Noelle Raffaele

Hello world - I now have official word that my sketchbook has been catalogued in the Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour. It starts on April 14th in none other than the beautiful, beautiful Brooklyn, NY!

The call number of my sketchbook is: 141.16-1.

You should go check it out! (heehee, pun very much intended).
Details for the Opening Reception are as follows:

April 14th-30th
Opening April 14, 2012
6pm - 10pm
(last checkout at 9:15pm)
Brooklyn Art Library
103A N. 3rd St
Brooklyn, NY 11249

I would love to hear what you think - it should be a really great tour!

Hey everyone! I feel it's an appropriate time to share the logo I made for CollegeHumor's first theatrical venture, COFFEE TOWN. The movie is written and directed by Brad Copeland ("Arrested Development, My Name Is Earl") and stars Glenn Howerton, Steve Little, Ben Schwartz, Josh Groban and Adrianna Palicki.

It was a really fun challenge coming up with something that felt distinctive - (The words "coffee" and "town" are two words that have been pretty exhausted from a design point of view). Do comment if you'd like the crazy nerdy explanation of how this final product came to be, but ultimately, I simply hope it reads as much "Coffee" as it does "Town" as it stands. To me, the whole success of this design rides on that 50/50 balance of interpretation. Enjoy! (And go see the movie when it comes out!)

Hello world - tomorrow is the first day of the Music portion of SXSW in Austin, TX. If you are there, you may be lucky enough to grab a CD from Lyle Divinsky, who is a seriously amazing singer. Check out his stuff! http://lyledivinsky.bandcamp.com/

I'm very proud to say I have contributed in some part to the promotion of his work. I made the new cover art that you can see on his site and on the CD's that he'll be giving out at SXSW. 

Here's what it looks like:

The piece is inspired by Lyle's comfort with the stage he knows best... the NYC Subway. His recording studio rides on underground tracks. I think there's something very whimsical and Romantic (Capital R, none of that mushy stuff), about performing live in a location like the subway. Live performances are unique in their ephemeral quality... but here, the audience is equally as ephemeral. And so, to stay and listen, is really a gift you give to yourself. I can't think of a better one than to stumble across this guy during a daily commute.

By the way, if you've checked out Lyle's work, you will probably see the phrase "Sasquatch Sessions" coming up a bunch. This is because Lyle refers to himself as the "Sasquatch of Soul." The drawing below is a very literal take on that phrase.... I like it. That was a really amusing drawing to make. I drew it while waiting in a doctor's office. I was most inspired by the thought of the sasquatch's hair literally being guitar strings. I have decided that this must be the thing that distinguishes a Sasquatch of Soul from the other regular squatches. The hair of a soulful sasquatch would have musical properties, and when held taut, you could strum it like a guitar and make beautiful music. Like this guy!

Check out this article paying homage to the life and work of a great concept artist, Adam Adamowicz. I'm glad all of his hard work is coming to light and larger audiences. :-)

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/17/bethesda-remembers-fallout-3-concept-artist-adam-adamowicz/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D136667

Hey everyone!
I'm really excited to report this since I have been meaning to give the site a severe update. I've actually done quite a lot so far, but there is still a lot more to add. However, it is an irresponsible time to be awake with things to do tomorrow, so I will take up the torch again this weekend. In the meantime, please take a look at a brand new section on the site: the Sketchbooks! 
I'd love to hear from you guys about what you think - don't be shy!

I told you I'd get to the coffee thing. Disclaimer though. I can't divulge too much now because it's for a movie that is currently in production, but I'll divulge later once it's out and we all go frolicking to the theater, holding hands, to see it. What I can tell you is that I have researched the hell out of coffee logos to get to something that I found successful on the grounds of content and form for some recent graphic design work needed in a project called "Coffee Town." It's really exciting stuff! Go see it when it comes out!!! Here's some links below for more info.

Article 1:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/01/arrested-development-vrad-copeland-college-humor-ricky-van-veen-coffee-town-movie-schwartz.html

Article 2:http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/collegehumor-sets-coffee-town-as-280912

Alrighty, on to January. All the things in between were the awesome typical - Christmas, presents, baking, everything Holidayish, the New Year, my birthday, some time to breathe - but more importantly, some time to sleep...all the while working on my book for The Sketchbook Project, promoted by Art House Co-op. http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject 

Please note their description, "it's like a road trip, but with sketchbooks." I've never been on a road trip myself, but it dam well warms my heart to near incineration to think that my drawings will precede me in this life experience. haha Basically, the way it works is that you pay a fee to participate and they send you a little brown sketchbook to fill up and postmark by a certain time before it tours. For every book that you "purchase", a free book is sent to a charity organization, school, etc. I sent my book to an Arts High School in Los Angeles, CA. So somewhere across the country, an aspiring young artist got to participate the same way that I did for free. If I was a kid in High School, the sheer concept of this sketchbook tour would have threw me into a complete euphoria. I never really kept a traditional sketchbook until my last year of high school, and that was only because someone who was reviewing my portfolio at Cooper Union told me to. It just never dawned on me to keep a book for the express purpose of drawing. I used to just draw on whatever was around. And I mean anything. I used to draw on paper plates in pizza shops in Brooklyn when I was done eating. I mean, why not, right?

Anyways, the other fun part about this is that you get to pick a theme for your sketchbook. This is not meant to be a strict form that you adhere to, but more a jump off point. I chose to let the theme dictate my sketchbook a little more strongly - mainly because I have become very interested in the topic, due to my daily commute to work on the MTA. I chose the theme "Encyclopedia of". And my encyclopedia covers the Train Riders of NYC. As an artist who doesn't get that much access any more to live nude models, let me tell you, the next best thing is certainly commuters. And my commute is an hour long. So I have two opportunities everyday to draw all the people who are sitting perfectly still - sleeping, reading, playing on their iPhones, iPads, etc. It's a sketchbook gold mine.

Even COOLER? The sketchbooks that are submitted become permanent items in the Brooklyn Library Art Collection. My sketchbook came with a bar code. You can actually check it out like a library book. I think this concept is amazing because sketchbooks are meant to be intimate objects and experiences. To physically hold a sketchbook in your hands that is secretly brimming  with artwork is such a unique experience - and often more interesting than viewing "complete" works. Could you imagine getting your hands on Da Vinci's physical sketchbook? And holding it in your HANDS? Turning the pages he turned??? *Salivation.*

The tour is going to start on April 14th in New York. I can't wait to go see all the sketchbooks. They'll be touring through the following cities: Brooklyn, NY, Chicago, IL, Portland, OR, Vancouver, Canada, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, Greater Boston Area, MA, Portland, ME, Toronto, Canada, Philadelphia, PA, Atlanta, GA and Austin, TX. London and Melbourne will be participating as well. For the full list of locations and dates, here is the tour schedule: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject2012

In the mean time, if you're in NYC between April 14th - 30th, I'd really appreciate it if you paid my sketchbook a visit! It will be waiting at:  
Brooklyn Art Library
103A N. 3rd St
Brooklyn, NY 11249

For a preview of some of my sketchbook work, here are a few excerpts from my personal sketchbook. (These are not from the book I submitted to the tour).

Well, it's been an eternity again. But a lot of interesting stuff has been happening and I'm happy to finally have the chance to report it all. I'm enjoying the lovely company of a chai tea at a - you guessed it - Starbucks in Manhattan. I find this slightly ironic since I have been obsessing over logo designs involving coffee for the past week. I'm serious, it was like a trance / borderline mental illness. And I'll explain all of that in a little bit. I don't want to write one huge overwhelming post, so I'm probably just going to split the topics up into separate ones. The coffee explanation is about 2 posts from now. Let's work in chronological order, so.... we'll revisit 101 Batmen. 

This past December, I had the lovely surprise of running into the person who 101 Batmen was commissioned for - John Mayer. (It was his birthday present, actually). He's a huge Batman fan and though I was told through the grapevine that he loved it, it means a whole lot more to actually hear it from him in the flesh. Thank you John! Very cool!!

(You can scroll down to an earlier post from me in October to see more close-up pictures of detail in 101 Batmen.)

Check out this little Holiday Season card I just did for the folks over at Nola Pictures. Festive, yea?