Vector Basic Training

Vector Basic Training Book.

I want to apologize for the delay in my new blog being launched. It's been designed for well over a month but unfortunately the developer I'm using has dropped the ball so it'll be a while longer, but will launch within January.

In the meantime as a way to say "Thank you." to those who read my blog. I'm going to do a FREE giveaway of my newest book called "Vector Basic Training." (VBT) I'm already doing another FREE book giveaway on the VBT Facebook page and this one is specifically for my blog readers, but don't let that stop you from participating in both if you wish.

I won't bother posting all the details about the book here, you can read about that on my web site. All you have to do to be included in this drawing for a FREE copy of the book is to comment on this post. I'll than draw three winners this coming Friday and will list them at the bottom of this post.

B Level Acting Skills.

When I came up with the idea for the video intros I didn't think the publisher would take me seriously. But they did, and we had a lot of fun with them as you'll see below in this promotional plug for the book. You can view another video posted on my web site here.

So what are you waiting for maggot!? Post a comment now!



Winners of the FREE VBT Book Giveaway!

My oldest daughter Savannah drew names out of a hat and the following three people were chosen.

- Jeff (No Last Name) This Jeff.
- David Sizemore
- Ronda Couch

Each of you have 24hrs to claim your FREE copy by emailing your snail mail to info@vonster.com.

FYI: I'll be doing a workshop at the HOW Conference in Chicago this summer on "Vector Basic Training" so if you're planning on going I'll be demonstrating the methods I cover in the book.

Thanks everyone.

Drawsigner

"Drawsigner" Logo Mark.

I've been calling myself an Illustrative Designer for about six years now. It fits the type of work I do on a daily basis the best. A good mix of design oriented projects needing to be leveraged with an illustrative flair.

But over the last year I've condensed the term "Illustrative Designer" down to an even more simpler term of "Drawsigner." Once again it defines what I do on a daily basis. (Yes, I've secured the domain name)

I first revealed this new definition when I spoke at the AdFed group in Acadiana. My topic was named "Drawsigner" and I created the above logo of myself for it.


Tight refined sketches of ornament designs.

Earlier this year I posted about the new book I'm creating for HOW Books, now officially titled "Flourish.Banner.Frame."

I've spent the last year creating over 400 pieces of artwork for this volume of ornaments, borders, frames etc. My creative process for the creation of this content is all about being a drawsigner.


Frame motif design.

I draw out all my ornament designs, scan them in and build them out in vector form. I've spent a lot of late nights finessing bezier curves and wrestling with anchor point handles in order to create artwork that is precise and beautiful.


Ornament design.

Like my other two books, this new one will include artist features showcasing some of our industries best talent utilizing a piece of art from the book in their own unique way. It's been a blast seeing how incredibly creative the approaches have been from the featured artists.


Graphic ring design.

Those who follow me on Twitter are well aware of my rants regarding Adobe Illustrator at times.

I really can't complain though. On a project like this I'm essentially getting paid to create what ever I want. Of course I've been art directing myself along the way and I'm creating more content than what I need so I can isolate the very best for the book.

So enjoy the summer, and as the days roll along I'll continue to get frilly with it.

Sneak Peek - Border.Banner.Frame

Refined Sketches for "Border.Banner.Frame" artwork.

For the last three months I've actively been working on my next book called "Border.Banner.Frame" which will be the third book I'm developing for HOW Books.

"Border.Banner.Frame" will be a stock art book for graphic designers.


Ornament design. (Sketch shown above)

The book will catalog over 300+ custom design motifs covering "18" different categories. (DVD will contain an additional two categories of art) I have enough of the content finalized that I've decided to give everyone a sneak peek at a few pieces of the artwork now.

This book will also include features on some of our industries most talented designers and illustrators too and I'm honored they've agreed to be part of this publication.


Frame design.

I've been drawing out all my art and at the moment my office looks like a creative hurricane hit it. I have piles upon piles of paper, vellum, sketches, roughs, finals, print outs, and notes scattered everywhere. It's a bit nuts right now in my studio.

But I can't complain, it's been a lot of fun drawing out all the design devices, cartouches, banners, flames, skulls, ornaments, and floral motifs. I usually draw out a good chunk of designs over a couple of days then spend a couple days building them out and polishing the artwork.

I've repeated this process one late night after another and it's turning out nice so far.


Two border designs.

Designing borders is a lot like designing patterns, in that they have to be able to repeat seamlessly to the right and left. Some of the borders I'm designing will also have corner art too.

I'm looking forward to finishing all the artwork in the next month and a half if everything goes as scheduled. The book is due to hit February 2011. But I plan on posting more about it later this year and giving away some FREE downloads too so you can test drive the artwork yourself.

The Graphic Eye

"The Graphic Eye" by Stefan G. Bucher

Stefan G. Bucher is one of those unique creative types that's always thinking, always creating, and that type of mojo produces inspiring work like his latest book "The Graphic Eye: Photographs by Graphic Designers from around the Globe"

This book isn't your everyday coffee table photo gallery of landscapes or boudoir photography, it's uniquely creative images captured by graphic designers and they are anything but mainstream.

I was honored to be asked to participate in this new book and each designer was asked to submit "10" images and Stefan picked which one would appear in the book.

The below photo was the image of mine he chose to appear in the book. And this post contains all "10" I had submitted and the story behind each. I've always enjoyed photography, so I hope you enjoy the read.


"Zimbabwe Elder" photograph

I captured the above image when I traveled to Israel. I met this guy one afternoon in Nazereth. He was from Zimbabwe Africa and was a really nice man. I thought he would make for a good picture too!


"Bug Out" photograph

I caught this caterpillar doing chin-ups near a water fall in the Oregon woods.


"Flammable" photograph

While exploring a local junk yard I discovered this distressed chemical barrel.


"Kaibeto Canyon" photograph

A couple years ago I spent two weeks on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona helping with a children's ministry and this image was from a local canyon we hiked into.


"Knock Knock" photograph

Curb appeal is strictly an American fascination. This ancient door located in Old Jerusalem has wonderfully decrepit character.


"Mr. Pinchy" photograph

This Oregon local hangs out at the local tide pool. If you blow in his face he'll get really mad and start foaming at the mouth.


"Narrow Road" photograph

This first century walk way in Old Jerusalem might have been walked on by Jesus? The second law of thermal dynamics really creates some heavenly textures!


"Temple Mount" photograph

An Arab man reads early in the morning. You don't need Starbucks to hang out and read a good book.


"Xerox Poop" photograph

My printer eats glorified crayons. Expensive crayons. So when my printer goes to the bathroom this is what it looks like. It's good to be creatively curious, that's why I still have this wax toner on my desk, it's too cool looking to throw away.


"Box Car Neuvo" photograph

Colorful and abandoned. Mundane and beautiful. Only a color blind hobo would not appreciate this box car.

Be sure to check out Stefans new book here.

A Repeat Project

Original sketch for pattern.

After you create hundreds of patterns it's hard to ignore the urge when an idea crosses your mind. Last week I was sitting in my studio working and an idea for a pattern came to mind, so I grabbed my Flair pen and drew out my idea.

I've done enough now that I know right away if it'll work or not and this one felt good.


Thorny Pattern. (Color Option 1)

When I create patterns I prefer more organic motifs rather than geometric ones. I also like to create patterns that can be simplified too. For example this pattern could work just as well using the thorns alone without any background color or secondary thorns.


Thorny Pattern. (Color Option 2)

I used a color palette that fit with a current project I just finished last week on this pattern.

Patterns are the type of repeat project I enjoy, literally.

A Pattern for Success!

"Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

I'm happy to announce that after a year of hard creative work my illustrative pattern book has finally hit the shelves!


A diverse assortment of themes and styles.

Even though the cover says "94" the DVD that comes with the book actually contains "106" patterns total. Each of the pattern designs comes in three color options. So basically you get a stink load of cool art.


Precision, tileable, and easy to use vector patterns.

For more information, preview sample spreads, and to download another free pattern other than the one in this post just head on over to VonsterBooks.com


FREE Bonus Set of "12" Patterns for those who order the book.

If you do order my book be sure to email me a copy of your receipt and you'll get a FREE set of "12" bonus patterns not included with the book! That brings the total pattern count to "118." (Not including the FREEBIES in this post or on VonsterBooks.com)


Free pattern "Memory Lock" tiled out.

This FREE pattern download is exactly like all the patterns in the book. They are vector based artwork, easy to tile, easy to customize and adapt for your own projects.

FREE Download: "Memory Lock"
- Four Color Themes
- Includes CS2, CS3 and CS4 File Formats
- Royalty Free

Download "Memory Lock" Pattern here.

I hope your enjoy my new book!

Go forth and create!

Memory Lock

"Memory Lock" tile pattern.

Over this past years I've created over "120" illustrative patterns. Most of these were for my new book coming out in 2009 called "Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

Needless to say patterns have been on my mind a lot. So a couple nights ago I had a dream about a pattern. Not sure why, can't really remember what the dream was all about but the design locked into my memory so I decided to create it.


"Memory Lock" pattern tiled out.

This pattern like all the others that are part of my new book are seamless and can be tiled easily inside Illustrator. You can take "Memory Lock" on a test drive yourself using the link below.


"Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

For more information about my pattern book visit VonsterBooks.com

FREE Download: "Memory Lock"
- Four Color Themes
- Includes CS2, CS3 and CS4 File Formats
- Royalty Free

Download "Memory Lock" Pattern here.

We're all Blobs!

Cover illustration. View artwork larger by clicking image.

I had mentioned in my previous post that I was hired by Peachpit to illustrate the cover of "Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4" the new book by Mordy Golding.

I've done artwork for other book covers but this one was a unique challenge for me.

Instead of an illustration playing off a story line or plot it had to relay the attributes and features of software. Pass covers of the same line of books have been excellent but tended to be more literal in terms of the visuals. A request by this publisher was for a more simplified, less complex approach yet still show seemingly complex attributes and features.

Needless to say I was really intimidated by this project.


Original concept Sketch.

At first I had sketched out ideas showing the two sides of a user. Artistic and production but the ideas were looking too forced and too complex as well. I thought to myself "Think non-literal, abstract but conceptual." in other words I compounded my intimidation. LOL

The big new feature in CS4 is a tool called the "Blob Brush." This was the one thing tripping me up conceptually. To be completely frank I'll almost never use the tool myself. It kind of contradicts my whole creative process. I don't create on the fly on my machine, I think through what I want to design or illustrate out side the box, I draw it manually (Analog if you will) and then when I move to the computer I build that idea. That said I'm sure I'll use it for something but like the gradient mesh tool it'll most often sit unused and jealous of the pen tool getting all my attention.

So I struggled with how to work it into my cover concept. Then it hit me. What if I showed characters and they were blobs themselves? Four characters playing off of CMYK. So I sketched out the above idea. I liked it, it was different, untraditional and abstract. I mocked it up and sent it off to the client expecting to get a response like "What is this #$@!" or "Are you sure you know how to draw?" etc. Instead I got a "We love it!"


Detail of final artwork. View artwork larger by clicking image.

Illustration Psycho Babble
So you may be wondering what it all means? Well below is a list that explains the meaning I was pouring into each of the elements. Not everything has a distinct 1 to 1 relation to reality but most of it does.

- Blob Figures: They represent the variety of users via CMYK. After all no one person is the same and we all like to work our own way creatively speaking even though we may all use the same common tools.

- Large Blob Icons: The "Blob" brush icon is self explanatory. The new "Gradient" control feature is shown at the top middle of the illustration. The new "Appearance" panel allows you control what you want to see with one click.

- Mini Blob Icons: The "Flame" represents inspiration. The "Hammer" represents building. The "Magnifying Glass" represents exploration. The "Registration Mark" represents production.

- Stream and Blob Heads: This represents our creative minds and the subsequent creative process that flows through our ideas as we create our artwork. The vector lines of course represent the core tools to do this. The pixelated cursor denotes the software.

- Tabbed Pages: A new feature in CS4 is tabbed pages and this represents that feature.

- PDA: The Magenta blob figure flows through the PDA and becomes RGB content. This represents the CS4 work flow that allows you to create content in Illustrator and then port it out to work on mobile devices. I purposely made the device generic. I don't think there is anything that actually looks like that?

- Background Dots: CS4 is still the industry standard app for producing print content so this gives a nod towards that foundational truth and anchors everything else together.

- Blurred Nebulous Shape: The blurred cloud floating through the bottom half of the background doesn't represent anything. I just though it looked cool. What?

Ironic But Funny
So this book is all about CS4 so of course I used CS4 to create it. When I went to deliver the art to the publisher though it turns out they only have CS3. No one bothered to inform me of that until after the fact. DOH!

No worries because Mordy Golding informed me that if you save out a CS4 to a CS3 .eps format it will place into a CS3 app and retain all the information. You just won't be able to edit it unless you have CS4. Problem solved.

In any regard it was a fun project to work on and if you want a great resource for learning CS4 I highly recommend "Real World Adobe Illustrator CS4" by Mordy Golding.

Drip.Dot.Swirl - Pre-Order!

"Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

My pattern book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

As the title states the book features "94" unique patterns. Each of the patterns is tileable, so you can fill any size space needed seamlessly. The patterns are fully customizable too, meaning you'll be able to adapt them to your own projects by changing colors, simplifying the content or combining more then one to create additional options.


"FREE Bonus Set of "12" Patterns for those who order the book."

Pattern names for each in order from left to right.
- Funkus
- Willamette
- Single Cell
- Grate Expectations
- PinWheel
- Alyssa Joy
- Synapse
- Windoze
- Latte Java
- Darjeeling
- Techno Shard
- Scorn Thistle


No-Brainer Deal.

The books DVD will also contain an additional "12" patterns not featured in the book and if that wasn't enough I am also offering a bonus set (shown above) for anyone who pre-orders the book! So when it's all said and done that is a total of 118 different patterns.


How to get the FREE bonus set.

To qualify and receive the FREE bonus set of patterns shown above just follow the following steps.

1. Visit Amazon.com and pre-order the book. Click here.

2. Make a copy of your Amazon.com pre-order receipt and email it to: info@glitschka.com

3. Once my book is released on or around May 2009 I'll email out a link where you can download the FREE bonus pattern set.


Tiled Patterns Demonstrated.


"Magic Beans" Pattern.


"Psychotronic" Pattern.


"Retrograde" Pattern.


"Grate Expectations" Pattern.


"Crystalyn" Pattern.


"Synapse" Pattern.


Download "3" Sample Pattern Tiles


"Solaris" FREE Download Sample Pattern.


"Spiro" FREE Download Sample Pattern.


"Chaos" FREE Download Sample Pattern.

Sample pattern download includes both CS2 and CS3 Ai Files.
Download sample pattern files.

Download additional sample patterns and preview book spreads at www.Vonsterbooks.com

Drip.Dot.Swirl - Pattern Book!

"Drip.Dot.Swirl. 94 incredible patterns for design and illustration."

For that past 14 months I've been working on my next book called "Drip.Dot.Swirl" which is a book of illustrated patterns. This book will come with a DVD like my texture book that contains all "94" illustrative patterns on it in vector format. Each pattern has three color options so that's a grand total of "282" variations to choose from.


"9" of the "94" patterns in the book.

Each of the patterns is tileable, so you fill any size space needed seamlessly. The patterns are fully customizable too, meaning you'll be able to adapt them to your own projects by changing colors, simplifying the content or combining more then one to create additional options.

Pattern names for each in order from left to right.
- Rosetta
- Vindaloo
- Frillicious
- Boogie Pop
- Psychotronic
- Dragon Hide
- Magic Beans
- Hypnotica
- Palatium


Shoe design using my "Greener" pattern. (For more info click image)

The folks over at Zazzle.com just launched a cool new service where you can design your own shoes. At the time of this post it's only women's shoes but I decided to give a few of my patterns a test drive.


Shoe design using my "Off-Set Camo" pattern. (For more info click image)

In the process of putting this book together I did a lot of reading about the art of math which in essence is captured in patterns. A college professor who specializes in pattern art and the math behind it explained to me that there is only "14" types of patterns. I'll take his word for it.


Shoe design using my "Protozoa" pattern. (For more info click image)

Everyone who orders the book will receive a bonus set of patterns not included with the books DVD that I am creating now.

The book will hit the shelves in March of 2009. If you'd like to be notified when this book is available for pre-order you can email me to be added to my book list and I'll notify you when it's available via Amazon.com. Send your request to: info@glitschka.com