Create or Die!

'Latin for: Create or Die'

In June I'll be attending the HOW Design Conference in Atlanta. While there I'll also be doing a book signing for my soon to be published 'Crumble. Crackle. Burn'. I wanted to have a cool freebie give away I could hand out to those who purchase my book so I created this sticker design.

Creative types tend to be very passionate about creating, so I wanted to tap into that core commonality in all of us and design a sticker that most if not all would like. And since this design was geared for my fellow artist I knew I should work into my art a common theme most creative types love to work with. That being a 'skull' and 'flames'.

After asking about '60' designers what they'd like to see as a message I setted on 'Create or Die'. But it didn't fit the banner too well so I decided to translate it into Latin instead. I liked this a lot more because it makes people ask what it means. More interactive that way.


'Stickers Galore'

If you'd like one of these stickers for FREE just mail me a self addressed stamped envelope to: (5x7 Envelopes Preferred)

Gimme a Sticker!
Glitschka Studios
1976 Fitzpatrick Ave SE
Salem, OR 97306

Podcast Graphics

'The Loud Room'

Over the past several years podcasting has grown. Some are like radio broadcasts but I like to think of them as audio magazines. And like magazines there is a podcast for nearly any type of theme or professional. One thing I noticed with several podcasts I enjoyed early on is they had terrible graphics. The information and audio broadcasts were fine but the show graphics looked at best amatuerish in nature. So I set out to remedy my favorite shows images and in the process have become friends with several well known podcasters.

Steve Stanger host of 'The Mac Attack Podcast' asked me if I'd design another graphic for his new music podcast he's producing that will showcase podsafe music and Creative Commons licensed hard rock and metal etc. called 'The LOUD Room'.

Sometimes my mind needs to brew on a project an other times something just clicks and I have an idea immediately and know exactly what I want to do. This is what happened with this project, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. What helped is I had an old illustration I did for the fun of it and adapted that into the graphic you see. Steve loved it.

BTW I run my own podcast called 'TheIllustrativeDesigner.com' where I interview illustrators and designers. You can subscribe to it via iTunes by clicking here.

Fertile Mind

'Fertile Mind - Urban Forest Project'

The original AIGA sponsored showing for 'The Urban Forest Project' took place in New York City in Times Square. Now other chapters of the AIGA are following that lead with their own localized version.

The Portland AIGA chapter will be displaying their own 'Urban Forest' banner designs from April 22-27 across Portland Oregon.

I went through a few concepts on this project. Originally I was going to do a burning bush type of theme with all the branches being arms and hands with the flames morphing into green leaves and one of the hands releasing a flaming Phoenix. It was OK, but frankly it was just getting too serious and the message was far too nebulous to communicate on a broad basis.

So I decided to approach it from a different angle thinking to myself "How will this whole Urban Forest issue ever fully become a reality with the average urban dweller?" The answer was then obvious, the heart of the people have to change before the mind will think differently and that is when the term 'Fertile Mind' came to me.

In my opinion these types of projects too many times are wrongly focused towards an adult audience, so I purposely created a banner design that would appeal to any age be it a 6 year old or a 60 year old. I wanted either type of viewer to look at it and smile from it's humor, all the while considering its meaning.

GUI Icons

'Set of 7 Icons'

The agency developing a new web portal for their client called 'Go Human' needed a set of GUI icons thatwould match the clean look of their CSS driven site. I was give seven themes to work with and asked to create three sizes for each.

- 100x100: Used in web graphics and provided in vector form for print
- 32x32: Used for medium size GUI content
- 16x16: Used for smaller areas that are limited by size

The smallest size can be a major pain in the keester to pull off but when done are well worth the trouble.

7 Hour Project.

'Bow the Knee - Easter Production Logo'

Not all my projects afford me the time I'd like to create them. Such is the case with this project. I was given all the information about four days before it was due but the problem is I couldn't get to it until the day before it was due. Sometimes things work out this way and you just have to roll with the punches and do the best you can with the time you can.


'Pixelated Steroids in Action'

I knew I needed good reference so I convinced a friend of mine who goes to our Church to dress up in the Roman costumes they are using in the production so I could take some reference pictures to draw from. Thankfully he agreed. As you can see in the animated gif above I digitally enhanced Scott via pixelated steroids and that gave me the beefcake soldier I was after.

You'll also notice I grafted in a stronger looking hand as well.

From beginning to end I spent around 7 hours total working on this. Eventually I'll post a tutorial on how I went about creating the art and post it at www.IllustrationClass.com.

The production 'Bow the Knee' is based on Matthew 8:5-13 where a Roman Centurion brings his sick servant before Jesus to be healed.

NFL Embroidery Patches

'Patches-O-Plenty 2'

I am not a huge football fan to be honest. I don't watch it that often anymore but growing up I did enjoy it and collected football cards so I am familiar with all the stars from when I grew up. Such as Kenny Stabler who was called 'The Snake', Tom Landry's trademark fedora or the more modern term coined from a 1990's Saturday Night Live skit of 'Da Bears' and many others.

So when Upper Deck Company contacted me to create a set of NFL Licensed embroidery patch designs playing off these popular fan familiar terms and nick names of various players through out the sports history I got excited.

The patches themselves are not large at about 1.5x1.5 inches so the level of detail had to be kept somewhat simplified but still visually interesting and fun. Embroidery technology has really improved though over the past decade so I am still surprised at how much detail it can hold.

If you'd like to see the set of Major League Baseball Licensed embroidery patches I designed for the same company you can view them by clicking here.

It was a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun.