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.
UPDATE:
Just out of curiosity, I decided to recreate the LRG design using the design taken from my poster. You can see this depicted in the last image at the top of this post. The top left corner shows the original treatment from my poster. To the right you can see LRG’s design. In the bottom left my poster graphic has been flipped horizontally and then slightly warped by ’squeezing’ the image and pulling in the edges. In the bottom right the warped image of my poster has been multiplied over LRG’s t-shirt graphic. Can you even tell which is which?
“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).
The Manifest Equality show kicks off this week in LA and will run from March 3rd through the 7th. I was invited to exhibit in the show after having exhibited in the Manifest Hope show during the Democratic National Convention. Manifest Equality’s focus is encouraging the equalization of civil rights for the gay community. It’s an issue I have strong feelings about. It’s my opinion, and you can call this liberal or whatever you like that under the constitution as citizens, so long as we are not breaking the law we should have equal rights to pursue happiness however we see fit. If there is any one group in this country, a supposed ‘free’ country who does not have those equal rights, then it is a threat to the rights of all the people and any other group could be singled out to have their rights revoked. This falls outside of the moral spectrum and lives in the realm of the private life. Sexuality and the expression of sexuality as well as the pursuit of relationships should be the right of every free person under a democratic state.
The original posters I created focused on a particular part of the male anatomy that I see as the central problem in the gay rights equation. The minute this bit of anatomy rears it’s head (yes, a pun is intended) is the minute everyone ruffles and loses their nerve. I am a married hetrosexual man who was raised in a very small town in Nebraska in a conservative household, but I have never understood this. I am not bothered by this part of the anatomy or what people choose to do with it. So I decided to put that right out front and make people have to face it head on (again, pun intended) and spend a moment thinking why it makes people so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the posters (which I went to the trouble of having 100 screen printed and shipped to LA) were rejected on the grounds of being ‘too graphic’ and controversial for display.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed and lashed out by sending some angry emails Shepard Fairey and Ron English’s way. It was a snap judgement that I should have considered before jumping to and Fairey wasn’t very happy with my email. In retrospect, I know there is a time and place for everything. After speaking at length with the show organizer Yosi Sergant, I realized this just wasn’t the right place to be hanging a giant red, white and blue prick. Shepard Fairey remarked that I should ‘take it to the streets’ and maybe he is right. My point was that I felt some of the work should be provocative and angry in tone if this really is a ‘civil rights issue’. I think as a nation we have grown far too apathetic and just ‘accept’ a lot of the laws handed down to us by our government. Our government works for us. We do not work for them. If you want change in this country, you have to get out there knock on the Whitehouse door and say, ‘we the American public, want this to change now!’
So, I revised my work and created a new poster, which you can see at the top of this post that will now be exhibited at the show. It turned out alright, but I still think it lacks the teeth of the original posters which were really created to provoke the issue as a political one that begs a public outcry. I decided not to attend the show after losing out on my investment in printing the posters, but I do wish all the artists exhibiting the very best of luck, and I will be hoping the show is a huge success. It will be interesting to see the rest of the artists work from the show once images begin to hit the web. If you are in LA, the show opens Wednesday from 11am until 6pm at 1341 Vine Street. If you can be there, I wouldn’t miss this one. It should be a thought provoking event, and might I suggest standing outside and waiving one of my posters in the air?
Ventilate asked several artists to participate in their recent poster series with the theme ‘2000′. The idea being, ‘what inspired you a decade ago’. I still find it hard to believe that 10 years have passed since the start of the new millenium. The posters are available to download at 300 dpi via YouSendIt. Once again, Joshua Smith (Hydro74) put in a strong showing with a stark graphic vector poster of Darth Vader. That man just knows what he does and does it well.
Nick Tassone is expecting a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in the Spring of 2010. He is majoring in New Media Design & Imaging, encompassing print design, motion graphics, and all other aspects of the creative design world. He recently posted a series of simple movie posters based around the popular novels of Stephen King. You can see them in his Flickr-folio.
I have been working on an ongoing project featuring some of my favorite type faces using random platitudes to give the type a message to communicate thereby helping bring out the personality that is unique to each face. The series is titled ‘Random Platitude 2010 Type Specimen Posters’. I haven’t printed them as of yet and borrowed the technique of over laying the designs onto a template folded-poster background in order to create the illusion of physicality. It’s something I borrowed from Stefan Lucut and a technique I employ on all my designs since I rarely have any time to photograph them nor do I have access as of yet to decent photography equipment. I will most likely be making more of these and am planning to print some in the near future. I have recently completed some big projects for some big brands and I will be posting those soon as well. Big plans in the works for Changethethought in 2010.
You can view the rest of the posters in the PRINT section of the site.
“THE HAITI POSTER PROJECT seeks limited edition sets of posters from artists, designers and design firms from around the world. The donated posters will be sold online to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. As designers, we have the collective ability to do what we love, AND to create a difference. THE HAITI POSTER PROJECT has been conceived as a collective effort by the design community to unite and effect change through our work. In order for this project to be successful, we are counting on designer participation. Our goal is to raise at least: $1,000,000 for Doctors Without Borders.”
They are currently seeking submissions. I will be working something up in the following weeks. Lets hope they can reach their goal.
“Attak is a twoheaded graphic design monster formed in 2004 and is based in lovely ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, eversince. We work on all sorts of printed matter like posters, flyers, cd-sleeves, logos, corporate identities, magazines and clothing. We value clients who value our artistic ideals and therefore demand a design that requires the utmost of our artistic abilities.”
Amen on the part about the clients. The two heads of the monster are Peter Korsman & Casper Herselman. I had never heard of this agency before but got a little email tip this morning and was super impressed by their body of poster work. There is some great stuff in there, and a lot of it too, if you are in the mood for a little added inspiration today.
I stumbled upon Hugo & Marie’s Behance-folio this morning and was treated to some really exceptional posters recently completed for the latest album release of superpower-hippy-jam-band Phish. There are several posters completed by different artists and illustrators under the Hugo & Marie umbrella, all of which are expertly accomplished.
After you finish checking out the posters you can also head over to the Hugo & Marie website to take a look at the portfolio of their newly added illustrator Jules Julien.
Rich Gemmell is a freelance illustrator who has been working solo for 2 years. It sounds as though things are going well so far as several of his prints are sold out and he is currently tied up with several projects.
Kitsune Noir has teamed up with Society 6 to bring you the Kitsune Noir Poster Club. The first collection of poster artists include Frank Chimero, Mark Weaver, Jez Burrows, Cody Hoyt and Garrett Vander Leun. The artists were asked to create a poster about their favorite book. The end result is some really attractive Giclée prints on bright white, matte, smooth surface, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper. The posters were printed using Epson K3 archival inks and then custom trimmed with 2″ border. Kitsune Noir author Bobby Solomon is a genuinely nice person and it always comes through in his tone and posts to his blog. He’s a great person to support and he sincerely cares about bringing his readers news and links to emerging art and culture. Society 6 is also out to shed light on upandcoming artists and illustrators and are doing their best to start putting out more projects like this that help promote their work. Kudos to both.
If you are looking for some affordable art to give as a gift over the Holidays, you can find all kind of art goodies at Poketo. They have really grown from their original ‘wallet’ days to include, apparel, prints, stationary, homeware, accessories and more. I recently received an email from them and decided to check out their storefront and spend a little time there and was really impressed by the wealth of what they now have to offer. It’s always a pleasure to discover another site or vendor that is trying to make art affordable for everyone.
The print above was created by the ‘Little Friends of Printmaking’ and is just one of several offered in the Poketo print store.
Rétrofuturs (Hulk4598) is the work of graphic designer and illustrator Stéphane Massa-Bidal. She recently completed a Penguin-book-cover-inspired series of posters centered around the theme of web services. They are available to purchase and are seriously worth checking out. They made my ‘design’ day. Sorry that sounds so nerdy but it’s true. The subhead inside joke on the FFFFound cover with the word ‘register’ crossed out is pretty hilarious.
A real gem of a site for inspiration, Typographicposters.com has relaunched with a minimal and beautifully functional interface that makes navigating the site good fun. You can spend a lot of time on the site and the deeper you dig the more you will be rewarded. There is some spectacular work in their archives.
Letterpress printer David Huyck assembles a group of selected artists once every 3 months to create a series of letterpress posters around a theme. The recent batch that is fresh off the press is about patterns and is titled Repeat/Repeat. Artists and designers Will Bryant, Dustin “UPSO” Hostetler, David Huyck, Mike Perry, Heather Ross, Julia Rothman, and Bob Staake created the recent series of posters. A portion of sales from this series will go to The Nature Conservancy. It’s a great little project and you could do much worse for some nice wall art around the studio or home.
The portfolio of Minneapolis-based design studio Workerman has some nice examples of smart and simple design. Some of which (including the poster you wish you’d thought of) can be taken home via their online store.
03/15 MEXICAN DRUG WAR The FBI has vowed to help Mexican officials in an escalating violent war with rival drug cartels that claimed the lives of 2 American employees of the consulate in the Cuidad Juarez. Both were murdered after leaving a consulate social event. On Sunday, The State Department authorized the temporary departure of dependents of U.S. government personnel from the consulates in Ciudad Juarez along with five other northern border Mexican cities.
03/12 FIVERR The website Fiverr asks, in a very broad way, what would you do for 5 dollars? Or better yet, what could you get done for 5 dollars?
03/10 COREY HAIM DIES 80’s movie star Corey Haim passed at the age of 38 at a hospital in Burbank, California. Some reports have suggested the cause of death may have been an overdose as Haim struggled with drug addiction for years following his success.
02/27 ICEBERG ADRIFT A massive iceberg has struck Antarctica dislodging a gigantic block of ice measuring 48 miles (78 kilometers) long and about 24 miles (39 kilometers) wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s annual total water usage. Holy crap.
02/27 CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile with a death toll so far standing at 82.
