June 11, 2010
1 Comment
Today’s “Daily Bizcard”, “I’m Not Getting”, goes to movie-celeb-turned-Twitter-celeb, Ashton Kutcher.
This is a colorized version of a cartoon I once gave to my old friend, Lee Thomas, the guy who pretty much single-handedly brought Web 2.0 geekery to the British film business. He works for Simon “Shaun Of The Dead” Pegg’s production company these days…
The film business is a funny old thing. Imagine a large pyramid scheme with a few rock stars like Ashton or Quentin Tarantino on the top, with HUGE LEGIONS of slave labor/waiters on the bottom, with a thin layer of weird-ass, paranoid “Neither/Nor’s” separating the two.This is just as true in London as it is in Hollywood.
Even at his level, well… Ashton wasn’t always famous, he too was a member of the “HUGE LEGIONS” at one point, so he should be able to relate to the cartoon. Rock on.
[Daily Bizcard archive]
[Commission Hugh]
[Ashton, we'll be in touch soon via gapingvoidbizcard@gmail.com to collect your details for the back of the card, so we can print & ship a free box of 100 to you etc. Thanks!]
Posted in Uncategorized, cartoon, daily bizcard | 1 Comment »June 11th, 2010
June 10, 2010
1 Comment
[The Cube Grenade for Shit Creek Consulting ]
gapingvoid is giving away a free commissioned Cube Grenade to the business or organization with the most interesting idea.
I draw Cube Grenades for a living.
They’re quite expensive. Several thousand dollars a pop, sometimes ten grand or more.
Not everybody can afford one. Cash is tight. That being said, every month I get dozens of requests from start-ups, small businesses, and non-profits for commissions, asking for free or nearly free work.
Occasionally I’ll do a pro-bono one for the right cause, or a good friend, or because I just love what a business is doing, but 99% of the time, I just have to say no.
The truth is, there are a huge number of really cool start ups, small businesses and charities doing worthwhile work and fabulous people whose cause could be transformed by a CG, but just don’t have the cash it costs to have one.
What’s so special about these Cube Grenades?
Sure, they’re great social objects, but they have another purpose: They’re amazingly powerful tools for a company trying to engage in what many call “Cultural Transformation”.
[The one that started it all: "The Blue Monster". Backstory here etc.]
You change markets in your favor by changing the culture- either your own company culture, or the culture of the industry you’re in. In my world, that’s where the REAL opportunity lies.
That’s the change I want to help affect. That’s where I think my cartoons can be the most useful and valuable.
So I decided, what the hell, I’ll do one for free for somebody, a small business, a worthy cause. Spread the love etc.
Who for?
I haven’t decided yet.
Tell you what. If you want me to draw a cube grenade for your business, write a blog post about it, and submit it to Tumblr at the same time. Then let us put your idea up on the Tumblr page we created specifically for this [Please keep it under 500 words, Thanks].
I’ll draw a free cube grenade for the person who has the most compelling cause.
I don’t care, it can be for your kid’s 6th grade class, your business or charity. Just as long as the idea is interesting,
This offer will expire July 2nd, and I’ll be talking about some of cooler posts here and/or our Tumblr page, so please get cracking.
This should be fun!
Thanks.
Posted in cube grenades | 1 Comment »June 10th, 2010
June 9, 2010
2 Comments
Well, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg didn’t want my first business card design, how about this one? Just askin’…
[Daily Bizcard archive]
[Commission Hugh]
Posted in cartoon, daily bizcard | 2 Comments »June 9th, 2010
June 9, 2010
No Comments
Today’s “Daily Bizcard”, “Disposable”, goes to Sally Singer, the new editor of The New York Times’ T Magazine, who was until recently the fashion and features editor of Vogue Magazine. Backstory from the NYT:
Ms. Singer, 45, will take over in July, according to a note Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, sent to staff members on Tuesday.
The move essentially completes a swap of editors between The Times and Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue. The T job opened up after its first editor, Stefano Tonchi, moved to another Condé Nast fashion magazine, W, in April.
Ms. Singer worked in a variety of roles for different publications before joining Vogue in 1999. Her stops have included a stint as fashion director at New York magazine and as an editor at the London Review of Books, and she has written for The Economist and The Atlantic Monthly. She studied at the University of California at Berkeley and Yale.
Basically, one very tough, smart, talented lady etc.
“Disposable” is a color version of one of the cartoons that appear in “Ignore Everybody”. I drew it soon after a brief stint in LA in early 2000, where I was helping a friend with his indie magazine start-up. An interesting experience, but man, is that ONE TOUGH little business. Totally brutal and totally underpaid. To rise to Sally’s level is quite an impressive achievement, to say the least, so good luck to her with her new gig.
[Daily Bizcard archive]
[Commission Hugh]
[Sally, we'll be in touch soon via gapingvoidbizcard@gmail.com to collect your details for the back of the card, so we can print & ship a free box of 100 to you etc. Thanks!]
Posted in Uncategorized, cartoon, daily bizcard | No Comments »June 9th, 2010
June 9, 2010
No Comments
From this morning’s “Daily Cartoon Newsletter”:
“WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY!”
Every Wednesday from now on, we’ll be sending you a high-res, work-related image for you to download, send to your boss and/or colleagues, to print out, hang up on the office wall, the bulletin board, around the watercooler etc [The usual CC licensing terms apply]. Y’know, a social object to start a conversation with.
All we ask in return is that you share the following link with as many people as you see fit, Thanks!: “Hello From Hugh”.
This week’s high-res download is called “Snake Oil”. Enjoy!
People have been asking me for a while, when am I going to start offering free high-res downloads again, like I did in the old days.
Well, as you can see from the note above, I just did. But you’ll need to subscribe to the list first. Easy.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »June 9th, 2010
June 9, 2010
1 Comment
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I try to stick to a writing quota of about 300 words a day.
Eric Proulx liked that idea. 300 words is not too much, not too little etc. It’s a manageable size, if you’ve got other things going on… but still enough to build up a decent body of work over time.
So what did he do? He set up a little writing club called “300 Words”.
As if I needed another project in my life.
But this one is designed to make me — and you — better at other projects. It’s called “300 Words,” and the idea is to put a little peer pressure on writers to be accountable for doing what they should be doing every day. Which is write.
I get a little bit of credit for it (I drew the cartoon, woo hoo!), but really, it’s his baby.
If you’re a writer who could use a little bit of motivation and/or peer pressure to kick your output up a notch or two, I hope you will check it out, Thanks.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »June 9th, 2010
June 8, 2010
No Comments
Today’s “Daily Bizcard”, “The Trick To New York”, goes to one of the world’s foremost thinkers about how the Internet ACTUALLY works, Clay Shirky.
I know quite a few world-class Internet ‘gurus’. Seriously, without exception, they ALL borrow heavily from him, sometimes shamelessly. And the ones who say they don’t are liars.
Clay has a new book, “Cognitive Surplus”, which comes out in two days. Anybody who cares about the Internet will be reading it in the next few weeks, trust me. Actually, anybody who really cares about the Internet (and actually knows what they’re talking about) makes it their business to read every single word Clay ever writes. Again, trust me…
This is a re-working of a very old cartoon of mine, drawn back in my New York days, which also borrows heavily from another New York-era cartoon. Clay lives in New York City, where he has a part-time professor job at NYU. He’s always liked this cartoon, so why not? I can think of no finer recipient. Rock on.
[Daily Bizcard archive]
[Hire Hugh]
[Clay, we'll be in touch soon via gapingvoidbizcard@gmail.com to collect your details for the back of the card, so we can print & ship a free box of 100 to you etc. Thanks!]
Posted in Uncategorized, cartoon, daily bizcard | No Comments »June 8th, 2010
June 8, 2010
1 Comment
[This is my semi-monthly shameless pimpage of LightsJerky.com, for which I have no stake in, nor do I receive any compensation for it. I just do it "Because I can" etc...]
I’m happy to report that The Lights Jerky Company, based in my hometown of Alpine, Texas, has finally gotten their new website up.
What can I say? It’s the best store-bought jerky I’ve ever had. Locally, it’s really popular. Glenn Short, the owner, sells it in all the bars, convenience stores and supermarkets in the Far West Texas area. He’s a great guy and he really puts his heart and soul into it. And people can tell…
Glenn and I meet up about once a week or so for beers…
All you jerkyheads can order it here in one, three and five pound boxes.
Seriously, Guys, this stuff is the bomb. A global microbrand in the making? I hope so.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »June 8th, 2010
June 7, 2010
1 Comment
Today’s “Daily Bizcard”, “Green Purpose”, goes to CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh.
Zappos is the online retailer- which first made its name selling shoes- that was recently sold to Amazon for over a billion dollars in stock. Tony has just written a book, “Delivering Happiness”, which comes out today.
One of the publisher’s charming marketing gals gave me an advance copy back in March at SXSW, which I happily read. Inc. Magazine has a nice extract here: ‘Why I Sold Zappos”.
Two things that stood out for me in the book were, 1. Tony’s firm and well-articulated belief in making the improvement of the company culture their top priority, ahead of profits. 2. That none of it was easy. Zappos didn’t just become big and rich overnight, it was a real slog- long hours and lots of stress, over many years. He really captures that well.
The cartoon is a re-working of a print I made recently, “Business Is…” I like the way how Tony explains in the book how he always had a very strong sense of purpose for is company, and how having that at the very epicenter was what made his company ultimately so successful. So I wanted to articulate that.
Congrats on the new book, Tony. Thanks for the inspiration!
[Daily Bizcard archive]
[Hire Hugh]
[Tony, we'll be in touch soon via gapingvoidbizcard@gmail.com to collect your details for the back of the card, so we can ship a free box of 100 to you etc. Thanks!]
Posted in cartoon, daily bizcard | 1 Comment »June 7th, 2010
June 7, 2010
No Comments
This morning marks the 100th gapingvoid cartoon we’ve sent out on the newsletter.
To celebrate, we offered a special deal to all our subscribers: Buy one print (framed or unframed), get another print free. Easy.
My list seemed to like the offer, So far this morning we’ve sold quite a few. Hurrah!
["Hello From Hugh": Please share this link with your friends, Thanks.]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »June 7th, 2010
