Los Angeles, CA (May 14, 2012) DOG & PONY was Awarded: Silver in Print Competition for the entry titled, “The Night Thieves Teaser Poster.”

The International Design Awards exist to celebrate the world’s most visionary designers, discover new and emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of design worldwide.

Architects and designers of interiors, fashion, products, and graphics submitted entries from over 65 countries throughout the world, proving IDA’s global emphasis. Judging was a rigorous process, with winners receiving publication of their work in the 2011 International Design Awards Book of Designs, to be distributed nationwide; promotion to 100,000 design professionals and potential clients worldwide; year-long coverage on the International Design Awards website; and critical acclaim by our distinguished panel of judges.

Jurors included Alice Blackwood – Editor, Design Quarterly; Lise Coirier – Editor-in-Chief, TL; Hans Fank – Editor-in-Chief, OBJEKT International; Aaron Kenedi – Editor-in-Chief, Print; Rebecca Epstein Kong – Co-Founder, Artware Editions; Raj Nandan – Managing Director, Indesign Group; Laurence Ng – Publisher, IdN; Josh Rubin – Editor-in-Chief, Founder, and Publisher, Cool Hunting; and other leaders and editors in the design community.

About the Winner:

DOG & PONY is a 100% women-owned boutique advertising agency specializing in print campaigns for the entertainment industry.  With over 10 years of industry experience, DOG & PONY creates full campaigns that are always in service of their clients’ sales goals.  For more information, please email info@dogandponycreative.com.

To view the other 2011 winners, please click here.

For Press Inquiries, Contact:
Jade Tran
International Design Awards
550 N Larchmont Blvd, Ste 100
Los Angeles, CA 90004
jtran@idesignawards.com

We are proud to share our very first contribution to a music video!

If you haven’t yet seen “Touch” by indie rocker Battleme, you are missing out my friend. Enjoy the catchy falsetto vocals, darkly funny visuals and the killer pimped-out ride. Be sure to watch for our big moment starting around 2:25! Check out the video here, and the writeup on MTV Buzzworthy. 

Our assignment was to cut off Matt Drenik’s feet…well, digitally anyway!

[divider]So, How Did We Do It?[/divider]

Director Adam Kurland provided us with still photos of the ill-fated feet. After a somewhat nauseating photoshoot involving a pound of raw meat, we were ready for a little digital surgery.

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Legs were chopped at the ankles, meat slapped on top, and computer-generated tubes carefully placed on the ground. All that was missing was a little “Photoshop magic”. Actually, it is not really magic at all, but a lot of hard work! We call this step digital painting – where fine details are painstakingly drawn in by hand. By drawing in tiny edges and shadows, we added the final touch of realism to the piece.

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Finally, the retouched image was submitted to the Lead CG/Technical Director Sam Sparks, who added moving elements like blood vessels and cells to finish off the little guys.

We are proud to say we’ve played with a rocker’s tootsies and had a bloody good time doing it too! (Come now, DIGITALLY of course!)

I guess that puts us halfway to groupie status already, right?

Among others we particularly enjoyed working on the poster for USS Seaviper. It’s not everyday we get to design key art for bad a** war submarine! To aid in the realism, we were pleased to get a working 3D model. Having a 3D model can be a designer’s dream, as it adds a range of flexibility to their creativity. Being able to manipulate the position of the submarine, camera angle, and lighting gives the artist complete control over the scene.

While working with a 3D model provides many advantages, it also creates new challenges. The schematic needs to have many layers of texture added to achieve a photo-realistic finish. For the USS Seaviper, that meant many layers of metal and rust carefully placed one over another with a keen eye for detail, making subtle adjustments to get it just right.

In fact, here at DOG & PONY we are slaves to detail, and sometimes that requires doing a little bit of homework. We often find ourselves asking questions like, “Just how high on the ship would that water level reach?” I mean we’re not sure about you all, but most of us aren’t versed in captaining a massive vessel! After some extensive research, the placement finally clicked. We feel that in the end, all the elements came together nicely to produce some top-notch art evoking a sense of action, excitement and authenticity.

Kudos to our client Koan Inc. We hope you had a successful AFM!