January 21, 2013
National Hug Day
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Too funny: So we sent out the above “Hug” cartoon in today’s email… but it was not till after it went out that we soon discovered…
Today is National Hug Day.
That is too weird… Seriously.
Hugh MacLeod
I’m Hugh MacLeod. I’m a cartoonist. Occasionally I write books.
gapingvoid is interested in start-up culture, because changing business for the better is what we’re about; that’s what Social Object Factory is about. We live and breathe it; we help everyone from lone entrepreneurs, to mid-sizers, to Fortune 500’s do the same. Check out our work here.
We create art that helps companies kick ass, end of story.
We also have a daily cartoon newsletter that makes a lot of people happy.
If you just want to say ‘Hello’, feel free to email me, anytime.
If you want to talk business, then it’s probably best to please contact my business partner, gapingvoid CEO Jason Korman, here. We look forward to working with you. Thanks!
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
NY NY |
$275 |
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
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January 17, 2013
Special gapingvoid Valentine’s Commissions
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I had such a good time doing those special Holiday commissions, hey, we decided to do it again for Valentine’s Day. Rock on.
N.B. This offer is strictly personal… it has to be from you to somebody you love or deeply care about; it can’t be a corporate or business message etc.
So if you’ve ever wanted to send somebody special a really amazing, personalized Valentine’s gift, this is a good time to get on board the Hughtrain. Just email Laura with any queries etc.
Here’s what we sent out in the newsletter:
Hugh’s Custom Commissions
Some of Hugh’s hard core collectors were able to get in on the one of the private commissions Hugh did for Christmas. Recipients were ecstatic, and we’ll be posting some more pictures shortly. These unique images are truly amazing, poignant gifts. We apologize to those people who we couldn’t accommodate on that offer for Christmas. But we have good news.…
With his wedding fast approaching Hugh’s feeling the love, and decided to break away from the corporate work to do some personal commissions for Valentines Day.* He originally wanted to limit it to five, but we’ve already surpassed that in requests, so he will be setting aside a bit more time to try to draw for everyone.
You probably know that Hugh’s basic commercial commissions start at $3500, but we know that is out of reach for most people, so the Valentines offer will be $795 for the commission. You’ll receive a large 18″ * 24″ signed print, included in that price plus a high resolution file.Framing and shipping will be extra. Standard framing is $175.00, which is at least 40% less than the equivalent frame at local frame shop (other well known websites charge $400 !!). But, we are happy to put the print in a tube, so you can frame it locally.
After Valentine’s these private commissions will be $1,500, and the full private commissions will be $3,500, so if you’ve been thinking about buying an amazing gift for V day, this is it. We’ll keep the offer open until Hugh feels maxed out.
Just email Laura with any queries.
There is some fine print:
- EMAIL US specifying favorite colors you would like Hugh to use
- A paragraph or two about the person or topic you want him to draw about.
- No branded or business promotion topics, please.
- The offer is for a personal and not corporate work.
- There will be only one image created, and the only revisions will be for typos or errors.
Thanks, Everybody. You’re the best!
January 16, 2013
A Very gapingvoid Christmas
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Thanks to Jonas Ellison for sending in the photo– it seems the family has started a new family tradtion, giving gapingvoid prints as Holiday gifts!
I’m very touched by that, Jonas. Thanks ever so much. Seriously…
January 15, 2013
Looking for a Valentine’s Day gift? Check out the gapingvoid Love Pop-up Store:
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[One of my all-time favorites: “I Choose This Life”]
[Visit the gapingvoid Love Store here]
I always like drawing a new “Love Cartoon”. That being said, I don’t like drawing them too often, because then they get formulaic; and Love should not be formulaic.
The good news is, over the years they’ve added up. We now have seventy three “Love Prints” avialbale in our gapingvoid Love Store, just in time for Valentine’s Day gifts.
Seventy Three. Wow. That’s a lot.
And while we’re at it, we’re also trying to stretch the meaning of Valentine’s Day. Like I wrote earlier in “Love Matters”,
… why can’t Valentines’ Day (a big day in our calendar, already) be an opportunity to go beyond Romance, to communicate to those who matter to you, that they matter, that you care, and that we are all in this together?
Either by the gapingvoid Love Store or by the gapingvoid Inspiration store. Either one, it’s a great way on V-Day to express to people the stuff that really matters. Exactly.
Valentine’s Day is a huge day for us at gapingvoid Central. I guess that’s not surprising– like I said, Love matters.
January 14, 2013
“Love, Regardless Of Cost”
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We have a new t-shirt in the works: “Love, regardless of cost.”
We are nothing without love… We’ll do anything and everything to find it, and for a good reason. It truly completes us.
Countless songs and poems have said it all… But only Hugh could turn it into four words.
“Love, regardless of cost”
Simple, and perfect for your Valentine…
The little red heart represents Love. The squiggly black lines represent all the other external crap that gets in the way, be it other people, other problems. You know, the stuff that tries to swamp your boat on a daily basis.
From I personal perspective, I think love begins with the decision TO love, not waiting around for the right person, job or idea to come along and tick of all the magic unicorn boxes.
Sure, it can be painful. Sure, it can all go horribly wrong.
But as I get older, how much I loved (people, jobs, causes etc) matters increasaingly more to me than how much I was loved in return.
I love because I chose to. Regardless of cost.
It was my decision. And Thank God for that.
Amen.
January 11, 2013
“Love Matters.”
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The groovy cats at Rackspace asked me to design a new t-shirt for them; this cartoon was the first (but not the last) idea I came up with.
I know it embarrasses the grown-ups to say this, but… Love matters in Business, as much as anywhere else. Rackspace knows this as much as any client I’ve ever worked with, small or large.
Nothing wrong with connecting ‘Love’ with $1 billion in sales… Without Love, their whole “Fanatical Support” thing (something they built their whole company around) would be impossible. And I doubt there are any high-ups at Rackspace who would disagree with me.
It’s nothing to do with Romantic love, of course. Love equals passion, equals care, equals real meaning and good work etc. Exactly.
This t-shirt gig got us thinking at gapingvoid Central, why can’t Valentines’ Day (a big day in our calendar, already) be an opportunity to go beyond Romance, to communicate to those who matter to you, that they matter, that you care, and that we are all in this together?
Either by the gapingvoid Love Store or by the gapingvoid Inspiration store. Either one, it’s a great way on V-Day to express to people the stuff that really matters. Exactly.
[P.S. If you’re a Racker reading this, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your input on the shirt, Thanks!]
December 12, 2012
Animated gapingvoid Yuletide Log
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[We have another Holiday treat for you, which we sent out in yesterday’s newsletter:]
Ho Ho Hope you are having a great Holiday season so far!
Back in the day, in New York, before we moved our minds online, the cool background for the holidays was the “Yule Log” — an endless video reel of a crackling fireplace with a soundtrack of holiday music. One of the local NY TV stations would play this “Yule Log” for hours at at time so that you could turn on the television and tune in to a virtual fireplace to warm up your holiday living room (at least visually).
To help you get into the holiday spirit the gapingvoid team made a couple of our own “Yule Logs” as animated GIFs. We did two versions and you can download them FOR FREE at the links below. Share them with your friends and give the gift that keeps on giving (or at least the faux flames that keep on burning…)
Enjoy!
[DOWNLOAD: HAPPY HOLIDAYS ANIMATED GIF]
[DOWNLOAD: ‘TIS THE SEASON! YAY! ANIMATED GIF]
Ho Ho Ho. Exactly.
December 11, 2012
“Commission Hugh to draw you an Amazing Holiday Gift for somebody you love”
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[Sent out originally in the newsletter etc.]
This year, Hugh’s set aside some time this month to draw for you. We are offering friends a special deal for personal (non-commercial) commissions to give to friends and family. Instead of the usual $3 – 5,000 for an image, he’ll draw you your own, custom image starting at just $500.
Click here for further details…
This should be a fun little project, my way of saying thanks to the gapingvoid community etc. Hmmmm… maybe this should be an annual gapingvoid tradition? you tell me 
February 9, 2012
Why “Only connect” is my favorite marketing strategy.
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Thanks to Chris for sending me this photo, via Twitter.
The gapingvoid Valentine print he ordered, just as he was opening the box. A delighted customer, so it seems. Hurrah!
I love getting stuff like this from people, and not just because “Social Proof is the new marketing” yada, yada, yada.
As artists and/or marketers and/or business people, it’s not enough to just think about the money and the ROI. We need to know that we “connected”, somehow. Deeply so, sometimes.
Or else we just become very dull, making very dull stuff for very dull people, living very dull lives.
Which except for the occasional faceless corporation, is not much of a sustainable business model.
E.M. Forster’s very famous advice to aspiring authors had a mere two words: “Only connect.”
Exactly. In both art and business.
Only connect.
Think about it.
Greeting Cards… Now Unavailable At gapingvoid!
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I love this. A gapingvoid greeting card, newly printed, the finest inks on on the finest card stock yada, yada, yada.
No, we’re not selling them anytime soon. We sent them out to everybody who ordered one of our “Love Prints” in time for Valentine’s Day etc etc.
How do you make something ubiquitous seem valuable to people? A nice greeting card, for example? Something that you normally can find in any shopping mall for the price of a cup of coffee?
By making it scarce. Exactly. Special. Exactly. By making it NOT available in any shopping mall, by making it NOT for sale, at any price (within reason). Exactly.
Early on, Jason (my business partner these last eight years) and I figured out that gapingvoid would probably NEVER BE big and mainstream, a-la Dilbert or Doonesbury.
So there was NO POINT doing the same marketing as Dilbert or Doonesbury. Or anybody else, for that matter.
Like ol’ Steve said, think different.
You?
December 25, 2011
My Christmas Message:
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[Link:] Personent Hodie.
1. Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.
2. in mundo nascitur,
pannis involvitur
praesepi ponitur
stabulo brutorum,
rector supernorum.
perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.
3. magi tres venerunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
stellulam sequendo,
ipsum adorando,
aurum, thus, et myrrham ei offerendo.
4. omnes clericuli,
pariter pueri,
cantent ut angeli:
advenisti mundo,
laudes tibi fundo.
ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.
Merry Christ-Mass, Everybody.
December 16, 2011
No Jokes
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[Sent out earlier in today’s newsletter…]
I am fortunate to have lived in Britain. It taught me JUST HOW DIRE some office parties can be. They have Christmas-office-party direness down to an art form. So I wanted to make a Xmas cartoon that paid tribute to that. With a great deal of affection, I might add…
February 13, 2011
facebook virtual valentines
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This Valentine’s, if you want to send somebodye some love, eHarmony, the big dating site has a “Virtual Valentine’s” app over on their Facebook page.
And yes, their using my cartoons for it.
This is very cool– it gets my work seen by a lot of people that I don’t reach by my normal channels.
And of course, if you like any of the cartoons, they’re available as fine art prints over at the gapingvoid gallery…
January 30, 2011
the science of love. the science of eHarmony.com.
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Like Loic and I discussed many years ago, the best thing about being a blogger is the people you get to meet. It’s also true of being a cartoonist, as well. Cartooning opens doors.
Three weeks ago, the whole cartoonist thing somehow led me to Santa Monica, CA, sitting in the office of Dr. Gian Gonzaga, PhD.
Dr. Gian is the head research guy at eHarmony.com, the big dating site. You’ve probably seen the commercials.
We sat there and talked for about 3 hours. It was one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had in… like, forever.
Gian’s research, both in academia and for eHarmony, asks very simple questions: What makes for successful couples? What makes for good long-term relationships?
And yeah, as someone who spends a lot of time every year designing fine art Valentines, I find the whole thing absolutely fascinating.
The one big takeaway from the conversation?
It’s called “eHarmony” for a reason. It’s not called “ePassion” or “eSex” or eHookUp or “eRomance” or “eOneNightStand”.
True love, lasting love, cannot exist without some sort of inherent “Harmony” in the relationship. And no amount of sex or passion or romance or money can make up for that. Hence the cartoon above [I actually drew that cartoon well over a year ago, long before I met up with eHarmony. Great minds think alike etc.].
And so eHarmony tries to match single people in a “harmonious” way, to give them a better chance at being in a happy relationship. Visit their site and dig around a little, you’ll see what I mean.
Another big takeaway from Gian?
People are designed for harmony.
We’ve evolved over millions of years to be a certain way. And if we act in such way that is not “in harmony” with this long-term evolved self, we will make ourselves unhappy.
We are made to be good people. We are made to love. We are especially made to love our children. We are made to care about one another (at least in close proximity). We are made to live good lives. We are basically programmed for goodness, and not evil.
The things that make us happy are the same things that made our prehistoric ancestors happy. Our true nature is hard-wired; our true nature has been evolved over millions of years. No amount of “Drugs & Hookers” is going to make you happy, no matter how much money you spend on them. Nature simply didn’t make you that way.
Funny: The day after our meeting, I then found myself in Las Vegas, attending CES on behalf of one of my clients, Intel.
It was REALLY interesting to be in Vegas the day after Dr. Gian. Walking around the bars and casinos, I witnessed a COMPLETELY different worldview from eHarmony’s, to say the least.
I really, really, really enjoyed my meeting with Dr. Gian. I left his office feeling totally energized with my brain on fire. Whatever your take on eHarmony may be, I’m always elevated by people who, in their own way, tried to build their lives and their work around something that isn’t trivial, something that actually matters both to our individual selves and humanity in general. Something not enough of us do. Good luck to him, I say.
[PS: I’m doing a wee Valentine cartoon promo with eHarmony. Watch this space…]
January 29, 2010
the ‘love’ series: perfect gift for valentine’s day etc etc…
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With Valentine’s Day coming up, we thought we’d do a series of prints for all you love junkies out there.
Voila! The ‘Love’ Series. Order them now and get them in plenty of time before February 14th. Exactly!
You did the chocolate and flowers thing last year, anyway…
This cartoon series first came out of the Stormhoek “Love Tour” three years ago, when I was doing some Valentine’s promo for wine at Tesco’s, the large British supermarket chain. That was a very crazy two weeks; watch the video if you don’t believe me.
And Ladies, please always remember The Golden Rule: Men Are Stupid. So if you want your man to get you one of these beauties for Valentine’s Day, do not assume he and his walnut-sized brain will be smart enough to figure it out on their own. Best to drop him a hint. Maybe kick him in the shins. Or something.
I’ll be sending these cartoons out on my “Hugh’s Daily Cartoon” mailing list for the next week or two, then the plan is to do something less “cute and cuddly” after that. Rock on.
[P.S. The best way to support gapingvoid is to tell your friends about “Hugh’s Daily Cartoon” email.]
December 12, 2009
the love never dies
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[About Hugh. Cartoon Archive. Sign up for my “Daily Cartoon” Newsletter.]
December 25, 2007
merry christmas, everybody!
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[Link:] Personent Hodie.
1. Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.
2. in mundo nascitur,
pannis involvitur
praesepi ponitur
stabulo brutorum,
rector supernorum.
perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.
3. magi tres venerunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
stellulam sequendo,
ipsum adorando,
aurum, thus, et myrrham ei offerendo.
4. omnes clericuli,
pariter pueri,
cantent ut angeli:
advenisti mundo,
laudes tibi fundo.
ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.
Merry Christ-Mass, Everybody.
![[DOWNLOAD: HAPPY HOLIDAYS ANIMATED GIF]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ibbvl01y43sknhy/gapingvoid%20happy-holidays-animated.gif){kind=link}
![[DOWNLOAD: ‘TIS THE SEASON! YAY! ANIMATED GIF]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/1edsopxoyz2hedk/gapingvoid%20tis-the-season-animated.gif?utm_source=Gapingvoid+Daily+Cartoon&utm_campaign=16b3de4538-691+%22Gapingvoid+Yule%22+December+11+2012&utm_medium=email){kind=link}