Great Lakes Brewery T-Shirt Design: Take Three

This is a variation of the second design, Kami and Saul had said that they wanted the image to be greener and had suggested that I remove the logo from the foreground and replace it with more free space. I thought that the front of the shirt really needed the logo for it to work so in an attempt to make the image greener without having to sacrifice the logo in the foreground I incorporated plants into the skyline's buildings which led to the next step my hop and rye wheel! I wanted to create some sort of pattern that I could place within the negative space of the design created by the sky and the foreground, I wanted whatever pattern I used to be not only plant based but also very much GLBC related so I took the hops and the rye featured in the GLBC logo and created this wheel thing which I then multiplied and created a pattern of it which I then place first in just the foreground and then in both the foreground and in the sky. Although Saul and Kami didn't dislike it they both felt that this design among it's variations was too busy (understandably) and that all of the lines made it hard to see what the actual image was. They also felt that all the flowers didn't play well to their demographics (males between their 20s-40s I believe is what they said.) They said that they wanted to keep things a little more simple than this. Going in with this one I figured it could have gone either way where they would have loved it or hated it and I totally understand where they're coming from with their criticism.

Images and concepts are the property of Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Explaining to Nick Toich What A Double Entendre Is...

Last week I was talking to my good friend Nick Toich on facebook and something came up in which I asked him if that was a double entendre. Having no idea what I was talking about Nick Toich was confused which then led me to trying to explain to Nick Toich what exactly a double entendre was. I first tried just explaining it to him with just the definition, which, did not work. I then tried using examples from within the context of our conversation. I think by the end of it all he understood what I meant and it was later established that what I had been questioning before was in fact not a double entendre which was just fine with me, it did however lead to this amusing picture. Also in case you were wondering I do always refer to Nick Toich by whole name, just because.

The Uncanny X-Men: Making Me Ride an Emotional Roller Coaster Since 1998

There has been a lot of news with the X-Men lately and being the uber X-nerd that I am I have been all over it like unnecessary pockets on a Rob Liefield character. (teehee comic book humor.) Starting with the release of the movie X-Men: First Class I went in not entirely knowing what to expect. I was really didn't like X-Men 3 or Wolverine but this movie was directed by the same guy who did Kick-Ass (which I greatly enjoyed) and didn't have Wolverine as a member of the main cast so you knew it wasn't going to be all about him (though he does make a brief cameo which was both humorous and in good taste.) In the end X-Men: First Class was amazing, one of my favorite X-Men movies thus far. ( I haven't decided yet if I liked it more or as much as the second one yet, it's hard to say, I'll have to rewatch the second one.) My only criticism is that I'm a little confused as to where the movie stands with the others in the series. It has been advertised as a prequel to the previous series of films but there were several key things within this movie that clearly contradict the continuity of the previous films. (Examples; who invented Cerebro (it was Beast in this movie who invented it prior to even meeting Xavier, where as in the previous films it was always said that Xavier and Magneto built it together), the crippling of Xavier (Patrick Stewarts as Xavier is seen walking in both X-Men 3 during a flashback and Wolverine), Xavier and Magneto's break up and when it had occurred (in the begining flashback of X-Men 3 both Xavier and Magneto are seen recruiting Jean Grey together both played by their full grown conterparts), Moria McTaggert's relationship to Xavier, her occupation, and her ethnicity (again X-Men 3, like the comic she is a scottish geneticist where as in First Class she is an American CIA agent) , the age of William Stryker (the main villain of both X2 and Wolverine who appears significantly older in First Class than he does in either of his previous appearances which is weird considering this movie takes place in the 60's before either movie.) So if anything First Class is more like a prequel to a reboot (a preboot?) which at this point I really don't mind because X-Men 3 and Wolverine were just that bad to me, so this movie had me giddy with X-Men joy that I hadn't felt in a while until Schism happened. though the big X-event of the summer hasn't actually started yet it's certainly been making some headlines in the Comic book related press because in this event Cyclops and Wolverine are getting divorced and they're taking joint custody of the X-Men. Right now Schism is being described as the Civil War of X-Men and something that happens in this mini series is going to drive Wolverine and Cyclops apart which means Marvel is doing something uber stupid; They're canceling Uncanny X-Men in October with issue 544 and then in November they're coming out with a new series also titled Uncanny X-Men with the exact same creative team starting at an all new #1 issue.

What. The. @#$%.

It's the exact same series! Why are you restarting the numbering!?! hate it when comic book companies do this, Marvel did it to the Avengers twice in the last ten years, they did it to the Fantastic Four just recently, and they're doing something very similar to Captain America now. And do not even get me started on DC with this whole Flashpoint business. A comic books number is like it's Legacy, it's a testament to how long the series has gone on and how things have changed over the years, and these days the comic book industry just doesn't seem to get it. It's not about being a number one issue it's about being the start of something much bigger, (and I can prove it with my 6 copies of 1991's X-Men number 1 via the 25 cents bin at North Coast Nostalgia in Lyndhurst Ohio.) I wish marvel understood that I'd rather have issue 545 than issue number 1.

Great Lakes Brewery T-Shirt Design: Take Two

So after having a impromptu meeting with Saul and Kami (my P.O.C's on this project) about their expectations for the t-shirt I began work on a new design with guild lines in mind. I started with a thumb nail sketch I drew on the bus on the way to work to give myself, Kami, and Saul an idea for the layout of the image. I generally don't do thumbnail sketches (I probably should, they certainly help and they save you a great deal of erasing in the future.) but for this project I really felt the need because I was even having trouble visualizing it clearly out of my head, hence the rough draft. With the desired image now clear in my mind's eye I began drawing the real deal which turned out rather well. Kami and Saul were quite pleased with it, only having a few minor critiques to offer me. They wanted for the foreground to be a little greener, (which makes sense seeing as the shirt is suppose to display just how green Great Lakes is.) which means that the logo will have to be removed to make way for more plant life. Aside from that the final product should resemble this design somewhat.
Images and concepts are the property of Great Lakes Brewing Co.

The Vaginal Avengers Red Vag of Courage Part One: Pages 1-7

So here are the first 7 pages completely completed (as opposed to the incompletely completed that I've become so famous for in some of my more recent posts.) of The Vaginal Avengers: Red Vag of Courage part of the Cliffhangers from the B-Side Dimension collection of shorts. I've got to say this particular comic has become a lot bigger of a project than I had thought it would be before I started. The first Vaginal Avengers story I did back in high school was only 3 pages and I was figuring I was going to be doing about eight at the most for this one and here we are, 7 pages in and we're only at the rising action of the story. I am however enjoying myself with this comic in all of it's absurdity. I remember when Candace, Rosa, and Olivia had first approached me about doing the original story I was very hesitant because I didn't want something like this to define myself in my craft. (everyone in my grade already thought I was drawing anime porn at the time so I didn't want there to be any truth to it.) but once I actually started working on it and just went crazy over the top comedy with it's quickly become one of my favorite stories, and one of my friends' favorite stories of mine. (It was the talk of Midview High school's Drama Club and Choir class for quite some time.)

Great Lakes Brewery T-Shirt Design: Take One

So as I had mentioned before I was approached by my employer, Great Lakes Brewing Company, about using my skills in things that are art to design a t-shirt that embodies the company's green business practices as well as their local and city farming initiatives. This is the first sketch that I approached my P.O.Cs, Saul and Kami, with. This first sketch was done with little instruction, just with the most basic idea as to what the shirt should be about, really this was me showing them what I can do. They liked it and after our first meeting with this sketch in mind we brain stormed and decided on what the shirt should look like, and though in the end this will not be the image used for the shirt and the one that will be will differ from this one greatly, I still like this sketch will always have a special place in my heart as the start of my first paid work as an artist.

Images and concepts are the property of Great Lakes Brewing Co.

So Freakin' Hot

You can tell it's summer in Cleveland when the locals switch from complaining about how cold and/or wet it is to how unbearably hot it is, myself included. (we really don't get much of a spring here where the weather is just right and this year was especially rainy.) This being my first summer in my new home, I have quickly discovered that a third floor apartment with no AC are not ideal conditions for the summer months, right now in order to combat the heat I have a huge box fan pointed directly at me on full blast in my room. Life has been good other than the heat. Works going pretty good, going to see the new X-Men movie at midnight tomorrow with some of my co-workers, (looking forward to that.) I've gotten some new tunes that I've been listening to, a lot of Apples in Stereo the list is as follows;

The Apples in Stereo: Travellers In Space and Time, Velocity of Sound, The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, Let's Go! (EP)
Beulah: When Your Heartstrings Break, The Coast is Never Clear, Yoko
Ok Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky Extra Nice Edition.

And my comic book reading list has been;

X-Men/ Avengers: Bloodties, House of M, Young Avengers, Uncanny X-men: The Birth of Generation Hope, Goodbye Chunky Rice, Wolverine: Get Mystique, and Wolverine Origins: Dark Reign.
A lot of Avengers and X-men related stories this time around which is cool with all the movies relating to the two series coming out lately. I really enjoyed Young Avengers more than I thought I would.