Society of Illustrators Exhibit

'Hoo Do You Love'

Today I got some cool news. My owl illustration was accepted into the 49th Annual Society of Illustrators exhibition and publication. It was my first time submitting to the Society of Illustrators so I am pretty excited.

My art has gone down the 'Tubes'!

(Click Image for larger Preview)

Contrary to Senator Knob from Alaska it's not the internet that is made up of tubes but rather our minds. Stuffed full of memories and other garden variety nonsense ready to be expelled upon our beckon call. If you haven't heard about Senator Knob from Alaska and his definition of the 'Internet' then you have to check it out for yourself here.

This completes my series of '3' art prints. 'Memory Worm', 'Temporal Infestation' and now 'Tubes'. You can see all the art prints I now have available at 'VonsterArt.com'.

This particular piece of artwork was a lot of fun to create. It was inspired last week as I sat at a restaraunt doodling on a napkin waiting for a friend to show up. I immediately knew I had to flesh it out and I am glad I did. It's one of my all time favorites and it will be in an art show in Russia which is cool too.

As with a lot of artwork I've been doing lately I documented my whole process and will be posting a tutorial for this project on 'IllustrationClass.com'.

Temporal Infestation

John Harrison of 'Start a Story' has a new illustrative project in the works called 'Cube'. It's not fully launched yet but should be fun.

Each side of the interactive cube will have an illustration. Each illustration will play off the other illustration on each of it's side some how. I am the first so it'll be interesting to see one flesh itself out when the other illustrators step up to the plate.

The name of mine is 'Temporal Infestation'. The above image shows how it'll be used inside the 'Cube'. Below shows how I imagined it fully with the drool and all.

Memory Worm

An artist by the name of John Harrison is currently studying an MA in Sequential Design at Brighton University but on the side he's been busy creating 'Start a Story'. Part of that is a collaborative art project called '5x5' and he invited me to participate in it. Here is what '5x5' is all about in John's own words:

"5x5 will involve twentyfive contributors each designing one square in a patch work like illustrative narrative. The first square illustrated was the central one and then the rest are being allocated from the centre outwards. Artists have been asked to consider how their illustration relates to the other squares it's next too, so in narrative and/or imagery."

It's easier to understand when you see it for yourself so click on over and check out what '5x5' is all about. Lots of good talent participating.

Fear of Math

I've been asked many times how I knew I wanted to do this for a living. I have often replied by saying "Fear of math." You see it was a clear case of math anxiety that would ultimately lead me into a career in communication arts. You see Pythagorus, and his numerical cronies equations never came easy for me, and the thought of college level mathematics kind of freaked me out so when an art school rep came by our class in high school I immediately knew I had found a creative escape route via art.

The style of this piece is basically how I draw when I am just entertaining myself. Most of the time I have no idea up front as to what I will be drawing or how it will come out, I just pick up a pen and let it simply flow out of me onto the paper. I often look at the art and try to figure out what if anything makes any kind of coherent sense on any level. Sometimes I am surprised by what I discover and other times I have no clue why I drew it, I just did. So I guess I enjoy the mystery of this style?

Lately I've been wanting to use it for a paying gig but couldn't find a good fit. That is until I got a call from an agency who was wanting background art created for the next incarnation of Windows Messenger they were developing a special site for. I immediate thought of this style and asked them for direction in terms of content etc. and they literally said the only limitation to the art is "No naked people or guns. Other then that anything goes." I responded "Giddy up!"

Thus 'Fear of Math' was born.

(Click for larger preview)

Super Doodle

As you've probably noticed by now my blog header and footer contains an illustration I created. I've never posted it on this blog but it's one of my all time favorites.

I call this style my doodle style. Most of the heavy lifting creatively speaking is done outside the box (computer) I use a black flair pen and just start drawing. When done I scan it into Photoshop and start painting in colors and textures.

Don't ask me what it means because I don't have a clue. That said, you'll notice desert landscapes, serpents, flames, winged creatures, hands and nebulous shapes are common themes that appear often in this style.

This specific piece I labeled 'Super Doodle'. That is because the original was about 12 inches long. It was a personal piece I did for myself. Up until the time I did this I had never used this style commercially. It's been one of those styles I've kept to myself. But recently I've decided to leverage this style and use it in a current project I am working on. I'll post more on that later.

Crusty Dude Doodle

Another "Red Pen" doodle via Paper Mate® Flair.

Over the last few weeks I can stop drawing with my Paper Mate® Flair Pens. For some reason drawing old crusty people is a whole lot of fun. I think it's all the various wrinkles that make it such an alluring drawing experience? The more wrinkles, the more character.


Mile High doodling.

I started drawing this art while I was sitting on an American Airlines plane at 31,000 ft. somewhere over Texas headed to Lafayette. I then finished it off sitting in the offices of Prejean Creative before I spoke at the local AdFed group.

I prefer drawing with red pens rather than black because they tend to add some artifacts in the darkest areas you just loose with solid black. It also allows me to blow out some things when I scan the drawing in as well if needed.


"Crusty Dude final artwork.

I felt my crusty dude needed an environment to live in. So I pulled a photo of a back alley I took in Savannah Georgia a few years back and composited it with my doodle art.

Download Crusty Dude PDF
"Crusty Dude" PDF Print

Adobe Poster Signing

"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 Pattern for Success!

"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!

Cool Crud Texture Set

"Cool Crud Texture Set" 35 Royalty-Free Textures.

What can I say other then I love taking photos of cruddy surfaces. Nothing is more fun then making your art look like crap with cool distressed real world textures. Why use a lame pull-down menu Photoshop algorithm to simulate an organic touch when you can do it using authentic textures created by the second law of thermal dynamics instead? Real is always better!


Each texture comes with the full-color source photo.

If you don't like the way I created the PSD file or the bitmap tiff file no worries. You can create your own versions using the original source photo. So the possibilities are truly endless for your creative needs.


Texture number "CC_12".

I collected the textures in this set over the last eight months or so while traveling in Oregon and Washington.


Texture number "CC_35".

The best things about textures is they never go out of style unlike other resources such as fonts, stock art or even photography. A texture that looks cool now will still look cool 50 years from now.


All "35" Textures in set.

This set is royalty-free. Just buy it, download it and you can use these textures on any personal or professional illustration or design project you want. the only limitation is please don't distribute them to others who haven't purchased them. I purposely priced these so anyone can afford them so encourage others to visit this site and get their own copy. I thank you in advance for honoring this simple request.

That said I've set Paypal up so you can order more then one copy if you want to pass them along to a friend.

Source File Specifications.
Each Texture Includes the following formats for each of the "35" textures.

- Original Source Photo (Hi-Resolution RGB jpeg, 10x15 inches @ 315 ppi)
- Layered Grayscale PSD File (Hi-Resolution, 10x15 inches @ 315 ppi)
- Bitmap Tiff Image (Hi-Resolution, 10x15 inches @ 300 ppi)

(All PSD Files are CS4 but will still open in CS3 or CS2 without any problems.)

Try it before you buy it!
You can download a sample texture including all the formats listed above and take them for a test drive here.

No-Brainer Ordering and Download.
The entire set is just $6.95. Order using the Paypal button below. Once you click through Paypal, you'll be automatically forwarded to a download page. If you have any questions just post them in the comments below and I'll respond to each accordingly.

You can see another texture set of mine called "Old World" here.

Illustrator CS4 How-To Guides

"Loyal Order of Wormwood" Adobe How-To Guide.

As some of you may know I designed promotional art for Adobe CS4 Illustrator called "Loyal Order of Wormwood." Along with that project I also put together a "How-To Guide" for them as well which Adobe has now posted on their web site so I have posted the same blurb below which gives you access to same content and a little bit more. But be sure to check out Adobes page to view other cool promotional art created for CS4.


Promotional Art for Adobe CS4 Illustrator "Loyal Order of Wormwood."

Loyal Order of Wormwood
by Von Glitschka, Glitschka Studios

His inspiration for "Loyal Order of Wormwood": "I never know when or where inspiration will come. Most often it's captured initially via a simple doodle. Then at a later point in time I take that doodle and flesh it out into a refined sketch. Once my drawing is exactly the way I like it, I simply scan it in and start building my vector art."

Read the how-to guide
Download the Illustrator CS4 file
Download Missing "Step by Step" Tutorial

Adobe copyright © and usage limitations of this art are clearly stated within download files.

Loyal Order of Wormwood

Promotional Art for Adobe CS4 Illustrator "Loyal Order of Wormwood."

For well over 15 years I used Macromedia FreeHand. Along the way I had dabbled in Illustrator in order to convert a file or open a file etc. but never really used it from beginning to end on any project. That changed in 2006 when Adobe hired me to design a poster to promote CS2 and assumed I used Illustrator. Long story short I recognized the hand writing on the wall and switched drawing applications. You can read more about that whole story here.


Detail of Art: New song bird of proclamation.

A little over a year passed and I was using Illustrator for some projects and FreeHand for other projects. I had a hard time cutting the cord completely. That is until I installed Leopard in 2007 and FreeHand stopped working. The cord was completely severed now. I found many things frustrating in Illustrator and posted my experience on my art blog here.


Detail of Art: Vacant worms demise.

Through the magic of the intertubes my blog post some how found it's way into the inner circle of Adobe and before I knew it they were talking to me, addressing my concerns, answering questions, fixing problems and ultimately inviting me to be on their beta team for CS4. To be honest I felt like I was sleeping with the enemy, but their people behind the scenes listened and their integrity was impressive and one thing was obvious they were improving the application.


Detail of Art: Evil worm.

Today Adobe announces the launch of CS4 Illustrator and I am happy to say that it's been a great app to work with and I am proud to be one of the many artists who were part of beta testing it. I think the improvements are incredible and the the new features will no doubt make many users very happy.


Detail of Art: Inner worm and the cup of trembling.

Adobe hired me once again to create some original artwork that will be shipped with CS4 Illustrator. Anyone who buys it will be able to open up my original Ai file and see how I pulled it off using CS4. I think it's pretty cool when a large company hires you to do artwork for them and basically says "Do what ever you want." That simply doesn't happen that often. Thank you Adobe!

My artwork is titled "Loyal Order of Wormwood." The source file that ships with CS4 actually has two pages within the file. One shows the artwork below and the other tells the story behind it. If you'd like print resolution version of this art to hang up in your work area you can download a larger version here. (2.5 MB)

I hope you enjoy the art and CS4 Illustrator.

Grab a Tiger by it's Tail.

'White Tiger'

I don't do a ton of pro-bono work but this was for a good cause. A Diabetes fundraiser poster with a jungle theme. They asked if I'd specifically illustrate a 'White Tiger' for them.

Even though my work schedule has been very busy this summer and I've been turning down a lot of work I agreed to help them out and over the course of a two day period when I had some down time I created the art you see above. I've illustrated more cartoony tiger characters before but never one like this and never a 'White Tiger' which was a bit challenging due to the color limitations.

I was happy with how it turned out and sent them a PDF they could print out and show to their board of directors. (Cue Ominous Music)

The lady who is my contact for the board said: "The Tiger is far too aggressive and intimidating can you make him more playful?"

My response: "No. He's a Tiger, you want him intimidating that's why they are so cool." (In my head I am thinking: Lady you're not paying for this so you don't get to be picky.)

I assume the Tiger scared them off because they won't return any of the emails I've sent? So I think it's a safe bet it won't be used?

As my buddy Tony is fond of saying "No good deed goes unpunished."

PS: Well I may have spoken too soon? I finally got a response and the art now weighs in the balance of two committee members who still have to vote on it. Hopefully the Tiger won't frighten them too much. ;-P

Old World Texture Set.

"Old World Texture Set" 30 Royalty-Free Textures.

In February I traveled to Europe, Israel and Jordan. While there I took over 2,000 pictures. This texture set consists of "30" real-world surface textures derived from actual on site locations I visited. While many were looking at famous historical landmarks I was looking at the nice textures embracing such locations and capturing them to create this set.


Each texture comes with the full-color source photo.

This set is royalty-free. Just buy it, download it and you can use these textures on any personal or professional illustration or design project you want.


All "30" Textures in set.

Source File Specifications.
Each Texture Includes the following formats for each of the "30" textures.

- Source Photo (Hi-Resolution RGB jpeg, 10x15 inches @ 315 ppi)
- Layered Grayscale PSD File (Hi-Resolution, 10x15 inches @ 315 ppi)
- Bitmap Tiff Image (Hi-Resolution, 10x15 inches @ 300 ppi)

Try it before you buy it!
You can download a sample texture including all the formats listed above and take them for a test drive here.

No-Brainer Ordering and Download.
The entire set is just $9.95. Order using the Paypal button below. Once you click through Paypal you'll be automatically forwarded to a download page. If you have any questions just post them in the comments below and I'll respond to each accordingly.

You can see other textures of mine at Texturebook.com

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.

Cooking Up a Logo.

Old Logo: Unprofessional, cheap and looks like clip-art

I enjoy teaming up with other agencies and working together to create original, fun and effective solutions for small and large business owners.

When Dave Miller was approached by Gourmet Learning to re-design and develop a new web site for their company he recognized they needed a new identity, not just a new web site. Their old logo was at best unprofessional and at worst detracted from the quality curriculum they created and sold.


New Logo: Professional, clean and approachable.

Dave contacted me to handle the new identity design. Along with a new logo design the company had recently changed to a new name as well so the timing was good to introduce a new identity to go with it.


B&W Incarnation.

As we progress down the digital highway old methods for identity design are falling to the wayside. Technology has changed to the point where having a B&W version of a given logo isn't always needed. We are designing for an "RGB World" as my friend Bill Gardner likes to call it.

This client does enough one color so a B&W version was needed.


Business card piping hot off the press.

When I design identity pieces such as business cards I rarely stick to a simple rectangle. I always try to incorporate a unique die-cut that if possible carries over a conceptual twist to it. In this case I wanted the card itself to mimic a loaf of bread, hence playing off the whole chef motif.

Dave is currently fleshing out the new site which I've also assisted with in terms of the look and feel and that'll be launched once it's finished.

If you're looking to create a recipe for success on your next project and need someone to assist in your creative kitchen and cook up some tasty design ideas, then I am your chef.

Fourth and Goal.

'Autograph Insert Card Design'

There isn't a lot of design jobs that would afford you the luxury of using full color, 5th color spot metallic, die-cuts, and foil stamping all in one project. But when you design for trading cards it's a common occurrence. They take advantage of all the print special effects offered today. So if you want to make a million bucks easy, just come up with a new unique printing method then license it to trading card companies because they are always looking for an advantage not offered by their competition. Easier said then done though.

The card shown above is called 'Draft Day Ink' each of the cards in this sub set will have a transparent autographed label applied to it. The image shown is a mock-up in that no one yet knows what team Adrian Peterson will be drafted too. The autograph is shown here as an example.

When designing trading cards the design has to be flexible enough that any team color, player name, photo will easily work with the layout.


'Jersey Insert Card Design'

Fitting all the various information, memorabilia and player photos into a space of 2.5"x3.5" can be challenging to say the least. When you have to do it for '3' or more players like the card shown above it makes the design far more complex then one showing a single player. But of course the multi-player cards are far more valuable for collectors if they happen to get it in the pack they buy.

Collecting cards has changed a lot since I was a kid. Today the industry of sports collectibles is almost as competitive as the sports they document but the clear leader in this field is the Upper Deck Company. I had the privilege of working their for three years in their baseball division and now enjoy assisting with the design of all the various brands they create for such as the NFL, MLB and the NHL along with other entertainment categories. The work is fun and knowing collectors will be securing my designs for years to come makes the work that much more satisfying to create.

Fertile Mind

'Fertile Mind - Urban Forest Project'

The original AIGA sponsored showing for 'The Urban Forest Project' took place in New York City in Times Square. Now other chapters of the AIGA are following that lead with their own localized version.

The Portland AIGA chapter will be displaying their own 'Urban Forest' banner designs from April 22-27 across Portland Oregon.

I went through a few concepts on this project. Originally I was going to do a burning bush type of theme with all the branches being arms and hands with the flames morphing into green leaves and one of the hands releasing a flaming Phoenix. It was OK, but frankly it was just getting too serious and the message was far too nebulous to communicate on a broad basis.

So I decided to approach it from a different angle thinking to myself "How will this whole Urban Forest issue ever fully become a reality with the average urban dweller?" The answer was then obvious, the heart of the people have to change before the mind will think differently and that is when the term 'Fertile Mind' came to me.

In my opinion these types of projects too many times are wrongly focused towards an adult audience, so I purposely created a banner design that would appeal to any age be it a 6 year old or a 60 year old. I wanted either type of viewer to look at it and smile from it's humor, all the while considering its meaning.