SlyBrand

Down here near north Mississippi we’re used to hearing the ongoing debate surrounding the University of Mississippi’s long-time controversial Mascot “Colonel Reb”.

Evidently the administration’s tried to “retire” and replace him several times to no avail. Personally, I think the elderly gentleman with the Colonel Sanders tie standing aloofly, leaning on his cane, needs to go. But chunking him altogether may not be the right approach.

So, I drew this concept art of what I call “Mad Reb”.

My attempt is to change the pomp to action, static to motion. Established to CRAZY. Sometimes a little self-deprecating humor (and good art) can save the day. And sometimes, the debate goes on and on and on… driving us all mad.

Over the last 7 months or so, I’ve been combing through my work looking for interesting, and perhaps forgotten, illustration work for the new site. I came across several pieces I’ve done in the past that I haven’t posted online in a format suitable for viewing. This vector drawing of City Hall in Oxford Mississippi, commissioned by a friend for the Oxford Tourism Council, is a good example. More to come soon!

Today is my daughter Lucy’s sixth birthday.

After dinner our family took a “Cinderella” carriage ride through downtown Memphis. We went by the Cotton Exchange building, which, In my opinion, could be the most beautiful building in downtown Memphis. We passed the newly renovated limestone Post Office building, that’s now the the new U of M Law School. We clopped on through Confederate Park and then on to Court Square. (more…)

After watching the Vancouver Olympics, and having a tight deadline on this project, I was inspired to go back and look at some of vintage Canadian Pacific Railway postcard art.

Shea and I went to Banff, Alberta, Cananda on our honeymoon and collected a bunch of those postcards, and they came in very handy for type and illustration style inspiration.

The structure in the back of this illustration is the dam at Pickwick Lake—where the retreat will be held.

By the way, how great are the design and colors of the Canadian Flag? A designer’s dream.

One day I’m gonna re-typeset this art to say “A Heart for MOM” and get it tattooed across my back.

Thanks to Scott Campbell and his Camel ad illustrations for the style and inspiration.

Dear God, please let something like this happen.

Here’s a follow-up to my earlier post about the Memphis Ultimate Disc Association Summer League jerseys.

Ahh, the age-old battle… giant squid vs. frisbee.

I was recently given the opportunity to create cover art for the spring edition of Second Look. Here’s a pre-mail sneak peek. It was definitely challenging and fun to try my hand at vector portraiture. A special thanks to The Darjeeling Limted for Indian color and texture inspiration.

Since I’m on the topic of wood, I thought I’d post this little illustration I did for a friend’s blog post on Smart City Memphis.

Every now and then, I like to sharpen the ol’ cutting tools, dust off a block and flat carve some wood.