Security Exchange
Security Benefit Group is an insurance company that began in Topeka approximately 30 years ago. SBG offers a wide range of products and services, from retirement to life insurance. ↓
Security Exchange" was a bi-monthly news pamphlet for customers. Each featured various pen and ink drawings of wild animals in their natural habitats. ❦
Enraged
There were two close encounters with crime at Admark on 7th and Harrison, near downtown Topeka. One of our copywriters and I were on our way to lunch, walking to our cars in the parking lot, when an enraged man ran past us with something in his hand.
Seconds later, an officer rushed by in pursuit, catching up with him a few yards in front of us. When the man turned around to face the officer, he revealed a large knife in his hand. The officer instantly placed his hand on his holstered gun.
Swinging the blade back and forth, the man argued and threatened the officer. In a calm voice, the officer tried to convince him to put down the knife, but he wouldn’t. Soon, other officers arrived, surrounding him as he slowly put down the knife and gave up. The officer put the man’s hands behind his back and cuffed them. He then took him away. ❦
Commotion
The other incident happened while our vice president was working in the office at night, when a man broke in through a window.
He heard the commotion from inside his office and went to investigate. He rounded the corner, locked eyes with the intruder, and the man scrambled to get out the same way he got in—through the window—while our vice president called 911.
By the time the police got there, the man was long gone and never caught. ❦
Passion
Each month, as a self-promotional tool, Admark created a calendar for clients, prospects, and employees' families. Every employee had the opportunity to develop a calendar concept. It was up to the designer/illustrator to bring their idea to life and make it into an exciting and pleasing calendar. Mona’s concept reflects her passion for music and her love for the piano. Credits were listed on every calendar of everyone involved, along with the name of the paper and printing company. I designed and illustrated this calendar on the computer in an app called FreeHand. This vector-based program was popular with designers for a time but soon would be replaced with Adobe Illustrator. ↓
1982 Calendar Painting
I admired Louis Armstrong for his unique voice and singing style, not to mention he was the G.O.A.T trumpet player. This painting became my calendar in September of 1982 (shown without the calendar) after forming our new agency, Admark, Inc. I painted Louis in gouache (similar to water-based tempera paint), making blending difficult because it dries quickly. To solve this problem, this sounds disgusting, and it was censored in the description of the calendar. I would stick the brush in my mouth, wet it with spit, then mix it with the paint. The saliva would prolong the drying time just long enough to allow it to blend. I don't like to toot my own horn, but it worked pretty well!
I painted this when the agency was “The Professional Advertiser,” on 29th St., right across the street from where I lived at “Rain Tree” apartments. The painting was later chosen as a calendar once Admark Inc. was formed. ↓
Impossibility
My 1984 calendar was a graphic exercise in impossibility. If you examine the smaller cubes inside the larger cube and follow their path, you will realize that the perspective is impossible and does not make sense. Google, M. C. Escher, the king of impossibility to see even more twisted distortions of reality. ↓
Tributes
This calendar is a tribute to the Native Americans and my dad, who admired them and their culture. Dad had two big enjoyments in life aside from family; one was electric trains, and he had many. The other was his love for Kansas history. He loved to hunt for Indian arrowheads with me and collect them along with other artifacts. He also enjoyed reading and educating himself on the history of Kansas. This concept was designed with a photo taken of the arrowheads we had found over the years combined with a superimposed vintage photograph of a Native American warrior. The ghostly image suggests that the Native American spirit continues on through their finely crafted arrowheads and artifacts. ↓
Rear View
Dad and I had just finished scouring a plowed field looking for Native American artifacts. It had just rained a few days before, so we had plenty of good luck that day. The rain washes off the artifacts, making them easier to see. We found several pottery fragments along with a few arrowheads.
We were just a couple of miles west of Enterprise, Kansas. To leave the field, we walked to the car that we had parked in the adjacent pasture, where there were several grazing cattle. I then drove down to the gate that led out to the road while Dad walked down to open and close the gate behind me.
Once I cleared the gate, I happened to look in the rear view mirror just in time to see a determined white cow white with brown spots, charging with its head lowered, aiming for Dad’s rear. Dad was closing the gate with his back to the pasture! I quickly stuck my head out the car window and hollered, “Dad, behind you!” Dad immediately turned to face the charging cow and ran toward it, yelling and waving his arms. The cow stopped and reversed course, then trotted away. If I hadn't happened to look in the rear-view mirror, Dad would have had an unexpected bird’s eye view of the countryside. ❦
The Orient
When I saw this young geisha girl’s photo in a magazine, I knew I had to paint her and do it in an unusual style. This is a photo of the painting without the actual calendar. I painted this in the basement shortly after I was married in our first house on Munson, just off Gage in Topeka in 1986. The watercolor painting was done in a loose but controlled style on a coated illustration board. First, I created a comprehensive marker drawing to determine the scale, color scheme, and detail. Then, a tracing was made and transferred to the illustration board. Before working on the finished painting, several studies were made to experiment with style and technique. I then used Windsor and Newton watercolors, keeping my brush full of pigment and water to allow the colors to run. It was done on an approximately 2ft X 3ft board, and took several weeks to complete. It won an award of excellence in the illustration category. ↓
Thirty Days Hath
The inspiration for this calendar was from our Audio/Visual production technician. It was a spoof on an old dramatic movie poster, loosely like “Gone With the Wind.” I wish I had more time with this calendar. There was still so much more work to be done especially to the faces. I count this one as unfinished. Oil paint was my first choice to illustrate this calendar. Unfortunately, it takes too long to dry, so that forced my hand to use acrylic. ↓
Respect
Our Chief Research Officer was the brainchild of this concept of a young boy being respectful to Old Glory and singing the national anthem at his baseball game. The photo/illustration was a high-contrast photo that I simplified on the computer. ↓
Returns
January Returns concept was output by the IT guy who was also my commuting partner back and forth to work from Topeka to Lawrence. I wanted to break away from the norm and make it more entertaining by illustrating it in a cartoon style. The calendar numbers are the “take a number” tickets for the clerk to call the next one in line. This was a kooky and corny calendar that was a lot of fun to create. It was created in pen and ink along with watercolor. ❦
Prairie Air
In the mid-90s, we stopped the self-promotional calendars and launched the Callahan Creek art posters. This one was called “Prairie Air,” the answer as to where the hot summer prairie wind comes from, a concept by a fellow employee. Our photographer took a full-color panoramic shot of the prairie in the Kansas Flint hills and other shots of the fans and the serviceman. Even the sky was a separate photo. I composited the images in Photoshop, which looked pretty good. That could have been it, a beautiful full-color panoramic photo of the prairie with fans and a serviceman in it. However, I knew something was wrong. It didn't feel hot and it didn't feel dramatic at all. So I began to experiment with no success until it dawned on me: I’ll shift all the color to a warm, rich, golden brown, which would look and feel like a hot summer day and, at the same time, give it a more intriguing dramatic look, killing two birds with one stone and achieving what you see. The poster won awards and was published in “Communication Arts” magazine, an honor among graphic designers. It's the only entry I ever had published in “CA.”
Counter measures
Young teammates huddled up to plan their next play to counter the offensive threat and defend their lead was a proposed agency poster concept. ❦
The Tropics
Shortly after we moved into our new building, tucked in the woods off the corner of Thirty-Second and Burlingame in Topeka, something happened that made us feel like we were suddenly in the tropics.
Of course, the tropics don’t come with bare trees and the cool fall air, but that’s where we were, well into autumn, with most leaves on the ground.
One day, a fellow artist yelled, “What the hell is that?” while staring out the tall atrium windows. We all turned to look.
Something moved in the trees that definitely felt out of place. It was bright green, with other bold colors. We couldn’t believe our eyes.
It turns out to be a parrot that has escaped from its owner. Clipped wings or not, he was enjoying his non-tropical freedom in the trees of northeast Kansas. ❦
Marketing to Women
Prerogative initiative to capture the women's market and to position ourselves as an authority in marketing to women. The booklet has faces sliced into thirds. When a face section was flipped up, it would reveal that portion of another face below it. You could make all kinds of strange faces, and along with the booklet, there was an accordion brochure featuring the Prerogative women's faces. The Prerogative campaign won a couple of design awards. ❦
Callahan Creek
I hatched this concept for an announcement to let clients and potential clients know we now have two locations. On the cover was an image of a single egg. ↓
When the card was opened, it revealed the egg cracked open, releasing a double yolk with the Callahan Creek logo reflecting on both of them. ❦
Science Diet Treats
When I designed this national magazine ad for Hills Science Diet Treats, it had an extremely hot deadline. I was told there had not yet been a photo shoot of the product's entire line and wanted the ad produced like yesterday. So, they charged me with creating 3D illustrations to create the ad. Yay! This ad went in several national magazines, and it also won awards. ❦
Science Diet Products
Hill's Science Diet offers a complete line of products, including dry and wet food, treats, and prescription diets for dogs and cats.
Taken from the brochure, this is a condensed version of the history of Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Hill's Science Diet has a rich history that began in 1943 with Dr. Mark L. Morris, a visionary veterinarian who believed certain pet diseases could be managed through carefully formulated nutrition. Dr. Morris had the chance to prove his theory when a young blind man asked him if anything could be done to save his guide dog, Buddy, who was suffering from kidney failure. Dr. Morris formulated the first prescription diet, K/D, designed to help dogs with kidney disease.
Thanks to Buddy's recovery, Hill's Pet Nutrition was founded, and the field of clinical nutrition became the first of many milestones that Hill's has brought to the industry. ❦
Healthy Defense
Hill’s Science Diet is a well-known premium specialty pet food brand that is sold throughout North America, mainly in pet retail stores and veterinarian clinics. This booklet was introducing the new “Healthy Defense System” product. The half-page red cover was cut out in an arch along with the logo. Notice the subtle image of a woman on the red cover. ↓
With the cover opened, it revealed the full-color image of the woman. Hill’s was extremely pleased with this piece, and it ran for a couple of years.❦
Stench
Hill’s new Healthy Defence formula dog food was getting rave reviews from pet owners all over the country, and I was sent out to direct the filming of their testimonials.
For about a week and a half, the videographer, crew, and I bounced between Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Georgia, and Florida. It felt like we spent more time in airports and rental cars than on solid ground.
One house stood out—but not for the reasons you’d think. We were filming a testimonial from a woman about her older dog's improved behavior after she fed him the Healthy Defence formula food. However, she also had cats. I mean lots of cats. And this wasn’t a big house.
After we wrapped up the filming, I asked to use her restroom. “Sure,” she said, “just through that door and to the left.
I opened the door to enter the first room as directed. About my third step in, I was instantly blasted with this suffocating stench that practically singed my eyebrows!
It was the pungent odor of ammonia from the cats' urine mixed with other disgusting smells. I held my breath with what little good air I had left in my lungs, made my way to the filthy throne, peed and hurried back to the door, opened it, and sucked in as much clean air as possible. I tried to hide my beet-red face from the dog’s owner and the crew until my lungs again took in clean oxygen.
As we were packing away the filming equipment in the car, I told the crew about the gas chamber I inadvertently wandered into to relieve myself. They laughed and said they weren't surprised by the number of cats she had lying all over the furniture and kitchen counters. It's a smell my olfactory gland won't forget!
The footage was taken from all locations and later edited into short promotional spots on social media and the Hill’s website. ❦
Small Breed
This is the Hill’s Science Diet merchandiser sales pamphlet for introducing the New Small Breeds dog food. It shows informative graphs, sales projections, and in-store promotional material. ↓
Hill’s Science Diet was sold as a premium pet food at “Petco,” “PetSmart,” veterinarian clinics, and other select merchandisers. ❦
Special Needs Treats
A Hill’s Science Diet merchandiser sales pamphlet is for introducing Simple Essentials Treats, which also shows informative graphs, sales projections, and in-store promotional material. ↓
Science Diet Simple Essentials Treats is a premium pet treat in seven flavors.❦
As Good As It Gets
All of our clients’ printed materials were press-checked to ensure quality. One particular press check for Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Akron, Ohio, turned into a nightmare on steroids.
Typically, we assigned trusted printing vendors to our clients. But this time, Hill’s insisted on using their cheaper printer.
This job should have been simple. The promotional piece involved solid blocks of color that just needed to butt up against each other (a basic technique known as keeping the color in REGISTER). From a printer’s standpoint, this was elementary stuff.
The first run went off without a hitch. I approved the press sheet and went to lunch with the sales executive. But when I returned, another sheet which was a part of the companion piece was waiting for sign-off.
This time, the colors didn’t butt. There was a noticeable gap between the shapes, and the job was out of register.
I asked the pressman to make the necessary adjustments. He did, but it was still off. We repeated this dance for hours, and with every pass, the pressman grew more frustrated.
Finally, I made the call to stop the presses. That’s a costly move for any printing company and is often considered a personal insult to the pressman. Sure enough, tensions boiled over.
Later, I learned the sales executive had gone behind my back, calling my higher-ups to complain about the “mess” I’d created.
Back on the press floor, the pressman yelled, “This is as good as it gets! This is within our printing standards!” The sales exec chimed in, “We’ve never had this happen before!”
I replied, “This is exactly why I’m here to ensure our client doesn’t accept ‘as good as it gets’ when it’s not good enough.”
My office called the sales executive back and told him, in no uncertain terms, they had complete confidence in me. They also made it clear: if the job didn’t meet our standards, we’d pull it and take it elsewhere.
That registered with them big time. The job was moved to a better press with a better pressman.
Hill’s admitted it had been a mistake to use their vendor and thanked us for going to bat to protect their brand image. ❦
Laughter is prohibited!