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!
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.
Axiom Plasma Fireball: Special Edition
The Axiom Fireball has been a chosen go to for overhand and forehand dominant players. I was given the opportunity to create a special fundraiser for the Disc Golf Pro Tour in 2018. When the opportunity landed in my lap to create a Plasma design for Axiom Discs this year; I was all over it.
Overall, the idea in my head was there. It was just a matter of figuring out the horizon line and overall fireball shape. I have a huge respect and love for Robert Valley’s work. He was trained under Peter Chung and worked along artists I’ve been admiring for years; Alberto Mielgo & Jamie Hewlett (NSFW). I like that push, pull and stretch that Robert is able to get with his perspective and characters. It’s more of an elongated figure style. Both simplified and graphic in his approach. Robert is a master at the fish eye effect. It’s more of first person view to his stories. I love that he doesn’t think about it, it just happens. You see this style with the final guy on the right side of the stamp.
All in all, It went through a few stages. We found that my initial punk dude was more in a comical superman pose. It didn’t feel right so ZAM (Art Director at MVP Disc Sports) helped me out and scrounged together a few reference photos of silhouetted bodies against a blast. Nothing too grotesque. If I could’ve kept the clouds filled in and graphic, that most likely would’ve been my ending place with overall cloud style. The restrictions of hot stamping needed me to break it a part a bit. I experimented with some tribal’esque cloud fills but felt overall, it didn’t fit the vibe well. It did, but it didn’t. I wasn’t aiming for a Polynesian scene or outcome but when I do, I’ll make sure to transfer that idea forward.
What do you all think? Did this equal up to 2018’s MVP Open Fireball stamp? If not, why? Leave your comments and I’ll make sure I return any questions or opinions you might have! Thanks.
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.
