Sac Homes Cover - "Special Edition" Stylemakers of the Year

I was asked to design the cover of a "Special Edition" of Sac Homes. Its called Stylemakers of the Year. So I sat with the editors, writers and brainstormed ideas. This was all my concept. I thought of award shows, plus the colors fell into the holidays...

CS3 Photoshop & InDesign

Advertising Promo Piece

This was just an Advertising Team Poster Design that was done for fun. I really dig Rock'N'Roll poster & album cover design.

The boxer was a piece of low res clip art from the web. I took that threw it on a background layer in FreehandMX. Then took the pen tool and traced it, creating clean vector art. Once that was done the rest was easy... This is all concept stuff.

FreehandMX

Special Event Cover Spec

I did this as a front cover for a special section of a newspaper. Its for the Annual Strawberry Festival. It didn't make the cut. I was told it wasn't "hokey" enough. First of all... I'm a west coast kid - what the hell is "hokey"? They also said it was too hip and contemporary. Maybe it was a good thing it didn't get chosen. Anyway...

I used a photo supplied by a local photographer. Ran a couple of filters in Photoshop to get a little bit of a worn look to the pic.

Photoshop

Whiskey Wild - Bar & Grill

I went to this place and its pretty nice. I ordered chicken tacos, but was mistakenly given fish tacos instead. But it was a great mistake cause those fish tacos were excellent. I also sampled a really nice whiskey. It had a smooth, almost vanilla flavor to it. Its $80 a bottle. Being a whiskey bar they specialize in... whiskey.

Anyway, after visiting these were the two designs I came up with... I woulda liked some interior pics of the place, but didn't have any. I used images from the web and the bar's logo.

CS3 Photoshop & InDesign

Brian Setzer Bootleg Album Artwork

I forgot who asked me to do this... but I had a request to rip audio from YouTube and create an album for this series of live Brian Setzer recordings. All the video was posted by Straymouse - Thanks.

I used Photoshop CS3 and images found on the web.

Quote by Straymouse:

"Brian Setzer visited a small vintage guitar shop of Japan in 1992 with Rich Modica who was the guitar tech of Brian Setzer. This live was performed there at the time. The guitar and the amp were prepared by the shop, so the guitar is not his guitar. Brian Setzer performed only for just several customers who were there for nothing. He seldom does such a thing now, so this is a very rare and precious clip."

Brian Setzer
Live @ Vintage Guitar Shop Japan 1992

Tracks:

1.Your Cheatin' Heart
2.Mystery Train
3.Summertime Blues
4.Too Hip Gotta Go
5.My True Story
6.Just Because
7.Lonesome Tears
8.Maybellene
9.Twenty Flight Rock (Bonus Track)

RedondoRoundUp Web Banner

Gene Vincent & His Bluecaps are the centerpiece.

CS3 Phototshop

Mystery Gang - Jungle In The Room - Album Art

I really dig this band. The Mystery Gang Rockabilly Trio are from Hungary. I ripped the audio from a series of live MySpace video's and designed cover art.

Photoshop CS3. All the images were pulled from the web.

Revised Web Banner

I've been simply swapping out various legends in the banner. This time its The Man in Black, Johnny Cash. And then I've also been changing the color/tint of the banner.

Photoshop CS3

JKeep On Rocking - Album Art

I designed this for a Yahoo Rock'N'Roll Group I belong to. We all chose our favorite rockabilly & early rock'n'roll songs, then compiled our own "Greatest Hits" cd. I volunteered to do the artwork.

I chose a 50's photo of girls frantically screaming, because I felt it kind of represents the effect rock'n'roll had on folks. Then on the back I had to add a couple of pics of two of my favorites, also included in the compilation, Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley. I used purple just for no particular reason.

Photoshop CS3

RedondoRoundUp Web Banner

I just swapped colors and replaced Elvis with Eddie Cochran.

Photoshop CS3

Embassy Suites - Thanksgiving Ad

I love when I have good stuff to work with. Here is an ad for Embassy Suites Thanksgiving Day brunch. They supplied me with some great photo's, but wanted this one. The rest is just trying to work the logo's and ad copy in such a way as to not "crowd" things up. I think this one turned out really nice. They were happy as well.


Photoshop CS3 - Quark

RedondoRoundUp Blog Banners

RedondoRoundUp Blog Banners...

Its still a work in progress. I may change them here and there. Or maybe switch out various artists in the center, but leave the rest... who knows. It is what it is for now...

Photoshop CS3

Regards,
mredondo

The Drunken Hobo - Album Art

The Drunken Hobo posted a demo on a friends blog. Its really cool rockabilly music from the 80's.

Anyways... I used Photoshop CS3.

All the images are from the web that I thought looked cool and would work with the design.

Rockabilly Compilation Album Artwork

I did this for a buddy of mine.

I took a photo of a band called the Sugar Creek Trio, added some little touches to the drums. I also cleaned the pic up a little in photoshop - clone stamp. I then took some pics that fit with the era - 50's and a pic of a Gretsch guitar and BAM! It came together. I love designing album art, especially for music I love - Rockabilly.

Photoshop

Hoss Hoggs Restaurant - Postcards

A former boss of mine owns a restaurant that serves up BBQ, etc... So he was wanting to come up with some new promotional stuff. I made all kinds of suggestions from bottling Hoss Hoggs BBQ Sauce, Hoss Hoggs Micro-Brew, t-shirts, etc... I also came up with an idea to design postcards that could be left at the table and people could fill them out and the restaurant would pay for postage and send them out. None of my ideas flew...

I redesigned his logo and everything. This was a complete re-work. This is all my idea and concept. His current logo and image look nothing like this... and thats to bad. Cause I think his current image looks cheesy compared to this. Thats my opinion.

I took a picture of a pig and made a silhouette. Then cut the arms and legs and positioned them where I wanted them. I attached a cowboy hat and found a piece of horse clip-art. I came up withh all the verbage also.

Photoshop & FreehandMX

The Road Dogs Comedy Tour - Promo Fliers

I did these a couple years ago for an entertainment company that handled the promotions for this comedy tour. The entertainment company didn't give me anything to work with except the general copy info. I had to find photo's of the comedians online. At that point I should've known I was gonna have problems getting paid - not very professional. But I liked how these turned out... I did another series as well with similar colors and look for The Road Dogs.

Most of the designs here on my blog, not all, but most - I come up with everything from color schemes, logo design, photo touch up/manipulation, copy writing, etc... this series was no exception. I did everything on these - color schemes, logo design, copy writing, layout....

Photoshop and FreehandMX

Embassy Suites - Advertising Design

This was an ad for Embassy Suites. They gave me a photo and the logos. I came up with the headline and the look.

Photoshop CS3 & Quark

South Side Choppers - Art Piece

This is another one that I designed out of boredom. It was late, the kids and wife were asleep, so I started messing around. I grabbed a pic of a motorcycle online. Cut the background out, ran some filters in Photoshop. I used a dingbat of a tattoo design - which is in the background and just manipulated it until I was happy with the look.

All of this is made up - there is no South Side Choppers.

Photoshop

The Big Six Poster - Forgot this one...

This was another poster I did... Forgot to post this with the other ones.

Photoshop & FreehandMX

The Big Six Advertising Team - Poster Design

This was a series of posters I did for an advertising team. The top poster is the one that was chosen.

A digital photo was taken of the team in a hallway. I then took it, cut everyone out and made a path. Then ran some filters or made a bitmap tiff and used that. But I had to actually cut the photo down the middle in order for the little lady in the middle to show up. In doing so, I had to make a leg for one of the guys in the back. I know its hard to get that image in your head. I cut a leg off of one of the other guys, flipped it, morphed it and put it in place. Can't even tell, neither could he!

I used Photoshop & FreehandMX, Nikon Digital camera.

If it don't Rock • Then It won't Roll - Art Piece

I did this for a friend and his blog.

I used a pic of a hotrod from the web. I did numerous things to the pic - converted from RGB to B&W, bumped the dpi up to 300. Then I ran a few filters on it to get a distressed look. Then flipped it back to RGB and colored it.

Photoshop CS3

Kozen Contemporary Japanese Cuisine - Advertsing Design

I do a lot of design work for retaurants. Here is one that I enjoyed designing. The owner was a younger guy who let me get creative with the deign. Red is a color that really has alot of impact when used in a subtle way. I feel like the red really draws you in.

Photoshop & Quark

Biba Ristorante Italiano - Advertising Design

Quote from http://www.italiancookingandliving.com:

"Biba Caggiano is the chef owner of BIBA Restaurant in Sacramento, California, and host of her own internationally syndicated cooking show Biba's Italian Kitchen on the Learning Channel. (Presently the show is being seen on the Travel Channel.) Biba is also the award-winning author of six bestselling cookbooks. Combined, the cookbooks, which are all still in print, have sold over 500,000 copies. She has also recently signed a contract with William Morrow for two additional books."

I've designed several ads for her restaurant. This is my favorite, which never made it to print. This is a spec design that she turned down. I have to say, the one she went with wasn't great. I designed that one also - I'm not psoting it because, well, it sucks.

I used a old photo of Biba Caggiano. Used a full color photo of a picture frame. I aslo used some design dingbats for the little accent art pieces.

Photoshop & Quark

Ricky Dean - Del-Fi's Greatest - Album Cover Artwork

I know Ricky Dean personally... I consider him a friend. We work together. Everyday...

Ricky Dean recorded a series of singles back in '62 - '63 for the Del Fi record label (also on Emmy Records - maybe another - not sure). He's shared the stage with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Brenda Lee, The Champs & The Ventures to name a few. His singles have shared the radio charts with Elvis Presley, Neil Sedaka & Ritchie Valens. However, Rick decided to leave music and enter the miltary, where he served his country. Upon his return home he decided not to return to music as the scene had changed so much. He then started a new career at a major newspaper corporation in N. California. He's been here 35+ years and will be retiring soon. He's married to his beautiful wife Jan (see track #4) and has three grown sons and grandkids. When I talk about "Rick" I always say - "If there were more people like Ricky Dean in the world, it would be a much better place". And I mean that. He's a class act, he lights up the room when he walks in. You can't help but love Rick's enthusiasm - for work, his family & life. I have had the pleasure of getting to know & work with Rick for the past 8 years. And for that - I feel blessed.

THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE. Ricky Dean only released singles. I'm a designer here where we work. I took his promo photo and another pic he had and scanned them to created the front & back covers. I also scanned the actual 45 of "Liitle Girl" and re-created the look of that for the CD label. I then burned, printed, hand cut and produced about 100 cd's for Rick to give to family and friends - they flew of the shelves!! My copy of this album is autographed to me, by the legend hismself.

I used Photoshop CS3 & Quark

Gene Vincent - Rare Sessions & Outtakes - Album Cover Artwork

If you know me, you know I love music. Especially rockabilly & oldies. Gene Vincent is one of my favorites. My buddy over in France, Uncle Gil, has a collection of rare recording sessions, rehearsals and other stuff. So I took some of these rare recordings and designed artwork. As a music collector certain personal and rare compilations are just priceless. Uncle Gil kept these great recordings from being lost to us all forever. So its nice to burn it to a cd and put in a cd jewel case with some artwork.

I was pleased that the Official Gene Vincent Fan Club of France was very pleased as was Uncle Gil.

RockHall - Web Banners

I designed these web banners for my favorite music forum on the net. I was asked by the site admin - Twister to design the banner. I was more than happy to do it. He already had colors selected and I already was familiar with the site. The bottom design was the first one I did. Then I changed it a bit in the middle banner. Then the top banner was the final banner I did, which is the one that was selected. This was a fun project.

I used images from the web. Thats the great thing about designing art for the web. You can use art from the web that you can't use in print because of the resolution. I designed these in Photoshop CS3.