Desert Daze / Moon Block
Before Desert Daze created their first festival back in 2012, an 11-day festival dedicated to art and music, it was known as the Moon Block Party in Pomona, California. After seeing flyers of mine around the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles over the past couple years, Desert Daze creator Phil asked me to design the poster for the very first Moon Block Party.
The skills accumulated from working in print media for over a decade helped in preparing the numerous files needed early on like flyers, social media artwork, merchandise, stage backgrounds, video assets and much of the signs and artwork around the festival itself.
Now in its new home at Lake Perris in Moreno Valley, the Desert Daze music and art festival expands every year. The attention to detail that the current staff maintains enhances the overall experience, year after year.
Desert Daze Illustrated Posters
After illustrating posters for growing Moon Block Party lineups, Desert Daze came as a surprise in 2012 when I was asked to illustrate 11 different posters for 11 different days and over 100 different artists. Though it seemed like a lot to take on, I assumed that organizing an event of that scale would be a lot more, so I went all-in. After many long days and nights, gigabytes of information was created to inform the public that a new type of music festival was about to introduce itself.
Annual t-shirt design
From the very first shirt, one annual tradition that has been mostly observed is the drawing of the “swirly shirt.” This request from Phil and Julie of Desert Daze every year means adding to the list of over 1,000 bands that I’ve hand-drawn in this bubbly lettering.
Illustrations for Impose Magazine articles
Desert Daze was possible every year because of a dedicated team of people. Some of my favorite experiences working those early years is collaborating with other artists, musicians, writers and publications. In 2014, the online magazine Impose requested original artwork for special interviews with Desert Daze artists.
GALLERY: Moon Block Party, Pomona (2011)
Just like Desert Daze continues to do around the world, Moon Block Party held several shows in between events, many held at locally-owned establishments around Pomona. The original Moon Block Party in 2011 was also a fundraiser for the Pomona Arts Colony. Much of what was learned about working on these events has translated seamlessly into the work I’ve put into art and art education in small communities.
Other Illustrations
Contributions toward Desert Daze and Moon Block Party wasn’t limited to posters and merch. Though seemingly a painstaking task, I enjoyed illustrating the map in those early years. Overlapping blueprints over screenshots of maps for artistic purposes satisfied both halves of my brain. One of the largest pieces I’ve contributed to Desert Daze is this monochrome tile-work of alien imagery, which was printed on large rolls and used to cover the fences around the festival.
