MOSQUITO OR BEE OR SOMETHING

What is this guy from? Does anyone know? I like him a lot. He's pretty modern but he reminds me of Big Daddy Roth and Weird-Ohs.

OLD DOODLE

Here's an old drawing I did to practice overhead lighting. The year 2000 doesn't seem that long ago. It's scary how fast the years keep creeping up as an ever increasing speed. Dangit!

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

I like this particular Captain Beefheart album called "Safe as Milk." He's got some other albums I don't enjoy so much but this one is great.

SURE 'NUFF 'N YES I DO

ABBA ZABBA

DROP OUT BOOGIE

PLASTIC FACTORY

CHICKEN HEAD MASK

My friend Allen is making a movie about a superhero with a chicken head for a head. He came over one day and I helped him make the mask.

(below is Mei wearing the mask. She looks better in it than Allen.)


I didn't think to start taking pictures until we'd already glued up some layers of foam. The middle layers had cutouts for a human head. Then when it was a big chunk of foam we shaped the corners round on a bandsaw. It cut pretty easily. You can squash the foam and push it through the blade with very little effort. Afterwards we hot-glued some screen door screen over the face hole.

We wanted the blackish screen to blend in a little better with the yellow foam so we spray painted the whole thing gray. It was the only color I had. White would have been ideal.

It's somewhat more blendy. The holes are for eyeballs.

To make the comb on its head we cut a rubber glove like this:

These were the eyes and beak he bought. I thought it would have been better with a hinged beak that moved but he didn't want to mess with that and prefered this store-bought Halloween kind. The eyes were gimmick rubber high-bounce balls but they looked really good.

We roughed up the bottom edge of the comb to give the glue something to grab and hot glued it into a slot in the foam.

Here's something you don't see everyday.

Allen tried the fit.

It seemed to work okay.

Allen added the feathers by himself the next day. He covered the head with spray rubber cement and then rubbed feathers all over it from a pillow he cut open. The feathers were pretty messy. Every time he moved it a few would float off. He still has more feathers so if it loses too many during filming he can always add more. The floating feathers might actually be good in action scenes.

A proud father.

It probably needs a little trimming around the eyes and beak, but for the most part it's finished.

FOUND

This was laying on the ground outside the back door where my wife works.

SMALL MEDIA AND LARGE - LOGO and MASCOT

Here's a logo and a mascot I made for a company called Small Media and Large. Soon he will be up on a website. When I get more info I will post it.

This character is called Smedial. He's supposed to be simple, friendly and inviting, and easy to recognize from a distance.

I like symmetrical things. The S in this logo mirrors around the M to form an L. I think a logo should look like it could easily go on a superhero's chest. That's my ultimate personal criteria.

I found this list of 45 rules for making logos on the internet. Although 11 and 31 seem the same to me, it's still a good list and the information is pretty handy:

1. Do not use more than three colors.

2. Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.

3. Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.

4. The logo must be recognizable.

5. Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.

6. Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.

7. Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.

8. Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.

9. Do not use clipart under any circumstances.

10. The logo should look good in black and white.

11. Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.

12. Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized.

13. If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.

14. Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.

15. Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows, reflections, and light bursts).

16. Fit the logo into a square layout if possible, avoid obscure layouts.

17. Avoid intricate details.

18. Consider the different places and ways that the logo will be presented.

19. Invoke feelings of being bold and confident, never dull and weak.

20. Realize that you will not create a perfect logo.

21. Use sharp lines for sharp businesses, smooth lines for smooth businesses.

22. The logo must have some connection to what it is representing.

23. A photo does not make a logo.

24. You must surprise customers with presentation.

25. Do not use more than two fonts.

26. Each element of the logo needs to be aligned. Left, center, right, top, or bottom.

27. The logo should look solid, with no trailing elements.

28. Know who is going to be looking at the logo before you think of ideas for it.

29. Always choose function over innovation.

30. If the brand name is memorable, the brand name should be the logo.

31. The logo should be recognizable when mirrored.

32. Even large companies need small logos.

33. Everyone should like the logo design, not just the business that will use it.

34. Create variations. The more variations, the more likely you are to get it right.

35. The logo must look consistent across multiple platforms.

36. The logo must be easy to describe.

37. Do not use taglines in the logo.

38. Sketch out ideas using paper and pencil before working on a computer.

39. Keep the design simple.

40. Do not use any “swoosh” or “globe”symbols.

41. The logo should not be distracting.

42. It should be honest in its representation.

43. The logo should be balanced visually.

44. Avoid bright, neon colors and dark, dull colors.

45. The logo must not break any of the above rules.

Maybe trying to follow each and every rule would stifle creativity but it's nice to have these rules in the back of your mind when you make a logo. I guess the more of these rules you can check off the better off you'll be. That being said I've seen some pretty famous logos which don't really follow any of these rules. Maybe the product itself needs to be good before the logo will catch on.

DOCTOR DRAVEN

Here's a doodle of a bat/ghost/vampire creature. I don't know what he is actually.


Here he is with some color.


And since I love the 60s Batman tv show so much, I totally ripped off that Batman bat logo with the text in it. Nowadays kids don't even know who Adam West is anymore so maybe I'm safe in this thievery! Ha Ha! Suckas!

LITTLE PLASTIC MONSTERS

Here are some little plastic monsters I found at the Goodwill. If you look at the face on the lower right, it looks very similar to...


...the face on this jiggly torture victim guy. He'd look exactly the same if this jiggly guy's tongue hadn't been torn off by some mean kid. I guess they used the same mold.

FRANKENBERRY, BOOBERRY, COUNT CHOCULA ERASERS

These are pencil toppers. They don't really erase anything since they are hard rubber. There is a Frankenberry, a Count Chocula, a Booberry, an owl, an alien and a bat. I'm not sure of the date on these things. I'm guessing they came out of cereal boxes but who knows for sure.

ST. LOUIS ARCH

Here are some random pictures of our trip to the St Louis Gateway Arch. Under the Arch is a museum you can visit for free (once you've paid for your Arch tickets.)

Here's Mei in front of a little statue of the Arch. It shows the assembly of the last piece.

Here are 2 lifeless statues.
This is in the top of the Arch. We used the Panorama feature on our camera to make this. 1st she took my picture then I took her and the wall and the camera stitched them together. If it's not exactly straight weird things will happen, like how my arm is sort of missing.

Couldn't they have done something about this?

This is the panorama feature again standing under the Arch.

Another shot of me with part of my body missing.

This is what you see when you look out the window. There. Now you don't need to go.

And the other side. Those are the legs of the Arch on the sides.

Mei taking a break.

I like this one. It looks like instead of the Arch going up and coming back down, it goes up and out into space.

This is not a toilet. This is the little science fiction style transportation car which takes you up and down. It feels like something from a sci-fi movie out of the 70s. If you suffer from claustrophobia it may not be for you. There's a little window so you can see yourself moving up to the top. It looked like a set of stairs followed us all the way to the top. I'd hate to walk it.

HOW TO MAKE A GUITAR-PLAYING EGGROLL part 9

This guitar-playing eggroll guy is done! Finally. See the building process for this guy in my previous posts. He is a 3D version of the 2D mascot of Wok N Roll restaurant here in Evansville, IN.

After painting him, I glued in his arms and the guitar, and clear-coated him with Krylon brand clear acrylic spray. I used satin finish rather than gloss so he didn't get a shiny glare are certain angles.


Here are some random shots.

FRONT:

SIDE:

BACK:

He seems slightly stumped or thoughtful in this picture, like he's in the middle of a song but forgot the lyrics.

BACK SIDE OF NECK:

TWANG!

TOP:

MUG SHOT:
I gave him to Jane, the lady who owns the restaurant and she seemed very happy. She's trying to think up a way to display him where he can't be broken. He looks just like a toy so it's highly likely he'll eventually get his arm(s) twisted off by kids. The goal though, is to let him keep his arms where they are.

If anyone has any ideas as far as displaying him let me know. My 1st thought was to put him in a bubblegum machine globe. They make giant glass globes. I don't know where I'd get one but I know they exist.

I cobbled together some photos and made this clunky animated spin. The music was created by my brother Kevin and me.

HOW TO MAKE A GUITAR-PLAYING EGGROLL part 8

Today I paint the eggroll guy I made in the previous posts. I painted his body brown 1st. It took a little bit of mixing to get the same color as in the drawing but I eventually matched it.

I'm glad I didn't run out in mid-painting. I don't think I'd have ever matched the 1st batch again exactly. To make the crevasses stand out more I mixed a darker more watery brown and put it in all the cracks, like in the fold lines and under his cheeks. (insert "cracks, cheeks, dark brown" joke here.)



Here are his arms and guitar. I didn't paint the ends of the arms so the glue would hold better. Same with the pin on the back of the guitar. It may not make a big difference but I don't want the paint to make a barrier which stops glue from reaching the wood. If there are any glue expert guys out there feel free to tell me I'm nuts. I'm curious about it.


He's painted with flat acrylic paints. I used the same paints I use to do canvas paintings: 44 cent Apple Barrel brand from Walmart. I always wonder if they have the endurance of the more expensive brands, but I have paintings I made over a decade ago and they don't show any signs of fading or failing. Also they are nontoxic. Supposedly the expensive brands cause cancer if you get them under your fingernails. If you are interested in this click HERE.

I'm gonna glue his arms in and give him a clear coat and tomorrow he'll be finished.

HOW TO MAKE A GUITAR-PLAYING EGGROLL part 7

It's alive! It's alive! HA HA HA! (I hope you guys know that reference so I don't just appear to be insane.)

This is the last step in the building process of this eggroll man. All that remains is painting. You can see the earlier steps in the my previous posts.

On the back of the guitar I drilled a little hole and glued in a dowel. In the eggroll's belly I drilled another hole for this dowel to be inserted. I arched the back of the guitar neck too, but I don't know if it will be noticeable once he's all put together.


Also I put some eyebrows on him. I thought since the eyebrows were actually drawn on the design it made them significant, so rather than just painting them on, I wanted them to have substance.


Here's the side view:


The top view:

The back view:



Neither the guitar nor the arms are glued in yet. It will be easier to paint the separate pieces beforehand.
He's very much like a model kit now. Tomorrow I'll paint him and glue the pieces together.

STAY TUNED