Amun Levy is a freelance Creative Director living in Southern California, and influenced by patterns in nature, psychedelia, and Trapper Keepers. A graduate from the graphic design program at California Institute of the Arts, his love for music and art have evolved into a progressive multi-faceted creative force. Music videos, poster design, brand identity, and stage visuals are all Altarbeast landscapes. Free-range, but not feral. Conceptual, but not condescending. Innovative, but not indecisive. Clients over the years have included Belkin, Beats by Dre, Scion, Google, JESS3, Coca Cola, FX, A&E, Dragonframe, YouTube, HLN, and iTunes.
Ojai Strong I was born in Ojai and have lived here on and off for the majority of my life. The Thomas Fire struck home for me, literally. Despite the many messages, phone calls, social media warnings and people straight telling me to get the hell out of Dodge, I stayed. Call me stubborn, and you would probably be right, but I wanted to be a feather on the wing of the Phoenix that would inevitably rise up to lift our town out of the ashes.
It was one of the sleepless nights during the fire. I was lying in bed getting my social media ‘news’ and disaster photo intake for the day, when I noticed many people posting maps of the burn areas and where they were located in relation to themselves. Some called the fire map shape a ‘donut.’ I saw the map as something much more menacing. The Thomas the Terrible illustration was very primitive at first; a photoshopped creature over a screenshot of a fire map. In addition, I added a short folklore story to caption my creation: Thomas was an insatiable beast that tried to devour a small peaceful town named Ojai. The people of the town said "Ohhhh hell na" and banished him from whence he came. The end (hopefully). In addition, there was a big #ojaistrong rising social media presence. Being a hybrid graphic designer-social media strategist; what started as a shareable Facebook profile photo eventually evolved into a T-Shirt, along with the Thomas the Terrible design. I have always been drawn to kitsch Venice Beach shirt designs, and the classic “I Survived ______” concept, and so this lead me to the design choices that eventually made their way to Chris Wilson’s home in Upper Ojai, where he helped assist me in printing the entirety of the T-Shirt collection. In the months following I brought my inventory to the Ojai Farmers’ Market, Topa Winery fundraiser with Orgone, Deer Lodge fundraisers, and pop-up sales at my art studio. I managed to raise significant donations for Upper Ojai Relief and to the family of Camouflage, who lost their home in the fire and are close friends. In the end, I realized I had lost many months of income due to the fires, but it was worthwhile to invest my time, creativity and energy into this venture. Ojai is my home, and I can now see the Phoenix rising in its full glory from the ashes. Our valley was tested to its limits with our community stronger and neighbors united against the beast by the name of Thomas.