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!

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.

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!

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