Discover Top Posts Tagged with #limboprojects

ALL THAT’S FIT TO DJGITALLY SPIT

ENTRY00015 / OCT 04, 2022 / PRODS & PROJECTILES VOL. 3

About a dozen years ago an up and coming Kansas City company gave me a very promising shot at designing their identity. Let’s just say in retrospect I wish the word “shot” was something I knew going into the project. Unbeknownst to me for several weeks, many artists and designers had been approached to toss ideas into the barrel like a design competition (a tactic I’m not a fan of as a professional, and was even warned about in early design education). No wonder my seemingly elusive pizza parlor meetings took place. Needless to say the job ultimately fizzled. To be honest when boiling it all down, this project ended up being the final straw to break DJG Design. To which I’m quite grateful as it was a long time coming with internal wrestling, and I finally found peace in the pieces of this disaster I poured way too much time and energy into. At least I got a couple slices of pizza out of it. I’d come full-circle: paid in food in the early design days (and some in the middle) and I went out the same way. I’m not here to kick cans, but what’s a little humorous to me is right away I mentioned their chosen business name could cause legal issues down the road. Sure enough, a few years later they had to rename / rebrand. That would’ve come with its own design frustrations. Extra funny is I now drive by their operations almost daily. Looking in the rearview I probably wasn’t the best fit for the job anyway.

In other news ... my forthcoming music package tome DJGCDETC. (1997-2022) is very near the finish line. It will be self-released before the holidays. Speaking of identities ... initially I had plans to release a comprehensive logo book this fall, but it’s likely shelved until spring of next year. As with the music package book I’ll be including every single canceled and limbo project.

-djg

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ALL THAT’S FIT TO DJGITALLY SPIT

ENTRY00014 / SEP 26, 2022 / PRODS & PROJECTILES VOL. 2

As often is the case, where has the month gone? Another interesting and promising collaborative project that dissipated over the years was a fun little book on Penguin Park, a beloved Kansas City area playground for children and big kids alike. A poetic story was written by the author and I was slated to breathe life into unique illustrations based on the park’s iconic animals. Overall, I’m unsure what happened to this project, yet still very pleased with my side of the story. (Here’s more illustrations. I don’t believe they’ve been shared since I finished in 2018. Seems longer now.)

In related “park” news, here’s some travel notes and art from a recent camp and kayak adventure in south Missouri. We also made a quick lunch stop in the old design school stomping grounds of downtown Springfield, MO. Lots of good memories (now, with 25 years of dream-like edits) hunched along with me and a gelato through the new-old streets. Side Note: The university art gallery desk I sat behind for many semesters is now a sandwich shop. -djg

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Book Illustrations (In Limbo / TBD Project)

2018

#illustration #cutpapercollage #limboprojects #djg2018

ALL THAT’S FIT TO DJGITALLY SPIT

ENTRY00013 / SEP 01, 2022 / PRODS & PROJECTILES VOL. 1

While prepping a forthcoming monograph of music packages (roughly 80% finished) I came across some old art friends. No, not humans and/or former clients I thawed out of storage, rather projects that were put in a corner.

No matter the amount of success, award, positive feedback or great review, it’s the gut punch of a failure that yells the loudest. They are the hammer to the thumb. The sugar lump to the mug. At best I tend to tip a sip towards half-full, but in my defense it’s a Big Gulp. The yell-slap of failure is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s generally the crunch of process, put out and perspective that adds a pinch of wisdom so often accompanied in the wince of reflection.

Perhaps I’ve shared some of these projects over the years. To be clear I won’t go deep into the caverns of details, folks involved, etc. There is not much dirt to be had, and besides that route is a silly one to take, especially at my next-level of nothingness. I’m still happy with my end of the creative results and had fun getting there. With many extra miles logged, it simply felt an apt and fun time to share in the month of September. That, mixed with past anxiety, failure, etc. pecking in perpetuity at the bird seed husk of my inner lining. Enough introduction.

In 2011 I was contacted to create the initial layout and environment designs for a promising video game. Its premise: a steampunk style involving a strong female character traversing a universe of airships. I’m really unclear on the name and plot, but it was sold to me rather well and professionally. Overall, the vision appeared very legit to happen, and with the capital and knowledge to get off the ground (in other words, much more than the average project I was accustomed to). There were even work contracts and drafts for the potentiality of royalties. On the team there was a composer; a group of digital designers; script and code writers; project managers and directors, etc. It was a little daunting to consider the task of designing the environment of the game (as well as compute my ideas with the guys “building” the game as I know nothing about video games), but a very fun challenge to wed the way in which I make things to the screen world. (The project would turnout to serve as an early blueprint in the way I’d eventually construct music videos.)

A nervous meeting with the project leader over coffee and sketches quickly turned into excitement (not to mention a lost parking ticket for him - the garage was paid far more for this project than I would ever be). After bulking up on research, I soon set up a corner of the basement cranking out large handmade airship collages, structures and game level environment examples (above). Shared email files were well-received. Then ... then ... (as often the case with ambitious collaborative endeavors) ... crickets entered the frame. After a long stretch it had turned out that I (and the composer, I think) were the only ones who’d actually created anything. Life got in the way. Life faded from the project. Similar to the experience raked with a former romantic lean-to, weeks later I finally anxiously asked if this was actually ever going to happen. NO. Down with the ship I went.

Hours: Incalculable. Let’s just ballpark it at A LOT. Payment: 1 cup of coffee.

-djg

Image 1: Core Airship Docking Station Image 2: Core Airship Docking Station (w/all ships docked, ships = levels) Image 3: Production Process (large cut paper collage) Image 4: Example Level Design (a ship interior)

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