Super Nintendo World: Apparel Design Part 2

In the beginning of 2018, I was part of a group that was asked to come up with apparel designs for the new Universal Super Nintendo Land. I came up with three design trends; Graffiti Gamer, 8-Bit Icons and Pixel Peeps.

For Pixel Peeps, the idea behind this trend was to use common phrases and words like “Flower Power” and “Bitcoin” and juxtapose using Mario characters and icons. These design are often simple so to be more impactful. I designed the graphics using the 8-bit and 16-bit style of the characters to have a retro feel and felt it was more fun.

Super Nintendo World: Apparel Design Part 1

In the beginning of 2018, I was part of a group that was asked to come up with apparel designs for the new Universal Super Nintendo Land. I came up with three design trends; Graffiti Gamer, 8-Bit Icons and Pixel Peeps. Each trend focused on different aspect of Nintendo and the world of Mario.

I will be sharing with you each design trend that I worked on, starting with Graffiti Gamer. This design trend was inspired by urban graphic design and graffiti stencil art. This trend is characterized by use of a limited color palette, paint drips and the use of harsh stencil lines. This style works well with the more modern cartoon version of the Mario characters that younger gamers are familiar with. I am sharing design I did for Mario, Princess Peach and Lugi. I had plans to do Yoshi, Bowser and Princess Daisy in this style. Maybe one day I will add those characters.

I had blast working in the urban graffiti style and hope you enjoy the designs.

Attraction Rewind: Pleasure Island, Finding the Funmeister

Funmiester, we hardly knew ye…

When Pleasure Island opened at Downtown Disney in 1989, Disney designed an icon for the park called the Funmiester, a moon-faced spirit of celebration. A stylized version of the Funmiester was used in the official Pleasure Island logo and could be found throughout the island. A cartoon version of the character was developed to be used on promotional materials and merchandise. The look of the character borrowed greatly from the McDonald’s character Mac Tonight, with a large crescent moon head, sunglasses and a human body in a suit.

The Funmiester is often forgotten and left in the hallway of Disney history. But for someone who worked at Pleasure Island during my college program, I am very familiar with this character. To honor the Funmiester, I designed several shirts that capture both Pleasure Island and the Funmiester in the early 90’s feel.

Pleasure Island has so much to it that I plan to on doing more designs for this forgotten island. Such as the large neon Pleasure Island sign that featured Jessica Rabbit.

Attraction Rewind: Kitchen Kabaret, Part 1

Have you had your veggies and fruit fruit today?

When Epcot opened in 1982, There was an all audio-animatronic show called Kitchen Kabaret. The show was hosted Bonnie Appetite and introduced the acts in a musical revue and comedy format. The show advocated healthy eating and provided a primer on the four food groups: meat, dairy, grains and fruits/vegetables. Kitchen Kabaret featured many songs such as “Chase Those (Meal Time) Blue Away” and “Boogie Woogie Bakery Boy”, but none was as popular as “Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit”. This song has remained very popular in pop-culture and appeared in Epcot Forever.

To Honor this classic attraction, I designed merchandise based on Kitchen Kabaret and the characters that were in the show. I pulled much of the graphic look from the 80’s and early 90’s. This attraction and these characters were extremely fun to design for. So much fun that I plan to do a part 2.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Tis the season… for a retro Mickey Holiday design. This is a fun little design that I put together for the Holidays. I decided to make a shirt graphic and do some different vintage holidays colors. This design was inspired by a Mickey graphic that was done in the late 80’s for Disneyland. Enjoy!

Attraction Rewind: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, Part 2

This is part 2 of the inspired merchandise designs for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage. I enjoyed designing for this beloved ride so much, I did a second round… and I am working on a third round!

Enjoy!

Attraction Rewind: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage, Part 1

When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, there was a ride based on the characters and settings of the 1954 Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was a re-theming of the Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland.The ride involved a 20-minute submarine ride through a lagoon filled with sea life and mermaids. The ride abruptly closed in 1994, without any warning to guests who loved this attraction. A few of the nautilus submarine were reused and can be found in Disney Seas and in Disneyland Paris.

To this day, this ride is still very popular to those who were able to experience this attraction, including myself. So in honor of this retired attraction, I designed some merchandise for it. I started out with the idea of doing a few shirt designs, but it spiraled quickly into much more. This is just part 1 of the inspired merchandise for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage.

Enjoy!

Walt Disney World 50th Celebration: Button Ideas

One of the fun and free things to collect at Disney World are Disney buttons. From ‘First Visit” to “Just Married”, Disney has many of these buttons celebrating all kinds events. So to celebrate Disney World turning 50, I came up with a few fun button designs. One of these designs celebrates the 50th, using the logo and colors. The other design is a retro design for celebrating the year, 1971, that Walt Disney World opened.

Attraction Rewind

The first theme that I will explore is the “Attraction Rewind” theme. The idea behind this theme is to have designs based around Disney attraction that have come and gone. This will include attractions like; The living Seas, Horizons, Kitchen Kabaret, River Country, Pleasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage.

I am excited to design for some of these classic lands and attractions that people have fond memories of.

I'm back

After many MANY years of not keeping up with my blog or website, I have returned! I will be making many changes and uploading new content. The new focus of the blog is “my creative designs”. In the past, I used the blog to show my own work, thoughts and even complain from time to time. Now each post will be part of bigger idea or theme. The theme will be shared, explaining what it is. Then I will share the designs that fit into that theme. Or at least that is what I am hoping will happen. I have a lot of cool content and designs to share, so there should be uploaded on a regular basis. And as always, I hope to hear from people.

2018: a Year End Review

With only a few days left in 2018, I always take this time to reflect and look back on how this year was. For those that know me, know that that the past 3+ years have been challenging with some ups and more downs. So the bar was set very low for 2018… and it cleared it with ease.

I was able to work on many amazing projects this year such as a Sesame Street Dark Ride that will open next year in Spain, Sesame Street land for SeaWorld Orlando and the highlight of being of the opening of Battle for Eire, a project that I was very involved in when I was at SeaWorld in 2017. I also joined Universal Creative, and I am currently working on some fun projects there.

In 2018, I was able to work with some very talented creative people. Some of these people I have known for years, and others I met for the first time. I also year able connect with some old friends, a few that I never thought I would see again. But there were also many people I missed and hope to meet up with in 2019. (SoCal, I am looking at you)

But for me, family is always the most important thing and this year I got to add another new nephew to the crew, Jonathan Ackerman.

2018 did have its bumps along the way. But compared to past years, these were minor things. Everything considered, 2018 was a pretty good year

… 2019, the bar has been raised.

Opening of Battle for Eire

Joined Universal Creative

Mummy: Tomb of Peril

The Sesame Creative Crew

Big Johnny

Legos will always make a year better

I Can Tell You How to Get to Sesame Street

As you may have heard, Sesame Street is coming to Port Aventura World in Europe. I was part of the creative of this amazing new attraction by Sally Dark Rides. This mighty team of 4 cranked on the scenic design for this amazing dark ride. This was a great experience that was lead by the brilliant Brian Morrow with the creative lead by Greg Crane. I can’t wait to share the final ride when it opens next year.

https://themeparkuniversity.com/theme-parks-101/new-sesame-street-dark-ride-headed-to-port-aventura/

IP with wings: Rovio’s location-based entertainment strategy for Angry Birds

About a year and half ago, while at SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, I was working on concept art to try to bring the world of Angry Birds to the SeaWorld Parks as themed land. Unfortunately, due to SeaWorld’s financial struggles at the time, this idea was left on the drawing table. I just recently read that Rovio (the company that owns Angry Birds) is looking to do that exact thing… bring the Angry Birds world to theme parks. Below is a link the to the article along with my concept art I did for an Angry Bird themed land.

https://blooloop.com/features/angry-birds-world-rovio/

Universal Creative

I am a little late posting this, but I am excited to share that I will be a designer working for Universal Creative. I have always enjoyed Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and now to be able to design for these great parks is an amazing opportunity!

A Frame Art of Goofy's Candy Company

When I was working for Disney, I was able to design promotional posters for Goofy's Candy Company. These posters were fun to work and each of them needed to have a different a look and feel.

For Goofy's Glaciers, I used the Goofy's Glacier brand that had already been established, with fun colors and a good character pose, this poster was a blast to work on.

For Goofy's breakfast, this poster was targeted towards adults who needed a good cup of coffee to get there day started. I used the branding from the already established Mickey's Swell Coffee, but used a warm color palette with a font that that someone may seen in a Starbucks. This was another fun poster and the design was so much different then Goofy's Glaciers.

How to Train Your (Celtic) Dragon

While at SeaWorld's Deep Blue Creative, I had the chance to work on a new attraction for Busch Gardens Williamsburg called "Battle for Eire". This will be a new virtual reality experience, taking guests on a thrilling ride through the mystical world of dragon and fairies. As a little teaser. I am showing the main logo and marquee that will be hanging over the entrance. The main logo is a dragon with a fairy in the negative space that is holding the light or Eire. For the main signage, this will be on a large golden shield with a Celtic banners hanging from behind it. Below you can see sketches and other early versions of the logo that I came up with before designing the final look.

Vader time of the Year!

It's that time of year where we celebrates by being around the ones we care about... Luke, Leia, Rey and even Kylo. Yes, it's Star Wars time of year! ... and its also Christmas too. To celebrate I did a quick illustration combing two of my favorite characters, the Grinch and Darth Vader. Happy Star Wars Season to everyone!

Mono Line of the Flower and Garden Festival

Over the past few years I have been inspired by mono line designs and the simplicity that they convey. By just using lines, it makes the designer really work on how the lines work with one another, how color will be used and how the design and background interact with one another. I wanted to try this style for myself and thought what better way then design a festival or an event. I have always enjoyed EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival and thought the images of flowers would work well with this style. Below you will see how EPCOT's Flower and Garden Festival, using this mono line style could look.

(Angry) Birds of a feather flock together

I often look to films to inspire for ride ideas, but there are those films that inspire me to design a whole land. When I saw the Angry Birds Movie (which was a fun movie, for those of you who haven't seen it) the characters and environment in which the movie takes place was fun and rich with ideas that i designed a few rides. The rides range from an interactive shooter, like Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin to a Soarin' type of ride called "Mighty Eagles; Mighty Flight to a classic dark ride where you see Red rescue the eggs from King Mudbeard. Maybe one day, I will be able to share Angry Birds Land with everyone.

Deep Blue

About 3 months ago, I joined the Deep Blue Creative at SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment as a theme graphic designer. This is great opportunity to work with some amazing artist and designers to help reimagine what the new generation of SeaWorld parks will be!