Count Down to NCCC Class 18: 11 days; The Evolution from Amateur to Free Lance Artist...

It's been a while since I last posted... again. This tends to happen a lot with me, but seeing as I'm going back into Americorps in less than two weeks I need to get back into the habit of updating regularly. So with 11 days to go I present to you the story of how I have entered the paid artists club. I recently received the pay check for the t-shirt design I did for Great Lakes a while back. I was paid with a 100 dollar gift card to Great Lakes and a 100 dollar check of real money (both things I enjoy.) The shirts aren't in print yet the graphic designer that GLBC hired, Amira, has been doing wonderful things with it, she's redrawn the whole thing from my design and it looks spectacular, (I like it far more than anything I was drawing.) It's still my concept but with her art. I wish I had a file of the current version to share otherwise I would but sadly I don't, hopefully sometime in the future though.

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.

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.

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.