ART BACKWASH

Mrs. Green

2009-07-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Meet Mrs. Green.

I work with agencies both big and small and a local firm Design Point Inc. approached me about creating a character for one of their clients called "Mrs. Green."

I love doing character design. Creating an illustrative persona can be challenging since it'll be directly related to a company or product in the eyes of the public.

I was provided a list of characteristics the firm said needed to be reflected in Mrs. Green. When I first read them I couldn't help myself and laughed because I knew it was an unfiltered client wish list for the character. But that said it wasn't impossible, it was just an interesting mix of attributes pinpoined by their client.

- She needs to be a hip Mom (Not Betty Crocker)
- She needs to have a nice friendly smile
- Have her wearing Sarah Palin glasses
- Red hair like Ariel from the "Little Mermaid" (No I'm not kidding)
- Have her wearing a light green shirt

Pruning Mrs. Green.

I think we went through a total of four rounds making subtle changes to body language, hand position, frame thickness on glasses etc.

Final Mrs. Green brand created by Design Point Inc.

This shows the final branded mark the agency put together using my character art. It remains to be seen if she becomes as well known as other product characters like Mrs. Buttersworth, or The Pillsbury Doughboy, but word of mouth on the grocery shelves is that Mr. Clean has taken a shine to her, so her future looks promising.

A Graphic Skeleton from my Design Closet

2009-07-02T02:08:00.000-07:00

Hitler and cheap font CD.

A good friend and talented designer Tim Frame emailed me the link to the above video earlier today. I drank my latte and chuckled as the video played and then nearly did a spit take as the following came on screen...

Guilty as charged.

There in front of me was my own typeface "Whutevur" which I had designed back in 1998 starring at me, mocking me, and being mentioned along side infamous design eye sores like "Comic Sans." I legitimately LOL when I saw it and emailed Tim back.

I should point out that my font was never included on a "Cheap Font CD" but I can't say I disagree with the videos assessment either. I tend to always cringe looking at work I produced in the past and seeing this font again gave me that same sense of artistic foreboding.

Whutevur font designed in 1998.

For those who've asked me if I've ever posted bad work, here you go. Behold the glory of my custom font "Whutevur" designed to be marketed with an art collection of the same name.

I liked it at the time but I look at it now and think "What was I thinking?"

Whutevur Art Collection created in 1998.

I think the art collection holds up well though. I still can't believe step by step graphics who published it wrote off on the concept. I basically sketched these out while working at Upper Deck during the day and built them at night until I had the whole set of 130+ done. It was like getting paid to do glorified doodles.

My favorite quote regarding this project was shared with me by a creative director at step by step. As the story goes a marketing person who apparently had never seen this art before it launched saw the final product sitting on her desk and exclaimed:

"Who would buy this?"

To which I replied "Whutevur." ;-P

So there you go, a graphic skeleton from my design closet.

Living a Creatively Curious Life

2009-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Presentation Splash Screen Graphic

I just got back from the HOW Design Conference in Austin where I did a session called "Living a Creatively Curious Life." Normally I get really nervous before I speak but this year I was far more relaxed. Mainly because I had been preparing and researching for this session since last summer.

Speaking to designers. (Photo by Ivan Boden)

The best advice I have ever been given about speaking came from my oldest daughter who told me several years ago "Dad, just don't be boring." Her advice has proven to be very true. Information is great, but if it's not wrapped in a compelling visual package it just won't resonate very well with designers who are visually oriented.

Outline, notes, reference, and more notes.

I can't say I have a set process for producing my sessions but I guess one could find a method in my madness if they looked hard enough. It is like producing a movie of sorts, I find myself editing out content because it's too long or just doesn't add anything to the overall message.

I got a lot of great feedback from hundreds of designers who attended the session and approached me afterwards, but the one comment I appreciated the most is a designer who told me I should have left one part out of my session and I agreed with her. I had considered cutting it but second guessed myself the night before and left it in. So that in and of itself showed me I need to improve my editing skills.

Standing room only cutting a rug.

Here is an audience captured video of the same thing.

The most important element for me personally when speaking is to make it fun, let the audience laugh either at me or with me in regards to a point I'm trying to make, or a project or process I'm sharing.

I turned the tables on my audience at the end of the session and pulled out my video camera and challenged them to act on a moment of creative curiosity. I turned up the music and informed them it was time to dance and the above is the end result of how my presentation ended.

Creativity Pack includes:
- Full outline (best I can do sans audio or visual)
- Outline includes links to related content
- Creativity Exercises
- Resource Downloads
- Helpful Links
- Inspiring Links

Download Creativity Pack
PDF Creativity Pack

FYI: Once I get the audio recording of my session from HOW I'll be producing a self running online version of the presentation and will be posting that too. I tried to get them to video tape my session but for some reason that couldn't be done so this is the best I can do and it'll take some time.

Don't be a Tooler

2009-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

"Stylized Portrait Illustration" for MacUser Magazine UK.

I ♥ Design
I'm thankful for what I get to do for a living. I really enjoy it, and I have a lot of fun creating and working with my clients and other design firms. I have nothing to complain about in terms of my day to day job, I love.

That said, I've always been one to speak my mind be it good or bad and I'd like to think I'm fair more times than not. Over the last several months I've been thinking through a lot of issues related to the state of our industry in respect to both design and illustration and the end result is this post.

It's a good mix of hard truth, seasoned with just enough sarcasm to hopefully make it fun to read while staying informative. But I'm sure some with disagree with my assessment and that's what comments are for.

Preamble
I a designer of the United States, in order to form a more perfect creative process, establish drawing, insure design tranquility, provide excellent art, promote conceptual welfare, and secure the blessings of creative liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this blog post for the designers of the United States of America.

Design Needs Drawing
MacUser Magazine UK approached me about writing a tutorial for their publication that utilized the same creative methods I used to create my Billy Mays artwork. I was excited to do this because I'm a diehard MAC user myself and this type of project is just fun to work on so I said "Sure."

Before I got started the editor asked "Is there a way to replace the drawing part of the tutorial with some form of computer method instead?" He suggested the possibility of auto-tracing part of the photo. And there's the rub.

A seemingly nonchalant decision to purposely divorce drawing from the design process.

"Sure, no problem I'll remove drawing from my process. And what the hell, while I'm at it I'll remove breathing from my living process too! Because after all that makes about as much sense."

The dumbing down of creativity is a serious pet peeve for me. Those who want to bake it down so it's not too demanding of the individual and caters to the lowest common creative denominator are just facilitating pablum sucking design noobs who think the computer is the wellspring of their creativity.

"You can lead a designer to a computer, but you can't make them draw."

The Dynamic Duo!

Ebony and Ivory, Analog and Digital
The fundamental problem with so many tutorials online today is they are merely geared for what I would call a "Tooler." Someone who doesn't necessarily want to improve their drawing skills, but thinks if they learn the latest software version, or some new pull-down menu effect, or run a filter in a certain way, or mimic some other type of convoluted Fibernachesque computer process they'll be able to skirt having to actually draw something.

Maybe it's just fear of failure? I'm sure that is part of it to some degree but any creative process that avoids risk is at best a flawed one. Approaching a creative solution from the mindset of "Playing it Safe" is just nothing more than choosing mere expediency. Too many designers look for the easy way out when it comes to a creative process and that is problematic to their creative growth. Instead of bolstering a core skill like drawing they pursue a path of least creative resistance and the end result is a Tooler.

I told the editor "Sorry but my process is both analog and digital. One is not independent of the other. I think that is a good thing to show." Nothing I do is fully digital, nor is it fully analog, I'm constantly going back and forth through out the creative process.

The editor eventually agreed to let me keep it the way I wanted (I wouldn't have done it otherwise) and I proceeded. Compared to my tutorials at IllustrationClass.com this one was going to be an abridged version that had to fit on a two page spread in the magazine.

Creativity via tools equals "iSuck."

The Dispensation of Toolers
Early in my career (pre-computer) people would ask me what I did for a living and I'd say "I'm a graphic designer." and the usual response was something like "You get paid to draw? I can't draw a stick figure...." and they'd proceed to admire, recognize and clearly associate my core skill and craft with what I did for a living.

But now (post-computer) when I tell people what I do the normal response tends to be something like this "That's cool. I have a computer too. I printed some ink jet business cards for..." and they proceed to associate what they do on a hack PC in their spare time using Microsoft Paint, prefab templates, Comic Sans font, and clip-art with what I do as a professional for a living. Gone is the appreciation or even recognition of a skill or craft I possess to do my job. For the most part they don't view themselves as lacking any core ability because the computer in their mind has replaced the skill and craft they once associated with my ability.

Our industry is now inundated with Toolers, who reinforce this poor public perception for what we do. They don't take skill and craft seriously and in essence one could argue they are glorified amateurs who just know more about the software than the general public. Mom and Pop see what they produce and say to themselves "Hey, I can do that too." And thus the Tooler dispensation was born.

Compound this new dispensation with the fact so many designers whore themselves via sites like www.Crowdspring.com, and art schools are flooding the landscape with software savvy, marketing clueless, concept weak, drawing inept students at the tune of about 16,000 every six months (Stats from 2001) and you see the not so pretty big picture that is the future of the design industry.

As for me and my creative convictions I refuse to celebrate mediocrity. But I digress.

How to Recognize a Zombie Designer
When ever I look at design there are "5" specific attributes I look for when I critique it.

1. Is there a core concept?
Great designers should be great thinkers.

2. Is the style appropriate?
It's commercial art, not fine art.

3. Is the art well executed and precise?
Quality craftsmanship is a must.

4. Is it unique?
Don't be a drop in the sea of marginal prefab design.

5. Is it inspiring?
Does it contain a clever visual twist or metaphor?

How these attributes break down for me.

Great Design
Contains all five attributes but is very rare.

Good Design
Must contain 1, 2 and 3. Most often 4 too.

Marginal Design
Only contains two attributes, fails the rest.

Bad Design
Most manage to avoid all five attributes.

I realize not all clients need high-concept solutions so that much isn't ironclad in my critique, it needs to be balanced appropriately for each client and I go over all of that here.

A Tooler however dwells in the realm of "Marginally Bad" and only enters "Good" by accident or by deriving or copying another persons work. Because of this modus operandi and the current trend with prefab design methods, our industry has legions of zombie designers that choose to feed off the corpse of incurious creativity.

Know your Tooler: Computer, check. Turtleneck, check. Thick framed glasses, check. Flawed creative process, check.

The Creative Industrial Complex
Toolers are more than willing to do work for sweat shop pay grade sites like Crowdspring.com or logoworks.com? Their actions facilitate a growing problem being pimped by multi-national corporations like HP, who wish to turn the design industry into a mere fast-food commodity revenue stream, or as I like to call it "The Creative Industrial Complex." Makes me wonder if HP's new logo was done by their own logoworks.com for a mere $299, or if a big agency did it for a lot more? Either way it's still a piece of crap.

Mark my words, it's just a matter of time before you see a "LogoMaker" or "InstaLogo" kiosk in Office Depot stores that allows Joe Consumer to design their own logo or business cards etc. Think about it, they have the computer end covered being HP and the design side would be facilitated by the Toolers. So this business model is possible because of designers willing to create the low grade content this type of system depends and thrives on.

And to further complicate the matter and confuse the general publics perception of what we do you have so-called industry leaders like Paula Scher creating prefab design templates for the owners of Logoworks.com.

Which brings up the obvious question "Would Paula design a logo for $299?"

Toolers are to these sites, what a moth is to a bug zapper. But to see talented designers cater to this problematic formula albeit sincere, are sincerely wrong.

Fast Food Design.

McDesigners
Big agencies like Pentagram, Landor, Wieden Kennedy, Leo Burnett and others for the most part don't care about these issues, they think it's below them. They're too busy working for million dollar clients like HP. But the vast majority of the design being done in our industry isn't by big agencies for multi-national corporations, it's being done by boutique firms and designers like you and me creating for small business owners.

So Toolers whoring their design through sites like Crowdspring.com and Logoworks.com effects everyone including the big agencies whether they want to admit it or not.

Most of the major design publications have avoided any in depth and honest debate on this topic. Sure there have been a few sidebar articles but never once has any publication done a full-blown expose on this topic. And no surprise, just look at thier advertising and you'll see why. It caters to Toolers. At least the AIGA has attempted to address it in a general sense but they never bother to get too specific and name names, that is what blogging is for I guess?

The fast food design generation is here. So, would you like fries with that design? How about super-sizing your logo perhaps?

Toolers are creative comrades.

Creative Communism
As I thought about what the editor had asked me to do, I started to think to myself "This isn't like you're drawing from thin air? You're just drawing from reference, so why try to short cut it by auto-tracing? It'll just look like crap and you'll never get it to be as well thought out or precise as you do from drawing it. Besides what they liked wasn't created by avoiding drawing."

It's like someone enjoying a wonderful meal at a nice restaurant, appreciating the eloquent cuisine of a gifted chef and asking for the recipe. The chef writes it down and they look at it and ask him to replace ingredients because it'll be too hard for them to cook. Of course this is an absurd request and if granted it certainly won't taste like what they enjoyed to begin with. It's not just the change in ingredients, it's also the lack of skill and craft involved in cooking those ingredients. (All analogies fail at some point, but you get my drift)

Creativity is all about exploring. If you don't fail, that means you're not trying hard enough. Some however seem to think a process shouldn't involve any risk? When sharing a process like my tutorial there is a mindset that thinks it should enable everyone to do it via some method that doesn't require any learned skill, just the knowledge of what to click next. I'd call that creative communism, red art if you will.

"If you view my tutorial and you determine that you can't do the drawing part too well, than the tutorial has taught you something. You need to improve on your drawing skills. That is what growing as a designer is all about."

Download "Stylized Portrait Illustration" PDF below.

Anyone Can Improve Their Drawing
I think drawing is very important as a designer. Whether or not you ever want to be a full-blown illustrator or not isn't the point. Improving your drawing skills will make you a better designer period the end. You'll be able to take the intangible idea in your head and flesh it out on paper, it's that simple.

Last year when I spoke at the HOW Design Conference (I've updated my presentation since HOW) I made the following statement concerning the creative process:

"Our industry may be digitally driven but ideas are still best developed in analog form."

That'll never change no matter how advanced our technology gets. So step away from your computer, grab a pencil (It's that yellow thing not tethered to a keyboard), start drawing, stop whining, take some creative risks and see where it leads you.

In other words "Don't be a Tooler!"

Download Tutorial PDF
"Stylized Portrait Illustration" PDF Tutorial
IllustrationClass.com Tutorial Post

PS: If you'd like me to present my step by step creative process presentation called "Illustrative Design" at your design event, AIGA group, AdFed group, Design School or program just contact me and we'll talk. (See top right side bar)

Twitter Beard

2009-06-12T02:09:00.000-07:00

Illustrative Mask "Twitter Beard."

For the past three years I've been teaching "Digital Illustration" in a local college VC program. For this terms final project I assigned the students an "Illustrative Mask" for them to create over a four week period were we focused on each phase of the creative process: Thumbnails, Sketches, Comps, and Final Art all being art directed by myself and peer reviewed.

I thought this would be fun so I decided to participate myself. The idea I chose to develop was based on my love of Twitter.com which I've been using going on three years now. (You can follow me at: @vonster)

Striking a pose with "Twitter Beard" mask.

When ever someone asks me "What is Twitter?" or "Why do you use Twitter?" I usually respond by saying "Think of Twitter as a diary for your random thoughts that other people can read." Essentially the only thing I'm doing differently now than I was pre-Twitter is documenting my thoughts.

The random thoughts and ideas have always been their, but I never captured them. Twitter allows me to do that now and also gives me the opportunity to see what others are thinking and that makes for a good waste of time.

Some of my students mask illustrations.

I think my students did a great job. Very creative and fun mask illustrations. They'll all be getting A's BTW.

My daughter Savannah inherited my zany gene. Arrrgh!

The fun thing about a mask like this is that each user can create a different emotion really easily. Add some props like a hat or glasses and all manner of zany merriment and take place. It's low-tech fun at it's best.

More mask hi-jinx.

Here are several people who put together their own design gathering and had some fun with the mask.

Construct your own "Twitter Beard" mask.

If you download and construct a mask for yourself please share a link to a picture in the comments below.

Download "Twitter Beard" PDF
"Twitter Beard" Mask PDF (1.5MB)

User Gallery

Doodling with Nefarious Intent

2009-06-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

21 year old Infamous doodle.

I recently did an interview with LBOI Design Blog in which I told a story about how I almost got fired because I drew a caricature of my art director at the time. Here is what I had shared:

Early in my career I worked in an art department for a large sportswear company in Seattle.

The so-called art director was horrible and she frustrated me so much that I decided to draw a caricature of her and put it on her desk. She got so mad she went from cubicle to cubicle asking each artist if they had done it. Right before she got to me she was paged away. My buddy Dave still has that drawing and likes to pull it out when ever we go to his house just to watch me squirm.

For me doodling is very cathartic and I often find myself releasing frustrations through my sketches.

So yeah I guess you could say I’ve abused my creative powers for the sake of nefarious intent at various times in my career.

Well I got an email from another designer friend today who read my interview and asked if I had a copy of that caricature I could show him. I didn't but I was pretty sure my buddy Dave still had his copy so I emailed him and sure enough he even had it at work so he scanned in the caricature and the below photo and sent it to me.

You gotta love designer friends who hold onto a doodle you did 21 years ago just so they can pull it out now and get a good laugh. Thanks Dave!

The Back Story
I realize now that the title my art director held back then was just that a title and it certainly didn't reflect a skill set or ability. Our entire art department would get frustrated all the time over her inane methods. I was just young and stupid and acted upon one such occasion by doodling out my frustration in a not so diplomatic manner.

I remember in high school a class bully in Drivers Ed was harassing everyone so I just walked up to the chalk board and drew a goofy caricature of him and the whole class started laughing at the kid. He got embarrassed and sat down. After class he started pushing me around saying "Funny picture Glitschka! What are you gonna do now?" wanting to pick a fight with me, but a teacher broke it up. (Good thing because I was about to kick his....writers' embellishment LOL)

That's me in an art department meeting circa 1988.

Our whole art department at that company was a lot of fun to work with. So many unique characters, funny stories we still talk about to this day. The company however "Sun Sportswear" is no longer around but I still keep in contact with about nine of the artists I use to work with there.

I'd like to think I handle things a little better now but I'll admit sometimes things bug me and I still manage to find new ways of venting that frustration creatively speaking. I do what I call "Logo Mocks" from time to time and post them on Brand New. Here is an example of one I did when the new yellowbook logo was revealed.

Live and learn.

Adobe Poster Signing

2009-06-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

"Loyal Order of Wormwood" poster.

Adobe will be giving out FREE posters of my "Loyal Order of Wormwood" illustration (24x37 inches) at the HOW Design Conference.

"Loyal Order of Wormwood" gallery framed print.

Be sure to hit the Adobe booth on Wednesday night when they will be drawing a name and the winner will receive a one of a kind gallery framed print of "Loyal Order of Wormwood."

FREE John Handcocks.

I'll be autographing posters at the Adobe booth on:

- Thursday, June 25th from 8-9 am
- Friday, June 26th from 8-9 am

So stop by and say hi and get a FREE poster from Adobe.

A Repeat Project

2009-05-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

Original sketch for pattern.

After you create hundreds of patterns it's hard to ignore the urge when an idea crosses your mind. Last week I was sitting in my studio working and an idea for a pattern came to mind, so I grabbed my Flair pen and drew out my idea.

I've done enough now that I know right away if it'll work or not and this one felt good.

Thorny Pattern. (Color Option 1)

When I create patterns I prefer more organic motifs rather than geometric ones. I also like to create patterns that can be simplified too. For example this pattern could work just as well using the thorns alone without any background color or secondary thorns.

Thorny Pattern. (Color Option 2)

I used a color palette that fit with a current project I just finished last week on this pattern.

Patterns are the type of repeat project I enjoy, literally.

Ambigram I am

2009-05-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

"Von" ambigram.

Ever since "The Da Vinci Code" was published in 2003 I've been wanting to play around with an ambigram design. I've just never found the time.

The other day I doodled out my first name and figured it wouldn't take too long to build so I put this design together.

Ambigram in action.

My name is pretty easy to do this type of treatment too since it's only one letter away from being a very simple palindrome.

A real creative challenge would be taking my last name "Glitschka" and creating an ambigram from that. It may take another six years however before I get around to that though.

Billy Mays Magical Beard. (Take 2)

2009-05-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

Impeccable + Grooming = Iconic

I've been fascinated with all things Billy Mays since I first saw him in person years ago pitching Quick N Brite at a state fair prior to his prime time pitchman glory. Nothing has changed really, he's still using the same modus operandi.

With the hit of the new reality TV show "Pitchmen" I've decided to repost the Billy Mays Magical Beard PDF I created back in January before I knew about the new TV show.

Accept no substitutes, this is the original, and authentic one of a kind "Magical Beard" from the worlds greatest pitchman. It's not the products, it's not his loud voice overs, it's not his thumbs up, it's the one and only mystical power of his immaculate facial hair that captivates viewers and closes the sale.

I'm honored that this design was included in The Best Custom Type List of 2009. (So far that is) Billy may no longer be among the living now but his infamous facial hair will live on via the wonder of the internet.

But wait there is more! You too can embrace the iconic whiskers of infomercial fame yourself! Download this hairy relic and hang it in your work area to inspire your own path to success.

PDF Art Download
Billy Mays Magical Beard PDF

Beyond the Glory

2009-05-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

"Fungi Film" Doodle Movie.

I'm always doodling. Most people never see my doodles except those I choose to post on my art blog. Over the last few years I've been creating what I call "Doodle Movies."

In an age of increasing multi-media via interactive web sites, touch screens and a continuous non-stop march towards ever increasing technology, the former stalwarts of web interactive are quickly becoming obsolete.

What I call a "Doodle Movie" others refer to as an "Animated Gif." They're of course technically correct but I prefer my moniker instead.

Root King.

I don't animate all my doodles. Sometimes I draw something and look at it later and think "What is that?" Such was the case with my "Root King" doodle. No clue why I drew it? It just kind of flowed out of me onto the paper like a stream of conscience captured via a doodle. I like it, even though I have no clue what it means.

Almost everything animated online today is handled through Adobe Flash. Be that as it may, I still enjoy working with the simple methods of creating unique animations via my "Doodle Movies."

I know if there was a "Beyond the Glory" TV show for design methods an animated gif would no doubt be featured.

That said I think it's fun creating simple animated "Doodle Movies." It's like the doodling of multi-media.

Beautiful Corruption

2009-05-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Scrambled Clown.

I rarely have any computer problems, mainly because I use a rock solid MAC work station and it's proven to be an iron horse year in and year out.

Digitized Doodle.

Every so often though I deceive myself into thinking I know something I don't regarding my computer. It usually happens late at night or on the weekends.

Imprisoned pixels.

A few weeks back I decided to use the "Sync" feature in my Transmit app. I'd never tried it before but decided to play around with it. I set up a folder on my FTP server with like two images on this thinking for some moronic reason that it would sync everything in a folder on my desktop with the folder on my FTP server. This would prove to be a big mistake on my part.

Illo with a bit problem.

You see the app did exactly what it was suppose to do. It synced the folder on my FTP with my desktop and since I only had two images in my FTP folder I saw folders on my desktop just start to vanish one by one. I immediately got that stomach dropping sensation and before I forced quit the app about 30 folders had literally just disappeared as if erased.

Pixelated Tattoo.

To compound the problem unknown to me my current backup system had broken four days prior. All my current projects had literally gone bye bye and I began to panic.

Binary pattern problem.

Thank God for IT friends like my buddy Tony Knight who came over that night and ran a recovery application that took about four hours to recover what I had managed to do in a matter of seconds. About 98% of all my files were recovered in the end.

001011010011 gone wild.

I then spent about a week re-organizing all my work files and re-compiling project folders because the recovery app just renames all files with a number and recovers them into format type folders like "tif" or "jpg" or "pdf" or "psd" so nothing had the correct name and I had wade through thousands of files one by one and sort them all out. (Well most of them at least) It was a major pain in the @$$!

I now have safe guards in place to prevent this from happening again. I have installed a drobo so my files are more secure and I have time machine running for my backup. I won't be playing with unfamiliar functions anytime soon.

Truncated Wormwood.

As I went through all my jpeg images I noticed a handful didn't survive the recovery very well. They were corrupted. If I tried to open them in Photoshop it would give me an error message stating the files were corrupted. In other words the base binary code that makes up the image was scrambled. I could view the images using "Quick View" though and proceeded to capture the scrambled beauty corruption produced.

The may be screwed up but the end result visually is still pretty cool looking.

Beautiful Corruption.

I've take the scrambled beautifully broken code and compiled it into a larger image you can use. Didn't intend on any of this to happen but it all worked out OK in the end and produced a pretty cool effect to boot.

I guess you can say this is a creative side-effect of my recent computer problems?

Download "Beautiful Corruption Here."

Serial Design Killers

2009-05-08T03:20:00.000-07:00

My original "Fa La La La Lifetime" Seasonal Branding.

For the past two holiday seasons Lifetime Television has used the Christmas Seasonal Branding I created to promote with. They keep using my art to promote because it's proven to be marketing gold and a ratings winner each year. Awesome!

Lifetime Lovers' Lame.

In our industry a marketing person falls into one of two categories IMO:

A Good Marketing Person: They understand and appreciate the role a designer plays in a project. They communicate well with creatives and equip them to produce appropriate solutions by providing a coherent marketing strategy. They avoid playing art director, and let the designer steer the design. They desire well conceived and executed design and artwork just as much as the designer does. And they know that when combined with common sense marketing the end result will be far more effective and compelling in the end. In other words the recipe for success is founded upon a solid creative process and a mutual respect relationship between creative and marketing.

A Bad Marketing Person: They don't care to understand nor appreciate the role a designer plays in a project. Their opinion is paramount. They think they communicate well with everyone, until someone questions their opinion. Their idea of an appropriate solution doesn't come about from a coherent marketing strategy, but rather based off of what they see someone else doing. Cloaking it in their own psycho-babble, they sell it as an original idea they came up with. They love to play art director, and can often be heard saying "I took art class in college." or "Can you make the logo bigger?" They desire to just get the job done, because designers are too picky and no one will notice or care about that anyway. They think the creative process is a derived formula, so re-heating borrowed ideas is their recipe for success. If it fails they blame the designer, if it succeeds they take all the credit and further feed their self-deception.

When I first worked on the Christmas Seasonal Branding for Lifetime I worked with a good marketing person. The end result was a very successful campaign using nice artwork.

Back in February a designer friend emailed me and asked if I'd done a "Valentines" project for Lifetime because she saw something on the channel that looked like my work but wasn't sure. I dialed in and discovered the above "Lifetime Lovers' Lane" being used to promote another seasonal campaign that was clearly derived from my original artwork. Someone at Lifetime had hacked together the words they needed and crudely Frankensteined a design worthy of flaming torches and pitch forks.

My first thought was "That looks like complete crap!" followed by "Why didn't they hire me to do something fresh?" It didn't make sense, this marketing person (Good) knew better than to do this so I contacted him and he was as surprised as I was. He had moved on to another division and a new marketing person (Bad) was running the show now. He agreed they should have hired me to do it and apologized. He passed my name on to the new marketing weasel...uh...person and that was the end of that.

Mother #$@! Lifetime.

It's now May and one thing is for sure, Lifetime wouldn't know good design if it sat in their lap and called them Mama.

The bad marketing person is playing art director again. A new type of Frankensteined design has been birthed to promote "Mothers Day." I wonder what the next bastardized incarnation will be?

Years ago me and former co-worker coined a phrase to define this type of marketing genius. We referred to them as "Serial Design Killers." This bad marketing person is headed for a Lifetime of design crime and the body count now stands at two.

A Pattern for Success!

2009-05-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

"Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

I'm happy to announce that after a year of hard creative work my illustrative pattern book has finally hit the shelves!

A diverse assortment of themes and styles.

Even though the cover says "94" the DVD that comes with the book actually contains "106" patterns total. Each of the pattern designs comes in three color options. So basically you get a stink load of cool art.

Precision, tileable, and easy to use vector patterns.

For more information, preview sample spreads, and to download another free pattern other than the one in this post just head on over to VonsterBooks.com

FREE Bonus Set of "12" Patterns for those who order the book.

If you do order my book be sure to email me a copy of your receipt and you'll get a FREE set of "12" bonus patterns not included with the book! That brings the total pattern count to "118." (Not including the FREEBIES in this post or on VonsterBooks.com)

Free pattern "Memory Lock" tiled out.

This FREE pattern download is exactly like all the patterns in the book. They are vector based artwork, easy to tile, easy to customize and adapt for your own projects.

FREE Download: "Memory Lock"
- Four Color Themes
- Includes CS2, CS3 and CS4 File Formats
- Royalty Free

Download "Memory Lock" Pattern here.

I hope your enjoy my new book!

Go forth and create!

Free Speech

2009-04-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Free Speech Mark.

When I first started blogging back in 2005 I had no idea what I'd really do with it? For the most part it seems like a natural online opportunity to exercise your "First Amendment" rights. Everyone has an opinion and blogging gave everyone an easy way to share that opinion with others.

And that is exactly what I use my blog for. I share my artwork, experiences (Both good and bad), fun and informative information, commentary and rants. Even though a blog can be very cathartic in a way, it can still serve a practical purpose for others to glean from and that is what I enjoy the most.

I don't often get into politics, frankly speaking I'm annoyed by almost every politician regardless of what side of the political fence they come from. One of my favorite sayings regarding politics is this:

POLITICS
Poly: Many Ticks: Blood Suckers

A friend of mine here in Portland Oregon has both a local talk radio show and a national talk radio show. His name is Lars Larson and he asked me to create some graphics to promote Free Speech and help get the word out regarding the new efforts on The Fairness Doctrine to restrict Free Speech on talk radio.

Topical Badge Graphics.

When I was given the saying "Don't Touch My Dial" I couldn't help but remember the funny scene from the movie Rush Hour where Lee (Jackie Chan) changes Carters (Chris Tucker) radio. OK, back to the regularly scheduled blog post.

I think Free Speech is arguably the most important aspect of freedom we have in this country and I've never understood how something like The Fairness Doctrine can even co-exist with it?

I don't want some Mulla like "Localism Council" telling me what I can and cannot listen to on the radio or worse, telling me I need to let someone else post on my blog so as to be more balanced. Maybe some like that approach to life, but I don't so I was happy to help with the graphics.

One of several promotional banner ads I created.

I created a media kit for the "Don't Touch My Dial" campaign to help them get the word out. (Not responsible for their web site design however)

Free Speech T-Shirts.

Free Speech Products-O-Plenty!
- View Mens T-Shirt (White)
- View Mens T-Shirt (Black)
- View Womens T-Shirt
- Stickers
- Buttons
- Coffee Mug

What ever your political views be it Repugnican or Democrap I think we can all agree that Free Speech is worth protecting. But I'm sure you'll exercise yours in my comments if you disagree. ;-P

Thumbnails from my project folder.

I thumbnail sketch ideas with what ever I have when I get inspired, hence red pens, pencils, vellum, and regular paper.

PS: Since I'm posting on the topic of "Free Speech" I thought it would be appropriate to share with you one of my favorite podcasts called "Future Quake." (Yeah I know their site is ugly but the content is excellent) Recently they interviewed Judge Andrew P. Napolitano and the information was nothing short of incredible. Listen to the interview here.

Stopping Copyright Infringement

2009-04-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

My Original Artwork.

They say things come in threes and that has proven true regarding recent copyright infringement regarding my artwork. Anyone who reads my blog is aware that my hawk mascot art was ripped off and sold online.

When ever I post about things like this on my blog it gets shared with other designer. Designers by nature are visual thinkers for the most part and we remember what we've seen. One person who read my blog sent me an email which has revealed another infringement using my hawk art. (If you are counting that is infringement number two)

But this new matter is far too complicated for me to handle via my own infringement letter and I have turned it over to my copyright attorney to consult on and I'll follow his lead.

Well on Saturday I was made aware of another infringement regarding my bat art. (See they come in threes)

IMVU.com virtual rip.

I was able to follow DMCA protocol and send the infringing web site my infringement letter and they have pulled down the art that one of their users were selling.

It's bad enough people rip my art in the real world, but now they are ripping it and selling it to virtual clients too? (Anyone who is familiar with IMVU.com please feel free to comment)

My infringement letter post shows how to write to a web site or individual that has infringed upon your copyrighted work online. And below is the type of standard issue reply you'll get back once a site like IMVU.com has acted upon it. It's cold, calculated and as you can see allows them to hide behind the DMCA.

Modus Operandi Response From Infringers

Hello,

In compliance with the IMVU policy relating to claims of copyright or trademark infringement, which is meant to adopt and implement the procedures specified under the DMCA and US copyright law, IMVU has taken the following actions regarding your complaint:

1) The offending items have been placed on DMCA hold and we have disabled access to or removed them from the IMVU catalog.
2) Notified the person who created and/or posted the offending items.

For more information on IMVU’s DMCA/Trademark policies, or for instructions on reporting future violations, please visit our DMCA page.

Terms of Service.

Please note that this is our ordinary response upon receipt of a formal DMCA takedown notice, in compliance with the DMCA and our policy. We express no view with regard to the merits of your claim(s) of infringement or with regard to any other matters you may have communicated to us. We reserve all rights and defenses.

Kind Regards,
Persons Name

.....................
Persons Name
Title
IMVU, Inc.
fax: (650) 618-2561

In Closing

All the above transpired over a two day period. I discovered the infringement Saturday. Sent off a my infringement letter the same day. And on Monday I got the response shown above and the matter was resolved.

Now this doesn't always happen this smoothly. And if a copyright infringer insists on being a weasel you might need to get a lawyer involved. But most reasonable people will admit the transgression and align with DMCA protocol.

View Copyright Infringement Letter.

Pimping Lincoln

2009-04-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

"Pimping Lincoln" Because it's fun.

The past few days have been way too serious on my blog. So tonight I decided to do something just for fun.

Tonight I was reading online and an image of Abraham Lincoln showed up on one of the web pages I visited. I looked at this historical image and a few thoughts streamed across my conscience.

"I wonder what he was thinking about when this was taken?"
"Dude had big ears."
"I wonder if he had a good sense of humor?"

And then in a moment of "Creative Curiosity" I thought.

"I wonder what my face would look like on his body?"

It's at moments like these I allow my "Late Night Logic" to kick in and act on spontaneous creative ideas that pop into my head. So I decided to act upon the common vernacular "Photoshopping" a picture of my face onto one of our nations most beloved fore fathers.

Pimping Honest Abe.

Doing this brought back a memory I hadn't thought of in over 22 years. At my very first job out of art school I worked at a small hole in the wall screen print shop. (This was all pre-computer old school graphic design with Amberlith and T-squares.) At that time I had photocopied the same picture of lincoln and put sunglasses on him and a tropical patterned shirt.

I thought the pop art was cool looking and showed it to Sandy the secretary and all she had to say was.

"That is disrespectful and not funny at all."

You didn't want to argue with Sandy, she was never wrong.

When I started there several employees told me not to look at her thumb. I asked why and one person said.

"She only has a nub and you don't want her catching you starring at it, she'll freak."

Well, I forgot all about this and one day she walked into my office and handed me a work file. As I reached out to grab it I spotted her nub and just kind of froze starring at it not moving. I was hypnotized by her nub. After a few awkward seconds she tossed it on my desk and left the room and now 22+ years later a nub and a dislike for "Pimping Lincoln" is all I remember of Sandy.

The whole time I worked there I had my pimped Lincoln hanging on my wall in just the right spot so as Sandy could see it from her desk. LOL

For Your "Photoshopping" Pleasure.

So now it's your turn. Use the image above and take a few minutes "Pimping Lincoln."

When you're done with it just email me the image and I'll post it below in this same thread.

Send your pimped Lincoln to: info@glitschka.com

Pimped Lincoln Gallery

Designer: Justen Hong - First Half Asian Lincoln.

Designer: Eric Holsomback

Designer: Andreas Aronsson

Designer: David Holm - Mr. Clean

Designer: Robert Miller - Cruising

Designer: Mike Hosier

Designer: Brandon Dawley

Designer: Mary Gibson

Designer: Scott Fulk

Designer: Mark Vogler

Designer: Alin Ivana - Romanian Lincoln

Designer: Jay Montgomery

Designer: Stephen Way - Lincoln Pimped

Designer: Lance Ford

Designer: Jason Oliver

Designer: Chris Rooney - Abe "Rock Your Cabin" Lincoln

Designer: Carson Brown

Designer: Eloy Lbarra

Designer: Clay Billman

Designer: Jared Fitch - Obramaham Lincoln

Designer: Duane Cardwell

Designer: Stephen Hilbelink

Designer: H. Iñaki Basagoiti - Barcelona

PS: If you ever meet me in person ask me to tell you the story about my friend mowing the lawn in her bare feet. It's pretty funny but this post had enough rabbit trails so I didn't want to add another one. ;-)

Writing a Copyright Infringement Letter

2009-04-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Design Weasels Beware!

Over the years I've had my artwork stolen via the internet more than a few times. I'll admit it gets old and when I now see an email show up in my inbox and the subject line read "Is this your artwork?" I still get a sinking feeling in my stomach because I know it'll waste hours of my time having to deal with it.

Because this has happened to me a lot (16 times so far in 2009 alone) I've educated myself in regards to the copyright laws as they pertain to my profession as an Illustrative Designer. Specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

I'm no legal eagle by any means but I've had to hire a copyright lawyer to fight a few violations that exceeded my own ability to manage and resolve myself and through these circumstances I've been able to learn how best to handle these online infractions in accordance to the DMCA.

Who Owns Copyright?
In general the creator of the artwork by default owns the copyright for the art regardless if it has been officially filed with the government or not. That said having it filed gives you a better foundation for litigation pursuits of course. But realistically it's not practical for a digital illustrator to officially copyright each and every piece of art they create.

You can gang up 4-6 images on one 8.5x11 sheet and get them all copyrighted officially for around $50. So I've tried to cherry pick the artwork I think is most vulnerable to infringement and once ever quarter send off a sheet to get them protected. So a budget of $200 can go a long way to protect yourself annually.

Responding to Copyright Violation
So what do you do when your art has been stolen and someone is using it online without your permission? Well below is a link that will show you a pre-formatted letter you can customize and send to the web site or person responsible for providing the access to your infringed artwork.

Most web sites have accepted this DMCA protocol requiring six points of information to be provided by the infringed party to the web site containing the alleged copyright infringement. And most web sites will allow you to email it to their legal contact but some require you to physically mail it as well which ironically contradicts the DMCA which says a digital signature is as good as a physical one, but I digress.

You'll notice the six points in my example but I also add a seventh point as well. Most reasonable people will immediately remove the art but very few if any will provide the information I request in point number seven. But that doesn't stop me from requesting it, I should know that information so I can follow up on being fairly compensated for my arts usage but unfortunately most sites will just honor the six points and ignore the seventh and hide behind the DMCA which allows them to. Hence why I refer to them as weasels.

View Copyright Infringement Letter.

I hope this information helps you as you strive to share your work online without fear of infringing weasels taking advantage of your hard work.

Von

Design Weasels

2009-04-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

ShutterStock.com used by "Design Weasels."

Like 99% of all the rip-offs of my art I was informed of this violation via email from the agency who originally hired me to create the art for them in the first place. They spotted my artwork being sold on ShutterStock.com.

Having my artwork ripped off is nothing new to me. Unethical corporate weasels can be effectively dealt with via legal measures to hold them accountable. It's a pain to deal with but as you can read in the linked post can be successfully handled.

What upsets me the most is so-called fellow designers or in this case a "Design Weasel" by the screen name of "Milann" who took my hawk mascot art and repurposed it under the guise that it's their own creation and uploaded it to his/her ShutterStock.com account so they could sell it to other designers who purchase pre-fab art on the cheap.

My original "Black Hawk" artwork.

The one aspect about being an Illustrative Designer I love is the creative process. Actually working through the development of ideas, refining my art and seeing it come to life and enjoying how others respond to it. That in and of itself makes all the effort to create the artwork worth it for me. The fact I get paid to do it is awesome.

Not only are these design weasels causing me problems but they are missing out on the best part of being a creative, and that is to create. They will never know the true passion and joy found in the midst of a creative process if they just rip-off the end result from other creatives. It's kind of sad really and just flat out wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin?

Animated comparison. Direct lift of my artwork.

Perhaps the design weasel in question will read this post? With that in mind let me talk directly to designer "Milann" who ripped me off.

I suggest you take serious inventory about your own career path. You've been caught, your identity might remain nebulous, but you still know how much of a design weasel you've been in doing this.

You can choose to keep acting like a design weasel, ripping other peoples artwork off and refusing to be an actual creative, or you can realize you've mad poor choices and turn over a new design leaf and start over. Challenge yourself, make a commitment to design excellence and begin to grow your own skills and talent so that you can truly be a successful creative and stop being part of the problem. It's your choice.

Corporations Hide Behind DMCA

Since Clinton passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) back in 1998 online businesses have been hiding behind it when copyright violations are discovered on their own sites. In a nut shell a company can post anything they want and get away with it as long as it takes before someone notices, once they are notified of the copyright infringement all they have to do is remove it. No compensation is given, no royalties paid, no usage fees given. The artist basically gets screwed and the company hides behind the DMCA to justify all of it.

You can read about it for yourself via this DMCA PDF.

Weasel designers and weasel corporations are usually found nested together in their weasel dens of design iniquity.

Hopefully sites like ShutterStock.com will exterminate the design weasels and do a better job of vetting their content. I realize full-blame should rest solely on the shoulders of the individuals who choose to steal the art to begin with and use stock sites to distribute it.

Personally I wish Google would buy a company like Tineye.com and really make this type of searching more viable for artists to monitor who is using their work without permission. Then stock companies could plugin to this service and make it part of their upload protocol and help prevent design weasels from flourishing online.

Follow Up - Phase 1
I know some will disagree with me but I feel when a company like ShutterStock.com hides behind the DMCA like weasel corporate suits it doesn't help anyone. And I'm sorry but I find this statement they provided a little bit self-serving:

"Shutterstock's Privacy Statement constrains me from providing the information you request regarding the alleged infringer."

So let it be known that anyone can use a service like ShutterStock.com to distribute stolen art and they'll cover your back from any legal repercussion via their own self-defined privacy statement if you happen to get caught. Seems like a conflict of interest to me?

I'll give them this though, they have pulled the artwork down and closed the account for the user "Milann." Good, that is an appropriate response. But to say that "Milann" is an "Alleged Infringer" is just corporate weasel talk. Seriously, is there any doubt that this clown stole my art? I'm not alleging anything, I'm stating fact. But I digress.

Follow Up - Phase 2
OK, all is resolved now. All I need to say is Twitter rules!

Unethical Corporate Weasels

2009-04-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

Cookie Jar Illustration. (Click image to view larger)

If you've taken a look at your favorite magazine of late I bet you'll notice it's substantially thinner than in previous issues. Ad revenue is down, it's a reflection of the economic problems our nation is facing at the moment.

That said magazines still need illustration thankfully and "Oil and Gas Investor" magazine hired me to illustrate for an article dealing with some of the same ethical problems that caused the financial mess were in now.

You know, greedy corporate weasels stealing money. The context of this illustration was in regards to investing, specifically in oil futures. Most of these crimes are white collar and it happens on paper. So I decided to play off the old "hand in the cookie jar" metaphor.

I don't do a whole lot of editorial illustration these days but I still think they're fun to work on.

For Your Eyes Only

2009-04-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

New MUFON logo design.

Every since I was a little kid I've been fascinated by mysterious things. I remember watching "In Search Of" hosted by Leonard Nymoy and "The Night Stalker" a precursor and inspiration for Chris Carters "X Files" and the newest paranormal offering I like to TiVo is one called "Fringe."

I think most people will appreciate the design in this post regardless of the context. And some won't be able to separate the two and will just file it away under "N" for nutter. That said I think every client I work with deserves good design no matter if I fully buy into what service or product they are offering.

Horizontal logo formats.

Personally I've never seen a UFO, but a close friend of our family growing up had an experience with one that I can only describe as strange. She had sent my mom a letter when I was ten years old and my mom read me part of the letter that described the encounter.

A glowing object followed our friend and her daughter one night while driving in their car for about 45 minutes. It hovered off to the right of them all the way to their farm in North Dakota. They ran into their kitchen and the object described by them as a "glowing ball" floated above their barn than streaked off after a few minutes of watching it.

I have to admit I use to just smirk at this kind of stuff. But over the years I've read books by military pilots from WWII describing "Foo Fighters", airline pilots describing encounters with UFO's, police officers and air traffic control people in and around O'Hare airport in Chicago just a few years ago describing what took place there makes it pretty clear that something is happening. The phenomenon is real and one could argue mainstream now.

Old MUFON logo.

MUFON is an organization that has chapters nationally and they investigate hundreds of sightings every year to keep track of the phenomenon and to respond to it with a practical scientific mind set.

I decided to subscribe to their newsletter this year and when the first issue showed up I spotted a UBO, "Unidentified Branding Object" more commonly referred to as an ugly logo. So I reported my sighting to their head office and approached them about re-designing their identity. They agreed.

Over all I wanted the new identity to be clean, elegant and sophisticated. A large majority of the public already thinks this subject is a joke so I didn't want the mark to facilitate that in any way. MUFON takes what they do seriously and they deserve a mark that carries that across visually as well.

Design Area 51

Like any non-profit the implementation of this new design will only be as effective as the organization carries it out. At this point it still hasn't hit their web site yet and due to the recent economic situation our country finds itself in they are a bit nervous about a wholesale change with other components in their identity.

Rumors has it that this design was taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and secured within hanger "18" until an official disclosure date can be determined.

Logo Mark.

My Design Rationale

This mark plays of the publics perception of UFO’s in general and metaphorically conveys an eye, since this is the foundational point of contact for all UFO phenomenon.

This mark also serves as the letter "O" in your horizontal format.

This mark can also be used as a bug to end an article, or on screen for video productions. (Think TV network on-screen water marks)

It’s clean, classic and timeless.

Custom Typography.

MUFON is progressive, adaptive to new technology and scientific methods in it’s efforts to investigate and document the UFO phenomenon.

Because of this I didn’t want to use an existing typeface, so I custom designed the logo type from scratch. They are unique to MUFON.

The letter forms reflect a high-tech and precise easy to read clarity.

Color Branding.

Blue isn't just the color of the sky, the canvas on which the UFO phenomenon appears, but it is also a color commonly associated to the sciences as well. It is also the worlds most popular color for obvious reasons and that seemed appropriate since this phenomenon is not isolated to any one country.

UFO + Design = Fun!

Dragon Leg

2009-03-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Chinese Dragon Graphic.

This art isn't a recent project. I actually created it a little over four years ago for Body Glove Asia. They originally wanted me to develop four different designs to be used on a product called "SnowSliders". (Think styrofoam board with shrink wrap graphics)

"Snowslider" for Body Glove Asia.

The creative process to get this first design in the bag proved to be so painful I bowed out instead of enduring three times more. This isn't the norm, most often even with trouble clients I hang in there and at least push it through and than never choose to work with them again moving forward. But communication was so poor on their part I reached critical mass quickly.

It happens.

Dragon Leg Tattoo.

A year or so after that project I was contacted by a designer who asked if he could use my dragon art and have it tattooed on his leg. Since I retained the rights to the artwork I said sure and we worked out a minimal fee and I sent him the source file.

Almost another year passed and I was at the HOW Design Conference in Atlanta Georgia doing a book signing for my texture book "Crumble.Crackle.Burn" when a guy walked up to the table and introduced himself. I didn't recognize his name (I suck at remembering names) and he swung his leg around and pointed at his calf muscle.

It was Rich, the designer who got my dragon art tattooed on his leg. He's also a very talented Creative Director for the Scripps Networks and we've been able to work on several fun projects together over the past few years.

Well it's been nearly two years since that book signing and guess who emails me a picture of his dragon leg? Hence why I'm posting this now.

It's cool making creative connections like this. Walking portfolios FTW!

New FBI Case Files

2009-03-14T23:39:00.001-07:00

FBI: New case files posted.

In August of 2008 the Federal Bureau of Illustration was launched.

The FBI is a full-service artistic crime unit headquartered in the Pacific Northwest, with field offices across the country and around the globe.

Our creative investigations seek to solve illustrative design crime. We thoroughly investigate visual felonies, isolate suspects and arrest the guilty solutions. What ever the case the FBI is here to protect and serve quality illustration and prevent design atrocities.

New Case Files Posted
Brand Larceny: Lorain County Visitors Bureau
Brand Larceny: Mardi Gras World
Brand Larceny: Divina Properties
Rogue Character: Rockhurst High School

View and read the latest FBI case files here.

Beautiful Vectors

2009-03-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

Asian Beauty.

View larger preview of art here.

I've been wanting to illustrate a person in this specific style for a while now. I wasn't sure who I should illustrate, but then while I was watching an episode of "Star Trek Enterprise" the character Hoshi solidified it for me. I wanted to illustrate a Japanese women. (Someone pointed out to me that the actress that plays Hoshi isn't Japanese, she's Korean. So there you go.)

Illustration Detail.

Being a former diehard FreeHand user of 15 years I have to say that I simply could not have pulled this off in that application at all. Not even close. The blend modes and transparency alone within Ai is just so awesome and fun to use.

"Beautiful" tiled pattern design.

View larger preview of pattern art here.

In the past year I've designed well over a 100 illustrative patterns for my new book on vector tiled patterns called "Drip.Dot.Swirl" due out in May.

For this project I wanted the background to have a nice authentic Japanese type pattern you might find on a Kosode.

It's not a traditional Japanese pattern, but I was inspired by many of the historical designs I researched. It's a west meets east approach if you will.

In regards to the Kanji characters in this artwork it translates to "Beautiful."

This project was a lot of fun, I'm happy with the results and I look forward to doing more artwork in this style soon.

This Old Art

2009-03-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Rockhurst High School Mascot.

It's been a few years since I've landed a mascot design for a school. I did two other bird themed mascots for another high school in Arizona. And I also did a scorpion mascot for another high school in Arizona as well.

Unlike the past mascots which I created from scratch this mascot had a history with the school. They didn't want a completely new approach they just wanted the existing art re-created with my flair.

I call this type of project a "Creative Re-Model." The foundation and framework don't really need to be torn down it just needs to be reinforced and built upon with a better artistic structure. So I guess that makes me Norm Abram and I welcome you to my blog edition of "This Old Art."

The Creative Stages

1. A Fowl piece of mascot art. The art they provided as their existing mascot looked like a 20th generation photocopy.

2. Too adult and serious. My first rough sketch pushed it towards a more sophisticated NFL type look with the character. The client requested a younger and hipper hawk.

3. Youthful, but too aggressive. I looked at hawk photo reference and that was my problem, young hawks don't have smooth head feathers. So I re-worked the head and showed his teeth. (I know hawks don't have teeth) The client thought it was the right age now just too aggressive.

4. Youthful, confident and strong. The client was happy and approved the art for final build.

5. Drawing out shading details. With final approval I build out my vector art. One edit I did do was to shorten his beak a bit. I then printed it out and drew in my shading detail. Using this as my guide I then built it in vector form.

6. New high school mascot art. Final art delivered to agency.

Come to think about it I'd love to re-design my old high schools mascot art. We were the "Timberline Trail Blazers" and our mascot was a poorly rendered lumberjack. I think I need to make a cold call this week.