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When we moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle in 2001, Cinerama immediately became our go-to theatre. The nostalgic 60's architecture and charm, the massive screen, the curated collection of movie props behind glass in the lobby, the chocolate popcorn - and yes, even that logo ... it had everything a designer/cinephile could want. From waiting in lines for Star Wars prequels (I wish I had those hours back) to seeing a film that sorta changed my life - it was our destination for the movies.

Fast forward 12 years - December of 2013 to be exact. Imagine my reaction when friend and Vulcan Marketing Director Josh Lackey asks us if we'd like to take part in their upcoming MAJOR technology and seating renovation that included ... well, taking Cinerama's giant 200' x 30' blank cream-colored brutalist exterior walls and covering them with art - art that undoubtedly would forever change the landscape of that busy intersection of 4th and Lenora in downtown Seattle.

I was shaking in my boots at the thought - Would that ruin the legacy of the theatre - and Cinerama as a whole? Would Seattleites hate looking at it? Worse yet, would moviegoers hate it? But before he could finish explaining the project brief, I was wholeheartedly in. Scared out of my mind - but in.

First, a little Cinerama 101 ...

Above: Staring at the completed mural - and a tiny example of Cinerama's iconic logo, signage, theatre architecture, one-sheets and various ephemera above. Way more eye candy here.

Below: A miniature of Cinerama's widescreen (and groundbreaking) 3-projector technology, developed by Fred Waller in the late 1940's and made commercially viable by Lowell Thomas in 1952. There are only 3 Cinerama theatres left in the world. Read more about Cinerama's amazing history here.

Below: Construction began on the Martin Cinerama Theatre in 1963, a year after the World's Fair came to town. It immediately became a cultural icon and destination for Seattle locals and tourists alike. However, thanks to urban sprawl and the rise of giant theatre multiplexes, ticket sales began to drop in the 1980's and 90's. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Allen purchased the theatre in 1997 and began a series of renovations starting in 1999.

The blank canvas ... all 200 x 30 square feet of it ...

We presented Vulcan and the team at Cinerama with 3 sketched ideas. My design goals were simple - but maybe not so easy to pull off: I wanted to acknowledge and respect Cinerama as a whole - the historic technology, the beauty and charm of the era, the visual design of Cinerama (from the architectural significance of their theatres worldwide to the countless amazing ephemera produced over the last 50 years) and of course my beloved hometown of Seattle and the corner that this brutalist structure resides on - 4th and Lenora. But it was also important that we didn't dwell too much on the past. After all, this was a multi-million dollar renovation that pointed towards the future. The key was to aim towards what was next, while paying homage to what has come before.

Another important thing for me was recapturing that excitement of going to the movies. I obviously wasn't around in the early part of the century - or mid century for that matter - but I love the footage of movie premiers during those years ... it was an event! You'd wear your best outfit, grab that special someone, buy something at the concession stand and thoroughly enjoy a night out. I realize much of that is gone now, but there was something about this opportunity. We could, at least in theory, bring some of that charm and excitement back to movie goers.

The team at Vulcan landed on one of our concepts: A visual scattering of cinema's greatest genres: Action, adventure, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and more. All integrated and seamlessly woven into each other like a story - with one genre leading to the next.

The color scheme: I wanted to stay true to Cinerama's classic red and blue. I added a lighter blue that matched the lower portion of the exterior's tile walls - as well as a few darker hues of the original 2 colors.

One important design element that I wanted to work into the mural was the angular lines of the Cinerama logo. In our original sketch, we actually had a cropped version of the wordmark visible as well - with the art woven throughout and around the type. That aspect of the mural ended up getting cut at the last minute, but we kept the overall angles of the mark visible.

Approved sketch below. As with most of our concepts and sketches, the final art evolves quite a bit from it's initial drawing - but the core composition remains.

Below: Architectural blueprints from Boora Architects, 1998. We used these drawings as a template for our work. One of my favorite things about the structure's brick facade are the many small LED lights sporadically placed along each wall. I've always enjoyed that design element at night and was excited to see those lights create a subtle visual effect underneath our completed art. The result is a nice addition to the mural at night - further emphasizing the excitement and 'event' aspect of going to the movies.

Below: All cleaned up, refined and colored. The finished mural and the grand re-opening of the greatest theatre on Earth. Photography by the great Benjamin Benshneider. Scroll (way) down to see the completed vector art. Also available as a print.

Cinerama Theater

The reaction to the mural was overwhelming - and ended up setting the stage for an overall Cinerama identity overhaul. That translated into interior signage, employee T-shirts, business cards (Duplexed, de-bossed and features both red and blue edge printing on each card, printed by the pros at Evolution Press in Ballard), silk-screened posters and lots of upcoming merchandise ...

A few notable articles surrounding the renovation can be found here, here and here.

Below: The making of the mural - featuring our partner Don Rockwell and his band of brothers (Don and his all-star crew were able to start and finish the mural in less than a month) ... Btw, watch Sign Painters: The Movie. The film features a few members from Don's team.

Below: The Don's - Rockwell & Clark ...

Below: The brainchild behind the entire mural project - Josh Lackey. This was (and is) a career highlight for me. I have Josh to thank for all of this.

Don Rockwell presented IC with this amazing framed shadow box of used paint brushes, painter-worn gloves and on-site reference art. We have it hanging proudly in the shop.

We also have a limited amount of prints commemorating the renovation from last winter. 100 were given out to Cinerama patrons and we have just under 40 left in our shop. Grab one here.

Shortly after the finished renovation in November, we were asked to design and illustrate the poster for Cinerama's first mixed martial arts festival, aptly titled Fists & Fury. Screen-printed by the pros at Vahalla and available in the shop now.

We’re excited to announce the name of our new documentary film project: The Art Of Why. We begin production today in Los Angeles and will continue to interview artists from around the country over the next 4 months. Our goal is to tell a compelling story about the relentless pursuit of creating art … and ultimately, why we do it.

Follow along on our adventure: We’ll be documenting each interview with photography on our VSCO Grid, along with VSCO Journal updates for each city.

We’ll be interviewing in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Minneapolis, New York and Philadelphia.

Next stop: Nashville, Tennessee this Thursday.

#ArtOfWhyFilm #ArtistInitiative #VSCO #InvisibleCreature

We're guilty. Guilty of relying on the quick and easy method of using social networking to update folks on what we're up to. You can see the cobwebs on this very site. I don't think we've updated our work section in over a year. But I can feel it in the air ... 2015 will be the return of the blog and long-form reading on the web. No? Well, we're going to attempt that when we can. Personally, I miss it. I miss putting together (and reading) content that you could spend more than 2 seconds staring at. We'll continue to Insta-tweet, but I don't want to rely on that ... To be honest though, we have been busy. Very thankful for that. But, now is a perfect time to wipe the dust off the site and let you guys know what we've been up to for the last 9 months - and we also want to share some new things we've got cooking.

1. Thanks to the VSCO Artist Iniative, our first documentary film about artists (specifically what drives us and connects us all) begins production in July! We will be hitting 6 cities and interviewing numerous artists from many different industries and walks of life. We're excited to tell this story ... more on that here. We'll be documenting and journaling the entire experience on our VSCO Grid.

2. Last fall, we had the opportunity of a lifetime come our way: To re-imagine the historic Cinerama Theatre in Downtown Seattle - our favorite movie destination since we landed here in 2001. We created 2 massive murals that completely altered the corner of 4th Avenue and Lenora Street. The mural art made its way into a re-brand of the theatre, inside and out. We are currently working on our short film, 'Re-Imagining Cinerama' that takes a closer look at Cinerama's grand re-opening last November - and the art that went into it. We'll also have prints of the mural (and more Cinerama art we created) for sale when we launch the film this summer. Photos above by Benjamin Benschnieder.

3. Stack And Scare! is coming to Shanghai in a massive way. The Shanghai Times Square Mall will feature a large Stack And Scare! exhibit next month. Giant sculptures, play areas, toys, posters, etc. Curated by APPortfolio. We are very excited for this - much more info coming soon.

4. Wine Meets Design. We are thrilled to be the inaugural designers partnered up with the talented winemaker Aaron Pott for Bare Bottle's first release. We were first approached for this project a few years back from our friends Katie and Nathan at Eight Hour Day. We've had a blast working with them, Marta & Josh Harding - and Corey Miller, the man who dreamed this extremely cool idea up. A quick bio from their site -

Bare Bottle curates the pairing of winemakers + designers and provides them with a blank canvas through which to create. Each unique collaboration opens a window into our makers' creative processes, their inspirations, and their worlds.

The dedication to craft, quality and presentation comes across so clear with Bare Bottle. If you love wine ... and design ... it's worth every penny. I was floored when I saw the finished shipped piece ...

5. Blast Off! After a 2-year hiatus, we are back with our good friends at Sasquatch! Music Festival. We had the pleasure of creating all of the Festival art, merchandise and even the Lineup Video this year. As per usual, the lineup is amazing (Kendrick!) and happens to be going on THIS weekend. We'll have an in-depth look into all of the assets we created (including another collaboration with Ebbets Field Flannels and Theo Chocolate) soon ...

6. The amazing opportunity to illustrate my first Children's Book came up last September. We had gotten book offers in the past, but nothing quite felt right and some of the projects just plain fizzled out. When our friends at Crossway approached me about a Bible Story by Kevin DeYoung, it was a big decision. In the end, It was a project I wanted to personally see done right ... and one that I wanted to see on the shelves myself. The Biggest Story was the most intense project I've worked on to date, and also the most fulfilling - in ways I could never have imagined. I cannot thank Josh Dennis and Crossway enough for allowing me to run with my vision and aesthetic for Kevin's beautifully-written book. The Biggest Story is hardbound, 10 chapters and 132 pages. Available in August and up for pre-order on Amazon now. Below are a few sample spreads from the first two chapters.

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7. Our Odd Galaxy wooden toy line with Uncle Goose is finally in full production mode and will be released in the next few months. There will be 3 products to start: Cosmo Kid, Moon Rover and Lunar Rocket, each sold separately - but of course much more fun when you own all 3. We have some fun OG launch (get it?) projects that will be released around the same time, including a window display at our favorite space store ...

8. Two years ago, we bought a 10-acre ranch, turned a 50-year old barn into our studio and then made a toy out of it. OK, so that's the short version. We'll have a nice process post on this (way over-budget and panic-attack inducing) project on our new ... well, see #10. For now, you can check out some great photos of the shop by Joshua Harding over at Bare Bottle.

9. Last, but not least, we are finally working on a new website. One that we will update. One that will work nicely on your phone thing you carry with you. We promise.

About 6 months ago, our friends at Visual Supply Co. asked us if there was anything we'd like to create that we hadn't had the chance to make yet - a difficult question, but one that got our minds spinning. This project would be devoid of outside art direction and without commercial intent. After knocking around a few ideas, we finally landed on a concept.

We are extremely honored to be recipients of Visual Supply Co's Artist Initiative grant and will be using the funds to make a short film. We have the unique opportunity here at IC to work with people from all walks of life and in all areas of art - one of our favorite aspects of the job. As each year goes by, I am reminded that our career is less about art and more about people.

Our as-of-yet untitled film will be in collaboration with a talented group of artists and friends and will thoughtfully document the creative process across all mediums of art: Design, Illustration, Animation, Photography, Sign Making, Product Design, Tattooing and Architecture. We will be asking some big questions and documenting the unique connection we all have as people making a living in the arts.

We begin filming in the early spring and will be debuting the final piece in various cities (and online) in late 2015. Please follow our VSCO Grid, where we'll be documenting the entire process.

A huge thanks to Greg Lutze, Jen Schmitz and the rest of the folks at VSCO for bringing this to life!

 

Long before music and design (and almost everything else), there was ... baseball.

In the eighties it was our hometown pride and joy - The Bend Bucks - who would later become the Portland Rockies. The Bucks were a single A farm club for the (now) Anaheim Angels. We'd love to hit the games with Dad and grab autographs from the retired major leaguers who were acting coaches for the team. $5 tickets and cheap popcorn didn't hurt either.

Between Bucks games, the best movie ever created, our own little league games (where I told all my teammates that I was related to this guy), watching the Braves (lose) every waking moment on TBS and our unhealthy addiction to baseball cards (wish we still had this), there was time for little else. In 1989, our family moved to Sacramento and our love of the game got even stronger - thanks to the Giants and these guys across the bay. RIP Candlestick Park.

Fast forward 25 years later. After visiting the beautiful new Ebbets Field Flannels storefront in Seattle a few months back, we came up with a crazy idea to fuse a few of our old passions into one: Baseball, art and ... people. People who are making really cool things in the world of baseball - and beyond. We even commissioned our Humble Beast bros in Portland to create some knickerbocker-era music to bring it all together. After coming up with a dream team list (and it was hard to stop at 6), we had our roster.

Enter: Invisible Creature Farm League.

We've partnered with Ebbets Field Flannels from Seattle, Mitchell Bat Co. from Nashville, Leather Head Sports from New Jersey, Oxford Pennant from New York, Curtis Clark Woodworks (or, Dad) from California and the uber-talented and undisputed aesthetic king of baseball himself, Jon Contino from New York to bring you IC inspired game gear for your closet, wall, shelf, desk ... and even the field.

Have a look around our rookie season and click some stuff. A HUGE thanks to all of our collaborators for an amazing experience. We hope you enjoy ...

 

A few months ago we were approached by the kind folks at Facebook, asking if we'd be interested in creating a mural for their offices here in Seattle. It sounded like heaps of fun, so we signed up. They gave us a few keywords that represented the culture and atmosphere at Facebook. 'Making The World More Connected' and 'Hacker' got the most votes internally, so we dug into those ideas as our direction. Inspired by Ben Barry's in-house postings, we based our piece on combining both thoughts - the idea of going beyond the 'world' being more connected intrigued us. Facebook existing outside of planet Earth seems like an attainable goal, so that's where we landed. Once again we worked with our friend Don Rockwell on the application of the mural and it turned out pretty spectacular. See our quick and fun 'Making Of' film below:

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We're extremely thrilled to take part in the campaign for a new film titled Gennadiy. Our friends, Steve Hoover and Danny Yourd, the visionaries behind the powerful and moving Blood Brother documentary, have been hard at work on this incredible film and are now looking to finish the project with a little help from you. Visit the Kickstarter campaign here, where you can view the trailer, read about the film, and learn all the ways you can contribute to ensure its completion!

Once the campaign reaches $10,000 the poster that we created for the film will be revealed.

We're excited to reveal our new cover for Minorville, the upcoming album from Nashville's finest: Derek Minor. With the help of Curtis Clark (or 'Dad', as we like to call him), we designed this from the ground up in approx. 2 weeks. With over 100 feet of basswood and baltic birch, Dad took our design and created an entire city in 50 hours. Each structure arrived safely in Seattle, ready to be constructed in the shape of Derek's profile. When we were initially presented with the challenge of creating this album cover, this was the first concept we pitched - Many thanks to Derek and Reach Records for sending us off and running. Stay tuned for a full comprehensive "Making Of" film coming in the next few weeks, but for now - enjoy the teaser (Processed using VSCO film emulation):

We recently had the opportunity to work with some friends to create a brand for their newest endeavor, Animal Media Group. One of their first projects is an incredibly moving documentary called Blood Brother, which they were gracious enough to share with us, and had me choking back tears for nearly 90 minutes straight. Watch the newest trailer (below) and look for the film in theaters soon. Bring some tissue.

We are very pleased to be contributing to EMP's new exhibit exploring the world of horror film and the human experience it produces. Can't Look Away: The Lure Of Horror Film features 19 of our illustrations, some truly amazing artifacts, interactive experiences, and information galore. We got a sneak peek at the show, and it's absolutely incredible! Do yourself a favor and check it out- open to the public October 2nd. And check out the portfolio for a more extensive look at the work!

It seems as if House Industries is making a film about Ed Rondthaler.

From the House blog: 'We had the privilege to spend a day filming Ed Rondthaler, living legend, founder of Photo-Lettering, Inc., former president of the American Literacy Council and author of The Dictionary of Simplified American Spelling'.

See the amazing trailer here.