Historic Taverns Inspire New Ideas for Artworks

One subject that seems to lend itself quite well to HDR photography is historic architecture. There are several historic buildings I’ve seen on my travels, that whenever I pass them I think about how I’d love to capture them in all their glory and turn them into a work of art for others to enjoy... like the Paeroa Hotel for example which I passed on the road on a nice sunny day recently.

These old buildings are a reminder of a by-gone era. Perhaps that’s why, for me they ellicit such emotion when I see them. I’ve applied a subtle painterly texture to this photo which may only be properly appreciated when viewed at full size on a stretched canvas print.

Click here if you’d like to purchase a Paeroa Hotel Stretched Canvas Print.

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While I was about it, I decided to try again to capture the Northcote Tavern, another historic building in my local area. But this time I wanted to see how it might look being turned into a badge or graphic with a bit of typography added.

If you’ve read much on this blog you will know how I can’t help myself doing this. All those years spent doing Graphic Design for labels and logos probably. But who knows, perhaps others will share my love of these old buildings and be tempted to wear a souvenir t-shirt with their image on them.

Click here if you want to purchase a Northcote Tavern T-shirt 

I’m happy to do commissions too if you have something particular in mind. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Handyman Signage

As far as advertising goes, Vehicle Signage is a very cost effective way of getting your message out there. When Stu a north shore handyman called me I was happy to help him out. He had a few ideas of his own. He just needed help putting it all together.

Firstly he needed a logo. He had the idea of a kind of Super-Handy-man character. So I created this first, complete with his initials and the word HANDYMAN featured prominently on it.

Then he wanted to use a photo he’d taken of his wife and overlay it onto a large 'TO DO' list. This is because he’s found a lot of his best customers are women, who often have a whole list of things they need done.

So this was the initial concept I did for the side of his truck which included some additional graphics /striping to tie it all together. An important factor to keep in mind were the sliding door panels. The position of the graphics with these in mind was going to be quite important.

Stu also wanted to have some tools shown on the van somewhere. He’s got a tool for every job you can think of and he wanted this to be obvious. So I managed to find a really cool graphic in a stock photo library which I adapted by incorporating his initials and the Handyman wording...

Stu gets noticed everywhere. Often when he’s parked at the supermarket he’ll get people coming up to him asking him for a business card, so he’s got a bit of work off it already.

I got him to do a job round my place recently trimming trees. He did an excellent job.

If you’re on Auckland’s north shore and need a handyman, Call Stu. Tell him I sent you.

This is how his truck looked when it was finished.

SOLD! Kia Ora Cap

I can sense a theme developing here... 

not that I want to be ‘pigeon-holed’ as if this is all I can do (ie. cashing in on people’s familiarity with known brands and adapting them to a particular audience), but a sale’s a sale and this kind of thing seems to be what people are buying lately.

so why not?

“Kia Ora” 

means “Hello” and is a common greeting amongst the New Zealand Maori people. 

Yet interestingly the first sale of this cap was made to somebody in Japan.

A common complaint heard in NZ is that its residents leave its shores in droves in favour of living elsewhere in the world. I reckon a few of them must be missing home.

If you want one of these caps, visit my Zazzle site here... Kia Ora cap

Bull Dog design

There’s nothing like making a sale for boosting one’s confidence.

So before the excitement wore off I started trying to think of a new design theme for some more souvenir/apparel items...

I really love the whole combination of typography, illustration and general branding techniques. I know it’s probably not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s something I can’t help myself doing — probably all those years spent designing corporate logos and brands.

Bull Dogs are really cute in their own special way, so for anyone who owns one I created a few different products that honor these ‘beautifully ugly’ creatures.

See some of the products I created here.
Long Sleeve Tshirts
Long Sleeve Dark Tshirts

The ‘Calculated’ Approach seems to be working!

I wouldn’t normally talk about the same design twice unless there was a good reason.

In this case it seems the ‘calculated’ approach I took with this design is paying off. I mentioned in a previous post how I intentionally merged 2 popular ideas: 1. the love for a cute animal with  2. the brand awareness of a certain 'Tennessee Whiskey'.

Well, it’s appealed to somebody else now — this is sale number 2, which came from a completely different continent this time. It was obviously a woman — who customised it onto this long sleeved red t-shirt. It actually looks really good.

I hope she likes it.

I’ll have to start thinking of some new designs using this same approach.

Kakapo Merchandising

Conservation is on a lot of people’s minds these days and extraordinary efforts are being made to save a whole host of endangered species throughout the earth. Understandably, the people involved in trying to save them have become very passionate about the task at hand. I met somebody recently who’s involved in trying to save the NZ Kakapo.

The Kakapo is one such example on the endangered species list with only about 40 adult birds surviving in the wilds of New Zealand. Known as the “owl parrot” due to it’s nocturnal habits, it’s virtually flightless. Being extremely fat probably doesn’t help — some adult birds can weigh up to 3kg.

As a bird lover myself I find them really cute, not that I’ve seen one up close — such an experience would be a real privilege. So what better subject for a new range of merchandising items than the NZ KAKAPO. Hopefully there will be others out there who feel the same way as I do and are moved to get their hands on one of these items.

See more Kakapo items on my Zazzle site here: NZ Kakapo souvenirs

Purchase Cap: NZ Kakapo Cap
Purchase Tote Bag: NZ Kakapo Tote Bag

SOLD! “Jack Russell” Dog Vest

It’s nice to know somebody appreciates my work. Although I must admit, this was a rather calculated attempt at making a sale.

For a start it’s amazing how much people love their animals and it seems people are willing to spend as much money on their pets as they do on themselves. Aside from this, writing the words Jack Russell in the same font and format as the “Jack Daniels’ — Tenessee Whiskey” logo may have given the design a cool hint of familiarity for anyone that way inclined.

Anyway, a sale’s a sale even if I did only make a couple of dollars on it.

Pity I couldn’t get a Jack Russell to model it for me. But he is cute!

Check it out on the Zazzle site here

Playing with Patterns

It’s amazing what you can learn on the internet these days. 

Using a couple of New Zealand souvenir designs I created a couple of months ago I created these repeating patterns for an iPad cover. Thanks to a very helpful vector tutorial by Vectips it was actually pretty simple.

Now that I’ve figured out how to make a seamless pattern, there’s all sorts of applications this could be used for... I might even make the odd necktie! Watch this space...

I’ve posted this item for sale on Zazzle here and here

Obsessed with T-Shirts

I don’t know why I’ve been so obsessed with T-shirts lately. 

I think it has something to do with when I was a young teenager in the late 70’s. A friend of the family who had been to the US had brought back some souvenir t-shirts as gifts. They were so different from anything you could buy in NZ at the time. I loved them. They were a real pleasure to wear and the designs were quite inspiring for me as a young ‘wanna-be’ artist at the time.

Perhaps it’s the 30+ years of pent up desire to create a few of my own t-shirt designs that’s finally coming to the surface. Up until about a year ago there was no way I could manage the whole t-shirt printing process myself, from design to end consumer without forking out heaps of money — that is, until I stumbled across “Zazzle”. 

If you haven’t heard of Zazzle, you’ll no doubt hear me talk more about it on this blog, as it’s opened up a whole new way for me to showcase some of my work. At the same time it has made some of my designs available for sale to anyone who’s interested in buying a T-shirt, or any other product for that matter, including caps, mugs, aprons, tote bags, etc.

So, here are a few designs I’ve been working on...

This is how they looked on T-shirts...

Zazzle allows you to customise the various designs and products that are available. Choose your own t-shirt colours and styles, add your own text or put the design onto other products. Check it out here.