We're going on tour.

We are very excited to announce that we will be on the road for two whole weeks this March.

Our first stop will be in Baltimore where we were hired by the University of Maryland for a 2-day feature during Design Week. The first day we are going to be guest lecturing a group of design students and the second day will be running a day-long print workshop. We will be posting more info about this soon.

From Baltimore we're back on the road and driving to Bowling Green, KY to hang and print with our good friends Connie and Jim of Print Mafia. We are producing a Hero/Print Mafia collab art print that will debut the following week at Flatstock 24 at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Then back in the car with our pal Ron from Madpixel in Louisville, who is joining the tour in his wheels, for the long drive to Austin for Flatstock and SXSW. Flatstock runs Thursday 3/18, Friday 3/19 and Saturday 3/20 in the Austin Convention Center.

We are also very excited to announce that Hero was asked to be a featured speaker on a panel at SXSW's Music Festival this year. Mark will be one of just a few featured speakers on a panel called, "It's So Big! Packaging Design from CDs to Vinyl to Merchandise." We will be posting more about this panel soon, but, if you are headed to SXSW this year, plan on attending, the panels are free to attend with your badge and this one promises to be an exciting, thought provoking and informative discussion.

Lastly, we will be releasing a new poster at Flatstock for a movie that is debuting at SXSW's Film Festival. We are super excited about the film and this project and we can't wait to share more about it with you.

So there you have it, we will be escaping the last few weeks of the miserable weather in Buffalo, missing our pets like crazy and packing up the Element for the first BIG road trip of the year. We are stoked!

"Flintstock", "Graphic Beauty" and "Flashback" - Music & Posters in Flint

Flintstock is happening this weekend in Flint, Michigan (yes, I said, Flint)! What is Flintstock you ask?

Flintstock will take place at the Flint Institute of the Arts (FIA) this Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 12pm - 10pm. It comprises of 7 legendary bands and TWO poster art shows, so it's kind of a big deal. Check out the great feature Paste Magazine wrote about the show!

We have 10 posters in the exhibit entitled “Graphic Beauty: Contemporary Rock and Roll Posters”, which features posters from over 30 contemporary working poster artists from around the US, some of whom will be on hand at Flintstock, selling their works. Also being shown in conjunction, is an amazing retrospective called “Flashback: Posters from the Golden Age of Rock and Roll”, the 80-plus posters, taken from the Bill Graham collection, will include psychedelic art luminaries like Rick Griffin and Stanley Mouse, but also lesser-known works from New York and Boston that departed from the famous psychedelic look.

Both exhibits will be on display at FIA from September 26 - November 8, 2009. For more info on Flintstock and the poster exhibits, visit the Flint Institute of Arts website here.

Even More Album and Design Fun

Sleevage is likely to appeal to anyone with the slightest interest in album covers as well as full blown aficionados. From the LP’s of the 60’s to the digital artworks of now. It’s still a work in progress but there’s a wealth of album covers listed by artists and design studio on their site. When possible they try to get a bit of background on each cover and if possible some early working comps, giving insight into the creation of many iconic covers.

They are currently in BETA release (that’s why a few things are still rough) and they’re also looking for writers who want to regularly submit to Sleevage in exchange for free CD’s and concert tickets. If that sounds like something you want to do then contact them.

Hero Featured in Buffalo Rising's March Issue

Check out the latest issue of Buffalo Rising, out now! Hero designed the cover of this music issue, featuring a small collection of our posters and there is a wonderfully written, 3 page article and interview with Hero inside. We are very excited about this issue and to be featured on the cover!! Check it out!!