Coral Band Poster and Album Art by Alex Ariza 2025

Coral Band Poster, 9 x 12 inches, Ink on Illustration Board, Alex Ariza, 2025

Black and white poster for the band, Coral, featuring a highly intricate ink drawing on illustration board by Alex Ariza. The drawing is of a woman's head surrounded by a variety of coral, reefs, and seaweed. Coral is growing out of the top of the woman's head and her eyes. The woman appears lifeless and floating underwater. The background fades into a black abyss. The ink style is reminiscent of horror comic book art and Japanese Manga.

2024 Christmas Cards for Friends

 

What Can Possibly Go Wrong? Acrylic Paint and Color Pencil 10 x 7 inches

Santa v Krampus Boxing Match. Watercolor and Ink on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Santa's Boxing Gloves. Acrylic on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Tangled Christmas Lights Monster. Acrylic Paint on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Christmas Elf Slaying Hydra. Acrylic Paint on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Elf Facing Off Christmas Ent. Acrylic Paint on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Dungeon Entrance. Acrylic Paint on Paper 5 x 7 inches

Christmas Elf Faces Off Evil Snowman in Dungeon. Acrylic Paint on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Ice Cave. Acrylic Paint on Paper 5 x 7 inches.

2024 was a good year. Here are some Christmas cards I made for my friends. I took this as an opportunity to practice painting with acrylics, and more specifically layering transparent color without using white. These paintings required a bit more planning when it came to the shading portion to retain the white of the paper. I used thin glazes of paint to build up the mid-tones and shadows. 

2025 Christmas Card Gifts for Friends

"Master Copy" of a Vintage Christmas Card. Acrylic on Paper 5 x 7 inches.

Elf Melting Snowmen With A Flamethrower. Color Pencil on Paper 10 x 7 inches

Jack Frost Bringing in Snow. Paper Cut Out and Color Pencil 5 x 7 inches.

Where Are You Santa? Graphite on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Where Are You Santa? (Interior)

Santa With The Head Of Krampus. Acrylics on Illustration Board 5 x 7 inches.

Mecha Santa vs Krampus Color Pencil on Paper 10 x 7 inches.

Every year I like to make Christmas cards for my closest friends with the goal of making them laugh or just say - wow. 

While I'd love to say everything from this batch is 100% my work, I cannot. This year I used pre-existing images online from all different places. The Warhammer inspired illustrations are the most blatant rip off I'm guilty of. I used the poses, costumes, lighting - almost everything - and then put a Christmas twist to them. These illustrations are not for commercial purposes and the creation of these cards are more of an hommage and opportunity to produce "master copies" from the original source material.

I'm not practiced enough to come up with these kinds of beautiful and dynamic poses like these illustrators at Warhammer, Blizzard, etc. The vintage looking Christmas card with the little girl and reindeer is another example of copying that work. Once again, I take no ownership of the original image, I just thought it looked cute and wanted to practice copying a well thought out illustration. 

The only original images of the bunch were, Elf Melting Snowmen with a Flamethrower, and, Where Are you Santa? These were fun to make from scratch. I had to do quite a few thumbnail sketches before getting to the finished images, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to spend crafting the other cards, which is why I took the somewhat lazy route of copying other people's work.

Every year that I make these cards I try to push myself to make more elaborate images. I'm looking forward to the following year to see what I can come up with.

Shaving

 

Shaving. Color Pencil on Stone Paper. 2024

Old Sketch of Parent's Dining Room from 2011

Old Robot Painting from 2009

A Series of Paintings from 2012

January 2017 Horoscope Illustration of Capricorn

First illustration of 2017. Wow. I had a few rounds of sketches before I felt comfortable with a composition. This still doesn't match what I had in mind. It is supposed to feel much tighter...but physically the creature wouldn't fit in properly. I really want to step away from this kind of style and be more design oriented. More emphasis on shapes and form than line. This picture fails to do that.

Once again, the illustration is for the hyperlocal blog, Greenpointers.com.

Here was the prompt:

This month is all about goals and aspirations. Now that we’re in Capricorn, matters of career, goals, ambitions are on the brain—and you’ll be focused on who you want to be in the future, and how to get there. The sun will be in Capricorn until the 19th, and Mercury will be retrograde through the 8th. This means you should hold off signing contracts or making major choices with your job--which is what the first week of the month is for. outstanding tasks from 2016.

2017 - Happy New Year

Mien Gott. I can't believe we're in the year 2017. Time seems to be increasing in speed. A frightening thought.

Here's December 2016's last illustration. I'm not too proud of it. Once again, it was for the hyperlocal blog, Greenpointers.com.

Here was the prompt:

December is going to be a lively and upbeat month, as the new moon in Sagittarius will be a positive change, especially fore fire signs. In general, everyone will be feeling the urge to express themselves and break down stereotypes and old-age boundaries. Essentially, this is a month of “breakthroughs,” especially when they involve conventions that are harming more than helping.

The colors are a bit all over the place. I'm still struggling to get a consistent color palette together.

Better to get a piece done and out than not do it at all, though.

"Finished, not perfect."

November Horoscope Illustration - Jupiter and Pluto at Odds with Each Other

I don't believe in horoscopes, but I did an illustration for a hyperlocal blog called Greenpointers.com
recently and thought I'd share it. This might turn into a monthly thing, which is nice. Keeps me busy.

Here's the description for November's horoscope that I based the illustration off of:

For instance, since Jupiter and Pluto are at odds with each other, it could lead to arguments, bankruptcy, breakups, job loss, etc. It won’t be pretty. But this could also mean a fresh start for you, and for politics, for instance. Clearly, we all are in a position where we could benefit from change, so while it may be uncomfortable, it’s also good for the long run. 

My friend Audrey is a graphic designer and very much into astrology. She told me I didn't get it right. I went in with the Greek mythology angle when it really has nothing to do with that. Eh, too bad.

Here it is:

Inktober - Didn't get too far, but here's what was made.

Life can really get in the way of the things you really want to do. So can laziness. Whatever, here's what I got done for the month (there are more drawings, but they don't fall in line with this series):

I started with 'not so great to work on, but great to look at' yellowed newsprint paper with a grid. I picked it up from some school supply store in Downtown Brooklyn on the way home. They have a bunch of old watercolor sets, paper, paints, pencils, etc. from the 70's and 80's. I bought a few things just for the packaging design.

These drawings were an exercise in symmetry, which I have a lot of trouble with. My brain has a hard time doing mirror images. The grid definitely helps. Angles and proportions are tough in general, but it's good to challenge yourself.

I read somewhere that Leonardo DaVinci would test his drawing abilities by drawing the same thing from different angles and perspectives. It's a good way to know an object inside and out to help you recall information when you're drawing from your imagination. Pretty cool.