Logo design for The Comedy Hui

The Comedy Hui is an improv comedy troupe that has been cracking up audiences around Maui for the past year.  Their show is a series of skits based on characters created with the help of the audience, who get to shout out situations and define each character's odd quality. Then the real fun begins as the group improvises the dialog and acts out the scene until it reaches some hilarious climax and "Black out!" is yelled from the wing. The ringmaster of this giggle-circus is Amanda Taulere and after doing lights for one of her shows, I ended up creating a gobo/logo to project on the back wall and then helped her develop the Comedy Hui logo further.

It's a rather complex logo featuring multi-colored, semi-transparent type with shiny metallic outlines and each letter overlaps the next. Yes, it breaks some of the logo guidelines that many designers say one should NEVER veer from... gradients, bevels, raster image, etc.  Do I care?  Nope. While aristocratic designers insist that there are rules that are essential to good logo design they would also agree, after being pressed, that rules need to be broken sometimes. No matter  what the list of rules consists of, the first is usually "standing out" and the last is "break the rules sometimes". Amanda and I discussed what logos should and should not be according to "the rules" and she chose to go with her gut instinct. I cannot dismiss the client's preference, nor my own, and the result has pleased us both.

See how the logo looks on The Comedy Hui website, and their Facebook page.

Home-made Gobos

The musicians came up and asked;  "Is there a way you could create a New York City skyline behind us?  We want it to look as if we're performing in Central Park."

I had to pause and think about it because the show was the next day.
"Well, maybe I could create something in Photoshop tonight and project it onto the white cyclorama behind you."

"Great! Oh, and one more thing, ...is it possible to simulate the changes of the day? ...you know, like, going from morning to night?"

"Aaah, OK."

That night I manipulated an image taken in Central Park in three different ways to look like day, dusk and nighttime. The next morning I printed them on acetate and loaded them into three different Source Four Zoom leko lights. By overlapping the images I was able to change the mood at certain times during the show by fading from one image to the next.
No doubt there are better ways to do this but with little time, I did the best I could. I had to remove people from the park, alter the sky and play with colors. The client was happy and that was the most important thing.

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop." Robert Hughe

Crazy Babies

Yes, we start off the new year with some hilarious twisted pics drummed up from a twisted mind. The Mad Artist has once again used his crooked claw to create evil. Who else would take something so sweet and innocent and turn it into an aberration?
On the other hand, they're still so cute!

Baby's First Barf

Spitting Baby

The Evil Twin

The Rabies Baby

The Big Teeth Baby

Long John Diaper,
the Pirate Baby

Sorcerer Baby

The Red Devil Baby