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This is old footage.Pen & Pixel is history.
They no longer exist.
The dude in the video bounced & the new company is; http://www.akastudios.com/
My 2 Cents,
tha fuckin jump out boys!! grim… i remember the 1st album they showed in the video the “L black robin hood” he was from n.o. my man did a mural of him at peaches records
Anyone that says Pen & Pixel’s work is “cheap” or the “worst album covers” is seriously screwed up in the head. Probably some two-bit designer wanna-be like that guy Cookepuss at CGChat or the idiot in the Streetwalkin Cheetahs who did that interview with Yukmouth. These idiots couldn’t compete with or afford Pen & Pixel’s work. That goes for little girls like Heez & Bse, etc.
You have an amazing accounting for Pen and Pixel history and work. It was a trend setter in the Hip-hop industry and made a great deal of rapper very wealthy.
The company was sold in 2003, 911 caused major problems for the entertainment field all around, that combined with napster was the final straw. The company at it’s peak (1998-2001) was billing almost 6 million dollars a year and was producing more that 23 covers per week. Yes, some were cheesy, some were insane and some were amazing…but the main thing to remember was PPG was a business enterprise, it’s function was to please the customers…we had thousands of maverick ideas that would have pushed and developed Hip-hop graphics further and faster…but the clients demand for the “same ol’ Bling Bling, Ho’s and cars kept the monster fed.
There is a company out there now that have taken the Pen and Pixel Graphics name, but they are not PPG! There is no one there that has worked for Pen and Pixel. For more information on this company and it’s history…get it form the person that founded the company back in 1992. Shawn Brauch
You want the real truth about Pen and Pixel Graphics call AKA Studios. We are the senior Art directors from Pen and Pixel we started AKA Studios. If you look at have the cover that made a name for Pen and Pixel Graphics it was Albert L. Mata and Adam A. Amaya. We are featured in museums to date. The fact is we learned a lot from pan and pixel but when they could not afford to keep the company running we ran with what we knew. AKA Studios came to pen and pixel and offered to combine to make pen and pixel stronger but was denied. The problem was that Pen and Pixel said they where a one stop shop but couldn’t give the clients anything else in terms of marketing and internet persona. AKA Studios had to make that move and give the clients truly the tools they needed for a lasting business. We could tell you some stories of backwards thinking that went on. Shawn truly was a mentor and until 4 years ago thought of as a friend, but trying to get us to recreate a website to look like pen and pixel graphics and pass it off to us as just for him was sneaky. If he would have just said hey guys i want to try to bring Pen and Pixel back can you help? All and all the industry has changed and needed new blood and we are them. We still rank up the platinum albums. We still deal with the hottest in the industry and the top directors.
Well it looks like there is a little confusion regarding the end of Pen and Pixel. How time fades memories. I’ll try to clear thing up as I was the one that wrote the checks. I will not respond to the above comment as it can been see that Adam and Albert need as much positive publicity as possible.
These two gentlemen, worked on so many projects (almost 3300 CD covers and posters), countless hours and devoted a good portion of there energy to building Pen and Pixel Graphics into a multi-million dollar enterprise. (they were also very well paid..very well indeed)
I can never repay them for all that they did for the team there. We suffered after 9/11 and Napster and down loading finished us off for good!
Pen and Pixel had $260,000 in cash for a safety fund, we had no debt at all (mainly because my Brother and I took NO SALARY for the first 4 years! ) We literally but every penny we had into hiring and training the best people. We had people making more than $60,000 a year while my brother and I made NOTHING! In the end we took the $260,000 and paid our employees and our vendors. My brother and I took nothing, in fact we took money out off our investment accounts to cover our final expenses, legally we did not have to do this.
I set up a deal with Albert and Adam at AKA studios to take over Pen and Pixel’s client base. I sold them the equipment for pennies on the dollar and GAVE them the clients. I even helped them move into there new location, right down from PPG. I’m glad that they are doing well and even more glad that our clients had a place to go and get quality work done. I just thought that the truth needed to come from the person that was at the steering wheel, not the back seat drivers. For more info contact me: sbrauch@smartfacemedia.com
Well; only certain people use 911 as a cop out and that’s unfortunate. Plenty of time I have gone to the office and they were doing well. From what I know AKA starting up was supposed to be a good think with the Brauchs helping. When AKA was going to start pen and pixel helped them move thanks to another company that let them use there facility. AKA Studios paid plenty of debts because pen and pixel threw away a lot of artwork final work ready for the streets. Projects had to be paid by them. Then when it came time for aka studios they asked the brother for the .com and went through a lot of shit. They wrote a check to one brother to help with the switching of .com and then can’t get a hold of him. Then talk to the other and he says take it up with him he owns it. And still no word then all of a sudden sold to other people. These guys are snakes. Why did they leave all the workers at pen and pixel still talk and work together. I dare you to ask any of them who really worked in the office. Any baboon can write a freakin check. And by the way they did not give the clients to aka studios. AKA Studios bought the computer and the contacts where on the hard drive with no way to the contacts because of password protection they had to crack in and get them. They still owe AKA money I sure they should call and ask them so they can pay. AKA wrote a check and gave money to them in the hopes to get the dot com and all the contact. Easy to take the money and not return calls. Move to another state and talk about 911 and napster blah blah blah. Napsters been around since 1998 – 1999. They ripped artist off screwed artist over when they never gave them their product at the end. Artists wanted more and they could not do it. The owners had no since to grow. As for your new company you still talk about your old stuff what’s new. I work in the industry still till this day its changed but the same people are still here. The manufacturer you say went out of business cause of you tried to start again and failed. The guys at AKA are still working from architecture to hand drawn poster for collectors. By the way I called AKA and asked them to write the blog and they said they didn’t write anything. Id have to believe them they are to busy but they said call them if any questions. Something to say about an old man living off old dreams. Sad…really. But o well we all don’t have the luxuries to take credit for the others hard work. Keep up the good work. You and the AKA guys should have a design show old and new that would be cool. Can’t we all get along?
Apparently there is someone out there leaving bad information about Pen and Pixel, I have contacted AKA studios, and they have confirmed that this ‘AKA studios Senior Art Director’ blogger is bogus and none of it is true. So Pen adn Pixel fans, disregard the AKA studio commentary. It’s false!
For real info contact http://www.smartfacemedia.com
Thanks
Shawn Brauch
(the guy in the youtube interview with Louis Theroux)
Danial,
any questions you have I would be happy to answer. As you can see I have nothing to hide. I have tried to contact the blogger and find out more information in order for my accountant to pay him, but until now he has only threaten my wife and I with death, curse like a sailor and managed to get him self traced by the FBI internet crimes division. Kind of stupid if you ask me, apparently when they get involved they can retrace an IP address quite effectively.
So that’s where that stands. If you would like to know more info, not only can I provide it in writing but in full documentation from my attorney.
Please forward your questions to me anytime.
Shawn
[...] a former Pen and Pixel employee with quite a penchant for self-googling, as a trip to Cocaine Blunts, Not A Blogger (who, side note, wrote my favourite piece of crit in 2008 with his Eminem post), or [...]
If you could only hear what you say from out here. We are glad to control any information you have access to, duh. We do not want you to be educated or informed, duh. What kind of lunacy is this? Do they give you medicine to make you think like this?
Pen and Pixel didn’t create the Bling and they didn’t design the Lil’ Flip album, they steal the style from another Houston company, like how most untalented people in the music business steal ideals.
Tumblin' Erb
April 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Louis Theroux: Cat-loving gangster.
I know I’m not the only person who buys cheap Pen & Pixel CDs and never listens to them right? Just buying them for the cover.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Theroux is a legend!! “how about this, maybe im not that dangerous!”
April 12th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
hilarious!
April 12th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
nice…the tour of locked-up artists is priceless.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
The true art in this footage lies in the fact that he kept a straight face throughout.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
That episode was hilarious!!
Here’s the link for all Louis Theroux Episodes
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/show.do/1/1376
or just the Gansta Rap Episode
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/link.do/1/1376/1974/15091/25084
Enjoy!!
mBane
April 12th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
anybody know if D from Trinity Garden Cartel is still locked up?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Outstanding!
Noz, will we ever see a post on your favorite Pen n’ Pixel covers?
April 13th, 2007 at 1:28 am
theroux’s not funny at all… stupid british cunt… but this video is great man, to see their office and shit, and the way this Sean guy works
April 13th, 2007 at 9:11 am
“Noz, will we ever see a post on your favorite Pen n’ Pixel covers?”
It’s a work in progress.
April 14th, 2007 at 1:10 am
1. is that borat?
2. does leaving a comment make me a ffly?
3. id hate to have your real job
April 14th, 2007 at 11:34 am
This is old footage.Pen & Pixel is history.
They no longer exist.
The dude in the video bounced & the new company is;
http://www.akastudios.com/
My 2 Cents,
April 14th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
tha fuckin jump out boys!! grim… i remember the 1st album they showed in the video the “L black robin hood” he was from n.o. my man did a mural of him at peaches records
April 14th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Thank God for the internet. If only we could have seen some pregnant women with shotguns, or a fleet of jeeps driving out of a vagina.
April 14th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
that Louis guy is great.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:23 am
actually, that was a little harsh. much appretiated
April 17th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Wow…this shyt made my night. Thx NoZ!
April 18th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Don’t do it to ‘em Tre. Can’t be confessing on camera.
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:40 pm
these guys make the worst album covers i have ever seen
April 24th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
This is F-ing funny!
June 24th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
The New Pen & Pixel has some sick graphics, takin it to a new level, they are more industry made to promote mass consumtion.
October 4th, 2007 at 4:49 am
Anyone that says Pen & Pixel’s work is “cheap” or the “worst album covers” is seriously screwed up in the head. Probably some two-bit designer wanna-be like that guy Cookepuss at CGChat or the idiot in the Streetwalkin Cheetahs who did that interview with Yukmouth. These idiots couldn’t compete with or afford Pen & Pixel’s work. That goes for little girls like Heez & Bse, etc.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
You have an amazing accounting for Pen and Pixel history and work. It was a trend setter in the Hip-hop industry and made a great deal of rapper very wealthy.
The company was sold in 2003, 911 caused major problems for the entertainment field all around, that combined with napster was the final straw. The company at it’s peak (1998-2001) was billing almost 6 million dollars a year and was producing more that 23 covers per week. Yes, some were cheesy, some were insane and some were amazing…but the main thing to remember was PPG was a business enterprise, it’s function was to please the customers…we had thousands of maverick ideas that would have pushed and developed Hip-hop graphics further and faster…but the clients demand for the “same ol’ Bling Bling, Ho’s and cars kept the monster fed.
There is a company out there now that have taken the Pen and Pixel Graphics name, but they are not PPG! There is no one there that has worked for Pen and Pixel. For more information on this company and it’s history…get it form the person that founded the company back in 1992. Shawn Brauch
June 11th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Pen & Pixel made the sickest covers in rap history.
Is there a website where you peep some of these classic covers.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:15 am
You want the real truth about Pen and Pixel Graphics call AKA Studios. We are the senior Art directors from Pen and Pixel we started AKA Studios. If you look at have the cover that made a name for Pen and Pixel Graphics it was Albert L. Mata and Adam A. Amaya. We are featured in museums to date. The fact is we learned a lot from pan and pixel but when they could not afford to keep the company running we ran with what we knew. AKA Studios came to pen and pixel and offered to combine to make pen and pixel stronger but was denied. The problem was that Pen and Pixel said they where a one stop shop but couldn’t give the clients anything else in terms of marketing and internet persona. AKA Studios had to make that move and give the clients truly the tools they needed for a lasting business. We could tell you some stories of backwards thinking that went on. Shawn truly was a mentor and until 4 years ago thought of as a friend, but trying to get us to recreate a website to look like pen and pixel graphics and pass it off to us as just for him was sneaky. If he would have just said hey guys i want to try to bring Pen and Pixel back can you help? All and all the industry has changed and needed new blood and we are them. We still rank up the platinum albums. We still deal with the hottest in the industry and the top directors.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Well it looks like there is a little confusion regarding the end of Pen and Pixel. How time fades memories. I’ll try to clear thing up as I was the one that wrote the checks. I will not respond to the above comment as it can been see that Adam and Albert need as much positive publicity as possible.
These two gentlemen, worked on so many projects (almost 3300 CD covers and posters), countless hours and devoted a good portion of there energy to building Pen and Pixel Graphics into a multi-million dollar enterprise. (they were also very well paid..very well indeed)
I can never repay them for all that they did for the team there. We suffered after 9/11 and Napster and down loading finished us off for good!
Pen and Pixel had $260,000 in cash for a safety fund, we had no debt at all (mainly because my Brother and I took NO SALARY for the first 4 years! ) We literally but every penny we had into hiring and training the best people. We had people making more than $60,000 a year while my brother and I made NOTHING! In the end we took the $260,000 and paid our employees and our vendors. My brother and I took nothing, in fact we took money out off our investment accounts to cover our final expenses, legally we did not have to do this.
I set up a deal with Albert and Adam at AKA studios to take over Pen and Pixel’s client base. I sold them the equipment for pennies on the dollar and GAVE them the clients. I even helped them move into there new location, right down from PPG. I’m glad that they are doing well and even more glad that our clients had a place to go and get quality work done. I just thought that the truth needed to come from the person that was at the steering wheel, not the back seat drivers. For more info contact me: sbrauch@smartfacemedia.com
August 4th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Well; only certain people use 911 as a cop out and that’s unfortunate. Plenty of time I have gone to the office and they were doing well. From what I know AKA starting up was supposed to be a good think with the Brauchs helping. When AKA was going to start pen and pixel helped them move thanks to another company that let them use there facility. AKA Studios paid plenty of debts because pen and pixel threw away a lot of artwork final work ready for the streets. Projects had to be paid by them. Then when it came time for aka studios they asked the brother for the .com and went through a lot of shit. They wrote a check to one brother to help with the switching of .com and then can’t get a hold of him. Then talk to the other and he says take it up with him he owns it. And still no word then all of a sudden sold to other people. These guys are snakes. Why did they leave all the workers at pen and pixel still talk and work together. I dare you to ask any of them who really worked in the office. Any baboon can write a freakin check. And by the way they did not give the clients to aka studios. AKA Studios bought the computer and the contacts where on the hard drive with no way to the contacts because of password protection they had to crack in and get them. They still owe AKA money I sure they should call and ask them so they can pay. AKA wrote a check and gave money to them in the hopes to get the dot com and all the contact. Easy to take the money and not return calls. Move to another state and talk about 911 and napster blah blah blah. Napsters been around since 1998 – 1999. They ripped artist off screwed artist over when they never gave them their product at the end. Artists wanted more and they could not do it. The owners had no since to grow. As for your new company you still talk about your old stuff what’s new. I work in the industry still till this day its changed but the same people are still here. The manufacturer you say went out of business cause of you tried to start again and failed. The guys at AKA are still working from architecture to hand drawn poster for collectors. By the way I called AKA and asked them to write the blog and they said they didn’t write anything. Id have to believe them they are to busy but they said call them if any questions. Something to say about an old man living off old dreams. Sad…really. But o well we all don’t have the luxuries to take credit for the others hard work. Keep up the good work. You and the AKA guys should have a design show old and new that would be cool. Can’t we all get along?
August 4th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Apparently there is someone out there leaving bad information about Pen and Pixel, I have contacted AKA studios, and they have confirmed that this ‘AKA studios Senior Art Director’ blogger is bogus and none of it is true. So Pen adn Pixel fans, disregard the AKA studio commentary. It’s false!
For real info contact http://www.smartfacemedia.com
Thanks
Shawn Brauch
(the guy in the youtube interview with Louis Theroux)
August 4th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Shawn man you have to come clean. Also you can not see your site on firefox.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Danial,
any questions you have I would be happy to answer. As you can see I have nothing to hide. I have tried to contact the blogger and find out more information in order for my accountant to pay him, but until now he has only threaten my wife and I with death, curse like a sailor and managed to get him self traced by the FBI internet crimes division. Kind of stupid if you ask me, apparently when they get involved they can retrace an IP address quite effectively.
So that’s where that stands. If you would like to know more info, not only can I provide it in writing but in full documentation from my attorney.
Please forward your questions to me anytime.
Shawn
September 27th, 2008 at 4:59 am
full of shit … hahah FBI!
January 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
[...] a former Pen and Pixel employee with quite a penchant for self-googling, as a trip to Cocaine Blunts, Not A Blogger (who, side note, wrote my favourite piece of crit in 2008 with his Eminem post), or [...]
August 27th, 2010 at 10:07 am
If you could only hear what you say from out here. We are glad to control any information you have access to, duh. We do not want you to be educated or informed, duh. What kind of lunacy is this? Do they give you medicine to make you think like this?
April 11th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Pen and Pixel didn’t create the Bling and they didn’t design the Lil’ Flip album, they steal the style from another Houston company, like how most untalented people in the music business steal ideals.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blackat-Productions/100623810021918