tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10410933078777196062024-11-01T03:34:35.209-05:00The Agile Badger has produced magazine feature-article illustrations, promotional posters and mailers, patent application drawings, tee shirt graphics, business cards, and greeting cards. He has never missed a deadline.THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-54991060075690314312010-08-11T13:49:00.027-05:002010-08-12T17:47:28.625-05:00

A couple months ago, I received a call from Steve "Carpy" Carpenter. If you love motorcycles and know anything about café racing, you know who Carpy is. My problem was, when he called, I didn't—and he knew it.Steve CarpenterFor the most part, cars are my thing. And though I've been fascinated by motorcycles since I was a kid, I didn't have any chops when it came to bike banter with the big boys.

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-66682162068003967932010-07-15T15:22:00.012-05:002010-07-19T08:16:48.038-05:00

This has nothing to do with illustration or web design. But it has everything to do with respect and gratitude.This unassuming gentlemen said very little during the July 15th vintage WWII airshow at the Lawrence Municipal Airport in Lawrence, KS. He could easily have been mistaken for one of the many bystanders who shuffled around and through perfectly restored and completely flight-worthy WWII

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-39409414204320482942010-04-02T15:25:00.020-05:002010-04-06T11:06:26.292-05:00

Why are illustrators and graphic designers so afraid of Flash? Same reason they're afraid of spiders, floppy armed robots, and those vaguely naughty personal hygiene commercials: misunderstanding. If we could only clear up the great prejudices that surround Flash and Flash Player, and if we could just shed light on all the advances the enslaved code-gnomes at Google and Adobe have made in

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-25015801326388812012010-02-25T12:28:00.007-06:002010-03-01T12:42:31.930-06:00

Ubuntu is a free, open-source operating system for personal computers. It kicks the pants off of Windows, if operating systems have pants, that is. If Windows did have pants, it doesn't anymore. Now it just stands around in its virtual underwear looking like a drunk and confused Peter Griffin from Family Guy with his paunch hanging over his joy toy. I just made that up.Unauthorized and possibly

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-47665985737680522082010-01-31T09:00:00.019-06:002010-02-25T12:24:04.190-06:00

I get a lot of requests from my readers for pit bull illustrations. Some are pretty creative ideas, and I'll always consider rendering these animals in a manner that reflects their dignity, strength, dedication, and yes, even playfulness. But sorry folks, I will not depict a pit bull - or any dog, for that matter - engaging in violent behavior. Even implied violent behavior is off limits. And in

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-79138512189774629862010-01-30T11:32:00.004-06:002010-01-30T15:50:59.145-06:00

Yeah, it's on allright. The 2nd annual KC Geargrinder hot rod show is taking over Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City April 23-24.This poster was designed in collaboration with my business partner, Jud Kite, from Killer Kite Productions. It's our tribute to the SoCal Speed Shop style.End of post.

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-47726214227502616972009-08-13T12:22:00.002-05:002009-08-13T12:35:53.757-05:00

Do you like hot rods? What about live music? Food? Well, of course you do. And if you happen to be anywhere near the Lawrence, KS area on September 26th, you can get a heapin' helpin' of all three at the first annual Rev It Up! Hot Rod Show and Music Fest. Vehicle registration and admission are both free, but donations to the sponsor, GaDuGi Safecenter, are encouraged. Visit their MySpace page

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-51529131726557703362009-06-08T12:29:00.003-05:002009-06-08T12:55:20.204-05:00

Yes, a new badger is born: a Killer Badger.The popularity of my hot rod and muscle car illustrations has grown faster than I could have imagined when I started freelance work four years ago. It's become so strong that I've recently decided to split out that part of my business into its own entity.The result? The Killer Badger Illustration Studio.It just makes sense to me that my traditional

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-62538640819725898832009-06-03T10:23:00.016-05:002010-03-01T12:43:23.967-06:00

One of the more fun aspects of my job is the surprise - no, astonishment - that comes from the bizarre variety of subjects I'm sometimes hired to illustrate. Who'd a-thunk when I started freelance work nearly four years ago that one day I'd get paid to draw a pit bull with an Afro? Or a donkey standing in a Mexican restaurant?And the fun just keeps on coming. I've just finished a series of spot

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-61728438921272264752009-05-13T14:49:00.002-05:002009-05-13T15:05:06.961-05:00

Although the Vandelay Design blog is primarily geared towards tutorials for web designers, there's a heapin' helpin' of valuable information for illustrators and graphic artists as well. Like this post about text effects using Adobe Illustrator.There's also a top 20 list of the most valuable Photoshop tutorials on the web. That's a pretty bold claim, but I think they may be right.Now, back to the

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-7209609134923460482009-04-04T12:04:00.019-05:002009-04-04T14:29:47.527-05:00

Seems everyone is offering free Photoshop textures and backgrounds these days. It's a shameless gimmick, actually, and I'm dismayed and disheartened by all the attention-grubbing hacks out there who resort to such blatant panderism. But then I thought, "Wait a sec. I'm an attention-grubbing hack, and I love blatant panderism!" So decided to join the others of my ilk and post my own hi-res

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-11478053984998512382009-03-27T15:14:00.004-05:002009-04-04T11:14:24.479-05:00

Those good-lookin', hard-workin' boys at Fiske Brothers Yardworks in Centennial, Colorado added a new Dodge Ram pickup truck to their fleet. Co-Owner Tim Fiske asked if I would commemorate the occasion with a tee shirt design for his employees.I never thought of myself much of a truck guy, but this was a fun gig. The Dodge Rams are really tough looking, and I love the 18-wheeler-look to their

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-89158411290190951192009-03-14T12:33:00.003-05:002009-03-14T12:50:39.497-05:00

Those wacky folks over at O'Reilly Media, Inc. have put out another Head First book, this time on web design. If you're not familiar with the Head First series of how-to books, then you're either over forty years old or not much into how-to books. I'm both. But for reasons I still don't understand, Linux Pro Magazine asked me to write an online review of the latest in a long line of their

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-76817722029133359132009-02-25T16:30:00.007-06:002010-03-01T12:43:53.789-06:00

Even if you're not a computer hot dog, you won't need your courage mustered with SketchUp. Most of us don't relish the idea of digesting new software, but the online tutorials are quite easy to stomach, and you'll be able to devour them without biting off more than you can chew.Okay, I'll stop.Recently, I was asked to write a how-to article about Sketchup 7.0 for a special edition of LinuxPro

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-77388892660960496462009-02-18T12:19:00.004-06:002009-02-18T10:53:21.587-06:00

Here's a family feud that car fanatics have wrassled over for nearly 40 years:Two cars from one car company, both archetypal muscle cars of the late 60's and early 70's, both designed and marketed to lure torque-starved gearheads away from hot-selling Mustangs and Camaros. These two cars are so embedded in automotive lore that arguments over the superiority of each is the subject of bar stool

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-2401354523481032202009-02-09T12:40:00.011-06:002009-02-10T11:35:41.836-06:00

For my latest logo design, I've added two new arrows to my quiver of illustration tools: Google SketchUp and The Complete Color Index by Jim Krause.The logo job was for a new software application called Topshelf. According to the software authors, Topshelf is a "lightweight framework for building Windows services using the .NET framework." This means nothing to me. But programmer, web developer,

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-74603367057095230532009-01-23T16:50:00.010-06:002009-01-23T17:31:38.414-06:00

I'm working on tee shirt design for a long-standing client whose concept requires a '69 Impala hopper poised with one wheel lifted high off the ground.My usual black-and-white style is pretty clean-edged, like in my '53 Merc and '34 Ford illustrations from a year ago. But now I figure it's time to try something new.Read on...My usual method begins with inking hard lines over a rough sketch either

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-62547832276831071692008-12-31T13:19:00.004-06:002008-12-31T16:31:25.220-06:00

This was my first experience with digital printing on a large vinyl banner. Somehow, technology sneaked past me during one of my many coffee breaks and delivered full-color digital printing on vinyl banners.Didn't see that one coming.But now it's everywhere, and just about every print shop around will print up a photo-quality image big enough to cover your house, should such a need

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-5777480418315222008-12-17T13:06:00.006-06:002009-01-02T11:47:47.794-06:00

Many of my illustrations are about hot rods, flaming skulls, and the occasional pit bull. I make no apologies for that line of work. It pays well enough, it's in sufficient demand these days, and I enjoy the hell out of it.But if I could truly make a go of a career that focused on illustration in a surreal style, I would. I'll always draw hot rods, but there's a constantly squirming lobe of my

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-90741544855026922242008-12-10T13:23:00.002-06:002008-12-11T09:45:54.093-06:00

Everybody loves Ralphy, Randy, The Old Man, pink bunny slippers, and of course the official 200-shot Red Ryder air rifle. Author, radio personality, and master of comedic hyperbole ("...Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! SO HELP ME GOD, YELLOW EYES!!") Jean Shepherd co-wrote the movie A Christmas Story in 1983 based on his short stories, some of which were

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-68084767638216758782008-12-06T12:27:00.003-06:002008-12-06T12:39:15.894-06:00

After months of drawing and tweaking, and six trash-cans-full of wadded-up trace paper later, here's the logo that Killer Kite and I came up with for a new pit bull rescue operation.

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-26928419509783648942008-11-29T10:56:00.006-06:002008-12-06T12:21:02.863-06:00

The latest in badger web design...How green is your scene?Take the GoGreenScore challenge!

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-5530284174154500892008-11-23T20:58:00.001-06:002008-11-23T20:58:01.108-06:00

I received a call from Scott Rehn, the Announcer and Event Promoter from Championship Offroad Racing. He's working with El Camino High School in Oceanside, CA, one of two schools selected to be featured in an upcoming episode of Drag Race High on the Speed Channel. It's a reality show, and camera crews record students in auto shop class as each school builds a high performance drag racer from an

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-42473154921318800722008-11-17T19:36:00.004-06:002008-11-17T20:57:47.722-06:00

There's no doubt about it now, my Wacom pen tablet iz tha shiz, y'all. It has sped up my workflow, improved the quality of my line work, expanded my digital painting capabilities, and on more than one occasion made me giggle like a little girl just from the sheer joy of drawing.Yes, a little girl. I'm secure, I can say it.Here's the first work I made using this patently perfect peripheral:If

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1041093307877719606.post-32109146569051724492008-11-17T12:52:00.006-06:002008-11-17T21:03:54.097-06:00

I thought I'd have some fun with a 1950's Texaco ad I found on-line while perusing vintage ads for a themed restaurant in North Kansas City.The poster is 22" x 14" and was painted digitally in Photoshop using brushes I downloaded free from Bittbox.The entire painting was done using a mouse, which is a process akin to threading a needle with Novocain shots in each finger and wearing boxing gloves.

THE AGILE BADGERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06401739825849848519noreply@blogger.com0