New Year, New Look

Well, its been close to two years since I first put my site and this blog on the internet. Back then, I was trying to figure out my "artistic identity" and came up with this:

I was looking to follow a very Bahaus design to go for a clean, modern look that would could be seen as "professional". I wanted it to come across as simple and legible in contrast to my often eidetic art work.

Well know that I've had at least two years of "real world" experience, I think I have a slightly better idea of my artistic identity than I did while I was in school.

Looking back this logo has a lot of things that don't work. The whole "Erik with a K" bit. Sure its funny, and memorable and a real pet peeve of mine when even my close friends can't spell it right, but if a client  doesn't notice just one letter in my name, than we probably aren't meant for each other, especially given the amount of small details in my illustrations. Much think the "I'm from Michigan *points to hand*" bit, it works better when spoken rather than written. Making the K red and than adding "with a K" under it is just redundant.

Confining my first name to a box was another bad move, as it divides my name and disrupts legibility. Not that all capital letters really helps with clarity either. The small addition of "illustrator" feels very much like an afterthought.

So I've been tinkering with a few ideas and came up with this:

Upon a review of my portfolio I realized just how much humor is a part of my work and wanted to reflect that in my new logo. The font for my name is called "Thingamajig", which is probably best known as the font for the Fantastic Four logo, reflecting my comic book roots. Its a very bouncy font, which ties into my "obtuse" sense of humor and has a very "hand drawn" look to it, not unlike the bold brush strokes of my illustrations.

Beneath that is "Illustrator" is Futura, which is a modern, more professional, slightly retro font, representing the foundation in traditional artistry that supports my often goofy exterior.

I'd be very interesting it reading what you think of this change. Please let me know.