“Ow!… and Wow!”

Done by Sunny Tattoo, a shop located in Budapest, Hungary.

“Ow… and Wow!” were the words that came out at the dinner table.

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 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.

***********

Misc./Etc.

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 Art of Lax™/The Art of Athletes™ and the Power-Tek Performance Gear Company have combined their expertise’s and add to the business, for you – the customer!  The newly launched addition to the business is called “The Ink Tank”.

Design: “Elements put together for reasons of interest.”

I had a professor in art school who made us repeat that definition out-loud in the classroom while we were drawing.  It seemed childlike back then, but it did come back to me when thinking of this business concept last month.

“The customer will ALWAYS be right…”

The IDEA:
Yes, to a certain extent.  But I have always believed that the customer has their own vision and their own way of controlling things – a set plan.  Overall, sometimes it’s the customer that has a bigger brain than the business owner(s).  And because we have many of those confident customers around, we decided to let them… create… customize… and control what it is they are after.

“It should be FUN!”

The PROCESS:
This addition to the business enables the customer to take their favorite image from The Art of Lax™ and customize the look on their apparel product of choice from Power-Tek.  It’s an easy process!  Pick the art, the apparel, the color(s), look, and size; maybe add a name and/or number, those sorts of things.  We want to please the customer(s) by enabling them to be a significant part of the process.  So go ahead and have FUN creating it before you enjoy wearing it.  WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU… THE CUSTOMER.

“Ink” rhymes with “Think”… right?

Behind the SCENES:

A “Think Tank” is a place for “intensive research and solving of problems are made” according to a source on the web.

When proposing the business addition to Power-Tek, I had the details and function already set in mind.   I DID NOT have a name for it.  Prior to the meeting, the few words that were in my mind, which complimented such, a function were: Design Lab, Design Dept. and Think Tank.  After the presentation was made, when it was time to come up with a name during the meeting somebody said,

“What about Ink?  There’s Ink involved in the screening process?”

Interested?  Go to The Art of Lax™ and click on “The Ink Tank”.

Yes, you are reading this CORRECTLY!  Hockey.  Ice Hockey.  Simply put—Pond Hockey!  But isn’t this The Art of Lax™ blog?  Isn’t this supposed to be a “lacrosse-themed” article?

“It’s not the classes you take, but the hands you shake.”

Back in June of 2011, my summer just started with a trip to Bangkok, Thailand for the 1st ever “Grow the Game” event with the LaxAllStars crew.  That summer, besides from playing as much lacrosse as possible, was dedicated to growing The Art of Lax™ to newer heights.  Upon my return to NYC, I got in touch with former Princeton Lacrosse captain, Grant Hewit, of Streaker Sports, to have a “meeting of the minds”.  We met up for lunch and discussed how to use both of our brands for each other.  Collaborate.

Grant (at left), one of three captains his senior year at Princeton.

Grant defending against UVA.

Grant defending against the Naval Academy at the 2004 Final Four--I was there in the stands.

I thought I was a multi-tasker… NO… Grant is a multi-tasker!  Straight G!  He handles Streaker Sports, newly formed biz, Hudson Sutler and makes time for organizations/foundations like; Adeona and CityLax.  Grant is also an event guy, coordinating NYC-based events in the past such as NYC Wing-Fest and the Big Apple Pond Hockey Classic.  Either he sleeps in his office or DOES NOT sleep at all!

Grant proposed to me the idea of doing artwork for the 2012 Big Apple Pond Hockey Classic, an event that he coordinated last year.  The proposed idea came at a right time because I was in the midst of laying the foundation for The Art of Athletes™ and establishing a licensing agreement with the Power-Tek Performance Gear Company, who were pushing the production of non-lacrosse-themed sports art, as well.  Things were hinting at the right direction.

The months leading up to the event, Grant and I traded concepts to each other thru emails, text messages and lunch meet ups, etc.  We finalized the concept that suited well for the event, consisting of the essence and simplicity of Pond Hockey, while including symbolic imagery to compliment the artistic aesthetic.

The finished piece for the 2012 BAPHC.

The finished product is a limited set edition of 20 prints to be sold at this weekends event at Bryant Park in New York City.  I was very happy to have worked with Grant on such a project and doing something totally different for a change, while sharing entrepreneurial “war stories” during our meet-ups.  It’s a great contribution to the upcoming, The Art of Atheletes™.  It was a great way to network and visualize the unknown possibilities ahead.  Check out his event, the Big Apple Pond Hockey Classic.

The piece, along with the event was also written up at: www.backyard-hockey.com

Find/Follow us on Twitter:  @GrantHewit, @VinnieRicasio, @StreakerSports, @HudsonSutler, @TheArtofLax, @TheArtofAthlete,

Brooks Sweet. Head Coach at The Poly Prep School-Brooklyn, NY

Brooks Sweet at UMass

The former stand-out from UMass was heralded as one of the greats in the game of lacrosse.  A member of Team USA on the 1982 Championship squad, Brooks was pretty much a “one-man-wrecking-crew” scoring something like 7 goals in the title game against Australia.  The crafty attackman from Ithaca, NY earned the title “Player of the World” afterwards.

Brooks Sweet (front row, #9) with the 1982 Championship Team USA

Coaching is Teaching and Teaching is Coaching.

I also had the chance to be his assistant coach for 3 years at the Poly Prep School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn after he changed careers from being a sales-executive for STX.  He was/is an intense, more like passionate, individual – always challenging the kids in their personal developments, both on and off the field.  I don’t think I ever learned more about this game from anyone other than Brooks. There were a few times we “suited” up after practice and played pick-up lax with some “older guys”.  The man still had it!  He was very sneaky — more like smart.  One mistake, and you (the defenseman) were toast, but he made it a habit to teach you what went wrong.  He taught you how to rectify it for the next time around.  He burned me a few times in the cage and any saves (if any) that I got on him, was an excitement to yell about.

Coaching with Brooks at Poly Prep

Hanging with Brooks Sweet.

In 2008, when I started The Art of Lax™, I wanted to do a “celebrity piece” of somebody, more like anybody, in the lacrosse world.  I didn’t have accounts on Twitter and Facebook, back then, so I talked to the most direct person I knew – Brooks.

Some of the best parts were doing a piece that had “retro” equipment instead of the present day equipment.  The end result was to be titled, “Brooks Sweet—Player of the World”.  I made a few reproductions, giving him one and my asking him to autograph a print for me.

Brooks Sweet-Player of the World, signed by Brooksy himself

“Keep stopping them!” was what Brooks wrote on my piece.

“Keep teaching them”… is what Brooks definitely does best.

Extra:

Brooks at the 1982 World Games of Lacrosse:

Brooks going against Australia--those were some SHORT, shorts!

Brooks being interviewed by Lief Elsmo

Brooks at the awards ceremony getting the title "Player of the World"

Two (2) days.

Two. The two most important days in my business to be quite frank. That is the length of “LaxCon”. I started The Art of Lax™ in the fall of 2008, launching the business to the public in January of 2009 at the U.S. National Lacrosse Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. I have been a regular at “LaxCon” ever since and each year I always do my VERY BEST to include new material and product to existing and new customers. While lasting just a meager two days as an exhibitor/vendor, the event is a great chance to establish new business relations, ventures, popularity and above all, GROWTH.

(My humble beginnings.  The Art of Lax™ at the 2009 LaxCon in Baltimore.  I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING THEN.  Notice that the Power-Tek Gear Company was the booth next to me.)

This year’s 2012 event was a quick 2-hour drive from NYC to the “City of Brotherly Love”, Philadelphia. I brought with me 40 images for sale, over 20 of them being new content to The Art of Lax™ business portfolio. My Holiday sales just weeks prior to the event were the BEST so far and my new licensing relationship with the Power-Tek Performance Gear Company as the OFFICIAL MANUFACTURER of apparel, was an exciting goal to have closed 2011 and to physically open to the public for 2012. The new business venture enabled me to be in Power-Tek’s booth, which this year was a 300 square foot space, a massive increase than the prior event years. This was to be a very exciting one!

(My art on Power-Tek’s product!  They are made of GREAT stuff!)

(Ricasio doesn’t have the letter “c” in it.  But it reminds me of former UMASS stand out goalie, Sal LoCascio!)

Upon my arrival to the Philadelphia Convention Center, my hotel, The Four Points by Sheraton was literally “spitting distance”. The process of unloading product to set up at the event was “cake” – the easiest and fastest I have ever done! When setting foot on the exhibitor floor, I was amazed to find the signage of Power-Tek’s floor space displaying our new venture for spring of 2012, The Art of Athletes! It was better than any of my signage, which was simple and low-key. It was incredible and mind blowing! Credit to Jim & Tom Lalli, of Power-Tek Performance Gear – they do amazing work and have such great product!

(Coming soon this spring – “The Art of Athletes”)

My designated space was a 10’x10’ area and the design set up was inspired from that of the many NYC-museum gift shops; framed/original art in the front for display and stack piles of reproductions hugging the sides of the interior for purchase. The goal was to stop and attract the eyes of the customers with the art and then, invite them inside for the purchase. Once the public was allowed, I hardly stayed in the booth due to not wanting to take up space for customers to enter. I have learned that most customers should be left alone from interaction. They DO NOT want to be forced into making a purchase and if you do it’s an annoyance to them. Let the customer look at the product. Let the customer make the decision. The only time for interaction is when they have a question in mind and/or ask the MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION pertaining to your business, “how much for this/these?”

But the purpose of ANY BUSINESS is to CREATE A CUSTOMER. Any persons that came to the vicinity of our area, whether they made a purchase or not, had a possibility of returning as a customer or creating new ones via “word of mouth”. In the past years, I learned that freebies such as containers full of strawberry flavored, Twizzlers have aided in grabbing attention and 4”x6” promotional cards have helped developing customer growth. If there is one consistent piece of advice from these events (actually, from Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group), it is to simply, LISTEN. Yes, LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Sometimes your customers have a bigger brain than you, the business owner.

Plus LISTENING doesn’t cost you anything… it is FREE!

(U.S. goalie, Brian Dougherty at the booth!)

The best part of being at these events, besides sales, are catching up with your existing customers, friends and fans from the social networking sites, industry, or just playing the best game on earth. They are important, too!

(With Connor Martin aka “Con Bro Chill” @Con_Bro_Chill.)

(With Maria Elizette aka @DreamCatcherLax)

(Teammates back in boarding school – Josh Dwyer.  Now coach at West Nottingham Academy.)

(With former Boston Cannon’s coach & UNC Tar Heel standout – Billy Daye.  Billy Daye was my goalie coach back in the Johns Hopkins Blue Jay lax camp back in summer of ’93.  Big time respect!  @LaxSchool)

The Longest Day.

(One of my favorite movies about the “Invasion of Normandy”.  A lot of business lessons in that book/movie!)

On Saturday, the final day for exhibitors, I made the mistake of arriving at the exhibition floor at 7am thinking the doors were the open to the public at 8am. It was to open at 10am. But that mistake gave me the time to do a couple of things that I wasn’t given the chance prior to or on the start of the first day. The vast and empty floor was an eerie silence, and I walked around up and down each aisle looking at the respective booths making up the lacrosse industry. I studied their products, layout and company mission. I wanted to know why and what made this company stand out from the other, among other things. I must have made a total of four trips.

I pulled up a chair and sat away on the aisle, facing my booth. I looked at the framed, original piece of “The Creators” which was the piece that started it all back in college as my failed attempt for a senior thesis and then looked at everything begat from it, which was being purchased. Looking back, the road was unpredictable. It was a finish to my 3rd year in business and my 4th time being at LaxCon as The Art of Lax™.

The funny way I look at it is this. Once September arrives, the weeks and months leading to the Holiday Season are my busiest, fulfilling orders to customers while creating new images for the addition to the portfolio. The responsibility is a slow ramp that curves up and gets steeper as the date for LaxCon approaches. I’m a prisoner to my work, really, but the explanation is that I’m truly obsessive to creating new work. As any entrepreneur, I’ve been obsessive to the growth of the business. Who would like to do all this work and preparation for an event that is only two days long? But ask an Olympic sprinter the same question – they take 4 years of preparation to compete in an event that lasts only 10 seconds!

Yeah, it makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Once LaxCon ended I returned home to NYC with a great sense of relief and accomplishment, but an empty feeling as well. Two days go just like that – a snap. But manifestly, LaxCon is the start of the lacrosse season and I just found out that LaxCon would return to Philadelphia for the next two years!

I have a bit over 350 days to prepare and GROW.

The opportunity came to me at a lacrosse fundraiser party on a “native’s night” (the name given for night before Thanksgiving in NYC). Dana Czapnik (a former member of Gotham Women’s Lacrosse and a native-New Yorker) was the Media Relations Director of the newly formed, New York Titans of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). She asked for an art director to take charge and design material for the Titans, in particularly the game program and told me “it was mine to have, if interested.” Of course I said, “Yes!”

“Oil & Vinegar don’t mix but when they do, it makes salad dressing.”

Artists are usually not Athletes and vice-versa. But this was up my alley, especially the fact that it was lacrosse! Since the Titans gave me full control on the ideas, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. This was the kind of work that I’ve always dreamed about and there were many nights I just could not sleep due to constant thinking and conceptualizing. Many times had me leaving their office high above Grand Central Station late with a huge smile on my face, because I knew that I was going to do this kind of work the following morning. My arguments, more like debates, were dealing with which lacrosse photo goes best with that certain lacrosse article… or which lacrosse player was going to be featured in a photo spread… or how that marketing material needed to somehow include a lacrosse element to it. I couldn’t believe these were my problems! I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for this! These were not problems in my book, rather things I really looked forward to handling each and every single day I worked for the Titans.

At the START and END of the day… it is a BUSINESS.

I remember in art school, when the word “business” was mentioned by our professors in a studio art class, it usually “rocked the boat” for a lot of creative minded individuals. It wasn’t all fun and games with the Titans. A lot of weekends were spent working and communicating with vendors in charge of printing, marketing and coordinating all the fine details that made up the big picture. Ideas were constantly tweaked, pages and content added at the last minute and having to deal with real problems that weren’t your own and explaining to people who just do not understand your expertise. I learned so much about the professional sports and entertainment industry, that it was just that, an industry… a BUSINESS!

January 17, 2007.

It was opening night of the 2007 New York Titans Season. I picked up my complimentary tickets at the “Will Call” window at Madison Square Garden and met my parents and a bunch of my lacrosse teammates from all over. Upon walking up the ramp to our seating section, I saw the game programs being sold to the many fans lining up to purchase them. I’ll never forget seeing that for the first time, published in print, and not on my computer screen. There were some differences such as the color being different on paper than on screen, among others, but the job was approved and manifestly, it was all behind me. The overall feeling of excitement was that of attending a movie premiere but not as a spectator, rather as an individual who had some sort of responsibility in the making.

Lacrosse in a hockey rink.

Honestly, I was/am not a fan of the indoor style of the game called “box” as they call it in Canada, but the Titans had many U.S. based players playing the box version. It was interesting to see such high profile names like Ryan Boyle, Casey Powell, and among others that dominated the field version of the game, playing that night. It’s a different game in many ways that I can’t explain. It’s tough, but as a goalie in field lacrosse, I think the box goalies have it way easier with all that protective equipment.

I forgot whom the Titans opened up their season against… I think the Chicago Shamrocks? My eyes were wandering all over the interior space of Madison Square Garden; wondering the amount of seats filled, the reaction of the fans and especially how many game programs were in the hands of individuals. I was very happy that the sport of lacrosse was getting more mainstream and that the NLL expanded to the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden a.k.a. “The Mecca”. I really couldn’t care if the Titans won or lost that opening game because my mind was taken over by all the things coming together that special night. Most of all, I was very happy to see my artistic work having finally made it’s way into the lacrosse industry.

I knew that this is where I belong.

*****

Misc./Etc.

The following images are from the “Calgary Day” event that I did a few years back where an affiliate of the Calgary Roughnecks requested images of a few of their players done for their promotions.  This was the first time I did traditional art for the indoor version/box game.

I remember one of my first jobs right after college required us to write down our yearly goals at the start of the year.  That requirement made it feel like a lot of people going to the gym after January 1st of every year, only to slow down and lose interest of the goal in sight.  I sometimes think goals should be made at the end of the year, believing in the old adage that “hindsight is 20/20”.  Running The Art of Lax™ since launching in January 2009 always had one goal in mind for the business – to keep it growing.

The recent partnership with the Power-Tek Performance Gear Company has been a very exciting goal for The Art of Lax™.  Power-Tek is now the official manufacturer of all The Art of Lax™ apparel items.  Both brands promise to bring great products of performance, quality,price and artistic creativity to the consumer.

See the new lacrosse line of apparel at The Art of Lax™, click on the apparel page.

Power-Tek and The Art of Lax™ collaborated on a full-sized advertising page in the 2011 NCAA Lacrosse program.

The Art of Lax™ artwork screened onto Power-Tek Performance Gear products and worn by members of The Brooklyn Lacrosse Club in summer tournaments such as War at the Shore in NJ and the Salt Shakerz Invitational in NYC.

With Jim Lalli of Power-Tek at the War at the Shore Tournament.

The Launch Pad.

I spent most of the fall season of 2008 building The Art of Lax™ with the goal of launching it to the public at the 2009 US National Lacrosse Convention in Baltimore, MD.  Upon my arrival to the Baltimore Convention Center floor, I carefully set up my side of the booth.  Folding tables were put out and the very first batch of original drawings were displayed on standing frames, crowded on a simple, black tablecloth.  Resting on an easel located at the front of the booth was the framed, original painting of “The Creators” to catch the attention of prospective customers.  Located at the back, were a number of “non-lacrosse” paintings to somehow convince customers that I did not just produce “lacrosse art”.  Looking back, I shouldn’t have done that, as the space was too crowded and hard to maneuver.  But I was naïve and had NO IDEA what I was doing.  I just knew that I was VERY nervous before the crowd entered, wondering what kind of reception the lacrosse artwork would get.  The neighbors at the booth next to mine were two individuals (brothers, really) named Jim and Tom Lalli, who helped keep my cool with constant jokes.  Both of them introduced me to their enterprise called, Power-Tek.

At the 2009 US Lacrosse Convention in Baltimore.  Note; at the far left distance the sign of Power-Tek.

On starting a business.

There is a complete difference between working in a business and starting/running your own.  The latter, is NOT for everybody and I mean it in a VERY respectful manner.  It separates the “dreamers from the doers”.  It’s a lot of working odd hours and working into much later ones.  You enter a world where things are not guaranteed and can fluctuate at any moment.  It’s a lot of constant wonder, worry and uncertainty.  Obstacles and failures hide behind the approaching corners.  It consumes and at times affects others around you.  Who would want this lifestyle?  Not everybody understands or likes what you have.  The naysayers and the supposed experts are just waiting for you and your “stupid idea to ultimately fail”.  But they are not important to you and your goal(s).  You become stubborn, unconventional and learn to do a lot with less.  You realize it requires more of a bold character than book intelligence, more risk taking than rule following, and more importantly, much more action than talk.  Most of the action is done alone, when nobody is around to analyze, criticize or give credit.  In that isolation, you learn more about yourself and your limits.  You are tempted to just stop, because that’s the easiest thing to do.  That is what normal people do.  But you wonder if that is the right thing to do.  A certain respect and admiration for established business owners and leaders develops.  It’s infectious.  You want to emulate them.  So you FOCUS.  And when that ONE POSITIVE outcome surfaces from the GREATER AMOUNT of unsuccessful attempts in the past, it feels like a breath of fresh air, a reward – A BONUS!  You sit back, smile and realize that you want to do MORE.