Creative Leftovers.

"LionHeart" Tribal Tattoo Lion. (Click to see detailed view)

Attention Art Thieves: This artwork is Copyright © 2008 Glitschka Studios. That means you do not have permission to use this in any way, shape, or form. That includes getting it tattooed to any region of your body visible or invisible to the public. If you choose to ignore this warning and I find out I'll sue to have it surgically removed and you'll be paying a usage fee for the time it was on you. Yes, I am serious.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Sometimes during the course of a creative project I develop more ideas than what the client ultimately uses. A recent project was such the case.

I had developed an idea all the way to a final tight sketch, all that was left was to simply build the art digitally. But then the client changed the direction of the project and we put it aside and moved ahead with new art. Well that project is done now and I decided to flesh this leftover art out.

I like how it came out and hopefully I can find a good use for it.


LionHeart T-Shirt.

To preview the Zazzle.com t-shirt design click here.


LionHeart T-Shirt being worn by my friend Jasmine Wabbington.

If you'd like to gird your loins in unique tribal flair just head on over to my tshirt offering on Zazzle.com

PS: Due to recent circumstances with less than scrupulous online viewers I posted the preamble above since this is a style which seems most appealing to those willing to rip-off my artwork. If you are an ethical and honest creative then it doesn't apply to you and you can ignore it. Thanks.

Dreams of Advertising Glory.

Ad concept using Kareem. (Click to view larger image)

Most of what I've been working on lately won't be ready for public consumption for a while so I decided to post more flash from the past artwork. Specifically two 22 yr old marker comps I found in my flat file a few months ago.

When I attended "Seattle Art Institute" it was finishing it's transition from it's former identity as the "Burnley School of Art." My favorite classes while in art school were the advertising classes. I enjoyed the whole foundation of a concept and campaign that facilitated the art and design. Mind you this was before the dawn of the digital age. Sure we had Apple II computers but the graphics at best looked like the old vector based "BattleZone" game you'd play at the mall arcade. Application based UI, Illustrator and Photoshop were not available yet so to show your concepts and ideas you had to do it the old fashioned way, using marker comps.

No one in school at that time ever pushed developing your own style. So most of my work from school was geared towards realism. I didn't feel out my own style until after I graduated. So naturally when I worked on marker comps I wanted to make my ad comps look as authentic and real as possible.

The Bausch & Lomb comp above was my concept for a B&W ad assignment in school.


Ad concept for Porsche. (Click to view larger image)

If memory serves our class assignment was to use modern advertising methodologies in our approach. So I decided to go with the age old advertising slogan of "Sex Sells." Needless to say all the guys in our class liked the idea but no so much the females. LOL

My initial plan after art school was to find a job in an ad agency. I wanted to run with the big dogs. Brainstorm clever headlines and campaigns and take the advertising world by storm. I felt I had the chops, all I needed was the opportunity.

Well I sent out a bunch of resumes and a nice mid-size ad agency gave me a call. The creative director invited me to come in for an interview. I was stoked! This was it, my big chance. I showed up for the interview and he looked over my book and seemed to like what he saw. He then closed it, folded his hands and said.

"I'd like you to work on some concepts for a new client we have. If I like what I see then we'll bring you on board."

My mind started to spin, and I was excited. We figured out a deadline to mail him the designs and he said we'd figure out the pricing later. To make a long story short I spent days brainstorming coming up with a bunch of ideas I thought would work great, mocked them all up and sent them off to the agency. I then waited for a phone call. That phone call never came, I called them back to follow up multiple times and they never returned my calls. Over the next few weeks I got really discouraged, I felt they must have hated everything and accepted the fact I just wasn't good enough for them.

A few months later I saw some ads and realized this agency had adapted some of my ideas. I then realized how cut-throat the advertising world is. This agency wasn't interested in hiring me at all, they just wanted to exploit me. I realized at that moment I'd never work at an ad agency and I shifted my focus career wise.

To end this post on a positive note however my grades on both ads above was an "A."

The Folder of Lost Ideas

"iGod" Keyboard Character never produced.

It's been nearly two years since I launched the "Keyboard Characters" web site. When I developed all of the characters I had created one called "iGod." Due to production costs He along with several other characters I had also created were edited out of the set.

This week I was looking through my archive for other artwork and stumbled upon these two characters again. I thought I'd share them on the blog since they've never seen the light of day publicly speaking.


Righteous tunes!

I had forgotten how much time I spent trying to figure out what song Jesus should be listening too on his iPod. The first obvious choice was "Stairway to Heaven" but I opted for a "Captain and Tennille" classic in the end.


To protect and serve good design!

The "Design Cop" was edited out for two reasons. The main one being he's too "Design Industry" specific and I wanted more mainstream themes instead. The other reason was the cost.

Satan's Logo

Brand Logo Option 1.

Nothing helps me to get into the creative zone and focus more then listening to something while I work. Be it music, audio books or as is the case this past weekend a cool lecture by biblical scholar Michael S. Heiser. He went in depth regarding ancient Semitic Languages and dissected some very controversial verses in the Old Testament. The guy is amazing and has a pretty good sense of humor too.

His topics are what I like to call "X File Bible Studies." The one I listened too was all about demonic hybrids and how what happened in Genesis 6 will happen again in the "End Times." And if you thought that was fringe, he was presenting this topic at a national UFO convention. LOL

BTW: If you're not familiar with the finer points of Biblical Prophecy don't sweat it, you can get a good Cliff Notes version in YouTube form here. Or if you want a good book on the subject that spells it out verse by verse then be sure to read this.

Well needless to say it got my mind churning. I started thinking about the dark lords master plan in the future. And regardless of your theological comprehension you no doubt have seen enough references over the years via movies and books to know that the number "666" is related to the prince of darkness. In fact the Bible has this to say about it.

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666." - Revelation 13:18

But that said not all Christians view such verses as future events. Some think it all happened in AD 70? (This is called the preterist view) Anyway I'll get to the point of this post before I put you to sleep.


Brand Logo Option 2.

The Bible talks about a future world leader who will step upon the stage of human history and will woo the world to his brand of leadership, politics, spiritualism and set forth an agenda for a new world vision. You've probably heard him referred to as "The Antichrist."

Many times I've thought about this whole subject, but this time was very different. I pictured the number "666" in my minds eye and couldn't help but think to myself from a graphic design and marketing point of view.

"How would Satan and his minion sell this brand if it's a literal mark containing the number 666?"

Hollywood and centuries of viral marketing have already tainted the equity. Even a person who would never consider themselves a "Bible Believer" would probably pass on getting "666" applied to their hand or forehead.

Being a creatively curious person I decided to spend half an hour and see if I could create a brand logo for Satan. (After all he'll more then likely hire a brand agency to do this in the future.) I realized I needed coherent rationale before I started and this is what I came up with.

Design Rationale
- "666" has to be in the logo.
- A brand name has to be developed. (Think "Zoloft", "Viagra" or "Crestor.")
- Must use "Red". (Satan owns this color. Sorry "Target" and "Coke.")
- Spend no more then 30 minutes on it. (Have work to do.)
- Approach it like a corporate client.
- No cliches. (Think "Devil Horns" and "Trident.")

The above was the two options I came up with. The hardest part was the new brand name actually. After all we are talking about the master deceiver in all history here so his true nefarious tendencies need to be cloaked in a thin veneer of corporate benevolence.

Anyway it entertained me if only for a few minutes during this horizontal hold and I thought it would make for a fun post. Enjoy.

Postscript:


Building equity via a UK country side?

Well I was trolling some conspiracy sites the other night just for kicks and low and behold I found this little visual gem.

The Client is King...

Three incarnations of one of my approaches.

...But They Shouldn't Play Art Director.

As designers you do your best to improve the local design culture in your sphere of influence. You work with small business owners to deliver a level of craft that will hopefully improve their image and perceived value in the local economy. That's why they call our industry "Commercial Arts."

Well sometimes no matter how hard you try to help a client they insist on committing design suicide. You know the type. They usually say upfront "I want something unique!" Instantly your mind starts stirring and you get excited about working on the project.

That is how this project started off. I've always wanted to work on a radio station logo, I always thought most were boring and lame. But this client wanted something "unique." So I started to do a visual audit of other sports radio stations nationwide and discovered a sea of sans serif mundane marks. I now knew what not to do.

My directions took a contemporary path. More sophisticated yet fun. The station is fan centric so I worked that into one incarnation as well. Another I graphically represented stadium seats. (The client wanted a literal stadium in the logo so this was my compromise.)


A new "San Serif" direction. (OK, I slipped in a serif)

Well the feedback on the first round was pretty clear, they hated everything.

Ironically it was labeled as "Too different." They requested one that was "Bolder" and surprise, surprise used san serif typography. Another problem was they kept changing their mind regarding what the station would actually be called. I've always thought using the term "Radio" in a logo for radio was pretty redundant and not necessary but they insisted. Thus the above incarnations were delivered.

At this point I regret taking on the job but keep pushing forward.

They respond positively to this approach, I feel OK with it but know it's nothing to write home about and figure if the client likes it then that's good enough for this project and delivered all the final art files.


The lame logo they ended up with.

I hear an ad on the radio today announcing the new station and they give out the URL so I decide to check it out and what do I find? A bastardized version of the logo I designed.

Obviously the station manager kept playing art director until they ended up with the same type of mark that hundreds of other radio stations nationwide have.

Sometimes all you can do is try your best and clients will still go their own route and choose to participate in the celebration of mediocre design.