On March 1, 2025, IHOP broke the Guinness World Record for most pancakes served in eight hours at a packed event on the Santa Monica Pier. The celebration marked National Pancake Day and raised $20,000 for the LA Regional Food Bank.

I designed the event’s main branded lockup, t-shirts, and some signate—creating a fun, unified look that tied together the digital, print, and on-site experience.

Ariel Helwani is the leading journalist covering MMA today. His show boasts millions of viewers each week across multiple platforms. I worked alongside the man himself, Ariel, to curate a unique set of portraits, logos and branding standards for his program. His identity assets also included lower thirds, title graphics and social assets. I directed the animation for both the waiting room and intro graphics.

Joon Pistachios sells premium pistachios, roasted in small batches with minimal ingredients. I was hired to create illustrations for their packaging, including a large pistachio motif, pickles, and a salt and pepper shaker. The goal was to bring a playful, distinctive look to their clean, elevated brand. This design won First Place in Savory Snacks at the 2025 Dieline Awards.

Photos by Butter Creations
Direction by Governess

Fish Rulers is a fishing game brand focused on rulers and measuring tape products, designed to bring accuracy and fun to the sport. It’s a division of Perfect Measuring Tape, the top-selling measuring tape brand on Amazon. I was brought on to develop the visual identity, designing the logo, apparel, and all branded assets to give the brand a bold, playful personality that stands out in the fishing world.

Pacific Airshow is an annual airshow held in Huntington Beach, California, and Gold Coast, Queensland. The event features a live demonstration of fighter planes of all types. I was asked to create a unique set of illustrations for a myriad of products. Here’s what we came up with.

Turtlebox is the leading outdoor speaker for active customers of all types. In an effort to capture just how durabled the Gen 2 is, I created a series of unique illustrations with speaker in precarious conditions. Each one is more preposterous than the last. These images used as ads in both print and paid social.

Offshoot Beer Co., based in Placentia, California, is a hop-centric craft brewery launched by The Bruery as a creative outlet for brewing IPAs and other hop-forward styles. I was asked to design a one-off custom can design for their West Coast Pale Ale. The illustration commemorates the Mighty Ducks movie.

Turtlebox is the leading outdoor speaker for active customers of all types. Riffing on theme of outdoor game and wildlife, I created a unique set of illustrations to be used as a pattern on a surfboard. Almond Surfboards of Costa Mesa developed this custom one-off funboard just for them.

Chomp brand is a passion project from me. In our 2021 assortment, we launched our first figurine. Modeled by Willy Kao. Animated by Fraser Davidson. Art direction, sketching, packaging by me. Here’s how it turned out.

In 2021, New Belgium entered the hard seltzer market with their brand, Fruit Smash. I was asked to do another series of poster illustrations to promote the launch of the Super Hard flavors.

Copper Key is a full service design agency that caters to companies in the Web3 and crypto space. I was hired to do their identity package and illustration language. Here’s what we came up with.

Bun’d Up is a food truck and restaurant located in DC. They specialize in bao buns and Korean inspired food. It’s the brainchild of Scott Chung, one of my oldest friends. He hired me to rebrand the company with a fresh take his food and the restaurant’s demeanor. Here’s what we came up with

Sparrow Room is a new restaurant and bar concept focused around the game Mahjong– a popular Chinese tile game. The idea came from Scott Chung, a restauranteur on the DC area. I was asked to do the branding and identity for the concept. Here’s what we came up with.

NPR linked up with Known Supply, an ethical apparel company, to produce a collection celebrating 50 years on the radio. Here’s what we came up with.

In promotion with the Toy Story 4 movie release, Stance socks produced a limited edition Pizza Planet box set. The set includes a couple enamel pins and three pairs of socks. These are all packaged within a custom pizza box. I was responsible for illustrating and designing the characters Buzz and Woody. Here’s what we came up with.

Lucky Cat Pizza is the brainchild of serial restauranteur, Scott Chung. Based out of Washington DC, they make quality pizza for with asian spices. I was asked to design their logo identity for their launch. Here’s what we came up with.

New Belgium brewing is celebrating 30 years in business. I was asked to design a custom capsule collection to celebrate this momentous occasion. Using brand themes, imagery and values, I created unique graphics. These graphics were printed, woven and stitched into products ranging from blankets to bottles. Here’s what we came up with.

In 2021, New Belgium entered the hard seltzer market with their brand, Fruit Smash. I was asked to do a series of poster illustrations to promote the new drink. Here they are without copy or headlines.

LA Live’s best place to watch sports is Tom’s Watch Bar, located across the street from staples center. I had the pleasure of illustrating a mural that wraps around one room at the restaurant. The mural includes many memes, jokes and LA specific references. I even snuck a portrait of my daughter in there. Here’s what we came up with.

Voodoo Ranger is a beer/brewing company owned by New Belgium. They offer an array of beers in the hop and malt varieties. They also make some fun and interesting branded swag. I was asked by the folks at Voodoo to design a custom playing card deck. Here’s what we came up with.

Two stars from Bravo TV’s, “Vanderpump Rules” have joined up to great a brand of whiskey called Toms’ Good Lovin’. I was asked to design the brand identity and label it. Here’s what we came up with.

Ad copy by me and Adam Tetreault
Photography by Kelly Puleio

Sector 9 has been a staple in the downhill and cruiser skateboard market for decades. We, at Chomp Brand, have enjoyed partnering over several different seasons. Here is our collaboration called “Never Worried”, designed by me. Sourcing and manufacturing by Sector 9.

In 2021, New Belgium entered the hard seltzer market with their brand, Fruit Smash. I was asked to do a series of poster illustrations to promote the new drink. Here they are without copy or headlines.

New Belgium Brewing is a nationally distributed brewery located in Fort Collins, CO and Asheville, NC. The company’s genesis was in 1988 and they’re celebrating their 30th anniversary with this bike. I was asked to design a bicycle from soup to nuts.

The frame, paint, graphics and saddle have all been customized. Development and manufacturing was done by Ryan Zagata of Brooklyn Bike Company. Check out the store and details here, and check out the video breakdown of the bike.

Shea Serrano is a two time The New York Times best selling author. His work is sports-entertainment-centric and is brilliantly funny. His book Basketball and Other things was included on President Barack Obama's 12 favorite books of the year.

I was commissioned to illustrate a poster for his newest work, “POST”, a short story about four friends. Here’s what we came up with.

Comic Con is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. It's a convergence of everything from gaming, comics and movie culture. For the event, Stance asked me to design some limited edition Star Wars socks, sold exclusively at the event. Here's what we came up with. 

Smirk is a Keto shake, meal replacement, product. I was hired to design their brand identity and package design. Here’s what we came up with.

In an effort to stretch my illustration skillset, I drew some pieces based around airbrush art. Each concept was featured as part the Chomp Brand collection.

HP is partnering with Bloomberg Green to lower its carbon emissions. I was asked to do an illustration envisioning a more sustainable, green world. This piece was commissioned by Bloomberg Business as sponsored content. Here’s what we came up with.

Chomp Brand is a lifestyle apparel company I launched in 2015. I illustrated a series of limited edition posters under the title Never Worried. The posters were screen printed by Mamas Sauce of Orlando, Fl.

Offshoot Beer Co is a boutique beer company started by the Bruery. Offshoot specializes in hoppy beers like IPA and double IPA. Their 16-oz. cans are released in limited supply and sold in 4-packs directly from the brewery for fresh enjoyment. I was asked to design two custom beer cans for their Sept. 2019 release. Here’s what we came up with.

Flexfit manufactures custom hats for some of the most reputable brands and also offers a wide selection of wholesale blank caps. I was asked to design and art direct their 2019 Catalog. Here are some of my pitched mock-ups as well as finalized spreads from the finished catalog.

The final catalog was shot by Chris Glenn.

ESPN The Magazine is a monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN. In its September 2019 issue, it featured an article about how pitchers treat their nails– called The Nail Files. I was asked to do illustrations to accompany the article. Here’s what we came up with.

Taco Bell's annual franchisee conference is called Forum. Forum is a platform for Taco Bell executives to speak about everything from marketing strategy to new menu items. Taco Bell allowed me to design a few set looks to be projection-mapped onto the walls. In the theme of Art Deco, we executed on about 10 separate looks. Here they are. 

Armchair Expert is a weekly podcast hosted by American actor Dax Shepard in which he interviews celebrities as well as journalists and academics about "the messiness of being human." I was asked to illustrate a limited edition, screen printed poster for their summer tour. Here’s what we came up with.

Photos (and print) by Mama’s Sauce

Mellow Rooster is a coffee-flavored tea made from organic, non-GMO ingredients. It was started by my childhood friend, Mike Choyama. He asked me to do the logo and package design for his unique product. Here’s what we came up with.

Scott Chung is a chef, entrepreneur and a long-time childhood friend of mine. His latest project is a Korean rice bowl restaurant called Rice Crook. He asked that I art direct and design the identity system for his unique restaurant. His branding contains a combination of custom scripts and illustration, paired with branded patterns and prints. Here’s what we came up with.

Photos: David Wardrick
Restaurant renderings: Hapstak Demetriou

Skeleton Key Agency is a boutique marketing agency located in Southern California. I was hired to art direct and design their identity system.

Our inspiration for the graphic style and color palette came from medical and anatomical sketches in the mid-1800s. Here’s what we came up with.

Dragon Alliance is a leading eyewear and accessories brand in the active youth lifestyle market. I was asked to design a portion of their Winter 18/19 goggle line. Here’s what we came up with.

Dribbble is an online community for showcasing user-made artwork and design. They host a one-day creative conference in select cities around the US. I was asked to do a poster for their event in LA.

Dribbble frequently uses basketball terms as analogies on their platform. Users are asked to shoot their shot, aka: upload a piece of art they’re working on. In keeping with that theme and the coastal location of their conference, I drew an image of a wave crashing into a basketball hoop. The illustration is also inspired by the basketball courts in Venice– which are right next to the Pacific Ocean.

My Brother, My Brother and Me is a weekly comedy advice podcast hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. I was asked to design and illustrate the masthead for their portal site– which connects all of their sister-podcasts. Here’s what we came up with.

Almond Surfboards is an apparel company and surfboard manufacturer located in Costa Mesa, CA. I designed a custom capsule collection called Desert Surf. The collection is focused around a print inspired by the California landscape. All merchandise is cobranded with my apparel line called CHOMP. Here’s what we came up with.

Sector 9 is a longboard manufacturer started in La Jolla, California in 1993. It's a staple in the California beach scene and surf culture altogether. I was tasked with designing their collaboration with Kookslams– a curated Instagram feed of surf fails, falls and slams. Here are some selected works from that collection. Two more decks will arrive in Spring. 

Stance gave me the opportunity to design each character sock for their Force 3 box set. The box set contains the classic characters from the old films and we've peppered in some brand new characters. Each character was illustrated at a 3/4 angle with a slight gaze upward. The socks are machine knitted and are meant to be mixed and matched. The box set comes with a secret bonus character (not pictured). 

Two-time Winter X Games gold medalist and Red Bull athlete Nick Goepper is one of the most talented freeskiers in the world. Sauce Creative Group asked me to create a custom helmet for him and decided to incorporate lots of imagery from his home state of Indiana in the design. He ended up wearing it at the Dew Tour Event in Copper as well as the 2014 Olympic Games. 

Photo cred: Jeff Brockmeyer and Robert Scheer 

Comic Con is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, California. It's a convergence of everything from gaming, comics and movie culture. For the event, Stance asked me to design a custom Star Wars socks. Here's what we came up with. 

With nearly a million listings in over 30,000 cities, Airbnb is an incredibly successful lodging site. I was recently asked by the agency TOOL to illustrate all of the icons for Airbnb's new interactive map. Over one hundred icons and illustrations were done to produce the project. Have a close look at all of the icons below. 

Under Armour is known for their technical apparel across all types of sports. They asked me to design some tees for their fishing line. Here's what I came up with. 

Lunarlon is both a revolutionary cushioning material and the name of an entire collection of Nike training, running, and basketball shoes. The Lunarlon inventors say they were inspired by video astronauts walking on the moon. This instructional poster shows how Lunarlon functions so I incorporated the space theme throughout it in addition to some well-placed humor.

"Josh cultivates his craft so that it pushes the bounds of creativity. The result of this takes art and design to new places while still maintaining the integrity of the brand."- Genelle Lauderbach,Category Merchandise Manager, Nike Inc

Stance is the world leader in sock fashion and technology. They're endorsed by top tier celebrities and athletes. They've done collaborations with artists like Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar. 

Stance Socks released three limited edition box sets of from the iconic Star Wars films. There's the Light Side of the Force, The Dark side and a combination box set that includes both Dark and Light side characters. Stance asked me to design and illustrate each character, including a secret character not shown. Here's what we came up with. 

Stance socks NBA Legends collection features all of our favorite ballers from the past and present. I was asked to illustrate the "Future Legends" portraits. Here's what we came up with. 

SB Nation is a sports news website owned and operated by Vox Media. Established in 2005, the site comprises 316 blogs covering individual professional and college sports teams, and other sports-oriented topics.

Promoting the release of Bleed for This, SB Nation comprised a Sports Guide to highlight noteworthy events in November. I was asked to do some editorial illustrations to showcase those occasions. Here's what we came up with. 

ESPN is the world leader in sports broadcasting. They asked me to design some custom cleats for some of the NFL's most dominate football stars. Here are a few original prints I did for Von Miller, Clay Matthews and Antonio Brown. 

In early 2015, I started a small apparel brand called CHOMP. I've been designing apparel for large brands for nearly 10 years, and I wanted to create something on my own - something with a completely new identity. CHOMP is fun, silly, weird and nostalgic. We wink and nod at pop culture while keeping a foundation in Southern California's lifestyle. With CHOMP, I hope to bridge a gap between apparel and entertainment. Here are tees from our first Spring/Summer collection. 

Photography: Foxes and Wolves
Models: Sean Woolsey, Gerry Kolisnyk, Justin Ruttkay

Stance is the world leader in sock fashion and technology. They're endorsed by top tier celebrities and athletes. They've done collaborations with artists like Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar. 

Stance released a special collection of Star Wars socks, featuring 12 signature characters from the iconic films. Stance asked me to design and illustrate each character, including a secret character not shown. 

In addition to the socks, Stance launched an interactive experience dubbed “Uncommon Force” that allows fans to “control the force” by exploring the arsenal using their webcams and hand motions.

Taco Bell recently saved its first location from demolishment. They call the store Numero Uno, and it was where Glenn Bell first introduced America to the taco. 

Numero Uno was strapped to a flatbed and driven from it's original location in Downey and driven to its temporary location in Irvine, the Taco Bell headquarters. TB asked me to design a poster and t-shirt to celebrate the preservation of the building. 

“Josh’s devotion to the project demonstrated sincere passion not only for his craft, but our brand. His remarkable talent to transform ideas into a vision, and that vision into art, showcased his creative ability and, in every sense, brought our campaign to life.” - Matt Prince, PR Manager, Taco Bell

Kookslams is the most popular surf-gaffe Instagram account around. They're the go-to spot to see the internet's funniest surfing accidents and blunders. They've even grabbed the attention of lots of professional surfers and editorial outlets like Surfing Magazine. We recently created some hot-selling apparel in collaboration with my brand CHOMP. Here's what we came up with. 

Nike has been influencing and changing the world of athletics for over 40 years. I pulled heavily from Nike’s vintage designs to create the hats specifically for Pacsun stores. For a time this was the top-selling hat there.

"Josh's talent goes beyond the creative. He has a vision for creativity, absolutely, but he has the unique ability to couple this with a strong understanding of business progression. Because of this, working with Josh is inspiring." - Genelle Lauderbach, Category Merchandise Manager, Nike Inc

With a trove of Emmys and millions of fans around the world to prove it, Breaking Bad was one of the best series in television history. I was a big fan of the show and during my lunch breaks I started creating illustrations of the characters. AMC contacted me and licensed all of these illustrations which they included in a coffee table book that they gave to the entire cast and crew.

Over the last 20-plus years Sector 9 has become one of the the most recognizable brands in the entire skate industry. Sauce Creative Group reached out to me to design some decks for them and I had a blast doing it.

Nike carved out a place in the skateboarding industry with its Nike Skateboarding brand that now boasts a team of top athletes including four-time X Games gold medalist Paul Rodriguez. In 2011, I designed some original illustrations and photo composites for Nike SB that captured the all-or-nothing spirit of the sport and the unique styling of the brand.

Nike 6.0 was a sub-brand that focused entirely on action sports enthusiasts and the athletes reshaping the extreme sports landscape. Nike 6.0 sponsored a team of world-class surfers and I was able to design a series of original boardshorts for the brand. 

In addition to being the world leader in sports equipment innovation, Nike has a robust apparel program full of athletic fabrics and graphics. Here are select graphics from the Summer and Fall 2014 Women's Sportswear collection. 

There are few logos or slogans as iconic as the Nike swoosh and “Just Do It”. I worked on the 2011 Just Do It campaign for Nike’s Action Sports Category that featured new iterations on classic Nike designs. 

"Josh exhibits passion, an eagerness to learn, and a drive to deliver positive results. These qualities present themselves in his craft, how he connects with those he works with , and ultimately the value brought to the consumers of his work."- Genelle Lauderbach, Category Merchandise Manager, Nike Inc.