Anatomy of a Logo: Green Lantern

On December 22, 1993, DC Comics designer Curtis King called and asked if I had time to work on a Green Lantern logo. How could I say no? He faxed the cover art which had the new costume design and lantern emblem. He added that flames were part of the logo. The next day I began roughing out some designs.

In these thumbnail drawings I tried to integrate the lantern and the letters.

I dropped the lantern altogether in this logo.

Top design used an optical illusion. In the bottom design;

coloring (dots outline the lamp) and two rules define the lantern.

Most of the letter designs from the optical illusion drawing

were used in this perspective version.

I used the crossbar of the "T" for the bottom of the lantern.

In early January 1994, I faxed the design to Curtis. A few days later he said my designs were rejected. Ken Lopez's design was used on the series. Check out Todd Klein's five-part Green Lantern Logo Study for the logo's history: 1 2 3 4 5.

Related Post
The Green Lantern Corps
...Green Lantern’s light!

(Next post on Friday: Phil Seuling)

Anatomy of a Logo: The Green Lantern Corps

In late October 1985, DC Comics art director Richard Bruning called and asked to see my portfolio. The following day he looked at my work and offered the Green Lantern Corps logo to me. Richard showed some concepts with the words stacked in several arrangements and the lantern incorporated in various ways. He wanted to incorporate the lantern in the logo and left it up to me to come up with something.

Back at my studio, I reviewed the designs and sketched out a design with “Green Lantern” on one line. I saw the possibility of anchoring the “L” in the center of the lantern’s lamp. Most of the letters in the sketch had thick and thin strokes. The “R” had some problems that needed to be worked out. The letters’ rounded corners was a way to update the logo and set it apart from earlier versions. The lantern was drawn separately and used as a guide when the letters were added.

The first tight pencil rendering was close to the finished logo. Only the “G” and “L” had the thick and thin strokes; a crossbar was added to the “G”. The stroke width of the other letters was essentially the same.

After studying the logo, I decided to make it bolder. Several days later I met with Richard, who requested a few changes. The bottom stroke of the “L” was shortened so it aligned with the inside of the vertical stroke of the “A”. Being able to see that small segment of the circle between the “L” and “A” improved that part of the logo. Richard didn’t like how the top of the circle and “L” came together. So the “L” was extended a little above the circle. The leg of the “R” in Corps was adjusted in the finished logo.

At my studio, I positioned the tracing paper drawing on the light box. Then I peeled off the the top layer from a piece of LetraMax 2000 Mechanical Board and placed it over the tracing paper drawing and began work on the finished art. In the middle of November, I delivered my first DC-commissioned logo to Richard.

The Green Lantern Corps number 201 appeared in the Spring 1986.

The Green Lantern movie was released in June 2011. Right away I noticed the designer of the movie poster had positioned the Bank Gothic "L" in the lantern's lamp.

Related post: ...Green Lantern’s light!

(Next post on Monday: rejected Green Lantern logo designs)

Street Scene: Happy New Year

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

166 Avenue A, Manhattan

(New post on Monday)

Typography: Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings

My Christmas card from 1977 was printed by letterpress.

The typography was made with Letraset transfer type,

and is from the Kabel family. I glued a candy cane to the

card. Some cards were hand-delivered To mail the cards,

I constructed, out of foam board, a protective case, then

inserted it in an envelope. Most cards arrived intact. The

image is an enhancement of a slightly faded photograph.

The card measured 4.125 by 6 inches / 10.5 by 15.2

centimeters. Below is the letterpress type block.

Many years later I revised the card design and wording.

I used wood type fonts from Dan X. Solo's Dover books.

The words were pasted, with wax, on a board; on the

left margin I wrote the percentages next to each word.

Then I photostatted each word and pasted them down

on a board. Then the rules and ornaments were added.

Most of the cards were mailed as is, but some cards had

a cellophane-wrapped candy cane stapled to the card. The

card measured 3.5 by 9 inches / 8.9 by 22.9 centimeters.

(Next post on Sunday)

Calligraphy: Jeanyee Wong

Calligraphy by Jeanyee Wong.

(Next post on Sunday)

Anatomy of a Logo: Peter Pan

Paging through yesterday's Sunday New York Times, I saw an ad for a theatrical production of Peter Pan, coming to the Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 14. It brought back memories of June 1979 when Neal Adams was asked to do the artwork for the Peter Pan Broadway musical starring Sandy Duncan. At the time, I had a room at Neal's Continuity Associates.

I don't know the name of the client who provided the photocopies to Neal. The first photocopy showed the current poster/ad design. The second photocopy had an overlay with instructions for the new design and illustration. I remember the assignment was a rush job and Neal was very busy at the time. I believe Carl Potts volunteered to do the illustration of a flying Sandy Duncan with laser bursts and beams around her. I was asked to work on the logo.

On June 22 I started sketching.

Drawing was enlarged from 9 to 14.5 inches / 22.86 to 36.83 centimeters.

The next day I refined the lettering, enlarged it then inked it on a sheet of acetate. Next, I turned the acetate over and used white gouache to fill in the letters. The logo was used as an overlay on the illustration.

I don't have the original art but it was the same size as this tracing

paper rendering, which was 14.625 inches / 37.15 centimeters wide.

The job was delivered to the client. On the following day at Continuity, the client called and rejected the illustration but chose to use the logo. The client asked for the name of the typeface. Lynn Varley, who answered the phone, asked me for the name. I said the logo was hand-lettered and based loosely on Aachen and Clarendon. She explained it to the client, who asked for the logo artwork. So, I lettered the logo again.

I believe the first ad for the musical appeared in the July 10 New York Times, for previews beginning on August 10.

Opening night for Peter Pan was September 6 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre. The Broadway run ended January 4, 1981 then toured the country. Below are the Playbill and souvenir program covers.

(New post on Monday)

Anatomy of a Logo: The Valiant Attempt

The Valiant Attempt was an eighth grade publication produced by Miss Utley's class. Within its fourteen pages were an editorial on the Vietnam War, short stories, an essay on culture and cathedrals, a profile of the Monkees, girl sports tournament summary, and cartoons. The cover featured my clumsy animation of letters in the logo, and attempt at humor with Charlie Brown as Prince Valiant. The publication was printed on a mimeograph machine. (video)

I grew up reading the comics page of the Arizona Republic; Pogo, Peanuts and Prince Valiant were among my favorite strips. That explains how I came up with the image on the cover. I have a hazy memory of reading the first issue of the Fantastic Four. In the fifth grade I caught the comic book collecting bug, especially Marvel comics. When I did the Valiant Attempt logo, I wasn't thinking of the Fantastic Four logo. If I tried to emulate the FF letterforms, it happened subconsciously. 'Nuff Said!

(New post on Monday)