Good Design Thursdays - Entry #114

The purpose of this blog is to promote art that inspires me on a daily basis, not as a platform to promote my own work, but as this week's subject benefits a worthy cause, I will make an exception...

The D.C. Star Wars Collecting Club (http://www.dcswcc.org) recently unveiled the ninth pin in its series of collectible lapel pins, with all proceeds from the sale of this one going to the D.C. Chapter of House of Ruth (http://www.houseofruth.org). My concept was selected for this year's pin, so I was able to see the image thru to the final design. This is the 40th anniversary of the release of The Empire Strikes Back, so the concept was of Princess Leia as she appears during the escape from Cloud City, with Cloud City floating behind her and the Washington D.C. monuments in place of its skyline. During the design process, I came up with an alternate image, depicting Princess Leia in her Bespin Gown. In the end, I couldn't decide which I liked more, so I submitted them both to the club's leadership. They decided that pins would be made from both designs. The first, blue/grey design, will benefit the charity and is limited to 500 individually numbered pins. This pin is available for purchase by anyone. The second, red/orange design, was limited to a production run of 100 pins and is a gift to Annual Dues-paying members of the club. Fellow designer and club member, Mike Marosy, provided the designs for the cardbacks that perfectly complement each pin.

To order the charity pin (while supplies last), visit the DCSWCC store -

http://store.dcswcc.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=60

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #113

Milton Glaser, one of the most influential designers of all time, passed away this week. Over the course of his long career he created some of the most iconic logos and designs.

https://www.miltonglaser.com/the-work/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #112

Concept art from Colin Trevorrow's unused script for Star Wars Episode IX. A fantastic look at what might have been. More images can found at the link below…

https://imgur.com/a/lX9JG8F

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #111

Drew Struzan posted this to his social media pages last week…

“While going through my archives, I found the only remaining comp art for#AdventuresInBabysitting! The finished art has a city backdrop, and instead of a clock, a wall. Unfortunately, Disney wanted me to take out the teddy bear. Creating this piece was certainly an adventure.”

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #110

Concepcion Studios has released a great series of custom minimalist posters for the each film in the Star Wars Skywalker Sage.

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #109

"Artist Hector Garrido passed away recently at the age of 92. Born in Argentina, he studied art in Buenos Aires before immigrating to the United States in the 1950s, illustrating covers for science-fiction, horror, and adventure stories, including Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, as well as romance and gothic novels. Garrido also painted covers for Time Magazine, and his 1969 cover, "Astronauts" is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, but he's most well known for his fantastic work in the G.I. Joe franchise."

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/gi-joe-artist-hector-garrido-passes-away-at-age-92?fbclid=IwAR2T2ie8nXvui9lWJWbhfyI08C52N8mVoQtw63WbXu-9td-6hvFLgiaWwhw

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #108

In a move similar to what BMW recently did with their logo, Nissan has taken a similar “Flat” design approach with their recently revealed updated logo design.

https://www.creativebloq.com/amp/news/new-nissan-logo

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #107

David Byrd is one of the most prolific designers of concert and theater posters from the late 60's to the present.

http://www.david-edward-byrd.com/index.html

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #106

NASA is bringing back a previous version of its logo, nicknamed "the Worm", for a Falcon 9 rocket launch to the International Space Station, scheduled for May. Retired in 1992, this version of their logo may be brought back occasionally for other missions as well.

https://www.cbr.com/nasa-1970s-logo/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #105

Concept art and matte paintings by artist Syd Mead for Blade Runner and his vision in the early 1980's of what Los Angeles could, or would, look like in 2019.

https://www.iamag.co/the-ar/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #104

A series of posters promoting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Para-Olympics were released before the games got delayed until next year. Most utilize a variety of Abstract and Geometric styles, though some also employ an Anime and Manga style from Japanese comics and animated movies. One of the posters for the Para-Olympics (2nd to last image below) also includes an homage to one of the most famous pieces of Japanese art - The Great Wave (last image below), a wood block print created by the artist Hokusai, between 1829-1833.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/2020-tokyo-olympics-posters-1747638

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #103

Dinner menus from the golden age of traveling by rail, when the experience of eating in the dining car was often comparable to that of a fine restaurant.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dining-car-food

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #102

Here are some truly creative ways communities around the world have taken rather plain and bland looking buildings and turned them into works of art.

http://www.beautyofplanet.com/15-incredible-before-after-street-art-transformations-that-are-simply-stunning-2/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #101

BMW has recently updated their logo. The change is subtle, with the main adjustment being the flattening of the design from the previous, more three-dimensional design.

https://www.bmwblog.com/2019/08/12/the-definitive-story-behind-the-bmw-logo/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #100

The evolution a piece of art takes from concept to finished work will never cease to amaze me. Each artist has their own process and work thru the composition and details in their own way and often have to incorporate changes requested by the client. Here are a few examples, the first is the Star Wars "A" one sheet, by Tom Jung, the second is the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade one-sheet, by Drew Struzan, and the last is the cover of the comic book adaptation for Return of the Jedi, by Bill Sienkiewicz.

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #99

This week Alex Ovechkin became the eighth player in NHL history to reach 700 goals. The Washington Capitals released this awesome design in their trademark red, white and blue team colors, that incorporates 700 and his uniform number "8", along with a dynamic, action silhouette of Ovechkin.

Good Design Thursdays - #98

"Bill Gold started out as an art director at Warner Bros., with his second assignment being the now classic illustrated artwork for Casablanca, released in 1942. The designer moved with the times, adapting to photographic and digital artworks as illustrated posters became old fashioned."

"He worked as a poster artist for over 70 years and art directed the poster campaigns for over 30 of Clint Eastwood’s films. Eastwood said when presenting Gold with The Hollywood Reporter lifetime achievement award in 1994: “I don’t know what it is that first causes a person to become interested in a film — whether it’s the cast, or whether it’s the title, or whether it’s that first image. I believe it is a combination of all of these. That’s the creative part of poster work – that image and what it does and how it affects an audience.”

https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/bill-gold-film-poster-designer-illustrator-210518

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #97

"The canals of Amsterdam are once again the canvas for spectacular light art thanks to the 8th annual Amsterdam Light Festival. For 53 days, installations by local and international artists dot the city, turning Amsterdam into a treasure trove of color and light. The 2019 edition is guided by the overall theme DISRUPT!, making the resulting installations reflect on relevant themes like climate change, technology, and war."

https://mymodernmet.com/amsterdam-light-festival-2019/

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #96

This a wonderful set of posters advertising an exhibition of the superhero costumes from The Incredibles movies, at Hollywood Studios in Florida.

Good Design Thursdays - Entry #95

"Only 20 bottles of this unique 1.5 liter decanter of Royal Tokaji Essencia 2008 exist. The decanters were all specially hand blown by Hungarian-based artist James Carcass and come in lacquered black boxes. The design of the Essencia 2018 decanter was apparently inspired by the wine "slowly dripping from the individually picked aszu berries."

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/expensive-wine-hungary/index.html