For years I have tried to balanced my studio advertising work with an eclectic mix of national and local clients. Some of these clients live in here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Others operate corporate offices out of Spokane, Washington, or Seattle. From Florida, to New York, to Chicago, to LA, I am lucky to have made a a valuable impact with a variety of clients, a few of which I have actually met in person. It is a interesting world we live in when I can collect a $50,000 check from somebody, whom I have worked hand-in-hand with, and feel like I know like a good friend, and yet I have never seen their face.

It is wonderful, however, to do local work where I can see instant reactions to my creative efforts, and bank the rewards of a personal face-to-face meeting. It is hard to cash a spontaneous smile, but the value really is priceless.

Braided Accents has been one of my Coeur d’Alene clients for over six years. When they call up in a panic on Wednesday afternoon and need an ad by Friday morning I am happy to oblige service. As a long term client they have banked a lot of smiles in my account.

Ok, it’s not the academy awards. But from time to time I will get the opportunity to work on a commercial and I always jump at the chance to keep my skills up to date and my finger in the pie. This was a quick fifteen second spot that appears on public television and is very controlled. In fact all PBS “Ads” are very controlled because they do not want the ad to be overtly “selling” anything. It is really more of a branding opportunity with a phone number, and no call to action and no claims, and no single product endorsements. It is fun though. And since my Brother Mike, does video production in New York, it is a very easy web-based collaboration. It is not client approved yet, but as soon as it is, I will post it for the world to see.

Now … where’s that red carpet?

OK, this is a thinly veiled Blogo test. I am nowhere near the net. Exciting isn’t it? I thought that it was time that I blogged the Thunderbird project. The initial brief asked for a design for a 6 foot by 4 foot standee. (A store display). I started with a thumbnail that was actually headed towards an illustrative solution. However, after playing with the type a little, I thought I might be able to create a photo composite using the logo, the storefront shot, and a stock photo. In the end the client liked the photo composite; they changed the jacket from blue to red and then ordered a counter card, a flyer, a 12 foot x 3 foot banner, and a button. The banner called for a major redesign of the type element as well as some tweaking to the photos and backgrounds. All in all it was a fun job. I enjoy photo composites as much as I enjoy illustrations so this project was a win/win.

I’ve been working on a lot of divergent projects but this one takes the cake (ewww). I have partnered with a person who is introducing advertising in of all places … urinals. I know this seems a bit out there, but the demographics and retention numbers play out and it is, after all, a captive audience. That being said, I feel that it needs to be accomplished with a nudge and a wink. It’s hard to take yourself too seriously when you are pitching a stranger who has his life in his hands. Since I am working with this guy, doing the ad design and layouts for the boards, I have placed a few ads as starter seed to help his selling efforts. Yes this relies on toilet humor, and yes it is not an evening at the opera. Still and all, I am not sure if I have crossed the line of taste.

As bathroom ads go, it is not a product placement on a urinal cake, (ewww x 2) nor is it a branded game on the same, both of which exist in the narrow but lucrative market of toilet ad specialties. So I should be grateful.

I am trying to have some fun here. Who knows in the end I might actually drum up some business.

This is a copy of the logo and web head that I have been trying to send to a client all week. For whatever reason my emails are being blocked and they are not receiving my mail. Soooo … I have uploaded it here for them to review at their leisure. (Gina, click on the small image to the left to view a larger picture of it. let me know when you have seen this!)

For all the rest of you reading this … yeah, well … it’s a work in progress.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programing.

Circumstances aligned themselves and I was asked this past Friday to cover a section of computer graphics, teaching an introduction to Photoshop and InDesign. (Classes started Monday) Although I have used Photoshop for 20 years this is VERY challenging for me. It is one thing to stumble around the program in my own expertly acceptable but inept way and quite another to pass this off as a preferred method of emulation. So, I am cramming, training myself to do things the Zen-like Adobe way.

After three days of this, my wife has given me this advice: Relax.

Of course, she is right. It not like I don’t already know this stuff. Teaching lessons from the heart is always better than teaching numbers from a book. RELAX DUDE!

Whew …

OH! Some Photoshop Shortcuts:

photoshop_cs3_shortcuts

And a fun link: Photoshop ad busting

It’s time to have some fun for the holidays. One of my clients asked for a reflection composite (very trendy!) of apples for his upcoming self promo piece. The concept is “Stand Out’ using apples. I grabbed the individual apples from IStock, put them together, did some shadow painting, re-lit them, then created the background gradation and reflection. I then had this idea that it would be cool to take a bite out of the red apple. So back into istock to find a bite picture, then back into PhotoShop to composite the bite and recast the reflection. That also turned out pretty cool. I was thinking maybe a front and back cover of the brochure in question.

The client emails me back and loves the apple composite so much, that he wants me to add a santa hat to the set so he can use them for this year’s Christmas Cards. So back into istock, I grab a santa hat, isolate the hat and then place it on the apple. The trouble is that the hat is shot under very different lights so, I jump into the layers and duplicate the hat, set it to multiply and tweak the color a bit. This makes the hat’s density curve pop a bit, but it still isn’t right. So I go back to the tablet and do some more shadow painting, I add a small drop shadow to the hat and put a small cast reflection to the apple closest to the hat.

It’s not perfect, but it is fun. I am always amazed at what photoshop can do.

The Zen Fellowship of Dayton. It is a gather place (not sure if worship is the right word?) for Buddhists in Dayton Ohio. The client said it was perfect, while at the same time commenting on the ‘leftist’ look the logo has. He said it has a flavor of Russian propaganda art!  “… The hyper-perfect grain, backed by the sun burst!  Enlightenment for the workers!  A bold new tomorrow!”

Who knew that I would eventually have a voice in the uprising of the spiritual proletariat?

I am working on an ad graphic for Digital Color Print Center that is slanted towards 30-something moms. Digital Color is a great outfit for very large prints. I have used them a number of times for show booths, custom display graphics, ad boards, and the like. Funny thing is they started out as a place to create large canvas art prints. The advertising service bureau aspect of the business was sort of an unexpected market niche that took off under its own power. So in an effort to explore this original idea and capitalize on the growing digital photo market they asked me to create some fun graphics that show the power of their art canvas product. Basically you can take almost any digital camera photo and blow it up to a wall size art print on canvas. The finished product is museum wrapped around stretcher bars and is ready to hang. it is actually quite visually stunning and strangely enough … affordable.

The graphics are not meant to replace real shots of the product in use, but instead are an eye-cathcer that simplifies and distills the experience while giving it some sizzle. I presented the thumbnail this afternoon and the client like it. There was some concern over the tag “Digital Diva.” Is there a negitive connotation there or has the mood of the phrase moved to express a more hip, powerful, and experienced woman? I see it as the later. It helps that I am in love with the alliteration and that we are talking about some others (Graphic Grandma, Dorm dude, Pixel Picasso).

I am illustrating a children’s book, one of my favorite things things to do. It is a very simple story about a boy who likes to play in the mud. The story is written in Spanish which of course I can’t read, but a translation was provided. I gotta say that drawing all that dripping slurpee mud brings out the boy in me. I wonder what the Spanish word for ewwwww is?

I am also currently working on a website e-commerce site and a set of corporate presentation kits for Intermax, and a POP display for the local library, a logo for a Zen Buddhist fellowship, and of course I have grading falling out my ears that needs to be finished.

My MMORPG has taken a back seat to my real life. I hate when that happens!