Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts

27 Jan 2012





ARTIST PROFILE: MIKE SIXX, HOUSE OF DAGGERS
Mike Sixx is an artist and BJJer who has just started his own clothing label, House of Daggers, based loosely around grappling and jiu jitsu themes. I talked to Mike about his background and plans for House of Daggers. (You can also see a couple of his t-shirts below that he sent me.)



byMeerkatsu
in ,
January 27, 2012

Apparel and Artist showcase: Mike Sixx, House of Daggers

ARTIST PROFILE: MIKE SIXX, HOUSE OF DAGGERS Mike Sixx is an artist and BJJer who has just started his own clothing label, House of Dag...
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22 Nov 2011



Picture the scene - a work opportunity takes you to China, arguably the birthplace of martial arts as we know it. You think to yourself, what a great chance to open up a BJJ club too and spread the awesomeness that is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to a massive untapped reserve of willing new students. But things don't go according to plan. Language barriers, bureaucracy, closed doors, corruption and downright bad luck throw obstacles at every opportunity. And yet...and yet somehow, you make it work. Curious bright eyed and eager young students walk in through to door, they have somehow heard that this ground fighting thing is good for MMA. Word quickly spreads, TV and newspapers arrive - who is this gweilo asking us to grapple on our hands and knees??!!

The answer people, is Fred Greenall. You can read the full dramatic story about his move from the UK to China and the story of how his first few months trying to establish a BJJ club in Nanjing.

http://liketwofight.com/article/fred-greenall-blog-part-1/

Guan Yu
Anyway, long story short, Fred approach me a few months ago, prior to his leaving the UK and we talked about a ton of stuff. I liked his story and vibe so I sent him a honey badger rashie to endorse. I also designed his logo for his club, Frontier Asia BJJ. The red faced character is Guan Yu - Chinese General and popular deity. I based my version on the Chinese Opera mask (of which there are many styles). I thought being the de facto God of War, it would be a cool character to use for a fight club logo:



I'm really pleased to see Fred establish himself in China, it can't be easy when so many things stand in your way, but a pure love of jiu jitsu is what drives him...what drives all of us and I hope you'll join me in wishing him the very best of luck!







:)
byMeerkatsu
in
November 22, 2011

Starting a BJJ Club in China

Picture the scene - a work opportunity takes you to China, arguably the birthplace of martial arts as we know it. You think to yourself,...
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10 Aug 2011

I was commissioned to design a T-shirt for entrants to the Grapplers Showdown NoGi 4 Challenge tournament, which happens on Saturday 18th June in London. Here is the link:
http://www.grapplers-showdown.com/
If you enter now, you'll get the chance to pick up this T for free. Otherwise, it might be available to buy on the day. Division winners will receive the T as a prize.

And here is the T-shirt:


If you'll indulge me, here's the story of how this design came to be...

byMeerkatsu
in ,
August 10, 2011

Meerkatsu Art: Satanic Versus

I was commissioned to design a T-shirt for entrants to the Grapplers Showdown NoGi 4 Challenge tournament, which happens on Saturday 18th Ju...
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5 Jul 2011



Following the success of my previous design for Ground Control (Grappling Swamp Thing), the organisers asked me if I could design something connected to their brand name 'Ground Control' for their next tournament.

I pondered over this idea for a while as I'm not too keen on direct literal interpretations so I suggested the line from David Bowie's song, Space Oddity ("...Ground Control to Major Tom..."). They loved my quick sketch of the astronaut submitting an alien using a rear naked choke (the astronaut's legs are very close together but NOT crossed over). It was fairly straightforward to proceed to the vector drawn digital version you see above. Actually the original vector was designed to be all one colour - white - which would be cheaper to produce, however Jason at Ground Control said he did not mind paying a bit more for a colour version. I think he called it right and allowed me to be a bit more creative over shadow and detail.

Here's my original sketch (literally on the back of an envelope):

Thanks go to Matt from Scramble. He suggested I somehow make the No Gi Oddity text come alive a bit with some whizz bang graphics. I love old skool scifi TV shows like Blake 7 and 80's arcade games so the multiple overlapping effect (using the blend tool in Illustrator) is an homage to that side of popular culture.

This t-shirt is only available to online applicants who enter the Ground Control event in Manchester on September 11th. As one commentator kindly posted on Facebook: this t-shirt is worth the entry fee alone.
Ahh, bless.


:)
byMeerkatsu
in
July 05, 2011

T-shirt design: No Gi Oddity for Ground Control Sept 11th Manchester

Following the success of my previous design for Ground Control ( Grappling Swamp Thing ), the organisers asked me if I could design someth...
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25 Jun 2011


See the logo above? Nothing too weird, right? I mean it's perhaps a little unusual to see a ninja dude wearing a BJJ belt but the usual words+kanji+triangular G is fairly commonplace - stuff you see in a zillion other logos out there. But oh no, the ninjutsu commuity went ballistic at the sight of it. Here's the story...


byMeerkatsu
in
June 25, 2011

Ninjutsu community Go Ape

See the logo above? Nothing too weird, right? I mean it's perhaps a little unusual to see a ninja dude wearing a BJJ belt but the usual...
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11 Jun 2011


Husaria Fight Team are an MMA and BJJ club based in Ireland run by Polish fighter Mariusz Domasat. The team was in need of some funky and menacing fightwear designs so Mariusz asked if I could draw something based on the imagery of the Husaria. These amazing warriors wore beautifully ornate armour and huge eagle wings on their backs. I never knew anything about the Husarria before this commission but now that I've seen paintings on the internet, I am absolutely fascinated! Next to the samurai, surely the Hussars are in the top list of most awesome looking knights ever!


With such rich material to work on, how could I refuse? Here's my early rendition, sketched in pencil and coloured in Photoshop:


Then Mariusz added a neat twist - he wanted the knight to wear a BJJ kimono. Hell yeah!


After many hours inking up using Adobe Illustrator, the finished result is as you see up top. Mariusz is going to print the design on rash guards, shorts, T-shirts etc. Already, my Facebook followers have reckoned it's one of their faves - especially the folk from Poland! I must say, I'm really pleased with this one, it was really fun to do and I learned a bit about history too.


:)
byMeerkatsu
in
June 11, 2011

Apparel Design: BJJ Hussar - Husaria Fight Team

Husaria Fight Team are an MMA and BJJ club based in Ireland run by Polish fighter Mariusz Domasat. The team was in need of some funky an...
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25 May 2011




I'm so incredibly excited to write about this design. It's my first ever collaboration with uber cool fightwear brand Scramble.

Let me explain a little more about the 'Raspberry Ape'. It is the nick name for British grappler, and fellow Mill Hill BJJ team mate, Daniel Strauss. I have no idea why he calls himself that moniker, and I suspect neither does he. It's a sort of mash up of two words that should never be. But it be.

At the weekend Daniel set the UK BJJ scene buzzing with news of his exploits in Finland at the European qualifiers for the ADCC finals. For those who don't know, ADCC is the Abu Dhabi Combat Club. It is a no-gi grappling tournament, originally established by some very rich sheikhs, aimed at attracting only the very best of the best to compete for the lucrative cash prizes. Daniel won the European qualifiers in utter style. Submitting four opponents and winning one by points. It means he gets to compete in his division against the likes of JT Torres, Kron Gracie, Leo Viera, Marcelo Garcia, Gunnar Nelson...the list goes on. It is unarguably the single biggest no-gi grappling event on the circuit and we're all very proud of how far Daniel has come, and I rather suspect could continue to go very much further. We'll find out come September.

Here's a photo of him in action from the weekend (sorry photographer, I don't know who you are):


Oh, coming back to the T-shirt. Daniel asked me ages ago to draw him a mascot for his new nick name and I must have drawn about a dozen failed attempts at a raspberry themed ape of some sort. Then it hit me. After his awesome performance at the Submission 1000 event, why not draw a gorilla in full wrestling mask and cape regalia?



I think I probably spent a total of 20 minutes on the whole ape design which is unusual for me as I normally spend weeks on something. Anyway, Matt from Scramble loved the logo and requested to make the official Raspberry Ape t-shirt. He added his own, brilliant Planet of the Apes spin to the design and voila! The Scramble x Meerkatsu x Raspberry Ape signature T-shirt. Quite a mouthful!

The back:







and my not too modest trademark:


They're so tasty even I bought a bunch. I'll be giving a couple away on my Facebook page so tune in and see what cunning quiz I can devise this time!


Or you can buy them from the Scramble website. Hurry, they're selling out fast already I hear.

http://www.scramblestuff.com/Scramble-Raspberry-Ape-Signature-Tee_p_65.html


:)
byMeerkatsu
in
May 25, 2011

Raspberry Ape

I'm so incredibly excited to write about this design. It's my first ever collaboration with uber cool fightwear brand Scramble. ...
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26 Apr 2011

Meerkatsu HQ has been busy busy busy designing ever more devious and cunning academy logos. Here are some of my latest designs, enjoy!

Chinese BJJ Group
Our little band of Chinese BJJers is growing as word spreads. Last week we got together for our second open mat and dim sum get together - this time within the exquisite matted rooms of Imperial College, London. Among the many things we all chatted about was the topic of what patch design to wear. Initially folk quite liked my Panda logo, but then I drew a dragon and it all took off from there. Thanks to the excellent patch printing services of Tatami Fightwear, we'll soon be rocking these patches very soon!

Here is one of my earliest sketches of the dragon. This is an example where design by committee can work for the better. I showed the sketch to the group and everyone seemed to suggest the dragon should loop into a triangle shape to symbolise BJJ a bit better:

byMeerkatsu
in
April 26, 2011

Raspberry dragons and Chinese spiders - more of my crazy BJJ logos!

Meerkatsu HQ has been busy busy busy designing ever more devious and cunning academy logos. Here are some of my latest designs, enjoy! Chi...
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10 Mar 2011

It never ceases to amaze me the imagination of instructors and academy owners who suggest logo ideas for me to draw. Here are some recent designs I have created. Enjoy!

Greg Creely is a BJJ brown under black belt Pedro Bessa. Greg's own nick-name is 'hippo' so naturally he requested that I draw a cartoon hippo in a BJJ stance. And this is what I did:


byMeerkatsu
in
March 10, 2011

Dragons, hippos and Octopussy...more of my crazy BJJ logos!

It never ceases to amaze me the imagination of instructors and academy owners who suggest logo ideas for me to draw. Here are some recent de...
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9 Feb 2011


This project was a huge amount of fun to do. But as I explain below, not the simplest of drawing assignments...


byMeerkatsu
in
February 09, 2011

Web banner design: Werewolf versus Kong

This project was a huge amount of fun to do. But as I explain below, not the simplest of drawing assignments...
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17 Jan 2011


Meet 'DogHulk'. He's seriously badass. He also took me an age to create, see how I did it here...

byMeerkatsu
in
January 17, 2011

Patch design: "DogHulk"

Meet 'DogHulk'. He's seriously badass. He also took me an age to create, see how I did it here...
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10 Jan 2011

At the beginning of each year I give the blog a spring clean and knock up something fresh for the blog header. Past efforts have seen me mock up a Kill Bill pastiche, a Street Fighter tribute and um, I forget but they were cool at the time.

Anyway, this year I've gone for zombie-chic...


and in case you are reading this on your google reader, here's the header again...


I chose to sub-head the blog title with 'Words and Pictures' mainly because I'm aware that I don't really use the blog as a web log in the traditional sense (ie a log of my training activities), instead I tend to post updates about my interviews, photography, artwork and other BJJ-related media activites, so the sub heading reflects that. I might still drop in the odd bit of technical and training post, as the mood suits.

Here's a couple stats from 2010:
No. visits: 90,466
Pageviews: 185,371
No. Unique visitors: 43,998

Anyway, here's another chance for me to say thanks to all the readers of this blog and thanks for all your support, comments, emails etc I do it all for you guys...okay that's a lie, I do it for me, but you're never far from my thoughts.

:)
byMeerkatsu
in ,
January 10, 2011

New blog header art

At the beginning of each year I give the blog a spring clean and knock up something fresh for the blog header. Past efforts have seen me moc...
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9 Jan 2011

This job was a perfect one for me to try - Hélio Perdigão, black belt instructor at the Clube de Jiu Jitsu de Lisboa in Portugal asked me to design a new logo from scratch and he wanted a crow (symbol of his city) standing in the classic Gracie pose. Yeah! Jiu jitsu animals - or as I now dub them, 'Jitsanimals', are so my thing.

So, I start off with the obligatory pencil sketch for approval:

Then draw the same thing in Illustrator:


But we agreed, the crow, who we nick-named 'Crowrion Gracie' seemed to look better zoomed in just torso and head. The next stage was to play around with all sorts of surrounding circles and triangles with various fonts and colours, until finally, a favourite emerged. And here it is...


Crowrion sure looks mean, I hope he's raven a good time!


:)
byMeerkatsu
in
January 09, 2011

Logo design: Clube de Jiu Jitsu de Lisboa

This job was a perfect one for me to try - Hélio Perdigão, black belt instructor at the Clube de Jiu Jitsu de Lisboa in Portugal asked me t...
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3 Jan 2011

Huge, massive, gigantic wall murals plastered over academy walls rock...period. Take a look at my BJJ compadres over at F4 Martial Arts Academy in North Little Rock, Arkansas. It was painted by kids, yes KIDS I tell ya (with the aid of a projector and about 12 hours of hard labour).


Seeing that just gave me the most amazing tingling feeling inside, I mean it's just so cool to see something you created, transposed into another format by anothers' hand.
Tell you a secret too...when I was a kid, I got nicked for graffiti (or as I called it at the time, art) on walls. Oh how things have changed hahaha.

The F4 wall mural also reminded me of the huge blown up photos the adorn the walls of the Alliance head academy. Here's one photo courtesy of Michael Langhi's Facebook page:


It must be so inspiring to train under the watchful gaze (albeit in still form) of Michael Langhi, Luanna Alzuguir, Sergio Moraes, Tarsis Humphreys, Lucas Lepri, Gabi Garcia and many others.

If your gym has a wall mural I'd be really keen to have a look so pop a link in the comments section. Ta!


:)
byMeerkatsu
in
January 03, 2011

Wall Murals

Huge, massive, gigantic wall murals plastered over academy walls rock...period. Take a look at my BJJ compadres over at F4 Martial Arts Acad...
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19 Dec 2010

Well with all this snow plus a load of other commitments, I've been done zippo training. But these wintry nights mean I get to play around with my doodles a lot more. Here's two more:

Grappling Panda!
This was done for some Chinese friends of mine who wanted to start up a Facebook Group for those UK-based BJJers who are of Chinese background. The actual FB group is linked here. If I had more time, I would have changed the background rays into a Union Jack, to emphasise that it was a UK group, but peeps seem to like it regardless.

(i) Quick lunchtime sketch

(ii) Better sketch

(iii) Final Render



Evil Teddy - Kumachan
Kumachan is a blog run by my buddy Gerry Hurtado. It's his nickname and he wanted a patch made so commissioned me to design a logo. Teddy's are all evil anyway, right?

(i) First sketch

(ii) Final Render

You can see how Gerry used the picture on his blog header, here.

I know, I really need to get out more ;)


.
byMeerkatsu
in
December 19, 2010

Angry Pandas and Evil Teddys

Well with all this snow plus a load of other commitments, I've been done zippo training. But these wintry nights mean I get to play arou...
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13 Dec 2010


Just completed a really fun assignment to design a brand new logo and mascot for F4 Martial Arts Academy over the pond in Arkansas, USA. The finished result is above, but I thought you might like to see the thought process that went through all our minds as the four instructors and I thrashed through, accepting and rejecting as the ideas evolved.

So let's start off with the original F4 logo:

byMeerkatsu
in
December 13, 2010

F4...creation of an academy logo and mascot

Just completed a really fun assignment to design a brand new logo and mascot for F4 Martial Arts Academy over the pond in Arkansas, USA. Th...
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19 Nov 2010

My team mate Anthony Warby fights his debut MMA fight in two weeks. His prep team asked me to draw a little logo - War Bee, gettit?

Okay so I start with some sketches:


Then I unleash Illustrator...



And, here's the T-shirt!

:)
byMeerkatsu
in
November 19, 2010

War Bee

My team mate Anthony Warby fights his debut MMA fight in two weeks. His prep team asked me to draw a little logo - War Bee, gettit? Okay s...
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18 Aug 2010

So I was chilling on the PC the other day going over random ideas with my blogger pal Liam (of the Part Time Grappler fame). We were both agreeing about how cool all the What Body Animal Type Are You? drawings were when it hit us, like a tsunami, only less wet - why not get people to design their own flipping crazy-ass fantasy BJJ gi? We both simultaneously got so excited our PCs exploded. I immediately drew my design on the most expensive bit of notepad I could find:


My crazy-ass design, what's yours?



So I issue this challenge to you - dear reader, dear blogger, dear gi addict. Draw me a crazy-ass gi, send it to my email address (seymouryang gmail) and if you are a blogger - post your idea up online too. Let's make this the craziest collaborative social media experiment in a BJJ gi context...EVER!

There will be prizes, I promise!

Oh, and here's a gi design template if you want to use one. Just print it out, or colour it in using MS Paint, Photoshop or absolutely ANY method of design you like. Heck ignore it if you want and draw your own made up gi I don't care. Snap it on your mobile, scan it in, photocopy it....whatever. Just get me that crazy gi design. Do it! (pretty please).




I look forward to your ideas people!



.
byMeerkatsu
in ,
August 18, 2010

The design your own crazy-ass gi CHALLENGE!

So I was chilling on the PC the other day going over random ideas with my blogger pal Liam (of the Part Time Grappler fame). We were both a...
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13 Aug 2010

Thanks to all my jiu-jitsu comrades for submitting their crude but beautiful sketches. I asked What Body Type Are You? And you guys delivered. Here they are!!


bjj-hippo by Julia Johansen
BJJ Hippo by Julia Johansen

byMeerkatsu
in
August 13, 2010

Kick-ass hippos, drowning sloths and laughing Buddhas

Thanks to all my jiu-jitsu comrades for submitting their crude but beautiful sketches. I asked What Body Type Are You? And you guys delivere...
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21 Mar 2010




Evil genius scientist in laboratory:  NOW ze secret formula to create ze most awsum jiu-jitsu logo in da whole vide vorld! [snap...pop....bang] Take one jungle animal - give heem many 'roids - put heem inside tight feeting gi and zen vhip heem to get ze maaaad face...voila!!!

But vhich animal to use? So many choices...

byMeerkatsu
in ,
March 21, 2010

Jiu-Jitsu Animals

Evil genius scientist in laboratory:   NOW ze secret formula to create ze most awsum jiu-jitsu logo in da whole vide vorld! [snap...pop.....
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