Logos are fun! They are also very valuable. So much of a brand’s identity is wrapped up in a good logo.

Quite often I’m asked regarding the illustrations I license out: Can I use it in a logo?

Although an icon, looks equally good as a construction logo element.

Back in my early days of Stock Illustration I had a rather black/white view on this, and would not allow such use due to copyright complications. Now I can confidently tell you “yes” you may use it for logo-like purposes, but you must make certain considerations if you do. Here is what you must bear in mind:

1. You cannot trademark or copyright the logo with the licensed design element (stock illustration) as a part of it. This is due to the nature of copyright and the licensing model most use in stock illustration. A nice work-around is to have your own logo and to use the licensed art/elements as a complement to the logo though not an official part of it.
2. There is the risk (unlikely but possible) that a competitor might use the images as well in direct competition with you.

That is really it! Please enjoy using my images to give visual impact to your brand.  – Leo

This snippet explains a bit about the tiger-m@te inmotion hack which defaced thousands of people’s websites. Leave comments below.

To see how to fix this problem if you were affected, >click here<.

What happened?

Some hacker(s) decided to take on one of the world’s largest hosting companies, inmotion, and replace everyone’s index.php file with a cute little 1990′s style “Server Hacked!” splash page. It plays a rap song (given your dumb enough to stay on the page long enough for it to automatically download…which I was).

If inmotion gets hacked and 700,000 websites with it (including this humble one I make a living on) , that should say plenty about the internet, no? Its not easy to hack someone like inmotion. I love inmotion by the way. It just shows nobody is immune to getting hijacked in the pirate-infested waters we call the internet.

That being the case, what if a site like facebook gets hacked? Facebook deals purely in information – your information – so no doubt that would cripple society’s identity as a whole. I guess the internet is only as trustworthy as the hackers that run it.

The fix:

Its an easy fix. Just replace your index.php file with your back-up version. Multiple directories were affected, so if you use wordpress, check out folders wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes. Replace them with their respective index files from the default install. Also, inmotion hosting is running an automated repair on websites that have done backups in the past, so you may never have to touch it.

the Splash Page

Here is the splash-page I was greeted with. Hackers seem fond of 1990′s style web design (done by teen-age geeks with too much time on their hands).

Remember WaRez? Remember the old days of hacking when teenagers used to run shady websites from their bedrooms while their parents were completely ignorant to what their kid was up to? The design of this webpage smacks of that era 1990's. If he was going for the vintage hacker look, I suppose he did well. But for a modern 700,000 webpage defacement notoriety getter?

Related illustrations on Tiger-M@te hacking news:

By customer request, here is a new series of illustrations depicting a mobile “smoker” unit, for grilling and cooking out on a large scale! Starring the blue man, 3d renders from different angles. Check them out on ClipArtIllustration.com

Need a medical, doctor, home remedy, or well-being illustration? See these cool new 3d renders on ClipArtIllustration.com

ClipArtIllustration.com project:

To clean a house, you have to build a house, and to build a house, you have to have plans… oh the complexity!

Recently a customer has commissioned me to do about 40 3d rendered illustrations of blue people (3d) going through the services of outdoor housecleaning, restoration, and maintenance. To do a good job…I have to make a good house.

Great! I’ll just get some floor plans and diagrams! …but it turns out these are all copyrighted. Well, I understand and respect copyright…so how can I get some free and easy houseplans? In my research, I ended up finding an available house layout in creative commons on wikipedia.So this, combined with a new look for the orange man (who will now be blue and really really 3d) expect to see a new and long line of 3d house maintenance illustrations. See images below.

Introducing Roborg, a walking behemoth similar to AO-Maru the friendly robot. Quite literally he’s scrap pixels, rebuilt into this graceful heavyweight humanoid machine you see here.

He is a royalty free illustration series now available on this site.

Is he a gentle giant, a powerful defender, or a walking agent of doom? I’m in favor of the first, but of course your design and needs will determine what role he plays.

This project started as a customer request, but it didn’t quite match the customer’s vision, so instead of the model being wasted, I rebuilt some parts of the body and gave him a nice little semi-dome head (cute).

So now Roborg has been added to the Robotto family on ClipArtIllustration.com. I hope you enjoy him! Feedback welcome.

Who would have thought “getting your business” out there could be so much fun, and yet, so much time!

Are You Using Social Media? Or is Social Media Using You?

Here is a free illustration from clipartillustration.com for your use in the subject of social media. Enjoy. Relate.

Hello, my name is Leo, creator of ClipArtIllustration.com.

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. Modern marketing, branding, and design have brought “pictures” two a whole new level. More than likely you’ve arrived at clipartillustration.com looking for a branding solution through a personage such as a mascot. This is my specialty.

Please note, if you are inquiring of custom work, see > this page <.

The characters (referred to as mascots) on this website have been created with the purpose of complimenting people’s marketing and branding endeavors. They are not only created to look good, but have personality traits which are tailored to connect with a given audience.

Lets talk about the characters found on clipartillustration.com.

Orange Man | AO-Maru | Krinkle’s People | Robotto | More

The Orange Man

The first and most successful of all of my characters. The Orange Man was created for the broadest audience appeal ( originally vector graphics ), so that he could represent any design, business, or website needed. The Orange Man is simple, bright, and happy. He’s quite effective in advertising because his bright color and simple form attract the eye.

Due to popular request, he’s been adapted to quite a few other colors too. Orange Man‘s artwork is available in a wide variety of settings, giving you the greatest ability to include him in your visual presentation.

The Orange Man is available in individual pictures plus entire discounted collections (for those who intend to use him a lot).

See also —

3d Orange Man

NextGen Orange Man

Search Other Colors —

AO-Maru

After I had created a lot of little orange people, I decided to challenge myself a little bit and make something more suited to those of the “technology” fields. Seeing the patterns of the internet, I realized a “bot” would be a useful mascot. There are lots of software and technology oriented customers who needed something more “fun” and sci-fi.
Nobody really notices this, but AO-Maru‘s proportions are similar to the Orange Man’s. Big head, chubby extremities. The same formula of branding success was put into this robot as the Orange Man.

Krinkle’s People: It Really is a Small World After All!

Designed with admiration for the diversity of race and culture. Created for bloggers and business owners who want something cute and attractive. Sushi shops, pets, koi fish, french cuisine…lots of little niche subjects included here.

The Robotto Series

These other robot illustrations work wonderful along the AO-Maru series. The newest one is “Blueberry Bot”, a cute stylized space-age character. I’m rather hoping he finds his way into communications and social network related subjects, as those seem to be a growing trend.

More…

While not extremely related to full-on branding, there are still plenty of images and series on this website which are very useful to bloggers and designers young and old. Browse clipartillustration.com to see them all. See some examples below:

Branding is important. It can be expensive too.

ClipArtIllustration.com is a great resource for those graphics and designs needed to enhance your visual marketing strategy.

On ClipArtIllustration.com you will find these useful mascots:

Orange Man:

Amazing icon for appealing to the masses for just about any business.

http://ping.fm/TXGQJ

AO-Maru Robot:

The Technological Wonder, this bot was made for technology businesses in presenting themselves to technology related audiences.

http://ping.fm/rFTsa

Krinkle’s People:

A cute but professional solution to multicultural appeal.

http://ping.fm/M91rP

Robotto Series:

Inspired by the success of AO-Maru (Above) this series has been developed for techies companies specializing in social network automation, computer technology, and general internet tasks.

http://ping.fm/4vbc3

NextGen Orange Man:

A cross between 2d and 3d, this is an extension of the original orange man series. Its more realistic.

http://ping.fm/2ixw8

By setting yourself up on clipartillustration.com, you are empowering your branding scheme through pretested and sure graphic solutions.

http://ping.fm/NNKku

The completed Greenscreen Graphics mascot. For those of you who are looking for custom illustrations and branding icons for your business, see the page where I describe this service – http://www.clipartillustration.com/36508/custom-mascots-and-illustrations/

This was a simple project done for Mike Gauthier’s GreenScreen graphics. The g-bot will be seen crawling all over the walls of his shop.

This was an improvise. My renderer messed up this picture, leaving a whole area of the pic incomplete. Since it was broken, I just edited the photo in photoshop to look really broken.

Climbing the wall…left.

G-bot is leaning back and reaching toward you…

On-guard and contorted.