Wilco in Bend, OR Aug 8, 2015. Due to the tight timing on this one the copies that were sold at the show are not signed and numbered. My copies are the only signed ones available.
LET'S HAVE A POSTER DROP!
A bunch of stuff is now available on my site! Including my new one for The Black Keys. As well as The Decemberists, and this year's Squamish Music and Arts Festival poster.
SLIDE SHOW AND BOOK SIGNING TONIGHT - READING FRENZY PDX
Hey everyone, I'm doing a little thing at Reading Frenzy on Mississippi tonight at 7pm. The last event of my book tour. I'll be giving a slide show of things I've learned over 20 years of going from broke-ass artist to not quite as broke-ass artist.
BLACK METAL KITTEH T's ARE HERE
DAN STILES IN THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE
From posters to books, Dan Stiles stirs up a stew of design and pop culture
It may be a cliché that one thing leads to another, but for Dan Stiles, a Portland illustrator and designer, that statement has such personal resonance that he used it to title his recently released book.
You can read the entire article HERE
Thank you Portland Tribune and Ellen Spitaleri
INTERVIEW WITH THE WILD MAGAZINE
Dan Stiles Talks Art in the Digital Age
It’s not uncommon to see creative minds coming together to combine different forms of art. However, musicians would not be where they are today without the artists who’ve created the visual representations of their sounds. Here at the WILD, we were lucky enough to chat with graphic artist Dan Stiles, who, in addition to writing and illustrating multiple books and developing a substantial portfolio of non-music-related art, has also become known for creating tour posters for bands like Of Monsters and Men, Tame Impala, ODESZA, and more...
See the rest of the article HERE
DAN STILES IN THE DENVER POST
Acclaimed poster artist Dan Stiles shows why his profession is stronger than ever in the new book "One Thing Leads to Another."
From grubby dorm rooms to art galleries and museums, concert posters have told the story of rock 'n' roll over its nearly 70-year existence.
But even as tastes and technology have changed, the best posters still do the same things they did in the late 1960s and early '70s heyday of Bill Graham's psychedelic shows at San Francisco's Fillmore West.
Read the whole article here
Many thanks to John Wenzel and The Denver Post
PIMPIN' FOR WACOM
I have an ongoing relationship with the folks at Wacom. I started using a tablet about 15 years ago, and it had a profound effect on my work. A year or two ago Wacom approached me to test and review some of their new products. Here is a short video they did of me using the Cintiq Hybrid Companion.
DAN STILES AT SF DESIGN WEEK
Adobe and the AIGA hosted a talk with me at SF Design Week. Here is a little interview on the Adobe Blog as well as a short promo video for the Adobe Working Late lecture series.
Deathburger Tshirts back in stock
After selling out the entire first run at SXSW I have a new box of Deathburger shirts ready for your hot sweaty summer bod. Lots of people have asked where the idea came from, and to be honest I don't remember. I've been drawing this thing in various forms in my sketchbook for months and months. I finally got it to a place where I think it works in the spring.
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New York Times Magazine Feature
Nice piece on my book in the New York Times Magazine.
“But it’s bands, not brands, for which Stiles is best known. Over the years, Stiles has worked with high-profile rockers including Alt-J — his tour poster for the group puts the “mod” in modern art — and Sonic Youth, whose poster’s literally mind-blowing imagery is equal parts Pop Art and punk. Accompanying the illustrations, Stiles includes anecdotes about his designs, from his initial vision to the finished product. A 2007 Feist poster, for example, was inspired by a woman’s skirt that Stiles saw on a train ride with “an abstract geometric pattern based on circles and squares.” Given that he had time on his hands, Stiles tried to recreate the shapes on his computer. “It wasn’t until weeks later,” he writes, “that I pulled out the pattern and began seeing what I could do with it.” Similar inspiration struck Stiles for his first Death Cab for Cutie poster, whose minimalist face, with a sinister blood drop, evolved from magazine subscription cards, a late-night urge to collage and one (or two) glasses of wine. As the title suggests, one thing led to another.”
LOVE BOTTLE
Congrats to Minna Yoo and her team at Love Bottle. Can't wait to see one in person. These bottle will be available at Made in Oregon, Zupans and other select locations.
NEW SITE LAUNCHES
Finally got around to getting a new site. It's bigger, brighter, and easier to find the latest posters and events I'm speaking at. Oh it also has an archive! The Vault is the collection of posters I've designed over the years, there's even a search feature which is pretty cool.
Thanks to The Study for helping to make this happen.
Design as Art
An excerpt from my new book One Thing Leads to Another
There are two kinds of design. Design as a service and design as art. Design as a service is just like being a plumber or working any other trade. Someone calls you fix their pipes and you fix them as best you can, then you collect your money and move on. No matter how you slice it, you’re fixing pipes not building the Sistine Chapel. The client doesn’t want the Sistine Chapel; they just want their toilet to flush.
Service design is 99 percent of the paying work that’s out there. Don’t expect deep creative satisfaction from design as a service. Expect a good job and a paycheck. And be very thankful you’re in a nice soft chair pushing around 12 point Helvetica instead of out in the hot sun pushing around dirt. I’ve done that before. It sucks.
Design as art is a different beast. It’s the reason most people got into design in the first place. To make “cool” stuff. The problem is there is a rare sort of client who needs this type of work, and they come to you, you don’t go to them. You have to have a body of really great work, and then they’ll show up and say “give me a piece of that.” But you’ll never create that body of work doing service design. You need your own avenue, one where you have 100 percent control over the creative. Keep your day job, pay your bills, and make something else at night. An awesome blog, posters for your friend’s band, a screen printed ‘zine. But whatever it is, make sure people see it. Don’t make one and then put it in the closet. Get it out into the world and onto the internet. If people like it, then it will take flight. Make another one, and then another one, and another one. Work on your chops, develop your style, push your limits. Once you have 20 of something good people might start to take notice. But you might have to make 100 before you have 20 good ones.
If you want to start your own service design firm, start it at night as well. Expect to do a lot of selling. You’ll spend as much time talking to clients as you do designing, and you’ll still have to take their direction, just like you do when you work at a firm. When I started out on my own I had this notion that every single thing I was going to produce was going to be worthy of the design annuals. My first job was a brochure for a small nonprofit. I designed the hell out it. I threw in free illustrations to make it great. Slowly but surely they chipped away at it until the final result was a complete embarrassment. All I can say is that no matter where you work, if you’re doing service design your work will most likely get compromised. That is simply the nature of the process.
If you want real satisfaction, get your own thing going that is actually your own thing. Start out for the love of it and make excellent work. The clichéd truth is that it’s a long road, but the money and clients will follow.