Friday, July 29, 2005

Character Design - Otter Paws

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Here's another example of a character logo I illustrated/designed. I created this a long time ago. From what I gather the flavor is still going strong.

For those of you who happen to be ice cream afficionados, the company that commissioned the logo happens to be the same one who brought you Moose Tracks Ice Cream.

In addition to this logo I also created an alternate flavor logo entitled "Otter Stumps." Basically the paws were replaced with bloody stumps squirting blood. The client had a good laugh about it. What brought that about was the misconception that the client was going to cut off the paws of otters and place them in their ice cream. Makes sense doesn't it?

Thursday, July 28, 2005

That Ain't Right.

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I recently went to a local "antique store" to waste some time while waiting for someone. I put "antique store" in quotes because any place calling itself an antique store should NOT have a poster of Billy Ray Cyrus for sale. That immediately demotes it's classification to thrift store. (Yeah, I know Billy Ray is probably considered an antique by now...) But for the last 13 years I've always used the Billy Ray Cyrus poster as my litmus test. And It's served me well.

Anyway, I'm strolling around the store and was amazed to discover an autographed photo of Ronnie Milsap. Now I don't know much about country music but, I do know he was somewhat of a pioneer in that genre. So I stood in stunned amazment thinking that his autograph is probably worth some bucks... and it was... approximately five of them. FIVE BUCKS!!!???? That's it!!!???

While I recovered from sticker shock and pondered the instability of fame I continued looking around when a stack of old books caught my eye. Now on that stack of old books there was a TV Guide. The TV Guide looked really out of place. At first I thought maybe the store owner accidentally put it down while helping a customer. (Also note, thrift stores will often have a TV where you can find the owner watching their soaps...antique stores don't). So as I attempted to move the TV Guide out of the way I accidentally grabbed it's cover. While grabbing the cover I unwittingly began to reveal a pale green post-it-note on the inside front page. On that post-it note was a $7.00 price tag. $7.00!!!!! Since when is a 1995 Fall Special TV Guide worth more than a signed autograph of music pioneer Ronnie Milsap!!!!????

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Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Video Blog - Popsicle Regeneration




Admitedly this is a bit lame.

With it being so freakin' hot I was curious to see what melted popsicles would look like if they regenerated.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Really Pink Floyd

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More pop culture references and Photoshop fun. This will be the last one until I can think of some more.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Lionel Richie & the Commodores (64s?)

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More messing around with pop culture references and Photoshop.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Citizen CAINE?

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Just messing around with pop culture references and Photoshop.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

More Vicksburg Oddities

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I'm continually amazed at the variety of unique oddities in Vicksburg. From Aliens in windows (6/23/05 post) to Urban Syrup (4/14/05 post) and now this.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Soaking in the Frog Tub

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The photos above were taken in the basement window well at work.

During a rain shower, a few years ago, I was working in the basement when I noticed something jumping in the "escape window" well. As I went to investigate, it became clear it was a frog. Apparantly it was hopping around eating the bugs that had been disturbed by the rain. As I watched the frog I started looking around the window well for other frogs. Sure enough there were at least 6 others of different sizes and colors also going after the bugs and enjoying the rain.

The window well is probably four feet deep so there was no way for them to jump out. There is plenty of leaves and debris that they can hide under and even absorb the moisture. The leaves were plenty deep that they could survive winters. They certainly have plenty to eat with all the bugs that share their environment.

Anyway, just like any normal human being who encounters wild life I took it upon myself to "domesticate" these frogs. That didn't necessarily mean rescuing them. The window well has a 3 foot tall enclosure (in addition to the 4 feet depth) making getting in very difficult. So the next best thing to rescuing them is to make their life more comfortable. So I decided to create a "frog tub" consisting of a half gallon water container with the top three quarters cut off. I punctured holes in two corners and threaded twine through them which would allow me to lower the container without tipping it over. Over the course of two plus years I filled the water container religously (except in the fall and winter).

At one point the tub had nearly 10 frogs occupying it's space. It was definitely a popular hangout. So popular in fact, other frogs were waiting to get in. Seeing the dilema I knew I had to create another tub. So I did. That tub also filled to capacity with frogs. I think at one point the maximum number of frogs I counted reached 22. Pretty amazing ecosystem for a window well.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Crazy Bike

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Photo taken in Three Rivers, MI.

Three Rivers, MI, for me, is quickly becoming real fertile ground for taking photos. Quirky oddities on nearly every block. Down side is, people seem to spend a lot of time in their yards making it difficult to get shots. In addition, Three Rivers, from my perspective, has a real "suspicious, don't get near me" vibe as well.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Relationship Counseling?

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It's hard to watch someone you love, even if it's a kissing dutch boy lawn sculpture, involving themselves in such one-sided realtionships.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Archived Art - circa 1998 Marker Rendering

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More art from the archive (ie. dust covered portfolio). I believe this is the last illustration I did using markers. Up until this time I'd been rendering mostly food products and I wanted to try illustrating something more demanding. This was the result.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Sk8r Draw-ring #2

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Another Sk8 inspired drawing with a hint of MC Escher influence.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Leper Children's Fund

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I recently decided to sponsor a child with leprosy. Granted I didn't sponsor the entire child. The agency allows people to sponsor parts of a child. I chose to sponsor the left index finger and the right "pinky toe" of some boy named Aleijandro or something. Anyway, the best part of this sponsorship thingy is if any part of the child you're sponsoring falls off you don't have to continue payments. I like that. I get credit for doing good without the long term commitment. So as a result of my commitment the agency sent me this wonderful lawn statue as a gift.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Archived Art - circa 1990 Watercolors

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Here's some more archived art. I believe these are from around 1990. I remember trying to recreate the flesh tones of watercolor artist Steve Hanks. All these years later he's still amazing. Sadly all these years later I'm still no closer to mastering flesh tones.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Dan Beacome's Painting by Mouth

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Here's a unique, original painting I've had for many years. It was painted by Danny Beacome with HIS MOUTH!!

Danny lived with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) for nearly 20 years. As many people know, ALS sufferes become confined to wheelchairs and live very much like quadripeligics (often times with tracheotomy tubes to help them breathe). So to live with ALS for that long is truly rare. Actually it was so rare that 60 Minutes (the TV show) did a segment on his life.

Unfortunately, or more likely fortunately, he died a few years ago but, he left a lot of great art behind.

From what I remember, he said he painted left mouthed. (You know, like someone saying they're left-handed)... interesting....

Friday, July 08, 2005

You Killa My Dog... I Shoota You Face!

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I took this photo while biking in the "bad" part of town. Trust me it's not a novelty sign.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Paperback Photography #2

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More Thomas Allen inspired book photography.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Sk8r Draw-ring #1

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Just messing around with distorted features.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Label Design - Sebastians

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I recently realized I don't post a lot of my graphic design work. So here's a label design created quite awhile ago. This is a personal favorite.

If you're into design/ illustration as a profession you know it's very rare that a client give you free reign to design whatever you want, however you want. This wasn't such a case. My only instructions were to come up with a name and design for a breading line. That's it. So I came up with the Sebastian's name for the brand, a line art drawing of the company's owner and a sophisticated turn of the century design.

I chose a turn of the century look and feel for the design beacause he was potentially competing with more established brands. So I thought it would be interesting to pre-date all of those and give the apperance that Sebastians's had been around a long time. Although the product hasn't been manufactured yet it was a great project to work on.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Video Blog - Rocket Launches


A few years ago I shot a short documentary film (video) about hard-core model rocket enthusiasts. The kind of rocket enthusiasts that need FAA clearance, permission from local airports and special certification to launch their 10 foot tall rockets. Definitely a bunch of unique individuals. (Or at least individuals with high intelligence and a passion for igniting things). Anyway here's a brief segment of launches done by rocketeers of various skill levels.

Although not really related to July fourth celebrations I figured showing these clips would be better than showing my "snakes" and "sparklers" footage.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Blessing and a Curse

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This is a result of having too much time to think and the ability to draw. Definitely a blessing and a curse.