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Business Cards

February 21, 2010 in Business, Graphic design, Personal, Portfolio | 4 comments

Another project that’s been in the works for too long is now at the press. With the production of the snowboard and the approaching SXSW conference, I made a push to finish some business cards. Basically, I adapted elements from my snowboard to maintain that self-promo theme. Funny thing is, I now have both the snowboard and business cards using a kind of logo that I don’t intend on maintaining as a permanent logo. It’s really more of a branding element reflecting the kind of characters I draw, more of a style association than a specific mark. It is an abstraction of my initials, which makes me think more along the lines of creating similar characters or redesigns of my initials without any of them being a standard.

Through the design process, I considered many different print possibilities with the cards—letterpress, die-cut, specialty papers, foils and metallics, emboss, etc. I didn’t want to overdesign, though; the card doesn’t have to implement everything. I did go for rounded corners and a slimmer vertical format. Also, a qr code appealed to me with the interactive festival approaching and I’m hoping it’s not going to be something too trendy. Finally, the press run necessitating a higher quantity than I’m likely to hand out anytime soon, it seemed like a good idea to create some variety from the theme, resulting in the three different designs.

Completed Snowboard

January 21, 2010 in Graphic design, Personal, Portfolio | 4 comments

Posting the photos of my finished snowboard before I have the bindings attached and head up to the mountain. Really excited about how this turned out and my mind is already going on more designs I’d like to try out (with so many other projects on the list). Further reading about the design in the previous blog.

New plans

January 17, 2010 in Business, Events, Illustration, Personal | Comments closed

New year and going out for some new things. On the smaller side is a portrait/portfolio contest by Artists Wanted. It’s one that I don’t really think I’m going to fit too well, but I figure there’s a better chance of something coming of it by entering than by taking a pass. Check it out and vote.

Further down the road, I’ve registered for the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin. Really excited about this one despite the fact that I don’t quite know what I’m up for. The basic aim is to get out, make new associations, acquire some knowledge that’s a bit out of my experience, and have a good time in a new city (travel is always good). This moves up another portfolio project—business cards. Postings to come on that as they progress.

Snowboard 2010

December 19, 2009 in Business, Graphic design, Icons, Personal, Portfolio | 2 comments

After a couple years remaining on the list of portfolio projects to accomplish, I’ve finally succeeded in finalizing a snowboard design and sent it to production. Between obligations to client work and a perfectionist block about making the prime design, the project crept along for some time. About a year ago I got involved playing with fermat spirals and checking out surfboard patterns (which I often find to be more interesting in their streamlined design than the cacophony that sometimes clutters snowboards). Unfortunately, by the time I got enjoying those patterns, it was well into January and paying projects took center stage well into spring. Obviously, I’m a bit late this year, but at least there’s still plenty of boardable weeks remaining in the season.

From fermat spiral and surfboard-like stripes, I added a seven-pointed star (again built on the spiral) referencing the pinwheel at the opening of my website. (There is, actually, no particular branding basis for the shape, other than there being many such shapes and characters littering my sketchbooks, e.g. the extremely stylized glyph for my initals jjh on the base of the board). The next leap came with the observation that I ought to employ the planetary symbols created in the fall (thanks Brad), balancing them out with some new zodiacal glyphs at the tail end.

After that it was mostly an overly drawn-out debate on color, there’s simply so many great colors. Partial to blue, that was almost always assumed, but good bright reds, oranges, and even some greens, glow off the snow so fantastically. Still planning to put those colors to work in other snowboard designs (so much fun to do it once, why not go for it again… even if I don’t get to build them all), I went for the blue to tie in with my site and the red because of the striking contrast. I think it works with the blue being on the cyan side and the red having a fair bit of yellow in it, those colors, of course, being complementaries in subtractive color (light rather than pigment).

I’ve been down to Revolution Snowboard Manufacturing where I’m having it built and checked out the finished results of their last design competition. Going to have to watch for the next one. Now I’m holding my breath hoping the finished board looks so good when finished, which I’ll have to thoroughly photograph and post.

Details at Buckingham

June 9, 2009 in Events, Personal | 1 comment

Again I was a bit touristy yesterday and visited Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms won’t be open for a few weeks, I went over to the Queen’s Gallery, not quite sure what I was going to see. Not that I’m normally into dishes, but the porcelain exhibit there was particularly interesting. One of those displays of intricate detail and really cool color. The French pieces involved some serious detail and fascinating flowing shapes in both the decoration and the shape of the dishes, vases, and such. The Royal Treasures were also tight with intricate detail, which I’m all over.

It’s always a shame when photography isn’t allowed that the supplied books on the exhibit are small on images, long on analysis, poor on reproduction color, and usually don’t print the pieces you really want to remember. I’m finding this to be a common affliction with so many museums, or maybe I’m just a bit picky.

Museum Overload

June 6, 2009 in Personal | Comments closed

Does anyone else ever experience museum overload? After two visits to the British Museum, three to the National Gallery, two for the Victoria and Albert, and one each for the National Portrait Gallery, Tower of London, Royal Observatory and Maritime Museum (plenty of fun navigational pieces), and not to mention all the gardens, architecture, and street color— I think I’m needing a day in the flat to simply process and rest from so much stimulation.

Last year in Manhattan, I made a conscious effort to photograph what I could in museums in ways that aren’t available in books, and have been attempting to carry on with that here. For instance, with pieces that are so often reproduced in books and easily available for viewing without my own photos, I try to take detail shots, or in cases like sculpture, shoot from angles that are not face-on. Incidentally, I’ve thought it peculiar that the V&A allows flashes. Only museum I’ve ever encountered that goes for that.

I’ve also tried to take a cue from friends and family that are so perceptive about noticing interesting signage and people around town. Views that are sometimes not always typically beautiful, but are otherwise interesting. There are always those situations that are difficult to make a good shot, like in a crowded tube train when you see someone dressed fantastically odd that you just have to record it, if you could… and without being too intrusive in their space. Also, I think I had a few odd looks for taking pictures of the tiled floor of the V&A museum the other day. I seem to have a focus on patterns lately. Must be the designer side.

Oh yes, and of course I’ve been enjoying the artwork. The other day I was going for the exercise of sketching from paintings and sculptures. Something I ought be making a better habit of. I was also spending time the other day trying to re-interpret a painting into my own style, attempting to craft the same edges from the painting with my pencil technique.

The British Museum

June 1, 2009 in Events, Personal | 3 comments

During my visits to the British Museum this last week, there were a couple times that I was struck with how much history we have exemplified by rooms filled with categorized items which, of course, only make a small sampling of all physical evidence we now have of the course of history. I was also thinking how much of our historical knowledge is derived from artistic expression— paintings, sculptures, literature, clothing, architecture, music, etc. Obvious thoughts, perhaps, that have occurred to me before, but one of those ideas that has more depth to it when standing in a room with shelves upon shelves of books, artwork, sculptures, and cataloged history.

I also went and checked out the Shah ‘Abbas exhibit. I always enjoy Islamic calligraphy and was glad that BYU had such a great exhibit a few years ago. I’m drawn to the attention to detail and the beauty of letterforms intertwining and used not only for their verbal meaning, but for the design of the shapes. I had to be amazed at the detail achieved in the small format of the paintings also.

Good thing to be able to visit repeatedly. Last trip out this way, the one visit I had to museum was marked by being so tired from jet lag that somehow I managed to view the Egyptian collection and miss the Rosetta Stone.

Off to London

May 25, 2009 in Business, Personal | 2 comments

Tomorrow morning I’m headed off to London for a month. After my first trip out there I thought that not only would it be good to return, but that I’d prefer to stay there awhile and have days that are spent just living abroad rather than sight-seeing (that’s not to say that I’m not going to be finding myself in the museums much of the time). Though I’m realizing that a month is perhaps not quite long enough for this, I’m considering this trip a trial run, as there are so many other places I’d like to check out (some, perhaps, less expensive). Hopefully I can strike a good balance between time in the flat doing freelance and time around town expanding my visual vocabulary.

Random thoughts at the start of Autumn.

September 23, 2008 in Business, Graphic design, Illustration, Personal, Portfolio | 1 comment

Yes, it’s been two months since my last blog. Although there has been plenty of work going on, there’s much that’s still in process and accordingly I’m not able to blog about those project, fun as they are. I did get to do some quick illustrations (one afternoon) for a tag associated with some t-shirts Omniture distributed at a BYU game. The plan was, of course, to get everyone to put them on with the reward of prizes, so for the tags the thought was aiming for the kind of drawings typically seen in airplane safety instructions. Originally I went with the parted plastic hair I usually associate with schematics from a few decades ago, but apparently that was a bit too nerdy.

 

 

At the beginning of the month, I was in the Victoria and visited the Royal British Columbia Musuem and particularly enjoyed the First Nations Gallery. Strong graphic quality to a lot of the masks, carvings, and drawings that I’d like to look into more. I like the sparing use of color and the play of organic shapes. Some items struck me as reminiscent of Mayan designs. There were also a couple interesting galleries in Seattle with current artists’ designs that I’m glad I saw. Last May when visiting the Met, I was glad to have made a point of spending more time in the African, American, and Pacific art sections.

Today I received a few emails notifying me of the approaching release of Adobe Creative Suite 4. Seems like all to recently I upgraded to 3. I have to wonder if new releases come around too often forcing everyone to upgrade to maintain compatibility with each other just for a version with a slightly new UI and minor buttons. There’s even been a couple times when some functions are more complicated in newer versions. Not that I’m making any particular total conclusion here, new stuff is always nice, but I have to ask if a minor upgrade every two years is more waste and hassle than progress.

Communication Arts Illustration Annual

July 3, 2008 in Illustration, Personal | 1 comment

I’ve been checking out the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and discussing it friends and associates. As I was relating to a friend this evening, I’m particularly noticing techniques involving stylized realism. My buddy Brad was pointing out Jim Salvati as a point between impressionism and photorealism that he likes, and I agreed by noting the work of Greg Manchess. Although I have always enjoyed Tim O’Brien whose work I’d say is fairly photorealistic. In contrast to those, there’s more distorted styles in the narrative vein such as Jack Unruh and Jody Hewgill that I’ll notice in so many issues. There’s always so much to take in and I’ll likely notice new things for different reasons on another read.

This issue struck me as having more weight on narratives and broadly realistic approaches than I’ve seen in issues in recent years. I could be wrong, but there appeared to be a bit of a broader spectrum rather than a heavy focus on highly political editorials and plethora of naive styles that I often see in design periodicals. Sometimes it seems that there’s a bit too much focus on anger and politics, and while those themes need to be communicated, they aren’t the only things to convey.

I was also discussing with Brad some of the artists I was looking at in New York this last month. The J.C. Leyendecker show at the Society of Illustrators was definitely worth the time. There were a couple pieces there that called to mind some sketches of Dean Cornwell. Thinking of the way I sketch the figure, I’m probably drawn to the the deco-style adaptations. I like the way that Leyendecker streamlines organic shapes and how, even with paint, there’s a certain kind of cross-hatching.

Fall freelance and opportunities

October 17, 2007 in Business, Freelance, Graphic design, Illustration, Personal | 2 comments

Fortunately, the past couple months have been fairly busy. From early August, I’ve had a continual stream of freelance work and other opportunities to investigate. Curtis Packer at Venafi has been a very good client to work with, (icon samples above), and I’m looking forward to working more with him in future.

I also received a call from Becton Loveless at NutraSanus, who I’ve done freelance for off and on over the past couple years, and there’s the possibility of some continuing projects there.

Another referral out of the blue came from Chip Haskell at Crowell Advertising. I anticipate some good business relationships there. They have some really great offices at the Gateway in Salt Lake. Chip also said he enjoys maps and astronomy– that’s a bonus. Always nice if you can work with someone with similar interests.

Brad Pamer also contacted me about potentially collaborating on projects that he has, some of which are former clients of the now defunct Indigo Creative. We even talked about the possibility (however fanciful) of a virtual studio (called Indigo Orange, of course) of our former collaborators at Indigo Creative. I was surprised that our website is still up, but, as Brad explained, he owns the URL and pays for the hosting– the owner of Excel and Indigo never reimbursed him for those expenses. I also saw Michael Hancock the other night and am pleased that he’s doing well. We talked about freelance work versus full-time work. He says he’s in a good place right now with the freelance. I have to admit, it’s nice when you have enough work to sustain you and can have your schedule to yourself.

Unfortunately, with many things occupying my time, I didn’t complete a piece to submit for the Society of Illustrators annual. I’m hoping that my dad, Richard Hull, enters some of his pieces that he did for a current exhibition at Brigham Young University. He mentored a group of students a year and a half ago in Ghana and this month they’re showing pieces inspired by their time there.

I’m off today to Asia for two weeks, and I’m already anticipating all there is to follow up on at the start of November.

Life after Indigo

June 11, 2007 in Business, Freelance, Graphic design, Personal | 2 comments

Friday i quit my job at Indigo Creative to return to freelance and portfolio-building. Having been debating the timing for awhile, my quandary was answered when it was announced that Excel Graphics, our parent company, is finally collapsing with no money remaining for paychecks, having gone to fill the printing company’s increasing debt, and that the owner was requiring a designer to be laid off immediately. As I was planning on leaving in the near future anyway, I quit so that Indigo’s art director wouldn’t need to terminate our newest designer only to have me leave soon afterward. Sadly, after having lunch with my former co-workers today, it sounds as though they may shortly be joining me in life after Indigo.

After over three years working for the strange business association of Indigo and Excel, I’m happy to have worked with excellent designers and hope to maintain ties with them. Michael Hancock, our first art director, has already moved on to GoFish Creative. I’m interested to see the progress of Brad Palmer, the current art director; and my other associates, Kevin Sheehan; Scott Troxel; Jared Wright; and Kira Ludwig Shelton.

GoFish Creative and Orion Management Group

April 17, 2007 in Freelance, Graphic design, Personal, Portfolio | 1 comment

I had the opportunity lately of collaborating with my former boss at Indigo Creative, Michael Hancock. He now designs independently as GoFish Creative.

Michael needed a logo illustration for Orion Management Group, a business I really don’t know much about. All I needed to know is that they wanted an illustration of the constellation Orion with his bow and arrow. Being an astronomy junkie, I had to point out that Orion (though, a hunter) is never pictured with a bow and arrow (that constellation being Sagittarius, the archer), but is pictured instead with a club and either a shield or lionskin in the other arm upraised against Taurus.

I understand that the logo doesn’t require the strictest astronomical representation, and suggested that the primary traits that communicate ‘Orion’ are the belt of three stars, and any attributes of a hunter, usually his hunting dogs. The client suggested the concepts pictured below (they must really like the archer idea). The final version is being produced by Michael as he applies color and type, after which I’ll have another piece to add to my design portfolio.

It’s always good to have the opportunity to collaborate with someone you’ve worked with before. I first met Michael Hancock in the summer of 2003 when he worked at Focus Design, where I did some freelance for him before he became art director at Indigo Creative, where he hired me as a designer three years ago.

Day-jobs, Freelance, Life, and Balance

February 21, 2007 in Business, Freelance, Personal | 1 comment

I recently set up plans for accomplishing more pieces this month, including working up some illustrations to enter for the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. (I’m never sure that there’s much chance of getting into the publication, but considerably more chance if I enter than if i don’t). Of course, as soon as that happens, I’m called back to full-time work at Indigo. Pushing freelance and portfolio projects into the crammed recesses of the evenings when one doesn’t often have the momentum and energy for it.

It’s always good to be appreciated, and to asked back to full-time work. Upon that, there’s a new challenge that comes with it– the request to work on-site for a client, Razor Data. It’s almost like starting a new job. I know these are not my employers, but new environment, new rhythms to establish, people to meet. All this is good and adds flavor to work, but can often be intimidating as I want to be sure I mesh well with the environment and produce what is expected of me.

In the meantime, there’s that balance to be found in returning to full-time work (which admittedly, most the world copes with just fine), and the freelance and portfolio projects, while not losing my mind to stress and finding time to live.

What’s next

December 15, 2006 in Business, Personal

As noted in my first blog, I took time off from work beginning in September to work on portfolio projects, specifically, my final project to complete my BFA degree at Brigham Young University. During the past three and a half months, my status of full-time salaried designer was changed to part-time, so I could maintain my employment as well as have the time I needed for my projects.

Last summer, after over two years at Indigo Creative, I was started to get that itch for ‘what’s next’. While grateful for my employment, and happy with my co-workers, I felt the day-to-day work moving farther from the kind of work I enjoyed doing, so I took the risk of taking time off to do the kind of projects I wanted to for awhile, and to complete my degree. I was meant to return to full-time at the beginning of the new year.

Now, during that time, my boss, Michael Hancock, has moved on to pursue contract design work, and I find the studio continually moving away from the kind of work situation I’d like to be in. So I’ve decided to continue the risk. I’m grateful that the studio has opted to keep me on as a part-time employee, but I’ve decided that I won’t return as a full-time designer. Rather, there seems to come a time to look for the next move. Of course, there’s a certain giddy excitement to having most of my time to myself, but also the risk of not having a steady income. I have to hope to stay focused and structure my time to achieve visible accomplishments (i.e. a better portfolio).

Simply, it came down to the option of doing what’s traditionally safe and returning to a regular job, whatever the work; or continuing a risk a little longer to develop portfolio and hope to progress to ‘what’s next’.

The beginning of jonathan-hull.com

November 2, 2006 in Personal, Portfolio, Website | 1 comment

Beginning in September, I opted to take some extra time off from the day job for my own projects. This website is one of many (checkmarks one project off the list). After getting over the fact that someone out there had to have my name, I took longer than needed to obsess on flash movies, sort through portfolio, and build me a site. Now begins the endless joy of tweaking, refining, completely scrapping, and rebuilding the website… oh yeah, and creating better illustration and design content to fill it. Welcome to the blog… (if you can handle it).