Tuesday, June 29, 2010
New V66 Web Site Unleashed!
The beta version of the New V66 web site is up and running. Later this month, after I've worked out a few bugs and whatnot, I'll be mapping it to the Vintage 66 domain. I'll also be tweaking and updating it throughout the summer so there is lots of new, exciting things to come. Feel free to stop by anytime!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Shaken, Not Stirred.
This is the third in a series of self-promotional postcards I did for V66. I've utilized vintage clip art along with some retro fonts and design elements for an eye catching promotional piece. This style would be a great solution for any small business on a tight budget. Since I don't have to draw the characters from scratch, it saves time and money for everyone concerned, without having to sacrifice quality.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Come And Get It!
Got a hankerin’ for some of the tastiest retro graphics and design services on the range? Vintage 66 Graphics is serving up flavorful graphics for any size appetite from petite to hearty. You can choose a basic customized design featuring authentic vintage art or go with a unique and completely original cartoon, illustration or design. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
This is the second in a series of self-promotional postcards I did for V66. I've utilized vintage clip art along with some retro fonts and design elements for an eye catching promotional piece. This style would be a great solution for any small business on a tight budget. Since I don't have to draw the characters from scratch, it saves time and money for everyone concerned, without having to sacrifice quality.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Now Serving
Vintage 66 Graphics is now serving up some of the most delectable retro graphics and design services around. You’ll find a menu with a wide range of tasty graphics for virtually any sized appetite, from basic customized designs featuring authentic vintage art to completely original cartoons, illustrations and designs, and all with a spectacular vintage flavor.
This is the first in a series of self-promotional postcards I did for V66. I've utilized vintage clip art along with some retro fonts and design elements for an eye catching promotional piece. This style would be a great solution for any small business on a tight budget. Since I don't have to draw the characters from scratch, it saves time and money for everyone concerned, without having to sacrifice quality.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sneak Peek :New Vintage 66 Spokes-character
Wake the kids and call the neighbors! Vintage 66 Graphics has a brand new spokes-character, Bert the Graphics Dog. His duties will include helping out with some information/tutorial posts as well as adding a little extra charm and humor to the everyday V66 marketing campaign. Of course, it is also quite possible that Bert will have some surprises up his short, yet stylish sleeve, but that will probably be a little further down the road after he gets used to his new surroundings. And now here he is, ladies and gentlemen, in all his resplendent glory, Bert.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Historic Route 66 T-shirts
Holy Smacks! Summer is nearly hear, and you know what that means. T-shirt weather,of course, well actually as far as I'm concerned it's always T-shirt weather. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to announce that I'm kicking off the summer T-shirt season with a swell design inspired by the legendary Historic Route 66, sometimes called the Main Street of America. When it was first built in the 20's it stretched over 2,400 miles between Chicago and downtown LA, although it was later realigned because of traffic concerns so that it ended at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica instead.
Now, you can be the first on your block to own one of these beauties, the design is available in three color choices: black, cream or brown. But that's not all, because you can customize it to fit your taste. You can put your name on the back, resize the design, or change the shirt color. Go ahead and play around and see what you can come up with. Make it your own!
Black Design on a White Shirt
Cream Design on a Brown Shirt
Brown Design on a Natural Colored Shirt
Now, you can be the first on your block to own one of these beauties, the design is available in three color choices: black, cream or brown. But that's not all, because you can customize it to fit your taste. You can put your name on the back, resize the design, or change the shirt color. Go ahead and play around and see what you can come up with. Make it your own!
Black Design on a White Shirt
Cream Design on a Brown Shirt
Brown Design on a Natural Colored Shirt
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Hot Rod Brain Project
I've been planning this post for a while now, but I'm still not sure how to classify it exactly. It's not in depth enough to be an actual tutorial, but it's a little more complex than just a this is the final product post. I guess you could say this is a very brief overview of the many steps involved in an illustration project, for those who have ever wondered.
First Rough Sketch:
The project started when I was contacted by John, one of my Flickr friends. John does public relations and copywriting etc. and he was interested in having me do an illustration/design he could use on his web site and other collateral business items for his business Hot PR Shop . Now, John already had a really cool concept in mind, a hot rod with a brain for the engine, but if he hadn't I would have brain stormed and sketched out three concepts for him to choose from. But since he already had one, I did this first sketch based on a photo of a hot rod that he had taken at a hot rod show. At this point I wasn't too concerned with perfection, I just wanted to get all of the elements out there.
Second Rough Sketch:
Oh, I should probably mention that John and I are about 2,500 miles away, so this project was done entirely via emails and a couple of phone calls. Anyway, after I sent John the above sketch he told me what parts he liked and what parts he wanted changed. Notice that while the elements are the same at this point, yet this one is quite a different looking design. Everything is still fairly loose, I was just making sure we were on the same page.
First Digital Sketch:
In case you're keeping score at home, there were many sketches between this version and the previous one, although I didn't bother to count them, so I don't have an exact number. At this point I went from traditional media to digital and did this version based on earlier sketches. Actually, the process involved tracing parts of a couple of different sketches in Adobe Illustrator and then re-sizing the pieces to fit together. Of course, the best part about digital art is quick editing and the ability to save multiple versions.
Early Layout Version:
This version is an early layout featuring type. While we knew what text was going to be included, John hadn't decided on the final fonts at this point, so I put these placeholder fonts in to give him an idea of how the finished product would look. While this version is a lot tighter than previous versions, I was still experimenting with certain elements, specifically the grill/engine compartment area. Somewhere along the line, the pencil had been changed to a pen, which implies a writer more than the artist feel of the pencil. I also played around with some colors, such as the green brain, and I tried a simplified version of the flames (saving a copy of the original version just in case). I used the little squares of color on the left edge to make sure all the colors were the same throughout the illustration. It's surprisingly easy get get two shades of the same color going, which can cause problems further down the line.
Final Version:
And here is the final version: the red is just slightly darker, and it's a good thing I kept a copy of the original flames because those are the ones I used. The brain is a more healthy pink color, and the grill has been brought back up in height to about the size of the original reference photo. The text is set in the fonts John chose, and I've got myself a happy client, which is a really great feeling.
Well kids, I reckon that's about it for now, thanks for stopping by.
Cheers!
First Rough Sketch:
The project started when I was contacted by John, one of my Flickr friends. John does public relations and copywriting etc. and he was interested in having me do an illustration/design he could use on his web site and other collateral business items for his business Hot PR Shop . Now, John already had a really cool concept in mind, a hot rod with a brain for the engine, but if he hadn't I would have brain stormed and sketched out three concepts for him to choose from. But since he already had one, I did this first sketch based on a photo of a hot rod that he had taken at a hot rod show. At this point I wasn't too concerned with perfection, I just wanted to get all of the elements out there.
Second Rough Sketch:
Oh, I should probably mention that John and I are about 2,500 miles away, so this project was done entirely via emails and a couple of phone calls. Anyway, after I sent John the above sketch he told me what parts he liked and what parts he wanted changed. Notice that while the elements are the same at this point, yet this one is quite a different looking design. Everything is still fairly loose, I was just making sure we were on the same page.
First Digital Sketch:
In case you're keeping score at home, there were many sketches between this version and the previous one, although I didn't bother to count them, so I don't have an exact number. At this point I went from traditional media to digital and did this version based on earlier sketches. Actually, the process involved tracing parts of a couple of different sketches in Adobe Illustrator and then re-sizing the pieces to fit together. Of course, the best part about digital art is quick editing and the ability to save multiple versions.
Early Layout Version:
This version is an early layout featuring type. While we knew what text was going to be included, John hadn't decided on the final fonts at this point, so I put these placeholder fonts in to give him an idea of how the finished product would look. While this version is a lot tighter than previous versions, I was still experimenting with certain elements, specifically the grill/engine compartment area. Somewhere along the line, the pencil had been changed to a pen, which implies a writer more than the artist feel of the pencil. I also played around with some colors, such as the green brain, and I tried a simplified version of the flames (saving a copy of the original version just in case). I used the little squares of color on the left edge to make sure all the colors were the same throughout the illustration. It's surprisingly easy get get two shades of the same color going, which can cause problems further down the line.
Final Version:
And here is the final version: the red is just slightly darker, and it's a good thing I kept a copy of the original flames because those are the ones I used. The brain is a more healthy pink color, and the grill has been brought back up in height to about the size of the original reference photo. The text is set in the fonts John chose, and I've got myself a happy client, which is a really great feeling.
Well kids, I reckon that's about it for now, thanks for stopping by.
Cheers!
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