I Am More Than Just a Label
I've learned a lot as a pencil for hire for friends and family
I recall going to a workshop out on by the great Mike Altman who reminded all the artists in the room that we had a special ability that no one else had, and we should make sure to get compensated for it. Basically, as an artist you are the goose that lays the golden eggs- don’t give them away.
It’s funny how people will use artist friends or even artists they just met. “Can you draw a ___ for me?” Understand most artists love to create. They love the challenge of getting an idea on paper (or a screen). Unfortunately, for many of us, it was one of the only ways we got noticed or attention while growing up. We were used and abused by people, because we could draw. It took me decades to get to the mediocre level I am at. It is rare that I actually like something I draw, when I do the heavens open and a choir of angels sing. Yet still people ask me to draw for them, and still I do- because I don’t want to disappoint someone.
If I volunteer to draw something - that’s on me- not you, however you become my client. I will do what I can to meet your needs, and if the finished product isn’t right for you- I will either tell you to try someone else or try to make adjustments. I drew Cecil MINIon badges for people and my only rule there was you get one change. After that- it’s free artwork so take it or leave it. Then I get the gaslighting of “I’ll pay you for it!” ummm… nope. I am firing you as a client. I had to do this over MINI Takes The States when someone redrew my drawing to cut and paste in things I had not included. I finally had to ask them to not use my artwork. They got mad and I rolled my eyes and moved on. Found out later the guy was like that to most people so it wasn’t just me. I’m a lot more polite when asking artists for things and don’t flinch at all when they tell me how much they charge… it is well worth it.
Labels
My older brother and I are pretty much opposites. Whatever he was involved in I learned to avoid, except scouting. You wonder why I don’t like sportsing? My brother was an athlete. My mother liked to have us compete for attention, and I was always last and learned to live with it. My brother became a science teacher (after I had started my teaching career) and while I was in elementary education and focused on science and STEM I have figured out that I was happiest when I was creative. Now we are both retired and I draw while he has a forge and likes to do science things like cooking and recently distilling. I get packages and while I’m not an expert, his stuff is actually pretty good. Most recently he came upon a recipe to make whiskey based on various beers. My 84 year old father likes Fosters (My mother used to limit him to one beer a night, so he took to drinking oil cans). So as far as I know his latest batch was based on that recipe.
I’m an old Boy Scout, an Eagle Scout with a gold palm to be precise. My father was Scoutmaster and my mother was Advancement Chair so I really didn’t have a choice. I obtained the rank of Eagle about two weeks after my 13th birthday. My brother and I have a lot of fond memories about our time in scouts… A lot of adventures and a few Whimventures® along the way. This latest batch of whiskey was in honor of those times and the guy who, for us, made it all possible… Dad.
I offered to make the label for the whiskey, and after a committee convened to determine the name I started working on it. My friend Mike Altman had done some labels for a local brewery and had talked about how there were certain rules that needed to be followed and basically it wasn’t as much fun as you would think. Since this was not for public sale, I had none of those rules. I started with a couple ideas and threw them all out once I saw a sample on a bottle. Keep It Simple… and I hadn’t done that.
This design (like many things I do) had some Easter eggs. The map was actually a topographical map from one of our legendary hikes. The leaves were poison oak. Our troop listened to Doctor Demento and therefore knew the words to Tom Lehrer’s “Be Prepared” and would sing around the campfire if asked. We also had many Monty Python skits memorized as fall backs.
This design got scrapped due to the bottle it was going to be put on… it had a square base. So I moved on getting measurements of the flat sides of the bottles and guessed on a few things.
I had originally been told that this would be given to friends or people who had some connection to scouting so I limited anything that would tie it back to my old troop 274. This was dropped as a requirement in some conversation along the way, so I took my old uniform and added the patches. I also did some editing of the lyrics to make them easier to read on a smaller bottle. I also added the dedication.
Keep it Simple… I normally only do one maybe two drafts- this was iteration number 6 maybe 7. From there the actually project took a turn. Not just Whiskey, but also Rum.
Where many scouts, recall going to camp a hour or so away from home, or an exotic & historic place like Philmont, we went to Emerald Bay on Catalina Island. -Exotic for people in the midwest. “26 Miles Across the Sea” for my troop (Yes, there was a mythical Girl Scout Camp nearby). I recall getting sea sick - Starburst and orange juice for breakfast don’t mix well with a ride on an H10 water taxi. - I speak from experience.
What I especially like when dealing with a client is something my old art teacher in high school used to always say- “Great! I love it!” You knew she never actually had taken a close look at your art, she was just being positive. So when anyone tells me how nice the labels are… I take it with a grain of salt. Then again I don’t take complements well- my mom taught me that, while polite, she usually didn’t mean them and would say something mean a few minutes later. 🙄 “Your mother wasn’t the easiest person” was a comment I heard repeatedly at her funeral.
Za-Zooma Zoom Zoom Zoom-a-Zoom
Last night some of us got together to talk and celebrate not only my dad, but also all the other adults who made our time in Scouting special. As with most events I always feel I put my foot in my mouth at least once (although my anxiety counted at least twice this time around - sorry about that.), but all in all it was a wonderful evening. My faulty memory either forgot, or messed up on a number of details, which is why I need to remember to keep my mouth shut. These people were my family growing up and whether they liked it or not a great influence on me helping turn me into the weird geek that I am today.
Full disclosure: The screen shot from the Zoom Call was edited slightly to include everyone who was in attendance and to redact the names of the guilty. I may have edited my appearance to shed a few pounds, remove some wrinkles, add more hair to my head and make my beard look fuller.
As for the labels a bit of backstory:
Each label notes that specific animals were not harmed- one says frogs the other garibaldi. I guess my father on one hike stopped scouts from tormenting frogs (earning a “Protect the Frogs” t-shirt) and Catalina has schools of garibaldi swimming through the kelp.
We went to Lake Arrowhead for Snow Camp so we could experience… ummm, snow. The joys of living in Southern California.
The hiking badges were given to us on various hikes. I did not have access to the infamous Gurgley Monster Patch, from one of my first hikes and hazing incidents. Nothing bad, although I do recall talking to a fraternity brother during Hell Week and mentioning that our fraternity could learn something from the Order of the Arrow Ordeal.
Our troop celebrated its 50th anniversary while we were a part of it- I didn’t have that bar and couldn’t find one online from that time period.
Boy Scouts of America changed their uniform towards the end of my time as a scout which included the color of the shirt and many of the rank patches.
The Emerald Bay patches cover the years that I went there. I was Senior Patrol Leader my last year attending. Maybe that will end up a comic if I have the time.
While the merit badges are some that scouts could earn at camp- I recall spending one evening on a hill stargazing with my dad as he pointed out constellations with a high beam flashlight. I also recall my mother telling everyone to get Environmental Science while at camp because it was easier there. Finally, the Archery merit badge was the last merit badge I earned and I did it at Emerald Bay. That badge never made it onto my sash, and is on my current denim jacket.
Many scouts attempted the mile swim while at camp, I was too lazy to make the attempt. You had to get up pretty early and I liked my sleep.
The bison and boars along the bottom are reminders of the “natural fauna” on Catalina. The Bison were put there when the island was used for shooting Westerns. The boars would roam the camp at night and get into the trash.
Sadly, my little brothers had the opposite experience in scouting- and are confused as we wax nostalgically about our time in Troop 274. Our original troop had gone defunct by the time they were old enough to join and they were a part of a Troop that was… Not as much fun? Neo-Nazis? Bullies? Definitely not at all the experience and great friendships we all had.
Of course I forgot to add a warning- It came to me last night- “Surgeons Generally Warn against doing many things after drinking alcohol this includes, but is not limited to: performing surgery, operating heavy machinery, walking in a straight line, getting married, saying the alphabet…”
Actual proof that at one point in my life I did hike and camp and do stuff outdoors. This was taken after I had completed my “Seven League Boot” award which means a total of at least 100 miles hiked. Yes, my boot laces were violet.
Now onto to designing the next great label- The Royal Order of the Moose - I’m thinking this one should be a chocolate based libation- but I just do the artwork, I don’t make the stuff that goes in the bottle.
I was a Brownie/Girl Scout in my youth, and had what sounds like a similar experience to your younger brothers. Definitely not a good one.
I wanted to get outdoors and do the fun stuff I always heard the Boy Scouts did (building fires! shooting arrows!, making “hobo” meals for dinner!!). But all my GS Troop ever did was weave wallets (that wouldn’t hold diddly) and other inane (to me) crafts. So after a couple of years, I opted out.
I for one, was absolutely THRILLED when I heard the news a few years back that girls would be allowed to join Boy Scouts (the older youth program for teens). Granted, I bailed long before I was a teen, but if I had known that would be an option after a few years of making friendship pins and decorating pinecones, I might have stuck around to become an Eagle Scout myself!