Over the past six years I've slowly been working on a new font design I call "Nincompoop." When ever I get a project that comes in and the style of my type works with it, I'll create new letter forms and re-use existing characters to create my art and expand my alphabet for the font at the same time.
Prior to the dawn of OSX I use to design fonts more often. I use to work at a design firm locally where I was responsible for designing five fonts all of which are still available through T26.com. Of course my former employer owns these, but you can check each one out via the links below.
Over the years I've spotted my type in various places. Some usages last a few seconds, some are amusing, and others are just laughable.
When I designed the fonts above Postscript ruled the roost. But since then the Open Type format has brought a new standard for all future fonts and rightly so.
Custom type for HGTV.
I simply don't have the time to learn a whole new software application like Font Lab Studio so I'd rather focus on the creation of the letter forms and just hire out the production end. For that I'm willing to split the profits for any font developer wanting to team up. So if you know how to produce a font or know someone who does please introduce me to them.
"Nincompoop" sample.
Since Open Type allows for a lot of customization I'd create multiple variations on letterforms, ding bats, characters etc. in the final form of "Nincompoop."
But for right now I just have an Ai file I copy/paste from to create what I need.
My Uncle Pat scored some drawing supplies for Christmas.
A few posts back I introduced you to my Uncle Pat. He shared a drawing he had done and many of you asked Pat to draw some more pictures over Christmas.
He seemed to really enjoy drawing so our family got him some art supplies for Christmas. The last few days I sat with Pat as he drew pictures and have posted them below along with a couple videos. I hope you enjoy.
Uncle Pat Talks about his artwork.
A scary Bear, a Spear, and a Crow.
When Pat draws he gets really into it. His face is just inches away from the paper and he doesn't come up until he's done. I loved how he did the feathers in the crow art.
Pats friend the Cat.
The only thing we suggested Pat draw was the Moose and me shown below. Everything else he just decided to do himself. I find it interesting that all of them with exception of the Snowman were an animal. He likes animals apparently?
A Chick.
I thought he did a great job on this baby Chicken. The color and detail came out awesome!
An Alien Moose.
Pats art reminds me of something Stefan Bucher might have animated.
The playful Snowman.
In the midst of drawing all his animals, Pat quickly drew out this snowman too.
The green Grouper.
I liked the simplicity of this art and the shape of it's mouth.
Uncle Pat Draws Me.
Pats drawing of me.
My youngest sister Amy told Pat to draw me and this was the end result.
I just wanted to thank everyone for commenting on the previous post I did about my uncle Pat. We were able to show Pat the blog post and read through all the comments for him and he enjoyed it a lot. We had fun drawing together and I thank God for him, he has a very gentle spirit and I think his art rocks!
This past year has had it's ups and it's downs. With the economy tanking, every creative business has been effected in one way or another and mine was no exception.
But the most disturbing trends within our industry in my opinion are two fold:
1. The continued growth of the "Creative Industrial Complex" via pre-fab design, which I touched on in an earlier post this year. I'll have more to say about this specific topic in an upcoming post on my blog.
2. The exponential growth in copyright infringement. I've had a total of "62" individual cases (That I'm aware of) where designers, marketing firms, design studios, ad agencies, stock companies, and other businesses used my artwork without paying for it or seeking permission to use it.
Unfortunately I don't see this problem going away. More and more art schools are focusing on the tools rather than the creative process that facilitates original and unique ideas. Thus they are producing the next generation of copyright infringers who ironically in many cases are the same mindless drones who facilitate the degrading of our industry by pimping their ware to industrial hacks like CrowdSpring.com.
But I digress.
Google Image Search.
Showcasing my artwork online is a double edged sword. For a creative hired gun like myself you have to promote or perish. Marketing my services is a must, but it also opens me up to being exploited by unscrupulous design hacks who have no problem googling for their creative solutions.
Most of the cases I was able to handle myself by sending out a copyright infringement letter. Some are just over zealous tattoo lovers who never bothered to ask permission but still feel obligated to email me a picture so I can share in their flattering copyright infringement. This over time has spawned a rogues gallery of what I like to call "Walking Portfolios."
The Damage I've spent roughly "73" hours responding to the "62" individuals cases. I don't charge by the hour but if I did I figured the amount of time I've invested this year alone is roughly $8,500.
Three of the cases I had to hire a copyright lawyer to deal with them. I settled two of those amicably. The third case is currently ongoing and is represented by the video below.
Chronological list of all the 2009 infringers.
- Photobucket.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Zazzle.com User Bonehead Skull Artwork - MySpace.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Beerorkid.com Trashing Abe Art - Deviantart.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Motattoo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Olloo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Alaskaslist.com Polar Bear Logo Art - Deviantart.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - SideHatchEntertainment.com Tickles the Evil Clown - Chrinodesign.com Billy Mays Artwork - VolcanoVistaHawks.com Black Hawk Artwork - Community.mediacorp.com.sg Tickles the Evil Clown - Flickr.com User White Tiger Art - Flickr.com UserTribal Bat Tattoo - Logotypes101.com Fire Giant Art - ShutterStock.com User / Serbia Black Hawk Artwork - Lacrosse.schigas.com Black Hawk Artwork - Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - IMVU.com UserTribal Bat Tattoo - 895thehawk.comBlack Hawk Artwork - Dummidumbwit.wordpress.com Billy Mays Artwork - Unconfirmedsources.com Billy Mays Artwork - Emptees.com Tribal Bat Tattoo - Mundozenn.com / Brazil Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - LAtimes.comBilly Mays Artwork - SeemyButton.com Billy Mays Artwork - Consumerist.com Billy Mays Artwork - Brownsville Early College HS Scorpion Mascot Artwork - EveryTattoo.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Tao-Of-Tattoos.com Tribal Bat Tattoo - Twitter.com User Self Portrait Illustration - Discrim Athletic Tees Black Hawk Artwork - Zazzle.com User Billy Mays Artwork - Vyzion360.com Tribal Tattoo Lion - Flickr.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Junklist.eu Two Headed Eagle Art - JohnHaller.com Billy Mays Artwork - Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - Deviantart.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - Flickr.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - Picsquare.com Tiger Art - Deviantart.com User Alien Skull Art - Flickr.com User Tribal Bat Tattoo - Skreened.com Billy Mays Artwork - Gun Shop, Tacoma Espy Graphic Bird - Photobucket.com User Black Hawk Artwork - KosherHam.com Billy Mays Artwork - InkedMedia.com Tribal Tattoo Skull - MindSpark.com Billy Mays Artwork - VectorStock.com UserDoodle Fish Artwork - case-mate.comTribal Tattoo Face Art - designbyhumans.com Tribal Tattoo Face Art - (US Army) wood.army.mil White Tiger Art - Zazzle.com User Owl Artwork - WAWK.comBlack Hawk Artwork - Classiccitysigns.comBlack Hawk Artwork - Embroiderydesigns.com Alien Skull Art - Flickr.com User Tribal Tattoo Face Art - Houseofgrafix.net Billy Mays Artwork - Uthstuph.com Security Shield Logo
"Unique" and colorful tribal pattern.
I don't enjoy getting my work ripped off and it frankly pisses me off when I have to waste my time dealing with it when it happens. That said I still try not to be a jerk with the people I'm forced to confront. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and try to treat the situation in a reasonable manner. If the infringer responds reasonably and works with me to resolve the matter than I can avoid taking it to next level legally.
But that isn't the case with case-mate. (Pardon the pun) I gave them three months to respond to my reasonable request regarding their infringement and use of my tribal face tattoo art on one of their products to no avail.
So as this year ends a copyright infringement lawsuit begins.
Follow Up: I've settled with case-mate. It took four months of back and forth but I was able to protect my copyright.
Original Hand Lettering for "Fa La La La Lifetime."
This now makes the third Christmas in a row that the Lifetime Channel has used my "Fa La La La Lifetime" branding for their holiday promotional efforts.
"Fa La La La Lifetime" bug graphic.
During this season you'll see it as a bug in the lower right hand corner of the screen and it'll also appear in numerous TV spots. (But the ones that look ugly and where their in house people added dimension to the letter forms I had nothing to do with.)
"Fa La La La Lifetime Movie Network"
Lifetime contacted me again this year to create additional custom lettering to augment their current seasonal branding efforts. The image above shows a stacked option and I also created a long horizontal option with everything resting on the same baseline as well.
"Fa La La La LMN" bug graphic.
This shows an abbreviated version I also created that can be used as a bug graphic.
"Fa La La La LMN" alternate bug graphic.
Sometimes when working on projects like this I explore beyond the requested deliverables. So on this project I also provided them with the type nested inside a fun shape as well. Not sure they'll ever use it but I liked it.
My fascination with robots started in the summer of 1977 when Star Wars hit the big screen. As I've posted before, robots are one of the top ten themes creative people love.
So when I moved into my new studio a few years back I found a unique shelve design to display all of my robot collectibles.
I've been wanting to use them for a creative project in some way, but never could figure out an appropriate use. That is until I worked on a recent identity project for New Modern Science.
Raw Photograph of Robot.
As I worked on the identity for New Modern Science I realized the robot would make a perfect company mascot. A secondary branding element in essence.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I know enough about photography to get what I need in this case. I set up a nice forced perspective shot against a white background.
Final Photograph of Robot Mascot.
I took my raw image into Photoshop and cleaned up some details, added depth of field fx, and crossed processed the colors so it worked well with the look and feel of the logo mark.
Brand integration.
The robot fits the context of new brand identity well. I even used it on the back of the business card design I created. You can view the whole project on my primary design site here.
One of my favorite agencies communication firms in these parts is ReThink Communications. They do some seriously cool work and are a blast to work with on projects too.
I've worked with them in the past to create some fun icons for their client Kolachy Co. The most recent project was a logo mark for the Vancouver Comedy Festival.
Vancouver Comedy Festival Logo.
Design is so much easier when you have a great concept. The CD on this job Jeff Harrison had dialed in on a great concept and we worked together to create what you see above.
Promotional poster designed by Rethink.
I love the promotional posters Rethink designed. Very funny. And the promotional TV spots they created are excellent too. You can watch them here.
My uncle Pat is a gentle soul. He's always smiling and will laugh in a heart beat if you say something funny. I love him dearly.
Pat is the younger brother of my mom and he was born mentally handicapped. Pat is 58 years old now and even though his mental capacity is some where in the range of a 7-9 year old, he possesses more common sense than a lot of people I know.
So when I got to hang out with Pat this Thanks giving I handed him a sketch book and a pen and said "Pat, draw a dog." He smiled and started drawing.
Uncle Pats dog drawing.
I had no idea how this was going to turn out? As I watched him draw I found it curious that he seemed to be keeping the drawing symmetrical.
As he was drawing I heard him say softly "I'm not very good am I?" to which I responded "There is no wrong way to draw Pat. You're doing fine."
When he was done he handed the sketchbook back to me and I said "Is this a Martian dog Pat?" We all laughed. My wife said "It kind of looks like a cow." We all laughed again.
Separated at Birth: Ron Perlman and Uncle Pat
That same day I mentioned to Pat that he resembled the actor Ron Perlman. I googled a picture on my iPhone and showed him. I than asked him to pose the same way and told him I'd put it on my blog. He thought that was pretty cool and smiled.
The Cheshire Pat.
Pat's smile is infectious. And we always have fun joking around with him and laughing together. Pat also has a habit of saying "I'm Sorry." for absolutely no reason at all, which has also made us all laugh at times too as you'll see in the below video.
I'll be sharing this post with him at Christmas so take a few minutes and leave my uncle a comment, I know he'll get a kick when I share them with him. Thanks!
