Anatomy of a Logo

At long last, welcome to the launching of my logo! I hope you find the wait was worth the delay. This idea floated around inside my head for a couple of months. Here’s the story behind this extremely fun logo.

I attended a craft fair in my hometown and a deck of cards caught my eye. Another passion of mine is collecting playing cards and I have over 1,700 decks. The vendor offered two decks for sale, “American Frontier” and “American Frontier Predator Edition”. The United States Playing Card Company produced both decks. In each deck, the traditional court cards were replaced with images of various animals. Deer, elk, moose, turkey, quail, ducks, rabbits, raccoons and squirrels came to life as Kings, Queens, and Jacks. The images are highly detailed and beautifully done. I purchased two of each deck, one to open and admire the artwork, and one to remain sealed as long as it is in my collection. The vendor was not the artist, but they would get me in contact with him.

Via email, I met Will Pitney, the artist of the “American Frontier” playing cards. I explained to him what I was looking for in a logo. He said he could draw the logo and have it to me in two or three weeks. He sketched out eight different images and asked my opinion of them. I narrowed it down to two. He added details to those two images and I chose the one that I want to represent me as an author. Will did a fabulous job.

As you can see, the alligator is enjoying the book he’s reading. A smile is on his face and he’s swinging his tail in the air. I hope you relish my stories as much as the alligator is. My story takes place in a bordello, but it is not a serious story. It is a very fun romp with over the top characters. His right leg is resting on two mores books to read. I have more books inside of me waiting to come alive on the page. I anticipate you wanting to read these stories as they are published.

The frog in the middle is holding up the book using his back. The expression on his face conveys many meanings. The biggest one I see is that he’s praying he doesn’t get eaten by the alligator when he’s done reading. He also says to me, “What have I gotten myself into?” My story presents to you a bordello, alligators, voodoo, a migrant worker that drinks hard liquor like water, a news reported focused on a single story for twenty years and much more. How do I bring all this together into a cohesive story? I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I find a publisher. I pray that will be soon.

The frog on the right is holding up the book using his legs. I have more books to write, more characters to bring to the page. This frog is in homage to my first book which takes places in a bordello. The position this frog is in can be interpreted sexually.

As you can see, a lot of thought went into this logo. I’m proud of it. Thank you, Will Pitney, for drawing it. Being able to tie two of my passions into this one logo is the best of both worlds. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to seeing it on my business card and any other printed paraphernalia that I produce.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what I’m reading. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished Don Quixote last night. I posted my review on Good Reads. Today I started The Heart that Gives – Seven Traits of Joyful Stewardship by Fr. Thomas J. Connery. I encourage you to read a variety of topics. This section of my blog will show you I follow this advice. The next book I read will be a fiction book.Alligator Logo

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