When I moved from El Paso, Tx. 6 years ago I was so stoked to see that a bigger city like Phoenix actually paid homage to its culture and contributors. It was apparent someone was taking notice and it was all being documented. JAVA Magazine has been around the Valley for 17 years, that’s a lot to say for a free magazine that started out as a coffee shop zine. Now a full blown monthly publication reaching a volume of 20,000 copies per issue these days JAVA is far from small. We all know with age comes change and if you are from Phoenix you might have noticed JAVA has seen changes of it’s own. In it’s 17 years of existence JAVA has experience the creative direction of four designers. In previous years the art direction for JAVA has been led by Graphic Designers like Jim Nissen, President of AIGA Arizona Chapter and Owner of SW!TCHstudio and Jason Hill, owner of Jason HIll Design Studio. This month JAVA Magazine will be unveiling it’s most recent change, a cover to cover re-design including a new logo under my creative direction. Robert Sentinery, owner of JAVA first contacted me in late July. I honestly thought he was contacting me to simply contribute some design or illustration work for the magazine or at most to have me featured in the JAVA at some point, silly I know. To my surprise he asked if I was available for freelance design work, and even more surprising than that he asked if I was interested in being the new Art Director for JAVA. Immediately with out further discussion my answer was YES! So here we are almost two months later and my first issue is about to roll out. This month I’m very excited to present the new Java Magazine. Thanks again for the visit!

Red Bull Triple Set is coming to Phoenix, Arizona. Stoked yet? I am. Especially when I was approached by Steve Kelty, Head of Marketing Red Bull Arizona to help with the design of posters. We threw around some ideas and I think we were both pleased with the outcome. We had some awesome photos to work with including a photo of the famous Westward Ho taken by photographer Michael Klinger

Stomping Grounds aka The Grounds is an accessories line being launched here in Phoenix, Arizona. The line will feature a wide range of classic and modern accessories all designed by contributing artist and designers. The Grounds is headed by David Bjorn (Bully) a design consultant who originally hired me for The Stomping Grounds brand identity. I’m excited for the launch and I can’t wait to get some new threads.

Coming to the end of the year I have noticed I have been quite busy. I’ve had less time for personal projects but I’m just as happy. I can honestly say I’m working with companies and people I like and respect. With that said Terrence Patrick invited me back to work on Leaders sophomore product catalog. Once again all the photos were shot by the one and only Matt Lingo. We were able to make the tight deadline for Las Vegas Interbike 2011. I’m waiting to get my hands on printed copy but I’m sure the Leader Team will send me one as soon as the get back to San Diego.

Mash the homie!!! Finally, it’s here and ready for sale at State Bicycle Company. By far one of my favorite projects recently due to complete creative freedom. Heavy on typography and style I’m digging the way this turned out. State has been awesome to work with and there is more to come so stay tuned. Thanks for the visit!

My contribution to Raygun52. Raygun52 is a project organized by Alex Griendling that will show case a new Raygun every week. Spanning 52 weeks and including 52 different artists, designers and illustrators. The project is intended to benefit “raygun enthusiasts and The Company in 2258.” See the official project brief and the Raygun52 Gallery. Thanks for visiting.

Only one thing makes me feel better when I’m feeling down, SHOOOOOOOPPING!!! Jk But you can cop these or at least go check them out at State Bicycle Co.’s Website.

HeavyPedal is in the making of a full seasonal line Summer/Fall 2011 themed Livn’ Fast As Fuck. Of course we had many designs but were able to narrow it down to a solid seven we felt represent the theme the best. There are some teasers floating around via FFFFound. I’ve even posted some shots to Dribbble revealing some heavy typography. We’re feeling pretty strongly about the design so stayed tuned or visit HeavyPedal for more news. Thanks for the visit!

Having Co-Founded Heavy Pedal with Terrence Patrick has seemed to have opened a lot of doors. Obviously working with Leader Bicycles was a big deal for me and I am just as proud to have worked with State Bicycle Co.(SBC). Approached by Mehdi Farsi(Vice President of SBC) to design a bicycle jersey for the company seemed easy enough when he gave me total creative freedom with the exception that the jersey remain Black and White. Well if you follow my Dribbble account you’ll know that for the past month B&W typography and simple illustrations have been my recent entertainment. As an end result Mehdi and I were both pleased with the outcome of the project. It was a pleasure to have worked with them and I’m looking forward to future projects, Thanks for the visit.

Thought I’d post a sneak peek of what I’ve been up to. More to come soon, hope you enjoy.

I thought I’d post one of my favorite pieces that came out of the 12by30 project. Survival of the Fat Ass was a huge success for me so I thought I would give it the light of day on my personal blog. Making it to popular page for two days on Dribbble was a first for myself and was very unexpected for a simple idea that has been in my thoughts for sometime now. I really enjoy projects that rain freedom for the fact that I tend to push myself and take and outside look as to how I will conquer a personal goal with that particular project. I look forward to working in more collaborative projects and I intend on keeping myself busy this year. Check back soon for one of March’s projects CODENAME: D.Construction. Thanks for visiting.

My great friend Terrence Patrick(Graphic Designer) and I got the opportunity to design the new 2010-11 catalog for Leader Bikes. Terrence introduced me to track bikes several years ago and I’ve been riding with him ever since. Since then he has also became a team rider for Leader Bikes we have had enough spare time to start The Heavy Pedal. I have added the Leader Bikes catalog to my online portfolio so take a look. I hope you enjoy the visuals, thanks for visiting!

After four months of watching and participating in Phoenix Layers Season Two all the excitement has come to an end. To my highest hopes and to my surprise I was able to take home the gold this year. I have met some truly great designers and made some great friends all through PHX Layers. Season two has been a blast and I would like to thank everyone that continuously voted on my matches this season. All of this wouldn’t be possible with out the masterminds behind the operation Andrew Coppola and Mark Dudlik. Thanks for everything. If you would like to take a look at the final battle between Tori Bishop and I it visit the Phoenix Layers Website.

I had a chance to display a little less than half of my illustration project, “La Loteria by: Victor Vasquez.” As part of Phoenix Design Week I displayed 24 out of the 30 plus pieces I have made thus far. I currently still have a ways to go to complete the 54 piece illustration set but it will be nice to finally take a small break before I hit it day and night with minimal sleep, again. My parents came in from my home town of El Paso, Texas and were able to enjoy the excitement for my first exhibit. I had the pleasure to see some very familiar faces and I also got the opportunity to meet some people for the first time that I have heard of or have had a friendship with on social networking sites. No matter how well I knew the person in front of me the one question that everyone seemed to have in common was, “where did the inspiration for the series come from?’ I would have to say that simplifying my style was the challenge. Brazilian illustrators/designers and street artist stop me dead in my tracks and I have a new found love for Oaxacan Wood Carvings. I’ve spent 25 years of my life in a border town (El Paso) and have always had a very “Chicano Style” of art that I do not try to hide. I embrace it. From Dia de Los Muertos art to religious art to prison and cholo style art — it is something I have always seen and have admired. I think taking on a challenge such as “La Loteria” has been nothing but a natural step in the direction I want to go. I would like to say thank you to everyone that made it to my exhibit and came out to Phoenix Design Week 2010 to support and make the Phoenix design community a reality.

Phoenix Design Week is a weeklong conference and series of events scheduled from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3. Since this is an event all about the Phoenix design community, various galleries will be up throughout the week featuring the work of local designers – everything from graphic to interactive to logo, and even sculpture to name a few.

The weekend conference is being held at the Phoenix Convention Center in the heart of downtown Phoenix. National speakers include Hillman Curtis, Von Glitschka, James Victore, Paul Sahre, Mike Joosse and Brian Singer. To learn more about these amazing speakers, visit http://phxdw.com/speakers.

The panels, presentations, workshops and roundtable discussions held during the weekend conference are meant to bring together the design community in an unprecedented way.

Thanks for coming to my new site. If we’ve met before or you randomly found my old business card (see above) don’t worry you’ve come to the right place. Like most other artists I’ve decided to take a different branding direction. I want to go with something that represents myself for the time being. Besides, the old name alone scares off some potential clients and employers. The name “Cannibal Creative” came about because, like most art school graduates, I came out of college thinking I would change the world by starting a collective of artist and designers. The word “Cannibal” represented a give and take relationship between the designers feeding off of each other for influence, ideas and direction. The dream is far from dead and I will have to revisit the idea later on in my career. I’ve archived some of my old favorite pieces for the post, enjoy.