Simon Lizotte - Leapin' Lizottl' 2023 Tour Series

Wow. Simon Lizotte signed a 10-year deal with MVP Disc Sports. I was shocked when I heard of the acquisition of such an elite player within the disc golf tour. It had been a crazy week leading up to the MVP announcement. I’m just really proud to be a part of these pivotal moments in MVP’s short history.

Besides the Glitch, the Hex is one of Simons’ favorite midranges. There were a few ideas created during the loose thumbnail stage that will be revisited in the near future. I sadly can’t show those just yet. I admittedly didn’t know too much about these axolotl creatures. Simon has a pet axolotl and I loved how they appear to be in good spirits all the time. I’ll admit that the initial open-air leap felt a bit disconnected in the concept. Bringing in the water brought him closer to his elements. I added the worm and a few motion lines to give him a reason to jump away from his comfortable habitat. Adding the GYRO wristband is a nod to the tight-nit and passionate MVP fanbase.

I’ve said this in other blog entries over the years of doing this but there’s something powerful in allowing a disc stamp design to breathe. With this being a potent Eclipse glow from MVP, I veered away from over complicating the background with detail. Axolotl jumping out from his comfort zone resonates with the kind of change Simon went through moving to a brand new sponsor and unfamiliar ground over this past year. I hope you all appreciated and bought the stamp to show your support.

Welcome to MVP, Simon.


2022 Gyropalooza Total Eclipse Proxy

The 2022 Gyopalooza brings something pretty exciting. We had a new Total Eclipse glow technology in the lab awaiting its release. The Proxy is outfitted with both an Eclipse™ Glow flight plate and Eclipse™ Glow Rim. Colors vary from white, aqua, green, blue, and purple with a multitude of different combinations.

The Idea: I had this image in my head but instead of being an intimidating alien species laser-stomping everything in sight, they were dispatched to broadcast exclusive MVP content and news to the Gyronaut masses! All of this sounded great but the important goal from the get-go was not to hinder the glow properties. I think it’s important to design stamps with disc plastic in mind. If the glow is an important draw, why would you cloud it up with foil? Lastly, by setting up a two-point perspective grid, it gave me a great base to lay down that looming presence of the tall beings. There are still a few MVP iconic themes scattered about.

I wanted some of the TVs to engage with the local disc golfers. It was a good placement for “2022”, discs, and a Brad/Chad silhouette we’ve come to know so well these past digital versions of Gyropalooza. Lastly, the last and most important icon located on the far right represents a huge love for all of our fans who’ve stuck by us from the very beginning through the years of rapid growth. I love to infuse emotive characteristics in robots. Allowing robots to have a bit more life and curiosity like our human race. Lastly, I wanted the center alien bot to have its glow casting on the disc golfers underneath. I used a line screen in the background to enhance that particular element. Doing that for every TV would’ve clouded up where I wanted the focus to go.

Hot Stamping Foils: I’m a sucker for white pigment foil because of how bright the Eclipse glow plastic is. It allows some of that color to seep through and gives the glowing state a bit more depth. The accent color is a classy nod of brushed gold that allows it to pop off of that core plastic color. Again, it’s important that the accented foils work alongside the others during the glowing state.

Can’t wait to get some of these in my hands. MVP took their industry-leading glow and just made it better. I don’t get out and play glow rounds very often but this disc makes it tempting. What are your thoughts? Excited to see these in the wild? You can get your 2022 Gyropalooza pack from any reputable MVP dealer. Included will be this Total Eclipse Proxy, a Prototype Eclipse Color Glow Envy, and Lab Second discs for a pretty good price. Thanks for tuning in!

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!

Streamline Flare Special Edition

The Streamline Flare is the newest Fairway Speed 9 driver delivered with plenty of overstability for even the strongest arms in the disc golf game. I was asked to design around that special ability of the disc to fight out of constant steady winds. It’s a true wind fighter.

The design started with a page of ship designs based on direct relationships to the flare countermeasure that provides a decoy to heat sinking missles. Other quick concepts went the sci-fi ship route and that aspect of the design stuck out with the group. The frame-type of motion was liked by all and continued into the rough phase. Connecting the design with it’s actual flight characteristics was important to me. I used a rough block-in 3D model to mock up the ship orientation and ported that into Illustrator. The whole intent of that process was to create motion.

Other Streamline designs that I’ve done were in a direction where you couldn’t place a certain time period on it. It was kinda Sci-Fi/ kinda modern age but I wanted to take this into a futuristic realm. So I added lower propulsion units on the bottom and kept the edges and angles sharp. A few references of the Royal Canadian Forces doing evasive maneuvers in a valley inspired me to put atmospheric trails coming off the wings. Carrying that curve language subtracted from the “Flare” typeface finishes it off.

In the end, MVP Disc Sports HQ used a new grey pigment-based foil in combination with black and white to create a truly comic-like vibe with the stamp. You can find these by most big online retailers of MVP, Axiom and Streamline on April 19th.

Magic Warlock

Mystical designs are something I don’t have a lot of experience with. When the request came in from Mike Visgar to bring his idea to life, I was all about it. Visgar had an idea that incorporated his M@g1c nickname. The first of that series of idea was the warlock concept. After just a few sketchbook doodles, I landed on this warlock pencil drawing and proceeded to use my Pentel brush pen to add some character to the line work. The pen allows me to go super thick and thin very quickly and give the doodles that much more life.

Dual foil brings in another aspect of design. There needs to be a purpose for bringing in that secondary color. I chose the light of the crystal ball to represent it. MVP Headquarters chose a rainbow metallic to really enhance the light play without making it too crazy on the viewer. I ditched the busy circular filler behind the warlock and opted for stars. Lastly, the added in some pointillism dot work to add a bit of grit and give it that slight vintage/ stoner rock feel.

Mike V. was great to work with and trusted me completely throughout the process. I appreciate that sort of working relationship and hope there’s more to this series coming later down the road. Please comment, like, and share this post if you wish. Thanks for stopping in.

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

Tyler Schrock- The Schloth

I would say Tyler Schrock and I had a successful freshman outing with his “Schroctopus” Tour fundraiser disc for 2018. He was able to make a few refresh orders to help get him to disc golf events last year after being sponsored by MVP Disc Sports. It was awesome to see that he wanted to work with me again in 2019 on a concept in the same vein as the previous. This time, the connection was a game his alumni club came up with called “Sloth”. It was a mix of rugby/soccer/handball.

We shared some references back and forth and it was time to get to work. The most iconic way you see a sloth in their habitat is hanging from a branch. That position also gives way to a rounded shaped backside that works withing the template I previously mentioned. I went to the sketchbook and nailed the position. The likeness of a sloth was a lot of trial and error. Either the sloth looked to chimpanzee-like or not enough to identify.

In the end, the reference gathering process helped me out so much. I was able to look at a few stylized examples and put those observations into our final stamp layout. This stamp screams lightheartedness. It really is an example of the person this art represent. While I’ve yet to meet Tyler, I know he’s represents MVP Disc Sports with the upmost professionalism as an athlete and ambassador.

Do you like the design for this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

2018 Holiday Deflector

I’ve had the honor of working on MVP’s Holiday series for a few years now. We approached this project a little bit differently this year. The main gripe I have with holiday discs is that people are out of the spirit as soon as January. In a way, they feel novelty. We decided during the thumbnail stages that we wanted to create a stamp that has a little bit of holiday flare, but not so much that it’s overkill.

My initial design plan had this elk as a symmetrical stamp. Symmetrical stamps really help knock out details quickly and are pleasing to the eye. We decided that the shape of the antlers from the side really give this stamp some character. The single ornament hanging among his antler gives it that touch of holiday feel. The background comprises of flowing wind with abstract circular breaks that resemble snow. John Hafner is a photographer I discovered when trying to find some really good wildlife reference for this project. The way he captures light and subject drew me in. I feel strongly about using a reference if you don’t know much about it. You find more about certain things by comparing multiple images. Fur patterns, the way the antlers form, and can make out different details of musculature by viewing the same animal under different lighting conditions. His wildlife photos helped me immensely during the traditional stages. The last step before vector work was actually illustrating with traditional pen and ink. I used a Pentel brush pen on Strathmore Bristol board.

Breaking this design into 3 different foils was pretty easy this time around. I knew with the illustrative style of the elk and the fact that it’s being stamped on Proton plastic; I’d want something that would work with all different color types. After mocking up the rough draft on a blank disc, I knew with this amount of surface area coverage that some reduction of the design needed to happen. It helps lessen the load on foil stamping machines and makes the warehouse staff happy. I used a simple line fill technique. The far antlers make the elk feel almost 3 dimensional by allowing some of the plastic color through the design. MVP Disc Sports ran half of the run with the transparent shatter foil. The clear shatter glistens in the sun similar to a fresh snow. It’s a great nod to a snowy season. The other half of the run had the gold holographic foil allocated.

Let me know what you all think? Do you think going sideways profile with the elk was a good direction? Happy holidays, everyone. Thanks for reading.

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.

MVP Open Fireball LE

I loved everything about working on this project. You go into the thumbnail process thinking that something like what you did could never work or not be as good. During our initial staff meeting, I was able to show a few of the thumbnails from my sketchbook. The vast majority and better reaction was to the yin yang design. I'm glad I've got great people to rely on and encourage me to take that idea a bit further.  The other thumbnails were worthy enough for possible future expansion so I can't show them, unfortunately. 

The shot is called an underhand thumber. It looks rather painful but a shot that does exist to get the player out of an unfortunate spot. I found the shot through an old throwing clinic video on YouTube. I watched the flight and thought it would fit perfectly (with a little bit of modification) to that of my yin yang concept. I think the dynamic of the fireball crashing toward the foreground is why this was a success. Last thing I want to mention about the design is the spacing of the the heavy items of the stamp. The Fireball text and ball itself are pretty heavy. I consciously wanted that weight balanced so I gave the sky a full foil with minimal spacing for rays and birds in the sky. I think the balance worked out well!  

The Limited Edition Fireball design is a tour fundraiser for the Disc Golf Pro Tour. The MVP Open will be at Maple Hill Disc Golf Course located in Leicester, Massachusetts. This event brings some of the world's top players and will be an exciting time. If you're in attendance, there may be some left at the Maple Hill Disc Golf store. 

Robokitty

As the disc golf season starts, I often get the opportunity to help disc golfers fund their season long ambitions. Amanda Melwiki approached me with a rather interesting design idea for her tour series disc. She says to me:
"I’m thinking a cat but I want pieces of him to be missing and under he’s a robot"
"you might have to get a bit girly too..."

Amanda was rocking a dubstep tune by Excision called "Robo Kitty". The idea came to her that with her love of felines and an appreciation for this track. The idea was worth exploring. With those beginning ideas and rules now set, it was time to get to work.

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Reference Sheet

I began with a pretty extensive reference sheet. Drawing cats is not my strong suit. So getting as much anatomy and idea reference as possible will help me and the client understand what direction this idea could lead to. 

The challenge with this design was clearly "How am I going to mix a kitten with its face missing in spots and keep it cute?" I tried a dozen or more sketches. We both arrived at the idea of introducing more foils to the design and splitting the concept straight down the middle. It allows both sides to have a clear representation while not overcrowding/ overcomplicating the design. 

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First crack

Here is the very first go at it mixing feline and robot/cyborg properties to her. You have to start somewhere. I'm exploring the Persian kitten because of the well defined face features. They're adorable kittens and well renown.

Bad ideas out of the way! It's rare that the first drawing you ever do for a project sticks. The upper left persian grumpy kitty stuck out to both of us. Now it was the task of mixing the robotic properties and adding a bit of cuteness. The idea of the split came from this initial Pinterest board Amanda had created to get some ideas flowing. 

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Fork in the road

The idea of the split came from this initial Pinterest board Amanda had created to get some ideas flowing. You can see I took a liking to the idea of doing a split down the middle like the left side example. 

These roughs were made knowing that split was going to happen. The next stage was figuring out how the robot side of things were going to look like. The great thing about this is I'm still in a traditional mindset and pumping out quick ideas on paper. Nothing is digital yet so those options can be explored rather quickly. As you can see from the sheet, some of these ideas (especially dealing with the eye socket of the kitten) got a bit dark/ or away from cute. Toward the end, I was able to reel it back in and experiment with the rays/electric bolts surrounding the Robokitty head. 

Amanda was excited and loved the roughs. It was now time to really finalize the robot side of Robokitty and get this stamp finished for her. Main things that needed tackling were how the two hot stamping foils were going to be split up. Would I do the left side in black..and the right side of the kitty in pure secondary foil? It took a few mockups in photoshop to determine what I was going to do in Adobe Illustrator. 

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Final Mock Up

I like to create a splash image for my clients to use to get the word out. During this time between file submission and receiving product, If they want to tease the notion of what's coming, I leave them the option to do so.

I'd like to thank Amanda Melwiki from Team MVP for being so engaged in the process. She helped gather references she was drawn to. She was quick with feedback on every draft I sent her. Robokitty was a challenging task but she made this project fun. I'd also like to thank MVP HQ for giving this dual foil stamp what it needed. They did an excellent job using accent foils that really fit Amanda as a person. 

Schrocktopus

With the 2018 disc golf season among us, it was with great excitement that the first tour stamp of the year leaned on my love for the octopus. I was given pretty much open freedom to come up with a stamp for Tyler Schrock of Team MVP. "Schrocktopus" is his nickname, so we ran with it. 

Going into this project, My focus was on giving Tyler Schrock the real estate I thought he wanted. I went to the sketchbook and used the octopus within his name plate. The ideas resembled something he could take and use on other applications or patches. The feedback I received from the thumbnails surprised me a bit. While most Tour Discs have the sponsored player either written somewhere in text or with a signature; Tyler didn't want that. He wanted his stamp to focus more on the art and his nickname. Going into the rough draft, I had a pretty clear picture of how this artwork was going to finish out as. There were last minute changes that needed to be made, though. It's a valuable lesson on logo use and the end solution was to insert the official Team MVP seal. It replaced the MVP "Orbit" logo from the initial final.  The stamp lost a little bit of playfulness (in my opinion) but I still think it came out great!  

It was a pleasure being asked to work on this for him. Contact Tyler Schrock through this link for inquiries on availability. 

Nailed It! Disc Golf - Custom Hot Stamp

I was approached by Brad and Jenna Tritten from Nailed It! Disc Golf store out of Weston, Wisconsin. One of the best clients are the ones who see your strengths and let you have creative freedom to hit the sketchbook and see what sticks. Going into this stamp, I wanted "Nailed It! Disc Golf" to be priority one. This kind of 2 foil concept worked well for previous Solitude Open stamps so I translated it to their idea. 

The original Nailed It logo includes a disc flight path and a tree to the right of the typography. I felt extracting that from the logo and developing a stamp along the lines of a disc golfers nemesis. Tree's seem to be something even the most skilled disc golfer can't always escape. I felt like this idea would resonate with most disc golfers.  The plan was to keep the illustration in black/ base foil and allow their logo shine with the second metallic foil. Toward the end, I felt a soft gradient could really lend itself to different colored foil options for the hot stampers at MVP Disc Sports, Headquarters. This stamp was also run as a single foil offering for Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64 and Westside disc options. 

I want to thank Brad and Jenna of Nailed It! Disc Golf for their patience and overall positive attitude throughout this entire design process. Everything from stamp creation to help with embroidered patches. It was one of my favorites from 2017. What do you all think? I'd love to hear your initial thoughts and reactions in the comment section.

You can purchase these discs and various items at their website! 

Special Edition MVP Limit

"Push it to the limit"

The MVP Limit is a 24.5mm High Speed Driver designed to be the fastest, most overstable disc in MVP's entire line up. My Art Director, Zachary Kelbaugh laid out a pretty good description to start planning behind:

"We talked about the conceptual intersection for the name... being the fastest, most overstable disc -- and the class as a whole refers to space travel, with the speed of light being the theoretical limit for speed in the universe. "

I had an opportunity to bust out my love for everything 80's. I changed into my jammer shorts and pulled out the 80's action playlist on Spotify! Getting started on this didn't take me much time at all. The initial idea was to mimic the typical action movie posters of the time (Rambo, Over the Top, Big Trouble Little China). Heroic character posed in the center with explosions, and commotion happening behind him/her. I even went so far down the rabbit hole and stumbled onto some retro-futurism which was really neat. None the less, for the scope of the project and how the release was playing out, We went with a retro-wave direction into the rough and final stages. As a team, we felt like keeping the design clean and tech felt more MVP without crossing into the Axiom Discs branding. 

In the end, there are some things that you all aren't getting a chance to see. There were some really solid ideas in the thumbnail stage that just might poke their head up when a new project comes a long. A little bit out of my comfort zone but it takes experimentation like that to really grow as an artist. I hope you all enjoy. You can pick up this special edition and a bunch of online disc golf retailers. 

Warrior Transition Battalion-Stamp

Christopher Altman, a fellow Cary Area Disc League member, approached me to offer him some help. He wanted to host a tournament to get soldiers involved with disc golf. To do that, he was going to organize a tournament for the Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB) down at Ft. Bragg, NC. The overall goal of the WTB is to provide the commensurate quality of life, quality of healthcare services and quality of leadership which matches the quality of service and sacrifice made by our sick, injured and wounded warriors in transition and their families. 

The goal of the stamp was to include a mixture of 4 different elements. The WTB logo, St. Michael, and a soldier helping a wounded warrior off of the battlefield. Lastly, the words "Find New Strength". The only image supplied to me was the soldier helping another soldier. The Airborne's St. Michael artwork someone had previously done. The styling of St. Michael was inspired by religious iconography from both Google searching and my wife and I's trip to Rome and Greece a few years back. With the combination of 4 elements, It was my job to do the best I could to incorporate them into one design. 

In the end, it took a little bit to finish up. I was working on this design during my off time while working a full schedule. I'm very happy to support a great program and a great cause. I hope the tournament go'ers enjoyed this event and continue playing disc golf. 

30th Anniversary of the Roc

Excited is an understatement. Jeff Panis (Marketing Director of Innova Champion Discs) reached out quite a while ago when he assumed his new role. A lot of things were on his plate at the time, so we talked briefly and got back in touch a few months down the road. An opportunity was in place to design a commemorative stamp honoring 30 years of the Roc's existence. The Roc has been one of Innova's most popular molds without question. This was a huge opportunity that came with a lot of weight.

In the initial sketches I proposed, there were some good things to build off of. I had awesome friends who helped me out in critique. One of the main things I overlooked that they quickly pointed out was the silhouette strength of the head. My goal was to have this Roc reach a point of near weightlessness. For example, If you stretch your back out in your chair (I do this from time to time) , you arch the back, the chest protrudes out and your chin tips up. This pose is something I tried to capture. As Innova and I progress through the development of the stamp, The head tips back down a bit to give the bird more shape. The wings extend out to give some symmetry to the stamp. The body develops all the way to it's last and final version and the final is the result of of multiple revisions for the better.

If it wasn't for my friends and their fresh eyes to give me critique, the direction of Jeff Panis, Levi Wilcox and the crew to keep pushing this stamp, it would've honestly turned out to be less than what it should've been. What do you all think?  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.

19th Annual Great 8

The Great 8 tournament is in its 19th year. It's a one day, 8 courses, from sun up to sun down event that only the crazy dare to do. I had the honor of doing this year's stamp and was really excited, even though it was down to the wire (totally on me). We've returned to the nautical themed roots to have something pair up well with the dual octopus stamp that was done a few years ago. 

The major hurdle with this stamp is what you can see in the early stages. I wanted the huge whale to be coming out of the water and landing on top of the ship. To make that read clearly was definitely a challenge. After much debate and great advice from my friends, the whale was flipped the other way. I couldn't agree more with the move. 

I want to thank Jay Pontier for always giving me an artistic freedom when it comes to doing these stamps. It makes it so enjoyable. 

Out of Bounds Series #1

The Out Of Bounds Series was an idea drawn up by a fellow MVP Gyronaut by the name of Brian Sweet. He came to me with an interesting take that I've never thought about before. Tight fairways, landing areas and almost impossible pin placements exist somewhere in the disc golf world. His idea is to shed light on these situations. 

This idea stems from fantastical ideas about what lurks hidden, as your disc takes a plunge into the unknown. Out Of Bounds Series #1 explores the depths of an impossible landing area. The disc is now belonging the keeper. A mix of Cthulu/Kraken/Squid vibes. I wanted the eyes of the creature fixated to the onlooker. The eyes had to adjust from the sides of the beast to more in front to convey the idea. The introduction of the second foil to bring the viewers attention from the bottom of the stamp up toward the poor fellow on the cliff side. 

I want to thank Brian Sweet for having the faith to let me run with his napkin sketch and go for it. These are available in a dual foil set up exclusively on MVP/Axiom/Streamline Discs plastic.

Please let me know what you think in the comments and share with your friends! 

2016 Innova Pumpkin Design

Every year since 1996, Innova Champion has put out an annual "Pumpkin" edition stamp for the Halloween season. Every year.. until this year, they've kept the theme consistent with the standard jack o' latern. After doing a first set of sketches and teasing a few skull designs toward the end of the thumbnails, Adrian Southern over at Innova mentioned the de los muertos theme and sugar skulls. So many possibilities and to give it a chance and see what comes out of the experiment.

I worked closely with Zeb Campbell and Adrian over the course of multiple revisions and options. The general consensus was the love of the bat wing basket. The challenge with this design was to incorporate the detail you see with common sugar skulls but keeping it simple enough where carving it could be believable. 

Over the course of a few weeks, It led us down a few rough passes and we ended up Frankensteining parts of the final 4 to create one design.  Here is 2016's Pumpkin Design. Thanks to Innova, Adrian and Zeb for having confidence in me to put something out against the grain. Hope you all like. 

You can purchase them here: http://dgustore.com/index.php/specialty/holiday-discs.html

The 18th Annual Great 8

This year's Great 8 presented by Cary Area Disc League didn't feature fighting Octopus or an anchor. It showed a unique twist on Fibonacci numbers and the "Golden Spiral." The popular sequence by both mathematicians and artist alike, features a spiral that grows or shrinks with every quarter turn. In non-mathematics vocabulary, it's an interesting equation that had the Freemasons absolutely obsessed and people scouring Google maps to find anything relating to the golden rule. It's fascinating and something you should dive down the rabbit hole while listening to Tool's "Lateralus".

Tournament Director of the event, Jay Pontier, had an idea in mind and it was my job to execute the "Disconacci Sequence". My initial thought was that of a nautilus shell to keep with the ocean theme of last years event. I quickly realized a more simple approach was the way to go. The spiral in itself speaks the intent. 

1 tournament 8 courses 144 holes.

I want to thank Jay Pontier and the Cary Area Disc League for giving me these opportunities over the past few years.