After much thought and discussion, Megan & Randy decided it just wasn’t the look they wanted. This wine is their signature label, the wine that put them on the map in wine country. It needed to be unique and representative of what they value in Mason Cellars wines. They decided upon an illustration of the growth of the sauvignon blanc variety of grape vine.

Below is the new approved line drawing, it’s quite a change from the original design.  Now that the line drawing is approved, I’ll move onto the color phase. I’ll enlarge the illustration and transfer it to a canvas. Then I’ll start painting and layer on the color with oil alkyd paints, for amazing color quality with a fast dry time. After the painting is complete we will have the painting scanned in a high quality and high resolution format. Then I’ll work with the Mason’s in deciding to keep the typography from the previous label or go in a new design direction. We’ll then merge the typography of the label design in with the hi res scan of the illustration.

This will be the third wine label I’ve done for Mason Cellars. We seem to have a winning combination of traditional art work with computer graphics for the labels. I’ll post updates as they occur…

Update August 10, 2010: I’m posting an in progress pic of the new painting/illustration.

Update August 18, 2010: Another in progress pic…

The colors & images we developed are specifically focused on helping them to portray the warm, competent side of financial investing. They’re communicative, informative, experienced and professional. We went with 3 pantone colors on a bright white stock for their Corporate ID Package. They need to portray quality and this will help. The images I developed are to support the “harbor” feel with the seagull standing on a old piece of wood, which is specific to their location. The background image is a graphical interpretation of warm sun rays. And the client really wanted to have waves integrated into the design, which has also been achieved.

So far, we’ve designed a business card, letterhead & envelope which is known as a basic Corporate ID Package. This will get them started in their new venture and give them the professional edge they need in today’s competitive market place.

Adding color is another phase of the design process. Color is a very powerful tool. It can convey love, hate, fear and peace. Most business owners know how they’d like their market to perceive them – color helps to convey the emotions they’d like to utilize in realizing their unique brand recognition.

Proportion is another important  component in logo designing. There needs to be a visual focus, or primary design element. Sometimes it’s a graphic, sometimes it’s a font. The goal is to not confuse the person viewing the logo. Our natural line of vision wants a primary focus, then we’ll travel around an object looking for more visual information.

Ideally, the best logos tie together a graphic element with the meaning of the text.

Here are some samples of logos we’ve created:

My clients, Megan & Randy Mason at Mason Cellars in Napa, California, just sent me the first few bottles of their new wine. We worked for several months on this new wine label called “Three Pears”. It’s a Pinot Grigio that’s infused with pear flavors. It’s not available to all markets yet, just a select few.

This illustration was really beautiful when it was completed. We went through several rounds of line drawings before agreeing on the final one. Then I spent about a month doing the actual painting. It’s a nice sized piece, and was painted with oil alkyd paints, which have a much shorter dry time than the traditional form of oil paints. Dry time is a very important issue for commercial art projects such as these. Everyone has tight timelines to adhere to.

I’m so excited to get the final product. It looks fabulous. The printers were Herdell Printing in Napa, California. Herdell is a family owned & operated printer that has been around for generations of Herdells. We had quite an involved press check and did some last minute adjustments while on press. Mike & Joe (father & son) are some of the most talented printers around. They used a beautiful matte paper that worked so well for this application. Nice job guys!

Here’s the approved line drawing, so you can see the evolution process….

I had a fashion student contact me looking for a “Graphic Illustrator”. She was looking for help in bringing to life her visions for branding her new clothing line. She wanted some intriguing illustrations of children: a girl & a boy, not too complicated, something that would speak to her potential market. They would be part of her new logo and would help to visually define her developing brand of children’s clothes. With some great communications and visual examples from her we developed “Lydie & Ollie.”

Then we developed “Lydie & Ollie” into a logo & business card…

Ok, who doesn’t love a great deal? And who doesn’t love to find a great deal more than a group of extremely intelligent tech savvy individuals who frequent sites like chris.pirillo.com? It was my pleasure (and it was a lot of fun) to design a web header for the coupon site on chris.pirillo.com. I got to play with Chris’ funny little head graphic and illustrate it with a gnome beard & hat. I used some super cool colors to give it a little sophistication and I turned out a new header for his wildly popular social couponing  site called The Coupon Gnome.

Designed & Illustrated in PhotoShop CS4.[blograting template_id=30 select='post' show='visitors']

Whenever I have the time and energy, I like to help other people out. A few months ago I had the opportunity to partner with a wonderful woman who works for the Breast Cancer Resource Center, Susan. She put out a request for help on the Tacoma Arts Listserve. The Listserve is a great resource for posting events & opportunities within the arts community. I know sometimes people get overwhelmed with the quantity of emails they receive through the listserve, but I love it. To me it’s a constant reminder of the vibrant arts community in this area.

Susan & I met at a local coffee shop (the Mandolin Cafe, I highly recommend it). We discussed the parameters of her project as well as the time frame. They needed an eye catching poster to raise awareness about their non profit. The piece needed to be tasteful, respectful, fun & eye catching, and appeal to a younger crowd. They were wanting to post it in some college campus areas, as well as other locations. Susan had some ideas about subject matter (hence, the bra). I worked with her on including her ideas and giving her some others.

I illustrated & designed the poster & promo card in Illustrator 1, and since then I’ve upgraded to Illustrator 4.

After our initial meeting, we met only a second time at the press check at R4 Printing (These guys are really good printers). R4 did a spectacular job printing and we came up with a beautiful 11″ x 14″ poster and some great little hand out/promo cards. The cards were a great thought-they’re basically playing card size, cost very little to produce, and  act as an easy hand out. We did all of our proofing via email, which is such a great time saver for everyone.

The project turned out great. The Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) was happy, Susan was happy and I was happy. The perfect project! I would love to do more work with non profits, maybe even get paid next time!