U/M/A

Project: Magazine Design
Brand Designer, Magazine Designer, Curator, Writer, Editor: Luciano Martinez
Assistant Editor: Eric Friedrichsen
3D Rendering: Rodrigo Potsch
Type Faces Used: Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, Serifa, Helvetica Neue, Bembo
Project Description: To create a beautifully designed and contemporary art publication that sets its focus on the pop surrealism and lowbrow movement. 

+ www.blopopmagazine.com

Project: Identity System
Creative Director, Graphic Designer, Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
3D Rendering: Rodrigo Potsch
Type Faces Used: Trade Gothic, News Gothic
Project Description: To create a strong, bold, and modern identity system centering on character art for the limited edition tee shirt brand My Friends Love Me.

Project: “There Is Another World. A Better World.” Ad Campaign
Photography/Creative Direction, Brand Designer: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description:  To shoot photography for the “Bison Spirit” limited edition tee which was released by the UMA brand My Friends Love Me. The goal for the imagery was to produce photos that were surrealistic and lonely.

Project: Magazine Design
Brand Design, Magazine Designer, Curator, Writer, Editor: Luciano Martinez
Assistant Editor: Eric Friedrichsen
3D Rendering: Rodrigo Potsch
Type Faces Used: Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, Serifa, Helvetica Neue, Bembo
Project Description: To create a beautifully designed and contemporary art publication that sets its focus on the pop surrealism and lowbrow movement. 

+ www.blopopmagazine.com

Project: Art Direction Photoshoot
Creative Direction: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To provide contemporary portraits for the co-founder of gaming studios Sinking Ship. The photography is to be used on LinkedIn and other social networks. .  

+ https://sinking-ship-studios.com

Project: Employee Badges, Booklet, VIP Cards, Wrist Bands
Creative Direction, Brand Designer: Luciano Martinez
3D Rendering: Rodrigo Potsch
Type Faces Used: Futura
Project Description: To conceptualize and brand the legendary three-day dance festival in Palm Springs.

+ www.jeffreysanker.com

Project: Book Cover
Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Jason Ware 
Project Description: To provide an illustration for the cover of Bloom. The cover focused on the challenges of immigration and gay marriage in America.

+ http://bloomliteraryjournal.org

Project: Illustration
Creative Direction, Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Project Description: To create an illustration based on Disney’s “Small World” which would later be animated and projected onto Orlando’s Disney castle. 

+ www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

Project: Art Installation
Designer, Set Design: Luciano Martinez
Assistance By: Amy Van Gilder
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To create a character-driven art installation for Flower Pepper Gallery’s Anniversary art show.

“I have been wanting to create something whimsical for some time now. I felt that creating a new window art installation for Flower Pepper Gallery’s 4th Year Anniversary Show was the perfect place for the construction of the ‘Praise The Cloud Rider’ installation.

The idea for the installation came to me during one of my plane trips to Spain. I was looking out the window as my plane elevated and as it passed a bed of clouds, the scene suddenly transformed itself into a magical night sky. The event was during twilight hours and the light cast onto the clouds was beautiful and serene. The whole landscape just looked heavenly and out of this world. My thoughts wandered as the plane kept elevating. Up there, I felt humbled by the magnificence in my surroundings. I thought about how small we humans are in the spectrum of the universe and our need to feel important and significant. This idea of how humans look towards the sky for a savior to save us from our everyday existence kept coming up. I then dreamt up this scene in which a cloud-riding saint is summoned up by a group of spiritual ice mountains. I used Buddhism and Hinduism as my main sources of influence. In the end, I felt a great peace creating this art installation. In some ways, constructing this piece saved me from some of the things I was going through personally."

+ www.flower-pepper.com

Project: Book Illustration
Creative Director, Illustration: Luciano Martinez
Product Photography: Jason Ware
Type Faces Used: Various Type Faces
Project Description: To create contemporary vector illustrations for a bilingual children’s book to encourage reading within bilingual families.

+ www.lecturabooks.com 
+ www.jasonware.com

Project: Artistic Direction, Photography
Creative Director, Set Design, Concept: Luciano Martinez
Assistance By: Amy Van Gilder, Drew Talbot, Randy Kono
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To conceptualize and direct an extraterrestrial inspired photo shoot for Orfeo’s new album “Moutains of Lesothos.”  Orfeo’s new album is scheduled to be released in late 2020.

+ www.iamorfeo.com 

Project: Designer Plush
Creative Direction, Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Sewn By: Amy Van Gilder
Photographer: Jason Ware
Project Description: To create plush toys using synthetic materials and that is character-driven for the contemporary art market that indulges in artists and anime directors such as Murakami and Miyazaki.  
Fun Note: Amy Van Gilder's work is best known for her muppet artistry on The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth with David Bowie.

Project: Art Installation
Character Design, Construction: Luciano Martinez, Amy Van Gilder
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To create an art installation that is character-driven yet touches on the world of Curanderos (Mystical Healers) for The Hive Gallery.

+ www.thehivegallery.com

Project: Product Concept
Creative Direction, Product Designer: Luciano Martinez
3D Designer: Rodrigo Potsch
Project Description: To create a contemporary version of the “mocajete” for stores like Ikea and Target. The “mocajete” is a Mexican stone bowl used to grind herbs and spices to make salsas and guacamole. 

Project: A New Series Of Illustrations For MFLM Limited Edition Tees
Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Digital Painter: Giorgia Lanza
Project Description: To collaborate on illustrations which would be used to create a new line of limited edition tees for UMA Studio’s personal creative-lifestyle brand My Friends Love Me.

+ www.giorgialanza.it

Project: Photography
Creative Director, Photographer: Luciano Martinez
Type Faces Used: Orfeo's Handwriting
Project Description: To recreate the decadent nature of the 70s rock scene for Orfeo's music singles. The photography was shot solely in polaroids with no photoshopping of the images. The style of the photography was inspired by the documentative style of the 70s "smut" photos and Andy Warhol’s Polaroids.

www.iamorfeo.com

Project: Logo Design
Creative Direction, Logo Design: Luciano Martinez
Type Faces Used: Avant Guarde
Project Description: To create a fun and contemporary logo for the indie fashion pop-up shop featuring various underground fashion designers in Los Angeles. 

Project:  Logo and Product Development
Creative Direction, Product/Brand Designer: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Jason Ware 
Type Faces Used: Gill Sans, Futura
Project Description: To create a product that is seen as both art and scented home décor. 

Project: Digital Art For Single Cover
Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Digital Painter: Giorgia Lanza
Project Description: To collaborate on an illustration which would be used for Orfeo’s cover of The Cure’s “Close To Me.” The artwork will also be turned into a printed limited edition tees for My Friends Love Me.

+ www.iamorfeo.com
+ www.giorgialanza.it

Project: Designer Plush
Creative Direction, Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Sewn By: James Hayes
Photographer: Jason Ware 
Project Description: To produce character-driven plush toys that are made from synthetic materials and are inspired by sex sculptures in Latin American indigenous cultures.
Fun Note: James Hayes's work is best known for his costumes on the widely popular television show Dinosaurs and The Muppets.

Project: Photography (Branding)
Creative Director: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To conceptualize and brand new photo stills for the Mexican-American latin-pop music duo Sin Color. The photography was inspired by Mexican cultural roots with color and American Pop Art which was highly influential in popular culture in America during the 70s and 80s. By melding both influences, I was able to create a visual aesthetic that resonated with both Latin and American fans.

www.lluviahiguera.com

Project: Illustration
Creative Director, Illustration: Luciano Martinez
Type Faces Used: Various Typefaces
Project Description: To create a set of contemporary, character-driven invitations that can be customized by individuals who appreciate charming, contemporary, and colorful vector illustration work. 

+ www.paperculture.com

Project: Photography (Branding)
Creative Director: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Retoucher: Natalie Arriola
Project Description: To create promotional photos to be released with an article for Orfeo’s new polaroid book ”Smut.” The photos were shot with colored lightening to reflect the look of sex clubs and saunas during the 1970’s sexual revolution at the height of the gay rights struggle.

www.lluviahiguera.com
www.nataliearriola.com

Project: Concept Art for a Fantasy Graphic Novel
Art Director/Creative Director: Luciano Martinez
Digital Painter: Raivis Draka
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera

To work with photographer Lluvia Higuera to capture the look of child actress/model Imani and to use her “real image” to direct the look of a young sorceress in two fantasy “concept-art” pieces. Digital painter Raivis Draka (Latvia) took on the project to create the original concept-art pieces under my art direction and guidance. The end result was two stunning fantasy illustrations that will later be part of fantasy graphic novel storyline.

Project: “Better Off” Single Cover
Art Director/Creative Director/Image Coloring: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Natalie Arriola
Project Description: To take influences from Greek statues and religious iconic paintings and use them as our visual foundation to capture dramatic-lighted semi-nude portraits of Orfeo shadowed in darkness. The lighting on the cover for Orfeo’s single “Better Off” resembles much of the dramatic lighting in old religious paintings of Jesus at the resurrection giving the photograph a sense of hope.

Project: Animated Web Series
Creator, Director, Editor, Designer: Luciano Martinez
Project Description: To create an animated web series using rotoscoping in Adobe Final Cut.

Synopsis: The story is about a Mexican-American man named looking to reconnect to his family’s lineage of spiritual healers and their dark past with folk magic. The web series is a thriller where the main character is looking for his brother who goes missing during his first mushroom (Psilocybin) session. He is looking to find out what happen that night him and his brother did mushrooms with an unknown shaman that his brother introduced him to. The main character finds himself going down a rabbit hole of psychedelics so that he may enter his subconscious and allow his visions to lead him to answers about who he is and his inherited psychic abilities while searching for his brother. In the process he taps into terra-terrestrials and other earth entities, known to be worshiped by Native Americans and other indigenous tribes, to find his brother and guide him on his shamanistic journey. In his attempt to seek his brother out he is thrown into darkness as nefarious forces try to entice him to follow his family’s past.

Release Date: 2022
Crowdfunding: Winter 2021

Project: “Rise Above The Fear” Single Cover
Art Director/Creative Director/Special Effects: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Natalie Arriola
Project Description: To produce a photograph for Orfeo’s May 2020 single release titled “Rise Above the Fear.” The photography was inspired by a series of portraits that capture dramatic lightening and present Orfeo in a state of transcendence with his spirit guide guest directing him through the experience.

Project: “SMUT” - Polaroid Zine
Creative Director, Graphic Designer, Photographer: Luciano Martinez
Product Photography: Jason Ware
Type Faces Used: Minion Pro
Project Description: to design a book-style zine for the music artist Orfeo which takes inspiration from the gay sexual revolution and the wide use of the new Polaroid technology in the 70s and 80s. The book/zine is the first of a series of five Polaroid books released by the music artist Orfeo.

+ www.iamorfeo.com

Project: Digital Illustration For Single Cover
Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Digital Painter: Giorgia Lanza
Project Description: To collaborate on an illustration which would be used for Orfeo’s cover of Radiohead’s “Like Spinning Plates.” The artwork will also be turned into a printed limited edition tees for My Friends Love Me.

+ www.iamorfeo.com
+ www.giorgialanza.it

Project: “Sever The Cord: EP Design
Art Director/Creative Director/Image Coloring: Luciano Martinez
Polaroid Photographer: Luciano Martinez
Project: To produce a polaroid-driven photograph to be used for Orfeo’s first album “Sever the Cord.” The polaroid photos were influenced by 1950’s overseas military life and “Lord of the Flies” brotherhood relationship between Piggy and Ralph.

Project: MFLM Animated Music Video
Creator, Creative Director, Designer: Luciano Martinez
3D Animator: Jonfer Maia
Project: To create an animated short using characters from the “My Friends Love Me” universe. This story for the animated short is a psychological metaphor designed around real-world existential experiences.

Project: Image Branding
Creative Direction: Luciano Martinez
Photographer: Lluvia Higuera
Project Description: To art direct a photo shoot for the 1950’s-inspired music band Alma Y Alma. The band covers many Mexican-folk and original songs.

Project: Character Design
Illustrator: Luciano Martinez
Type Faces Used: VAG Round
Project Description: to create iconic character designs for the various movie genres played at a movie theater. I used inspirations from various pop culture sources such as kawaii influences and bobble head design.