Up and At Them!
Charity Concert and Benefit
Rock for the Cure!
One of my favorite recurring projects over the years has been collaborating with the MS Society of Illinois to promote the “Up and At Them!” Benefit Concert. For nearly a decade, I have designed posters, promos, and merch for the event, a full night of live music and auctions to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. The collaboration is always playful, exciting, and leans heavily into my background in comicbook illustration and music posters. To this date, the event has raise over $40,000 in support of research for a cure to MS.
The Inception of Thumbnailz, the Rock’n’Roll Hero
When I was contacted to make the original poster in 2013, the art direction was pretty simple. The event coordinator knew my comicbook work and wanted me to create a character that would fight for the cause and rock hard while doing good. I came up with this punk-esque superhero as the event mascot.
When I sent the sketches over for approval, I told them that “the thumbnails were ready for approval". While creatives in the industry know that “thumbnails” usually refer to small compositional sketches, the event coordinator did not and loved “Thumbnailz” the superhero, solidifying the name and purpose for our hard rock hero.
The first UAAT event was held at The Cubby Bear, across the street from Wrigley Field, in 2013, raising thousands of dollars for MS research.
2015
The follow up poster leaned heavily into Chicago city pride and the event’s venue location across the street from Wrigley Field. I crafted a banner with a monstrous weiner, dubbed The Worst, and pined each corner with the Chicago star.
2017-18
The next couple posters kept the energy going with Thumbnailz going tooth-to-tooth with killer gators and robot gladiators. These are some of my favorite posters in the series because they allowed me to just cut loose and have fun with the character I had created.
2019
The bill was stacked this year! The show had an Emcee for the night, with tons of musical performers. I created a poster that captured each personality as a character in the Up And At Them! universe. Thumbnailz returned to take on The Worst from a previous year’s poster.
2022
After a few years on hiatus due to the pandemic, this year we wanted to come back big! I drew inspiration from kajui and Godzilla movies, turning Thumbnailz into a skyscraper-sized superhero. We also took the chance to create merchandise for the event. Long time supporters could pre-order a variety of gear and show up to the event in full fashion.
