World's Greatest Mom

Selection of Mother's Day Gifts at Mudge Studios' Zazzle Shop

Moms are simply the Best. Mothers bond with their children the moment she gets that funny feeling that she has conceived... definitely a Mom thing. Mom's do everything they can to provide nurishment, nuturing and shelter while their little one develops inside her womb for 40 weeks. After her delivery of the new born into this world, Mom's bond with her child is cemented, but Mom's job has only begun. Mother's Heart most certainly belongs to her children.  Mom will do anything for her children.

 More Mother's Day Gift Ideas: Mudge Studios @ Zazzle

Even though Mom should be cherished each and every day, we do have a special day of the year set aside to recognize and honor her. That would be Mother's Day, of course. This year Mother's Day falls on Sunday May 9th. Be sure to Celebrate the Awesomeness that is Mom as there is NO excuse for letting this day pass her by. Of course one of the best ways to cherish your mother is to spend time with her and plan something special. You may also wish to present mom with a Mother's Day gift. Mudge Studios has designed a beautiful line of Mother's Day gift ideas especially for your Mom. That's right, at Mudge Studios' Zazzle shop you can customize and personalize many of our Mother's Day designs to include your Mom's name, nickname or a favorite slogan.

 Mother's Day Gifts for GrandMother

Mudge Studios also has great gift ideas for Grammy. Check out our It's Great to be a Grandmother Shirts, Mugs and Gift Ideas. Customize the bottom text line of this design to personalize your gift especially for the loving Grammy, Great Grandmother, Grandmother, Nanna, Grandma, etc of your family.  Our Vintage artwork featuring antique roses with a heart at the center. These beautiful designs make a very special Mother's Day gift for that very special (GRAND) person in your life.

Mother's Day Gifts at Mudge Studios @ CafePress

Mudge Studios also has these designs featured at CafePress. Once again, our beautiful antique rose with a heart graphics make Great Gift Ideas for Mom, Mother, Ma, mommy, etc.  Slogans include: My heart belongs to My Children, Proud Mother and Mother: like a rose, only sweeter. Pay tribute to the wonderful woman who brought her children into this world. Celebrate your appreciation for Mom with our Perfect Gift Ideas for Mother by Mudge Studios. Oh, and if you are looking for something funny for Ma...

American Idol Season 9

 

Mudge Studio's American Idol Shop at CafePress

 Mudge Studios has been provided the opportunity to create American Idol fan gear. CafePress has once again secured the license for their SKs to create and sell a variety of t-shirts and many other gift items on CafePress' POD site. This privilege does come with several restrictions though. A couple of the notables include: no use of likeness of any of the judges or the contestants and in particular- no use of name or likeness of Simon Cowell in any manner what so ever and no use of the American Idol logo. 

For American Idol Season 9, Mudge Studios has elected to pick 5 early American Idol favorites and produce a couple of Idol designs for fans of these contestants. Mudge has primarily repurposed  most of those graphics that were used in Adam Lambert and Kris Allen designs for American Idol Season 8.

 The first American Idol contestant selected from this season's top 24 is Andrew Garcia. The Andrew Garcia designs seen above can be found here. Andrew Garcia is Fresh and has been described as a genius by some of the judges. Just take a look and a listen to what Andrew did with Paula Abdul's Straight Up to see what all the hype is about. Also- have you seen this dude break dance? At Mudge Studios' Idol Shop- You'll see a Variety of Andrew Garcia Live for Today Skull Designs, Andrew Garcia Straight Up Acoustic Guitar Designs as well as The Garcia Microphone Graphics on Shirts, Hats, Mugs, Stickers for Andrew Garcia Fans of all ages. Our Unique Garcia Idol Skull fan gear features a Rocking skull with Garcia cap and eye glasses makes great Gift Ideas for your friends and family too. Be sure to Support Andrew Garcia when you wear our Garcia Fan Merchandise and be sure to vote for Andrew Garcia for your Next American Idol. Thanks.

Our Next Early Favorite comes from the women's side. We pick Crystal Bowersox to make the top twelve easily and Way Beyond! Crystal is a remarkable young woman and a Natural Woman as echoed by one of her early song choices. Bowersox is a single mom with the velvet voice who has the natural ability to perform her sox off. Love when she plays the guitar and the mouth harp! Randy Jackson even dubbed her Mama Sox at one point during the competition. Our Crystal Bowersox Shop features a Variety of Natural Woman Guitar, Mama Sox and Crystal Bowersox Mic Designs on Shirts, Hats, Mugs, Stickers for Crystal Bowersox Fans of all ages. Our Unique Bowersox fan gear makes great Gift Ideas for your friends and family too. Be sure to Support Crystal Bowersox when you wear our Bowersox Fan Merchandise and be sure to vote for Crystal as your Next American Idol. Turns out that Crystal was recently hospitalized due to complications related to Diabetes. We all hope and pray that she is alright and returns with her health intact. Hoping that Crystal would be able to return this week, American Idol producers switched up their scheduled programming and had the men perform first on Tuesday with the women returning on Wednesday night. The strategy worked as Crystal Bowersox was able to return to Idol after an extra day of recuperation to perform first in the line up and completely knock it out of the park with CCR's "Long As I Can See The Light".  A spectacular performance that even converted Simon into a Bowersox believer.

Anyway, that's it for Idol for now. We'll follow up with the American idol designs that we have created for our other Idol picks. Can't wait, You can always get a preview at Mudge Studios' American Idol Shop here.

Thanks for browsing.

Anti Valentine's Day TOO!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. As February the 14th fast approaches most of us in relationships are strongly encouraged to celebrate and commemorate said relationship with...

say some chocolates, some roses, some jewelry, a romantic dinner out or something else that may speak to your situation.

Maybe the whole thing seems...  a little  too contrived, superficial or commercial main stream? Well, that's exactly what millions are thinking and many are even starting to express- and not so quietly. Mudge Studios has been producing graphics for decades now and I was unaware that there is a cottage industry in the sale of Anti- Valentine's Day or rather- Anti- Love Gift items. Remember, not everybody in the world is currently enjoying the benefits of a healthy relationship as there are those that really hate the idea of Love, Despise Valentine's Day, are Offended by Cupid or may have even recently Just Broken Up. I learned of this when I started getting a few email requests to produce "anti V-day" themed designs almost three years ago.

Today, Mudge Studios just uploaded a variety of Anti Valentine's Day designs onto our Mudge Studios shop at Zazzle. Designs include: Our New Screw Love... No Literally Screw Love design featuring a bloody fresh heart with a Philips Head Screw plunged deep inside.  Mudge Studios also has anti Cupid gear. Cupid Sucks. Cupid is always slinging his poisonous Love arrows at unsuspecting victims.  I say Cupid deserves a taste of his own medicine. Bullseye! There, That'll teach the little bastard. Featured is a fallen Cute little Cupid with three love arrows plunged deep into his own damned heart.  Now Cupid can feel my pain. Can you identify? Check out Mudge Studios' Funny Anti-Valentine tee shirts, Buttons Stickers and more. Anti- Love Slogans include: Love is suicide, an eye for an eye- heart for a heart, love is dead to me, Cupid don't come around here no more and Cupid is retired.

Destroyer Hockey

Just got a sample hocket t-shirt mailed to me from a company called Destroyer Promotions. They had hired me over the past couple of years to do some custom artwork featuring a couple of hockey stars for the Stockton Thunder that they were looking to print in house. Last years assignment depicted Mike Lalonde, a scoring machine for the California based team. After an introductory email from the client and a follow up phone call, I got the puck sliding with that project by submitting 3 rough sketches as follows...

They client approved the first sketch. Next, I did a quick color rough and placement of final font selection, etc. for approval. That process went smoothly- so final art with separate color channels were created for the client. A month later, the client sent a sample t-shirt. Over all the quality of the print job was clean, but it was missing all of the shading that I put into the face and uniform- leaving the reproduction very flat- as seen here.

Fast forward to this year. Fortunately, the client enjoyed the finished product and their team promotion was a success resulting in another request for more art from Mudge Studios. This assignment was to feature a player nmaed Garet Hunt of the Stockton Thunder. This year the team had a couple of specific directions in which they want to take this project. A concise email described two scenarios. One with Garet in the penalty box and another with him shedding his gloves as he skates forward like a tornado. I submitted the following sketches...

The Client loved sketch #2 and I was given the green light to move forward and complete the project in a week. During that time, Destroyer had hired a new screen printing expert and better results in maintaining tonal detail were assured with a higher mesh count in the screens they were going to use this time around.  I just got a sample back...

This t-shirt popped much better than last years. The time spent on shading was well worth the time. Overall, the experience of working with Destroyer was a fine one. I've talked to a few people over there and they seem to be running a class act. Who knows, maybe next year I'll get to draw another hockey player?

Coincidence or Intuned with Eywa?

On Tuesday I was on a mission. I am working hard to consolidate my Premium Shops at CafePress. I currently have 13 Premium shops and I desire to trim that number down for ease of management and marketing. Tuesday's assignment was to transfer my content including text, designs and products from my ProjectEarthDay shop over to a designated Earth Day section at my Mudge Studios Premium CafePress store  as seen below.

I was making great progress when my daughter Mariah called me that afternoon and asked me if I wanted to see Avatar. Initially, I had my reservations thinking that the experience was going to be similar to that of playing a high end video game. I wasn't sure whether director James Cameron was going to pull his + $300,000,000 project off in a convincing fashion, so I didn't rush out for this one. Well... I was wrong. The technology used to bring his blue alien people to life was pure genius. Avatar introduced me to a whole new world in Pandora- the landscape, skyscape, flora and fauna are simply- breath taking. It didn't take me long to empathize with the Na'vi ( those blue aliens mentioned previously) and form a connection to their  beautiful philosophy concerning life, energy and a harmony with nature.

Anyway, after watching Avatar, I couldn't wait to get back to the studios and put together a few new Earth Day designs inspired by the movie. I tweaked a few of my established Earthday designs and added Avatar inspired slogans such as: Earth is My Home Tree and "All Energy is Borrowed; at some point you have to return it".

 I know that many of us celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd of each year, but after seeing Avatar, I realize that Every Day should be Earth Day. We only have one Mother Earth aka Mother Nature and we need to protect and cherish her. Appreciate Mother Nature like the Na'vi and Wear our unique Earth Day Gear to spread the word. I can see a future where those who have become green aspire to become an even more sublime hue... blue.

Who Are You?!

Thanks to CafePress, I put some more Rock and Roll Artwork on my agenda. I couldn't resist the opportunity to create Fan art for t-shirts and gift items commemorating The Who. The Who were one of my Favorite Bands when I was a teenager. I bought everyone of The Who's albums... then the cassettes. Actually, I even had a couple of 8 Track Tapes. Yep, I'm dating myself now. Anyway, I did a series of variations based on The Who design above which features England's Union Jack and the slogan Absobloodylutely. Check out Teenaged Wasteland, Who are you, My Generation, The Kids are Alright and of course... Won't get fooled Again.

Another one of My Who designs features The Who Magic Bus on t-shirts and more. This Who Fan art features a doubledecker decked out in  England's Flag sporting the slogan The Kids are Alright.  This design was a lot of fun to create. Check out My Generation with guitar at the back of the double decker. Be sure to Catch the X69. Long live Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle, Kenney Jones. Also- We'll Never Forget Keith Moon. This Who design features the British Royal Air Force Roundel. We have another variation that doesn't.  THA 111. Be sure to Celebrate the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Band that is The Who with Mudge Studios Rockin' Cool Who Gear at CafePress.com/MudgeStudios. Classic Rock will always Live On.

 Well, that about wraps up my Rock and Roll Shop at CafePress. I hear that CafePress will be licensing additional bands and musicians in the future. I'd love to see them get The Clash, Elvis Costello, etc. In the meantime, I did a couple of quick Maroon 5 designs that were recently added to my Mudge Studios' Shop.

2010 In Like A Tiger

Well, it's January first 2010! Becki and I had a great time last night visiting both family and friends, but now it is the time to get back to the drawing board. Thought I start the year off with a couple of designs commemorating the Year of the Tiger. No, not that Tiger Woods guy.

The Tiger I am celebrating comes to us courtesy from Chinese Astrology or better yet the Chinese Zodiac. The Tiger Person is quite often honest and outgoing by nature. Tiger People are charismatic members of one of the most admired signs of the Chinese Zodiac. Quite often Tigers become leaders. Tiger People also love being the center of attention. Tigers have no problem speaking out against wrong doings. Check out our Cool Year of the Tiger 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950, 1938, 1926, 1914 t-shirts, stickers & More at Mudge Studios' Zazzle Shop. I've posted two designs. The first Year of the Tiger design features a more traditional style with a noble Tiger portrait including all of the Tiger years starting from 1914 to 2010. My other Tiger design features an Awesome Tiger Footballer in 3 point stance ready to dominate on the Football Field. These Year of the Tiger novelties make for GGGreat Tiger Gift Ideas for Proud Tiger People. Check out just a few Tiger Designs below.

Tigers Rock! Best wishes for a promising New Year from Mudge Studios.

A Little T. Rex in All of Us

 Most every child pretends that they are a T-Rex at some point, I certainly did. Pretending to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex is so empowering- especially when Mommy or Daddy are trying to push their hefty parental control around. When Mom tells you to clean up your toys or finish your peas... one just needs to curl those little fingers and roar like a dinosaur. The absolute power that defined your parents would just seem to be diminished by one's wild imagination. Anyway, I really idolized T. Rex when I was a kid. Actually, I loved all dinosaurs and could even name 'em all... way back then.

 To commemorate my childhood passion for these terrible lizards, I set up a Dinosaur Section in my Mudge Studios store at Zazzle. Mudge Studios' Dino Shop is dedicated to the Dino lover of all ages. For the smallest and youngest dinosaur lover,  We've just added our Little T. Rex Designs  featuring a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex in diapers with baby dino blocks that spell out T Rex. T. Rex designs include: My Crib Rocks, Here Comes Trouble, Poopasaurus Rex, I'm Really Big in Japan, I maybe Small, But I'm still Boss and More. Mudge's Little T. Rex Dino art makes great birthday gifts for the baby, infant and toddler.

We also have a Dinosaur section especially for the young paleontologist- The Dinosaur Hunter Shop.  Included are: I dig Dinosaurs, Fossil Man and Little Fossil Man shirts, mugs, tote bags and more for the avid dinosaur lovers. One of Mudge's popular Dino Designs features a Boy paleontologist armed with pick and shovel riding a mammoth Triceratops to a  major Dinosaur Hunt. How cool is that? Other young paleontologist apparel features a triceratops fossilized skull.

Our Mudge Studios shop at Zazzle also features a Dinosaur Sports Section.  Mudge combined two of his favorite subjects- Sports and Dinosaurs.  Mudge's Cool Dinosaur Baseball shirts and gift ideas Feature Ball Busta at the plate ready to launch a long ball with his dino spiked bat. Check out Smash Mouth, the tough dino footballer running the old pigskin down the field for a touchdown. See Slash the intimidating hockey goon who dominates the ice. Also- see Monsta Flush, a tall, wiry dinosaur in all his glory slam dunking a basketball. Mudge enjoys doing projects like this most, we hope that you enjoy the results...

The great thing about Mudge Studios' designs at Zazzle is that most of them can be customized and personalized to include a shopper's favorite slogan or even the name of a loved one. See the URNameOSAURUS design below. Thanks for reading and remember that Dino art makes great birthday gifts for the kid in all of us.

Opportunity to KISS

As many of you know, I've set up countless shops at CafePress over the years. Self initiated projects such as these have kept me busy between projects that I've had lined up with my clientele. What started as a no risk free trial has grown into countless opportunities to create and sell sports, dinosaurs, animals, humor and even political POD merchandise.  One of the latest opportunities permits CafePress shop keepers to create fan based artwork featuring several noteworthy bands and musicians. There were some very strict guidelines that shop keepers had to adhere to, but none the less, I can now create Kiss Fan T-shirts. Check out our Mudge Studios' Kiss Fan Gear at CafePress Here.

Most of  Our Cool Kiss Fan art depicts a Skull decked out with a KISS bandana with microphone crossbones with flames in the background of course. When I was a young teenager, KISS was one of the Hottest, Most Controversial acts of the time. Decades may have passed, BUT Long live Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Be sure to Commemorate the Future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Band that is Kiss with our Rockin' Cool Kiss Gear. I chose to do several of KISS' most popular song and album titles including: Hotter than Hell, Lick it Up, Calling Dr. Love and Detroit Rock City. Also featured is- We Want You- KISS ARMY. Following is an example of our popular Detroit Rock City design...

Classic Rock will always Live On.

New Years Resolution Comes Early

Well, It's that time of year again. Those who really know me, know that I take my New Years Resolutions very seriously. For example: on January 1, 2004, I vowed to give up ice cream for 3 months along with my two girls. That was no easy task as Ice cream was my absolutely favorite stress reducing crutch... but we did it. The following year, Sam and I renewed our resolution with a 6 months abstinence. Once again, challenging, BUT We did it! The following year I was to go solo with an extension to one full calendar year. I haven't had ice cream since and my stomach is all the happier for it.

 That brings me to 2010. Yes, I'll continue to give up ice cream, but I've decided to add an important resolution for this upcoming new year. My friend Arnie had been pushing me for quite some time to market Mudge Studios. Well... After a long chat with Gary, my brother in law, I've decided to make a commitment  to develop some social networking to promote Mudge Studios. He suggested that I really concentrate my efforts in branding Mudge Studios. To get Mudge Studios out there on everything including Twitter. Well, Part of that promotion will be to maintain a blog. That is where the hard part comes in. Typing for me, takes forever, but I will promise myself to post something Mudge Studios related at least once a week. It does look promising, as today is Dec. 29th and I've already activated my Blogger account and made my first posting:)