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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 5

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 5

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 5 Soggy Day Up in time to shower and grab breakfast by 8:00. We’re supposed to get some gnarly weather today, but so far it’s just a bit cloudy. My 9:00AM - 12:00PM workshop is WOOD + TYPE with Bobby Dixon and Brian Phillips. We’ve got incredible canvases of found wood assembled by Brian and Bobby is giving us some hand lettering tips before cutting us loose to sketch our ideas and begin our final pieces. The hardest part is deciding on what to write and what style to utilize. Once I decide to make something for Lewis, I land on “Li’l Man” since Amanda calls me “Big Man.” I decide on a script solution and set to work. The time flies, but I finish my piece and am fairly pleased with the...

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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 4

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 4

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 4 The Day Ahead I'm up around 7:00AM. The trip to Camp Waldemar should only take about 3 hours, but I'm planning on it taking 4, since I'll have fuel and supply stops. Registration/Check-in begins at 11:00 and my first workshop starts at 2:30. In 2013, it took me longer to get to the ranch and I missed the start of my first workshop with Jay B. This year, my first workshop is with Aaron Draplin. I will not be late. I first saw/heard of Aaron Draplin through this video, which made waves a while back. At the 2011 Design Ranch, I won Draplin’s Pretty Much Everything Poster (2009) at the silent auction. For the past few years, it’s hung in the hallway outside my office and I rarely pass it (which is...

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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 3

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 3

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 3 Up & At 'Em I'm up at 7:00AM with Intentions of hitting the road by 8:00AM. I'm loading up the bike when Neal heads out, presumably to whip his fellow Texans into shape. I'm not expecting any rain, but after the past 2 days I'm not taking any chances and I drop my pack into a waterproof bag before strapping it to the sissy bar. I left my helmet and gloves in the garage overnight next to the bike. This turns out to be a mistake. After cranking the bike and putting on my helmet & gloves, I notice my gloves are covered in tiny brown spiders. Crap. Wait a sec, my gloves were in my helmet all night. The helmet I'm currently wearing. Double crap. After what I imagine is quite an entertaining...

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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 2

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 2

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 2 I pass along a quick "good morning" to Brandon, compliment his home & hospitality, then we both depart on our separate ways a little before 8:00AM. The rain starts falling shortly after I hit the interstate and gets steadily worse for the next 6 hours. Guys, like bad. Cars pulled over, flashers on, zero visibility bad. And my stubborn self is puttering along as quickly as safely possible until I can justify a fuel stop. Not long after crossing the Mississippi border into Louisiana, I make that stop and was glad to do so. A gentleman at the neighboring pump kindly pointed out that I picked a bad day to go for a ride. Ha, thanks. I politely explained that I was 1,000 miles from home and on a...

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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 1

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 1

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Day 1 It Begins I wake up at 5:45AM with intentions of hitting the road at 6:30. Amanda and the boys are headed back to Richmond and I want to make sure they are all packed up and good to go. This is the hardest part, having to leave my precious family with 1600 miles between me and my destination. I'm not in a huge rush to leave. I want plenty of hugs and kisses before departing. I don't dare say it out loud, but something could happen out on the road. This could be the last time I see them. I hadn't really considered the weight of that until now and it made setting out difficult. They're headed North to RVA, I'm headed South to an AirBNB reservation in Montgomery, AL. For the next 4 days the distance between...

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Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Pre-Trip

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Pre-Trip

Design Ranch Moto Adventure: Pre-Trip Introduction In 2013, I rode my motorcycle from South Hill, VA to Hunt, TX to attend my third Design Ranch, held by AIGA Austin. There were ups. There were downs. Lessons were learned. Friendships were made. I had the best intentions of chronicling that trip, but never delivered. Well, a few weeks ago I did it all over again. I was originally going to recap the entire trip in a single post. However, I quickly realized that it would be way too much for somebody to read in one shot, so I've decided to break the posts up by day.   Design Ranch It seems logical to give some background on the actual event around which this entire adventure takes place. I say "event" because despite being...

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New Year. New Work. New Website!

New Year. New Work. New Website!

New Year. New Work. New Website! Hello World! It’s been a very long time coming, but I’m so thrilled to launch our new website today. Based on our previous site, one may have thought we went out of business 3 years ago. Thankfully, quite the opposite is true. We’ve been working very hard with a lot of great collaborators and clients and, sadly, we had neglected our own website for far too long. In addition to a complete absence of new work and fresh content, our old site wasn’t mobile-friendly in the least. It certainly wasn’t responsive, which is something we find ourselves recommending quite often to current and prospective clients. Not a great look. But the biggest frustration for us was having years of great new work that wasn’t being...

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