Tactical Nuclear Penguin - original poster concept

A year or two ago, there was a spark of inspiration (might of been around the AGM) which fruited a certain penguin suited with a helmet and a nuclear/beer backpack. Perhaps it was a case of “I can do better than that” regarding the TNP T-shirt offering at the time, or from the growing love of BrewDog beers in general. A very good chance of it may of been Yvan’s comment from the AGM that all the pumpclips were the same shape – though good marketing for being consistent, it did not allow individual character for each beer to distinguish itself. Well, whatever motivation that was, the challenge was accepted.

The Penguin

TNP Helmet Version 2

Now in the more recent past, Yvan pointed out that BrewDog announced another competition to feature a fan’s artwork; naturally he had remembered the first version of the TNP poster/clip I created. One prerequisites were “as long as the BrewDog logo is featured”; which gave me the opportunity to redo a detail that bothered me since I finished the first version in the past: his helmet. I found it too simple, and recall the design process that I would like to have included both the BrewDog logo and the nuclear symbol but I didn’t have an idea how. With the time to think afresh and a quick Google for hardhats, I quickly drew version 2 of the helmet. With some liberal application of GIMP, the new version was created.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin - Version 2

The Blonde

As previously mentioned, there were the lingering thoughts about the other beers BrewDog do and we love. And by the OCD inspired mantra “gotta catch ’em all” I needed to try the other concept that was in the old todos – Trashy Blonde. In my sketchbook I do have the first concept but I dismissed it for being overly sexual. This time I was determined to show the ‘Blonde in a different light – and thankfully I had something in mind: I had remembered a particular vintage bookcover which features on a wine bottle depicting a ‘trailer trash’ girl (Edit: it’s Loren Beauchamp’s “Sin on Wheels”) and this thought chained into carhops. ’cause, you know, got to pay the rent..

Trashy Blonde - sketch

Trashy Blonde - final sketch

Trashy Blonde - line cleaning progress

I’ll spare you, dear reader, of the cleanup process. With a short period of time and a more detailed drawing I didn’t bother with a ‘vectorized’ cleanup. But in the end, I needed to get my concept completed enough – a ditzy (but adorably cute) trailer-trash carhop Blonde:

Trashy Blonde - completed

The Star

Tokyo* - final, but rough, sketch. Note the dark tones: that's lots of erasing and hard lines there

I think I have a slight case of OCD. After the ‘blonde and before I found T-shirt templates I was contemplating the next beer. Yvan can testify, and probably laugh, at the excruciatingly frustrating time I had getting something acceptable for the next concept. I did accept the challenge here as a learning curve, and boy did I get it: firstly I am out of practise with figure drawing, and secondly a mecha^[1] artist I am not. With that as a clue, it is evident I settled with the Tokyo*.

[Footnote 1]: Mecha refers to the comic book and animation genre heavily featuring robots, which is very popular in Japan. Transformers, though American, was initially designed in Japan – as toys without a backstory before Hasbro hired writers to create one.

In the end, though acceptable I find the pose too static. I did reference Barbarella for the pose and gun, but it lacks movement and an air of ‘life’ like the other two. But perhaps this is the one I revisit next time; I feel inspirationally drained!

Tokyo* - completed

T-Beers for a T-shirt contest

Here are the completed concepts as ‘posters’. For a peek at the shirt designs go to my other site.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin

Trashy Blonde

Tokyo*

T-series: Pose like a team, 'cos this shit got copy-pasta'd!