Well, I have been candid in the past about how my work sometimes is overly-influenced by other designers (the irony of the image I chose for that post and this incident was not lost on me). In an ever-increasingly globally digital creative environment it is something that I think happens to a lot of us. Sometimes you have to push away from the machine and pick up the pencil.

However, I was a little personally outraged when I saw this particular LRG shirt for sale at Karmaloop. I personally don’t really know very much about LRG, although I did buy a t-shirt of theirs a few years back at a boutique. Apparently their logo is a circular arrow pointing down, almost the inverse of my logo except that mine is a 3 quarter circle turned upward and the arrow is split down the middle. It’s not exactly a new or highly original logo treatment, but when I designed mine (over 5 years ago now), it was meant to symbolize the constancy of change. Again, ironically there is just so happens to be an article in the upcoming issue of Computer Arts describing what my logo stands for.

Regardless, I am not so sure that really gives LRG the right to just flat out lift a poster design I did to promote myself close to two years ago now. Here is the original post to Changethethought when I released my first poster series for sale. Being influenced by someone or bearing a similarity in styles to another designer or artist is one thing, straight taking an existing design, barely altering it and then calling it your own is another thing entirely. And I am positive after comparing my now 2-year-old, copyrighted and globally distributed poster design with this LRG t-shirt that is exactly what LRG did to me. Even the way I pulled all of the colors used in my original poster and placed them in circles at the bottom was handled the same on the LRG t-shirt. I was just kind of shocked when I stumbled upon it while shopping at Karmaloop. I really would like an explanation from LRG. I would also like to know if there is anything I can do legally to resolve the matter. I am guessing not, since I am the little guy but at least I have this blog where I can tell you about it. If I were you, I’d think twice about buying anything from LRG for a while, if not forever.

I design apparel graphics for all kinds of big brands and have been working almost exclusively on apparel graphics the last two months. I would have been happy to discuss designing some graphics for LRG and even consider altering some of my graphics if the price were right and it made sense for both my brand and theirs. Instead of contacting me, I guess LRG felt like it was fine to just go ahead and take without asking. Do me a favor if you feel so inclined, and send LRG an email telling them what you think. And if any of you know how to get in touch with their creative department, please email me and let me know how to get in touch with them. I’d very much like to speak to them myself.

Painter Carly Waito hit the trend nail on the head with her recent oil on masonite series depicting different kinds of crystals. They have been popular in hip art subculture, most likely because their ties to psychedelic art and her timing in achieving this series could not have been better. They are also beautifully rendered with a trompe l’oeil blur effect that helps add a layer of tangible reality to the works. Although I admit to loving the paintings of crystals, the above painting of Bornite stood out to me for it’s complicated use of color. There is an amazing attention to detail in that painting that I appreciate. She explains some of the process behind her renderings at her blog which you can read here.

Here is what artist Alexis Anne Mackenzie has to say about her work:
“All of my collages are composed by hand - cut from books I’ve been collecting for years, and painstakingly pieced together as seamlessly as possible. They create themselves through a process beginning with a loose concept, followed by a series of trials and errors, subtle maneuvers, selection/elimination, harmonious unions, and happy accidents. It is a meditative process, and there is a lot of decision-making behind each element involved.

My general intent, throughout all my work, is to portray the world as a flawed thing of beauty - a place that shines brightly, but has a dark side to match.

You can view her ‘typographic collages’ at both her website and see some of her more recent efforts at the POVevolving Gallery.

Artist and illustrator Tom French was born in 1982, and raised in the North East of England. He attended the Newcastle school of Art & Design and went on to receive First Class Honors in Graphic Design from the Sheffield Institute of Art and Design. Since then he has continued his discipline by painting and experimenting with spray paint, stencil and collage work.

Tyson McAdoo attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Arts and graduated in 1999. He then went on to work for Marvel, DC, Wildstorm and Dark Horse comics but has since become more a freelance illustrator. His subject matter is women and furniture, two things I would have to admit to having an appreciation for.

There were two short bumpers recently created by Umeric for Mtv and the one above is ‘Spot A’ You can watch ‘Spot B’ here. There has been talk about extending these into something a little more fully fleshed out which would surely be interesting to see.

Director/Cinematographer:: Ash Bolland
Producer: Von Dekker
Audio: Raf May, Darrin Wiemer
Production/Visual FX: umeric.com

Pete McDonald has been toiling away for some time at Buck, a studio that I have always respected especially considering some of the fantastic work they produced for us while I was at Cactus for the Own Your C campaign. The talent at Buck runs from floor to ceiling and even seeps all the way into the walls. Apparently Pete has recently decided to have a go at a freelance designer, illustrator and motionographer and as would be expected with someone who has worked for Buck, he has some nice work in his portfolio. Be sure to click through some of great drawings in McDonald’s sketchbook as well.

If you have yet to give the new Yeasayer album ‘Odd Blood’ let this new video directed by Radical Friend serve as the extended hand into one of the better albums to have been released so far in 2010. There is a strange kind of ‘Star Wars’ cantina thing happening in the video mixed up with some kind of 80’s post-apocalyptic Cyndi Lauper dance rave. You can grab the rest of the credits for the video here at the Vimeo page.

“To read more about this artwork and to purchase a copy, please visit colosseotype.com

In March 2009, Suzanne (wife) and I spent several days in Rome to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. This was also a chance to observe in detail the Coliseum, which I’d already selected as the next subject in my series of letterpress posters (see cameronmoll.bigcartel.com/category/posters).

Over the course of the next 12 months, the artwork was handcrafted character by character, totaling roughly 250 hours of work from start to finish. Characters from the Goudy Trajan and Bembo Pro typefaces form the Coliseum, also known as today as Colosseo (Italian) and originally known as Amphitheatrum Flavium (Latin).

Printed at Bjørn Press in Provo, Utah. bjornpress.com”

One whole year people. That’s commitment to craft. I bet Cameron Moll’s wife is ready to go back to Rome for another vacation after that.

Brooklyn-based Triboro Design consists of Stefanie Weigler and David Heasty. They recently produced a variation of the famous New York City subway map. The map was printed in only one color: Florescent red. The poster was offset printed in a limited edition run of only 300 prints. I am not sure where you can buy one but I would very much like to get my hands one on (or two). If you know where to get one, leave me a comment. I appreciate it.

Via The Daily Heller.