I recently joined up with Wilson Sporting Goods here in Chicago as a contract designer / illustrator. The role has a singular focus on bringing out some fresh apparel designs for our MLB Wilson sponsored players. MLB All-Stars like Mookie Betts, Matt Chapman, Clayton Kershaw, Jon Lester, Evan Longoria and Dustin Pedroia. These are meant to be worn during 2021 spring training and beyond as practice apparel and athletic wear. I wanted to bring the heritage of Wilson into the picture as it is a solid message to lean into.
Additionally, I was asked to jump on a separate project for Wilson’s Premier Baseball League. It’s an elite league of high school players from across the US. One of the beloved youth coaches Ro Coleman Sr. tragically died in an unexplained act of gun violence. Having been tapped for the MLB work, I was happy I got pulled in to address the needs of Wilson and its youth players.
Wilson set up a team shop where all the proceeds will go toward Empowerment Pursuit which was started by Ro Coleman’s son. While gathering further context on Coach Ro and who he was as a person, I found myself becoming increasingly sad. I came across pictures and videos of post game celebrations. Players and coaches surrounding him and chanting “That was a Ro Coleman Special!” This became synonymous with performing at a high level. Out punching your weight class. Overcoming incredible odds to come out the victor.
Art Direction - Rob Partin Grassroots Marketing Manager & Mike Zulla Global Art Director, Team Sports
The Dancing Bears are pretty ubiquitous so I won’t need to go into too much depth on them. I love how that turned out though. Helmed up front by a more Jerry looking bear. The psychedelic blue juice splash is a take on their European tour in 1972 swapped the ice cream cone and rainbow hair with a canned drink and a golf visor.
If you’re a fan of Phish, you know about the donut dress that Fishman sports at live shows. An iconic pattern that I absolutely had to apply given the theme. And I had bigger ideas for the Phish Fish logo but I was quickly met with the thought to put the word “golf” in there with a ball hovering where the Phish “i” was dotted. Such a fun project that I enjoyed all the way through. It got me back into both of the bands catalogues so it was happy, care-free times at the Wasemiller house. Oh and my daughter gets down to Grateful Dead now on the regular as well. It was a fun journey!
Over the past two years, I have been working on re-branding the London Capitals of the British Baseball Federation. It has been an arduous task that has seen the creation of some very nice brand characters. Ultimately, things have progressed and directions change.
But there’s still a happy ending here. In short, the Capitals were moved up from the AAA ranks under the London Mets. Now having been on the same level as the Mets for the past 4 seasons an identity has taken shape. Pinstripe uniforms are a recognizable look for the Capitals. As is the black and white color scheme. Without changing too much in respect to uniforms, color scheme, I came up with a bit of an homage to the New York Yankees. This logo will act as the same for the Capitals. It will be featured on team apparel and possibly a sleeve patch.
I look forward to my continued work with the Capitals and the BBF on this and other projects.
One of my best buds Keenan hit me up last month about creating some custom branding for two of his friends (Kenny is one of my best friends too). The three of them had in the past discussed how it’s both humorous and awesome that disc golfers have their own personal branding. Keenan logged that into his brain and knew he wanted to bring some logos to life for them.
I’ve known Kenny since freshman year (2003!) in college and as long as I’ve known him he’s gone by Munky to his close friends. His type logo was inspired by the original Ninja Turtles logo and his initials KLM are in the shape of a chimpanzee paw.
I needed a little more context on Richard as a person however. Keenan let me know that his nickname dating back to childhood was Time Bomb. Perfect subject for a mascot! His initials RR ended up mimicking a race track by pure accident. He also happens to be a Motorsport lover.
I loved this project so much! The conversations and rounds of edits along the way brought more and more joy to each party involved.
I’ve been following independent baseball ever since my hometown team Abilene Prairie Dogs came into existence in the 90s. So about a year ago I started following a team, the Portland Pickles. I love that mascot. It’s perfect for the kind of organization it is. Additionally they created a new league and have introduced some new teams. The Willamette Wild Bills, mascoted by a platypus(!) is one of those teams but in the greatest respect didn’t hit the mark on the mascot design. So I ABSOLUTELY had to give him a makeover.
I love tough subjects. I was recently reminded just how old and unrefined the Carolina Mudcats branding is (no offense). So I did my thing. I drew up this goopy C with a catfish snaring a liner out of the air. Had a lot of fun with the colors too!
I played in London with one of the guys on the Pretenders and he hit me up a few months ago about taking on a re-brand with them. He let me have full creative control on ideas and everything was on the table.
The Oslo Pretenders are at the top of the Norwegian League but lacked a true individual identity and no official mascot. After having a few ideas presented and rejected, I did some deeper research and found that trolls are a main fixture in folklore in Norway. There are several very famous statues and representations of them all over the country. Hairy, large, creepy eyes - seemed ripe for character exploration.
And it was a hit! I had several versions with different swings (Bellinger, Bryce Harper, Griffey) but where I ended up seemed to be the most appropriate for the mascot. Clubbing a deep gapper in the power alley with a knotty tree branch. Slovenly hair and bearded, he is MAGNUS THE PRETENDER! A master of tricks and possessing deceptive speed. Is it dark magic? A diet that has virtually no parameters? We may never know…
For the Home hat, I wanted to keep it simple but definitely bring together a well considered concept with regional references. A classic framework of a blackletter capital P but featuring references to waves crashing being that Oslo is a well-known port city. Vikings founded it around 1040! It is also known as the “Tiger City” so I used the Detroit Tigers capital D as inspiration for the P mark. This will help them carve out an identity to move further and maybe we’ll get some new uniforms to go with it in the near future! These are among my favorite projects to work on as you can tell.
One of my fellow British Baseballers also coaches baseball in his time. Ryan is on staff with the youth programs of one of the top baseball leagues in England. He’s helping the London Mets and future British National Baseball Players reach their full potential as they work toward solidifying the tone of baseball in the UK.
Ryan asked me to revamp some work that he had produced for his coaching brand. Ultimately he wasn’t completely happy with what he previously had. I re-designed his rhino mascot and gave him a few fresh options for apparel. Very excited to see this on a New Era cap and training apparel!
It’s that time of year again. Fall Ball at Finsbury Park in London. This is my fourth year designing the shirts and they just keep getting better and better. All skill levels are able to come together surrounded by the camaraderie of the game. I had a blast getting to pitch when I got the chance. It’s all about learning the game, trying out new positions and simply having fun growing the game. Cheers lads! Hit a dinger off of a 16 year old!
One of my high school coaches and his family experienced a tragedy that I can't even imagine having to go through. Their 15 month old son Ezra went down for a nap and never woke up. He was one of the rare victims of Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC).
Fast forward to 4 years later, the 4E Foundation is running strong, growing the awareness of this tragedy and give back to communities and other organizations across Texas. I was asked to help tie the message and branding together. They had used different logos and apparel designs over the previous years. I LOVED working on this for a great guy and someone I've known since I was very young. Visit 4Efoundation.org for more info and additional resources.
Now onto the project. I wanted something really fun and a style that could be adapted later to other illustrations without looking like it was too "out of the box". Ezra loved to eat so naturally the Smiths hold events around eating good food. One of this past years event was held at Tycoon Flats in San Antonio. They're known for having some pretty out there food creations. So I thought an insanely tall burger stack was in order. Jacob worked with me on the edits and I ended up adding the boy in there to tie it all together nicely. Very happy with how this came out and even happier to do it!
Little Farm League is a small, family-owned vintage clothier based in Austin, TX. Primarily curating and dealing in authentic vintage children’s clothing, they wanted to branch out and create original works. They reached out to me after seeing some of my work on Instagram and proposed I come up with some alterations to some existing artwork. They felt that the foundation was there but it was missing something as a finished product.
It was my duty to put my little spin on things. Give it some more personality and character. I’m really happy with what we’ve set out here because there are more Little Farm Leaguers in the pipeline!
Check out Little Farm League on Instagram. Peruse their vintage pieces and keep an eye out for more Little Leaguers!
My men’s baseball club here in Chicago was lacking in a cohesive brand and identity. During some down time, I created a custom lettering mark for uniforms. I borrowed from the same idea that the Red Sox used around the 1950s. Not quite the golden age of sports branding and I felt it made much more sense to have the sock flipped. This gave the mascot a little more natural look and more importantly, it made me giggle with his little legs sticking out.
I ran these ideas through our team manager and pushed out several apparel pieces with his full approval! You can find these all at good ol Cotton Bureau.
I’m a sucker for the little ones! And especially my nephews and niece. My sister-in-law asked me to create a uniform logo for my youngest nephews co-ed soccer team. It’s just the cutest to see them count down
“Who you gonna call?!…GOALBUSTERS!”
I had an absolute blast with this. The ghost foot striking this ball that fits into the type treatment. The ghost hands in wait hovering in front and behind, ready to catch the shot. Can’t wait to see little Lukie in action with his sporty duds!
The Texas Rangers have had a patchy history. An expansion team given the opportunity to vacate Washington, D.C. as the Washington Senators. They rebranded as the Texas Rangers. Named for the well known law enforcement organization of the same name. The Ted Williams managed Texas Rangers briefly adopted the Rootin’ Tootin’ Ranger mascot. He fainted during the first game and that’s about all she wrote for that guy!
I really like vintage mascots and couldn’t help but bring this guy to life.
I am always down for some drawing. I hatched this little idea randomly and used the great resource of Cotton Bureau to bring it to life. From those less aware, this is a popular meme from the old 1960s era Spider-Man cartoons. A villain tries to impersonate Spider-Man and thus ensues this popular meme decades later.
Obviously this made comedic sense to me since the Clemson Tigers were taking on the LSU Tigers in the College Football National Championship game. Go Tigers, Beat Tigers was born! Oh and the Tigers won by the way. Purchase link below.
The baseball fields at Finsbury Park are...multi-use for better or worse. I know because I spent two years playing for the Capitals. When discussing a new name with management and other leadership personnel, we recognized how the field gives everyone bad hops and that's really how we got here. The turf monster is a well-known bastian of bad luck, the minister of mayhem. It'll send you tumbling head over cleats looking and feeling like a fool. So why not just own it!?
The Finsbury Hops.
I spent about 2 months working with the team at Good Beer Hunting here in Chicago. I was brought on for a contract stint to assist during a busy time and produce high quality author illustrations. The goal here was to execute quick illustrated portraits while utilizing current GBH branding elements. This made for highly efficient work and style development.
I also made sure the social elements for Instagram, Newsletter and Website made it out and on schedule. This involved working within GBH’s well established brand all the while keeping it fresh and visually intriguing.
Finally, I was lucky to be able to have some fun with package and label design for some of GBH’s fine brands.
Royal Car Wash is a family owned business operating in the Houston area since 1994. After taking a look at their branding, they determined an update was necessary to doing business.
I put together a proposal to round out the brand with a logo set that. In addition, I took the opportunity to create a mascot of sorts. Directly inspired by their father’s 1953 Ford F-100 truck, we worked together to craft the right look for the illustration. This will primarily be used for apparel for employees but we still wanted to have some fun with it.
The mascot evolved from a group of sketches, each becoming more refined and detailed. I wanted to capture the same friendly look from the Mickey Mouse era of cartoons. Bubbly and full of life also without being too cute. Eyes were eventually added to the windshield portion and ultimately, the request was made to remove the mouth and replaced with a bumper.
I think we achieved something great in the end and one in which the clients are happy to implement as their new brand.
I wanted to capture the iconic ivy at Wrigley Field and honor the heritage of baseball that has taken place within it's friendly confines. The short lived Federal League gave us the eloquently named "Chicago Federals" at Weeghman Park (not yet named Wrigley Field). But for one season in 1914-15, they were known as the Whales! This seemed like a much more interesting thread to unravel.
And that's how you get a non descript Whale riding an ivy leaf. Play ball!
Some proposed branding for a friends small business. Her husband is a distiller of a fantastic Texas whiskey (one of my favorites!). She takes retired whiskey barrels and turns them into a variety of decor pieces. Check her out on Instagram @itsbourbonbaby and itsbourbonbaby.com.
My friend down in Tulsa, Oklahoma requested I come up with a design for a fundraiser. Hopefully the shirts are just as hot as the pig roast and keg tapping!
What started out as a portrait of Mavericks Rookie of the Year candidate Luka Doncic, morphed into some accompanying elements and branding marks.
Now available exclusively through Cotton Bureau!
2018 was a fruitful year. My wife and I moved continents back to the US from London. Drank in as much culture and wine as possible in our month spent in Portugal. I’ve drawn so much inspiration from our travels abroad.
I got better at drawing again, I spent more time tinkering, I frequently find myself physically compelled to create.
Overall, I look back on this past year as a huge personal leap! I get to do what I love to do every day, at all hours of the day.
A vintage inspired Hokie Bird, one of the more unique college mascots. I really enjoy working out subjects in this style.
I really want to focus on succeeding with challenging subjects. It just so happens my father’s high school mascot was the sandcrabs! Used to make me laugh a little but WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?! This little dude doesn’t want to be messed with.
The now 5-time BBF Champs are yet again at the top of their game. 2017-18 season brought another championship to Finsbury Park. This is a fun re-imagining for the club that shows what could be if they looked a little bit more like their namesake, the New York Mets.
Re-brand for an amatuer baseball club. With their home field located in Croydon, the Pirates consist of a group that play for the love of the game.
Re-brand for another amatuer baseball club. With their home field located in Finsbury Park, the Capitals have finished near the top of the league the past 3 seasons. They have embarked on creating a more serious brand for the club.
A friend of mine has reached out to me about helping him create a brand for his brewery. I love working on from-the-ground-up projects like this! And beer!
New work for the lads in London! I designed last years logo and this year I was more than happy to do it again.
The British Baseball Federation needed a fresh design for the upcoming off-season of Fall Ball. I came up with a custom type treatment to act as the logo and a mark for Fall Ball apparel.
Branding development for my father's restoration business.
Branding for Lafitte's in New Orleans. Lafitte's in the French Quarter section of New Orleans is an American historical landmark. The longest, continuously operating tavern has been lighting the hazy night streets on Bourbon since 1761.
A complete overhaul of what the brand could be. The angular cues and type treatment echoes the shape of holds and body positioning. Strength and rigidity. This brand is versatile and proudly American. It has been updated to the standards that are expected when showcasing this great nation.
As the sport of rock climbing becomes more and more popular, the need for specialized training will arise. Grades is an idea of what a gym like this would look like.
Proposed re-brand for a network of climbing gyms located in Scottsdale, Arizona. This project relied heavily on custom type. Drawing inspiration from holds known as “volumes”. Thick, wide grips that mirror natures natural forms.
Not long after acquiring his own podiatry practice, Dr. Yeargain approached me with the task of creating a brand. He wanted to be set apart from area and industry branding. Focusing on a higher level of online interaction, this brand needed to stand out in the crowd.
After much consideration, I decided to accept a position with the global medical / dental manufacturer, SomnoMed. They wanted to execute a soft re-brand of the company, which ended up meaning most everything would change except for the logo. I rolled out several campaigns during this transition phase. This all culminated with the AADSM & AASM tradeshow of that year that showcased the new direction and brand that SomnoMed had now become.
I have always enjoyed working with my SomnoMed marketing team and was lucky to return this summer for a consultancy stint while I was still living in Europe.
I served as in-house publication designer for all foreign and domestic collateral. In coordination with the photography department, photoshoots with models and products were also my purview. Beyond shoots, color correction and photo manipulation for packaging and online marketing were regular activities. I also cleaned up and managed creative content filing systems.
