it's all cool man
The "it's all cool man" project began as a way of self-expression right as the 2019-2020 school year was winding down and the COVID quarantine began. Slowly going from hand drawn stickers to printing digital designs, the sticker bombing, sharing, and collaboration was a way to demonstrate creative art direction. The numerous stickers can now be seen spread throughout most of the United States as well as around the world.
“Devilroy” Character Design Origin
‘Kilroy Was Here’ is an old WW2 "meme.” Soldiers would go around and graffiti it across Europe as they captured town by town. The original character can possibly be traced even further back to British Commonwealth troops in the 1910s who named the design, ‘Chad.’ The simple sketch was always something fun that I even saw as a kid still scrawled around town. When I was in the Army, people still drew Kilroy in some form as a way to always claim that they were 'here.' Ghosts of the past still lingering in the present.
The first time that I saw the original Kilroy Was Here sketch, I was but a little kid. My grandfather, a WW2 veteran himself and participant in the initial D-Day invasion, had drawn the design on a notepad he had on his office desk. Ever since that moment, I was inspired to draw the moniker in some form or fashion to carry on the legacy.
During my own military service, I wanted to modify the storied design with something that many Soldiers still do daily, smoke cigarettes. However, with the advent of vapes and the war on the big tobacco industry—smoking is now largely becoming taboo.
So the initial smoking Devil(kil)roy moniker was born as an extra way to push an anti-societal limit on what's acceptable or proper etiquette--a combination of history, military service, smoking, and graffiti in a simple unique design that can reach anyone through stickers.
The Devilroy character has now moved beyond only smoking and has evolved in appearance over the years. There are now over 1,500 Digital & 10,000 hand drawn variant designs, including multiple collaboration pieces with artists around the globe.
DON’T TRASH ALASKA
Everywhere has its problems, but trashing the environment around oneself should not be one of them.
Spotted around Anchorage, AK are “Don’t Trash Alaska” signs which bear a mountain scape or a cartoon moose with a tire on its antler. These plea that each person not litter, waste, or destroy the world.
Inevitably, many do not care.
I have recreated one design and reimagined it again and again. Throughout Alaska, I usually place the design in particular locations in hopes to make people rethink their bad choices a little before hurting the world, humanity, and nature.
~showcased on instagram @itsallcoolman