Matt Benyo's Birthday.

It was Matt Benyo's 21st birthday on Saturday! So on Friday, I prepared a surprise party for him (with the help of Kory Kalnasy and Kevin Scott) and spent way too many hours making cupcakes with little drawings and a nice anchor card that I cut out of wood. For the record, wood is difficult to cut and sand. It was great and there were sparklers and I've never used a sparkler before so that was neat and scary. Matt Benyo was surprised and that was the goal. It was wonderful.

On Saturday, Matt Benyo and I hit the town hard. With a special yolo birthday list in mind, we got fancy and headed to Detroit to go to the casino, eat some saganaki, and explore the beverage world for adults. Well, Matt did, I just sipped sodas.We made our way back to our neck of the woods and went to Kevin's grad party. Kory said that Matt Benyo and I looked like a million bucks. Best compliment ever. 

Overall, I think it was a success. If I won the lottery, this would've been 1,000 times better, but happy birthday, Matt Benyo. I hope you loved it.

The SmorgasBOARD.

What have I been working on for the past few months? THIS BEAST. Matt Benyo has help me come up with a name for this style and it is called the smorgasBOARD. It is a mishmash of things that I put together of your choosing; just like the custom shoes. In this case, Brandi Keeler, a dear friend from CCS, asked me to make this board paired with things she, as well as her boyfriend, Donovan, liked. (Go look at his blog for some other photos of it!) This is all sharpies on illustration board and it measures out to 18 by 18 inches and it is PACKED WITH DETAILS. Let me just say that I never would've finished this when I did if it wasn't for Matt Benyo. He helped me with a big chunk of this board and his determination and willingness to help me hasn't gone unnoticed and I thank him dearly for it. We finished yesterday and drove it down to Brandi and when I turned it around and showed it to her, she screamed, "HOLY SH#%!" It made it completely worth it to hand this precious baby over to her when I saw how excited both Brandi and Don were. I know it will be a great addition to their home and I thank them both for the opportunity to create something so special and unique for them. What's your favorite part? If you're interested in a SmorgasBOARD of your own, let me know and click to enlarge the photos!

Dry Cell.

My friend, Jason, who previously got THIS Red Wings tattoo designed by me, asked me to design him another tattoo. It wasn't a total redesign, but it was a cleaner version, with color, and some minor adjustments that he was happy with. The photos that follow give you a feel for the process I go through when doing a piece. Thumbnails first, bigger version, some tweaking, and finally the finished product (which I made in illustrator). It's still humbling and surreal when someone likes something I did so much that they get it tattooed on them. Click to enlarge!

Playing Ketchup.

Every year I post about my birthday, but this year I was too wrapped up in the celebrations to make a blog. This birthday was, without a doubt, the best birthday I've had. Why? Because it was my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY. I turned 25 on the 25th! For my birthday, I got two new tattoos. YOLO, to remind me to be daring this birthday, and Stay Gold, because I've always been a fan of the quote, but also because it represents my Golden Birthday. 

   

Where better to be for my birthday than New York City? I went with two of the greatest guys I know, Matt Benyo and Kory Kalnasy, and together, we successfully completed my YOLO birthday list. Enlarge to read!
 

In addition to seeing a celebrity, Kory got him to sign that list. This is me meeting Nick Jonas and getting a polaroid with him! Matt Benyo suggested Nick sign it:  

Kory totally surprised me at midnight outside of Cody's dorm with Matt Benyo, Cody, and Kory singing to me. Kory made me this giant robot card and had a red velvet cupcake for me! I was so happy! Kory also stole that 2 and 5 from a gas station.  

Matt Benyo and I went to this thing in New York called Sleep No More and it is so hard to describe. Even putting it into words does it no justice, but it's like you step back in time to the 40's and you get a playing card and white mask (pictured below) and you wear it around 6 floors, but you can't take it off or talk and you follow actors and actresses around (they don't talk either) and you piece together the story they're portraying and each floor is different. Floor 4 had shops, Floor 2 had a bar with a live band, Floor 1 had a cemetery. It was SO COOL. It's interactive and it loops 3 times throughout the night giving you the opportunity to follow different people and see things from different perspectives. Matt Benyo and I were going to split up, but when we walked in, it was dark and scary so we stuck close, but while waiting in the bar to head inside, I was asked to come back to the bar at 8:45 so I went to the bar and I got taken to a secret floor where I was left with this Silent Hill looking nurse who wheeled me down a long, dark hallway in an old fashioned wheelchair and it was just the two of us and I almost died. The night concluded with a hanging at a banquet surrounded by 400 masked voyeurs. It really was one of the coolest and most surreal experiences I've ever had and I know Matt Benyo agreed. We couldn't stop talking about it afterwards and even now, he smells things that remind him of it. I wish I had a time machine. I'd love to go back. Since then, Matt Benyo and I have gone to Chicago for pizza, Jamba, & good jams! And even more recently, we joined our friend, Rhiannon, and went to see ONE DIRECTION at the Fox Theatre. It was sold out, but Rhiannon and I waited 7 hours and finally managed to get 3 tickets in the 9th row! We had the best time ever!

So, that's where I am. ALL CAUGHT UP. Art to come next!

HBD, RUSSELL BRAND!

OKAY. I have not been on blogger since February and it has a new look and I am having a mini meltdown. Jesus. I was prepared to make a comeback, but now I have to overcome this technological hurdle. Let's get back on track. TODAY IS RUSSELL BRAND's 37TH BIRTHDAY! I love him dearly. He hosted the Video Music Awards last night and I was smiling like an idiot the entire time. This is my homage to him. Check back on the blog. I'm going to be updating every other day. The next entry will be about my life and have a polaroid in it!