I was recently asked to contribute some artwork and writing to a pop-up magazine. These projects are fun to work on as it is a chance to create something completely from your own imagination without having to answer to a client.

For this pop-up I created four items: “Shed Your Skin – Wild Ghost logo,” “Electric Ballroom” short story, John Contino tribute skull, and “Dog-o and Chef,” an original comic short.

Shed Your Skin – Wild Ghost logo

This is a new take on my own Wild Ghost logo. I’ve had the idea to make a glyph using the Wild Ghost snake in the shape of a “G” for a while and this iteration feels really good. Eventually as I develop my brand I see this as being a stand alone mark.

The “Shed Your Skin” text is really a reminder to myself that when I fell boxed in to a certain artistic style that I have the freedom to change as needed. This really is the essence of Wild Ghost and why I founded the company. I wanted to create something that was unshackled and free to inhabit any artistic form I need the company to take, hence, Wild Ghost.

“Electric Ballroom” – Short Story / John Contino Tribute Skull 

The “Electric Ballroom” short story in an excerpt from a longer unpublished fictional piece I wrote about a local band struggling for attention in a small town. I chose this section because I really like description of the main character playing guitar. I’m obsessed with Fender instruments and their offset guitars always seemed so cool to me.

John Contino is one of my favorite designers and I love how expressive he can be using a combination of digital and hand drawn art. I struggle sometimes with digital art, particularly getting a computer to be as expressive as I want it to be. I’ve been studying Contino’s technique in the hopes of learning how to bring a more personal feel to digital design. This skull was hand drawn, based off one of his drawings, scanned into Photoshop, and redrawn from there. The lines in the finished skull seem more lively to me. It’s a little extra work to get this effect, but I’m looking forward to using this technique in upcoming projects.

Dog-o and Chef – Comic Short

This was by far my favorite piece to create for the magazine. I’m my spare time I really love cooking and every time I’m in the kitchen my Boston Terrier is at my feet, hoping to catch a couple scraps. This is a real pecan pie recipe, but as you can see, when you let a dog be your sous-chef, things can take a turn for the worse!

While fun, this project turned out to be much more time intensive than I anticipated. Character drawing in particular was difficult. Drawing my dog in multiple positions, while still maintaining his defining characteristics was a challenge.