Homebrew labels
 

My buddy and I have made quite a few beers in the last five years, and I have made labels for almost all of them. I'll post them here one at a time.

So, in no particular order, Here's the White Walrus.
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...72479_1266.jpg

lol... what the hell is the walrus wearing?

good job though, the water seems kind of odd though.

My best impression of what the wrinkles in walrus skin look like? And a stern expression? I was going for Haida Amerind style, like on a totem pole.

I'll post the tother label I used that Style on next.

The water is Kai's Power Tools 6 Reaction Filter. After a zillion anchor points to draw the walrus, I wanted to point and click for the water.

Here's the next label:
http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/phot...72449_2647.jpg

Wow these are pretty impressive. Can you give an overview of how you created it. What program do you use? Do you have sketches or preliminaries that you could show? I'd be interested in the process.

Keep posting.

I use Photoshop for most of my graphics work. I've never been able to get the hang of Illustrator. Lately, I have been using Bryce to create some backgrounds.

I mentioned the water on White Walrus used KPT 6 Reaction Filter. The Firewolf background was Render>Clouds in beige & tan, then Black Box Alien Skin>Swirl filter, with a Distort>Wave filter for the edges.

The main Font on White Walrus is Bard, and on Firewolf, the Top font is Kustom Kar by Ray Larabie (who, incidentally, rocks), the ESB is in Berlinner, and the script is Chase Callas.

The technique is called "split profile". The idea is to draw a profile that, when doubled and mirrored, provides a good view from another angle too (front and/or top usually, but I also did a salmon that shows front and bottom). I used the pen tool and did both of these up entirely in bezier curves, drawing just the left side, then filling it, copying the layer, then flipping the new layer, repositioning, and mergeing it back in. The idea with the walrus was for the body to sweep up and around to both sides and join up again at the back flippers over the head, but that didn't work out the way I had planned. The front turned out well enough that I just kept it. The wolf turned out perfectly.

I've attached the only version of the salmon I have accessible from this computer.

Here's another Label. This one uses some pix I found and alters and composits them together. The label for the neck of the bottle is on top, and the rest of the label gets pasted on as a diamond.
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...39199_5948.jpg
(Here's the main label in the aspect it would be in on the bottle)
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/phot...39200_6312.jpg
(Hope I've guessed properly which label this used to be....)

"Gamma Hooch Brewing Company"

That is just great! Keep it up, Top. I like the original artwork.

Thanks, Pete.

OK, over on my Bryce threat, analinguist thinks that one of my bryce based labels it too technology driven and synthetic looking - Second post in <a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?threadid=34315">This Thread</a>. (No longer. Image isn't there any more. Here it is.)
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...72455_4354.jpg

Maybe so, maybe not. An insightful criticism in any case.

Here's another that I did largely in Bryce, and then added some effects and framing in Photoshop:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...39239_2169.jpg

The label with the hippos is priceless. The Daystar: Sparklemead label does seem to miss the target on what it's intended for. When I see it the first thing that comes to mind is that it's an ad for some new space simulation/video game. Good design, but I think it maybe a little in the wrong direction for a beer label. Granted it's out of context right now. Show us what it would look like on a bottle, that may change the perception of the image.

The siamese pygmy hippos are awesome though, that one's perfect.

Moobie.
Now that you mention it, you're right: It does look a bit like a software box. Hmm. I went with a solar motif for the batch of meads I currently have in the fermenter. I was going to attach one of my other mead labels, but the're too big. Here, then is a label spoofing on one heck of an album cover...
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/phot...72446_1825.jpg

Note that the website is defunct. I started directing folks to it and linking to it from here and from Fark, and it exceeded its bandwidth pretty quickly and got shut down.

As for, before I am even asked, what's with the pear, my buddy and I have a series of pale ales that started with "Pear on Stilts" (I'll post that one eventually if folks want me to keep going.) which we brewed for a counter-baby shower (while the girls oohed and ahhed at onesies and boppies and diaper bag accessories in the living room, the guys drank homebrew in the garage.)

any way to order some of these?

31Friction,
No, I'm sorry. In order for me to take orders I would have to get a license and obey health codes and pay a godawful amount of tax, something like 200 to 400% of the cost of the brewing and I am not willing to 1) go through the hassle or 2) make the state fat like that.

I can recommend good books to learn to brew your own, share recipes with you, and maybe even point you at internet homebrew suppliers or even suppliers local to your area (possibly), but unless you're in the area and I know you well enough to invite you to my house, you probably won't be able to drink any of this.

I really am sorry that the hassle to sell pretty much forecloses the possiblity (heck there's even a legal limit of the amount I can give away to an unrealted person, but I don't think they pay too much attention to that unless you're egregious about it.) Maybe someday I will decide to make a go of it commercially, but not yet. Probably not 'til the girls are out of college. (20 years)

I'd like to find some info on the process :) it would be much appreciated

31Friction,
You asked for it :D

The standard beginning homebrew book is Charlie Papazian's Complete Joy of Home Brewing

That book has everything you need to learn how to brew, plus some good recipes. The three other beer books I have found to be really worth having are:
The Homebrewer's Companion , which has some good advice on technique and a few good recipes

The Brewmaster's Bible , which has a ton of good recipes sorted by difficulty and a lot of good brewing technique that you shouldn't be exposed to until abfter you've brewed a beer or two with Papazian's methods and attitude. (Snyder will stress you out if you don't read Papazian first)

Designing Great Beers will give you all the theory and the math to back it up. This is a much more advanced book, but the one I find myself coming back to over and over.

For mead, there's only two books out there that I know of, and both have some serious drawbacks. I'm only going to recommend one: The Compleat Meadmaker
It has less detail than I would like, but better technique and less filler than the other one.

http://www.beertown.org/ is your starting point for all things brewing on the web. They can help you find suppliers and homebrewers in your area. (You shouldn't have any problems in St. Louis.)

Best of luck and happy brewing. Lemme know how your first batch turns out, and feel free to contact me with questions or for recipes.

Another label...
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/phot...72458_5230.jpg

those are sick!

Sick is good? I hope.

Another, then. Meant to post this earlier, but saved it a bit too big. I've compressed it a little:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/phot...72463_6518.jpg

Those are all great, that's awesome. My favorites were the Wolf and the Pear. Awesome awesome job. I wish I lived near you so I could try out some of these beers of yours. Start distributing to St. Louis, hehehe.

devnull, 31Friction seems to be out St. Louis way, and seems interested in brewing. I can't sell you the beer, but I'm happy to share the recipes.

Here's one of the Industrial Stout Labels:
http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/phot...39241_7364.jpg

thanks for the info, I'll start checking it out! I currently live in the lou, ill be moving to Tucson AZ in about a month and a half though.

Just a quick note to all readers of this thread: I am seeking constructive criticism on any or all labels. THose of you who have given me positive feedback, thanks! But don't be shy if you want to tell me you don't like some aspect, particularly if you can tell me why, and if you can tell me how a label could be improved, I'm happy to hear it.

Thanks again, all. I'll post another tonight.

the firewolf and laughing lizard are by far my favorite. they have sort of a rustic(For lack of a better word) feel to them. some of the others I think look a little too computer generated. when I think "good beer" i would picture a label that looks professional and projects a feeling that the brewer had been around a while and knows what they are doing.

If it were me I would keep the basic layout for the lizard and firewolf ones and just change the meat of the label like youve done on those 2 already. just my .02...

Hehe... Impenetrable Stout... that one must have been THICK :)
Great labels, looking really good. Would love to try and make my own beer some time. Is it very expensive and time consuming?

31Friction,
I agree that, for a production beer anyway, the simple, almost beer coaster presentation of the Laughing Lizard and Firewolf would work best (and, for that matter, cost least to print). Here's one that's somewhere in between that rustication and the more obviously techno ones:

Hu-Man
Actually, Penetrode hasn't been brewed yet. We were brainstorming variations on imperial stouts one night (my buddy Will and I), and that was the one we came up with for a hybrid Oatmeal/Imperial stout.

As for Homebrewing, this really isn't the forum to get too far into it. I have fun with it, but it can be a good bit of work. <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3917">Here's one of the two threads</a> out there to discuss it, and <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&postid=776137#post776137">Here's the other</a>

I definately like the pear on stilts as well. Great Job IMO.

OK, here's the newest item, for our first Oatmeal stout, to be brewed sometime next month:
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/phot...39242_3412.jpg

^^ I think it would look good against green glass.

The only problem is that Green glass won't stop Ultraviolet light, and ten seconds exposure to UV is enough to cause a chemical reaction in the iso-alpha acids from the hops to "skunk" the beer. That's why people put lemon in Corona - it's almost always skunked.

hahaha @ dark side of the pear

i like the <b>laughing lizard</b> best, because it looks most like it was created by a professional graphic designer. it doesn't use all the bevels, embossing & photoshop filters like many of the others. also, if you look at most beer labels they are clean flat graphic elements, often vectors, that print well.

firewolf & pears on stilts aren't too bad either. i'm not saying the others are shit or anything, just saying those 3, imho, are the best.

i love your name: gamma hooch brewing company

Thank you, Bernadette. Having even one look at all close to professional is better than I had hoped at his point. Good advice on the vector basing. I will try to keep that in mind. The lizard, the wolf, and the walrus are all done in bezier curves, with the Photoshop pen tool, so they're easily scalable. One of these days, I'll have to really learn how to use Illustrator.

Here's the first label from one of out signature brews:

Mate this is some crazy stuff.. Way too much beer for my liking.. lol.. But the labels are GREAT! The hippo one is one of my favs so far :D

these are ALL fuckin' great............

keep up the awsome work and thanx for showing us eh.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/attachm...&postid=760735

It's a wonder you don't get any flack from Quaker Oats on copy write infringments!!!

Great Labels though.

Satire is protected speech and fair use, and I wouldn't use their oats for it anyway; I'd use bulk organic. And besides, I'm mostly under the radar, so even SLAP suits are unlikely.

Those are insane man. My father homebrews, and I gotta say, his homebrew (some of it anyway) is the only beer I like.

We never made labels like that though! Usually when we ended it with multiple kinds we just threw some masking tape on the bottles...

As a Pink Floyd fan, Dark side of the pear is a favorite!

They are all fantastic, well done mate.

nice lables, homebrew is the coolest

Thanks everyone! It's nice to be appreciated.

Here's one I put together building slightly on an idea Repoman on Fark did up as a photoshop:

Now that's more recreation than creation. the actual creative part was the neck label (also inspired by a Fark photoshop, but fleshed out a good bit more):