Bad Design Kills

'The original BDK tee. Inset image: Back chop print.'

A little over three years ago my friends and I launched a little web site called "Bad Design Kills". We had a lot of fun with it but none of us had the time to keep it up to date so it no longer exists.

I had sold the above design on the site and ever since I took the site down I've been asked how someone could get one of the original shirts. Well, now you can and unlike before you can pick what ever size and color shirt you'd like.

"View and Order Shirt Here"

Good Medicine

'Icons for Advertising Campaign.'

Now that summer is over I can officially declare it "The Summer of Icons". I designed icons for Merck, AllState Insurance, Oxford University Press, Novell and recently these two sets for an ad agency that specializes in medical services and products called "Medicus" out of New York. These icons will be used in an advertising campaign.

Icons are an interesting mix of design and illustrative skill sets. Sometimes your asked to design an icon for a somewhat nebulous term or functionality like "Save" which depending upon the context could take on a variety of visual solutions. Other icon projects they provide a laundry list of specified topics or items that are more literal then figurative and the challenge creatively speaking is to create simplistic i.e. "Iconic" images that work together as a family style wise. This is easier said then done when dealing with subject matter that in and of itself may be complex. But I guess that is why I enjoy it so much it's always a challenge to pull it off well.

I have to admit when I was asked to do the flexing arm with the "Mom Tattoo" I thought to myself "OK, that one is going to look stupid." But as is usual that was just my creative defense mechanism venting it's fear of the artistic unknown. In the end it turned out to be my favorite one out of all of them. Go figure.

The Themes We Love

'Alien Biker Skull Art - Click to view larger image.'

I was asked to write an article for "Computer Arts Magazine" out of the UK. Now that it's been published I can post it on my blog. I did notice they edited my text a bit so this version below is my article in it's original form.

The Themes We Love

Based on my observations within the creative community, and my own personal passions when it comes to creating artwork, I have compiled a top ten list of themes that artists adore illustrating.

Recently a friend of mine asked me to create some artwork for his sons engineering team that builds robots so they could get some t-shirts printed. Like most artists I jumped at the excuse to create some new robot art. This caused me once again to think about popular visual themes artists* enjoy creating for and tend to gravitate towards when given an opportunity or are just driven by their own passion to create.

The list I have compiled wasn't something I set out to discover but rather something I have observed with curiosity over the past decade or so. Artists* are most certainly a unique group of creative minded folk and I've noticed a handful of themes that tend to be common favorites they choose to design and or illustrate on. Mind you this is by no means an iron clad list but just the most obvious ones I've noticed and have participated in creating myself through my own artwork.

The order in which I have listed them below is not according to popularity but rather just what came to mind as I wrote this. I am sure I'll miss a few obvious ones but I am also sure you'll let me know which ones those are. ;-)

Top Ten Favorite Themes of Artists

1. Robots: Evil, Benevolent or Humanoid
it's all mechanically fun to draw.

2. Monkeys: Ape, Chimp or Gorilla variety
is fine. Or go ape and do a 'Robot Monkey'.

3. Female Figure: Whether naked women or just
your garden variety hotties it's all about capturing
the essence and beauty of the female form.

4. Skulls/Skeletons: Ironically we all have a skull and it
protects our ideas. What ever bones you decide to
draw It's all Bona-fide fun.

5. Monsters/Mutants: Home grown or universal the
scarier the better.

6. Paranormal: Aliens, Angels, Demons, Ethereal forms
or any other X File favorites.

7. Surrealism: Popularized by Dali, captured by most
artists within their doodles.

8. Dogs: Flea bitten art inspired by mans best friend.

9. Human Head/Face: Floating, or attached all matter
of zany things have been done with them.

10: Birds: One of the animal kingdoms most
symmetrically wonderful creatures.

It goes without saying that if an artist can mix and match a combination of several of the above themes or parts of several themes into one artistic composition or project then it's a dream job. That said we never need an excuse to create whether we are being paid for it or not.

Artists are very opinionated so I'd be remiss if I didn't list other themes I considered for the list but chose not to include. Many of these are what I'd consider elements used by artists which are not themes but rather tend to be integrated into the work of a given theme more then a theme in and of themselves.

These included: Brains, Cars, Cats, Clouds, Crowns, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Eyeballs, Fish, Flames, Flowers, Hands, Mechanical Devices, Mouths, Political, Pirates, Tiki, War and many more which I don't have room to list here. These are without doubt most enjoyable themes and elements to work with but they are not as popular as the ones in the list.

Whether our art is driven by a clients project or just our own artistic passion inspiring us we can still enjoy the creative process and continually seek opportunities to utilize our favorite themes into our artwork. Since I was asked to write this article I used that opportunity to create the skull art you now see. It's as easy as that. Now go forth and create!


*When I use the term 'Artists' I am referring to graphic designers and illustrators specifically, not fine artists.

Think Tank 2007

'Mini Me.'

The Nashville AIGA Chapter is putting on a cool design gig this coming weekend called "Think Tank".

Should be a fun weekend and I've been asked to speak about what a "Graphic Designer" is and if that term is accurate in today's ever changing market. I am pretty nervous but looking forward to it. If you can make it then make sure to say hi I'd like to meet you.

Lots of great speakers lined up:
- Debbie Millman
- Shaun Inman
- Marian Bantjes
- Von Glitschka
- Nate Voss
- Bennett Holzworth
- Donovan Beery


'For me the term "Graphic Designer" comes with a huge asterisk.'

I'll be bringing some fun give away items like stickers, a copy of my book, sets of Keyboard Characters and a handful of "Vonster Brand" t-shirts.

So head on over to the official "Think Tank" web site and get the full scoop.

MLB Embroidery Patches - 2008

'Major League Baseball Licensed Patch Designs.'

Collecting baseball cards as a kid was one of my favorite memories from childhood. When I'd get my monthly $5 allowance I'd ride my purple bike with a banana seat, big back tire and small front tire down to the local drug store and make my monthly purchase of baseball cards, candy and of course the holy grail of all things creatively inspiring for me at the time a copy of the latest MAD Magazine. The latter of course I'd stuff in my pants and covertly sneak it into my room because my parents thought it was a bad influence. My mom reads my blog so I'll let her be the judge on that now. ;-)

I continued to collect baseball cards all the way through high school and had a very valuable collection of some great rookie cards and players going back to the 40's and 50's. As much as it pains me to say this, I sold the entire collection after college. I was desperate for money, hadn't found my first job yet after art school and didn't want to mooch off my parents any more then had been doing so I sold it. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it again. Ugh.

But working on these MLB designs has brought back a lot of childhood memories since it's the same players I collected and enjoyed watching and mimicking myself growing up.

Baseball cards have gone through a quantum shift since when I collected though. The Upper Deck Company is by far the industry leader when it comes to sports collectibles. Gone are the days of merely having a full color front and 1 color back printed on cheap stock. Now they have full color with 5th and 6th spot colors, high grade stock, foil and embossing, die-cutting, holographic imagery and jersey or other sports material attached to the card. The choices for collectors are endless now.


'This image shows '14' of the nearly '90' patches I designed.'

Many of the patches I had to design commemorate historically memorable moments in baseball. Sometimes that is hard to capture in a static image such as a patch design, so that makes it difficult to relay the accurate mood and tense that video footage might be able to showcase easier.

For example, look at the second row first patch. Do you know what that is illustrating? It's Carlton Fisks 1975 home run against the 'Big Red Machine' in the World Series. Before he knew it was a home run though he was waving at the ball as it flew through the air hoping it wouldn't go foul and it didn't. It hit the foul pole for a very dramatic home run. Now how do you tell that whole scene in a simplistic and graphic manner? Well, my solution is shown above.

If you'd like to see the set of NBA Licensed embroidery patches I designed previously just click here.

If you'd like to see the set of NFL Licensed embroidery patches I designed previously just click here.

Another Lifetime Commitment.

'John Wilkinson a fan of my 'Tribal Tattoo' artwork.'

Once again someone stumbled across my tribal tattoo art and decided to make a life time commitment to it. The most recent person to have my art applied to their body is a gentleman by the name of John Wilkinson. He took my art and had a tattoo artist replicate it on his calf. The artist obviously took some liberty with it. This is now the fourth time (that I am aware of) that someone has used my artwork to get tattooed onto their body permanently.


'My Original Tribal Tattoo Art.'

I am always flattered in a wierd kind of way but then there is another part of me that thinks "Hey that is technically copyright infringement. They didn't ask permission nor did they pay me a usage fee." Makes me wonder if an artist like myself could sue someone for using my art without permission and win a case where they'd have to have it surgically removed? Of course I'd never do that myself but I can't help but wonder.

In any regard, John enjoy the art and thanks for sharing the picture. As for me and my torso I prefer a blank canvas. I just can't make that type of artistic commitment.

Vonster Tees

The creative director from Zazzle.com contacted me and asked if I'd like to put a store up on their new revised site. I didn't really want to manage a store nor did I have the time to get one set up. So they made it easy for me and said If I would pull art from my archive and send them a DVD with hi-res images on it they'd do it for me. Well they did.

Below are a few of the designs I sent them. I have to say that the automated process they use seems easy enough to use. I do need to get them some hi-res png files though so the art will work on dark garments too.

To view all of my available art go to my Zazzle.com Store.



'Vonster Monster Design'


'Samurai Guppy'


'Tribal Face'


'I Love Comic Sans'


'Command Z'

Toy Company Logos

'Brand family of logos'

A toy developer out of Hong Kong hired me to develop a branding for thier business. The company is called 'Street Value'. I created a couple character based logo marks for their primary business and then a third compatible character based logo for their secondary business called '100 Milligrams'.


'Modular bugs'

Fun memorable marks.