Reverend Blues.

Reverend Blues!

Tony Cortez isn't your normal pastor, he's also a blues musician as well. One good description of him and his music is described as such.

"For many people it’s a natural assumption that the blues is the devil’s music but this is not the case when it comes to Rev. Blues. The Rev. uses the blues as a way to communicate the gospel truth about sin and redemption. His music is not only entertaining but it also helps those who struggle with the daily burdens of life. The Reverend's music speaks about how we can over come life’s obstacles with a little bit of faith, hope and love."

In exchange for a cool custom blues tune for my podcast The Illustrative Designer I agreed to help him out with a logo design.

Listen to the music Tony produced here.

Pioneer Spirit

Daniel Boone was a man, a biiiiiiig man!

Schier Products has been pioneering and selling plumbing products since 1972. Many of their product lines have names like 'The Trapper' or 'Great Basin' and they wanted a logo that reflected that same heritage of pioneering spirit. To be specific they wanted a mountain man that could embody a strong persona moving forward.

I am happy with how this mark came out and as you can see I used the round off technique on my vector art to give it a more refined look.

Glassy Goodness.

Look at that sheen. Ca-chow!

Here is a logo I did for server company. The mark is based on the fact they use a 'Multi-Core' system and playing off the 'C' in the name of the product.


Candy coated.

Also created this logo badge for a podcast friend of my Joseph Nilo who has a show called mac media cast.

Big Bocca

Big Mouth Character.

Here is recent logo job I did for an Italian Animation Firm called 'Big Bocca'. I guess that means 'Big Mouth'? They wanted a cat type of character so I thought this would lend itself for animation. The type you see is a hand lettered font I am slowly creating called 'Nimcompoop'. After about four years of not designing fonts (Fontographer died with OS9) I now have the itch again.

I am documenting my process on this so there will be a tutorial on IllustrationClass.com.

The Folder of Lost Ideas

'Wacky Logo Concepts.

Before I show a client anything the work first has to move me. If I am not invested in it and don't really care for it then I shouldn't present it to a client. So I make it a habit of working until I reach a point where I feel confident abou the work I will be presenting. That way when a client doesn't like something I am OK with it. This project was like that.

A branding company by the name of 'Brand X Creative' asked me to assist in creating logo concepts for a new project QuickSilver (The surf and clothing company) was starting up called 'Kommunity Project'. I read through a brief and it contained all the standard marketing speak for what they wanted to accomplish etc.

One thing was clear they wanted something different then what has been done and that is what I tried to focus in on.

Some of the creative direction given me:

- Low Brow
- Wack Tech (Not really sure what this is? They didn't either.)
- Illustrative
- Iconic
- Conceptual
- 1 or 2 Colors
- None Corporate
- Don't use the letter 'K'

Well here is what I did. None of which were picked in whole. They did like my type treatment on the fourth one down and ended up integrating that into the final mark they used. Kind of a squirrelly creative project for me on this one but I personally really liked number 1,3 and 4 myself.

These marks will end up in my 'Folder of Lost Ideas'.

Top Ten Favorite Themes!

Fire Squad
A friend of mine asked me to create a logo for his sons engineering team that builds robots so they could get some t-shirts printed. Like most artists I jumped at the excuse to create some new robot art. This made me think about popular themes that artist enjoy creating around.

Creative Observation
I've mentioned it in passing in previous posts but have never really dedicated a specific post on the topic and that is 'The Top Ten Favorite Themes' of artists. It's not so much something I set out to discover but rather something I have observed over the past decade or so. Artist are most certainly a unique group of creative minded folk and I've noticed a handful of themes that tend to be common favorites they choose to do design and or illustration work on. Mind you this is by no means an iron clad list but just the most obvious ones I've noticed and have participated in creating myself through my own art. The latest offering above is no exception and motivated me to post this thread.

Top Ten Themes
The following are what I consider to be the top ten favorite themes of artists when creating their art. The order in which I have listed them is not according to popularity but rather just what came to mind when I posted this. I am sure I'll miss a few obvious ones but that is where you come in. Feel free to post others I may have missed or ones you think should be replace with another and I'll re-tool this list over time.

1. Robots: Evil, Benevolent or Humanoid it's all fun.
2. Monkeys: Ape, Chimp, Gorilla or go ape and do a 'Robot Monkey'.
3. Naked Women: No explanation needed.
4. Skulls: Or skeletons for that matter. It's all Bona-fide fun.
5. Monsters/Mutants: Home grown or universal the scarier the better.
6. Paranormal: Aliens, Angels, Demons, Ethereal forms etc.
7. Surrealism: Popularized by Dali, captured by most artists in doodles.
8. Dogs: Flea bitten art inspired by mans best friend.
9. Human Head: All matter of zany things have popped out of heads.
10: Machines: All kinds of mechanic contraptions and devices.

If an artist can combine several of the above into one composition then it's a dream project.

A couple other common elements used by artists are 'Flames' and 'Wings', but they tend to be integrated into the work of a given theme more then a theme in and of themselves. Someone had mentioned 'Pirates' which I agree is a most enjoyable theme to work with. But I think it' recent craze is due to the recent Disney movies. Of course every child at one time or another drew 'Dinosaurs' and all though another fun theme to work with it's not as popular as the ones in the list.

As you can see most of what drives us creatives tend to be very character driven.

I've had many artists email me on this list and I've adapted some content from their input. If you have suggestions let me know.

Urban Wrap

Classy, clean, simple and upscale.

About a year ago I designed a logo for a couple New York based software programmers. They were really happy with the work I did for them and when they decided to partner on a new inner city restaurant venture they contacted me to create their new logo for them. I thought the name they came up with was incredible and it really made me excited to work on this project.


Going Ghetto With it!

My failed first attempt at the logo.

Normally on logo projects I present a wide range of ideas but this project was more on the level of a pro-bono gig so I presented just one idea initially. I of course as you can see played off the whole 'Urban Wrap' theme. I like it, it's definately has an urban inner city vibe but it was a little too over the top for them. Their feedback essentially said "Too ghetto! We want upscale and classy."

No problem. The way my mind works is I almost always immediately see a design in my head and usually about 90% of the time it's what ends up being picked. So I set out to create a nice simple and clean mark with enough subtle conceptual flair to make it interesting. I also tried to keep the color palette flexible for easy application and low-cost reproduction of menus, signage etc.

They loved it and now I'll be designing their awning. I am due to fly out to New York later this year so I'll stop in and participate in some 'Urban Wrap' myself.

Patches-O-Plenty

Who can forget Reggie Jackson and his '3' homeruns in the World Series.


Growing up I collected trading cards. Back then there was only one brand and three sports. The sports cards I enjoyed collecting most were Baseball. The cards I collected were poorly printed full-color process on the front with a single spot color printed on an uncoated back. Today's cards however push the envelope for paper printed goods utilizing the latest technologies such as laser die-cutting, holographic foil stamping, jersey swatches, bat pieces and other memorabilia being applied to cards all wrapped in well designed layouts printed on high quality stock using and issued as limited edition collectibles.

The Upper Deck Company literally transformed the sports card industry. Their unique approach and inventive product lines continue to captivate the collectors.


No I am not a Yankee fan thank you very little. I do however like these two designs.


On this project they asked me to create a set of embroidered patch designs they could sew on to uniform swatches they would then use on a special set of trading cards.

The themes of the patches reflect the depth of baseball history and it's rich heritage filled with fascinating stories and feats of athletic achievement. In total I had to create approximately '130' individual patch designs. The attached samples showcase '66' of these designs. Due to the limitations of embroidery and the final size, I had to keep the elements simple enough so they would hold up in thread form.

I really love the sport of baseball so it's always fun working on this type of project.


'64' of the '130' patch designs.

Piranha's Revenge - Illustrative Logo

I love designing logos. But the best of both worlds for me artistically speaking is when I get to work on an 'Illustrative Logo Design'. Both of my core disciplines come into play and such was the case when I worked on 'Pirana Systems'.

How can you not have fun creating a 'Piranha' for a logo project? It has to be nearly impossible. The only animal that could possibly rate higher on the 'Fun Creatures to Create List' is of course the 'Monkey'. And if you'd like to see my entire creative process for this project then click on over to my 'IllustrationClass.com' site and check out the tutorial.

BTW: The clients branded name is 'Pirana' just incase some of you thought I had spelled the name wrong.

Childhood Health - Illustrative Logo

I don't do a large volume of work locally. The market here is pretty much dead but a few years back when we took our daughter into see her doctor I told them that if they ever wanted to re-design their identity I'd love to help them. Well they are now building a new facility and it's going to be one of the first 'Green' buildings in Salem, Oregon.

They wanted a fun, playful logo that kids would enjoy. I purposely wanted to avoid the normal medical cliches you see all the time regarding health related marks. Instead I focused on the purpose behind their services and that is to make kids healthy, happy and active.

When I pitched my concepts to the doctors at the clinic I showed them '5' concepts. The one on top is the final mark they went with. The concept on the bottom was another one I really liked too. They liked the dog and asked if that could be used in the top mark. Normally I avoid letting clients pick and choose content but in this cae the I had another dog in the top one so it wasn't an issue.

The signage on the building will look really nice as well as the identity pieces I am working on now.

The Bat is Back!

I am constantly amazed at the variety of people who view my web site and take the time to email me with a response. It's a whole lot of fun hearing back from people in regards to my work. One style that has caught the attention of a lot of tattoo lovers nationwide is the tribal face tattoo art I do. Recently an ad agency guy in Florida contacted me about designing a personal tattoo he could have on his back.

He wanted a bat tattoo in the tribal style. So below is the art I created. I mocked up the tattoo on the back just so you could see how it would look in context. It's kind of strange knowing that someone will be walking around with my art on their body and then eventually be buried with it someday.

Now if I can only get someone to let me do a monkey on their back, now that would be fun!

(Black and White Art)


(Tattoo on Back)

Scorpio Illo.

This is the latest incarnation for a series of '7' mascot characters I am doing for 'Tactix Creative' in Arizona. This specific mascot is the 'SanTan Scorpions'. Scorpions are one of those creatures I look at and immediately think "God has the best portfolio."

A scorpion is a member of the Arachnid family, but it's body shape resembles a Lobster more then a spider and it has claws and a wicked looking stinger. The whole design of a scorpion is cool. Very scary and intimidating looking and that is the feeling I wanted to capture in my mascot art.

Mascot for 'SanTan Scorpions' - Middle School


Larger Preview - Alternate coloring

Soaring Vectors - Step by Step Tutorial

I teach a digital illustration class once a week at the local college here in Salem Oregon. Each week I show them how an illustrator goes about creating their artwork. These simple step by steps are provided by the illustrators featured and document their own creative process in an easy to view format. It allows my students and other industry peers to see how various artists work from concept to completion in a variety of styles.

This week I created one I am calling 'Soaring Vectors' which documents a recent sports mascot project I worked on. This weeks download includes '18' step by step images and commentary for each step is thoroughly provided in the Notes.rtf file included. This allows the viewer to print out the notes for future reference and read while viewing each step of the process. You can download the step by step tutorial here. (4.4mb).

I have created numerous step by steps on a variety of projects I've worked on over the past year. Eventually I'll have all available for download soon from a specific web site I am still fine tuning. This will also include all the shared creative processes by other artists too. If you'd like to be featured or share your creative process with my class shoot me an email and I'll tell you what I need. Full credit and links including a small bio is included with each artist featured. At this time approximately 600 creatives in our industry view the weekly content.

PS: Yes I bite my finger nails. Nasty habit I've never been able to break.

My art has gone to the birds!

Not sure why I've been commissioned to illustrate so many birds the past few months but here are two more. I am actually creating '7' school mascots for 'Tactix Creative' in Arizona. These specific mascots are for a school called 'Williams Field Black Hawks' (High School) and 'Higley Hawks' (Elementary School). These are tricky little buggers. You see you only get a maximum of '4' spot colors and two of those have to be 'Black' and 'White'. The schools colors are 'Red' and 'Grey' and 'Gold' and 'Grey' respectively.

This project is interesting in that all mascots have to be approved by the district and it brings up interesting opinions. Since one is for an Elementary school they don't want the mascot to be too aggressive or mean looking. But they want him cool enough that kids will still like it. Were as the High school prefers a more aggressive mascot and it's OK to have a furrowed brow. Either way who really wants to wear a weenie looking hawk on their school shirt? I can't help but think that soccer moms are influencing the art direction by not wanting Jr. to be scared by the mean looking hawk character? (OK, rant over)

The thing I like best about these type of projects is it's a good mix of illustration and design. I design my illustration more then normal on this type of work since it's being used in such a graphic format such as t-shirts, banners, floor decals etc.

Mascot for 'Williams Field Black Hawks' - High School


Mascot for 'Higley Hawks' - Elementary School

Monkeys, Robots and Pirates oh my!

When a client calls me and asks "Can you illustrate a Monkey, a Robot and a Pirate?" you have to pinch yourself to make sure it's not a dream. These are a few of the characters I created as 1 color iconic avatars to use on some card promotions for Upper Deck Company.

It's tricky sometimes being limited to 1 flat color. (The style the client requested) And the turnaround time was a bit nuts too but these three were my personal favorites out the group of '7' I created.

Illustrative Design

First off I have to give a thank you to Erin Potter fellow HOWie who drove to the location and took reference pictures for me on this project.

Over the years those not in our industry have asked me "What do you do for a living." It's always been interesting how they respond when I tell them. Doesn't matter if I say 'Graphic Designer' or 'Illustrator' they tend to bake it down to a comment like "Oh, OK so you draw pictures." That may bug some but I don't mind it at all. In a way it's accurate. But I've coined my own phrase to describe what I do and I feel it fits better. I refer to myself as an 'Illustrative Designer'.

Some of you might be wondering "What is an Illustrative Designer?" well this artwork is a good example of 'Illustrative Design'. Too many view 'Illustration' merely as a supportive role within 'Design'. I think this is ignorant at best. I view each as key elements in my own creative process. I am making design decisions when I illustrate and I use illustrative solutions when I design the two are fused together and one without the other suffers creatively.

On this project I was hired by a branding firm to take a real life statue and create an illustrative iconic mark for use on a branding project for a small town. It's an illustrative approach but it also took many design centric decisions along the way as I created the artwork. If you viewed the real statue you'd notice that no matter what angle you viewed it you wouldn't find this exact pose. I purposely designed the pose to reflect the statue but paid attention to detail on how negative space interacted with shapes, what detail to emphasize, simplifying detail so it works small and can handle dot gain etc.

There are many overlapping aspects of illustration and design and the more a designer can learn to capitalize on each and let them mingle together the more diverse their work will become.

Mocked up Usage (The firm used it in their own motif, I just did this to show an example of usage)


Detail Image


PS: Later this summer I'll be launching a pod cast called 'The Illustrative Designer' where I'll talk more about this relationship, interview those who do it best, share insights, tips and tricks and other fun stuff. You can bookmark now and if you'd like to be a 'Creative Correspondent' for the pod cast shoot me an email and I'll let you know what that is all about. Or if you want to suggest a person to be interviewed I'd like to hear about that as well. podcast@vonster.com

The bird that didn't soar.

Sometimes when working on projects it becomes apparent mid-stream that the likelihood of the end result being what you expected or was told to expect just isn't going to happen. This project was just such a case.

I was contacted by Upper Deck Company Entertainment to illustrate a mark they could use on a card game for 'World of Warcraft' the mark they wanted was a two headed eagle. In all I did 3-4 incarnations. The character was based on a part of the game apparently and the creature had antlers as well which are not shown in this version.

The mark incarnations I created also contained an eye on the chest with flames above and below. I've worked with this art director before and he's excellent. I feel the problem in this creative pursuit was the classic 'too many chefs in the kitchen.' It's hard to gauge perception and feedback when each stage of the project seems to contradict the original brief and the previous feedback and suggestions.

Years ago I remember a marketing person coming up to me and deciding he was going to play art director and saying "I think what we are looking for is a post modern edgy retro feel!" Well I have never bothered to learn how to speak psycho-babble so I just responded "What does that mean?" He just looked at me not sure what to say. In essence I couldn't get a radar fix on what his or any other marketing weasels expectation was.

This project felt like that. I'd get some very nebulous feedback along the way and it felt like I was shooting in the dark hoping it would hit the mark. In the end I felt like I struck out and that really bugs me. Doesn't happen often but when it does I have a hard time shaking it off and stepping up to the plate. (Yes I like baseball analogies thank you)

This version never made it past a pencil rough I scanned in and emailed for consideration. They pretty much wrote it off immediately even-though I felt it had some good solid potential. So as not to feel like a complete loss creatively speaking I took that sketch and refined it and then did the finished work for no other reason then to show myself what it would have looked like fleshed out fully. Personally I didn't like the eye or flames which looked kind of corn-ball so I removed those and simplified the art.

Thus you have the bird that didn't soar.



PS: Years ago when I had my yearly review with my then boss and art director I remember him telling me "Von you can't be so married to your artwork." Now looking back and fully understanding his business, how he worked and trying to interpret that statement now I know it was his way of saying "You have to allow me to control it." At the time I thought that is what he might have meant but the statement even if not meant that way bugged me.

I feel like I am not being honest with myself or investing the needed part of 'me' in my art if I don't feel attached to it. I am not a short order cook. Order up! One logo with a side order of identity. Heres your art and I move on to the next order taken. Part of what I like about what I do is being passionate about it, investing my interest and drive into something and seeing it through. I am reminded every so often that just isn't always possible when you have too many people who are non-creatives deciding to play the part and wanting to treat design as a creative ala carte.

Maybe I could change my name to 'Greasy Spoon Graphics'? Ok I need to go check and see if that domain is available.....

Vonster

Ok so if you were around for the launch of my illustration site 'Vonster.com' you'll recognize this piece of art. I recycled it for this weeks 'Monster' theme at 'Illustration friday.' I have another monster I could have used but then that would have revealed more then I wanted to about my 'Keyboard-Characters' product I'll be revealing in the next month or so.

Happy Trees and the 'Cult of Bob Ross'

I remember when cartoons ended on Saturday I'd start turning the dial looking for something else to watch and would come across this guy with a huge afro painting landscapes and talking so softly it was like drinking a cup of warm milk before falling fast asleep. It was master oil painter Bob Ross. He'd use a huge house brush to paint with and say the word 'Happy' more times in 30 minutes then I have my entire life. His art didn't really make me want to paint it but for some reason I would watch his entire program every time. I never purposely planned on watching it, I'd always stumble upon accidently but it drew me. Bob even had a side kick on his show several times, his pet squirrel Peapod. Perched on his shoulder Bob would paint away talking to Peapod as if he could understand him. In those days PBS shows were the closest thing to reality television and it fascinated me to be honest.

Happy trees, happy clouds, and happy accidents are part of the wonderful 'Cult of Bob Ross'. He's become a pop culture icon of sorts now and has been forever immortalized on the web for future generations to enjoy. This is my contribution to his artistic influence.

www.HappyAfro.com



Bob Ross (October 29, 1942 - July 4, 1995) was a grandmaster American oil painter who primarily practiced the finer, more respectable arts of relaxation and kindness. His quiet, nurturing disposition was a form of therapy to the weary, and the reassuring intonations of his gentle voice hypnotized entire generations of would-be illustrators into creating a million-dollar art supply store enterprise.

Ornery Frog!

I confess I am some what addicted to domain names. Anytime I think of a cool one I check to see if it's available. If it is I usually buy it. I figure it secures the name for at least a year and only costs about $6. If I don't do anything with it in that year I may let it go public again.

Such is the case with 'OrneryFrog.com'. I just liked the name. Recently I just set up a new FTP server and I decided to plug in the 'OrneryFrog.com' domain to brand it of sorts. Being the detail oriented mild obsessive compulsive I am I created this funky logo to use on the splash page.



You can see it in context at: www.OrneryFrog.com