Tote Bags!

TOM- Check out these tote bags I just made! You may remember this image from a previous post a couple weeks back.

I'm really happy with the way these turned out and excited to be venturing into the world of tote bags!

If you are interested in purchasing one of these, here are some of the details: they are printed on 100% natural canvas totes with standard sized straps. To order, please visit my Etsy shop, where I also have t-shirts available as well.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, thanks for reading!

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Getting hot in here...

TOM- Here is an illustration I did for Nerve.com this week. I illustrate a weekly section for them entitled, 'My First Time', people submit stories about how they lost their virginity. For the most part, they're pretty entertaining to read. Over the past year or so, I've used this as an opportunity to experiment with different styles and approaches. Since most of these stories take place during adolescent years, I often approached it with a sweeter, more young adult type style. Recently though, they changed the format of the page a bit and asked if I could make the illustrations even sexier, focusing on the climax of the story and giving it a more adult feel. I'm cool with that, plus the wider format will give me another way of approaching these compositionally, which I'm excited about. Anyway, here's my first crack at the new approach. I included the black and white version as well, it's slightly different than the final.

Look out for some new sexy illustrations at Nerve.com!

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New Drawing and Tote Bag Design!

TOM - Here's another new drawing I mustered up in my free time. I'm going to have some silkscreened tote bags made up with the black and white version on the left, those should be available in the next week or two, I'll totally post about it and throw them up on the Etsy shop when they're ready! I think the color version would make an awesome print, if anyone is interested in buying one, let me know and I could make that happen! Monday morning, it's sunny, be happy, have a great week!

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'When I Die'

TOM - Over the last week, whenever I could find the time, I've been working on this new piece. As the day's get busier, I've been noticing that having some sort of personal project on the side really helps me unwind at the end, or sometimes the beginning of the day. James and I were recently discussing sketchbook practices and I was telling him how I haven't kept a sketchbook in months, sounds crazy, I know. But recently, I've been really enjoying simply grabbing a piece of paper and just drawing and erasing until something comes out of it. I feel like this allows my imagination to run wild, like a sketchbook would, but it also fulfils my desire to create a 'finished piece'. This particular drawing is an example of that. I'm sure I'll get back to sketch booking again, but for right now, this approach seems to be working so far.

Here is the black and white version. It took a long time to clean this up in Photoshop, the original has a ton of eraser marks and smudges! Anyway, I'm thinking about possibly making this into some sort of print, if you'd be interested in owning one, let me know.

Have a great day!

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Wired and Hazy Opening!

TOM- I had a great time this past Friday at the opening of 'Wired and Hazy' at Salt Gallery in Philadelphia. The First Friday celebration was in full swing and it was cool to get a chance to be involved in it. Thanks to all that stopped by, it was great meeting some local Philadelphia artists, it was also awesome to finally meet, Reseca (the AD over at Philadelphia City Paper) in person! Thanks to Matt Cavanaugh, a Philly based illustrator who took some great pics of the night, including the one at the top of this post. Mike Veneziale did a great job showcasing all the different artists work.

Philadelphia Weekly had a nice review of the show, and I was flattered to have been mentioned in it:

"While summer is still new and we haven’t yet remembered that Philadelphia gets pretty damn stinky when the temperature rises to about 90 degrees, embrace the season with SALT Art Gallery’s “Summer Show.” Owner and curator Mike Veneziale conceived the show as an opportunity to have artists use varying media to capture the essence of the summer heat. “I gave them this concept of giving their work a hazy, strung-out, dream-like motif,” says Veneziale. “I suggested the artists to work in an extremely hot (temperature wise) environment and encouraged the use of speed pills, coconut rum and suntan lotion on a daily basis.” Featuring five artists, including local sculptor Jill Allen, “Wired & Hazy” goes up this Friday. It’s worth checking out, particularly for Brooklyn illustrator Thomas Pitilli’s gorgeous black and white drawings. You might recall Pitilli’s recent work on the cover of City Paper’s agriculture issue. We won’t hold it against him." (Erica Palan)

Oh, and on a side note, 'The Flying Pitilli Bros." got a nice little mention on the website, Lost At E Minor recently!

All in all, it was a great week which ended appropriately with fireworks yesterday. A bunch of new and exciting projects in the works which I can't wait to post! Until then, thanks for reading and take care!

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