Life Inspirations

'Evergreen - Green Inspired Illustration' (Click to View Larger)

The Moments of Inspiration
Inspiration comes in many forms. It may be derived from a creative process where you try to facilitate ideas, it may be from other peoples work or by what they have said, it may come from creation around you as you take in the Almighty's handiwork, or it may just come from seemingly mundane situations or events that spark interest and cause a small fire in your creative soul. Life is filled with inspiring moments.

So when I was asked to design a poster for an art show in Mexico called 'DO2'. I had been thinking a lot about the environment and green related topics the past two days after reading an article titled 'Plastic Ocean'. I was inspired to create art that had a green theme to it. I decided to play off the tribal tattoo look but instead of being hard core I gave it a subtle foliage flair while limiting my color palette to greens.

I'd love to get this printed some day on recycled paper using soy inks to really push the whole green aspect of it. I think that would be really cool.


'Evergreen - Poster Design'

The final art size for this poster will be 43cm x 56cm. You can download a PDF version of this poster design by clicking here. Print it out, and hang it up.


'Nisqually - NW Indian Inspired Colors'

Alternate Version
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and was surrounded by Indian reservations and was exposed to a lot of NW Indian artwork such as totem poles and painted carvings etc. I've always liked the Black, Grey and Red color scheme they used so I decided to try this art using that palette just to see what it looked like as well.

All the textures I used in this art are part of the bonus '30' texture set I give away for FREE to anyone who orders my texture book. For more information about that book visit www.Vonsterbooks.com

About the Names
Evergreen is the name of the university close to where I grew up. Those who attended there were nick named 'Greeners' because the school leaned towards all things green, so Evergreen seemed like an appropriate name for my poster art as well. We use to ride our bikes down to the Nisqually valley to go fishing or in the summer to buy firecrackers that were sold on the reservation, so that is where I got that name from for my alternate version of the art.

Creative Leftovers.

"LionHeart" Tribal Tattoo Lion. (Click to see detailed view)

Attention Art Thieves: This artwork is Copyright © 2008 Glitschka Studios. That means you do not have permission to use this in any way, shape, or form. That includes getting it tattooed to any region of your body visible or invisible to the public. If you choose to ignore this warning and I find out I'll sue to have it surgically removed and you'll be paying a usage fee for the time it was on you. Yes, I am serious.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Sometimes during the course of a creative project I develop more ideas than what the client ultimately uses. A recent project was such the case.

I had developed an idea all the way to a final tight sketch, all that was left was to simply build the art digitally. But then the client changed the direction of the project and we put it aside and moved ahead with new art. Well that project is done now and I decided to flesh this leftover art out.

I like how it came out and hopefully I can find a good use for it.


LionHeart T-Shirt.

To preview the Zazzle.com t-shirt design click here.


LionHeart T-Shirt being worn by my friend Jasmine Wabbington.

If you'd like to gird your loins in unique tribal flair just head on over to my tshirt offering on Zazzle.com

PS: Due to recent circumstances with less than scrupulous online viewers I posted the preamble above since this is a style which seems most appealing to those willing to rip-off my artwork. If you are an ethical and honest creative then it doesn't apply to you and you can ignore it. Thanks.

Spruce up your creativity!

'Art for a Concept Card'

The majority of times my ideas drive my art but at other times my art drives my ideas. Such is the case with this piece of art. I had doodled this character on a notepad next to my work station over the course of a few days. I liked the character and wondered if there was a way I could use it for something? Just to entertain myself I started writing down puns related to the art and then the idea hit me. Instead of a mere business card that had my name and contact information I'd create what I call a 'Concept Card'. It would be art driven but also have clever copywriting. So I started weaving the puns together and after a little refinement and help from a copywriter friend this was the result.

"Are you stumped? Is your project giving you a splitting headache? Neck on the chopping block? Woodn’t it be great if you had an artistic lumberjack to harvest a forest of ideas and create design that leafs the competition behind? You know, someone sharp to cut through the dull so your audience isn’t board? Try Vonster. Okay, so maybe you’ve got no axe to grind, but you should quit barking up the wrong tree. And how do I know the answers? Easy…a little birdie told me."


'Inside of Concept Card'

The 'Concept Card' will be the same size as a business card but fold out to be twice as tall. The bottom half will showcase the art and the top half is a speaking bubble with the above text in it. The back of the card will have my logo, contact information and a slogan that says "Spruce Up Your Creativity!"


'Outside Front and Back of Concept Card'

I have a couple other ideas for future 'Concept Cards' already sketched out and like this one the art is inspiring the idea. I gave the drawings to a copywriter and told him to go nuts and write it as if the character is speaking to my target audience, the results are pretty funny.

Logo Lounge IV

Just found out today that '39' of my logo designs have been chosen for Logo Lounge Volume 4. Here is a run down of all the designs that will appear in the book.


'Logo Concept for Pepsi.'


'Logo Concept for Microsoft Gaming.'


'Logo Concept for Microsoft Gaming.'


'Avatar Icon for Upper Deck Company.'


'Avatar Icon for Upper Deck Company.'


'Avatar Icon for Upper Deck Company.'


'Logo for Judah Interactive.'


'Logo Concept for a Collectible Game.'


'Logo Concept for Proctor & Gamble.'


'Logo for 'DangerUS' a Rap DJ.'


'Illustrative Mark for Knight School of Journalism.'


'Logo for Ornery Frog Productions.'


'Logo Concept for Grace Church.'


'Logo Concept for Leap Frog 'Fly'.'


'The Bambino - Logo Patch for Upper Deck Company.'


'Logo for Friends in Robotic Engineering.'


'Logo for Octopod Project.'


'Logo for Big Bocca Animation Studio.'


'Talon Heart Logo.'


'Tribal Tattoo Logo Mark.'


'Dork Brand Logo.'


'Logo for White Rhino Productions.'


'Bear Bryant - Logo Patch for Upper Deck Company.'


'Immaculate Reception - Logo Patch for Upper Deck Company.'


'Da Bears - Logo Patch for Upper Deck Company.'


'Logo for Campaign for The Cause.'


'Logo for Green Building.'


'Logo for The Loud Room Podcast.'


'Rain Clouds - Illustrative Logo for River Bank.'


'Thumbs Up - Illustrative Logo for River Bank.'


'Smiling Face - Illustrative Logo for River Bank.'


'Sunshine - Illustrative Logo for River Bank.'


'Chief - Logo Patch for Upper Deck Company.'


'Logo Concept for Film Location Company.'


'Logo Concept for Mad Lively.'


'Self-Promo Logo (Create or Die).'


'Logo Mascot for San Tan Scorpions, Arizona.'


'Logo Concept for Proctor & Gamble.'


'Logo Concept for Jim Henson Company.'

Alien Biker Skull

'Alien Biker Skull Art - Click to view larger image.'

After I posted my BMX skull art I received a few emails in regards to my opinion as it relates to the 'Top Ten Favorite Themes' of illustrators. (And designers for that matter)

One of the people to contact me was the editor of 'Computer Arts Magazine' out of the UK. He enjoyed what I had to say and invited me to write an opinion piece for their magazine on the subject. Which I am currently working on and once published will post it here. In the mean time I was inspired to create a new piece of art that could be used with the article in the magazine.

I started off wanting to do an alien skull or what I'd imagine your garden variety alien grey would have under their dermis that is. After working out a sketch I decided to add some horns at the last minute. Yeah I know aliens never have horns, but then again how do you know that? Ever been abducted by them? And whose to say Spielberg is correct in his portrayal. After all maybe bikers in other solar systems grow horns so they look more intimidating then the normal greys?

Or better yet maybe the aliens have now integrated their dna with cows since they've been abducting and messing with those too? In any regard the artistic prerogative wins out and thus horns were added so stop whining.

If you'd like to download a pdf file of this design so you can print it out and hang it up click here.

Dreams of Advertising Glory.

Ad concept using Kareem. (Click to view larger image)

Most of what I've been working on lately won't be ready for public consumption for a while so I decided to post more flash from the past artwork. Specifically two 22 yr old marker comps I found in my flat file a few months ago.

When I attended "Seattle Art Institute" it was finishing it's transition from it's former identity as the "Burnley School of Art." My favorite classes while in art school were the advertising classes. I enjoyed the whole foundation of a concept and campaign that facilitated the art and design. Mind you this was before the dawn of the digital age. Sure we had Apple II computers but the graphics at best looked like the old vector based "BattleZone" game you'd play at the mall arcade. Application based UI, Illustrator and Photoshop were not available yet so to show your concepts and ideas you had to do it the old fashioned way, using marker comps.

No one in school at that time ever pushed developing your own style. So most of my work from school was geared towards realism. I didn't feel out my own style until after I graduated. So naturally when I worked on marker comps I wanted to make my ad comps look as authentic and real as possible.

The Bausch & Lomb comp above was my concept for a B&W ad assignment in school.


Ad concept for Porsche. (Click to view larger image)

If memory serves our class assignment was to use modern advertising methodologies in our approach. So I decided to go with the age old advertising slogan of "Sex Sells." Needless to say all the guys in our class liked the idea but no so much the females. LOL

My initial plan after art school was to find a job in an ad agency. I wanted to run with the big dogs. Brainstorm clever headlines and campaigns and take the advertising world by storm. I felt I had the chops, all I needed was the opportunity.

Well I sent out a bunch of resumes and a nice mid-size ad agency gave me a call. The creative director invited me to come in for an interview. I was stoked! This was it, my big chance. I showed up for the interview and he looked over my book and seemed to like what he saw. He then closed it, folded his hands and said.

"I'd like you to work on some concepts for a new client we have. If I like what I see then we'll bring you on board."

My mind started to spin, and I was excited. We figured out a deadline to mail him the designs and he said we'd figure out the pricing later. To make a long story short I spent days brainstorming coming up with a bunch of ideas I thought would work great, mocked them all up and sent them off to the agency. I then waited for a phone call. That phone call never came, I called them back to follow up multiple times and they never returned my calls. Over the next few weeks I got really discouraged, I felt they must have hated everything and accepted the fact I just wasn't good enough for them.

A few months later I saw some ads and realized this agency had adapted some of my ideas. I then realized how cut-throat the advertising world is. This agency wasn't interested in hiring me at all, they just wanted to exploit me. I realized at that moment I'd never work at an ad agency and I shifted my focus career wise.

To end this post on a positive note however my grades on both ads above was an "A."