public School (Austin, TX) all created covers for GOOD’s first multiple-cover issue. You can learn a bit more about the covers here. And they are all available as prints from Society6.

The Neighborhoods Issue has some of the best visual talent ever represented in a single issue of GOOD, with 70+ artists participating. I got to select a few of my favorites to illustrate articles. Chris Johanson, Trevor Burks, Jesse Spears, Jeff Canham, Maxwell Hoyoke-Hirsch, Philippe Nicolas, Leif Parsons and Scott Barry all did some heavy lifting, and Micah Lidberg made the beautiful map you see above.

I pitched in too, with an illustration for an article about walkable urban neighborhoods written by Alissa Walker.

Out of a desire to have more than just four visual neighborhood viewpoints, we devised the Neighborhood Flags project, where we asked a few talented artists and designers to create flags for their neighborhoods. The results were incredible, and I can’t thank all of the flag creators enough. They are: Always With Honor, Haik Avanian, Erik Brandt, Leandro Castelao, Kevin Will Chen, Frank Chimero, Spencer Cross, Megan Deal, Draplin Design Co., Beth Elliott, Max Erdenberger, Sam Farfsing, Ryan Feerer, Ragnar Freyr, Alex Fuller, Frederico Schott Gutierrez, Andres Guzman, Wyeth Hansen, Brian Jones, Kasino Creative Studio, J. Zachary Keenan, Ely Kim, Nicole Lavelle, Faythe Levine, Scott Massey, Milk & Eggs Co., Oliver Munday, Playlab, Popglory, Aaron Rayburn, Brian Rea, Brian Roettinger, Joseph Shipp, Christine Taylor, Benjamin Vickery, Armin Vit, Volume Inc., Mark Weaver and Olympia Zagnoli along with everyone in the GOOD Art Dept.

The issue also includes this door hanger that we worked on with the urban-interventionist and designer Candy Chang.

For the graphic statement, a few pages in every issue devoted only to visuals, we had the idea to make a bulletin board out of various Craigslist ads, which GOOD’s resident artist Will Etling brought to life and photographed.

I’m pretty excited about the design of the issue, which I was lucky enough to be able to work on with GOOD’s Senior Designer, Atley G. Kasky. We came up with some smart devices to support the neighborhoods theme. The fences you see in the upper left are used to delineate the content throughout.

These small illustrations, created by GOOD Projects designer Dylan C. Lathrop, appear every so often to remind us that our feet are on the ground.

Thanks to Creative Director Casey Caplowe, and Editor-in-Cheif Zach Frechette, for this amazing opportunity. The Neighborhoods Issue is on newsstands now.

I get asked a lot, “How’d you do that?” So I thought I’d post a little show-and-tell for this illustration I made for GOOD’s collaboration with Pictory. Click the images for larger versions.

I start out with a pencil sketch. I try to get this as close as I can to what the final illustration will look like in terms of composition and placement of items.

From there I go into Illustrator and trace the drawing and think about color.

Smaller details are drawn separately.

Next I bring the illustrator objects into photoshop, essentially rebuilding it so textures and shading can be added.

I try to use handmade textures to prevent things from looking too computer-ish. I made this one with spray paint.

See the final illustrations and the many amazing photos that go along with them here.

Persistence pays.

I’m very happy I was able to scrape together enough time to make this door for Scott’s RRRELEASED show.

RRRELEASED
March 13th – April 9th, 2010
The Surf Gallery, Laguna Beach

Opening Reception – March 13, 2010 – 7pm

Featured ARRRTISTS & FRRRIENDS:
Alex Krastev, Alex Weinstein, Andrew Holder, Art Brewer, Brian Foster, Brookes Reeder, Charles Adler, Chris Partelow, Chris Pfeil, Corey Brindley, Greg Comollo, Greg Lamarche, John Esguerra, Jonathan Sandridge, Julie Goldstein, Justin Krietemeyer, Kassia Meador, Kelly Jones, Keith Scharwath, Lynn Milosz, Mark Tesi, Matt Lindauer, Matt Rubin, Matt Schwartz, Mike Afsa, Mike Perry, Michael Coleman, Paul D’Elia, Robin Cameron, Ryan Tatar, Scott Richards, Scott Massey, Steven Harrington, Stephanie Hosmer, Steph Walker, Urchin, Zach Gibson & You.

The Carwash has been quiet lately for a good reason.

I was invited to submit a piece of art for Manifest Equality, an art show supporting full and equal rights for all Americans.

This door was probably opened and closed many times, allowing or denying access to many people.

Now it’s open forever.

If you are in Los Angeles this week, please visit my door and 400+ pieces of art by an incredible roster of artists including Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, Todd St. John, Aaron Rose, Jesse Spears, Cali DeWitt, Dan Monick, Ingrid Allen, Sage Vaughn, Chris Pastras, Ashley Snow Macomber, Jayson Atienza, Justin Fines, Clare Rojas, Harvey Pekar, Shepard Fairey… and so many more.

Manifest Equality
1341 Vine St.
Los Angeles, CA
March 3rd.–7th, 2010