Milwaukee-born artist Brian Ewing's art and design work has been sought after by some of the biggest bands and brands in the world.

Ewing, whose new book "Don't Hold Your Breath: Nothing New From Brian Ewing" compiles his collected work, said his art was heavily influenced by time spent at two Bay View businesses.

"I used to always go to Rush-Mor records as a kid. That's where I bought my first Ramones album when I was 13," said Ewing, When we would go there Bill the owner used to show us posters and I had never seen them before and these posters had some of my favorite bands on them... From there I just started doing research on the artists and rock posters and stuff."

Ewing's art, which has been used by everyone from Metallica to "The New Yorker" magazine, also is richly influenced by the comic book tradition. As a a teenager working at the Bay View comic shop Collector's Edge Comics and attending Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Ewing found further inspiration.

Skulls and beautiful punk rock girls abound in his work with the colors and images giving nods to comic book artists and B-Movie posters from another time.

"I was exposed to a lot of comic book art then and going to the High School of the Arts I was exposed to a lot of fine art. So the two really influenced me," Ewing said.

While Ewing has done plenty of commercial design and illustration, he really made his name with his bold rock posters for musicians like Elliot Smith, Built to Spill and Billy Idol.

"Basically it was like punk rock, skateboarding and bands that really got me interested in doing a lot of that stuff," Ewing said. "Me and my friends would go to the Eagles Club and go see shows, or go to the Unicorn... My friends were in bands and I couldn't afford buying an instrument, plus I was left-handed, so you know it just made sense to draw stuff for bands instead."

It turned out to be a wise career decision for Ewing who hooked up with the Van's Warped Tour in 2004 to design promotional posters for the giant punk rock tour. Kevin Lyman, the tour's creator who writes a glowing forward in Ewing's book, took Ewing along on several tours and in 2009 asked him to design Warped's 15th Anniversary tour logo.

"I ended up getting to see a lot of the United States and that is something that I never thought I would be able to do. And basically for a half-hour a day I would sign posters and then for the rest of the day I would drink beer and watch bands play," Ewing said.

The tour also put him in the unique position of meeting his fans and making new ones, Ewing said.

"When kids go to shows a lot of them want to work in the music business, whether it's managing a band, being in a band whatever. And it was cool to kind of give them the idea that this is another aspect to working in the music business as an artist," Ewing said.

Ewing will be signing copies of his book Tuesday, Dec. 14, at Rush-Mor Records, 2635 South Kinnickinnic Ave. The signing starts at 6 p.m.

Ewing, who now lives in New York, said he is looking forward to coming back to Milwaukee.

"It's an opportunity for me to catch up with some people I haven't seen in a long time."