Carlito's Way Art + Article for Esquire

As an added bonus, here's the b&w artwork, complete with Frank Miller rain effect ...

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As with any piece of art, there can be one piece of the puzzle that takes a little more finesse. In this case, it was Luis Guzman's character, Pachanga, whose eyes were a sticking point -- never quite gelling until the final version was finalized above. Here's an interesting look at the process, from the two real quick pen sketches to the pencils, inks, then the final. 

Fangoria Reveals John Carpenter Charity Print + Video for Death Waltz Recording Co.

This just in - Fangoria has revealed my John Carpenter charity print for Death Waltz Recording Co. (click on pick below for the link). Signed prints by John Carpenter will be available at their Assault on Precinct 13 release party at the Beyond Fest in LA and later on their site. Sales from the limited edition charity print will go to the Humane Society of America.

UPDATE: here's a process video of the print, with blacklight & glow-in-the-dark inks by VG Kids (note: the iPhone captures only so much glow).

Tribute to Heavy Metal Horror Print Release

Bang! Media and artist Jeremy Wheeler proudly present this memorial to the heyday of 80’s heavy metal horror with this Tribute to Sammi Curr poster. The 9”x24” print theorizes a massive tribute show to Trick or Treat’s Sammi Curr, who died shortly after being denied a show at Lakeridge High School. Bands from all over were gathered, with none other than New Year’s Evil’s Dianne Sullivan hosting the momentous gig that no doubt drew ire from the school staff, who were pressured by bad PR to host the event. Who knows -- maybe even the ghost of Sammi made an appearance!

Including bands from Terror on Tour, Rock n’ Roll Nightmare, Hard Rock Zombies, Black Roses, Shock ‘Em Dead, Rocktober Blood, Blood Tracks, Monster Dog, Phantom of the Paradise, Slaughterhouse Rock, Rockula, The Gate and Slumber Party Massacre II -- this print is just what the heavy metal horror fan ordered!

Tribute to Sammi Curr is part of Bang! Media’s “Cinema Rocks” poster series focusing on imaginative gigs for made-up movie bands. The series also includes posters for Buckaroo Banzai & the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Brian Slade & Curt Wild,  The Fabulous Stains and many more, the first wave of which will be released throughout 2013. The Sammi Curr print is also a loving tribute to gore artist Putrid (http://putridgore.com/), whose metal illustrations provided a jumping point for the  iconic band logos.

9”x24” (Edition of 60) $15

On sale now here: http://bangmedia.bigcartel.com/product/sammi-curr-poster

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Freddy VHS Poster Release + Process + Secret Detail Revealed

The Freddy "Dream Machine" poster that was made for Tape Eaters 2 VHS Convention has landed. Prints can be found in the Bang! Media Shop. Click below for a few pics of the poster & the prints, followed by a peek into the drawing process of drawing and then a secret detail revealed at the end of the post.

Next up, a Process GIF made while laying down the inks and Sharpie...

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Finally - one final detail on the art - this one's for the eagle-eyed horror fans who see a resemblance between Freddy's collection of skin souls to Rob Bottin's incredible fx work on The Thing... 

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Thanks to Bloody Disgusting, Chrome Yellow, Inside the Rock Poster Frame and others for the poster coverage.

Horror Business Record Store Day Process

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​One of the most exciting projects I've had the pleasure to share lately has been my art print included in the great Death Waltz Recording Company's Record Store Day release of Steve Moore's soundtrack for Horror Business, a 2005 documentary on independent horror films.

The project came together fast - and it wasn't easy. How to make a horror doc that not many people had seen seem exciting? Steve's fantastic score speaks for itself (listen/buy it here on bandcamp)​. It's a brilliant ode to Carpenter and synths of old, with each track creating a new moody soundscape that OST horror fans will flip over.

Spencer at Death Waltz asked ​if I might want to go crazy with some of the behind-the-scenes footage that made up the doc. Having reenacted silly satanic rituals in a cold garage in the middle of winter for a public access show years ago, I knew firsthand that there's gold in on-set no budget horror productions. Plus the doc had interviews with Joe Bob Briggs - I mean, he had to make the cut, right? (psst, he did!)

​My process started with collecting screencaps from the doc. Many screencaps...

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One part of Horror Business that I flipped for was John Goras' animations, the highlight being the axe in the skull (watch his cool animated Ghost Tank short here)​. That one image became the focus of two of my crude sketches that were culled from my favorite stills, as seen below. 9/11 ended up figuring into three of the four designs since that tragedy is echoed throughout most of the doc.

Now there's a lot of different routes to take from here, but given the time constraints, I figured it'd be best to do some quick Photoshop montages mimicking the sketches.

​From here, I decided to do some quick mockups in Illustrator before presenting to Death Waltz. It doesn't take too long to block out shadows and highlights, then since some of the elements were reused in different designs, they could be copy and pasted, making it go a lot faster. Text was put in purely as a placeholder since I knew it'd be fleshed out later.

From here, Spencer and I both agreed that the first and last were the strongest (though there are elements from the others that I still dig). After some back and forth, it was decided to go with the first one. From there, much of the work in Illustrator was redone and tightened, though there are carry-overs from the first draft in the final design. Also the flag head was brought in from the third draft since it was such a strong image. Add in some blood splatter and refined lettering and that's it -- a Death Waltz art piece was created!

​Be sure and contact your local record store to see if they'll be getting it (US buyers - Death Waltz's distributor is Light in the Attic, FYI). In the meantime, mega thanks to Spencer, everyone for their kind words on the piece, and to Steve for the years of amazing music! Congratulations on having this piece seeing the release it so richly deserves.

-Wheeler

Flatstock 33 Poster

Really looking forward to debuting a bunch of never-before-seen stuff at Flatstock 33 in Austin this week. While last year I hitched a ride with my screenprinters - the great VG Kids - this time I’ll have my own booth - showcasing 10+ years of posters. Should be super cool since a lot of my work really hasn’t been seen outside of Michigan before. Looking forward to chatting with more people throughout the week in one of the best cities around. Above is my poster for this year’s convention. You can grab your own copy by stopping by the BANG! MEDIA booth or keeping your eye on my online shop.

Location: Austin Convention Center Level 1 - Ballrooms A, B, C

Hours:

Wednesday 3/14 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Thursday 3/15 - Saturday 3/17 11:00am - 6:00pm