Deamed it, did it...

A personal piece reminding me to dream big and then to go out an make those dreams happen...enjoy!

M ssing Posters

Just a fun little idea that popped into my head for a missing poster. I wanted to see how legible it would be with the letter "i" missing. My original concept was the white type on black, but then I thought it might look interesting to make it look more like it was on the stereotypical milk carton...

Moonlight Movies Poster

My buddies and I started grilling and watching movies outside on the deck a few years ago when we were on vacation in Virginia. We named the evening "Sunset Cinema" and really look forward to grilling season so we can see movies outside.

One of my buddies decided to build a cool movie theater in his basement and keeping with the theme named the theater "Moonlight Movies". He made a special request for his latest birthday gift: he'd like me to design a custom poster that would be the first thing visitors see upon entering the theater.

I couldn't say no to such a fun project. Luckily my friend had a good idea of what he was looking for, so while I did my research and some mind mapping, I really just listened to what he was looking for and used that to build some quick mockups in Photoshop.

Unfortunately, due to my hectic schedule near the holidays, I warned him that I wouldn't be able to complete the poster until after his birthday. He was fine with this, since he was still putting the finishing touches on his theater. I couldn't just not give him anything on his birthday, so I worked up a large "movie ticket" to build up the excitement of the poster to come:

After working up some quick thumnails and doing a very quick flat color application in Photoshop, I emailed my friend the proofs, 2 of the concepts presented shown below:

My friend liked the ideas but wanted to merge the "farmscape" and "theater curtain" versions. While I was skeptical of this move, I went with it and ended up with this:

Whoa, pretty garish, right?! But after a few tweaks, some textures, and some lighting effects, this was the final result:


Personally, I still prefer it without the curtain and seats, but I think it did turn out well and really works with my friend's new theater room.

Social Experimenting...

I'll be the first to admit it...Facebook is sorta getting boring for me. And Twitter, well, I've never really liked Twitter. So in order to spice things up, I've joined Instagr.am in an attempt to replace written posts with photo posts. My goal is at least one photo per day, more when I find something interesting, cool, or funny.

You can follow my new photo adventures over at my Flickr, Instagr.am (nicko74), Facebook, or Twitter pages. I hope you enjoy my social experiment!

Custom Fit Construction Logo

This was my first-ever barter project. My friend started his own construction business, Custom Fit Construction after being downsized in the economic downturn. He and his wife had developed a tagline and had a starter logo to get them off the ground, but wanted something a bit more clean and crisp as he expands his business and looks for a larger customer base.

I happened to need a new patio, so we worked out an agreement and work began just as the weather turned cold at the end of 2010. Alas, my long-desired patio would have to wait until Spring, but that's okay, I could still work on the logo in the meantime...

The original concept for his logo was "Solving Your Remodeling Puzzles" and they wanted to stick with that, so I used that as my basis and went to work and developed four concepts. I mocked up the logo in a business card format to help the client visualize the final outcome and help speed up development time.

Version A: standard "wood" version to imply the basis of nearly all construction. Cliché, but hey, gotta get it out of your system, plus you can't go wrong with an awesome background texture:

Version B: I kept the wood texture (from my friend Von's book: Crumble. Crackle. Burn. Great resource for any designer!) and added a puzzle element in keeping with the company's tagline:

Version C: I custom fit each letter of the words "Custom Fit Construction" together like puzzle pieces:

Version D: I developed a more puzzle look for the logo while keeping the type clean and crisp. For the background I took photos of wood, concrete, brick, floor tile and gravel all around my house one sunny Saturday in November:

My friends really liked version D, but wanted it to be a bit cleaner looking so I made the the background white and changed the type to the green from version C to reflect that he does do green construction too.

I reworked the textures a bit for the final version as seen here:

So far my friend really likes the new logo and looks forward to implementing it across all media.

Princess Snow

My longtime friend and former travel buddy, Rachel is getting married today! As is my tradition, my gift is that of a custom illustrated poem for the happy couple. This started many years ago (1998 to be exact) and my frustration with wedding registries. 

Well, trying to concept during a) a busy period of freelance and day job stress, and b) holiday stress was not c) fun. However, I did get my basic research and ideas down so that by the time December rolled around, I knew roughly what I wanted to do.

I know that Rachel loves Christmas and all things Victorian and I knew her wedding colors, so I had a solid foundation upon which to build. My initial concept was to have a flowing "Art Nouveau tree that acted as a frame for the image. And of course, I had to include snow to hint at her love of Christmas:

I thought I had a good start and then I got busy with holiday stuff and freelance work (in addition to the day job) and put it aside for awhile. When I came back to the sketch, I was ready to begin work in Illustrator and I just couldn't. I looked at the image and it just, well, sucked. There was no energy, no life, nothing there. In my rush to "get it done", I compromised the integrity of the illustration. 

Completely mad at myself for doing poor quality work, I closed down Illustrator and went back to the sketchbook. I then very quickly sketched out this version: 

I couldn't believe the difference: this version has better detail, more energy and vibrance. This was it! Now off to the computer to really bring it to life. I was going to just do my typical workflow of digitally inking the sketch and adding flat color in Illustrator then add textures and lighting in Photoshop. But I decided that I wanted to try actually painting with my Wacom tablet in Photoshop. It was a technique I'd always wanted to try, but never had the time to do. So I went for it.

I watched a few YouTube vids to get a handle on the best way to get going and then went for it. I laid in my flat colors and basic shapes using the sketch as my template:

And I gradually refined the colors and added shading and texture to the image:

 

I was particularly proud of a nice little detail I added to Mike's collar...

I kept my opacities on my brushes low, typically 10-50% range, and rarely 100%. I also kept as few layers as possible to keep the image simple and true. I have to admit, it was kinda frustrating at first, but as the image took shape, I found myself enjoying the process more and more. 

Here is the almost-final image:

The only real change between it and the final framed version is that I made the snow light blue so it would fade to the background more:

After the main image was complete, I used the same background and set the poem in Snell Roundhand:

 

The text of the poem reads:

"Princess Snow

Princess Snow and her sister,

Princess Sunflower,

Traveled together

Far and wide.

Princess Snow loved her sister,

But was still lonely.

So she ventured back home

To her enchanted snow forest.

Her silent solitude

Melted away, though,

Once Princess Snow glimpsed

Her one true love

Approaching through the shimmering snow."

For my first attempt at a true digital painting, I was pleased with the results. And honestly, it didn't take much longer than my traditional workflow. You can be sure I will be doing more digital paintings in the future.

And to my dear friends Rachel and Mike, Happy Wedding Day! May your new life together be filled with love and happiness. I love you guys!

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 3

This is part two of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry. Read part one and part two on how I set up the sketchbook with new paper. The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales.


So I've got new pages for my sketchbook, I've got my concept storyboarded, and I had my characters defined...time to put it all together into the final illustrations!


I used my storyboards as my "bible" and pencilled each page as a spread (this spread is page 2 and 15):


After completing each sketch, I went back and inked each page with my trusty Pitt Artist Pens:

After letting the inked pages dry, I erased my pencil lines and prepared to color my pages with watercolors. I had kept a set of Dr. Ph. Martin's Watercolors from college and decided it was time to put them to use. 

Some pages turned out, "eh": 

While some pages really turned out beautifully:

You can view the complete set of pages on my Flickr page.

After all that, I still had to rebind the pages to the sketchbook cover. After a failed attempt at simply poking holes into the pages and sewing them together, I figured out that I could use pushpins to keep everything in register. So I got out my trusty old Artist's Tape and taped up the middle of the book and started over:

And here's how the center spread looks sewn to the cover with heavy duty thread:

After all that hard work, I'm still uncertain about how the project turned out. I've learned a lot along the way, but I feel that some pages just could have been done better. I would've loved to have redone the entire book, but time was short, so I had to move on. I guess the folks who check out The Sketchbook Project on its nationwide tour will be the true judges of how my book turned out...

Oh, and for those who've read this far, thank you. If you are interested, here is the full text of my poem that The Maiden & The Hawk is based on:

The Maiden and the Hawk

The Maiden stood at her balcony,

Weeping.

Hawk was soaring high

Over her castle

When he heard her sadness.

Hawk landed perfectly

On the small ledge

And asked of the Maiden,

“What troubles you so?”

The Maiden replied,

“My true love left me for another.”

And Hawk said,

“Mine too.”

The Maiden smiled

And her tears dried up.

Hawk then came to Maiden every night.

On his third visit,

He asked of her,

“The moon shines full.

Let us fly up to her embrace

And back again.”

“But Hawk, I cannot fly,”

Was her forlorn reply.

Hawk grinned knowingly.

“Tonight, my fair Maiden,

Dreams come true

And everything is possible.

Just close your eyes.”

The Maiden did so,

And off they went.

The wind in her hair.

The moon soft upon her face.

Hawk soared forever

Up there

Around the full moon.

And far too soon,

The Maiden and the Hawk

Returned to Earth.

The Maiden stood

Shimmering in the moonlight.

Hawk’s feathers

Glowed about him

In the most magnificent way.

The Maiden whispered,

“Thank you, Hawk,

For being you.”

She placed a gentle kiss

Upon his beak

And wished her wish.

As she did this,

Hawk stood up

And cast off

His feathered coat.

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 2

This is part two of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry. Read part one on how I set up the sketchbook with new paper. The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales.


After receiving my sketchbook and while I was making the new pages, I was thinking about what I would actually fill those pages with. I've always loved myths and fairy tales, so I knew I would focus on that aspect. I can't recall exactly what prompted it, but I began to think that I could do a version of Jack & the Beanstalk. My initial concept was to keep it simple: make a gatefold poster that would open up out of the sketchbook and tell the whole story in 2 images (front page and back page):


After some consideration, it just wasn't working for me for this project. So I worked up some storyboards on how I could tell a more traditional story with my take on Jack and the Beanstalk.

I sorta freaked out because it was the busy holiday season, I had tons of stuff going on, and I felt like I had to start over and that I didn't have time for it. But I put the project aside for awhile and let ideas sorta marinate. Then I remembered a poem that I had written in the early 2000s about The Maiden and The Hawk. I've always loved that poem and thought it would make a great illustrated fairy tale book. This was my chance! So I worked up storyboards based on the poem. I tried to get the story to fill the allotted 24 pages, but I would be stretching it to make it fit that many pages, so I settled on 16 pages instead. I also decided that while I had limited dialog in the poem, I wanted no discernible words on this version, so I made up a symbol based language to convey the dialog without using letters.

Now that I had the storyboards complete, I did some research on maidens and hawks and did some character studies to prepare for the real thing:

Now I was ready to create my sketchbook pages!

Coming next week: putting it all together.

The Sketchbook Project: The Maiden & The Hawk Part 1

This is part one of a three-part series on my The Sketchbook Project entry. 

I decided to enter the Art House Co-Op's The Sketchbook Project this year based on the link provided by my design friends over at the HOW Design Forum. The great thing about knowing a lot of folks in the design industry is the vast knowledge and resources they can share. The bad part is that you may be like me and want to participate in too much stuff. While I was initially excited by the project, it quickly became clear that this project was bigger than I anticipated. And because I had been so busy during the fall, it was time to start work on it right around the holidays. Whoops!

The basic concept for the project is that when you sign up, you are provided a sketchbook to fill up with images based on a theme. I chose "Storybook" because I've always been a fan of myths and fairytales. The provided sketchbook pages were very thin and there were a lot of them: 80 something if I recall correctly...

I spent a bit of time trying to wrap my head around the project and it was evident that I needed to cut the number of pages so I could have a hope of completing the project on time. I also decided to do my book in watercolors and that would require better quality paper. 

My first (and easiest) task was to remove the old paper. A few snips with the scissors and the old pages were free from their binding.

My next task was to choose a new paper to add to the sketchbook. I chose Canson's 140gsm Watercolor paper. It has a great texture and was the right size for the project. 

Next up, I figured out the number of pages I wanted my book to be and then I setup and trimmed the sheets to size. I originally figured that I would need 24 total pages (12 sheets), but that number would change...

Next up, and my favorite part, I wanted to do deckled edges. And I had no idea how to make them. So I just figured I'd draw a line where I wanted the edge to be...and luckily the edges of my desk are sharp! 

Here's how the book looked with the new pages inserted...

After all this, I was ready to work on my actual sketches and pages! 

Coming next week: ideas, sketches, and freak-outs, oh my!

DLM 2010 Food & Wine Show Poster

At my day job at Dorothy Lane Market (an upscale grocer here in town), I'm the only designer on staff. It can be quite demanding at times, and like all design jobs, some projects are cooler than others. Once project I look forward to every year is the Food & Wine Show poster (and related advertising materials). I've designed every poster since the event started in 1998, so it is a real challenge to come up with a fresh idea every year. And let's face it, some years might have been better than others.

Typically, I've stuck with a color palette the reflects the fall season and red wine or night and the moon (since it gets dark earlier in November when the show is held). This year, after looking at my previous years' posters, I realized that I had entirely overlooked the lighter side of wine (and color). So I went inthe complete opposite direction: I made it my mission to explore a color palette the revolved around "white wine".

Along the way, I developed a few ideas that I presented...

The first was inspired by one of my research photos of grapes glowing in the afternoon sunlight, so I added some texture for a Tuscan-inspired concept...

For this concept, I went a bit more stark/fine art simplicity...

Derivative with different background texture and altered bottle color...

And last but not least, champagne colored background with a "leaf glass' (thanks to my buddy Von and his fantastic book, Drip, Dot, Swirl.)

The unanimous choice for this year's poster was the last one: the champagne background with "leaf glass", and after only 1 day of it being posted, I've already received quite a few comments (1 from the owner who said it was my "best ever", guess I get to be employed for awhile longer!) I must say, that honestly, I was rooting for the Tuscan inspired version, but I do think there is a appeal in the simplicity of the "leaf glass" that does work better since it is a fall event.

Artisan Economy

I've never been much of a cook. If you ask my friends, they will tell you that the microwave is my best friend. In fact, one of my best buddies was shocked when he learned that I actually use the stove on occasion.

Well, when I first was out on my own I did not own a single pot or pan to cook with. I cooked using the Stouffer's method. But when I decided to buy some pots and pans, I went for a set that featured a saucepan, skillet, and larger pot along with a lot of cook looking utensils that was a great price. These little cookware pieces lasted several years and were of decent quality.

However, when I decided to replace them this year, I decided to look around and spend a bit more for something of higher quality. I ended up purchasing a great T-Fal 2-quart saucepan along with their eco-friendly non-stick 12.5 inch Saute Pan.

So what does this have to do with an "artisan economy"?

Well, I got to thinking that I didn't value the cookware I had, it was disposable because I had only spent a modest sum on it. Then I started thinking about things like the apps in the app store, or office supplies, you know, the little things that are cheap and how if it breaks, you just buy a new one.

Really, when you think about it, can something that costs a dollar or less really cost less than a dollar to produce? In some cases yes, but what about something that is five dollars or even ten? When those items break, we usually discard them too.

But what would happen if we spent more for something of a bit better quality? What if that five dollar toy was ten and was built a bit sturdier and of quality materials instead of cheap plastic? Maybe your kids would value their toys a bit more and want to keep them longer. (Ok it was worth a shot... :P) Or maybe that nice utensil that you bought for $10 that was made of metal instead of plastic would last longer and do better for your needs.

As I've gotten older, I've learned that I'm willing to pay a bit more for quality. Maybe if we all were willing to spend a bit more less often for quality items, then our economy would improve as we need to fill positions to make all this cool stuff.

Ironically, soon after I had this revelation, Eric Karjaluoto over at Ideas on Ideas had a great post about the very same topic. Maybe, fingers crossed, it's the start of a good trend....

(btw, I'm not affiliated with Eric, smashLAB, or Ideas on Ideas other than I enjoy Eric's posts and once had a fun conversation about design conferences with him on Facebook that he probably doesn't remember...)

Deaf Monty Illustration

Over the summer, I was asked by my longtime friend Leslie (who co-owns the Innport B&B with her husband Jeff) to illustrate their dog, Deaf Monty for a new business venture. They are hoping to obtain a liquor license and open a small wine tasting bar at their bed & breakfast. They have a small dog, Monty, who is a cute cross between a Westie and a Maltese. He really is deaf and he has a penchant for cheese and red wines, so they figured he'd be the perfect way to advertise their new wine tasting bar.

So my job was to illustrate the ultra-cute, ultra-fuzzy Deaf Monty for a logo-esque usage. I started out by meeting the clients and Monty at Innport. I took some photos and the client also sent me some shots they had taken so I could have reference to draw from.

I reviewed all the reference photos and I Googled "westie" and "maltese" to see the breeds that are a part of Monty to see how I could best capture his personality.

After I narrowed down the photo reference to the few shots I thought would best convey Monty's personality, I began sketching with pencil. My first few attempts were very sad...but that's the whole point of sketching, to practice learning to draw your subject. After about a half dozen or so attempts, I sketched out this version of Monty that I felt captured him pretty well...

Reference photo...

My sketch...

Clearly, it is not 100% there yet, but I felt it was at a stage to get some feedback from the client. They replied that it was close, but not quite there yet, they felt the ears and snout still needed work. So back to the sketchbook for me.

Usually when sketching a subject, you get better at it the more you sketch it...well unless you don't. I just couldn't seem to re-capture the "magic" of that previous sketch. Here's one of the later sketches that was worse than what I presented to the client...

So what the heck do I do now? I had to take a break and think about what my next step would be. After some contemplation, I thought I would review the other reference photos to see if I should try a different angle on my sketch.

After re-reviewing the photos, I choose this one to sketch...

And here's my (quick) sketch from the photo...

I showed the client both the crappy "second version" as well as my new angle. They replied back that they really still liked the first sketch, but the third one (the new angle directly above) was very good too, was there any way to combine the best traits of each?

Most designers and illustrators probably would gasp in horror at this moment. But I didn't because by combining both sketches, I was able to resolve all the issues of the first sketch and was better able to capture the "true Monty".

Here's a rough digital composite I made for the client to review...

The client loved the composite and so I proceeded to make the sketch digital. In order to do this, I took my composite file and imported it into Illustrator where I used the brush tool and my Wacom tablet to retrace my pencil lines. I also decided to add a "wine stain" as a background element to help Monty stand out against a white background.

Here's the first version of the "digital Deaf Monty"...

The client overall liked the this version, however they felt the mustache was a bit too heavy handed and they had another suggestion, one that I wish I would have thought of. Since Monty is a dog who "nose wine", the client suggested I make the nose and mouth a subtle wine glass shape.

Here's my first attempt...

The client thought it was good, but not great, so I refined the linework and the nose/mouth area a bit and here is the final illustration...

The client loves the final result and is looking forward to using their new illustration to promote their new wine bar once the liquor permit is approved. I think this project was a great one in that I was able to help out longtime friends and with their input and guidance, I was able to take a good illustration and really make it awesome!