This logo was rejected as a concept, but I really liked how it turned out as a concept, and felt compelled to put it in the book. Originally the project was for a pitch to add an American stop in the F1 circuit at Port Imperial. The proposed track would be on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, and would weave amongst the streets near The Palisades with the Manhattan skyline in the distance.
I designed this digital poster to promote this year’s Costume Contest. In addition, I wanted to do a painting of Samus Aran, and moreover, I wanted to try a technique that I don’t normally do—realism. This exercise was an important lesson, as Im intending to move into some more work that addresses dramatic lighting as well as different material textures. In pushing a photo-realistic style, I was forced to be much more attentive to details that I otherwise overlook, and I was reminded of many nuances in painting and drawing that I have been ignoring for way too long.
In an effort to push “Season 2″ of the growing-in-popularity Habitat Quiz Night, we blew out the bar with a domination decor sceme—a revamped look from the finale of Season 1. So this was the second run at painting this huge logo on the wall. This first time I stupidly painted lighter colors on a nearly-black wall and it turned out sloppy and flat. This week I wised up. Started with latex white base layer and the vibrant colors popped just as I hoped they would. The logo is about 5 feet wide by 4 feet tall.
The icon of the wheel & wings has long been a representation of the automotive world. From logos like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to the Detroit Redwings, to various motorcycle and autobody shops—it represents getting from point A to point B quickly, and with style. Sex appeal in finish line celebrations, hot rod photo shoots, and garage bikini calendars have been right along for the ride.
An installation celebrating the Fourth Annual Wing Eating Contest. After much discussion about marketing the contest, we decided that instead of re-branding the event each year, we would use the chicken as the icon. So more chicken to come next year. This campaign included: A laser-printed promotional poster, a 4′ x 8′ hand-painted poster on archival paper, lightning bolt-shaped collage of laser prints, as well as a T-shirt.
nicholashartman.com has launched!!! The former inktour.com will now redirect to my shiny new website—a louder and healthier presentation of my work.
Late in 2010, there was a big host server crash and inktour.com was vaporized. I lost the whole thing. It coincidentally came at a good time, since it lit a fire under me to get cracking on what was already something I was itching to improve.
If you are a nerd, continue reading… My previous site (inktour) was foolishly built with Flash. That was back when I had aspirations of phasing my graphic interests towards animation. Needless to say, updating it was a huge pain, and with the boom of smart phones, well, we know the story about Apple and Flash. This new site has a very basic html skin, and is managed by WordPress. I couldn’t be happier with the results. The level, and EASE, with which I can upload new content has metamorphosed the way I approach documenting my new work.
The features that I’m most excited about include: 1.) “Latest Work”—on inktour, I’d post new work and then it’d be buried amidst all the other work and users weren’t able to see the most recent items; 2.) Very large background images—2,500+ pixels wide, so even on a 27″ monitor the images are full-screen; 3.) The aforementioned WordPress CMS—this site is definitely going to be fresher.
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone that helped with this site—you know who you are.
N!CK
The Habitat in Greenpoint (where much of my work has been shown) has recently been curating new art shows with various Brooklyn-based artists. Im proud to be a part of the panel that meets and chooses the artists that take part.
Start Your Engines was assembled with intention of bringing a summer-time vibe to the space. Ive always associated race cars and auto shows with great weather and summer parties. The cars were selected based on their aesthetic design and their esteemed importance in the auto sports world.
