Saturday, June 16th from 6pm-9pm it’s going down! If you missed the gallery launch party for Sleepy Dan last year, here’s your chance to take part in another year of history. The series release party is the biggest event I throw all year, so you’re gonna have to wait another year if you miss it…
The Plush Gallery is located in the heart of Dallas’ design district. It’s a perfect venue for all the activities planned. Another huge group of artists painted themed panels for the gallery show, I will be doing some live screen printing of an exclusive design which you get for free if you purchase a shirt from the new series that is releasing the night of the party. Remember… You Snooze, You Lose!
Last night, my great friend Joonbug from Fresh Kaufee had his second release party at the Opening Bell coffee house in Dallas. Great event and as always and he delivered some creativity to entertain!
Joonbug is an amazing character artist, this screen printed poster design is the introduction of the Doughnut Darryl character! Nothing goes better with coffee than doughnuts…
All the posters were numbered… It’s great to see more designers learning how to screen print and create prints to sell on their own! Once you learn the process you can print on anything.
He hooked up with some local friends the Lunch Buddies, to work on the large scale poster printing. Amazing job as always, it’s so fun to see a behind the scenes look too.
Going to an event with Fresh Kaufee means you get to experience everything like you’re in Wonka Land… He packages all his shirts in printed coffee bags and even the shirts smell like freshly ground coffee!
The coffee shop was packed all night but Joonbug shared some of his Fresh Kaufee sketchbooks so you could see his design process. He is a great guy to hang with and always willing to sketch something silly for you. Everyone got to take home an original of their own!
If you came out to the event, you could get a custom printed Bean Pack that had a bunch of stuff including a random original doodle from Joonbug. I got there crazy early so I was helping stuff the Bean Packs with some friends…
DJ Jay Clipp was there to mix it up! Hopefully you will be seeing him at lots more events coming up…
The annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival was this weekend, from Friday till Sunday. Since this is my hood, I just had to hang with some friends and share some pics. One of the best turn outs I’ve seen so far, we heard there were 10,000 people attending just the first day!
A beautiful Dallas day, dozens of local and national artists, four band stages, drinks and Texas’ fried food = an amazing event to check out every year!
Rock, Blues, Country, Punk, Folk, Indie Pop, Reggae, Ska… Several days of four stages gives lots of room for so much! Check out the band list
Artists like John Hung Ha were traveling from as far as Brooklyn to set up. Loved his small character designs… All original paintings came in several sizes, every one different, and covered in a clear resin so they were very brignt. Great addition to any collection!
Amazing local artist friends like Sara Zamora get to show off all their hard work and meet so many new friends! She created her own private studio this year. An artist with a message like hers has become a jewel in Dallas arts culture.
I ran into another artist friend Tyson Summers who painted a panel for last year’s Sleepy Dan launch party. He’s a local legend showing off his mural skills on many of Deep Ellum’s walls. Now creating smaller murals you can take home!
Then I ran into the HugBox, spreading something… Not sure what was going on here, but ladies getting into the spirit of the event didn’t mind sharing PDAs with a stranger in a box offering free love!
Painters getting to know the fans created on a live surface too!
The greatest artist of the day had to be David Pound from Tennessee. His TwentyHeads.com project was on display. His tiny monster head sculptures were amazing, and each inside it’s own wooden shadow box…
David has pics uploaded to his facebook page, but nothing close to what he had at the event… Just gotta keep in touch with him and find out what he has. Hopefully we can get him to contribute to our next Vinyl Thoughts event?
Just had to share some more recap pics like this one! The line to get into the Vinyl Thoughts event was so much longer this year and we’re sorry about it. So this coming year the event will be moving to a much larger event space…
Lots of new custom vinyl fans in Dallas! Double the amount we had last year and the show had double the sales… So it’s gonna be amazing to see what happens at the next event with proven success like this.
New artists create new ideas for the event! A great friend of mine Adrian from Black Sheep Limited brought this amazing addition to the show. A Japanese capsule machine that had branded keychains and buttons to promote the event. There was a golden ball in one of the capsules, so when it was found you won the prize! At $1 per capsule, this was an amazing success.
Our great friend Sam (with the hair) worked on this Pac Man themed custom mold project with custom boxes for each character!
MotorBot created this realistic Piranha Plant, another big fav of the night.
What makes this event so great is the multitude of new artists testing their sculpting skills with smaller characters. The size is equal to the price, so they are not out of your price range if you can’t leave without one!
New vinyl fans were diggin on the Sleepy Dan shirts too! I was handing out pillow key chains all night long…
Just had to take pics of Sleepy Dan fans with their new shirts and pillow boxes.
Pretty much everyone was walkin around with bags of new purchases. Free drinks are just the icing on the cake!
Friends are easy to spot, especially when they’re wearing custom Mario 3 dresses. The style continued from the vinyls to the what everyone was wearing!
Special thanks to all the sponsors and attendees that made this event so amazing. Artists love workin hard, especially when we get this kinda recognition. We’re just gonna outdo ourselves again next time! What surprises await you?
On March 17th I went to Quick Trip Park with Alexa Machine to print some event shirts for the South By So What festival. One day event with 30+ hard core bands! Beautiful weather and bad ass music makes an amazing day with friends!
Live screen printing at the event meant someone that wanted a shirt could see their shirt get printed for them right there…
Sleepy Dan did not set up a table at the event cause I was helping the team print, but just so happened to run into the Loyal KNG team with Captain Panda!
The crowds grew all day and the main stage mosh pits were movin no matter what band was playin…
There were three stages set up in the middle of the baseball field. All day into the night, as soon as one band ended another was already starting up. So the crowds just migrated around the field.
So much action means sometimes you gotta crash… On the time on and off the road pushes the limits of sleep, a story I know well. Planking has been around for a couple years now, maybe it just needs a little reality refresh to sleeping!
Reality is… it’s a music festival, so I’m not sure if guys like this are passed out, peaking, or just taking a break from the mayhem on the comfy outfield!
When was the last time you were so tired you could pass out face down on concrete, in the middle of a rock concert, on a very windy and sunny day?
This year’s event was a complete success, so many new fans that we’re gonna have to move to a new larger event space! VT is quickly rising to the top as Texas’ largest custom vinyl toy event.
These are the two characters I created for the vinyl event this year! My event t shirt design had a Donkey Kong theme, so my vinyls are an homage to another favorite game from my youth… Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
I created a design for the box to continue the theme to the packaging. Bald Bull and King Hippo are getting some high society travel quarters…
The satin shorts and padded boxing gloves were stitched especially for this project. This is my first time sculpting character faces, now that I have the confidence to create, Sleepy Dan is gonna bring some print graphics to life!
Some favorites from the show were this bad ass original NES tribute.
An R2-D2 stand for your iphone, complete with a Star Wars droid game.
This Mario design was amazing. The weathered detail set off the lost life theme.
Sleepy Dan set up a merch table at the show and met some great new fans!
Naturally the Sleepy Bowser shirt design was a favorite for the night. All shirts sold at the event came with the pillow apparel box.
The event was packed! The building was at legal max capacity all night, so the line outside was given lots of free stuff… The raffles were amazing too, so much fun to have a successful free event with free drinks!
Luigi finally saved the princess! So much fun when fans come dressed to honor the event… Recap 2 coming soon
Saturday night I was at Trees Dallas for the Dustin Cavazos x Big Krit event. I’ve never seen Trees sold out and packed out like it was on Saturday night!
Impressive sell out of the Dustin Cavazos tee design I made, so it was a celebration and lots of fun handing out pillow keychains to everyone! Even the band was diggin on the tiny pillows…
Sold several girls shirts and folded up some apparel boxes for a few purchases.
Fans wearin some great shirt designs, just had to take a pic of this one… Miami Vice mashup Magnum P.I.
Met new fans and several sweaties sold, almost sold out for the season!
The biggest custom vinyl event of the year in Dallas is coming up in a couple weeks! The Vinyl Thoughts event is scheduled for March 15th at Quixotic in Deep Ellum. There is no entry fee and lots of raffles going on all night… Get there early to see all the designs before they are sold! Yep, everything is for sale too!!!
Check out the history of the event and some teaser pics of projects that will be released this year at the Vinyl Thoughts facebook page. I did the shirt design last year which sold out quickly, so you know this design will not last for long… I just had to use my favorite character battle game from all time… Donkey Kong vs. Mario. The shirts are for sale on the Vinyl Thoughts website before the event for $15, but at the event will be $20, so get em hot off the press!
This is year two, so there’s lots more sponsors to guaranty a huge event! The theme of this year is NEXT LEVEL, so there’s a retro video game theme for everything… The exterior of Quixotic was painted to promote the event too. Check out the pics here. Just follow Pac Man and we will see you there!
This past weekend, Mr. Sanders the Art teacher at Sachse Middle School, helped organize a vinyl toy painting event for all of his students. With the help of several artists from the Vinyl Thoughts event, about a hundred students got the chance to see how addictive the customizing of vinyl toys can be…
You had to sign up and pay for the event in advance, but you got to pick from several different types of vinyl toys, and all the painting supplies were provided. Just needed to add a little of your own creativity! There was an introduction from the Vinyl Thoughts artists before the painting began, but the kids needed little instruction to get started.
Some great ideas were coming from these kids… Just so impressed with the Popeye design! They understood the character creativity was strongest with supplemental pieces added to the vinyls.
All boxes were used and all toys were covered in art… After seeing all the fun, many kids that did not sign up before, were hoping to pay at the event. But it was a sold out event, so everyone is looking forward to showing off their skills at the next event!
Last night was the grand opening of Ada’s Closet in Grand Prairie, the newest retail spot in the DFW area for you to rep some bad ass streetwear. The owners are launching a clothing brand called Bitter Streets which is selling in store already. It was raining all day and night but there was still a great turn out! Dustin Cavazos was there for a great set and even did a new track from his upcoming album In And Out Of Sleep… Marcus Luera spinnin all night, bumpin the party!
The store has a great opportunity in our floundering economy cause they are bringing into effect a new concept for streetwear retail shops… A big reason why we love going to the local conventions like Kixpo and Sneaker Summit is because we are not just purchasing new, you have the opportunity to negotiate great prices on pre-owned too! There are so many collectors in the DFW area, now you have a retail spot to bring your gear that you know will be able to sell.
To outfit the store opening, I brought several of my Sleepy Dan designs from season one and they have a great stage presence! The shop has tons of other big name brands, but they are workin on getting more local indie brands in house to rep DFW… So you can expect some more parties like this coming up soon.
Ada’s Closet has a great layout, lots of space, some great painting on the back walls, a huge courtyard out front, and tons of parking. I am sure there will be some bad ass parties here come Summer! Shops like this are definitely driving the streetwear scene in DFW…
Had the time to meet lots of new friends including guys from The Deep End… Everyone has some great ideas they are just starting to work on, so it’s gonna be a Spring n Summer with lots of new events and brands starting out!
