Dorp

These are excellent! Pink Floyd rules.

wpulley

this is my favorite thread *ever* in this topic

I love beer label art like this and from other microbrews...

Crazboos

Excellent artwork - keep it up.

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alt0220bergeek

wow, great stuff... my friends and I just did some quick ones from digitized pix of ourselves. i'll see if I can track them down, but they might only be funny to one of us.

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Tophat665

Thanks again!

I have a Brown ale going at the moment that is more or less the shade of Coca-Cola, so I am going to bottle a case in 7 oz Coke bottles for fishing goodness. Here's the label:

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Tophat665

Here's the newest one (I swiped the elephant from Chuck Jones):

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bernadette

nice tophat!

do you still have at least one bottle of each? (empty or full)

i'd love to see a picture of all your collective labels on the bottles. *bats eyes*

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Tophat665

Actually, I do have a collection of bottles with every beer we have made. It's in my garage, so once the spring cleaning is done - next weekend, if it doesn't piss down rain all week again - I'll take a picture and post it.

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Conclamo Ludus

These are incredible. Nice work. I think the laughing lizard is my favorite.

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Lewis

this is all pretty ferkin incredible!

I LOVE your creative bent!

uber1

these are awesome! thanks for sharing.

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Tophat665

Greetings again! October second, my buddy Will and I are holding our Annual Homebrew Appreciation/Birthday Party out in Reston/Sterling Virginia. (PM or email if you'd like an evite. Happy to have any of you there.) We brewed an imperial Porter, a strange Wheat Beer/Braggot/Blackberry wine, and a Best Bitter, as well as a Dopplebock (there will be many floor crashers. The low end of the abv is 4.5%, the high end pushing 10%). Here's the Labels:

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ARTelevision

way cool selection TH. I have friend who brews his own at home - he's ready to do up some labels - I'll show 'im these for inspiration and as examples of how cool of an art it can be.
Thanks.

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Averett

Those are really great.

I loved the pear labels. Do you make hard ciders by any chance? I love pear ciders

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hokieian

I really like the laughing lizard and the pear on stilts.

Do you do design for a living? If not, you should consider a career change.

blackjack

Very cool. nice job

Tophat665

Here's everything I have printed out so far. The older ones are getting pretty sun faded, and I think I'm 6 or 8 behind at the moment (and out of room for more.)

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JStrider

man that is waaaay awesome!!!

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SirSeymour

Ok, this is impressive. I homebrew some but never with my own labels. Tophat, you have inspirecd me. Have to work on my graphics skillz.

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spindles

These certainly make my effort look simple:



I'm very lucky - I have a home brew shop about --- maybe 3 minutes walk from home.

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Tophat665

There's nothing wrong with simple. That paw is practically iconic, and that is a good thing.

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SirSeymour

Do you use any particular type of paper for your label, Tophat? I mean, is there something made specifically for bottle labels? If not, what have you found works best?

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inharmony

Great labels...I especially liked the laughing lizard.

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Tophat665

I've been using Avery matte white full sheet adhesive backed label paper. There are a couple of problems with it: It's susceptible to sun fading, it doesn't stick well to a bottle that is cold (and hench has some condesation on it, even if you wipe it off first) and it doesn't hold ink super well (particularly when wet). I would like to try to get some adhesive backed photo paper and some spray fixative at some point and relabel everything.

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Tophat665

Here's the latest. In fairness, the composition is my work, but I got the border from a baroque moulding catalog and the Rapier from GIS. (I did the corners myself.)

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Mister Coaster

Great stuff all around! (/ I'm late in getting to this topic)

I know that this is just private homebrew stuff, but I can't help but notice that you're treading on copyright infringement on more than one occasion. Don't get me wrong, it's well done, and I like it. But if you ever are looking to actually marketing your labels, 100% original art is a must.

Kudos onthe homebrewing. I've always wanted to do this, but other hobbies seem to get in the way!

EDIT: Aftre posting, I see that my point has already been addressed. Now... Watch out for over-use of filters. While they create cool effects, they are no substitute for the real thing.

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Fly

these are just awesome..........man if only i could try some of your brew.

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teflonian

I am floored Tophat, not only by your labels but by the beer you are brewing. I have just recently started homebrewing myself and have loved the expereince and the results. I am inspired by your labels and the description of your beers. If I produce a label worthy of posting I would love to contribute to this thread, but I wouldn't want to step on your toes. Keep on brewing and keep on posting the labels!

After rereading all the posts, I couldn't find the answer to a question I have: what do you use for the neck lables? They add a lot to the finished look.

P.S. The description of Rapier Wit has my mouth watering.

Tophat665

telfonian,
If you come up with a label you want to post, go for it! As for neck labels, Sometimes I'll make one to go with a particular label - I'm definitely going to do that with Rapier Wit - sometimes I use one neck label for a series of beers (All four Up All Night Stouts have had different labels, but the same neck label), and sometimes I just use one of several default neck labels I made up. I'll attach a couple.

Flyman,
If you are ever going to be in the greater Washington DC area, PM me. Well get together and knock back some homebrew.

Mister Coaster,
Good point about the copyright. I do understand this. Were I doing graphic arts as a full time gig, then I would have the time to do, for instance, a couple of studies of Rapiers, pick the best, and flesh it out. Chances are I would just draw it freehand and scan it. However, as a hobby, I don't actually (usually) put a ton of time into these.

Your point is also taken about the filters (and even moreso about the styles - though you didn't mention it specifically), Used judiciously and sparingly, they can enhance. Used more, they can look very amatuerish to downright lazy. Used too much, and they can make everything seem forced.

Thanks for the feedback though! I will pay closer attention to both those aspects of design.

And now, some neck labels:

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FngKestrel

Hey Tophat, great labels. If we submit a few for you, would you entertain us by putting them onto a batch or two of your brew? Or say, if it came up as the topic of a weekly activity?

MSD

If you look at the two clsoeup pics of all the bottles like a magic eye (steeoscope) pciture and let the few bottles that are in both pics overlap, you get a 3d look at the White Walrus and the two paris of bottles behind it.

Tophat665

I'm all in favor of other folks giving me ideas for labels, or even full fledged labels. The deal is this, though: No matter how nifty the label art is, no mater how awesome the graphics, it has to make me want to brew the beer. I've gotten two from Fark over the last four or so years, one was "Mos Eisley Space Porter", which I brewed, and the other was "It's a Trappist, Ackbar Abbey Ale" which I haven't brewed yet (but I will one day).

If you decide you want to do a label for one of my beers, the words "Gamma Hootch" or "Gamma Hootch Brewing Company" pretty much have to be on the label. "Fairfax, Virginia" and "In Cerevisium Vires" are optional. Text must be legible enough to read at 500x500 px on a 1280x960 screen (I have good eyes though. More concerned about weird fonts than small ones.)

If I do run across a beer that I have to brew but am at a loss for a label, I will throw it out here and see what y'all can come up with.

And with that, here are the ones that I have bottled in the last week:

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Tophat665

And here are a couple that I did up last week that I want to brew someday.

I should mention that Will & I have been naming our light lagers with 3 words beginning with "L" - Loves Lager Lost, Laughing Lizard Lager, that sort of thing _ I was going for a different take on the theme here. The House in the Home on LaGrange is at the L3 point. I did try to brew this unsuccessfully, but I'll try again. Meanwhile, I need to figure out what I have brewed before I know if I know what it's called.

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Fly

love checking back in here.........great stuff Top....

i can almost taste them.

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Zephyr66

Wow tophat, those are amazing!

Tophat665

Howdy folks. Need your collective opinion on a couple of labels. First is for a Belgian Strong Ale. Many of this style of beer are named after devils (Duvel, Lucifer), and a the B&Ouml;C tune, <i>Divine Wind</i> got me thinking along these lines. One of these has the lyrics for the first two verses at the sides of the label, and one is just blank. Is it worth the clutter to have the lyrics, or does it do better without?

(Image link busted. Label finalized and posted further on)

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Tophat665

The other question I have is about a couple of labels I did for a canteloupe mead. I put nine melons in 5 gallons, so I ended up calling it Nine Melon Mead.

My original thought was to have three naked women with three boobies each, but my photoshopping chops weren't up to it, and I prefer to keep my labels PG13 or safer. I couldn't figure out how to draw a really convincing whole canteloupe. So here are two variations on sliced canteloupe. One is more finished than the other.





Thanks in advance to any who express a preference, particularly if they tell me why.

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Fly

hey Top.......nice work once again bro...........

for your Devine Wind........i think you should do without the lyrics......just too much there with them.....and that is a great label i might add.

the melon mead.....i'm partial to the first one i think.....diggin' the bees in each corner,and the tophat is a nice touch too.

but that's just sorta how i see it......get some more feedback from other members before you print 'em off.


keep up the good work man........

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paddyjoe

IMHO Top, I think that the first one is even a bit too cluttered. I might prefer to to see it without the red illustrations in the center. Maybe it's just my personal asthetics, but I like simple. My mind is taking too much in without knowing what the product is.

I must say that the outlined font is perfect, especially with the symbol in the middle. Absolutely loving the BOC references as well, long been favorites of mine.

Here's a suggestion, a larger version of the first label without the red center drawings as the main label, and then a smaller version of the second label on the other side of the bottle. Not sure if that's possible, but it is a way to keep all of your sweet artwork on the bottle.

paddyjoe

Good call on excluding the boobies Top. Can't be alienating any potential clients.

Number Two works for me here, bro. As a photographer, I'm a nut for depth of field, and I just love how you portrayed it here. I think finding three dimentions on a flat surface to be a wonderful artform in itself. The colors are perfect, and you even portray my old fiestaware dishes...

Good job man, now I'm getting thirsty!