filling in for monuMental - if possible

By cjm — September 4th, 2011 at 5:27 PM — 27 comments

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This is my first time to do the diary thing because I figure I never have enough content that anyone would want or that deserved it's own space. Not gonna lie - little nervous. If this does not really fit into the diary parameters then I would not be offended by it's deletion. I'm also grown up enough to take the criticism often found on the MGoBoard.

Now to the point. Many of you are familiar with monuMental and his amazing artwork that can be found over at theartthearttheartdotcom. Most of you also know he will not be able to provide wallpaper this season because he has too much on his plate.

I'd like to say that I am by no means as creative as many others on this board and not anywhere near worthy enough to even touch monuMental's magnetic lasso tool. However, I was asked by a couple friends if I had any UofM wallpaper so I decided to give it an amateurish try.

Blue Indy also created some artwork for the WMU game (W MU) and if he keeps it up then that's great (not trying to steal his thunder here.)

This is what I came up with for the Under The Lights game. I wanted to keep it slick and simple so I imediately considered stadium lights. I recall the day Addidas previewed the throwback uniforms and went searching for those. Once I found them I thought of combining them and the lights idea. After many different attempts and changes I simply came back to the clean look I landed on and added the UTL official logo. Thoughts?

2011 Season Wallpaper

By dakotapalm — July 6th, 2011 at 12:06 PM — 27 comments

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Recently some folks have been clamouring for good wallpaper. I hope this fits the bill.

I fixed the San Diego State error, and the Ohio State color. Thanks for the critiques.

dakotapalm

Back to the Future - 2011 Spring Football Wallpaper

By monuMental — April 13th, 2011 at 9:02 AM — 31 comments

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Like the football team, I'll be making a brief appearance this off-season before disappearing again until Fall.

The theme of the coaching search and press conferences over the last several months has centered around the idea that it's time to return the program to "Michigan Football" (demonstrative finger quotes here). Whether or not you believe that such a thing as "Michigan Football" exists and that the program has indeed drifted from that thing, the message is clear - moving forward, the team and the style of play will look different under Brady Hoke than it did under Rich Rodriguez. The question is, given our personnel (specifically a player whose name rhymes with Denard Robinson) how different will it look this year? Just how far back will Coach Hoke and his staff turn the clock? Will they force Denard into a scheme where he feels out of place, or will they shift their offensive philosophy to take advantage of his considerable talents?

I found an archival photo of Fielding H. Yost's first Michigan football team and thought it would be a great counterpoint to the "return to Michigan football" theme. Yost's 1901 team was dominant (11-0 record, 550 points scored - 0 points against) and depended on fast, efficient players to execute a "hurry up" offense to perfection. Stylistically, that sounds more like the offense we saw under Rich Rodriguez than what we should expect from new offensive coordinator Al Borges. Denard Robinson's style of play would have been a perfect fit for Yost's first "Point-a-Minute" team.

If Coach Hoke and Denard Robinson jumped into a DeLorean and turned the clock back to 1901, this modified team photo is what you might see hanging in Schembechler Hall today.

The image below is a preview only. You can get the widescreen, 4:3, iPad and mobile wallpapers at The Art. The Art. The Art!.

For your wallpaper/desktop consumption

By shorts — February 11th, 2011 at 5:55 PM — 5 comments

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You may remember me from such content as "Denardapalooza" (link here) after last year's Notre Dame game. I'm no Monumental, but I do what I can.

Anyway, there's been a definite lack of awesome Michigan/Hoke-related desktops recently, so here's my effort. I'm also willing to make adjustments if anybody has a specific request, and I'll just add the new creations to this same thread.

Note: I'm leaving the image big for high-quality downloading.

Sit, Bully - 2011 Gator Bowl Wallpaper

By monuMental — December 27th, 2010 at 10:57 AM — 19 comments

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It's hard to believe that the 2010 season is almost over. It feels like yesterday that I was designing the season's first wallpaper to share with my wife and one other friend. That first wallpaper, entitled "Husky Puppy Piddles in Fear," was a simple image of a dog that required very little Photoshop work; I added some snow and some yellow spots and got an excellent response from my kids. I like the symmetry in ending the season with another simple image of a dog.

The Mississippi State University official athletic web site provides some background on the bulldog mascot: "The official school mascot is an American Kennel Club registered English Bulldog, given the inherited title of 'Bully'...references to school teams and athletes as Bulldogs actually go back to early in the century, and this nickname was used almost interchangeably with both Aggies and Maroons, since at least 1905."

I like that you can read expectation, submission and awe in the dog's posture; he's looking up at the Block M with what my oldest child referred to as "crying eyes." All that was missing from the original image was an owner's tag so I added one in Photoshop. I wanted the tag to indicate that this dog was owned by Michigan football and (by extension of the metaphor) that Michigan is going to own Mississippi State on January 1; the simplest way to convey that was to etch the Block M on the tag.

Thanks for taking an interest in my art; your feedback and encouragement have helped me through quite a few long nights and creative blocks. I'm hoping to find time to produce a few more wallpapers this off-season, and then use the summer to get a head start on next year's opponent wallpapers.

The image below is a preview only. You can get the widescreen, 4:3, iPad and mobile wallpapers at The Art. The Art. The Art!.