Alexander the Great

Grover's Service Design

2012-01-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

Last summer my stepdad, Dan, was going through old family photos and came across an interesting image. The photo showed an old white race car with the words, "Grover's Service" written on the side. Grover was Dan's father, and although he died when Dan was really young he had always heard about his dad's service station in Independence, Missouri. At one point the station sponsored a race car that competed on some of the old tracks in the Kansas City area. Dan loved finding this photo as it provided him a special connection to his dad.

After hearing about Grover's Service my Mom suggested we do something for him with it for Christmas like having me design a logo for the service station. I liked the idea and I started playing around with a few concepts, but I liked the old fashioned feel of the car itself. Using the photo as a reference I illustrated a new rendition, and set it up to be designed for apparel. We settled on a gray hoodie. On Christmas Dan got to open his new gift, and was moved to tears. It was a fun project to work on because of the throwback feel, but mostly because there was so much meaning attached to it. Below are the designs in their final, finished versions.

Winter Park 2012

2012-01-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

Lost In The Fog

2011-10-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Captured this recently driving into downtown KC.

17th and Summit

2011-09-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

Youth Group Flyers

2011-08-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

Some of my latest work for the youth group... flyers for our Winter Retreat to Winter Park, Colorado, our "Bump City Bonanza," and the 2012 mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

August First Fridays

2011-08-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Foxy

2011-08-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

A few more from St. Louis...

2011-07-25T20:41:00.001-07:00

Views from the Arch

2011-07-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to help lead a mission trip to St. Louis, Missouri. We did a number of service projects, including serving at a food bank, an inner city daycare, a senior center, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse, and an agency called "The Bridge" that serves the homeless population. The issue of homelessness and poverty is a huge one in urban St. Louis, and it proved to be an eye-opening experience for all of us on the trip, adults and youth alike. In addition to our mission work we also found some time to have fun. One of the fun things we did was visit the famous Gateway Arch. I'd been in the arch before a couple of times, but it's always interesting to look at as an architectural marvel. The trip to the top is fun in the trams, and it's interesting to see the city from up there, including Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals.

Cincinnati

2011-06-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I was in Cincinnati, OH for a mission trip with my youth group. These shots were taken throughout the week as we ventured through downtown neighborhoods. Cincinnati had an interesting mix of older buildings mixed with newer, modern structures around the riverfront district.

Shepard Fairey Mural

2011-06-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Spotted this while I was in Cincinnati last week.

Sporting KC/Livestrong Park

2011-06-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight I got a chance to attend the Sporting KC game at their brand new stadium, Livestrong Sporting Park. The stadium is really impressive - nice work by KC-based Populous. The game was fun to watch at Sporting KC got their first ever victory in the new stadium, 1-0 against San Jose. I also got to see the first Sporting KC goal at the new stadium as forward C.J. Sapong scored on a free kick from midfielder Graham Zusi. It was a fun atmosphere for sure. I definitely recommend going, and sitting in the "the Cauldron."

First Fridays

2011-06-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Concert Poster

2011-05-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

Poster I designed for our food pantry's benefit concert.

Youth Week Identity

2011-05-19T12:45:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I thought I'd share the system I put together for our summer "Youth Week" here at Village. The idea is that there is a fun activity for kids every day such as a pool party, baseball game, frisbee, and a concert. I decided to represent each fun activity with an icon. For the t-shirt I went with a side placement on the front to do something a little different that hopefully the kids will enjoy wearing. Overall my goal was to create something fun and attention-getting that also conveyed the energy of the youth.

Latest Political Design Work

2011-02-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

Recently I've had the opportunity to do some design work for some political candidates that I believe in. As with all the political design I've done the work is rewarding because it allows me to be creative while supporting leaders I believe will do a great job for their communities. For the first piece I was asked to put together a flier for the campaign of Deb Hermann, who is running for mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. My goal was to incorporate the feel of Kansas City while appealing to the younger voter demographic.

The second project I recently worked on was for my friend Kim Bush, who is running for school board in Wichita, Kansas. For Kim's campaign I wanted to do something clean, easy to read, and teacher-friendly.

More from Brooklyn

2010-12-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

Shots from Brooklyn

2010-12-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Some more shots from the NYC trip I took earlier this month. Andrew and I took the subway over to Brooklyn... some great views of Manhattan in the park near the Brooklyn Bridge.

New Work: Black and Veatch Shirt Design

2010-12-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

This was a fun project to work on... Black and Veatch needed a t-shirt designed for their finance department's day volunteering with Harvesters. After trying a variety of options I felt like this was the best idea... incorporating Black and Veatch's mission of "making a world of difference" with the soup cans... subtle nod to Warhol.

NYC Rooftop Views

2010-12-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I traveled to New York City to watch the Jayhawks play Memphis at Madison Square Garden. It was an awesome trip... caught up with friends, ate at some great restaurants, went to live band karaoke, and walked the Brooklyn Bridge. My cousin, Andrew, and I were fortunate enough to stay with a friend, Dave, at his place in Chelsea. The first night we were there we went up on the rooftop and took some shots of the amazing views of Manhattan.

Architecture of Charlotte

2010-11-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

Charlotte

2010-11-14T15:25:00.000-08:00

Visited my brother in Charlotte, NC this weekend. We went to a pretty cool neighborhood known as "Noda." Restaurants, live music, art scene... reminded me quite a bit of Lawrence.

Retro: Spotted in Wichita

2010-11-06T23:52:00.001-07:00

Quintessential Fall

2010-10-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin patch at a church I've been driving by on the way to work in Wichita.

St Francis

2010-10-23T10:47:00.001-07:00

Photos from around St. Francis Ave. in Wichita.

Old Town

2010-10-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

23 days until the election. I took a 10 minute break tonight to shoot some of the buildings around Old Town Wichita.

Furniture

2010-09-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

I drive by this sign each morning while I'm here working on the campaign. Wichita has some pretty interesting old buildings and signage around the Old Town area.

Las Vegas

2010-09-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Red Rock Relay Pt. II

2010-09-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Red Rock Relay

2010-09-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

Utah

2010-09-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

The backyard of the house where I'm staying.

Sunflower

2010-08-28T16:03:00.001-07:00

Doggone Perfect

2010-08-25T08:02:00.001-07:00

Got some shots of our dogs yesterday. Nugget is the black lab, and Jack is the golden. I think these capture their personalities perfectly.

Cash Talks

2010-08-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

KS Roadside

2010-08-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

City People

2010-08-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

A few images shot for a collaborative photography-song project I'm doing.

Owen's Mural

2010-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

Recently my good friends, Amy and Ryan Diediker, asked if I could paint a bedroom wall mural for their 4 year old son, Owen. Owen loves Pixar's Cars so that was the inspiration. Owen's main requirement was that it had to have a race car. It was a great project that was fun to work on. Owen did an amazing job supervising too.

Window Washer

2010-08-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Shot this yesterday downtown KC.

States on My List

2010-07-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

I stole this idea from my friend Jordyn's blog, but I think it's great to compile a list like this. Now I know I need to head to the NW part of the country.

To visit:
Alabama
Alaska
Connecticut
Hawaii
Idaho
Montana
North Dakota
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
Washington
Wyoming

Visited:
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Day at the Nelson

2010-07-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

A couple shots from this afternoon at the Nelson Atkins.

Ranchin' in Russell

2010-06-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my friend Dave invited me and the other guys from high school out to his family's ranch in Russell, Kansas. Needless to say we had a blast checking out the whole property and floating the river that goes through it. There's even an old group of abandoned buildings called "the town" and an abandoned one-room school house.

Old Theatre

2010-06-16T09:19:00.001-07:00

Found this old theatre in Coffeyville, KS this past weekend. When my Mom was growing up her parents would take her there and a woman that looked and dressed just like Joan Crawford would be working the ticket counter... back when going to the movies was a grand experience.

Osawatomie Asylum

2010-06-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

We had a family wedding this past weekend in southeast KS, and so we traveled the familiar path down highway 169. My cousin, Kerri, and her husband, James, mentioned how they had stopped off in Osawatomie, KS to check out the eerie site of the State Mental Hospital. It still operates as a mental hospital, and there are still some of the older buildings standing from when it was known as the Kansas Insane Asylum. I thought it would be interesting to see as well so we stopped off for a minute. It was pretty fascinating. The look of the place was right out of "Shutter Island."

Near the grounds we found a cemetery with 346 headstones marked only with numbers. According to an online article by the Pitch, these headstones all belonged to patients who went unclaimed by families. People were buried there up until the 1950s. It was disturbing and intriguing all at once.

New Work: Breathe Fire Logo

2010-06-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Logo for the Presbyterian Synod of Mid-America's conference, entitled "Breathe Fire." The idea behind the conference is that people will become passionate about their faith. As the Holy Spirit comes to them they will be energized into acting on their beliefs.

Keep Dancing Amy

2010-05-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend a friend and high school classmate of mine, Amy Wooddell, had a major stroke while she was in Washington D.C. for the law school graduation of her brother. They rushed Amy to the hospital and discovered that the stroke had been caused by a blood clot. They quickly got her into surgery to break up the clot, and she endured a 7 1/2 hr procedure. She also was placed on a ventilator. Although she is breathing some on her own she remains in a coma. Amy just recently married my good friend, Jonny, in December. I have always been impressed by the strong faith that they both possess. Please pray for healing power for Amy and continued strength for Jonny as he patiently waits at her side. Jonny continues to update frequently at the following site...

keepdancingamy.com

Signage and Architecture

2010-05-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

All found in downtown KC yesterday.

Post-Apocalyptic Landscape

2010-04-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Photos were taken by my brother, Nick, on a recent adventure in Kansas. I thought they had an eerie, post-apocalyptic feel to them, and so I decided to enhance them and really get the full effect.

My First Time Preaching

2010-04-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had a truly amazing opportunity: to deliver a sermon.

About a year and a half ago I made a goal of reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Some months I have read it more intensely and other times not as often, but it is a goal I continue to work towards. Along the way I have stopped to ask many questions about my faith, and it has been helpful having a cousin and his wife both in seminary. Their wedding was this weekend so someone had to cover for them at their churches, and they asked if I would be willing to preach at her churches.

I know that some things were great, and other parts of it could have been improved but for never having done it before I felt like it went pretty well all things considered. Here is my attempt at preaching...

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RujjZ9kCkSc

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXGkVyepUk4

Sledding at Breck!

2010-04-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Awesome weekend at Breckenridge.

Colorado

2010-04-05T11:50:00.001-07:00

Heart Sketch

2010-03-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

I was designing invitations last night for my brother's wedding, and sketched out quite a few ideas to determine the look. This ended up being a very different direction than we took for the invitation, but I decided to develop it anyway.

Retracing Dan's Past

2010-03-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

Having previously lived in Missouri his entire life, my stepdad, Dan, has adapted fairly well in accepting that he is now a permanent resident of Kansas. Although there are times when he complains about the terrible drivers he has encountered with "the Johnson County tags." (I'm not sure what is so surprising about encountering drivers with Johnson County tags when driving in the vicinity of Oak Park Mall.) Still, he has learned to watch Jayhawks basketball and put up with our annual "Kansas Day" tradition.

With my brother, Nick, on spring break, Dan decided to take us to the Missouri side of the state line to see the areas where he grew up. I was happy to see the places that he talks about so often and get a better picture of his childhood neighborhood. We started off in Blue Springs, worked our way through Lake City and Fort Osage, and then wound down the day in Independence. Along the way we saw four different houses that he had lived in, and heard stories from each location. All in all it was a nice adventure in retracing Dan's past.

RFK Illustration

2010-03-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

For my latest project I chose to illustrate one of my political heroes in one of the most famous moments in American history. I started with a video still from Bobby Kennedy's famous last speech at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968, where he had just won the California primary in his bid to become President. It is right after this moment, where he flashes the peace sign, that he walks off stage and into the hotel's kitchen that he is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.

The powerful thing about this moment for me is how Bobby is speaking to his self-built coalition of people from diverse backgrounds, and that he is offering an alternative to the violence and divisions that were present at that moment in our nation. In the illustration I wanted to incorporate different colors and make it somewhat abstract in order to symbolize the broad spectrum of people and ideas that contributed to Bobby and his campaign.

This whole project was done in illustrator as a vector piece of art. I thought it would be interesting to document the process as I went so here are the results. The final piece of course is at the bottom.

Shoes for Haiti

2010-02-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

This morning I volunteered to help out with a project called "Shoes for Haiti," that a fellow designer and friend of mine, Jess White, organized. For the last few weeks Jess has worked with Gary Gribble's Running Sports and others to collect shoes for the people of Haiti. This was all done in conjunction with an organization called Soles4Souls, which has committed one million pairs of shoes for Haiti relief.

It was exciting to see so many people working together today, giving their time and energy for a country that can really use our assistance right now. The group worked for 6.5 hours, and by the end 11,335 pairs of shoes had been collected and packed to send off to Haiti. Here are a few shots from the work that went on today.

More KC

2010-02-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

Vintage KC

2010-01-28T21:12:00.001-08:00

My cousin, Andrew, just got a new Canon Rebel for Christmas and asked if I wanted to go shoot some photos with him today to try it out. I suggested that we go on a quest to find vintage signs and marquees from Kansas City's past. There are still a few of these relics from the 1950s and 60s scattered around the city, and I wanted to capture the zeitgeist of that period. If you ignore the modern signage and block out the contemporary architecture it's possible for a moment to picture yourself in that time.

Sherlock Holmes End Credits

2010-01-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Quite a few design sites have mentioned how great these end credits are, and I agree. The concept and animation are brilliant.

Warhol Sketch

2010-01-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Union Station had an exhibit on Warhol. Included were some of his flower pieces, a series on Muhammad Ali, a series on "Jewish geniuses," a series of animals, and a series of mythical figures (wicked witch, Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse, and Warhol himself). At the end of the exhibit you could sketch something out with crayons and paper. You could tell that a lot of artistic people had been through because there were some nice quick sketches pinned to the wall. Others were drawings by children and some were statements on Obama or comments on their favorite sports teams. I did a quick sketch (above) of one of Warhol's more iconic poses.

2009 in Photos

2009-12-30T10:06:00.001-08:00

#1 Stepbrother Bucky and his bride, Stephanie, get married on January 17.

#2-3 Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States on January 20. My friend Ray and I watch at KC's Gem Theatre.

#4 My golden retriever, Jack, comes to live with me on February 16.

#5 Hiking in Colorado near Red Rocks with my friend Jay on April 13, 2009.

#6 Shooting the sides of buildings in KC on May 14.

#7 Church marquee in Weston, Missouri from a photo adventure with Orion and Rusty on June 27.

#8 Wedding Rehearsal for my Mom and Dan on July 24.

#9-10 Healthcare protesters in Washington D.C. on July 30.

#11 The office of Senator Kennedy on July 30, a little less than a month before he died.

#12 Construction workers near the WTC site in New York City on August 2.

#13 Fan tributes to Michael Jackson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio on August 5.

#14 My cousin Chris proposed to his girlfriend, Crystal, in a garden near Houstonia, Missouri on August 14. I was along to capture the moment.

#15 My brother Grant got engaged to his girlfriend, Brandy, in early September. Soon after we shot engagement photos on KU's campus.

#16 Windows in downtown KC that I shot on a photography outing with Orion on November 7.

#17 We said goodbye to our good old dog, Buddy, on December 29 after 13 great years.

December

2009-12-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

A photo I took at this time last year.

South

2009-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

Playing around with some letterforms... has a tribal feel to it

Family Photos

2009-11-30T19:38:00.001-08:00

A couple weekends ago I was asked by my stepbrother, Dave, and his wife, Christy, to shoot some photos of their family for their Holiday cards. We went out to Liberty, Missouri to Hodge Park where there are a bunch of older buildings. It turned out to be a perfect place to shoot, and Emma and Elliana are two of the cutest girls ever so it wasn't hard to capture them looking adorable.

American Indian Dancing

2009-11-19T19:42:00.001-08:00

The Nelson-Atkins recently opened their new American Indian galleries and brought in a bunch of American Indian dancers and drummers this past weekend. Here are a few shots from the event.

Sign Painting

2009-11-15T00:25:00.001-08:00

These days when we are setting type for signs, logos, etc. it's easy to take for granted the advantages we have with modern technology. My Grandpa was an artist in a small Kansas town that didn't have a "sign shop" or a place you could just call up when you needed something painted for your business. Instead they would call my Grandpa, and he would come up with the overall composition. Over the years he collected and cut out interesting type from magazines that he ended up using in signs around town.

Although he had some schooling to become an art teacher he relied on books to teach him about sign painting. One of these books that I came across is called Ralph Gregory's Sign Painting Techniques, published in 1973. Although the methods and styles have changed since then I think it's interesting that a lot of the basic design principles in the book are things we still follow today. Below are a few images from the book.

The first example talks about the importance of not overwhelming your viewer with information.

The next few show examples show how text can be arrranged depending on the importance of each word, and also ways to condense elements if you are running low on space.

I love how the following example says that "freak" type of lettering is popular with young people.

The book also talks about drawing, and how you should try to simplify art. Sometimes this means using a silhouette of an image. Other times in the case of a caricature you should highlight the odd features of the person you are drawing.

Here is my Grandpa working on one of his many signs.

Jazz and Alleyways

2009-11-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

A few shots from this past weekend's photo adventure with Orion... Crossroads, a place called the Asylum, and the Jazz District... never know what you'll find.

Grant and Brandy Engagement Photos

2009-11-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had the privilege of shooting some engagement photos of my brother and his fiancee. They wanted to go with a fall look, and I think we picked one of the last great weekends with the leaves still on the trees. We started out on the KU campus and then made our way to Mass St. I particularly enjoyed getting the Campanile shot as it represents both their upcoming graduation and wedding.

Mad Men Illustration

2009-10-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

I've been watching a lot of Mad Men lately so I decided to do a quick illustration of my favorite character, Don Draper.

More Chi-town

2009-09-30T21:21:00.001-07:00

The O.C. - Orange City, Iowa that is...

2009-09-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I was in the exciting little town of Orange City, Iowa for work. Mainly I was there to do some more training to set up designs for screenprinting and embroidery. In my down time, however, I managed to get around town and shoot some of the interesting character of the buildings. The town has a Dutch immigrant background and they are very proud of their heritage. Looking at a few of these shots you may think you're in the Netherlands, but I assure you the cornfields are within arm's reach.

Signs from Chicago

2009-09-16T21:25:00.001-07:00

Chicago from the Rooftops

2009-09-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

Cleveland

2009-09-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

MS Society Dinner of Champions

2009-09-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

Last May Jess White, a friend from KU's Design School, and I began collaborating on designs for Kansas City's Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The MS Society holds a banquet each year called the "Dinner of Champions" where they honor an individual from the community that has contributed a lot to their cause. This year's honoree was Tom Bowser, head of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City. Jess and I came up with several ideas for the look of the dinner materials, and then worked with the MS Society to pick a direction. I think it's important to continue to do a certain amount of pro bono design work along with more commercial pieces. This was a project that was a pleasure to work on because it brought awareness to a disease that is not always well understood. For the look of the designs we ended up going with a modern, yet elegant design that incorporated a bright color palette with suggestions of sophistication. The blue pattern is from a photograph I took while touring the Brown Mansion in Coffeyville, Kansas. The orange and blue colors worked with the current brand guidelines of the MS Society nationally. The Dinner of Champions was held last Thursday night at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center, and it ended up being a great night and nice culmination to the project.

Movie of the Week: Citizen Kane

2009-09-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Niagara Falls

2009-09-05T11:47:00.001-07:00

Movie of the Week

2009-09-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder.

Baseball HOF - Cooperstown, NY

2009-08-31T17:50:00.001-07:00

Return to New York

2009-08-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia

2009-08-20T14:10:00.001-07:00

Taken at the Reading Terminal Market and the Eastern State Penetentiary.

Health Care Debate Rages On

2009-08-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

It seems like everyone is debating health care right now, and no matter what happens there are going to be people who are disappointed by the outcome. You have to wonder how much of what we are seeing is fabricated or exaggerated. CNN reports that over $57 million have been pumped into TV advertising already this year on the health care debate. It's no wonder then that President Obama and those in favor a public health care option face an uphill battle against some of this country's most powerful special interests. I find it appalling that Sarah Palin can make up an idea like "death panels" and convince a great number of people that this is actually what the government intends to do. The term has absolutely no basis in reality.

It has to be obvious to any informed American that our health care system needs reform. We currently rank 42nd in life expectancy among all developed nations. That's pretty weak for all of those people that claim we have the best medical care in the world. With my own health struggles over the last year and a half I have witnessed a lot of problems with the health care system. Anyone who shows up at an emergency room has to be prepared to spend several hours waiting to see a Dr. because of the amount of uninsured people that show up with minor conditions like a cough. If you create more options for people that will end up saving middle and lower class people a lot of money. A $20 co-pay at the Doctor's office is a lot better than a $100 co-pay at the ER. Also for everyone criticizing government-run health care as socialism how does that differ from Medicare and Medicaid? Here's hoping that the Obama administration sticks to their guns and can achieve what the Clintons and many others before failed to do.

When I was in Washington D.C. two weeks ago I shot a bunch of health care protesters on the Hill. Here are a few images from that day.