LA Design and Custom Decal

Hi All,

Welcome to 2020.  It's a new year, the holidays are over and it's time to get back to biz.  It's winter here in Phoenix, AZ and it's so nice.  We're getting a little frost on the windshield of the car and some cooler temps in the day.  I know it's not winter like some of our northern and higher elevation friends experience, but it's a welcome break from our long hot summer.

I've been pretty busy, but still working on some artwork here and there.  One project I recently completed was requested by a friend of mine.  She's been getting out of her comfort zone, trying to construct a project/gift for her girlfriend: a make up table complete with lighted mirror.  She asked if I could design and illustrate a logo for this desk, to specifically customize this unique project and help with a solution to carry it out.

My friend wanted to show/reflect her partner's talent and love of singing, and customize it with her initials; LA.  LA (Los Angeles), is also where she's from.  The basic idea was there, so I got out the sketch book and pencil and drew up some ideas.  When I got to where my friend, Janessa wanted to go with this, I completed a tight sketch to work off of.

I took the sketch into Photoshop on my computer and using the power of layers, I started plotting points and creating paths.  For the most part, it's assembled with dark layers on bottom, working toward the lighter ones on top.  I created  two designs.  One with a star and one without.

When finished she decided she wanted the mic w/cord on the desk top and the star version as a small decal for the lighted mirror frame.  The next step - search the internet for a company who can print the decals.  We found Stickersstickers.com and had them print for us. They did a great job at a reasonable price.  The next step was to apply the decals.  So I got together with Janessa and we applied them to the prepped desk.  Janessa used a product called Modgepodge to cover and seal the decals to prevent peeling and damage.  (she told me later that the Modgepodge worked great).

When finished - the desk looked wonderful and is a piece to be treasured for many years to come.  I'm happy that I was able to assist in helping this project become an amazing gift.

Well, gotta go.  I hope you all are doing well and that your projects are coming along nicely.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink
on-line portfolio: www.behance.net/tk-art
on-line gift shop: https://www.zazzle.com/store/kbrink_design

At the Center of You - Logo

Hi All,

Wow - it's been a busy couple of weeks.  Between holistic therapy work, this logo, and some other stuff....it's been a quick, busy time (and a good time).  It's really good to be busy sometimes.

So a lady named Laurie hired me to do a logo for her business, a couple weeks ago.  The biz, At the Center of You, is her new business.  She's opening it in Wickenberg, AZ.  Wickenberg is kind of a cowboy town about 70 miles NW of Phoenix.  Her business consists of her life coaching, hypnotherapy, and other holistic modalities, plus a little merchandise for sale.  It's also a very unique business in that town with a large potential.

So we sat down and started brainstorming.  What we came up with was the image of a horse sitting on a mat with legs crossed meditating.  It bridges the gap between the holistic/spiritual aspect of the biz and the old west feel of the town.  It was fun how we really clicked and both came to this idea really quickly.

Pencil sketch of the logo design for "At the Center of You"

First I sketched the cartoon horse logo and she approved, right away.  She was very pleased.

Pen and Ink - complete with coffee spill.

Next I drew the illustrated master drawing in pen and ink.  I even spilled coffee on it (as you can see in the photo).  My scanner is out of commission - so I start working in the computer, on the pen and ink photo.

drawing the black and erasing the white - in progress

I took the photo into Photoshop.  Selected All, and copied and pasted on to a new layer.  I colored the base layer completely orange and started defining the illustration by erasing the white on layer two.  I used the pen tool and would draw a path around an area, color it black, select the area, select inverse and erase the white around each section.  Hope that doesn't sound confusing.  I know it's definitely not the industry standard way of doing things, but that's ok.  It works.

black and white logo complete.

When I got the nice crisp black and white picture done, I saved the layers and starting adding layers under the black and white layer, and began adding color.  Laurie gave me her business card, told me it reflected her personality - and asked for the logo to be reflective of that.  The card had a robin egg blue color with a script type style for her name and a light san serif type style for the rest of the text.

adding sky color

So I started adding color to the background.  Trying to be consistent with the feeling of Laurie as reflected in her business card.

working on the horse.

Once completed, I did spend a little time, tweaking the color a bit, and then formatting both black and white and color, for both print and for electronic/web use.

Completed logo design

Again - this was a fun job.  I enjoyed working on it and the style of cartoon type logo, is really in my wheelhouse.  She was happy with the logo and it really met all of her criteria.

That's it for now.  Enjoy the coming week.  Be present and enjoy those around you.  Enjoy being with yourself as well.

Peace,

Tom

Art Portfolio - www.behance.net/tk-art
Facebook page - www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kreienbrink-Art-and-Design/