The end!  The end!  The end is here!  Before you take off your party hats (…and start digging into that party fruit) (oh michael scott!) one last exclusive interview with…MIKE LAUGHEAD.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MORE ADORABLE GENE SIMMONS?  Fact.  Mike Laughead is foremost an illustrator.  However, he also designs posters (which is why he is being included in our series) with his friend Tyson under the name…wait for it…wait for it…MIKE TYSON. Har har.  Although Mike Tyson Design has not designed an extraordinary number of posters (PS what a strange sentence…Mike Tyson…posters…), it has released some rad-a-ma-tazz prints.  Quite (cannibalistic-y) fierce.

Ratatat
2 color screen print

This Ratatat poster was my computer background for four months.  The scarfy banner that is tangled up in the beard is great!  This poster reminds me of Día de los Muertos (perhaps it’s the cool skeleton?), which is coming up soon.  ALSO, THE (semi) KNEE SOCKS ARE SUPER TIGHT. I love stripped knee socks!  I even wear my old soccer ones for shit and giggles.  Sometimes.  When I’m nostalgic for my youth.

One of Mike’s strengths is his ability to integrate halftone effects!  For those curious kiddies who dream of one day creating their own photoshop compositions with halftones, Mike has an ultra-helpful halftone tutorial on his website.  In ADDITION to that, his website includes a pictoral guide to his illustration process!  Wee!

…section four of a particularly CHARMING Mike-comic, Unicorn Girl.  Mike is inspired by comics, and has quite a few on his website!

What a lovely way to end!  Mike Laughead is a brilliant illustrator, who has impressive credentials.  From designing winning shirts for Threadless and La Fraise (like Threadless, but foreign) to book covers for Scholastic (see above!), Mike’s work transcends age demographics and geographic boundaries.  His compositions are best described as playful and cute, always full of bold lines and saturated colors.  Mike goes into more depth about the Mike Tyson Ratatat poster, and his describes his passion for Meximelts after the jump.

1. Describe your background. What did you want to do when you were five? What led you to printing? Where are you currently located? How long have you been designing posters?

One of my first memories when I was around 4 was of cutting out Superman from a comic book and then trying to draw him. I spent my youth copying drawings of all my favorite stuff, (Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit animated movie and even manga when I discovered it in high school.)

I have done the screen printing with my buddy Tyson. We started doing posters for an improv comedy group in college and once we graduated we tried out doing bigger stuff for some shows.

I am currently located in Kalamazoo, MI and Tyson is in Columbus, OH. Allen, my brother-in-law also worked on the Ratatat poster. He’s going to school at BYU-Idaho right now. That’s where Tyson and I met and started working together.

I have been designing posters since about 2002, I’m pretty sure. Yeah, that’s right.

2. I would describe my style as…

Goofyfuncutelittlegoldenbooksretroelfholdingswords. There’s also a little Thundercats in there.

3. I am inspired by…

Comics. There are tons of artists I love, but I have always loved comic books. Right now I’m way into Scott Pilgrim (the movie is gonna be sweet), and a few of the things done by First:Second books. I have always been a big fan of Mike Mignola, Mike Allred and Jeff Smith. And Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller was my favorite book for a long time.

4. Can you describe the creative process that goes into making a print?

Since my screen printing work has all been with Tyson, we start by tossing around some ideas. Once we start talking about stupid stuff we know that whatever we were saying before is what we are going to do. With the Ratatat one, we came up with the basic idea and the layout (because the idea of the huge hair made the layout pretty important), then I started drawing the thing. I think originally, it was a hippie guy and it was his hair and not a beard. I think the letters were just going to be stuck in his hair, so I drew the hippy guy and I got Allen to draw the hair. (He just sits around and draws hair all day, so I figured he would enjoy doing it.) After putting them together I sent it to Tyson and Allen for a critique and we came up with the skeleton guy instead of the hippie. That worked out better. After that we brainstormed some more and came up with the scarf. Most of those things I drew by hand and then scanned them in, but a lot of details were just added digitally. Tyson did the “splatter” texture thing in the background. After that Tyson and I messed with different color options. I think we usually get something in-between our styles so we are both about 50% happy with it. Since we are not screen printers ourselves, Tyson prepped the file and sent it off. The show was near Columbus, so Tyson delivered them, then he keeps the other copies to sell. Wait, that show got canceled. I’m not sure if Ratatat even got any posters.

5. My favorite print is…

I’m a big fan of Little Friends of Printmaking and Methane studios but my favorite print artist right now is Scott Campbell. And his King of Kong DVD cover is my favorite. You can see it here.

6. What’s on your walls at home?

Since we just moved I don’t have much up yet. I have an old oil painting from college that my wife likes, and a picture of Jesus.

7. I am currently listening to…

The book “Empire” by Orson Scott Card (Audiobook.) As far as music goes, I’m not that savvy. I’ve found a lot of bands because Tyson likes them. You should interview him about music. You would get a book back.

8. I support…

I’m way into artists expressing themselves. If I’m not enjoying how they do it, I’ll just move on to something else. I have been thinking a lot lately about how to do that for myself. I think that comics is going to be the answer for me. Getting illustration jobs are fun and fulfilling, but I don’t really express myself that much. The same goes for poster and t-shirt design. If I’m going to reach the level of “real” art, I think it’s going to be through comic books.

9. I am against…

Sex before marriage. Seriously. I know that it’s not the easiest thing to ask of people, but think of all the problems it could solve. The only downside I have seen is that it makes some people too eager to jump into a marriage. Oh wait, are you talking about an art thing. Then I am against… I dunno. I’ve been thinking about politics and religion a lot lately.

10. My best recent purchase was…

A meximelt at Taco Bell. Those things are seriously awesome. I think I should try eating only meximelts for a day. Maybe then I would get sick of them.

11. I am currently obsessed with…

Star Wars + Akira Kurosawa. I just re-watched the original Star Wars movies. (My 3 year old and 1 year old daughters saw them for the first time. I was surprised by how much they loved them. My 3 year old was a little freaked out so I covered her eyes during the “choke Jaba the Hutt with a chain” scene.) I started watching “The Phantom Menace” and I fell asleep a lot. Anyway, C3PO and R2D2 were semi-based on these characters from the Akira Kurosawa movie “The Hidden Fortress” and so I’m in the middle of watching that. I’m totally loving it by the way. It’s like Seven Samurai + humor.

Be sure to visit his website (I can’t stress enough how cool Mike is…and his halftone tutorial is also a great incentive to visit) and Mike Tyson Design.

Click here to see the other SEVEN poster party interviews!

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