Successful Thinkers Overview

Over the past year, As an advisory board member with Successful Thinkers I had theopprtunity to design all the event flyers. Below is a selection of what I haven't already posted before and are self-explanatory. As always, a great opportunity to just let the creativity flow.

Successful Thinkers Event at the Maine Military Museum

Another poster/graphic that we created for the next Successful Thinkers event. Since it was military themed scouring through old historical "Buy War Bonds" posters was essential for inspiration. If you're familiar with my other blogs, you'll understand the enthusiasm for military themes.

Last Day on Sebago Lake

My friend Mike called me out of the blue to come spend the day on Sebago lake so he could flush out his boat before winterizing, and for peak fall foliage camaraderie. I couldn't pass up a chance to not only spend some fresh air-off-keyboard time, but also the chance to get some great fall pics before the leaves drop. OK, sure, I used 'Hipstamatic' for iphone, by I say it still takes a decent eye to catch a REALLY good shot. Hope you enjoy.

Successful Thinkers Flyer

I was quite happy with the way this came out. I found a decent vintage racing image and pretty much stripped everything out of it except for the car, background and silhouettes. Everything else needed to be squeezed in a somewhat unique shaped space. Should be a fun event.

NEW BUMPER STICKER

I figure this is as good a place as any to start keeping score of the little visual creative tidbits that happen now and again. This was an IM conversation between Bob B & myself just this morning. Thanks for noting it's bumperstickability Bob. :)

A HUMBLE THANK YOU

To all the copywriters, creative directors, and co conspirators I have worked with over the years, I am thankful to have had to opportunity to work with you. In no particular order: Scott Rosenblit, Rob Travalino, John Huggins, Steve Anacker, Scott Sorokin, Eddie Hahn, Pam Shecter, Frank Izzo, Elisa Patuto, Geoff MacDonald, Rose Zivic, Bob Salazar, Ben Lippell, Doug Fallon, more more more will update when i continue recollecting.

FOUND ARTicles

I was looking through a couple of old sketchbooks the other day and found a few interesting items.
I threw the pages on the scanner and now I'm sharing them with you.

I had/have a bit of an obsession with tikis.
So much so it even infiltrated client work with Ocean Spray. Man, how I wish they went with this. I always saw it as a lush realistic rainforest rendering with all the appropriate mossy overgrowth. (this is another obsession that has made into some of my art in college)

i also like doing pen and ink work on location. architecture seems to be where i liked to focus in these books. Friends will recognize 6A in the east village (circa 1987)

Others might remember Last Oak, Kismet, Fire Island.

Or our first house, 1 Oak Place.

This one here is sketched from a beach in the adirondacks about 8 years ago.

This was from a photograph of a sculpture by the Polish Artist Stanislav Szukalski.

This lil fella was standing guard in a coffee shop in Amsterdam circa 1992

Couple of thumbnail gouache/watercolor sketches. Gas pump was in Cape May NJ circa 1988.

Logo finalized

After a decent stretch of time and a couple direction changes, I can happily say thet we have completed the development of M Imports' logo. M Imports specializes in wines from Argentina and several other South American sources. The goal was to make it identifiable as a wine co, but to not overdo the wine related imagery to the point it distracts from the name. I think we landed in a good place.

The Jack Grace Band

What can I say about a close friend, compatriot, confidant and inspiration for well into 20+ years? Well, to start, he and I just completed the packaging design for his 6th album. Everything from CD art, to T shirts to stickers. Maybe the fact that I, as a designer, and also enthusiastic fan, have been repeatedly blessed with the opportunity to provide graphic design to help express and promote a great musician throughout his entire solo career. The opportunity that the plethora of these projects provided, beyond designer's indulgence, was an experience of creative spontaneity at its most hilarious and kinetic state. I have always enjoyed the multi-faceted collaborations Jack and I have had through the years, and as always, look forward to more. I will be posting other elements of the work Brand Royal has done for Jack Grace in the coming days in celebration of a long and winding road of collaboration.

Pecha Kucha Diorama Presentation

I got to do a really fun thing recently. I got to present to a room full of very talented people in Portland, and describe my dirty little secret. It's a hobby actually. Plastic models. Moreover - dioramas. I even created a blog for them

Diorama Getaway.

even though I haven't worked on one in about 6 years. The theme for the evening was apresentation format called Pecha Kucha. Basically you have 20 slides, 20 seconds each (total 6min 40sec) to communicate something. anything. an idea, a talent, a message. whatever is worth sharing to a room full of your peers.

I was into dioramas ever since, when I was about 12 years old, I got Monogram's B-17 Bomber. Inside was not only hundreds of tiny pieces, decals, figures and the instruction book, but also a fantastic full color booklet of the famous Sheperd Paine's Diorama of that kit.

photos here.

Ever since those days, I've been fascinated by realistically creating miniature realities.
I even took it so far as to spend most of my career in advertising. another 'alternate reality' in and of itself.
Anyway, it was a great night. I encourage you to check out the other presenters' slide shows in the sidebar.
Each contribution was a valuable patch in the quilt that was that evening. Wait, did I just type that?


Pecha Kucha Presentation.

the joys of not owning your domain

Alas, in my attempt to get a hold of my business' url name for my pending website,
I get to enjoy sending a printed/handwritten letter which will supposedly be handed along to the actual owner of the domain to see if he/she so chooses to contact me in response. #domainfail

RESTART

Hey folks, I know it's literally been a couple years since I gave this blog some love, so now it's time to get back into it. In a couple weeks, I'll be launching Brand Royal's website with much ballyhoo. I'm hoping to keep this blog updated with all sorts of cool design inspiration and innovative communication trends and techniques.

IT'S OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

Just go ahead and click the pictures to see a higher res version of the ads.

SPIKE TV - Branding work

A whole lot of work went into trying to nail just who the Spike viewer is. The notion that it was Maxim on-air was a bit too narrow to maximize ad dollars, so the search for a more broad audience commenced. All the while, in the creative department, daily inspiration was being put together in the hopes that something would click. These following images are some of the ones that didn't make the cut. I thought they should still be shared to at least shed light on the logic.

THE VISION, THE PITCH, THE FINAL PRODUCT

The assignment was to pitch the 3DO business by showing what could be done for their flagship game title: "Army Men". Vintage WW2 posters were the inspiration and gave me an excellent vehicle to differentiate the game within the stylized context yet stand out among all the other crowded, high tech looking game advertising.

These were the pieces that were completed for the pitch.We ended up winning the business and this is what got produced and ran.

SPIKE TV - Trade Ads

Spike affiliates always had a variety of initiatives brewing.This i a selection of some of the creative that ran in trade publications such as AdAge, BrandWeek, MediaWeek, et. al.







Man, I WISH they ran this one. We were VERY close.