A couple new designs...

As I continue my month of rediscovery (for the lack of a better term) I finished up a couple new designs this morning. The first one is a redesign of the "Beer Fairy" which appears at the bottom of Narragansett Beer's website.

A little (or a lot) inspired by the work of John Kricfalusi in that one. Wouldn't mind developing that one into a series of commercials featuring the voice talent of Kevin Barbare :-)

The second is another one featuring the new Shandy 'Gansett did with Del's Lemonade. This time featuring an illustration based on the "Gansett Girls".

Both of which I inked in brush on Canson Smooth Bristol Board. All colors, lettering and other effects added digitally.

One Dandy Shandy

Something I did in honor of Narragansett Beer's new shandy with another Rhode Island institution. Del's Lemonade!!

And it is good!!

Inked in Brush on Canson Smooth Bristol Board. Colors, lettering and other effects added digitally.

Hi Neighbor!

This was the commercial I took the two characters from. Since there's no real images available to copy, I pretty much sat at my computer pausing the commercial from time to time trying to get the characters right. Kind of like what I used to do with movies as a kid:

One of the 10 finalists!!

I just found out yesterday my design for the Narragansett Father's Day Tie Competition is one of the 10 finalists!!

So even if I don't win first or second prize, I already win a case of Narragansett!! And that's pretty darn good ;-)

But here's my design again. I used the Sold on Merit image they supplied for the competitors and created my own image based on one of the old Narragansett ad's from the late 50's early 60's.

3rd Annual Narragansett Tie Design Contest

Although I didn't win last year, it naturally didn't stop me from entering this year's Narragansett Father's Day Tie Contest.

This year I used one of the images they supplied for anyone entering the contest on their website as well as one of my own images. I decided to recreate a couple of characters that were used in one of Narragansett's vintage commercials back in either the 1950's or early 1960's.

I love the character design from the commericals because they reminded me so much of Rocky and Bullwinkle. One of the greatest television cartoons of all time!

But here is the design:

And now for something (somewhat) completely different...

For those of you who have known me since way back when, I use to draw cartoons all the time. I did cartoon characters all the way up till my last year of college in the school newspaper.

I usually don't do cartooning much nowadays except for in the classroom. I suppose it's like riding a bicycle for me. Even though I do work that is vastly different from the stuff I did in High School or even college, I can still dig into that little storage locker in my brain and dig it out.

Which is what I had decided to do when I saw this contest Narragansett Beer was holding for their upcoming Father's Day Tie. I had chickened out last year but I decided to take a brave stab at it this year in the only way I know how.

And spending the day watching Looney Tunes gave me all the inspiration I needed.

Since I connect Narragansett with 1950's and 1960's Americana, I really wanted to tap into that. No puns intended. So, I wanted to create this Dad in the image of people like Steve Allen, Phil "Sgt. Bilko" Silvers or Arnold "Top Cat" Stang.

I really drew heavily upon Hannah-Barbera, Rocky and Bullwinkle, UPA characters, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng. Especially some of Frelengs more stylized and sometimes simplified designs from the 1950's.

And I threw in a little John K. just for good measures. Although, I know it doesn't show up in the results, I've always loved John K's stylized characters and had that in mind when I was creating this.

Also, another rule of the contest was to use Narragansett imaging for the design. So, I incorporated a great number of the bottle designs into the character. The design of the tie was taken from one of the old designs from the Narragansett cans. The color of the hair was also taken from the same thing as the tie. The shirt was taken from the colors of Narragansett Lite and the trousers were from the color of the label on Narragansett Bock Beer.

The glass he is holding is from an image on one of the older labels.

I created a background image for the character which will use the design from the Narragansett Lager.

Make plans for another night of beer and socializing

So, bring your sketchbooks, pens, pencils, notebooks, laptops and sheet music for another night of art, beer and socializing.

Improved Pub Scrawl flyer

I changed some of the text slightly to make it resemble the Narragansett label a little more. I also made the background red so it looks like the Narragansett label and not an advertisement for Moxie ;)

Attention Worcesteries!! Under the influence of Artwork...

Hi All!!
I had started e-mailing some of you through the space of my to put a bug in your ear on the thought of perhaps starting up a Drink and Draw type of event somewhere in Worcester.

To Check out what I mean, check out the Drink and Draw Myspace site:

http://www.myspace.com/drinkanddraw

But since I know a great deal of talented artists around and about Worcester, I thought I would put my neck in the noose and post a bulletin about it.

I had found out from Pete that there were four or five artists in his group that use to hold an event like this and Doug Chapel has held a very similar event at That's Entertainment a couple years back called Danger! Artists at Work. Although, this was a non-alcoholic version of the Drink and Draw, the concept was very similar.

Like I said, I've gotten to know a lot of really talented people through That's Entertainment, ARTSWorcester and all the great art shows and book signings that have been organized in Worcester.

I felt if I could at least get some people interested I could then perhaps start inquiring with a few of the local establishments that sell beer for $1 or $2 a bottle or pint.

And it shouldn't just be opened to artists. But also to people who are interested in art, writing and music performance and composing.

Okay, well I gave my two cents. Pass this along to anyone who likes to draw or likes artists and would be interested in something of this nature.