Detroit Wolverines

Lego T-Shirt & Jeans Killing Machines Movie Poster - final

2009-12-15T15:26:00.002-05:00

And here it is - copy and all.

Render time

2009-12-06T21:08:00.003-05:00

So after the flat colors, i move to rendering - meaning shading and tinting (shadows and highlights) the poster. I did the rendering mostly on a Mac which - contrary to popular belief, crashed on my while i was working on it. i think i am doomed. hopefully my poster wont be.

T-Shirt & Jeans Ninja Killing Machines Brigade - the leggo version

2009-11-27T21:21:00.003-05:00

So for my final exam in storyboarding/marker rendering we had to come up with a story, then board anywhere between 6 - 20 panels and render them in marker. In addition to that, we had to create a movie poster which could be done in the computer... so i opted for that.

Not to brag or boast, but i'm way ahead of the class on this one because this sort of thing is right up my alley. Throw in the fact that i sort of recycled and condensed my TS&JNKM Brigade comic into a 20-panel "movie" version and i was all ready to go. The catch was that it had to involve Lego characters which has created a fun element to play with, story and sight-gag wise.

So because i'm paranoid my computer is gonna crash on me (for the upteenth time) here's a mostly flats-color first pass at the "movie poster".

Whiskerino 2009

2009-11-01T13:45:00.003-05:00

Let the beard growing begin!

i created this design for my good friend Jim, otherwise known simply as RENAUD. we along with some other friends are growing beards for 4 months as "Team Renaud". hopefully we'll all get a shirt like this when it's all said and done.

Stop the Presses!

2009-09-09T09:04:00.002-04:00

If you see this ad in the Detroit Free Press anytime soon, please let me know. (hint - it should be a full page color ad - wow!)

Render Rending Rodriguez

2009-09-02T01:28:00.003-04:00

So i've mostly if not completely rendered the beer can as well as the eyes in this pic.
i have to let it sit a while and figure out if i'm satisfied with it. i think it looks ok, but maybe too realistic for the type of look i'm going for. anywho - you may be wondering what "rendering" means. it's a term i've never really enjoyed and i'm not sure why but it's essentially coloring and shading an object opposed to just leaving it as flat colors. anyways. here it is... the Papi can...

Art of my father

2009-08-27T21:31:00.005-04:00

Not really but here's a pinup/cover type deal for a comic i may or may never create based on my Father's musings. he's quite the joker.

Last Name - AMBIGRAMMED!!

2009-08-27T20:58:00.003-04:00

I don't know why i got on this ambigram kick - but maybe it's because i thought if i ever got a tattoo, it'd be something i created. and why not my name? well, i started with my first name,... then... realizing i'm more represented by my last name (sort of a family brand) i thought i'd whip up a CAMILO ambigram.

OH - and just by a bizarre twist of fate - right as i was scanning this one in, i was searching for logos online. Found this site www.goodlogos.com - and just by chance clicked the "L" link... and what should i find but none other than John Landon himself - creator of the "Angels & Demons" ambigram! WTF universe?! what are you trying to tell me??!!

John Landon

Ambigram

2009-08-26T22:19:00.005-04:00

For those who don't know, (according to some Joker on Wikipedia ) an ambigram is a typographical design or art form that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation.

in other words, if you artfully render a word and make it do a flippy, it'll read the same upside down (I guess mine's a "rotational" ambigram. i don't know. i don't make this stuff up, i just see something i want to attempt, then do it...)

so, i had to make one, right? Right. so here it is. it took me about 20 minutes to make. pretty simple, really. I'll probably trace it in Illustrator and resubmit later... until then, here's the marker sketch:

The Shelter ad that wasn't

2009-08-25T23:04:00.009-04:00

Due to reasons beyond control, this shelter ad was not able to be used. it would have looked great though. check the blog belooooooow!

I'm posting these now because The Ad campaign seems to have officially lifted off! It's exciting for me. something I've actually created and developed over the course of a year is finally seeing the masses. i never would have thought! now all i need are some of those billboards with my face on them like Paul Rudd had in I LOVE YOU MAN. (i created the following type based off Futura, i think... with a little Helvetica and symbols thrown in... part of a typography class project)

Finally, the Paul Rudd "Peter Klaven" billboards used in I LOVE YOU MAN... and seen around real life LA i imagine.

or if you like...

The Magic Bus ('cuz it has my designs on it)

2009-08-25T22:06:00.010-04:00

"It's all happening!"

Shameless (Self) Promotion

2009-08-25T10:43:00.015-04:00

Be on the lookout for an ad that looks like this on the side of a bus traveling up & down Woodward Ave! I hear they look great.

EESH! - The Bus ad's humble beginnings. First digital sketch which obviously is not at all eye-popping and way too wordy. I give you - FAIL:

The 35th Art in the Park Fest in Birmingham is coming up soon so i finally thought i'd share a half-page ad I created for the C&G newspaper.

Also, here's part of the brochure I'm working on. It's the inside of a tri-fold. Still a work in process as we gather all the information together...

This is something someone Photoshopped for me from a shelter ad i designed but will not be used:

And last but not least, this will be the ad you may see as a static image in the Birmingham Theaters, real soon:

There will also be t-shirts, etc etc.

I feel truly blessed to have had this opportunity to expand and grow working on this project as a designer as it is my first real, major taste at professional design. I had no idea I'd be in for as much as I've covered, but I've really enjoyed working on the different types of print and layout design, not to mention the logo creation itself. The pieces have literally taken their own shape and evolved over the course (almost a whole year!) of working this.

To Explain the elements a little -

The Logo began with the Type stacked on each other. I knew I wanted a serif. I printed out "Art in the Park" stacked and centered in Copperplate type first... then drew over it little leaf flourishes, and the like. I didn't think it was clever enough then suddenly, when I was trying to combine paint palette images with leaves, inspiration struck and i got the idea to add negative space to the inside of an oak leaf with a paintbrush inside for a stem.

After that, I chose contrast the type by making the "Art" part in a brush stroke. After wrestling with some color combinations, the green and orange was settled on for the actual logo. Later, I used Copperplate for the location text and dates. I forget what the "PARK" font is... I used Nuetra for the inside of the Brochure.

The "Color Bar" - this originated simply from sampling a color from the photos I was given to include in the print materials. It was the binding to my original Brochure design which was later scrapped for a different size which required a complete design overhaul. But that initial deisgn with the logo in the center, enclosed in a white rectangle, and the Color Bar is what got my design selected. So to honor that, I've used it in all the postcards and mailers, posters, newspaper ads and the Brochure (I utilized the colors to code the different elements in the Area Map). I excluded it from the Bus ad and Movie ad.

Thanks again to Common Ground

70's update

2009-08-09T15:18:00.003-04:00

I'm currently working on the uniform designs throughout the decades/eras so bear with me. in the mean time, here's what the 70's uniforms (home, away, home alt) look like, complete with stirrups! (why did they ever get rid of them??)

2009-07-29T00:55:00.006-04:00

New Look. Look!

2009-07-28T09:06:00.003-04:00

I painstakenly edited HTML code (because I don't know it at ALL) until 3am this morning to edit my background image and function. I have also updated my header to give it some more depth. I hope you like...

Once I learn how to create a website, all these nifty things will be migrated that way. Until then, this is whatchya get.

Cleverly enough - if you're so inclined, you can right click and set the background image as a desktop wallpaper (as it was intended). So you get a bonus!

Brand Identity

2009-07-24T00:23:00.006-04:00

Here it is, a Logo spec, Letterhead, Envelope, and 1 of 5 business cards i've come up with so far... enjoy?

Evolution of the "Wolvies"

2009-07-08T00:33:00.001-04:00

Historical Context

2009-06-29T08:20:00.002-04:00

The first two pictures are from this website detailing the location where park once stood that housed the Original Wolverines.

When There's Trouble You...

2009-06-26T14:32:00.001-04:00

...Call D - W!

So this D-W motif is based off the font I mentioned last post. It's from the guys at http://www.letterheadfonts.com/ Letter Head Fonts and is called "LHF Tonic". I took the font and manipulated it some (much to the chagrin of some folks) but I contest, it may not be the 'best looking' but it is the 'most reasonable'.

I say that because if you look back at some of the logos and type in baseball there have been subtle and not-so subtle changes in colors and text (Houston Astros) , and sometimes city and name changes (Los Angeles Dodgers & Angels of Anaheim of LA or whatever they're called now.)

In any event, I wanted to show that this is where they most likely would be at this point. Maybe not with these colors, but this is part of a larger logo. And again, in all likelihood this motif may change again "with the times"...

So here, I present the "current" design of the DW Wolverines hat logo (alternate color scheme)

along with a "shoulder patch" type design which I'm still working on.

A Broader Scope

2009-06-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

According to my scanned sketches, I drew this July 3, 2008. This project has been gestating for a while. When I started, I had a few ideas, a few inspirations, a few problems. I began vectorizing my illustrations as you see above... then my Illustrator file got corrupted somehow. So I had to start all over, but I lost all my inspiration. Cut to - about March 2009 - the bug hit me again. I'm in between work and a freelance graphic design job (Art in the Park - possible posts later on that) and then I get some downtime. I needed something to do so I decided to revisit the Wolverines project. I started over from scratch. No longer using the Boston Red Sox font as seen above, I actually purchased a font specific to this project. (used in the header - LHF Tonic Liver/Nerve)

That leads me to my next thing. I wanted something that really said "19th Century." And I realized I need to start making "investments". So the purchasing of a $30 font didn't bother me. I wanted something unique - not something you'd find on Dafont.com. (not that there's anything really wrong with that. I do use plenty of 'dafonts')

So therein lies the rejuvenated interest: A broader, more ambitious scope. Not only would I do the "current era" but I would blow the doors off and start straight from the 19th century and show the progress through the generations. Good and bad; elegant and repulsive (you know who you are, 1976) and everything in between.

In addition, I've created several different variations of logos and mascots with different color schemes based on what I believe very well could have transpired had this team survived from around that time period like say, the Cubs. I've also created letterhead, hats, & t-shirts. So when the time comes, there will be tangible merchandise one could purchase if one were so inclined. The t-shirt design images can and will be available upon request. So hopefully someone is going to read this and show some interest. And oh, by the way, if you are reading this - spread the word, will ya?

I love the idea of this being an open-ended project with limitless potential.

So here, you get the aborted, corrupted version for now... Beauty lies ahead!

New Era

2009-06-25T11:57:00.000-04:00

Ok; so the title is a play on the sports hat company, but one which is appropriate because this new blog is meant to feature my creation or re-creation of a "new" Detroit National League baseball team: I introduce you to the Detroit Wolverines - the Wolvies.

Originally organized in 1881, The Detroit Wolverines spent a few years sucking until they bought several players from the Buffalo Bisons which in turn helped them win the NL pennant in 1887. They disbanded in 1888 which has left Detroit without a National League team ever since.

I plan to remedy that. 2009-2010 = A new era of the Detroit Wolverines. My goal is to step in and create a complete brand identity for this 120 year defunct team. Will they be welcomed? Only time will tell. However, I have created a historical timeline for this team complete with logos, illustrations, uniforms, etc. These designs will be featured on an upcoming website in the near future. I hope you'll enjoy.

The fact is, the Detroit Wolverines were this city's first baseball team and it is time we acknowledged that. Or as Papi says, "rememberies".

See you soon.