The Chubby Assassin

Mark Moeller asked me to create a quick cover for his latest literary foray: The Chubby Assassin - The Journal of Marcus Steele. Mark was nice enough to pose for the sketch (via my Canon and Tamron wide-angle) with his own hardware. Fun stuff! Thanks Mark.
- Bill

Diamond X Triathlon

For the last two years, I've kayaked at the Diamond X Triathlon, located 8 miles south of Evanston, Wyoming and hosted at the Diamond X Guest Ranch. This year promised to be the same, but I succumbed to the lure of the contest, ultimately entering and finishing my first triathlon as a competitor.
Here's a sample of the shirt graphic that I designed for the event. The rider is actually Don Proffit, my wife's uncle, who is a brand inspector, rancher, and all-around buckaroo. His cowboy poetry is legendary, and he is quintessential "Wyoming".
I've been in that country, usually twice a year, for fourteen years. I've never appreciated it as much as I did from the bike. Gorgeous fields, alluring hills, seductive clouds, and the looming threat of thunderstorms from the Uinta Mountains to the south. The skunk roadkill was a nice touch, too.
To sign up for next year's triathlon or get more information, contact Josh Proffit at diamondxtri@yahoo.com . See you in 52 Saturdays!

IRONMAN!

What a weekend. I volunteered to kayak for the swim portion of the inaugural Ford Ironman St. George, UT, which was held last week. I opted to camp out at Sand Hollow, my favorite local stillwater kayak spot, in order to more easily make the 4:30 am volunteers' meeting at the south ramp. My friend, Joe Webb, and his daughter joined me at the campsite with their kayak and gear.

The Sand Hollow management had allowed us to stay at no charge, due to our volunteer status, in a great site. Nonetheless, I slept for less than four hours. Without the comfort of sleeping in the same bed as my wife and no crazy kids to pound on my door in the morning, as is the usual ritual, it was a challenge to get to sleep. I'm sure anticipation played its role well, too.

Before I curled up on the van seat, I surveyed the vista in the main parking lot. 2300 mid- to upper-tier bicycles sat corralled across the red dirt and charcoal pavement. Literally, millions of dollars of road bike was waiting for a healthy beating the next day. Wow.

Joe told me, after rapping on my window at 4:05, that the wind had kicked up that night and collapsed the neighboring tent. Crap. What's the water going to be like? I don't mind heavy chop, but trying to stay in one place with a killer wind is more than challenging, not to mention the difficulty it poses to swimmers coming up for air.

It turned out to be a picture-perfect day. Gorgeous, glassy water invited a horde of bundled paddlers into positions, all of us in place at 6:30. Cannon popped at 6:45, and the pro's made their wake.

After the leader and two pro packs passed me, I saw the stream - I was on the last 1/4 mile leg and on the other side of the island, which obstructed my view of the first 2/3 of the race - of arms and orange caps, yellow caps, froth, 2300 submerged drum slappers, pounding away at the never-ending liquid obstacle between them and their first transition. Unforgettable.

I stayed alert and moving for the next two hours, lest a competitor fatigue and require assistance or worse. Intense, cathartic, what can I say?

Can't wait to do it again next year.

First photo: Mike Kelly - Owner of Kelly Pest Control. Client of mine and a great guy. Turns out we both dig kayaking.

Second shot: Dave Webster - works for Zion National Park. We attend church together, and his youngest son, Kyle (sp? - sorry, bud!), was in my Boy Scout troop a couple of years ago. Dave's a water horse.

Third shot: my kayak in the purple of the parking lot and 0-dark:30.

Fourth shot: Webbs, Ennis, and long exposure plus flash. Fun stuff.

Shot five: picture-perfect. Here, the wind's picked up somewhat. Shot it around 2:30, hours after the swimmers were gone. Still, what a great day it was.

Hair - An Architectural Approach

Just polished up a poster for another fine community play. This was written and is being directed by my good friend and neighbor, Christy Webb.

She and her husband, Joe, basically fund local theater out of their own pockets. It's the stuff of greatness.

With time at a premium this week, I opted for the simple graphic collage, creating the tower shape in Illustrator and using it to create a mask over an image of human hair.

From what I understand, Rapunzel is a bit of a beast in this rendition, so to drive a sense of instability to the art, I kept the orientation of the art vertical and created a tower that is almost minaret-like, proportionally. A tilt to the left suggests that gravity will win the battle against medieval architecture. It represents the tenuous nature of Rapunzel's condition; that not only will the damsel ultimately escape, but her contrived world, her relationships and status, unlike the background texture, are not concrete.

The Edge

Friend, neighbor, and soul-patch connoisseur Joey Perry approached me several months ago and mentioned that he would be starting his own yard maintenance and restoration business. Would I consider designing his business identity? You bet!

My process involved addressing two clients - Joey being one, and his customer base the other. I wanted to create something that would be slightly clever and unique to Joe's business and generate a solution that would resonate instantly with his prospective and existing clients. My hope was to convey masculininty, power, and confidence along with a sporty sense of creativity, as Joey would inevitably be involved in design with some, if not all, of his clients.

What better way to tap into success than to tap into success? I thought of and dug up logos of successful brands that the average consumer would associate with power tools, heavy equipment, construction, and lawnmowers - brands that stand out at lawn and garden centers and construction supply big-boxes.

Taking general design cues from the marketplace, my solution plays on the business name with an assymetric push to the right edge of the logo, maintains bold forms that are typical of the genre, and employs a simple verdant color scheme to tie it into the actual business activity. Last I checked, red grass just wasn't that popular.

The look on Joe's face when his business cards showed up was priceless, and his clients understand what they can't articulate themselves - that Joe Perry cares enough about the way that others perceive his business to see that it is represented in a visually attractive manner, so he'll go the distance when it comes to ensuring that their property is maintained and/or restored properly.

Now that I think about it, I should have negotiated some trade, as my yard looks like a shallow brown hell....

Next: website and social media for The Edge.

Beach Cities Volleyball Club - Manhattan Beach, CA.

Beach Cities Volleyball Club - Manhattan Beach, CA.
Paul June of Barrel O'Monkeyz (www.barrelomonkeyz.com) requested a logo refresh job for a new client of his, a non-profit volleyball training club for kids in the L.A. area.
This is one of the submissions.

I like that the abstraction reminds me of kanji and conveys a clear sense of purposeful activity.

You can see the winner - created by my brother, Rob - at www.beachcitiesvbc.com. We went on to redo their site, too. Fun stuff.

Wild and Crazy Story

Scene from a book: a landowner happens upon the meat-stripped carcass of his pet dinosaur. The victim of carnivorous tiger-roses, it had been enjoying its own snack - eating a two-legged apple.
We don't need drugs to trip on in Utah.
:)
Bill

New link - Paul Lasaine

Marcelo Vignali introduced this gent and his work to me via his blog. Paul, thanks for sharing artwork as well as some technical info! I'll be a frequent viewer.

Twilight

A friend of my wife contacted me with a need to create some artwork for an opening-night event.
The Twilight movie will be released on the 21st of Nov. The shirt was done for a local, midnight party. More info at http://www.twilightmoviepartystgeorge.blogspot.com/

Skull

Quick concept for a client. Sketched it on charcoal paper, then quickly inked directly over it with a #4 brush. Nice to have a pencil in hand. Tactility is a wonderful thing.

Kayak & Kolob Reservoir

After a recent trip to CA, I raced home and took my wife to a nearby man-made lake that lies on the northern slopes of Zion National Park. I had hoped for one campsite in particular, and we got it!
Just in time, in fact, to see the surrounding thunderstorms part their gloomy curtains for a polychromatic spectacle of wonders.
I plan on taking the easel next time.

Oarfish

My uncle recently gave me a 3-man kayak. My friend Joe and I took most of our kids and his wife to an alpine reservoir to try it out. There's an island in the middle of the lake that's large enough to camp on. A cluster of boulders drapes from the shoreline into the water, forming pools and crevices for crawdads to enjoy, and trout carcasses collect there. I'm sure the local gull population loves it.
I didn't have a pole, but we did catch some fish. Hold on to your stomach, if fish skulls disturb you.

Crazy Boy Scouts...I love these guys!

I'm heading off to camp next week, and our troop needed a Class-B uniform, or in other words, a t-shirt that they could beat the living seams out of, thus keeping their regular uniforms (with all of the regalia) intact.

One scout suggested a new troop name that I thought was hilarious. Technically, they're supposed to come up with the design themselves, but I'm out of time. I banged this design out this evening, and we'll print it up on Monday morning.

Sovereign Amphibian

Once again, I created the poster art for the LaVerkin Community Theatre (Theater?).
I wanted to do something reminiscent of a childrens' book that conveyed a sense of simplicity and whimsy.

Eagle, Hawk, Falcon

A few weeks ago, I spent two days at a BSA Camporee. I had the pleasure of grabbing a front-row seat while Master Falconer Martin Tyner presented a Harris Hawk, Prairie Falcon, and Golden Eagle to the group. It was summarily mind-blowing to be within, literally, a few feet of each of these gorgeous animals. The eagle, as you might guess, can generate quite a wind with just a few flaps of its large wings. Strong bird!
I snapped a hundred shots or so and remembered how much I have missed sketching from live models in the last few months. Lucky boy that I am, my sketchbook and pencils were handy.

Pirates, Pizza

This guy was part of a series of pirate character concepts I developed for a pirate-themed restaurant in St. George, UT. I haven't seen the sign over the door yet, but there is an ad in the phone book, so I suppose I will not be undermining the big reveal, should it ever actually happen.
I was able to design the interior as well as the logo, so I'm looking forward to the big event.

Rumplestiltskin - Theatre Poster

I had REALLY wanted to illustrate this one, but did not have the time. Thank goodness for digital cameras and image editing tools.

Fair(l)y Rough

This is a rough I did for a character design last year. I was shooting for a cute, doe-eyed young girl.
Figured I'd lighten up the somber mood from the last two posts.

Fred Harrison - a Great Man, a Great Friend

Fred passed away over a week ago. He and I were discussing the formation of a creative services agency or consortium during the last two months. We were both excited about it. He had a beautiful portfolio and was at once affable, sensitive to others, brilliant , gentle in demeanor, aggressively creative, and loved living.

Complications that arose months after a valve surgery contributed heavily to his demise. It was sudden and unexpected, as he was relatively young (mid-50's), and a fitness and martial arts buff.
His dear wife let me know the devastating news over week ago. I was unable to attend his funeral, as it had already transpired.

I'm trying to put a benefit auction together for his family, so, if you have any bright ideas, let me know. I'll be putting design/illustration/photo services on the block, as part of a group of creatives in the area.

The post title is a link to his website, where you may download a copy of his portfolio.

Fred, I'll miss you brother. We'll see each other soon enough, but I can wait. Hope you understand. ;)

Charleton Heston

This is my small tribute to a great artist and a great man.