Draw Something, Dammit

[YellerDog]

Workin' on a little project while I rebuild my website/demo reel stuff.

[Drewbacca]

Working on branding for a new Canadian hosting company. They like it a lot so far, and I like it a lot because it's fun to do AND because it has a lot of built in brand awareness (no other hosting company has a theme like this, they're mostly just dry tech jargon oriented):

I'm still working on the overall tone the rest of the support artwork should have. Generally it's going to be very "magical" arctic in feeling. I'm pulling in a lot of Samurai Jack for inspiraiton. For instance on the website we're going to have an image of the yeti riding a narwahl that's violently breaking through the ice on a frozen-over lake with the caption "LET'S BREAK THE ICE!... etc". I love it when companies do something to market themselves properly from the ground up. So much is ass-backwards when designing (Can you do a brochure? Oh... hmm can you do us a new logo now even though you just did a brochure based on the old one?)

[FuryFox]

I kinda hate the gnome proportions from WoW. I really struggled with this one, trying to get something that looked anatomically plausible but still cartoony and consistent with the game. I wanted to make sure it was colorful, though, and realized how much light reflection colors I'm ignoring, but just ran out of time and will, really.

Drew: Ooh, you posted while I was. At first I was like, bleh, but then looking at it for a bit and the intended usage I warmed up to it quite a bit (ironically). That sort of cute/hip simple approach, instead of the tech jargon and industrial/modern detail overload, has been going around a bit with cell phones but I don't think I've come across it for web hosting. Lucky for you, looks like you get a chance to illustrate all sorts of neat stuff, like the narwhal you mentioned. I have no idea how much of that you get to do normally, or if it's just typically type and boxes, but still.

[JM]

Yeller: Are you doing your inking and coloring for a stick graphic in Flash? I've heard of it being used that way, but for the most part I detest the program. Give me Illustrator or PS any day, but I guess it is all about what you are most comfortable with.
That is a cool Gojira for sure. He should be fucking up metro city from final fight/SF4, maybe work in the building with the haggar statue on top. =)

Drew: That is really cool, I dig it and it will definitely set them apart from the competition. You are lucky to have a client that can recognize that.

Fury: That is cool too, but I never think of gnomes as sexy type things so handling a female gnome that way seems off to me. ( I totally understand that my gut reaction to this subject matter is not at all in line with a WOW player's perception.) Great rendering and coloring regardless.

[Drewbacca]

Drew: Ooh, you posted while I was. At first I was like, bleh, but then looking at it for a bit and the intended usage I warmed up to it quite a bit (ironically). That sort of cute/hip simple approach, instead of the tech jargon and industrial/modern detail overload, has been going around a bit with cell phones but I don't think I've come across it for web hosting. Lucky for you, looks like you get a chance to illustrate all sorts of neat stuff, like the narwhal you mentioned. I have no idea how much of that you get to do normally, or if it's just typically type and boxes, but still.

Up here WIND kind of has a funky colour usage going on, but other than that Rogers and Bell are pretty corporate-focused with their messaging and artwork. Bell recently made a change to a softer, more "modern" font for their logo (and use of their blue colour) but the overall message is still very corporate. I don't often get to doodle pictures and stuff. Once in awhile, because I'm semi-competent at it while most designers are completely lost. Same thing for web and stuff. I'm a good "floater" because I can do OK in all aspects.

But overall general layout & design is more my specialty.

Can't wait to finish that narwahl picture. I love the copy writing going on with it. The next step is to make sure their functionality and user interface is customer-focused and tech-forward. JQuery, Ajax, PHP, HTML5, CSS3, etc. You can't put a sasquatch as your brand and then follow it up with sub-par service.

Drew: That is really cool, I dig it and it will definitely set them apart from the competition. You are lucky to have a client that can recognize that.

It always takes time, and long pitches and brand hand-holding meetings to lead them to the right approach.

[YellerDog]

Yeller: Are you doing your inking and coloring for a stick graphic in Flash? I've heard of it being used that way, but for the most part I detest the program. Give me Illustrator or PS any day, but I guess it is all about what you are most comfortable with.
That is a cool Gojira for sure. He should be fucking up metro city from final fight/SF4, maybe work in the building with the haggar statue on top. =)

OH MAN that's a rad idea!

I'm a big fan of inking in Flash (mostly because I really like the way you can pull and push the vector brush strokes to your heart's content), but coloring is always too cold and stiff. I'll probably go into PS to do the colors for it, unless I go for some monochromatic scheme.

Also, Flash is really dumb about importing template .PSDs, so I don't quite trust it to keep the printable dimensions properly. I'll just export the "ink" layer into PS and go from there.

--Hey Drew! I like that. I kind of wish they'd let you go super-weird with the proportions on the character (what I think of when I think "Samurai Jack"-style, I guess), but it looks like a fun campaign! Good work!

--Fury! That hair is NUTS!

[FuryFox]

Drew: Here in Vancouver Telus and Koodoo both have pretty cute ads, but I haven't really done any research to see if it permeates their whole brand. Rogers and Shaw definitely have that stiff, corporate dreck.

JM: I don't think gnomes are considered sexy, even by the WoW crowd. The commission was for a "flamboyant" gnome enchanter, either sex, but I got from the description that he really meant 'eccentric'. I tried to make her a little witchy and free-spirited, not tied down to anything in game or lore. The loose blouse was going to reveal some extensive tattoos, but it was something I should have had in the original linework because I couldn't get it to mesh doing it after the fact.

[Drewbacca]

Oh yeah Koodoo has the luchador nowadays. Oddly enough I applied to the agency that does the Koodoo ads awhile back and brought my Luchador posters with me in my portfolio. Coincidence?

Probably, yeah... actually.

Also, Flash is really dumb about importing template .PSDs, so I don't quite trust it to keep the printable dimensions properly. I'll just export the "ink" layer into PS and go from there.

Couldn't you use a PNG and import that for your template? I'm not sure how sophisticated you're going with them but PNGs hold alpha channels and aren't that much larger in size than GIFs.

Hey Drew! I like that. I kind of wish they'd let you go super-weird with the proportions on the character (what I think of when I think "Samurai Jack"-style, I guess), but it looks like a fun campaign! Good work!

Ideally some kind of flat work would have been keen. But it still has to work as a friendly accessible mascot, too. I may be able to get away with some of that in the background, but then I run in to the trouble of making the sasquatch fit in properly without popping out too much.

[Drewbacca]

I tried to make her a little witchy and free-spirited, not tied down to anything in game or lore. The loose blouse was going to reveal some extensive tattoos, but it was something I should have had in the original linework because I couldn't get it to mesh doing it after the fact.

I got that vibe from her. Kind of a... witch / hippie or something.

[JM]

Drew: Here in Vancouver Telus and Koodoo both have pretty cute ads, but I haven't really done any research to see if it permeates their whole brand. Rogers and Shaw definitely have that stiff, corporate dreck.

JM: I don't think gnomes are considered sexy, even by the WoW crowd. The commission was for a "flamboyant" gnome enchanter, either sex, but I got from the description that he really meant 'eccentric'. I tried to make her a little witchy and free-spirited, not tied down to anything in game or lore. The loose blouse was going to reveal some extensive tattoos, but it was something I should have had in the original linework because I couldn't get it to mesh doing it after the fact.

That's cool. I get the vibe you were going for. She does have a prankish quality about her. Agreed that the hair is nuts. You've got great detail there without going overboard. It is entirely too easy to go way too far way too quickly when working digitally.