1 month ago we asked you to send in your layout ideas and to give you a chance to promote your own designs! Mohaaa! The finalist was choosen and his business card idea was a really special comic style.

by Doug Cloud!

Interview with Doug

Doug Cloud is graphic artist and has worked for a variety of clients. You can visit him at his blog dcblog.net

1. How did you get an artist?

I started drawing from the moment I could hold a pencil (or crayon). First it was just doodles, then stick men, then drawing Snoopy and other Peanuts characters on kids notebooks. My mother still tells me the story of when I was three years old and she used to brag to her friends how I could color inside the lines in my coloring books.

Cartoons are what inspired me. The old classics like Quick Draw McGraw, Underdog, Top Cat, and Tennessee Tuxedo. Later I became inspired to draw my own characters thanks to Charles Schultz and his wonderful comic strip Peanuts.

I first began doing graphic design work on the computer only a few years ago. Up until that time all my design work was done by hand with good old pencil and paper. I still draw out my concepts, but now I can import them into the computer and make them come alive on the screen.

I still love to draw and when I’m not working on something for someone else I doodle just for the sheer joy of it.

2. And, where was the starting point of your career?

I’ve been drawing things my whole life. I did my first professional design job when I was seventeen; it was a logo for a company in Rockford, Michigan, called EarthBound Worm Farms. I started my blog in May of this year as a way to introduce people to me and my craft, but since then it has taken on another life. Now I write articles and tutorials encouraging people to tap into their inner creativity and to teach them how to do things on their own.

3. What was the idea behind your business card?

The idea for the business card was inspired by the layout of my own portfolio site. I love the outdoors, animals, and camping so I made the design as a kind of ‘campground’ theme. I put little signs everywhere to announce the different sections of my site, and then, as I was drawing the different critters to include in the design, I came up with the idea for these two birds.

4. So, these 2 birds are like your brand?

I have a designer friend who coded my site for me and he took the ‘FatBirds’ and placed them everywhere, so they became like my unofficial mascots.

When I designed my card I used one of the signs off my folio design and then I thought it would be neat to include the FatBirds and then show the back of the sign (and the birds) on the back of the card.

Sounds really interesting! We wish you all the best for your future plans. Keep up the good work!

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