A new facet to the same career

I've recently begun crafting business logos as a part of my job. I'm totally down with that. How cool will it be to be able to see a logo I design on a pen, tee shirt or truck door some day?

I've done probably three logo designs in the past seven years, but lately I pumped out two, and the sentiment seems to be that they'll be becoming an ever more common part of my job.

The first I did is for a charitable institution that will be opening its doors in Peoria, Illinois once all the balls roll into place. It is to be rehabilitation center modeled after San Francisco's Delancey Street Foundation. Its board of directors asked me to come up with a logo, and after a few drafts they settled on the idea of emulating the soon-to-be-iconic gabled roof of the building chosen to house this project.

The final logo ended up like so:

A few weeks later, I was approached to create a logo for a lawn service business. With little to no input from the owners I ended up with this:

As it turns out, there was a mis-communication; the company already had a logo, but they liked mine so well they decided to ditch the old one and move forward using the new one.

I had another incident like that last year with a company I thought I was designing a logo for, but instead I was trying to reproduce an existing one, sight-unseen. What I thought was creative input from a manager was instead recollection of what he'd seen on the gas station sign.

Navigating by the creative direction I'd been fed, I came up with what was almost exactly their very logo. However, since I thought I was doing an original creation, I had taken some more aesthetic detours along the way, and I think to this day that I designed one that's way better than what they've been using:

Jackson Express, if you're reading this, you're still always welcome to use mine instead. You know it's snazzier.

I found a treasure from the past

In cleaning out some closets last weekend, I unearthed some old sketchbooks I'd forgotten about. Exploring the drawings inside, I was taken on a trip back to the early 1990s. I immediately began snapping photos for my Instagram page, thinking there would have to be at least a handful of folks out there who would dig them. Here's a peek. As you can see, I was a Ren & Stimpy superfan. LOL. For larger images, please click the link above.

While you're there, why not join? Or, if you're a member already, follow me. I really like the Instagram community. No flame wars. No arguments. Just a community of folks who share images and videos of things they appreciate. Check it out.

Halloween hijinks abound on Draw Something

In honor of my favorite day of the year, all of my Draw Something drawings today were done with a Halloween theme. Here are a bunch, along with a few other recent Halloween-/horror movie-themed drawings, just to maintain the spirit of the season. Enjoy!

FOULBALL

CARRIE

JUGGLE

SNAIL

TRASHCAN

WHISKERS

 

BATHROBE

DOLL

FARM

GOBLIN

POPCORN

 

Don't forget! You can stay updated on my latest Draw Something masterpieces at http://mcgrawshane.tumblr.com

 



 

 

 

Draw Something... Draw anything! Just draw already!

My addiction has moved to the next level. I killed the Facebook album I mentioned earlier and started a Tumblr page to share my coolest drawings.

Check out McDraw Something at
http://mcgrawshane.tumblr.com
and feel free to comment, reply, post your own versions, or whatever!

While you're at it, subscribe! :)

Draw Something is amazing!

I have a confession. I am balls-deep into a Draw Something addiction right now. I cannot recommend a mobile app any higher than I do this game. It is so incredibly fun, even without purchasing the $1.99 premium upgrade, though I'm bound to do so at any time now.

I play this game whenever I have a chance. I currently have about 15 games going, and at times I find myself thinking that's just not enough. So far there are about half a dozen players I really enjoy volleying back and forth with (and one of those is an opponent that was randomly selected for me). I can still have fun with all the players in my games, but there is that handful whose drawings I truly anticipate receiving, not only to watch them guess my drawing, but to see what they have in store for me.

I try my best to avoid taking the easy way out on a drawing whenever possible. Of course, sometimes I am limited by the size of my iPhone, especially when coupled with the sausagelike fngers that are doing the drawing. But for the most part I have stuck to my plan of creating a challenge out of each round when I can, not only for myself, but for the guesser as well. For instance, last night the word I chose to draw was "red." I could have drawn a splotch of red paint and pointed to it with an arrow.

Instead--and I wish I'd done a screen grab of this now--I went with "red" as more of a theme. I drew (in this order) a wall splattered with blood, a huge puddle on the floor, a bloody, severed stick-man arm lying in the puddle, a kneeling, blood-spattered stickman sans one arm next to it, and the caption, "Oh dear. It appears my arm has fallen off."

One time for "blender" I drew (again, in this order) a nondescript green, red and slightly yellow swirl topped by a green splotch with what appeared to be two bulging eyes, a cup or jar surrounding it, a black base, some buttons, an electrical cord , and more colored splotches radiating out from the carnage; a frog in a blender.

Here are a few I did get screen grabs of. These are some of my greatest examples of not taking the easy way out. Once again, anyone can view my entire ongoing album of favorite original Draw Something screen grabs at this URL. Please stop by for a chuckle or two. Enjoy the preview below!

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