The Designers of Summer

I love baseball. The sport, the history, the stats and even the analogies. I played it all the time growing up and during my summers in high school me and my friends would drive up to Seattle and hang out at the Kingdome all day collecting autographs, catching balls during batting practice and of course enjoying the game. (As much as one could enjoy it, because the Mariners really sucked back then)

I also collected baseball cards growing up. I had an awesome collection with hundreds of some of the best MLB all-stars from rookie all the way through to their retirement. Unfortunately after I graduated from art school it took me eight months to get my first job, the economy like now was pretty bad and I sold my collection to get some quick cash. (I still regret that decision)

In 1997 I accepted a job at Upper Deck Company as a senior designer in their baseball division. I worked at Upper Deck for three years and it was a great experience and I made some awesome friends I still keep in contact with to this day.

I was quickly blown away by how far trading cards had come since I was a collector. In fact you'll find the highest form of print technology in the trading card industry and they're always looking for next form of print tech they can integrate into cards.

Some of the technologies I designed for were:
- Printing full-color with multiple spot colors
- Metallic Inks
- Foil Stamping
- Embossing
- Die-Cutting
- Laser Cutting
- Holographic Foil and Imagery
- Custom Packaging and Paper Engineering
- Flexography
- Embroidery

The following is a grab bag sampling of a few of the hundreds of trading cards etc. I designed at Upper Deck.


1998 UD3™ card design.

The approach I took with this set was to make the card itself look like a high tech user interface. The design integrated a multitude of print technologies and I really liked how the whole set came out.

As in every industry however they're are always critics and the trading card industry is legion with them. One guy that goes by the name of "Bull Dog" made the following comment on the above design.

"This card set has everything but the kitchen sink. I hate it."

Maybe Bull Dog was right seeing as this card is worth a whopping quarter now?


Victory™ brand logo design.

I designed several brand logos for Upper Deck while I worked there and unfortunately Victory™ is one of them. I say that because I had exactly half a day to design a brand logo and at the end of that day we were going to meet with marketing and pick a direction for this new line of product.

I had done about 3-4 designs and put them up in the conference room along with other designers concepts and than at the last moment I stuck this one up. I didn't really like it that much but thought "One more won't hurt."

Well, guess which one marketing loved. Yep, dumb move and all the other designers groaned knowing they'd have to work this beast into their designs. I got a lot of sarcastic feedback from my fellow creatives over that one and it was all well deserved too.


Victory™ brand card design.

The Victory™ brand by Upper Deck was like the Toyota Tercel of Upper Decks products. No frills, basic full-color printing and not much else. But I still tried to make the design as interesting as I could for the childhood collectors who this was targeted at. (Nevermind the hideous logo I cursed our department with)


Another Victory™ brand insert card.

When designing cards at Upper Deck we had access to a photo room that archived thousands of pictures of pro athletes. I could pull the slides and scan them for my specific design and to use in my final mechanicals. The photo guys would use my design as a guide to pick the remaining set of player photos, and production would use my digital files to set up the gang run of all the cards.


"A Piece of History" Babe Ruth bat card.

Upper Deck is the industry leader when it comes to sports collectibles, creating unique one of a kind products for very avid fans of professional sports. Not every fan can afford an original bat used by Babe Ruth however, so Upper Deck purchased one from Sotheby's and decided to share the wealth with collectors everywhere by putting pieces of the bat on trading cards.

They had me design the official branded card that would showcase this piece of history.

As much fun as this project was the absolute best part of it was being able to handle this bat myself and take a few swings with it. Knowing it was destined to be cut into pieces, I insisted we photograph it and use that image in the card design as well. One VP at Upper Deck liked my work so much he gave me one of the cards when it was finally produced.


1999 Upper Deck Encore insert card.

This image doesn't do this card justice. It has a nice rainbow foil substrate it was printed on along with silver foil stamping. This was one of my favorite insert cards I designed while working there IMO.


1999 Upper Deck Century insert card.

I was kind of like a roaming designer at Upper Deck, I'd work on MLB, NBA, NFL and in this case NHL product lines. I know nothing about hockey, but due to the popularity of the whole "Techno" vibe I had developed for the other sports we adapted it to the new set of hockey cards.


1999 Upper Deck Retro brand foil pack design.

Foil pack design was always a hit or miss form of printing. Sometimes the flexography came out nice and other times it looked like a retarded monkey printed it. This specific design worked well for flexo.


1998 Upper Deck bobblehead cards.

One friend I made at Upper Deck was a very talented lead designer named Wayne Wilcoxen. The guy is brilliant when it comes to paper engineering (Anything actually) and he figured out a production method that allowed a card to lay flat in the package but once opened could be assembled into a paper bobble head doll.

I helped in picking the photos and did all the illustrations for the various sports. If I had these growing up they would have been no-brainer bb gun targets. ;-P


1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck CD card designs.

Upper Deck has never been shy about trying new approaches to trading card collecting. These CD cards had short videos on them, audio, interactive menus, and stats. All though well intentioned this product was not very well received by the collecting community. Simply put they prefer paper products.

Now if Upper Deck could integrate a Harry Potter like interactive paper experience they may have something they could bank on.


1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck POP mobile design.

This picture makes it hard to determine the scale of this mobile but the pyramid part of it was about 14 inches square at the top. I was responsible for all the marketing pieces for this new product launch and when it bombed the marketing guy I was working with (One of the nicest marketing people I've ever worked with BTW) was fired.

It's been nearly a decade since I worked at Upper Deck but they are a client of mine now and I still create a variety of work for them and consider my former employer one of the best jobs I ever had.

Serial Design Killers

My original "Fa La La La Lifetime" Seasonal Branding.

For the past two holiday seasons Lifetime Television has used the Christmas Seasonal Branding I created to promote with. They keep using my art to promote because it's proven to be marketing gold and a ratings winner each year. Awesome!


Lifetime Lovers' Lame.

In our industry a marketing person falls into one of two categories IMO:

A Good Marketing Person: They understand and appreciate the role a designer plays in a project. They communicate well with creatives and equip them to produce appropriate solutions by providing a coherent marketing strategy. They avoid playing art director, and let the designer steer the design. They desire well conceived and executed design and artwork just as much as the designer does. And they know that when combined with common sense marketing the end result will be far more effective and compelling in the end. In other words the recipe for success is founded upon a solid creative process and a mutual respect relationship between creative and marketing.

A Bad Marketing Person: They don't care to understand nor appreciate the role a designer plays in a project. Their opinion is paramount. They think they communicate well with everyone, until someone questions their opinion. Their idea of an appropriate solution doesn't come about from a coherent marketing strategy, but rather based off of what they see someone else doing. Cloaking it in their own psycho-babble, they sell it as an original idea they came up with. They love to play art director, and can often be heard saying "I took art class in college." or "Can you make the logo bigger?" They desire to just get the job done, because designers are too picky and no one will notice or care about that anyway. They think the creative process is a derived formula, so re-heating borrowed ideas is their recipe for success. If it fails they blame the designer, if it succeeds they take all the credit and further feed their self-deception.

When I first worked on the Christmas Seasonal Branding for Lifetime I worked with a good marketing person. The end result was a very successful campaign using nice artwork.

Back in February a designer friend emailed me and asked if I'd done a "Valentines" project for Lifetime because she saw something on the channel that looked like my work but wasn't sure. I dialed in and discovered the above "Lifetime Lovers' Lane" being used to promote another seasonal campaign that was clearly derived from my original artwork. Someone at Lifetime had hacked together the words they needed and crudely Frankensteined a design worthy of flaming torches and pitch forks.

My first thought was "That looks like complete crap!" followed by "Why didn't they hire me to do something fresh?" It didn't make sense, this marketing person (Good) knew better than to do this so I contacted him and he was as surprised as I was. He had moved on to another division and a new marketing person (Bad) was running the show now. He agreed they should have hired me to do it and apologized. He passed my name on to the new marketing weasel...uh...person and that was the end of that.


Mother #$@! Lifetime.

It's now May and one thing is for sure, Lifetime wouldn't know good design if it sat in their lap and called them Mama.

The bad marketing person is playing art director again. A new type of Frankensteined design has been birthed to promote "Mothers Day." I wonder what the next bastardized incarnation will be?

Years ago me and former co-worker coined a phrase to define this type of marketing genius. We referred to them as "Serial Design Killers." This bad marketing person is headed for a Lifetime of design crime and the body count now stands at two.

XBox Live Video Game

Owl illustration artwork used in game.

A little over a year ago "Say Design" contacted me about using my Owl illustration in a video game called "Puzzle Arcade" they were developing for Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.


Microsoft XBox Live Marketplace.

I almost never get told by my clients when something will launch or be released. I usually find out after the fact and such was the case with this puzzle game. My fellow design friend Nate Vosse owns an XBox and spotted it and posted some links. Thanks Nate!


Screen shot of "XBox Puzzle Arcade" in progress.

I love video games and my wife enjoys doing puzzles so I was thrilled to license my art for this usage.


Screen shot of "XBox Puzzle Arcade" solved.

Unfortunately I don't own an XBox. But it's still cool that thousands of people will get to enjoy my artwork anyway via this XBox video game.

This Old Blog.

A guilty pleasure of mine is watching home related programming on TV. My daughter thinks I am wasting my TiVo account recording HGTV programs instead of "Invader Zim." I of course disagree, but when "Scripps Networks" contacted me about a logo and branding for a new program I was very excited.


Cool Houses Daily Logo Mark.

A brand logo for a TV production is a different breed of animal than one for mere print production. It has to work well as a "Bug" on TV. It has to allow for the possibility of animation and seamless integration across all media venues including both print and web. That was part of the criteria I was given when working on "Cool Houses Daily" a new featurette offered up by the Scripps Network.


TV spot animation of Cool Houses Daily Logo.

Cool Houses Daily is directly tied into an online web portal called www.frontdoor.com so I created fun and colorful web headers and illustrations that were integrated into both the TV spots and web site. Visit the site link above or view my artwork in action by clicking here.


My art in context of the web site.

Working digitally is a double edged sword at times. Even though I like how this came out over all there is a few areas on the site where Scripps in house team took some creative liberty and chopped up my art to create other usages and those kind of make me cringe but what can you do?


Real Estate Survival Guide header illustration.


Part of the Cool Houses Daily home page.


Seller's Guide inset illustration.

Stay tuned for a few more logos I developed for Scripps programming on a small screen near you.

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."

Promotional Graphics

Promotional graphic: Honda Fit

In Oregon we are surrounded by tribal casinos. The top tourist attraction in our state in fact is an Indian casino. Every reservation it seems has their own little Vegas sprouting up and each of them compete to get more traffic to their facility by using promotions such as "Wacky Wednesdays" where they give away a FREE car each and every Wednesday.


Alternate design option not used.

The common denominator in each of these promotions is a car. The style on the latest promotional graphic allowed me to do a photo illustration but as shown below I've illustrated a few cars along the way too.

I call these types of projects "Joe Consumer Jobs." I know they may not be too glamorous but it's still fun working on them.


Old promotional graphic: Honda Hybrid

My favorite part of doing the hybrid car was illustrating the head lights. Half way through I wasn't sure it was going to look right but in the end it all came together.


Old promotional graphic: Ford Mustang

Not sure what brand of car the next promotional graphic will require, but I'll put the creative pedal to the metal and floor it!

Sneak Peek - Drip.Dot.Swirl. 2

Nine of the eighty patterns that will be in the book.

You may be thinking "Didn't he just post about this?" and you'd be correct. I decided to share a few more patterns with you to wet your appetite, since many emailed me to see more. So this is it for 2008, I can't disclose any more so I decided to pick a few that showcased the range of style and thematic motifs I am creating.

Pattern names for each in order from left to right.
- Leaf Me Alone
- Thorn Blossom
- Alien Cells
- Bone Head
- Graphic Bloom
- Noodler
- Parlor
- Hawaiian Vibe
- Flame Broiled

All of course are tileable. Hope you like what you see so far.

Sneak Peek - Drip.Dot.Swirl.

"Parlor" pattern design.

For the past five months I've been working on my second design book which will be based on illustrative patterns. It is tentatively titled "Drip.Dot.Swirl." and will be released in exactly one year.

I've spent a lot of time fine tuning and creating a very useful set of tileable patterns that artists will enjoy using in their design and illustrative projects.


"Parlor" pattern tiled repeat.

Each pattern will be vector based so they'll be easy to use, easy to edit color, and if needed easy to simplify for your specific needs. And like my texture book "Crumble.Crackle.Burn." it'll be both useful, inspirational and fun.

Sorry I can't share more at this time but when the date draws nigh I'll be posting more about it.

Isometric Diagram Illustration

'Isometric Diagram Illustration for Kazeon.'

How do you relay technically complex IT processes and methodologies in a simple visual manner so a layman or garden variety corporate suit can quickly and easily get a grasp on the big picture and understand a products benefit to their bottom line? That was the challenge I faced on this project.


'Diagrams integrated into Kazeon web site.'

Kazeon equips large companies to manage and isolate individual data points within their own networks that may contain millions of documents, files and emails. They needed to show these services visually on their web site at www.kazeon.com, and within presentations to potential clients and investors alike.

In total I created four diagram illustrations for Kazeon along with some GUI icons you can see on their web site. Working in this isometric style is fun and is kind of like vector SIMS in a way. To view a larger version of the illustration above click here.

Marketing: Serial Design Killers

'Body Odor Card'

I was stoked a company hired me to create a set of '24' gross-out theme trading cards for kids. Such topics as Poop, Toe Jam, Ear Wax, Rotten Fish, Rotten Eggs, Body Odor etc. If that wasn't fun enough these cards would be scratch-n-sniff too! I grew up on Wacky Packs and loved the gross themes but being able to actually smell them is just icing on the cake for a kid.


'Toe Jam Card'

Over about a two week period I worked on the whole set and the scratch-n-sniff logo that would appear on the card as well. I finished off all the art and sent it off to the client to review and they loved the art. I had already thoroughly tested it on my own two daughters, their friends and a bunch of neighborhood kids as well and all of them laughed at the art and made faces saying "Yuuuuck!" but when I told them it would also be scratch-n-sniff they would smile and get excited. Like I said it was icing on the cake, a sure thing if you will right? Well, maybe not.


'Rotten Fish Card'

I had done everything an artist in my position could. Quoted the job, won the project, signed the paper work, ran sketches of my art by them for initial approval, got green lighted to produce the final artwork and invested a lot of time dialing in each card so a kid would enjoy the art and find it humorous. I delivered the final art for review, I expected to hear back regarding any art changes needed, I'd modify what was asked for and then send off the final production files ready for pre-press.


'Ear Wax Card'

Well that isn't the feedback I get. Instead I hear "Everything is being put on hold while marketing evaluates the market place."

What?! They approve a budget, green light the art and yet they say now after the fact they are not sure if there is a market place for it?

It's really simple folks, Kids like gross stuff, they think poop is funny, they like talking about farts, they find it fascinating when something smells bad or causes them to make faces because it's so disgusting, hence the market place you knobs.


'Poop Card'

Another thing pointed out was "There is some discussion being had on the poop and the dog. They are debating if the drawing really needs to show the dog in progress of pooping or not." What the? It's OK to have an XBox Video game where you can rip the head off a human opponent while fighting and see his spine dangle below spurting out blood and gore but God forbid you show a flea bitten mutt taking a dump? This however is marketing logic 101.

I remember stabbing a piece of dog poop with a stick as a kid and flinging it at a neighbor girl hitting her in the head as she ran off screaming. It was a lot of fun for about 30 minutes until she called our house and my Mom picked up the phone and I had to walk over and apologize which ironically scared the crap out of me. (OK, so that has nothing to do with scratch-n-sniff cards so I'll get back on topic.)


'Rotten Egg Card'

When I worked for an in house art department years ago we ran into this same mentality nearly every day in regards to marketing people playing kill joy with good ideas and unique products. Everything seems to get dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. Of course when something failed it was because the design wasn't up to par, if it succeeded credit would be kidnapped by marketing. They are in my opinion some of the most self-serving, unoriginal thinking, self proclaimed art directors I've ever met.

This is why I refer to them as 'Serial Design Killers'. It's proven to be a very accurate term.

Not all hope is lost however. The set still has a chance to be produced. But will it survive the clutch of marketing in it's current form or be baked down into a bland non-offensive visual glop for namby pamby kids to consume? The latest victim of the 'Serial Design Killers'? Time will tell.

Thus endeth my rant.

Spruce up your creativity!

'Art for a Concept Card'

The majority of times my ideas drive my art but at other times my art drives my ideas. Such is the case with this piece of art. I had doodled this character on a notepad next to my work station over the course of a few days. I liked the character and wondered if there was a way I could use it for something? Just to entertain myself I started writing down puns related to the art and then the idea hit me. Instead of a mere business card that had my name and contact information I'd create what I call a 'Concept Card'. It would be art driven but also have clever copywriting. So I started weaving the puns together and after a little refinement and help from a copywriter friend this was the result.

"Are you stumped? Is your project giving you a splitting headache? Neck on the chopping block? Woodn’t it be great if you had an artistic lumberjack to harvest a forest of ideas and create design that leafs the competition behind? You know, someone sharp to cut through the dull so your audience isn’t board? Try Vonster. Okay, so maybe you’ve got no axe to grind, but you should quit barking up the wrong tree. And how do I know the answers? Easy…a little birdie told me."


'Inside of Concept Card'

The 'Concept Card' will be the same size as a business card but fold out to be twice as tall. The bottom half will showcase the art and the top half is a speaking bubble with the above text in it. The back of the card will have my logo, contact information and a slogan that says "Spruce Up Your Creativity!"


'Outside Front and Back of Concept Card'

I have a couple other ideas for future 'Concept Cards' already sketched out and like this one the art is inspiring the idea. I gave the drawings to a copywriter and told him to go nuts and write it as if the character is speaking to my target audience, the results are pretty funny.

Pioneer Spirit

Daniel Boone was a man, a biiiiiiig man!

Schier Products has been pioneering and selling plumbing products since 1972. Many of their product lines have names like 'The Trapper' or 'Great Basin' and they wanted a logo that reflected that same heritage of pioneering spirit. To be specific they wanted a mountain man that could embody a strong persona moving forward.

I am happy with how this mark came out and as you can see I used the round off technique on my vector art to give it a more refined look.

The Illustrative Designer Podcast

'Our iTunes Badge.'

The Illustrative Designer Podcast is now live. Our first episode is on iTunes and we have '3' more scheduled to hit ever couple of weeks. You can subscribe in iTunes by clicking here.

To support this new podcast I have developed a site so if for some reason you do not use iTunes or don't have access to that app all the time you can simply visit the site and listen to the podcast online. Visit the web site at: www.TheIlustrativeDesigner.com

It's taken me a while to work out all the technical bugs and I am still working on improving the optimization of the interviews since I record them over a phone line but if you listen to this with head phones it should be fine.

The first podcast features an interview with Bill Gardner the creator and founder of Logo Lounge. The end of each podcast will feature cool music sourced out by my friend and fellow designer John Nissen.

I hope you all enjoy and please leave some positive feedback at iTunes and be sure to visit the web site.

Von

Promotional Poster

'Promotional Poster' Click art to view larger image.

I'll be teaching digital illustration again come Winter term on January 4th. This is a poster I created to hang up at the college to encourage students to sign-up. Once I start this years classes I'll be posting the assignments and all the resources I use at 'IllustrationClass.com'. Anyone can download the files and if you do let me know and I'll show your work to my class.

You'll notice several common themes I have repeated in this artwork. I've been illustrating a lot of tubes coming out of heads, snakes, wings, fire, another bird cameo and of course the token fedora. Not sure why I've been on this kick but it's fun so stop whining about it already.

I am a new CS2 Illustrator user as you'd know reading this blog. This project was only the fourth time I've used CS2 to create a project. It's getting moderately easier but still far slower then FreeHand unfortunately. One thing for sure it's getting harder to use both and eventually I'll have to completely cut all ties to the previous. I am still a little bitter with the corporate weasels at Adobe who forced this change on me. Eventually I'll have to illustrate a corporate weasel and of course use CS2 Frustrator...uh...I mean Illustrator.

Go Forth & Create!

Click art to view larger image.

History
Pretty much every product or industry has some kind of ongoing rivalry. In soft drinks, it's "Coke vs. Pepsi." You have "Nike vs. Adidas" in the world of footwear, and "Mac vs. PC" in computers.

The communication arts world is no different. Graphic designers and illustrators have been arguing the merits of Macromedia FreeHand and Adobe Illustrator since the early days of digital design. I've been a diehard FreeHand user since 1991. Over the years, as more and more illustrators migrated to Adobe products, some have scorned me for sticking with FreeHand. But I didn't care. It facilitated my creative pursuits, and no one could argue with the results. I've won major awards and received recognition both nationally and internationally for work done with FreeHand. Sure, I've owned Illustrator since Version 8, but only for converting or opening files sent to me. I and a handful of other hardcore FreeHand aficionados have been holdouts, while most of our friends and peers have gone over to the other side.


No, I don't know what the pipe smokin' worm means. It just looked cool.

Bad News
In 2005, Adobe purchased Macromedia. With the merger, FreeHand's future looked grim. I knew it was time to make the change. Dragging my heels and Wacom pad, I knew I must begin the switchover. Little did I know that I was embarking on a tortured journey. Changing my primary drawing application wasn't easy. It was like learning to drive on the other side of the road or read a book upside down. Things that were intuitive, almost second nature, were now unfamiliar. I confess--I resisted the change. I was still fuming that the corporate officers and business analysts at Adobe would make a decision about my most important artistic tool. What if Leonardo was forced to switch to watercolor? You know he would have been grumbling a little, too.

My plan was to learn Illustrator gradually. With a booming year of business and a long list of client projects, I really didn't have room in my schedule, or motivation, to take a class or to switch abruptly. I bargained with Time: when FreeHand no longer worked on my Mac (due to the inevitable hardware and OS upgrades), I'd migrate. Really. But fate had other plans for me.


Bubbling ideas. Or as I like to call it, "Slow Boiling."

Closet FreeHand User
Recently, a Portland agency approached me to illustrate a promotional poster for the Adobe CS2 Creative Suite. Wow! I was totally jazzed and honored. When we met to discuss ideas, I quickly realized they assumed I was a CS2 Illustrator user. Now, I was no stranger to Adobe products. CS2 Photoshop had been part of my creative process for eons. And I actually owned CS2 Illustrator. But I had never created a whole project from beginning to end with any version of Illustrator.

They had no clue that a holdout was right under their very noses! I felt like an agent in a covert operation, a scout behind enemy lines. Should I blow my cover, and reveal my diehard alliance with FreeHand? All kinds of amusing arguments went back and forth in my mind. "Don't worry, Adobe owns FreeHand now, so it's not like you're technically a spy." How about this one: "No problem, we'll just do it in FreeHand, then copy and paste everything into CS2. After we save it as an Illustrator file, no one will even notice." I was starting to get a little nervous. I hoped my eyes weren't twitching and sending a Morse code message that a traitor was in their midst!


Yes, even spiders have duo-colored eyes.

Moment of Decision
The agency explained the project: Adobe wanted to use the poster to demonstrate Illustrator's various features, such as transparent vectors, smart objects, layer effects, VPF Technology, and the relationship of CS2 apps working together. It was a juicy project, to say the least. I would be designing a creative illustration for one of the planet's most famous software companies.

It just got better and better. Trying not to drool, I asked if there was a particular direction, theme or concept. The art director looked at me, and said the words that every illustrator dreams of hearing: "No. It's wide open. I like your art, so just do what you do." An account executive did mention to stay away from "edgy"--guns, nudity or violence were out. Okay, so no naked John Wayne Green Beret homage. Other than that, the door was open. Weird, strange, whatever. Whoopee!

Suddenly I came to my senses. There I sat, with one of the coolest projects ever, with total creative license. But I couldn't use my old friend and accomplice, FreeHand. The tool that was my partner for the previous decade was not invited to the ball. How ironic. Panic time!

I did weigh the idea of coming clean. Should I tell them I didn't use Illustrator as a primary drawing application? I decided against it...they didn't hire me because of my software. They loved my previous work, which was all done on FreeHand. My creativity doesn't come from a tool. However, for integrity's sake, I would have to create the artwork with Illustrator. I would have to get my butt in gear and go on a crash course to learn the software, inside and out.

I felt like a man emerging from a concrete bunker, after years of solitary resistance. I must learn CS2 Illustrator...and quickly. This would be a great test of the product's capabilities and ease of use. FreeHand wasn't an option, and it was time to be baptized by fire.


Happy little bee

Creative Process
Hmm, having a wide open creative brief wasn't as easy as it sounded. I had no idea where to start! For several days, I just let ideas slow boil. Then came a period of furious sketching. An idea started to take shape. I thought about what the AD had said, "Do what you do." That was it; that was the idea. So I did. I began "to do." I didn't hold back either. I stretched myself and created art that I thought would be inspiring for other artists. My idea was based on the premise "Why do artists use Adobe products?" The answer is, "To create."


No art is complete without a winged Roman worm

The End Results
I wasn't sure how Adobe would respond. Was the illustration a little too weird? Would the concept clash with their branding somehow? After all, this was a respectable software company, not MTV. But because creatives were the target audience, quirky is good. The agency loved it! They didn't have any changes, and presented it as created. Thankfully, Adobe was thrilled as well, and everything was green-lighted. I made some minor tweaks, then finalized the art.

I wish I could say the switch of software went as smoothly. Honestly, it was sometimes difficult and frustrating. Menus were different. Shortcuts weren't the same. And some tools just didn't exist in Illustrator. However, I found that Illustrator had some great capabilities I never dreamed existed. Later this year, I'm taking an intensive class for former FreeHand users. I'll miss my old buddy, but when you work in a creative environment, you have to be willing to upgrade and adapt, or technology will leave you behind.


Houston, We Have a Problem

Every Good Story Needs a Villain
Lest you think that this fairy tale had no cliffhanger, there was a bit of drama mixed with humor along the way. After many meetings, multitudes of eyeballs viewing the design (including both Adobe and agency staff)...after the artwork was finalized and just about ready to be handed off, along comes the "Ogre of the Audience Demographics and Financial Returns." Uh, I mean, the marketing person, who said, "Why is the worm guy wearing a Nazi helmet?"

(Cue sinister music)

We all know that marketing people have their place in business. And every creative professional knows there's often a tug-of-war between creative expression and the realities of the business model.

In this case, Mr. Worm was not wearing a Nazi helmet. Mr. Worm was sporting a vintage World War I German officer's helmet. The Nazi Party wasn't even around at that time. But no, this was going to be a problem. The marketing person was not going to budge, Nazi helmet or not. Someone might take this image the wrong way. They most certainly didn't want anyone to think they supported militaristic worms with suspect ideology.

I understood the concern, but, hello! What we had here is a winged worm wearing spectacles and a metal helmet. Perhaps we should take another look at the other worm, who wasn't wearing any clothes at all, only a fedora. He's actually smoking a pipe, too.

I can just see it now, protests at Adobe headquarters over the company's implicit endorsement of nationalistic, drug-smoking, nude invertebrates.

(You can probably tell that designers can be sensitive about their work.)

But hey, I'm a professional, and this isn't the first time someone has nixed an element in my artwork. We had to find another helmet for Mr. Worm. I finally settled on a Roman soldier's headgear. And unless you're from Carthage or fought in the Punic Wars, a Roman helmet shouldn't offend anyone. Here endeth my rant, and an amusing anecdote about worms smoking pipes and wearing helmets.

(By the way, I preferred the German helmet because of its sub-culture nod to one of my childhood favorites, Ed Big-Daddy Roth. He was a California illustrator and custom car builder who was influenced by hot rod and motorcycle culture. We illustrators like to include subtle references like that from time to time.)


Epitaph
Anyway this story has gone on long enough, so I'll end it here. I hope I provided some insight into the processes, challenges and zany episodes in an illustrator's average workweek. If you're interested in seeing more behind-the-scenes views of how the art was created, I'll be posting a project tutorial at IllustrationClass.com.

I think it's funny how things work out. For a while, I was dreading the idea of switching from FreeHand to Illustrator. I was that skinny kid at summer camp, shivering at the end of the diving board, scared to jump. Along comes this project, with a not-so-subtle push that got me in the water.

Life is an adventure. I'm really thankful to be able to work on such cool projects.

RIP, my old friend, FreeHand.

If you'd like to see this project from concept to completion you can view it via a free tutorial by clicking here.