The mass-email-marketing advertisement.

This is the year of collaborations and co-branding!…

And one of my favorite groups to work with is the one I also blog for – LaxAllStars.  The idea behind this collaboration came while I was on vacation via email from, Krieg Shaw, of LaxAllStars.  Prior to that, I just launched my art on iPhone Cases the day after Christmas and the response has been great!  This is just the beginning as newer products, styles and designs will constantly come from this working relationship.

To see the product close-up and article on LaxAllStars.

To see the full product line of The Art of Lax™ and LaxAllStars accessories, click here.

Follow @TheArtofLax

Like on Facebook.

I like looking back at the process of things.  I promised that I would follow-up with a complete write-up on how the iPhone cases came to mind.  Well, here it goes.

Goals are created.  Goals are also “creative”.

Summer was slow.  It’s always slow.  Vacation trips, among other things took me aside.  Creatively, I was able to execute the highly popular, “The Perfect Form” (Series), as that was a goal in mind… or created, as said in the quote, above.

“The Perfect Form” (Series).  Get it, here.

Making the Goal.

Once the Fall Season came, I was poised with a number of new images, but I just wasn’t satisfied with new art, alone. I mean, the material was the same – paper/pen & ink, etc., and regardless of a new piece, it was the same product, manifestly.  Was it a new apparel product, maybe?  I decided to make the goal of finding a new product, something, whatever it may be, which would ramp things up.  But what was it going to be?  That was on October 1, 2012.

The “Eureka” moment.

Nov. 6, 2012.  Election Day.  New York City.

I was riding the subway on my way to vote.  The train was pretty empty and I did something that I rarely do while riding the subway – I sat down.  Across from me were 7 riders, all seated on the bench.  1 was reading a newspaper. 1 was reading a traditional bound book.  The other 5 riders had their heads down, focused on their “smart phones” in hand.  1 was texting or emailing.  1 was reading. 1 was watching a movie with headphones.  1 had to be playing a video game, due to constant hand movement.  1 was listening to music, due to “head-bopping”.  All had iPhones with covers, or cases in a solid color.  But one of them had a case with an abstract, printed design, making it stand out from the rest.

And there it was!  Right there across from me.  I kept on observing.  I even wrote down notes and made a simple sketch on a post office receipt that I had in my pocket.  As the train pulled up to a station to pick up new passengers, I observed the habit of them pulling out their smart phones to do “their thing”.  I realized that in todays world there are three (3) things you need to have with you the moment to step out of your door; your wallet, your keys and your mobile phone.  And think of it, most of the time, my phone is always within an arms reach, wherever I may go.  I think that is VERY COMMON.

The “notes” taken on the subway on the back of a receipt.

The Launch.

I did my research online.  I found a place that I can outsource to; hosting, fulfilling/shipping, tracking the earnings, etc.  I was very excited.  I leaked the jpeg image of the new product in mind on Instagram.  Soon enough, it was being requested, and bought!  That was on Dec. 26th 2012.  To this day, it has been the most popular product the art has been on.

Lesson Learned.

Every business, or every person, wants to avoid a set-back.  It’s just human nature.  But I don’t think I experienced a set-back at all, rather a personal challenge set for myself.  But whatever it may be classified as, my point is, if we didn’t have any set-backs in life, we wouldn’t be given the opportunity to re-invent ourselves.  As for goals, they are hard to list down, because I couldn’t think up of this 3, maybe 4 years ago.  Goals are a constant search.  They are hidden amongst challenges.  They are tweaked, re-vamped and re-visited.  They are frustrating.  Goals, just like ideas, come as random and quickly like lightening and thunder.

They also take time.

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Misc/Etc:

The iPhone cases are now available for both, The Art of Lax™ and The Art of Athletes™.  Find your sport!

FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE THRU FEB 10, 2013.  Click here to directed!

It’s HERE… and it’s been HOT!

One of the biggest product developments since the inception of The Art of Lax™ has been very successful for 2013!

The inspiration and idea behind came at the most unexpected time and I will write about that, in full detail, in a future post.  But for now, here’s a vid for the product description and review for the “Crank” iPhone case by Case Mate, Society6 & The Art of Lax™/The Art of Athletes™.  Available for iPhone 3, 4 and 5 models.  FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE THRU SUNDAY!  Get it at:

www.Society6.com/VincentRicasio

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ALSO Available:

“The Creators”

One of my favorite weekends in the biz and a GREAT way to kick off the year!

The Art of Lax™ will be at the 2013 U.S. Lacrosse Convention in Philadelphia.  Find me at booth #927 with apparel manufacturers, The Power-Tek Performance Gear Company.

$5 for 8.5×11 black & white prints, again!… among other discounted items ONLY at this EVENT!

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ALSO:

While at the event, check out the NEW iPhone case with the “Crank” image in use!  Available for the iPhone 3, 4 and 5.

One of the NEWEST things to come for 2013!

If you can’t wait for #LaxCon to see this, or will not be attending… you can order here!

I look forward to seeing you all at #LaxCon!

“The Face” (2008)

Here’s the very first face-off piece I did back in the fall of 2008!  I also made it into a t-shirt that sold pretty well – well for not knowing anything about the apparel industry and its fuction(s).

(The Face, cotton t-shirt)

Fast-forward to present day.  I was looking for new content and I realized and I think it was long enough to see new versions for a few of the first pieces that were popular.  I decided to revist “The Face” and make another attempt, below.

In this most recent version, both “x-men” have”motorcycle grips”.  The Face-Off has been such an a common art that it is now a highly focused and prized position/talent.  Comparing the two versions, the newer one is almost at an angle and depicts a player “shouldering” his opponent to the side.  I wanted to keep it a bit more stationary than my usual styles, not showing body motion, but stressing it in the fluctuating positions of the respective sticks.  I also wanted to stress a finer, more finished look, demonstrating the artistry of the classic cross-hatching technique.

When comparing these two, it is funny to look back at the unpredictable road that was travelled since the start back in 2008.  I’m excited to possibly revisit this again in the coming years ahead.

“The Face-2″ (2008)

“The Face-2″

7×12 inches.  Pen & ink on heavy drawing paper.

Now available for purchase at The Art of Lax™.

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Follow @TheArtofLax

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Misc./Etc.

“The Face-2″ on Instagram (follow me @vinniericasio)

“Down, Set…”

“Stripes-Male”

“Winning the X” (Signed by Chris Eck)

“The Eck’s Factor” (With Chris Eck at the 2011 U.S. Lacrosse Convention)

I believe it was back in May when I asked my followers on Twitter for ideas in regards to a new piece.  I was not in a loss for subject matter, rather wanted to “open it up”, sort-of-speak.  Soon enough, a lot of great suggestions were “re-tweeted” or “RT’ed” that were complied into a list.

The one that I was fixated on was the tweet, “How about a jump-shot?”

The following are work in progress pics:

In terms of coming up with a name for the piece, I wanted to come up with a saying that described the action, rather than just the words “jump” and “shot”.  Thus came “over the top”.  No, not the arm-wrestling, 80’s flick with Sylvester Stallone, but the definition of one going “above-and-beyond”.  And that is what I am reminded about when taking a shot, not in the game of lacrosse (’cause, I’m a goalie – I try to stop them), but taking a shot in the game of life.

I took the final shot with my iPhone using the popular app, Instagram.  Follow me on Instagram (vinniericasio).

Here’s the final piece, below:

“Over the Top”
8.5×11.5 inches.  Pen & ink on heavy drawing paper.
Now available for purchase at The Art of Lax™.

Find/Follow on Twitter & Facebook.

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Misc./Etc.

Of course, it had to be a goalie image.  I gave it the title, ‘Keeper.

I’ll admit, I’m very embarrassed to look at it and I don’t think any copies have been sold since the official launch at the U.S. Lacrosse Convention, back in 2009.

But someone said, if you look back and don’t feel uncomfortable about your work in the past, you haven’t progressed.

‘Keeper – graphite on drawing paper. 2008.

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The Perfect Form - Present

“History is more or less bunk.” – Henry Ford

I’ve always been a fan of History.  If I didn’t go to art school, I would’ve probably have majored in the liberal arts subject.  But I went to art school and ironically, the subject I hated the most was Art History!  Once the classroom lights were dimmed and the slide projector turned on, I doodled lacrosse players in my notebook.  Come senior year, my senior thesis was titled “Lacrosse: An Experience in History”, which showed an artistic version of lacrosse played from the Native-Americans to the present day.

The concept.

I took another look at “The Perfect Form” and wondered if I added a historical characteristic to it by making it a “collection” of some sort, more like – a series.  The image of the player in a “present” form by wearing a Cascade CPX helmet and holding an offset-head strung with mesh, had me thinking of the possibility of making another version but in an “older state”, or genre.  What if I did a player wearing a “brain-bucket” and “L-35’s”, using a STX SAM?  What if I did a player, no, a Native-American, wearing a loin cloth, holding a wooden “crossier” as called by the early-French explorers.  The ideas kept on amassing.

The idea was saved in my memo folder of my Blackberry.  The concept was then doodled on a restaurant napkin in Manhattan.  I figured that I could appeal to the many lacrosse enthusiasts, primarily in a historical account, that showed the progression of the game, in many forms.  This was just like my senior thesis in art school, but this time it was going to be focused for the lacrosse audience, not just art.

Forming the other Forms.

I did a piece called “Ol’ Skool” which was geared for us folks that used the non-offset-heads in the game, so making another piece wasn’t going to be too difficult.  It was going to be fun, because that was the gear I used when I started to play.  I figured some Brine L-35s with that “floating cuff”, a SAM with some traditional diamonds and a “dowel shaft” plus a Bacharach Rasin “brain-bucket” would do it up!  The finished piece is called “The Perfect Form” (Retro).

The Perfect Form - Retro

One of my most popular images done in 2011 was “The Originator”.  The piece showed a Native-American with a handmade stick pertaining to that respective time period.  My apparel manufacturers, the Power-Tek Performance Gear, turned “The Originator” into a popular selling t-shirt that is currently sold at fine lacrosse retailers in the country.  That image made the decision to go back to the “starting point” and execute an image honoring the inventors of the sport.  Using the same concept, as “The Originator” and my first piece of my senior thesis “The Creators”, this new version pertaining to the Native-American theme was to be called “The Perfect Form” (Founder).

The Perfect Form - Founder

Bringing it all together.

Aside from the individual genres, I made a version which compiled them into a single piece showing the historical side – as if it were telling a story of some sort.

The Perfect Form - Series

This version is titled “The Perfect Form” (Series) and can be found at the newly-made page in The Art of Lax™ website titled “The Perfect Form”.  As for trying to outdo “Crank” as a bestseller, I don’t know as of now (or if I ever will), but it’s good to have that “inner-competition”… it’s also good to have that “go-to” piece.

Be a fan, follow & like on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ & Tumblr.

Misc./Etc:

While writing this blog, more and more ideas came to mind as far as added content to be considered in the near future.  So who knows, maybe an image of an 1800’s player is next, among other milestone figures in lacrosse history?

Enter Steve Costabile.

I remember seeing the Connecticut area code appear on my cell phone when the first call of inquiry was made.  I thought it was the alumni office of my New-England boarding school, South Kent School, informing me about an upcoming event in NYC.  But when the person on the other line mentioned that his son was currently a member of the Duke Men’s Lacrosse team, my attention span firmed up right away.  When the parent on the phone confirmed his name, Steve Costabile, father of CJ Costabile, I did about 5 “mental back-flips” but remained professional on the line.   I probably asked more questions about CJ’s playing career, than Steve asking questions that were art related, to me.  We discussed the details of what he was envisioning for CJ’s gift, and thought a picture of him taking a shot on goal, would be the fitting.  As a goalie, shots taken by poles were the hardest to read, and SAVE.

I was under strict orders NOT to expose this until after Memorial Day weekend.  When the piece was done and turned in at the middle of April, it was hard to keep it “under the radar”.  Until now.

The following photos display the development stages behind “CJ Costabile”:

The graphite foundation...

Inking the features...

Helmet, jersey, gloves...

shorts, legs, jersey number... etc.

a few more details...

Filling the image up...

Got to have the stick made...

I used a partial shot of the piece as a Welcome/Homepage for The Art of Lax™ site.

As the little things started to make up the big picture, it was time to add the signature lines depicting the movement and motion in CJ’s shooting form.  CJ’s father, Steve Costabile, was very adamant that the motion lines had to be in there.  According to him, the style of having motion was a definite reason in getting a custom piece done for CJ.

The finished piece of "CJ Costabile"

Like ANY other custom order projects, I had a great time doing this.  I also had a great time communicating with Steve Costabile via email or phone, getting to know him and talking about his numerous trips on the road with his wife, Doreen, watching both CJ and his brother, Nick (currently, a goalie at SUNY-Cortland).  Once the piece was finished, Steve Costabile drove into NYC to pick up the piece from me, not wanting to risk it being lost, or damaged by any of the delivery services (USPS, FedEx, UPS).  I didn’t blame him!  It was great to meet in person.

I feel very honored to have done a custom order for an National Champion and a 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy finalist.

The 2010 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final:

The following photos were taken during my weekend at the 2010 NCAA Final Four of Lacrosse in Baltimore, MD.

Hawking The Art of Lax™ "Crank" t-shirts from the trunk of my car in the parking lot. It's called Entrepreneurship... whatever it takes!

Duke and Notre Dame facing off... CJ at the X.

Coach Danowski and Duke players talking things over...

We're about to head into OT...

Duke players rushing the field right after CJ's goal!

Post-game pic of me and my view from my "nosebleed" seats in 2010.

Misc/Extra:

Vid of CJ’s winning goal in OT to take the 2010 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse title:

The following pics were taken from my blackberry camera (I know time to upgrade!):

The find...

Lax in the 1800's...

Lax in the 1960's titled "In the huddle"...

Goalie portrait-abstract/exaggerated style...

Lax in the present day... using the '98 World Games as a theme!

…and while it wasn’t in the pile of paintings “The Creator’s” was the first painting done in the series!  “The Creator’s” is the ONLY framed painting from these originals.

"The Creators" the FIRST of them all!

It was a good find and interesting trip down memory lane.  I could not have predicted The Art of Lax™ back then!

My storage area post-clean up. Art supplies and Lax sticks!!!

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Misc:

While we are on the topic of Memorial Day.  Aside, from the lacrosse art, I also did a series of paintings involving the American G.I. in World War II as part of my senior thesis:

The Ardennes

G.I. Medics

G.I.'s unloading

G.I. w/ civilians

These and among others can be found at vincentricasio.com