Face Lift...

It has been a little while since a made any posts on here. Ok, so maybe it has a been a long while. Just for the sake of making excuses... I have been busy with a few new projects as well as attempting to redesign my website. So far it has gone through a several different possible versions and I am finally getting it some where that I feel comfortable with. Along with my website, I am going to freshen up this blog a little as well. Once the new site is up I will definitely shout it from the roof tops and starting getting some of the new stuff up on here soon there after. Last but not least... I am now on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/derek_edgar ) for anyone interested. I have been holding out but the time just seemed right and hopefully good things will come of it. Take care until next time!

A little freebie...

Here is a little goodie for anyone interested. I have gotten bored with my current desktop and after having little luck in finding anything that I like, I created my own. I know that it is not the greatest thing since sliced bread but it has its charm. I also took the liberty of making an iPhone version as well. I might tweak it a bit more but I like it for the time being. I prefer to use limited color for my desktops or in this case black and white because as I work it doesn't peak around the edges of the windows and affect what I am working on at the moment. Enjoy!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

It is that time again and I have a few little nuggets of goodness to share. First and foremost, my Mighty Mugg is started. As you can see from the photo below he has been primed and the basically roughed in. However, to my dismay I discovered that my old acrylic paints are just that, very old. Until I get a little extra cash he is just going to have to chill out for a little bit.

In the meantime I have started a few other projects that I have been cooking up lately. I am exploring a new idea for another button. This little guy is going to a Japanese demon. If this oni turns out like I hope it will then I am going to entertain the idea of making another small set of them. Here is the sketch that I have been refining a little before I start rendering him in Illustrator.

I have a few other ideas kicking around inside my head at the moment and hopefully some time soon I will have some tangible evidence to post on here. One in particular is a bandanna or two... yes, you heard me or rather read me! A bandanna of some obscure kind is down the road if all goes well. Until then take care and I'll be around.

Oh so mighty...

This little post is more of a tease than anything. I have been getting stared down by a vinyl figure on my shelf for weeks now and I have finally gotten down to business with him. The figure is a Mighty Mugg that I have been a little bit intimidated by. I love vinyls and with so many great customs out there, I am a little bit apprehensive about doing one that might suck. All fears aside I am starting him and just want to throw out my idea in all of its sketchy glory. This might be a while in the making but when I finish the outcome good or bad will be posted here. Take care all.

They're here . . .

I got my act together and finally got my promo pieces printed. Sorry for the delay but they took a little longer to get back than I had anticipated. They are a large postcard size (5 x 7 in) and printed on a nice matte stock. I only had a small number printed because I don't want to mail them out to everyone. I have a few people and firms in mind to mail them to and hopefully they will get a good response. As always, I have a few extra and would love to send them to anyone interested in having one.

Never enough Lucha!!!.....

My button press arrived a few weeks back and since I have been tinkering with it. The first project on my list for it was my luchador buttons. Since I came up with these I have been looking for a way to produce them. Making my own was simply the most economic and gives me a new play toy to boot. I have pumped out a few dozen and have been handing them out a few at a time at AIGA functions and to a few other people as a little self promo piece. They are 1 1/4 inches in size mounted on business card sized chipboard backings with a nice half-tone burst and contact info on the back. If anyone would like to get their hands on a few please let me know!

Pro Bono Bard. . .

I am finally getting around to posting the final version of the design I created for the T-shirt the Timberline kids will be wearing at the Ashland Shakespeare Festival this year. They go every year and have had shirts made for the occasion. My wife is helping out in their high school theatre department while she is working on her teaching degree and I was given the opportunity to volunteer my services. I don't get the chance to do much non-profit type stuff so this was a lot of fun for me. In years past the shirts were a little "clipart-ish" but with no budget other than printing and very little time given, that can make it tough. I was able to get a few examples of the shirts from the past two years for comparison. (below)

I don't know who did these designs and I won't say anything bad about them. They were free for the kids to use however they needed and they served their purpose. I really wanted to do something that the students would really like and enjoy wearing during and after the festival. I like my overall design and judging from the response it got from the kids and teachers, I would say it was a success. This year they had a very specific idea in mind of what they wanted, so this was pretty straight forward. It was a quick turn around with very little time to play but I was able to bust out a decent custom illustration and add some style to their concept. The design is to be place on the upper back and to make the printing as budget friendly as possible, I made it all one color to be printed on a simple white shirt. Please forgive me for not having a mockup to post but I have been promised a shirt and I will be sure to take a picture of that. Have fun in Ashland guys!

Recent happenings. . .

I have been pretty busy as of late. The good news is that I have been doing a few new projects including an illustration for a t-shirt for a local school that I will post once it is finished. I have a button press in the mail so I look forward to producing a few of my luchador buttons as well as a few new ideas I have been kicking around. I also might be doing a little work for a local band soon if all goes well. The bad news is that in case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted much lately and the saddest part is that my promo still hasn't been printed yet. I have had every intention of getting them done but I keep making changes to it and then I got side tracked really bad by a few other things. Now in order to hopefully end on a high note after my many excuses, I am going to share a somewhat recent design I have been trying out on my new business cards. They are definitely "home made" and in very short supply. I have made about 25 in all so far and have started handing them out to a few people. I have been experimenting with chip board a lot and these have a nice textural quality, roughness, and character that I really enjoy. And that is basically how to turn a frown upside down. . .

Promo behind the scenes. . .

This post is going to be a little bigger than normal so buckle up. I have gotten a few requests to show a little more of my design process and I will do my best without making it boring. Once I get and idea of what I want to create, I grab a pen and paper. I always prefer to sketch out my ideas until I get a version I really like. So for all you students out there, listen to John Francis and just do your thumbnails. You may hate it now and forever but it works if you do it right. Sometimes I get it right on the first attempt and other times it takes dozens. The first image below is the better of a few different sketches. I simply scan it into illustrator, take the opacity down to 25% or so, lock the layer, and begin with the pen tool by flushing out the basic shapes and getting more detail oriented from there. I really liked the way this sketch looked except for the knuckles. That is where the next images to the right come into play. I printed out the vector rendering I had done a few times missing the parts I was struggling with and sketched out different variations on top of them. After I scanned them in again I still didn't like what I was seeing, so I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of my own hand until I got a decent angle.

Next I finished the black and white version (below). I like to work in black and white because it makes me focus on the detail, composition,etc. . . but I always keep the final colors in mind. In my opinion, if it looks good in b&w it will look good in almost any color. After I get this version finished with the text added, I print it out again (Notice a pattern yet?) and begin sketching out the shadows and highlights. I import that and go from there repeating a lot of the same processes.For the final color image I tweaked a few details including the text a little bit, add addition elements including the texture, pat myself on the back and take a break. I like to take short breaks and come back with fresh eyes. I easily get caught up in a project and find it useful to reevaluate what I have been doing after I haven't been staring at it for hours. So that is my vague and longwinded process and below is the version of a promo that I am about to finish up and send out soon. I hope this was enjoyable and not too long of a post.

Promo progress. . .

This is a little promo piece in progress that I have been working on. It still needs a few minor touches but is coming along nicely. I'm not sure about colors just yet because I haven't decided just how I want to print it yet, so there is still a little room to play. Lately I have been printing and doing transfers onto chipboard a lot and I really enjoy the texture it adds. As for the content, I just love zombies and it isn't everyday I can justify using the undead in a design. I plan to print these soon and get them sent out to a few agencies I have had my eyes on for a while. I'll post a final once it's all said and done.

Logos from the Vault. . .

These are just a few logos that I did a long time ago that never went very far. For a while I was picking up a few odd jobs from the internet and references. Both of these were marks that I created and really liked but unfortunately, the projects ultimately fell through. Luckily I didn't get much past concepts and starting the digital comps. So instead of letting them collect dust, I made a few minor changes and came up with these versions. The first is a stylized viking helmet roughly based on a few images of the norse god Odin. I found some old etchings that depicted him with these crazy goat horns. The second logo was a stab at a very simple mark and some custom type because a new typeface just wasn't in the budget at the time. In the end it came out alright.

Blade Bunny. . .

The design is of Usagi Yojimbo from the Ninja Turtles, one bad rabbit! This is in loving memory of my TNMT figures that got left in the garden and tilled into oblivion when I was little. Rest in pieces guys.

Face Lift . . .

Thanks to all those who gave me some feedback on my website. I have made a few minor changes and fixed one big glitch that happened with the type yesterday after updating a few things and adding a simple resume. If you haven't seen it in the past few days it might be worth a revisit soon. I hope to have a few new things to post within the next week or so. Until then take care!

Rotten Logo

This is a little something that I have been kicking around for a while now. It started out as a caramel apple illustration before I began having some fun and then I got mad and had to rough it up a bit (zombie apple). It came to together in the end with a little type and became something that is a lot more interesting than a caramel apple just not as tasty.

Mucha Lucha!!!. . . .

These are some buttons I did as a little side project this past year. I really like how they turned out and hopefully if all goes well, I'll add some others to the collection later on. Let me know if you have any ideas or requests. I really had a blast doing them and they are actually based on some super famous old school luchadores (Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, and El Santo). Researching them was awesome! The three of them were all movie stars like some modern day wrestlers try to be but these guys portrayed themselves, masks and all, fighting zombies, mummies, etc. . . Seriously!