"We Believe" The lost pics!

Top: A "We Believe" victory we will never forget. Bottom: with Franco Finn during a GTo TV recording.
A few months ago, my Lacie Hardrive crapped out on me. It's always been a dependable hardrive and one day it just wouldn't power up. I was so bummed out because there were a number of important things in the drive. 1) My wedding pictures 2) design work and illustrations from 1998- 2008 3) My "We Believe" pics from the Warriors 2007 playoff run. I inquired from a number of computer repair shops across the bay area to extract the data but their prices were just way to high for my budget. So, my wife and I went for broke and took the external hardrive apart and transfered the drive into another hardrive case to draw power. The result: we were able to extract the files!

These are just 2 of many "We Believe" pics I'm so happy to have rescued from my dying hardrive. They are memories we'll never forget and a part of Warrior history we're so happy to be a part of. These pics also featured some of my very early Warrior drawings that I started bringing to games regardless of our record after the playoff push. These were some good times at the Oracle Arena! You could see it in the crowd when we celebrated and shocked the world.

"B3ast Mode" has a release date!

Outline preview: "B3AST MODE" design getting prepared and sent to our screen printers BG Concepts.
Thursday, April 7th is the initial pick up date for "B3ast Mode," our Sega inspired new shirt design. Pre-orders were collected early this week, sent to our printers and approved for print. We still have a stack of shirts available. Shirts are $25 each (or 2 for $42) sizes Med-2XL only. Limited sizes are on hand. For mor information and to order: info.tonypsd@gmail.com

First look: Style Misia "Rhythmeticulous" cover art

Style Misia and I have been good friends for over a decade now. Even when he moved down to SoCal we still collaborated on projects. He's the talented Producer/Emcee and I was his designer. We have a mutual respect for one another's work so when SM comes knocking for work it's hard for me to say no to a great friend. I enjoy his music, especially his beats and that encourages me to make sure I come through with a proper design. When the music is good, the design is good. No question.

The design concept behind "Rhythmeticulous" focuses on SM's influence in music. He gave me a lot of ideas to work with- SM wanted to see musical notes, a gang of speakers, sound waves, etc. It sounded like a lot of stuff but the whole idea for me was to blend all these elements together and not get him lost in the mix. At the same time, I was blessed with SM giving me 100% creative control on the project. He trusted my judgement. A rarity I get with clients these days. (which is why I gave up doing freelance work) Basically, he let me have fun with this project and in return I gave him the best damn photoshop work I could create. I didn't want to give him some cookie-cutter photoshop work I was prone to doing 6-7 years ago. Both of us have come along way in our careers. His beats are sharper than ever and for me, I've never felt more confident in my work. This was a great project to work on and a personal favorite.

Style Misia's "Rhythmeticulous" drops 4/26 on digital download .
View the official cover art here (via photobucket)

First look: G-Mo "Smash" Bronson (Isolated Wax)

I actually worked on this back in December of last year. I've wanted to work with Megabusive and the Isolated Wax Family for a long time. Shit, me and Mega have known each other since 7th grade and I've been following his career since high-school. I'm proud of all those guys- the music they've released and the contributions to Hip-Hop they've made. When Mega approached me to do a cover art project for his Homie G-Mo, I couldn't say no. I'm hoping this would be the first of many projects. The concept was actually really fun: They gave me a sketch of a cartoon and I redrew it on illustrator. How could I say no on a project that had an excessive muscle man crushing a boom box with veins popping out everywhere? Definitely had fun with this one. Look for G-Mo "Smash" Bronson's new album to drop on Isolated Wax Records.

Free Download: Won't Stop - The Remixes

I hope this finds your way into your MP3 player. As many of you know, I dig deep into music store bins for obscure and forgotten classics. Mostly radio singles (many I did not know, had remixes) a lot of these gems were marked down as low as 25 cents. While many have overlooked these past time singles, I'd collect them. You know my steez, "Your loss is my gain." It's been a pleasure and pure enjoyment finding these lost treasures.

Won't Stop: The Remixes features hard to find classics like the "Suspended in time" remix by Group Home feat. Groove Theory or "The Lump Lump" remix by Sadat X feat. Brand Nubian. I'd like to share these tracks with you, collected and unmixed for your listening pleasure. I've been doing these "stop and play" compilations since tapes were around. The last one I compiled was over 4 years ago. It feels good sharing with folks, I hope you enjoy it! As for the cover art... man, you know me- I love Wing Stop! I was looking at the logo and a Puff Daddy song hit me and made me look at the logo a totally different way! Can't stop... Won't stop... enjoy!

Download the complete album here. (via yousendit)
To view the track listing: click here

Tony.psd Arcade logo

Here's a second look at the Tony.psd - spin off logo paying tribute to my favorite franchised video game company. This logo does not replace my current logo, it will be featured on the back side of the "Beast Mode" shirt laying below the neck line, 2 inches in size.

First Look: "Beast Mode" (pre-order)

This one is for the gym. For everyone that saw me drenched in sweat, pushing to see what my limit was. Coming up to me after my work out or posting on Facebook: "Damn Tony, I seen you tear up that elliptical machine... Beast Mode!" That term just stuck to me because every time I hit the gym, I put out for an hour and 30 minutes with purpose. When I first thought about making a "Beast Mode" shirt, I wanted to make sure it had a "beast-like" type case. So I took a note from the classic arcade game and flipped the letters around. I just wanted to make sure it had that ravage animal style font of going beast on a cardio machine, lol.

This is the first of many new shirts being released beginning in Mid-May. This and the Pek-Pek shirts will be printed first. You know the deal, I'm gonna set it off with a short stack of 36 sizes ranging from small to 2XL. (pre-shrunk, A-Style branded shirts) "Beast Mode" shirts are going for $25 each, for more information and to pre-order: info.tonypsd@gmail.com

Random Idea: "Champorado"

I'm starting a new section called "Random Idea" and that's basically what it is. I lot of times when I think of something out the woodworks I jot it down or scribble it on a pen and pad. When I get home, if the idea interests me more, I draw it out on illustrator. It's necessarily not going to be released as a short or anything, it's just my mind brainstorming totally random idea's.

Take for example "Champorado." As a kid, my mom made the best champorado. (sweet chocolate rice porridge in Philippine cuisine) It wasn't sweet or bland, it was just right. I think I ate more champorado than I did cereal as a kid. Honestly, I think it would be hella funny to make this as a shirt, I would totally wear it to the gym! It's an idea I really wanted to see go past the pen and pad. This isn't even the original type case for the "champion" logo but close enough. Definitely a fun idea, if anything I'd totally print one as an iron on and rock it at the gym.

First look: Warriors Guard - Charlie Bell

Charlie Bell, shooting guard for the Golden State Warriors. Illustration by Tony.psd
I had the opportunity to do a little project for Charlie Bell who recently celebrated his 25th Birthday this weekend. The illustration was drawn out from a recent photo shoot Charlie did. It was a fun drawing to work with. I will say - drawing a flannel shirt is no joke, lol. Belated Happy Birthday Charlie Bell, hopefully we will see you next season in a Warriors uniform again.

2 Bucks

I think it was 06'... I would make these unmixed Hip-Hop compilations called "2 Bucks" and give them out to my friends. It had all of my favorite jams from The Roots, AZ, Raekwon, Sadat X, Jay-Z, The Game amongst others. Even though it was called "2 Bucks" I never really charged anyone. I would print 50 of these (covers, cd-r's with professional labels, lol) and just hand them out. It was a personal hobby I enjoyed doing very much. Where has the time gone? With this new found joy of balancing work and enjoying the time I have afterwards, I'm thinking about doing this again... be on the look out for volume 3. (free of course)

Kalen's 13th Birthday Party

Our good friend Vanessa contacted me last month to design her son's 13th Birthday party invite. What excited me most about this request was that she was giving him a "house party" with all his friends, familiy, a DJ, a professional photographer and even a nacho and candy bar, lol. The idea seemed easy until I had realized how off the thought process was. For Ness and I, when we think "House Party," we visualize a bright yellow background with Kid N' Play in some Pajama Jam get ups. Clearly, that was our generation. I'm assuming when Kalen found out, he told his mom he didn't want any invites. In all honesty, I didn't want to embarrass the kid.

My plan was simple: think like a 13 year old. Likes, dislikes, how he dresses, what kind of music he listens to. The way I saw it, I wanted it to look so f*cking dope, his entire school would be talking about wanting to go. So I approached the birthday invite as if I was doing a club flyer. Let's get the DJ's logo up in there. Throw in 594 apparel's logo since Ness' is down with the folks. (lol, I even threw mine in) I made Kalen's name the headline, featured who the DJ was and since Kalen's mom was "hosting" the party at their residence, let's post that too! The color scheme, what are the kids wearing these days? Teal, purple, light grey, green... mash it all together with a stylin' photo of Kalen and we had a winner. When he saw they invite he loved it and that's what mattered. He even asked his mom for a stack of invites for himself to pass out at school. That made me feel a whole lot better knowing he was happy with the project. Happy Birthday Kalen, you're living in a man's world now! 13 is no joke!

Family First

Christmas 2010: The Robles Family- Al, Dad, Drew, Mom, me and my wife Gem
There was a time when we were younger that the entire family all lived under the same roof. Me and my brother Al went to school and held onto part-time jobs just so we could buy video games, anime, comics and cd's. Our youngest brother was too young to get a job and my mom always reminded us to give him allowance at the time. Back than, there was always room for family time and we always found a way to be together.

As we got older, we started our careers, got married and moved away from the house. Al is out of state and I moved away from San Jose and reside in Solano County. Our folks taught us to be hard workers, contribute to our companies and make a difference. These days if we are lucky, 2-3 times a year you'll find us all together in one roof. No matter how far apart we are, we're all in each others prayers and the moments we're all together, the feeling is great. Family first.