Welcome back for another episode of Side Stitch! Here we follow a young design pair from initial campus crush to the Request for Proposal (RFP), seeing all the adorableness and designer in-jokes in between.
I started concepting the story after I thought of the RFP/marriage kicker. I tried to think of a bunch of design-related situations in which to put the couple. The challenge wasn’t to try and squeeze in as much design references as possible (that was the easy part), but to illustrate two people falling in love in a very finite number of panels. So we see them working together to ace their design final, the initial inquiry to a first date, bonding over the industry’s beloved design annuals, starting their own design studio, painting a house, adopting their own pet and, finally, proposing marriage.
I put a lot of heart into this comic, so I hope it shows, haha. Please feel free to link this comic to your designer friends. Or account execs. Or, really, anyone who might get that RFP joke, haha.
Thanks!
-burt
Note: To view at a larger size, please click on the image and make the browser window as large as you can.
Had the Vampire Empire survived their initial brand meeting, they would have realized that it’s best for an agency to get to know a client before diving head first into the image-revamping process. This would have ensured that the designers knew that vampires and sunlight don’t really mix well. And if the logo didn’t immediately vaporize the Vampire Empire’s council, it would have eventually driven a stake into the club’s image.
Maybe the “online agency” was afraid of vampires. Or clowns. Or vampire clowns. Maybe they were werewolves! Or, maybe they were just trying to make a quick dollar. Don’t only do a job quickly — do it right. Though, I’d imagine trying to make the denizens of the night “more appealing” would be a daunting task. Perhaps some things are best left alone?
Notes about this comic:
I omitted a pun out of spacial necessity, but I thought I’d include it in this section:
“No members means no revenue! We’ll have to get day jobs!”
I always have fun with the silly logos I do for these comics. The “existing” Vampire Empire logo was a “V” & “E” shaped to resemble vampire teeth. And the “revamped” logo features a rejoicing figure whose cape is forming a sun. Well, maybe he’s writhing.
I had a few Vampire Empire tagline options on the table. Here are some that were frontrunners:
“Eternity, for life.”
“Eternity now.”
“A brighter nightlife.”
“Live long and party.”
OH, and if anyone knows a decent comic lettering font, please let me know. I hand-drew all the lettering in Photoshop and it was quite a task.
Hey, thanks for checking out BBR and my comic!
Live long and party.
-burt
My second Side Stitch comic illustrates the hazards of bad typography. Please be sure to kern all words carefully, lest a giant gorilla be thrown into a destructive design-rage. Modern buildings may be built to weather storms and earthquakes but not to defend against the coupling of 7-ton gorilla fists and poor letter-spacing.
Type is a force to be reckerned with.
-burt
Design by day, illustrate by night. It’s not every day that I get to draw a comic for work. So you can imagine my glee when this comic-blog concept received a green light!
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