Atomic Bear Press » Exhibit Graphics and Branding

Edward Gorey’s Dracula exhibit banner

Brian — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 21:06:14 +0000

This is the banner for the cartoon art museum that I did the graphic design for ( logo,banner,postcard )…

[singlepic=303,320,240,,]

The show is wonderful. It features Gorey’s designs for the hit Broadway production of Dracula from th3 1970′s. The whole production was Gorey, what a show that must have been.

Worlds of Wonder postcard

Brian — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:10:00 +0000

This is the postcard for the Cartoon Art Museum exhibit Worlds of Wonder. The exhibit will feature twelve different artists and the worlds they have created for their stories. This design will also be the basis of the window banner that will be seen at the museum.

To see my ad for the Wondercon program in a previous post, scroll down below or CLICK HERE.

Worlds of Wonder ad in the Wondercon programing book.

Brian — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:45:00 +0000

This ad for the next exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum will be appearing in the Wondercon programing book. I am responsible (for better or worse) for it’s creation. It was a thrill to be working with the art of so many talented folks. I will post the postcard and banner images next week.

The show has some amazing stunning work, press release below:

A great comic builds a world for its readers. Whether it’s futuristic adventure or medieval fantasy, the farthest reaches of reality or a someplace tantalizingly close to home, comics offer an escape into an unforgettable world. The Cartoon Art Museum’s latest exhibition, Worlds of Wonder, explores twelve different comic-book and comic-strip illustrators and the worlds built from their imaginations. Their work runs the gamut of fantasy, science fiction, folk legend, magical realism, and stories almost too good to be the truth.Featured artists include Linda Medley (Castle Waiting), Charlie Adlard (Astronauts in Trouble: 1959), Tom Beland (True Story Swear To God), Mark Buckingham & Steve Leialoha (Fables), Gene Colan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Pia Guerra (Y The Last Man), Shepherd Hendrix (Stagger Lee), Kevin Huizenga (Ganges), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Patrick McDonnell (Mutts), Lark Pien (Long Tail Kitty, Flight), and Gene Yang & Thien Pham (Three Angels).

Many of the featured artists will be appearing at San Francisco’s two major comic conventions, WonderCon and The Alternative Press Expo (APE). For more information on these events, please visit Comic-Con International’s official website, http://www.comic-con.org

The opening reception for Worlds of Wonder will be held on Friday, March 2, 2007, from 8:00 to 11:00pm. Admission to this ticketed event is $10 to the general public and $5 for members of the Cartoon Art Museum and any WonderCon attendee (with WonderCon badge). Many of the featured artists and special WonderCon guests will be in attendance. Please visit http://www.cartoonart.org for special updates as the convention approaches.

The Cartoon Art Museum is located at 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Phone 415-CAR-TOON; on the web at www.cartoonart.org

Rejection Collection exhibit graphics

Brian — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:08:00 +0000

Click on the above image to see a larger picture of the graphics I created for the Cartoon Art Museum.

Latest Project "Rejection Collection" for the Cartoon Art Museum

Brian — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:54:00 +0000

Click on theÂ image to see a larger version.

Tomorrow is the first day of The Rejection Collection, the new exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum. The show features cartoons that were rejected from The New Yorker magazine.

I created the graphic material for the show.

For the front of the postcard I took a high-res file from the book cover that the show is based on and carefully removed some of the text. The background has a nice stripe design which made it easy to cover up the un-needed material, but made it impossible to move any original element from side to side.

The back of the postcard features a texture of real crumpled paper that was brought into the design.

The banner features a printout of the illustration which was then trashed and scanned back into the computer and composited with the other elements.

Recent Projects…

Brian — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 17:27:00 +0000

I have been a busy beaver lately, so here is a re-cap of some of the projects I have done for clients lately.

First off the newest one: Ghost Crane from Golden Gate Universe Comics. The drawing is by Travis Trono and I provided digital coloring as well as the logo design. Click on the thumbnails below to view the front and back of the book.

Ghost Crane will be available at Comic-Con in San Diego this July.

I also worked on the Cover Coloring for Alexis E. Fajardo/Lexpress on the preview of Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland.

To find out more about the creation of this piece, check out my previous post.

Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland preview will also be available at Comic-Con in San Diego this July.

Also for Lexpress is Icarus, a new character based on the Greek myth. Alexis did the drawing at Wondercon’06 and I colored it with watercolors.

Lex has just posted more information about ICARUS on his BLOG, check it out!

Cartoon Tunes & Earthquake!!! Reception May 23-2006 7-9pm

Brian — Thu, 04 May 2006 08:26:00 +0000

The opening for the show Earthquake at the Cartoon Art Museum will be on May 23, 2006. From ~~6-8~~ 7-9. I have a piece in the show. Be there or be square. Here is the official text from the museum… (I also created the above logo)

Cartoon Tunes & Earthquake!!! Reception

Tuesday, May 23th 2006, 7:00-9:00pm

The opening reception for our Earthquake centennial exhibition (featuring 20 local cartoonists) and our upcoming Cartoon Tunes exhibition (featuring lots of great music-related comics from Keith Knight, Robert Crumb, Gene Deitch and others). Admission to the museum is free for this event, and it will be a great opportunity to hang out with your fellow cartoonists and score some free drinks while you’re at it.

The difference between color and black and white.

Brian — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 20:25:00 +0000

I recently did this poster for the Cartoon Art Museum for their upcoming Comics for Comix event. BTW It will be held on Feb 10, 2006.

I originally did the poster in Color using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. One thing I have learned is you can’t take a color image and convert it to black and white with out taking into consideration that color value is very different then black and white value. What seems like two different colors could seem like very close variants of grey when changed. Here is an example from the poster. The sample below was converted to black and white without taking into consideration the differences.

When you’re working strictly on the computer and the image is in layers or some other form that can be changed easily, you want to edit and change the colors to appropriate black, grey and white values. Also take into consideration how the work will be reproduced. If it’s a Xerox you need it to be higher contrast. Here is the final version I did in black and white.

NOTE: It is a bit of different process when you have color images that you are not able to edit the separate areas on. That is a post for another day.

In this final version, the logo is higher contrast with the lighter areas closer to white. At least one of the text boxes has a white stroke to make it stand out. And the restaurant/food logos were edited to show up better.

Another interesting example of this idea is costumes from black and white TV shows and movies. In The Adventures of Superman, George Reeves wore the familiar uniform of the man of steel, but the traditional Blue and Red areas would ended up looking wrong on black and white film.

To explain it more – Jim Nolt writes on his George Reeves superman site,The Adventure Continues:

Superman and the Mole-Men and the first two seasons were filmed in black and white. Because there was not enough contrast between the blue and red when filmed in b&w, a brown and grey costume was used. Beginning with episode #53 “Through The Time Barrier,” the Adventures of Superman was filmed in color…

So the next time you are working on a project, take the time to adjust the black and white version to look as good as the color.

Comics 4 Comix – Art and Graphics

Brian — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:54:00 +0000

Here is the graphic work I did for the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco for their COMICS to COMIX event. The fundraiser of stand-up comedy coincides with Wondercon next month.

I took the current logo and recreated it in Adobe Illustrator. I then did the layout for an ad that will appear in the Wondercon program.

I also created some portraits of super-comedians. I don’t know if they will be used or not. They where fun to do.

For more information, visit the Cartoon Art Museum website.

Kid Beowulf #1 (brand spanking new edition) IS HERE!

Brian — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 06:07:00 +0000

Alexis E. Fajardo’s new edition of his classic graphic novel Kid Beowulf#1 is out today! Here it is.

It looks great with a full cover (colored by yours truly), and crisp black and white art inside. You can order it now through the website if you want it in time for Christmas or Hanukkah. OR even better, visit your local comic book store and ask for it by name. It is available through the major comic distributor, Diamond. Its a lot of fun for kids and adults.

tags: Kid Beowulf/Fajardo/Alexis Fajardo/comic/Graphic Novel/Beowulf/Grendel/

Gross, Gruesome and Gothic GRAPHICS

Brian — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:14:00 +0000

I just posted examples of my work for the Cartoon Art Museum.

click here to see a bigger example

For this exhibit I created a postcard, banner, and wall signage that featured an original spooky logo. The show runs at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA from now till March 12,2006. Visit the official site for more info.

"Kid Beowulf" in living color

Brian — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 03:59:00 +0000

For the first time the wonderful graphic novel Kid Beowulf will be distributed through Diamond (the big comic book distributor) to stores across the US and the rest of the world. To celebrate, artist/writer Alexis Fajardo asked me to take his illustration and give it a whole new look. So, with the help of the magic of PhotoShop, I set out to color Alexis’ drawing as if it where a scene in a animated feature.

Lets take a look:

Pictured from left to right: Gertrude (the mother, monster), Beowulf (with the magic sword),
Grendel (takes after his mother), and Ecytheow (their father, now a spirit who appears in fire)
To see a bigger image in my gallery, Click Here

Inspired by the epic poem BEOWULF, Kid Beowulf recounts the adventures of 12 year old twin brothers Beowulf and Grendel as they travel to distant lands and meet the other epic heroes therein. Kid Beowulf is an all-ages graphic novel series filled with action, adventure and humor!

I also help re-design the logo to give it a more heroic-rustic look.

Any interested parties who might be in need of some digital coloring added to their artwork, feel free to e-mail me (link is on the right side bar) or visit the Contact Page. I also can provide graphic design work (like the logo) as well.