posted: May 9, 2012

I’m in London with a group of brilliant students from Art Center College of Design. For the past five years Ann Field, Chair of Illustration has been leading a trip here that has included studio visits and museum stops.
This year, 12 students are mounting a show at Kemistry Gallery in Shoreditch of Olympic-inspired screen-printed posters. The opening is Thursday May 10 from 6-9 pm.
Come out and say hello and meet some great young artists.
 

Ben Sanders has a nice Tumblr of the trip, check it out.

posted: April 13, 2012

Some proper typography for the London Olympics.
Part of an upcoming show at Kemistry Gallery featuring Olympic-themed posters from Art Center College of Design.

posted: March 29, 2012

My new book, Name That Movie: 100 Illustrated Movie Puzzles is in bookstores, (or save  $2.25 by ordering on Amazon.)
This book started out as some sketchbook drawings, I began posting them here on Drawger, Jason Sacher saw them and pitched it to Chronicle Books, and Editor Steve Mockus gently guided this to completion.
There are 600 drawings in the book, 100 movies and an index in back with film titles. My brilliant wife, Jill von Hartmann designed the book, and put up with a lot of Sunday afternoons with me sitting on the sofa with the remote control and a sketchbook.

Name That Movie from Paul Rogers on Vimeo.

posted: March 19, 2012

On Saturday March 24^th, I’ll be in Washington DC for the First Day of Issue Ceremony for The Cherry Blossom Centennial postage stamp. In 1912 a gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees was given to DC by Tokyo, Japan, the trees have survived the test of time and serve as a reminder of international friendship, blooming every spring the trees are also a symbol of the fleeting nature of time, and the fragility of life.
The legendary art director, Phil Jordan asked me to work on this design, and the stamp really designed itself. The format is “se-tenant,” a design that runs an image over two stamps, and it seemed like the obvious solution was a panorama of the DC tidal basin ringed with trees in bloom. I did some research into past stamps and found a nice series from the 1960s called Beautification of America, and felt that a classic approach like that would be best. My job was to design a modern, clean addition to this tradition.
There’s no shortage of artwork that depicts the trees in full bloom. Each year there’s an official poster for the Cherry Blossom Festival, (this year it’s done by one of my earliest art heroes, Peter Max) and the challenge was to come up with a fresh image.
I have a warm spot in my heart for DC, because my daughter, Alex, did her under-grad at George Washington University, and is now in her second year at GW Law. It’ll be great to have her at the ceremony on Saturday, and I’m looking forward to meeting the philatelic enthusiasts who come out for these events.