http://paulrogersstudio.com Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:32:47 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12932

You can't make this stuff up. I'm still hoping Trumps gets in.



]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:30:19 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12783

The Obama campaign has decided to run a poster contest. Some artists see this as a high form of irony, considering the posters are intended to promote jobs in America. Some artists see it as a volunteer opportunity to give something to a cause they believe in. I don't like contests or spec work for artists; especially contests like this that require the artist to give up the copyright to the image by submitting the work. How about giving the poster assignment to twenty great artists and offering them a fair fee for their work? Create twenty freelance jobs. Shovel-ready. Get twenty great designs, sell prints online, and raise awareness of the President's Jobs Plan.   http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/artworks-submission?source=20111029_jh_art&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=20111029_jh_art   http://www.aiga.org/aiga-urges-the-obama-2012-campaign-to-reconsider-its-jobs-poster-contest/   http://www.thedonutproject.com/inspiration/my-thoughts-on-the-obama-poster-contest/

]]> Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:07:49 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12773












]]> Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:11:50 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12744

It doesn’t happen every day that you meet one of your heroes. When that meeting turns into a friendship and then a collaboration, you know you’ve been blessed.   Wynton  and I met almost twenty years ago, for a poster project that we both signed. Since then I designed a poster for The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival that depicted him in his Crescent City hometown, we’ve worked together on two books, and I spent a week out on the road with him and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra making sketchbook drawings.   Wynton has won a Pulitzer, nine Grammys and numerous other citations and honors, he has been an inspiration to many, many musicians and people who are making their way in the world as artists. Whenever we meet, he always acknowledges the accomplishment of survival with the words “So, we’re still out here.”   I’ve admired so much about him, the way he leads fifteen of the greatest jazz musicians of any era in the JALC Orchestra, the way he sits with young musicians who bring their instruments to a concert hoping for advice from the maestro, and his thoughtful writing and lectures on the important  place that jazz music holds in our history and culture. I’ve seen him working on a symphony in a hotel room with no piano, and I’ve seen him stay late after a gig talking to fans until it’s just him and the guy locking the place up.   Tuesday is Wynton’s 50th birthday. There has been a week-long series of concerts at JALC’s Rose Theater featuring special guests and some serious swing. I wish I was there acknowledging the accomplishment.













Here's a preview of our second book for Candlewick Press, our first book, Jazz ABZ is still in print, (turns out kids love books with Coleman Hawkins in them.) The new book is a picture book for young readers about sounds titled Squeak, Rumble, Whomp Whomp Whomp! We're trying to get it finished while we're still on this earth. It's scheduled for Fall 2012.

]]> Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:03:11 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12705

This weekend is the official opening of the new West Hollywood Library. The city asked me to design a poster for the event and also for the 10th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair.  They are very proud of the new building designed by Culver City architects Johnson Favaro, it’s been praised as one of the best pieces of public architecture in LA in a decade.



I worked with my friend Rikki Poulos and the Director of Public Information for West Hollywood, Helen Goss. Right from the start, we knew the main image of the poster would be the new building, these four comps show some possible approaches. The top left design with echoes of Matisse and Le Corbusier was chosen.



I added a stack of books with a mix of typographic styles for the Book Fair poster.

]]> Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:22:36 http://drawger.com/paulrogers/index.php?section=articles&article_id=12539

The United States Postal Service is previewing stamps from the upcoming 2012 program on their website beyondtheperf.com. There's some great designs by Louise Fili, John Mattos, Craig Frazier, and Jim McMullan.  I’m very happy to have two stamp designs included. The first is the Cherry Blossom Centennial Stamp commemorating the anniversary of Japan’s gift of 3,020 cherry trees to the city of Washington, D.C. In March of 1912 the first two trees were planted and in 1927 local citizens held the first celebration of these trees. Today, the National Cherry Blossom Festival draws a million visitors each spring. USPS art director Phil Jordan gave me the assignment of capturing this panorama of spring on two stamps. Throughout history there have been a lot of stamps depicting our nation’s capital, and the challenge on this one was to make an image that fit that tradition and also had a fresh modern feeling. And, I had to figure out a way of dealing with all those cherry blossoms.





The second stamp being issued in 2012 is a Holiday stamp featuring Santa and Sleigh, another subject that has already had a lot of designs produced over the years. I worked with art director Howard Paine on this one and when he called about a Christmas stamp I cringed a bit because I was worried about how to approach this corny subject without making it look corny. I took a look at the holiday stamps from the past and also drew on my memories of Christmas picture books from my childhood. This design had to work over four stamps as a complete image and each individual stamp had to be a satisfying design when used alone.





It’s always an honor to be asked to design postage stamps, and the entire process is a pleasure, from the first sketch to the first time a piece of mail arrives at the studio with a stamp I designed on it. We’ll have to wait for 2012 for these two new designs, in the meantime, Jazz Stamps are still available.

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