Always Sometimes Daily
Work related stuff.
WinterFest is here! Just dropped off my T Shirts for the event. Cool Yeti Illustration concept comes alive w/ the help of Chuck Moser. Pick one up at The WinterFest site or come on down the The Bend WinterFest this weekend and grab one at the info booth.
Just wrapped up a project for our local Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. A worthy cause for sure. Dad took the kids bowling over at Sun Mountain Fun Center a couple of weeks ago – which was a great opportunity to set up an impromptu photo shoot. The event is “Bowl for Kid’s Sake” so a photo of kids in a bowling alley was one of my first thoughts – and from there came the idea for the poster. The final image I chose was of Max standing next to a pair of empty adult shoes. I suppose a number of headlines could have been used for that image but my thoughts went to “Bowling is more fun with a big brother or big sister”. I can’t remember ever going bowling by myself.
It’s been a while since my last post – yikes. Been really busy and will be posting more stuff for sure.
Now available on a browser near you – MariLassa.com – Anne Scott’s website for her one-of-a-kind handmade leather handbags.
A fun project indeed.
After our initial meetings and planning, one of the first tasks on the list was to assemble a library of her current product line, so a date was set and I cruised out to the studio with my gear and started shooting handbags. Then it was design time while adHOC collaborated with Anne to get the copy just right. Next it was development and thanks to the help of Joshua Clanton, the website was coded just right.
It’s complete. With the set-up of several other online networks to get her out there – virtually – and a little PR bump to boot, Anne now has a fully functioning ecommerce website. Cool!
If you live in Bend, be sure to check out The Bulletin next week for more details on Anne. She’s super talented for sure.
Winterfest is on, and in true form the snow has arrived with it. It’s cool to finally see all the creative materials I worked on with the Winterfest peeps up and around town.
This marks the first year Winterfest will be held at The Old Mill, and not downtown – so parking should be ample and the music louder. Downtown will for sure miss this annual event.
The combo of Valentines Day, Winterfest, and more snow pummeling the mountain, is no doubt going to make this a great three day weekend in Bendo for locals, visitors, and shops alike.
I had the opportunity to illustrate the 2nd cover of 2009 for our weekly rag – The Source, which comes out today. The theme for this week – “The Innovation of Youth”. This is my second cover illustration for these guys, the first was for the launch of their, then, brand spankin’ new logo, which I designed about a year ago – the theme for that one was “Ghost Towns”. Both illustrations were completed using Adobe Illustrator, my weapon of choice. I have yet to warm up to a wacom, but perhaps one day. The mouse works great.
Mmm, I just had an everything bagel w/ cream cheese with a cup of coffee. The best everything bagel ever was the one from H&H on the upper east side in NYC. So good. The lox spread was on fuego.
For this issue I was able to integrate the headline and sub head into the illustration – when it comes out I’ll snap a photo and post it. I used an old favoritve Geometric 885.
Off to the studio.
We just wrapped up another branding project for another local (Bend, Oregon) client – Fully Briefed. This one was a fun one – designer men’s underwear. Up until about 6 months ago I had no idea this was even a retail category, but I was so wrong. It’s a huge one. ;^)
Men’s designer underwear is by no means a new category, rather there are several retail shops both on-line and off that cater to a growing audience of male designer underwear shoppers. From boxer briefs to thongs and underwear that actually enhance – Fully Briefed has it.
The biggest difference for these guys is their brand – they realized early on that there was a good amount of other on-line men’s underwear options, but they wanted to tap into the feel of the Northwest in a fun way – and so the creature was born. A not so distant cousin of the famed Bigfoot – our creature was bit more modest and had a particular liking of designer underwear, briefs to be precise. Check him out at FBonMe.com (Fully Briefed On Me).
First Friday is here. Shops downtown will keep their doors open into the evening, most serving treats – to nosh and drink down.
Not too long ago I was commissioned by jeweler and artist Karen Bandy to develop her online presence, as well as shoot some images of her gallery. She will be announcing her site launch – karenbandy.com tonight as well as keeping her doors open for Art Walkers. Should be a nice crisp fall evening for a walk in downtown Bend.
Who is Scott Bedbury? More than some dude. Much talked about – post the dot gone days – and still today, you can say he single handed-ly shifted the creative industry toward a ‘brand-centric’ state. You would have been hard pressed to come across any design/marketing/advertising/pr/strategy/online firm in the mid 2000’s that didn’t tout their ‘Brand Building’ processes. The brand was (and still is – kind of) King. Advertising had it’s time in the late 90’s with mega agencies like Arnold producing incredible work, and in the early 90’s, it was design that took the stage with super stars like Duffy. Today, The Brand still holds it’s own.
For sure, great work will always be done in all creative disciplines, but it was Mr Bedbury (among a handful of others) who brought ‘The Brand’ to the forefront and he’ll be here in Bend to talk to us. Cool. Check out his book.
So it’s going to be an Ad Fed gig. I’m a member of Ad Fed and was asked to help develop the creative for this event – It had been a while since I offered my time to the Ad Fed – so guilt set in when I got numerous calls and emails, so I committed – and knowing Scott Bedbury was going to speak made it a pretty easy decision to boot.
The board already had a concept for the conference – ‘A Fresh Perspective’. Everything else was up to me. The catch? It was due yesterday – kind of. I had about a week to start and finish.
2 days later I was done (At the School of Visual Arts we had 2 hour, 2 day, and 2 week projects – all of which counted equally towards our final grade – I was prepared). On the second day, after they had already approved one of my concepts, I thought of another one as I was walking to the studio. I thumped it up and knew I could make it happen before days end – so I started in a new direction.
1 idea, 2 sketches, 3 packs of gum, and mini photo shoot later, I had everything I needed to make the concept come to life (there may have been a micro brew or two involved as well).
With the help of my trusty Adobe tools – I created gum, and not just any gum, Fresh Perspective gum! Bendamint no less.These photo-illustrations will be the main visual element for the forthcoming ads which will have the conference details.
Look for the print ads in the Cascade Business News and The Bulletin.
2008 Ad Fed Western Region Conference September 18 – 21. Registration Deadline > Sept 11 / Speakers > Scott Bedbury – Author, A New Brand World /
Mark Carlson – Senior Creative Director of McDonald’s / Shelly Stevens – Weiden and Kennedy /
Brought to you by AdFed of Central Oregon. Learn more and register online > adfedco.org /
Woo Hoo! Thump coffee picks up the readers choice for “Best Coffee House” in The Source’s “Best of Central Oregon” issue. We put together this ad to thank thump’s customers and Source readers! It’s cool to see how our community has embraced thump coffee and the peeps behind the counter that serve it up on a daily basis. There’s a bunch of really great coffee shops that roast their own in Bend: Bellatazza, Strictly Organic, Backporch Coffee Roasters, etc. If you’re a coffee afficionado make sure to check them out for sure. Before the thump coffee days Kent and Hazel were roasting their own beans as well, but decided to serve up Stumptown coffee beans and focus on making the perfect cup. thump it up!
If you enjoy waking up early and heading out for a walk, think about cruising out to this years Balloons Over Bend balloon launch! I’ve never seen a launch before but I’m sure it’ll be cool. It does however involve waking up early on a Weekend…ugh. ;^) 6:30am at Jewell Elementary this Saturday.
This is another Illustration project I worked on for Lay it Out Events, who also put on the other BOB (Bite of Bend).