Red Bound II

This is the last drawing from Paranoia II series. I have just finished it, but it's been dated 2009, because it was started last December, and (as you might know from my previous blog posts) I usually date my artwork when started, not when finished.

As for the artwork itself, it's another "Dianized" remake of my older work -- namely, Red Bound from the first Paranoia series. For those who don't follow my blog closely, "Dianization" means remaking my earlier works with Diana (my wife) as the model. On the right you can see the original version, done exactly 15 years ago.

The remake keeps the original composition mostly intact, with only minor rearrangements. The main difference is the color range, which has become significantly warmer. Also, some elements, such as the "crater" below the soap bubble, have substantially "evolved." Finally, the sky and the clouds participate in the "big picture" more actively now, as you can see for yourself.

As for the symbolism behind the artwork, it's quite simple, actually. In my perception, the original version represented one's hesitation before stepping over a boundary -- a "red line," so to speak. I guess that could be applied to the new version as well, only this time it has become even more obvious what sort of boundaries we're talking about here exactly...

Solomon Spirits Logo

I've been working with Solomon Spirits (an alcoholic beverage company from Florida, US) since last year, when they ordered me a series of labels for their liqueurs. This year we have mostly worked on the advertisement for their vodka products -- Vonost 88 and BAMA. The latter is soon to be launched (more precisely, next month), so we needed to prepare its press release, featuring the company logo. Since there was no such logo, the company entrusted me with the task of creating one. The deadline was quite short -- I had only a few days for working on it. I made the first demo on March 29, and the final version was sent to the client on March 31. It's almost impossible to create a corporate logo in such a short time, because in my experience it usually takes a lot of tweaking before everyone is happy. Still, we managed to finish it on time, and since the client has expressed deep satisfaction with the result, I call it successful.
The logo represents a combination of two mirrored "drops" forming the letters SS with their shiny edges (or just one S in the form of the gap between them). It slightly resembles the ancient Chinese symbol of yin and yang. The corporate colors are black, gray and silver. Here's the version for using on dark backgrounds:

Spring Transformation

According to the calendar, it's been spring for more than a month already, but here in Lithuania we started to actually feel it only a few days ago. The sun is still weak, but the flowers are already breaking into bloom, and the birds are singing more and more boldly.

However, in Georgia it's the very height of the season, and the business is long-time awoken from the winter's sleep there. New Broker Group is back with their spring offer, advising to hurry up and buy the land in premium locations while it's still cheap -- as reads the advertising flyer which I designed for them by the end of last month.

But that's not the main reason for this blog post -- it's about another "magical transformation" done with the help of a photo-editor. Like in the previous case, the customer wasn't able to provide me with a suitable photo for the season, so I had to improvise. Again.

This time I took a photo made sometime in fall and transformed it into a blooming spring scenery. You can compare the edited photo with the original below.