RetroFire Design

2008-06-18T23:19:00.003-04:00

Have you checked out Schmap?

Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Schmap goes WAY beyond Mapquest... you can interactively tour a city, it's pretty darn cool. Schmap used a photo I took in San Francisco. If you check out San Francisco Sights and Attractions and go to Fisherman's Wharf... there's my photo of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, along a description of this tourist attraction and a link to a website for more info. Schmap is now also available for the Iphone and Ipod.

Here's a glimpse into Schmap World:
Here's my little Schmap contribution in the upper left corner>

2008-05-19T16:27:00.004-04:00

I was just told about this site, HarlandWilliams.com, which looked oddly familiar. It is freakishly similar to my old RetroFire Design website circa 2002-2003, viewable here>

Harland Williams is the stand-up comedian and actor from Half Baked, Dumb and Dumber, Employee of the Month, the Dukes of Hazzard, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Either the site designer Keven Lupien at 2Pitch was inspired by my ol' site... or this guy & I need to talk because we may be sharing the same brain.

LOL.

2008-05-01T17:49:00.007-04:00

Photography for RefineStudios.com

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot for Refine Studios. Refine Studios is located in Windsor Heights, Iowa and offers massage, foot detox, electrolysis, brazilian & body waxing, skin needling, photolight rejuvenation, microdermabrasion, and permanent makeup.

Refine Studios is in the process of re-designing their website and they wanted photos that showed off their gorgeous space... but not just ordinary photographs these needed to be shot at interesting angles and needed to complement the interesting lighting and architecture in the building. That's where I came in!

The photos turned out great and it was a lot of fun!

2008-03-06T13:37:00.005-05:00

Check out the "What Dog Breed are You?" breed quiz on Dogster.com! I did the illustrations for the dog breeds at the end of the quiz.

Visit my website to see all the dog illustrations here>
Take the breed quiz here>

2008-02-26T23:36:00.003-05:00

St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl Logo
NEW WORK, NEW WORK! I designed this logo for Des Moines Jaycees St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl "Hop On the Bus & Get Lucky with Us". It was a fun one. It's going in their print ads, flyers, t-shirts and mugs. Now give me a green beer already.

2007-12-09T02:59:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: Little Things
Lots of little things - chihuahuas!! Based on an illustration I recently completed for Dogster.com, minus some collar bling and a sweater. When searching for a reference photo, I found that it is quite difficult to find a good photo of a Chi in which the Chi is not being used to amuse the owner who has dressed him up and/or posed him in a ridiculous setting.

But I did find these "Greetings From Floyd" postcards, which I thought were brilliant!

2007-10-06T03:54:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: Open

Open skulls leaking brains. One of those creepy things you sometimes see when walking through the woods.

12/05/2007 ETA:
I really wasn't joking, see link below for photos:

Hunters Discover Human Remains

MOUNT AYR, Iowa -- Authorities in Ringgold County said hunters have discovered human remains 5 miles northeast of Mount Ayr.The deer hunters called the Sheriff's office on Monday to report the find and Tuesday morning investigators arrived on the scene. They spent the entire day sorting through the evidence. The remains are being taken to the state medical examiner's office to be identified and a potential cause of death determined. The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the Ringgold County Sheriff's department are investigating. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Ringgold County Sheriff at (641) 464-3921. Look for updates on this story on KCCI-TV and here on KCCI.com.

2007-02-02T00:43:00.000-05:00

RED DEVIL SKULL for Illustration Friday's "red" topic! Wow, just realized I haven't done illustration friday since August!!! ARGGGHHH!

2006-08-13T16:38:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: PlayI made this guy in Flash a while back. Today he is just an acoustic guitar-playing street performer but someday he will be famous. Go here to see the animated version of it.

2006-07-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: Sacrifice
I ripped my heart out...for you.Drawn in illustrator & I added a cloud photo background.

2006-07-17T00:02:00.000-04:00

Cute Skullies
I illustrated these 4 cute skulls this morning. The background is from a rusted old broken heater from my garage. We replaced the heater this winter but I haven't thrown the old one away yet. The fact is, I can't bear to discard it because I think the rust is beautiful. It makes a wonderful background! These will be available at RetroFire Design on some 1" buttons I'm designing soon.

2006-07-14T13:58:00.000-04:00

A Double Dose of Kustom Kulture
I spent my last two Saturdays indulging in a visual feast of kustom kulture. July 1 I was at the Goodguys Heartland Nationals at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. It was packed with an overwelming 2500+ cars, trucks, and a few motorcycles, all older than 1972. Despite the many candy colored hot rods and custom cars, I was particularly attracted to rat rods adorned in black primer, flames, pinstriping, and rust. More Goodguys photos>

Primer, flames and skulls, yeah! More Goodguys photos>

Then July 8 we drove to Omaha for their first annual Live Fast Kustom Kulture Show. Lots more rat rods! More Live Fast photos>

Caddy at Omaha's Live Fast Kustom Kulture Show. More Live Fast photos>

2006-07-11T21:33:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: Skyline

Here's a quick skyline illustration for Illustration Friday.

2006-05-23T09:14:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: Sorry...but your sock tastes so good!

2006-05-18T00:54:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: angels and devils
It's hard to be good when it's so fun being bad. Especially when you're cute and have 4 legs and a tail.

Thanks to the nice Spring weather I missed a few (uh...several) weeks of Illustration Friday. But I'm back -- if I can force myself to stay indoors and get some work done!

2006-04-13T22:29:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday: Speed

Well, I'm proud of the fact that for 4 weeks in a row I was able to kick out a new illustration for each Friday. But it ends here! This was a rough week for me, so for the topic "speed", here's an old school '69 Camaro I drew using Macromedia Flash way back in 2003.

2006-04-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: Spring
Here is a cute little vector bunny for Spring. I drew this fuzzy little guy in Illustrator. Are you or someone you know thinking about getting a rabbit for Easter? Each year, unwanted, former Easter rabbits fill local rabbit rescues and humane societies. Find out about the Make Mine Chocolate Campaign. For some great pet rabbit info, visit the House Rabbit Society.

2006-03-27T00:14:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: Monster Jealousy, the green-eyed monster, walks Envy, his dog. Making monsters is a fave of mine, so this was a fun one. I drew the monster first, then thought he needed some kind of accessory which turned into his dog. Do monsters have dogs? Here's Envy the monster dog, zoomed in:
Envy the monster dog is inspired by Catori, one of my 3 furry four-legged monsters. He's not green, but he is very animated, and somehow this reminds me of his silly expressions and attitude.

2006-03-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: Feet

These are my German Shepherd Dog Vegas' big, furry front feet.

2006-03-15T22:41:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: Tattoo
My first contribution to Illustration Friday.