The Great Martin String Swap

A promotional typographic illustration commissioned by Spark for their client CJ Martin & Co., the guitar maker. The idea is to maintain the classic sensibility and history of the company and marry it with modern execution. I used an image of their guitar as well as wood textures, inlays and other materials and shapes that allude to guitars and flavor of the music industry. Click on the image to see it larger.

Pensions & Investments

I love marrying the classical genres with a modern textural look. This cover for an annual issue called the P&I 1000 does just that. Click on the image to get a closer look!

Bud Light Bowl 2011

I was commissioned by the Shaw Company in St. Louis to design the logo for the Bud Light Bowl, a Budweiser promotional event held in Texas around the time of the Super Bowl. It was great fun working with Greg Litwicki at Shaw, who despite having an in depth client review process and legal scrutiny (the nature of the beast with these logos), gave me much creative leeway in the development process with pretty cool results. Shown below the final logo are several of the preliminary designs

Alberta Venture magazine

Art Director Kim Larson contacted me to design the cover which claims that if you buy this issue, it will be the best investment you'll ever make. The design brief: give it a little attitude and flare without being audacious.

MultiChannel Merchant

These two images are from a recent cover design for MultiChannel Merchant magazine. The first is the tight design build in black and white. I work this way first because I don't want to be influenced by color in the early stages. If the design works in b&w, it will work that much better in color. This also serves as the proof stage to check size, proportions, spelling, etc., before going to final. The second image shows the fully rendered piece with color, texture, dimension, shading etc.

Killer VARS

A cover illustration for a special issue of Accounting Technology magazine, a Source Media publication

Ride

Always trying something new. I have been working on the design and rendering of logos in 3D space to round out my studio's offering in the typographic arena. There are times when the design has to take on a lifelike appearance. Suitable for print and animation. Here are a couple of examples showing the design and rendering using different finishes. Of course that's one of the great things about 3D - the ability to edit, change texture, and rotate the view.

On Wall Street Magazine cover

Mike Vella, art director of On Wall Street magazine asked me to create an unusual hybrid of the dollar sign and question mark symbols for their annual salary compensation issue. Intersecting the two symbols on separate 3d planes added to the idea that there is more to the story than what's on the surface, i.e., the salaries in different segments in the financial industry, and the supporting theme of how they are effected by the current economy.