Neutron Terra: Special Edition

I had an amazing opportunity to continue the Special Edition stamp from the Electron Nomad landscape. The first stab at thumbnailing wasn’t a success. I had this idea to do a type of spherical projection and had a few concepts based on that. James Conrad had a stamp release previously that someone on the Media Team pointed out that essentially ended that direction. It was time to pull out the wildcard idea that I painted on my iPad and realized it probably wasn’t going to fly. The concept got a positive response from the rest of the team and with a few tweaks, had me sent in a direction on the new set of thumbnails. I wanted to include an anthill monster, the same shrunken protagonist, and a tense moment in the exchange.

During the reference gathering/ idea stage I remember writing down “Terra/ dirt” and it instantly reminded me of Honey I Shrunk The Kids when they see that Oatmeal Creme Pie on the lawn. Choosing gritty texturing for the dirt helped to enhance the scaling. About halfway through, we realized it was hard to distinguish the large ant hill and I chose to accentuate the ant to be the bigger feature in the art. I relied on nuggets from Andrew Johnson our Team MVP Manager to help personalize this Special Edition a little bit more in that final stages.

The artwork was methodically split up to where she, the warrior and “Terra” name were the isolated accent. We chose a nice vertical color transition and it worked really well. The gritty shading layer was allocated with a brushed silver foil to help it work on any core color.

This was one of my favorites from 2021! I had a blast and was super pumped that James was stoked to see it too. I’m glad he trusts us with his signature line to break out of the technical shell sometimes. Since these were special editions, you can find them in the wild. Either online sites like eBay or your local disc golf MVP hub.

Raven Newsom - 2021 Tour Series

Raven Newsom officially went all-in on the 2021 season. He’s toured and pretty much played every National Tour and Disc Golf Pro Tour event that was on the calendar. I started early and before the holiday season of the previous year to get something geared up to help his touring efforts.

Raven made the process super easy. He trusted my design skills and let me come up with a few ideas to ponder over. As you see for the very early stages, the raven was refined and some of the heavy linework from my brush pen was slimmed down a bit. Everything was bold and it didn’t allow your eye to rest. I felt it was chaotic and the bird seems way out of shape. It took some more reference gathering to really started feeling better about the bird, its outstretched wings, and the overall ability to add in “Collegiate National Champion” with a bit of class.

With the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic; it’s been tough getting this design to the masses with only one or two small releases up to this point. Keep a lookout for more runs coming from Raven. I want to thank Raven for giving me this opportunity. If you have any questions, please hit me up or leave a comment!

Firm Electron Envy - Special Edition

James Conrad. What a performance!! If you’ve been living under a disc golf rock, here’s the final round of the 2021 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships. That shot propelled MVP and Axiom Discs to run its first custom colorway since the early Axiom Artist Series releases. It’s been a little over a year since that day but I’ve finally told myself I should probably post this before the 2022 World Championships. We wanted to truly honor the win while also acknowledging the sheer interest in the Electron Firm Envy that he threw in from 257 ft to force the playoff with 5x World Champion, Paul McBeth.

This is up there with some of the most prolific design jobs I’ve ever done in the disc golf space. I knew going in that getting and sorting through all the media from that weekend was going to be the task at hand. We had boots on the ground with Team MVP Team Manager and Marketing Director, Andrew Johnson following James and getting some insane footage. We also had PDGA and Gatekeeper Media content at our disposal. It was important for us at MVP to celebrate “The Shot” but to also put the viewer in the exact moment James raised the trophy. He’ll remember that particular moment for the rest of his life. I think the decision to create a replica yellow core, blue rim Electron Firm Envy was decided on just a few days after everything went down. MVP HQ wanted to make sure that was something they could facilitate both with plastic availability and machine time.

I had already made a mental note that most likely that was probably going to happen and started tinkering on editing the stock stamp created by Zachary Kelbaugh with some tasteful and clean Worlds win text. I wanted the stock Axiom Electron putter stamp to remain as much as possible while facilitating the celebration. While in the quick and dirty thumbnail phase, my gut said something had to go. The tightly wound audio waveforms representing the plastic firmness around the outside were extracted. I began working on a few inking pieces based closely on references of James that I paused from video footage. I’ve watched the shot 100+ times and probably in slow more for a majority of those trying to find particular moments. I remember the amount of pollen floating in the air, the time of day, and the sheer amount of sunlight beaming down on Hole 18 during the final approach. The grandstand, the crowd, the line, and the commitment around that right side tree. All of it. I put as much as possible while keeping it mostly uncluttered.

If you notice from the images I’ve shared below, we almost used the front-facing James shot from the award ceremony. I felt the rawness, the immediacy of the trophy raise near the water carried the energy from that thrilling playoff hole and favored that idea. With that finally decided, I went back and tightened up the Hole 18 grandstand, backhand throw, sunrays, and pollen around the Axiom and Electron Firm logos. This was a fast-paced project but I felt the ability to rush something out in a day or two just wasn’t the greatest idea. We wanted a classic design centered around James’ first PDGA Worlds win and something that acknowledged and represented the absolute insanity of the final round.

The Special Edition Firm Envy is out in the wild. Please be sure to ask your local retailer if they have any left in stock!

Cameron Beck 2021 MVP Tour Series

Cameron Beck is an avid climber and Team MVP member. He approached me this off-season with an idea to marry his love of rock climbing, eco-friendliness into his first official tour series stamp. Some of the proceeds would go to a local course but also support him for the 2021 touring season. I knew just by following Cameron that he spent some time over in France for a short period. Our initial thoughts on the design were to feature the cliff rocks from Étretat in Northern France. That arch is insanely beautiful and the fact that they climb with water below really got the gears going in the thumbnail stages.

I took some time to R&D but I couldn’t get enough reference of someone in the act of climbing that particular location. From there I went to a few ideas that I thought could make for a compelling stamp. The idea of this climber reaching toward a disc golf basket perched high above. It would allow me to encompass disc golf and his love of climbing into one stamp. The thumbnail sheet gave him 3 different approaches we could go with that idea. In the end, we both thought #2 had a creative solution around the center no art zone. It also featured sharp diagonals and great negative space underneath the climber to show the suspense and danger that comes along with sport climbing.

The design, shape, and placement of the rock face allowed the great vertical read from the basket - climber - down to his name in the lower 3rd of the stamp. I really liked how this stamp turned out and appreciate Cameron giving me the liberty to put something together for him.

Marie Curie Eclipse Glow Reactor

I’m working my typical day and the word came down that MVP HQ is experimenting with a new & improved Eclipse Glow blend of plastic with overmolds. With the recent success of the Reactor mold; both ideas hit me at once and we pitched the idea to try Reactors & see how they would mold up. The initial idea for a Glow Reactor Special Edition came in the form of glowing toxic material and powerplants.

Some say it’s not always good to roll with your first idea. We marinated a bit on the qualities of the plastic and used them to our strengths. The natural look of the Eclipse 2.0 blend in the daytime gives off a milky white/greenish appeal. I felt using this opportunity to honor the late Marie Curie and her life as a scientific pioneer. She would be the first woman to win multiple Nobel Prizes in both sciences. She’s also the first female featured in MVP’s Limited and Special Edition scientific line of stamps. We use this platform to give nods to some of the notable humans that have contributed to the world of science. Her magnificent and intense story led MVP down the path to honor her in this stamp.

While diving in and reading about Marie Curie; I jotted a few notes that would aid in design cues and decisions while building the vector art. Marie and Pierre found and named a new element called Radium that was 4x more radioactive than Uranium itself. Long story short, She and Pierre would take the next 4 years to process an incredible 10 tons of pitchblende down to 1/10th of Radium Chloride residue. She was able to give an atomic mass of Radium of 225.9 (226) and place it correctly in the Periodic table. I thought that was a pretty significant number that took an immense amount of work to arrive at. I would later use that number of radial lines from the discs’ center.

I used a variety of images of her from both her early years as a college student and those of her later years to compose a set of thumbnailed ideas. There are era-appropriate shapes and symmetry to really help merge the unique plastic color. MVP stamping and marketing worked in conjunction to test and make the transparent foil worked with the artwork. The molecular compound of Radium is featured as a clear holofoil backdrop that appears a muted grey when illuminated in the darkness. The new 2.0 Eclipse is so bright that the white foil we used allows light to soak through giving even more depth in the darkness. Marie’s pose is intense as in her work. Time is not wasted. Electrometer and infamous MVP shaped beaker are placed behind her. In her lower pocket is a glass tube of Radium. She was known to carry it around in the lab; as she wasn’t aware of the effects of radiation.

In the end, it’s the overall goal to honor a legend in the science field with tact and class. Use the plastic qualities as we did in the 2018 Am Worlds ”Queen Charlotte” and make it feel like it belongs in the lineage of MVP stamps created to honor those featured. We felt as a Marketing Department that this stamp did just that. These Special Edition Marie Curie Eclipse Reactors will be available at most major MVP Disc Sports dealers for a small amount of time. Be sure to inquire about them before they’re gone for good!

Dan Fairhurst Loki II

Dan Fairhurst has been an awesome client and teammate over the last few years. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to throw a round or two with him. With the success of last year’s initial Loki stamp; we’ve returned to the drawing board to expand and improve upon it.

There were two ideas up for decisions and one of those will be something carrying over to Loki III. Both Dan and I really loved the fierce nature of the initial stamp. I wanted to simply open that up and show a bit more of his features. Doing a 3/4 head stamp shows just enough progression and left the center open for stamping purposes. Some of the biggest hurdles were the fact I don’t do too many characters so 2 major things needed to happen to make it feel like this is a continuation:
1. I need to keep the likeness of the first stamp.
2. I had to refer and get feedback from a few artists to realize a few things were out of perspective.

Loki’s right horn was definitely one of them. I had to shift that over and ax his front chrome helmet shading. Coming down to the final stretch; it was a figuring out where the secondary foil would highlight. I felt like pulling attention toward the accentuated chin and nose gave him a very similar Green Goblin vibe that I wasn’t going for. Pulling out some of those highlights and tastefully doing just the eye’s kept it balanced.

I can’t thank Dan enough for wanting to continue his Loki series in 2020. I don’t sit down and practice life drawing all too much so it’s a new challenge every time. You can reach out to Dan Fairhurst here to support his disc golf tour schedule:

https://www.facebook.com/dfairhurst1

2020 MVP Halloween Special Edition

I can’t say enough about how weird of a 2020 this has been for everyone. The Cosmic Neutron Tesla from MVP Disc Sports would be the featured mold for this year’s Halloween release. This is a big deal because up to this point since 2014; no manufacturer owned by MVP other than Axiom Discs has had their share in the limelight.

This idea for the Grim Reaper came pretty easily and was chosen out of 3 solid ideas (2 of which may be saved for future Halloween’s down the road). While the Cosmic Neutron swirls pop, it’s extremely tough to get something to work alongside it. I felt like the reaper really had a strong composition that would help it stand up to the beauty of the plastic. Using bold foil choices would help aid it to stand out even more. If you look close to the rough and final design; I honored our marketing team and select MVP HQ employees with their own headstone. Everyone from the stamper himself to our social media guru, Will Davis. Toward the end, I saved pressure on the flat silver layer by removing the fill of the headstones. I like there’s a nod but I wanted the swirls to hide that small nod within the plastic qualities.

While I know the reaper has been done aplenty for Halloween festivities; I feel these small gestures and nods put this on its own plane. I hope everyone bought and enjoyed this year’s Halloween Special Edition. You can most likely find them at your local dealer that sells MVP/ Axiom/ Streamline Discs.

Jordan Castro "Castronaut" 2020

Jordan Castro is a new face to the MVP team this year. I was very fortunate to get a private message from him asking if I could help him out and get a stamp ready. Not knowing Jordan personally; I kept asking questions. What is he about? What are his passions? I went to down on a few ideas that would work within the disc template. Let’s just say I didn’t get off to the greatest start for his first Tour Series disc. Jordan is extremely humble, humorous and has an incredible work ethic. I wanted to take some of those traits and relate them to the artwork.

Shortly after the first/second round of ideas, we went back to the drawing board and Jordan hits me up one day and says “Castronaut! Can you work with an astronaut theme?” From then on we were locked in and the project really got rolling. We were lucky that one of the first one or two thumbnails nailed the direction. This straight on astronaut suit seemed to fit the easiest circular composition. I didn’t fully love that his helmet would be stuck to the bottom area of the stamp but you’re limited in some areas because of template restrictions. This layout really opened up the top to celebrate the “Castronaut” title and minimum Team MVP seal standards toward the top of the stamp.

Nailing the likeness of Jordan was extremely tough. The thumbnail gave more of a caricature feeling and I wanted the audience to instantly recognize. It took shades/ no shades/ and a few photo mashup’s to get the eye's and overall expression where I had envisioned it to be. The last phase was polishing up the Castronaut wording and framing by using the Illustrator 3D text tool and adding star bits and filigree to the top portion of the stamp.

All in all, this took a bit more development than I had anticipated. Jordan was awesome the entire way through this process and helped with reference photos and gathering resources where he could on top of his busy schedule. I hope this stamp starts a successful series for him and his years with Team MVP and MVP Disc Sports.

You can contact Jordan Castro on his tour fundraiser discs here!
https://www.facebook.com/jordan.castro.90

Fission Wave Special Edition

A new mold in MVP Disc Sports’ Fission™ plastic debuts and it’s the ever-popular Wave. Fission™ plastic bases its technology by considerably lightening the center core and increasing the outer weight in the overmold. You’re able to get a more gyroscopic flight.

I was tasked to bring an idea to the table. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the team and I looked back to a bunch of different ideas from previous MVP specific Special Editions I created that weren’t used. A lot of them had potential and it was a mix of an older MVP Limit thumbnail in combination with an idea I can’t share right now that really got the Marketing Department’s excitement up. When I’m pitching these ideas to the department, I’m trying to show them my linear progression in decision making. Once I shared the solid previous idea; interdepartmental conversation really helped to meld the two solid ideas together.

I’ve done some small reading on human resonant frequency in the past. I pictured this character having the gift and future technology to harness and magnify those vibrations into an auditory superpower. Sort of the same concept of pulling all of that weight to the outside rim of Fission™ Technology. Throughout the progression of the stamp; I battled with having a background to reinforce the story. I tried bolts and linear waves but felt the “WAVE” text and visor elements needed that space on the right side to breathe. So much was happening with the helmet and cable hair. Detail on this stamp was selective and when dealing with MVP and it’s history of Special Editions; it was an effort to keep this design clean and precise. From the rough to final draft, you see that it stuck really close to the original concept. With the help of female profile references to cyberpunk, & retro wave influences; I was able to create something that hopefully puts a positive look onto MVP and their multi-stamping abilities.

Get your hands on the Fission Wave arriving in stores, August 14th!

MVP Ohm-Special Edition

The Ohm Putt & Approach disc gives customers the glide, feel, and flight of the popular Streamline Pilot but in an overmold form. I feel this disc is going to be a favorite for years to come. Approaching the design for the Special Edition, I ventured to amplifier tubes and how Ohms relate to the temperament of amplifiers and the management of current. Since Ohm’s deal around a concept, that difference between two points is directly proportional to the resistance of the circuit; We shifted gears and went away from the amplifier tube idea.

From the jump, I wanted to have a sense of energy within the bolts and stay clear from the expectation of yoga and “oohhhmmmmmmmm”. I felt that idea was too easy and not really fitting within the MVP brand. Using my love of illustration within concert posters; I was able to rough in that staggered jolt. It was the second round of ideas that steered us to the fist/ hand concept. It’s a simple visual that represents current flow and the resistance that the fist creates.

I’m a firm believer that nothing comes easy. It took some churning to personally bring the best idea forward. All in all, to step back as a marketing department and reassess the direction of this design, seemed like the best thing that happened. What do you all think of the Special Edition design? How are you liking the MVP Ohm in general? Thanks for stopping by.

Gyroscope 2020

GYROscope is an event ran by Mike Sullivan out of Northern Virginia. The goal of the tournament is to promote MVP Disc Sports, run a fun PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) event and offer a one of a kind disc per event. Last year’s, 2019 think tank produced a handful of ideas and one of those core concepts was reciprocated to 2020.

There’s a dead-center area of the disc that get’s unpredictable with stamping. Because of that reason, designers are faced with working the art around this area. The second thing I noticed is while the concept showed a sense of scale, the gyroscope wasn’t really present. I was more similar to a floating orb and I wanted to change it to a grounded structure. The concept fed off of last year’s Gyromonster theme. The Gyronauts figured out that the Gyromonster wasn't simply exchanging energy for its own benefit, it was taking that energy and spreading it far across the galaxy to an ancient source. This scene shows the travelers discovering the ancient ruin.

The design really only took a bit of 3D staging within Google Sketchup and re-inking cleanup. The gradient effect for the 2nd applied foil was done with a halftone dot technique. It’s the most efficient and practical way to lay down transitions in single color layers. I want to thank Mike Sullivan for the continued support and having faith in me to deliver a quality design. It’s with that confidence, that I’m able to hunker down and come out with something we’re all proud of.

How do acquire this stamp? Reach out to Mike Sullivan through
https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/MVP_Disc_Sports_presents_GYROscope_1_The_Third_Campside_Open_2020/registration

OR

his Facebook page for future releases.

Schrock-A-Doodle-Doo

As 2019 was coming to a close, Tyler Schrock, Team MVP Pro asked me if I would like to do his 2020 Tour Series disc. Working with Tyler is pure joy. He’s kept an animal theme over the past few years that allowed me to do design an octopus and sloth. This year, his idea was a rooster. It turns out that his father was a chicken farmer! He raised chickens for 25 years. So this stamp idea was something he knew his family would love.

This idea started with chicken reference gathering even though I had a good idea of how I’d be able to pull this off. I think the strongest silhouette of a chicken is from the side. It gave me the room in the center of the disc to stay free from any no stamping zones. The chicken mouth action/or spit never made the final. That was an attempt to add that classic “action” seen in cartoons to show loud noises. We didn’t want the chicken looking like it was spitting so it was axed toward the end. The shading detail near the chest add a bit of contrast to show that it’s different color of feather.

The final pass was simply to add body/feather detail and import the consistent ring graphic from last years design. It was important to Tyler to continue that look and feel from year to year. When you display these side by side; it really adds a nice series look to them. I hope you all dig it! Share, like, comment on what you think!

MVP Proton Deflector

MVP Disc Sports Deflector is a midrange driver that they’ve been needing for a long time. It took continuous development to make sure the public got the overstable midrange they were wanting. The wind is no match for this mid and it’s their most overstable in the lineup. Proton plastic adds a bit more toughness to the Deflector mode and introduces some highly visible colors like chartreuse, bright orange, pink and blue.

I approached this Deflector concept by doing research on old tube tv technology. I gathered my pieces of reference on magnetic forces, inner TV diagrams, and previous/current MVP Proton stock stamps. It was my goal to create something that would seamlessly fall into the lineup. No matter how hard I worked to create something unique; It felt a bit too close to Zachary Kelbaugh’s idea for a Neutron Deflector Special Edition set. The other hurdle was the use of 3D. If you look at most of the current stock stamps in the first gallery example; you’ll see crisp line work and believable lit geometry. I used the free 3D program called Blender.

My idea derived from the reference I saw on a circular looking reactor. The MVP Tangent, Axis, Atom and a few others have a common shape appearance; the sphere. Starting from there, I dove into a science fiction “deflection shield” idea. The protected metallic panels would orbit this levitating drone and protect it from the enemy. It was important to keep it very much away from any Pokemon tie in so it remained simple with these 4 supporting braces cupping the main housing. After the scene was lit and materials were configured, I set up a quick viewfinder render and used that as a base for the vector shapes in Illustrator.

The final addition was to bring back in the grids I found while researching deflectors/ TV tech. I felt it fit with the metallic styling of the panels and added a bit more depth to the stamp. I hope you all enjoyed this brief look into the design decisions of the MVP Proton Deflector stock stamp. Leave a comment and please share if you’re willing. Thank you!

MVP Cosmic Neutron

MVP Cosmic Neutron plastic creates some epic swirl patterns that you wouldn’t think would be possible in plastic manufacturing. This plastic was so awesome that MVP Disc Sports created a new plastic line and needed a stock stamp produced for all of it’s models. It was my job to research, design and implement it into MVP’s lineup.

The first design decision was an easy one: MVP’s standard Neutron plastic has this nice center alignment from Zachary Kelbaugh’s original and “New”tron stamp designs. I wanted to continue that nod into Cosmic Neutron. The second idea played off of the center plastic induction sprue. It’s the center of where all of these patterns meet. It felt fitting to hit that concept and start thinking of ways I could create a stamp that would rest in harmony with the beauty of the plastic. This idea sort of camouflages the radiating rays but bolds out the Disc name/ flight numbers/ MVP Orbit logo. This design nearly made it to final. The design was submitted and the die was sent off and created. We stamped Cosmic Neutron Volts and Entropy’s and let it sit and marinate within the team.

In the end, the earlier mock-ups (based on the zoom/swirl pattern) felt too forced and did the exact opposite of what this stamp needed to be. It needed to be bold enough to stand on its own against the Cosmic Neutron swirl but also open enough to let the plastic shine. So with that in mind, I feel very strongly about the concept of our solar system with a modern look/ feel to it. What I liked most is it's based on our solar systems ecliptic plane. The bold lines indicating when the planets are below the sun. It very well fits the Cosmic narrative and gives the stamp substance and reasoning. I would compare stock stamps like creating a company logo. You want something classic that will stick for a long time without updating. Even though the costs are much smaller for a changeover; that’s not really something I’m thinking about when designing.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this deep dive into MVP’s Cosmic Neutron design process. I want to thank the people and MVP staff who gave me some honest and informative feedback through this process. Without that; I don’t think it would’ve turned out as it did.

What do you all think? Did the project reset improve the overall quality of the stamp?
 

Robokitty 2.0

I received a request from an Team MVP member to change up a 2018 stamp design. Amanda Melwiki had a great 2018 year and her Robokitty design was a hit. She came to me with the idea of changing up the foils and adding a few elements to last years design. I had bigger plans for Robokitty and I’m glad she trusted me to do something new but a continuation of the concept.

I knew I wanted to show a fiercer side of the kitty. I wanted to marry the concepts of cute/friendly with the deep down drive and determination of getting better. That fueled the fire going into the concept stage. I had the idea more stored in the back of my head so this design didn’t really consist of a lot of reference gathering. Bringing in that exaggerated anime pop and allowing the opportunity to expand on the Robokitty character were the goals first and foremost. From there it was a few experiments with stars and how I was going to incorporate them into the design.

A huge thanks goes out to Amanda. Were you able to snag one? If not, she has a few available but will be selling out fast. Follow her here:

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaMelwiki

Prism Proton Pyro - Special Edition

The Prism Pyro Special Edition took a few twists and turns until we reached the final intended direction. Those first twists and turns I (sadly) cannot show. BUT! I can let you in to where the project really started picking up steam (errr….heat). This project put Axiom Discs in a position to really push a different side of the the alternative scene. Zachary Kelbaugh had done a punk character riding a Big Wheel on the Proton Mayhem SE and that’s how far it ever really went in a hot rod type of direction.

The design stemmed from a quick thumbnail while I was thinking of an awesome game around 2006/2007 time frame by the name of Brutal Legend from Double Fine Games. Brutal Legend had an intro with a chrome beast named Ormagöden, "The Fire Beast, Cremator of the Sky, and Destroyer of the Ancient World." We liked the symmetry of the skull/ fire/ pipes (that were mistaken as lab beakers) in the thumbnail stage. From that idea, we traveled down the late 60’s & 70’s wild illustration of engines and chrome. An area I know a little too well.

The design was road-mapped out in Adobe Photoshop. It was there that we decided 80% of our foil allocation. The lines were cleaned up and then ported into Adobe Illustrator. A higher pixel count helps make sure that there’s no quality issues when using Illustrators’ Live Trace feature. The important thing about designing on a translucent type of plastic is to allow it to breathe. Really, that’s a good fundamental to remember with any stamp! For Proton Plastic in general, the goal was to introduce the core color wherever possible. The last design decision was to allow negative space to creep into the top parts of the flame tips. This in turn allowed the intensity to be focused at the hottest part of the flames closest to the engine. The design wrapped up by inspecting all 3 stamp layers and double checking for discrepancies.

What do you all think? Was this the right direction to go? Please take a minute to like and share this post!

2019 Jomez Pro

Another one of these awesome moments where an opportunity fell in my lap to assist an MVP/ JOMEZ Pro partnership for an order. Jomez is a film production company pushing out top notch disc golf footage. There wasn’t any preconceived ideas they wanted to run. The slate was clean and I quickly got to work. One thing I really dug about Jomez’s look from the year previous was the style in which they used for their video intro’s. It’s very similar to a style I’ve admired for years that combines 2D animation with live action film. You’ll see it in Who’s Framing Roger Rabbit, Gorillaz, A-Ha “Take On Me” music video, and many others. If you want to geek out, Here’s a great video explaining it in the first 6 minutes.

We expanded a bit on the explosion coming from the Jomez Pro logo similar to their introduction sequence. Jomez wanted to see what the next step of that design would look like. While we loved the idea of it, i felt like their logo was taking a smaller role in the stamp didn’t feel right. The other idea both parties really honed in on was the Follow Flight shot tracking stamp idea. Follow Flight is essentially Jomez’s most featured post production trick that they use. It allows viewers to view a replay with the flight of the disc highlighted in the shot. The biggest thing is it created more space for a much larger logo.

It was back and forth within MVP’s design team on whether halftone should be included. Everyone was on board for a lightened load of main black foil. The design without it allows the whole stamp to breath a bit more. To have a stamp work on a variety of plastic properties is highly important when they’re wanting a large order. In the end, Jomez was stoked and we were proud to get their support. Let me know if you dig this design! Were there thumbnails that you would’ve liked to see expanded more? Leave a comment and share this blog. Thanks for tuning in!

You can buy the stamp here from Jomez directly!
https://www.jomezpro.com/shop/?orderby=date

Mike 'Sully' Sullivan "45"

When Mike Sullivan of Team MVP approached me to do his Team MVP stamp, he was kind of giving me the reigns to come up with something. We chatted a bit over private message and our conversation led to music. Mike is a huge 70's punk/ New Wave fan. He also shares a common interest in vinyl. I've been wanting to do a record stamp for a while now and this was the opportunity to pitch it. Some of his favorite bands from that era were Crass, Joy Division and The Clash. My advice to upcoming designers: Talk to you clients! Make a connection. You just never know what might come out of it. I’m sure most people outside looking in had no idea Sully used to be an avid vinyl collector. I’m glad both and he and I were excited about pursuing this challenge.

Mike loved the idea and I quickly got to work. The hardest thing about doing this was that this needs to work on every disc color. Records are finely detailed and it would take lines under typical stamping requirements to pull off the sheen/ intricacies of the grooves. I had to plan smart and figure out a way that this could be possible, while also keeping it graphic and instantly recognizable. One common theme we both agreed on from the very beginning is this was before advances in colored label and surfaces. Most punk records were black and white or very simple graphically. I don’t know much about these bands so it was straight to google search to get some overall themes established. We knew that a full 12” record wasn’t doable with the center sprue being off limits. The next option was a 7” and if fit perfectly for what we were wanting to pull off.

The important thing about this stamp was breaking up the huge fields of black within the design. I used a simple halftone pattern technique to break apart the solid black and help ease up the overall tonnage for the stamping machine. One reference I found really fit well for placing all the information while mimicking the exact punk style Mike was aiming for. I had a blast working in a different style than past stamps. The initial plan was to use a clear holofoil for the record surface. MVP was out of that foil so they wisely went silver metallic and it worked out perfectly. It reflects the disc color and almost achieves the same effect we were going after.

Overall, I appreciate Mike Sully giving me full reign to run with it. I feel these bursts of excitement toward a project creates an overall better product in the end. Thanks everyone for tuning and and learning a bit about how I was able to pull it off! Share this blog if you feel so inclined.

Pounce

It's always a pleasure to help out some fellow Team MVP members with their tour fundraiser stamps. They're depending on a great stamp that will help them travel and tour to the biggest events out on the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) National Tour.  Jason Krueger hit me up to do just that. 

Jason has done a great job branding himself up to this point with his Pounce branding. He wanted me to create a lion stamp with Pounce text treatment in the mouth. I started by hitting the sketchbook and seeing what came out. This stage was all about exploring detail limits, size relationships and where the client valued one thing more than another. Jason was great at knowing what he had in mind. It kept the guesswork minimal and allowed me to hit this stamp fast. 

Thumbnail was chosen and It's common for me to jump into Photoshop to start cleaning up line work. Something wasn't right. Leaving area for the center sprue was deleting detail in the nose that helps identify a lion. I went back to the drawing board and gathered inspiration/ reference to see where I could fix my existing image. I realized there needed to be a few things that needed to exit the stamp. The light rays behind the head was one of them.

Redrawing happens. Don't force something that doesn't feel right. The end result ended up being a mixture of a thumbnail I thought was too detailed and wasn't going to work. With the combination of elements and deleting away a bit of the detail, we had a winner. I want to thank Jason Krueger for his patience and confidence that I could deliver what he was envisioning. 

have any questions? I'd be glad to answer them. Please leave a comment and share this post! 

MVP Open-LE Resistor

With the success of the MVP Open Pro side Limited Edition Fireball stamp, it was now time to turn my focus. The goal was to take the same general theme as the Fireball and create a triple foil stamp with the same visual appeal for the Amateur side of the MVP Open tournament. Since this disc will also debut in the same new "Firebalm" Plasma plastic as the Fireball, it should me for a pretty nice pairing. 

Going into this design, the idea of inverting/ flipping of what was done previously, was brought up among the marketing team. I really liked that idea and ran with it. The Resistor is a widely used utility fairway driver that also has a lot of overstability (the typical flight of a disc that turns left for a right handed backhand thrower). Since I couldn't use the shot mimic'd in the first stamp, I have the disc golfer throwing a typical backhand hyzer that follows the overall circumference of the outer edge of the stamp.

The Fireball had it's font treatment on the bottom of the design, I also wanted to change this up as well. For the Resistor wording on the top portion of the design, I would design that area to act as if the circuit board and different pathways connecting itself to it. As I continued to layout out the circuits and pathways, it felt flat. I switched gears toward the end and made the call to work around the Resistor typeface and create bolts to simplify.

All in all, it was awesome to continue a theme from one Limited release to another. That's a first for me and hope everyone digs it. Thanks so much for stopping in and reading about this design. The MVP Open was a huge success and I can’t wait to see what next year brings for MVP Disc Sports.