Just finished this new Moleskine drawing: “Tried Meaningful”. You can see the enlarged image here. Let me know what you think!

[See more like this over at the Moleskine archive.]

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twit­ter. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Car­toon Archive. News­let­ter. Book. Inter­view. Essen­tial Rea­ding: “Everything You Always Wan­ted To Know About ‘Cube Gre­na­des’ But Were Afraid To Ask.”]

For a while there, I was toying with the idea of doing more big pieces, like Marfa One, photographed above.

Now I’m not so sure. I think long-term, I prefer a more “mobile” art form, like the business card cartoons or the Moleskines.

I will do more large pieces in the future, I believe. Just not too many of them. Maybe one or two a year. Unless people start com­mis­sioning them, of course…

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twit­ter. News­let­ter. Book. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Pri­vate Com­mis­sions. Cube Gre­na­des.]

[“Advertising Moleskine”. 5“x7”. Framed. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Unframed. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Just shipped this off in the mail today– a commissioned, framed Moleskine drawing.
Dave Whittle, an advertising executive down in Australia, commissioned me to draw him a Moleskine, based on an old cartoon print-out of mine, that he had hanging on his office wall.
A Cube Grenade. Exactly.
I sold my first Moleskine to a collector in Paris. This one is going to somebody in the South Pacific. I love the way the Internet gives relatively small operations like my own a global reach. Thanks, Dave!.
[gapingvoid commissions…] [More Moleskines for sale on the gallery page here.]

[“Advertising Moleskine”. 5“x7”. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Dave Whittle, an advertising executive down in Australia, commissioned me to draw him a Moleskine, based on an old cartoon print-out of mine, that he had hanging on his office wall.
A Cube Grenade. Exactly.
Yes, I’ll have it framed, like this one.
It was a fun project. It turned out well. I am pleased. Thanks, Dave!.
[gapingvoid commissions…]

[“Dinosaur” Cube Grenade.]

[I’m currently accepting both private and corporate commissions for cartoons, company logos, ‘Cube Grenades’, large pieces, Moleskines,  speaking engagements, workshops and whatever else you might be in the market for. Please read on for more details, Thanks! E-mail: gapingvoid@gmail.com.]

‘Cube Grenades’, I believe, is where my art works the best– small Social Objects that you “throw” in there in order to cause some damage– to start a con­ver­sa­tion, to cause disruption, to spread an idea etc. And I want to work with clients to make more of them. That’s my business. That’s my business model. Exactly.

[P.S. The Cube Grenade blog archive is here.]

1. HOW ‘CUBE GRENADES’ ARE RE-INVENTING THE ADVERTISING BUSINESS [AT LEAST FOR ME]

In September, 2009, I wrote about how Shit Creek Consulting had hired me to draw the above “Cube Gre­na­de” for them.

As a cartoon, it works. As a piece of advertising, it works. As a piece of communication, it works. As a Cube Grenade, it works. As a social object it works. As a conversation starter, it REALLY works. I was happy; so was the client.

Like a lot of bloggers with an advertising background, I have spent a lot of time over the years asking the question, “What is the future of advertising?”

Sure, in the last decade there’s been a lot of speculation about how Web 2.0 is going to change EVERYTHING in the industry– everything from putting mainstream agencies out of business, to Google ruling the world with an iron fist. But in spite of all the talk out there, a definitive answer has always remained somewhat elusive.

I think I may have FINALLY had a major breakthrough:

These last few weeks, while I have been VERY busy working on some new Cube Grenade business, it occurs to me that the Cube Grenade concept somehow manages to get both my backgrounds in cartooning and advertising working seamlessly together.

The Cube Grenades aren’t really designed to “sell”, like traditional advertising. They’re designed to hit a nerve and start conversations. Maybe that will help lead to sales down the road, but it’s not the primary purpose. Its primary purpose takes a more indirect, perhaps more disruptive path.

So what is the future of advertising? Well, I don’t know what yours is, but mine is The Cube Grenade. If that’s what you want, you come to me. If you want something different, go elsewhere.

Some people will get this, some people won’t, but that’s probably a good thing. Rock on.

[If you think the Cube Grenade idea could help your business, as always, feel free to e-mail me, Thanks.]

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twit­ter. News­let­ter. Book. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Pri­vate Com­mis­sions. Cube Gre­na­des.]

2. THE ORIGINAL ‘CUBE GRENADE’ PAGE

[Originally posted here, May, 2009.]

Above is a photo that one of my friends on Twit­ter sent me. He basi­cally down­loa­ded one of my car­toons off my blog, prin­ted it out, and stuck it outside his cube at work, for other peo­ple to see, hope­fully to com­ment on, and hope­fully, to start a con­ver­sa­tion.

Again, this, I believe, is where my car­toons work the best– “Cube Gre­na­des”- small Social Objects that you “throw” in there in order to cause some damage– to start a con­ver­sa­tion, to cause disruption, to spread an idea etc.

[The Blue Mons­ter]

The Mic­ro­soft Blue Mons­ter is pro­bably my best-known Cube Gre­nade, which is why I made it into a limi­ted edi­tion print even­tually.

Seth Godin first put his Pur­ple Cow book into a pur­ple milk car­ton for the same rea­son– he gues­sed [quite rightly, as it tur­ned out] that peo­ple would see the car­ton on somebody’s desk, inquire about it, and a con­ver­sa­tion about the mar­ke­ting ideas con­tai­ned in the book would be star­ted.

[The Pur­ple Cow print]

And the Pur­ple Cow print was desig­ned the same way. OK, it might be a bit big to dis­play in a cube– you need a lot of wall space for this one– but the idea is the same– Con­ver­sa­tions that hap­pen around the object are more inte­res­ting than the actual object itself.

“Cube Gre­na­des”. Exactly. Car­toons desig­ned to affect change as “Social Objects”. Exactly.

[Check out some of my limi­ted edi­tion prints over at gapingvoidgallery.com.]

MORE NOTES:

[More “Cube Gre­na­des” in action. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

1. Like I said, my car­toons work best when they’re used as “Cube Gre­na­des” i.e. small objects that you “throw” in there in order to cause some damage– to start a con­ver­sa­tion, to spread an idea etc. But other social objects can be used as well– pur­ple milk car­tons, home­made coo­kies, funky mou­se­pads, rub­ber toys, news­pa­per clip­pings etc. It’s the peo­ple that mat­ter, not the object they socia­lize around. I don’t claim to have a mono­poly.

2. Repeat After Me: Cube Gre­na­des are Social Objects. Cube Gre­na­des are Social Objects. Cube Gre­na­des are Social Objects…

3. All big change in com­pa­nies come from the peo­ple in the trenches, who do the actual day-to-day work. To change their beha­vior, you have to change the way they inte­ract. Peo­ple inte­ract around social objects. Change the social objects, and you change the com­pany.

4. My friend, Mark Earls once told me a story about a friend of his. The friend pla­yed a key role in the mas­si­vely suc­cess­ful cor­po­rate tur­na­round recently undertaken by McDonald’s.

His friend told him, “We knew we were screwed, NOT when the nutrition and green issues started hitting the newspapers, but by the simple fact that our staff on the floor just weren’t cleaning the tables and the bathrooms like they used to. We knew THEN that our people had lost faith in our company.”

What social objects were people using, both during the company’s decline and during its turnaround? What cube grenades were being thrown about, both before and after? I bet you they weren’t the same.

5. Yes, I am fully aware that your customers are paying for the quality of the products and services your business provides, not for the quality of the cube grenades flying around your corporate headquarters. But they are all related. Everything of value that your business creates is the product of a already-existing social dynamic. Businesses are people, not machines. And people socialize around objects.

6. An Open Letter to Ad Agencies: Guys, you are NOT selling messages anymore. You are selling social objects. The work that you create will affect the cube grenades and social objects, that your clients and their customers use to interact with each other.

[More Cube Grenades. “I use them as covers for my binders strewn about my desk, to start conversations”, says the person who e-mailed me the photo. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

7. You see a guy walking out of an Apple store, looking all excited about his new Apple computer he’s carrying under his arm? Why is he so excited? Sure, he just got himself a nice-looking piece of kit, but what REALLY excites him is all of the COOL, DISRUPTIVE STUFF he’s going to MAKE with his new machine. Videos, music mixes, whatever. For his FRIENDS and his PEERS. Again, it’s the SOCIAL that makes it interesting. Apple makes cube grenades, just like the ad agen­cies. Just like you do.

8. Peo­ple down­load my car­toons and stuck them on their walls by the THOUSANDS. A much sma­ller num­ber spend money to buy the more expen­sive ver­sions i.e. my prints. But the idea is the same i.e. a way for peo­ple to inte­ract. As I’m fond of saying: The con­ver­sa­tions AROUND the object are FAR more inte­res­ting than the object itself. And what is true for me is true of your pro­duct, as well. “Peo­ple Mat­ter. Objects don’t.” Exactly.

9. So when do I start char­ging? You can down­load my stuff for free, so why should you buy a print? Who says you should? I’m gues­sing that if one of my car­toons is mea­ning­ful enough to you, you’ll get tired of seeing it prin­ted on the office laser­prin­ter paper in low-resolution, get­ting all worn and torn, with the Scotch tape get­ting all yellow and crinkly. If you like the dra­wing enough, even­tually you’ll want to upgrade. The same way, back in college, that I would upgrade to vinyl or CDs, once the cheap and nasty cas­sette tape of my favo­rite band star­ted get­ting all fuzzy and worn out. The same way I gladly paid $20 to hear the band play live, rather than hear the same songs on the cas­sette. “Mea­ning Sca­les”. The more cube gre­na­des I throw out there, the more mea­ning­ful inte­rac­tion I create for other peo­ple, the more peo­ple will want to pay for it even­tually. If I loc­ked it all down as a cash-only tran­sac­tion, it would all die a horri­ble death over­night.

10. My long-term goal is to make more privately-commissioned “Cube Gre­na­des” for more clients like agen­ciac­lick. It was a won­der­ful wor­king expe­rience for me, and I want to spend more time in that busi­ness. If you find this idea inte­res­ting, please feel free to e-mail me at gapingvoid@gmail.com. Thanks.

3. CUBE GRENADES: LIMITED-EDITION, FINE ART PRINTS

[Privately-commissioned “Cube Grenades” i.e. limited edition, fine art prints that I did for my Brazilian client, agenciaclick. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

“This, I believe, is where my cartoons work the best– ‘Cube Grenades’- small social objects that you ‘throw’ in there in order to cause some damage– to start a conversation, to spread an idea etc.”

Probably the job I’m most proud of recently, is when I was hired by a Brazilian ad agency, agenciaclick to create a privately commissioned edition of cube grenades i.e. fine art prints. See photo above.

They didn’t want these prints for themselves; they wanted to give these out to their clients, as conversation starters.

“All brands are open brands? Huh? What does that mean? Do you agree with it? Why? What does “open” actually mean? What does “brand” actually mean…?” You get the picture. The same idea that made The Blue Monster so successful. Again, it wasn’t about the message, the object. It was all about the social.

My long-term goal is to make more privately-commissioned “Cube Grenades” for more clients like agenciaclick. It was a wonderful working experience for me, and I want to spend more time in that business.

[The Cube Grenade archive is here..]

4. “THE AD AGENCY PITCH”

To keep everything on the same page, I copied & pas­ted the entire “Ad Agency Pitch” from May 30th below. Thanks.

[Sig­ning the agen­ciac­lick cube gre­nade a cou­ple of weeks ago…]

Over the last cou­ple of weeks I’ve been tal­king with various adver­ti­sing and PR folk about the Cube Gre­nade idea. Here are some notes:

1. In terms of the adver­ti­sing and PR indus­tries, the Cube Gre­nade is basi­cally con­cei­ved as a rela­ti­vely cheap and effec­tive Social Object to arti­cu­late the Purpose-Idea of a brand or com­pany.

2. If the agency has an idea they REALLY want to sell to their client, they might have bet­ter luck if they first arti­cu­late the idea via a Cube Gre­nade desig­ned by me, rather than the tra­di­tio­nal “agency pitch” model. The agency’s idea is somehow arti­cu­la­ted as a com­mis­sio­ned print, the print is given out as a gift, to peo­ple within the rele­vant cons­ti­tuency. The print hangs on a wall, other peo­ple see it, and if the idea is any good then peo­ple will start tal­king about it. That con­ver­sa­tion will lead to other con­ver­sa­tions. If the idea is any good, other ideas [and oppor­tu­ni­ties] will be spaw­ned from it.

3. The Cube Gre­nade is not a glo­ri­fied adver­ti­sing pos­ter. I’m not pri­ma­rily inte­res­ted in why peo­ple should buy the client’s pro­duct per se. I’m far more inte­res­ted in the human dyna­mic, the collec­tive human drive that makes the client’s peo­ple want to get up in the mor­ning and go to work. That is where THE REAL VALUE is crea­ted.

4. Because the Cube Gre­nade is given as a gift– an act of love, as it were– AND NOT A DELIVERABLE WANTING TO BE SOLD, it will break through the cul­tu­ral barriers of the client com­pany a lot more cheaply and quickly than your stan­dard “Big Adver­ti­sing Idea”. The game here is not about “Selling An Ad”, the point is to make the client more alive, more human, more aware of their own human poten­tial. Again, this is where is where THE REAL VALUE for the client-agency rela­tionship is crea­ted.

5. Whether the Cube Gre­nade “works” or not in the end, both agency and client will find out if the thought behind it works A LOT soo­ner and inex­pen­si­vely than exe­cu­ting your ave­rage ad cam­paign. Like all com­mu­ni­ca­tion, the idea needs to RISK FAILURE if it’s ever to be any good. “Fail cheap, fail often”, as the great ven­ture capi­ta­list, Esther Dyson likes to say.

6. As I’ve said before to the ad agen­cies: “Guys, you are NOT selling mes­sa­ges any­more. You are selling Social Objects. The work that you create will affect the Cube Gre­na­des and Social Objects, that your clients and their cus­to­mers use to inte­ract with each other.” This is why I’m tal­king to adver­ti­sing folk. At the end of the day, we’re both in the same busi­ness.

7. To get more back­ground rea­ding, please visit my Cube Gre­nade archive here. You might also want to check out “The Hugh­train” to get a bet­ter unders­tan­ding of where my ideas are coming from.

8. As always, if this idea is of any inte­rest to you, please feel free to con­tact me at gapingvoid@gmail.com. Or if you know someone in the adver­ti­sing industry, please send them along to this page [Here’s the link]. Thanks!

5. “OFFICE ART”

Originally posted on this blog, September, 2009: a little bit of the philosophy behind my work:

[This could make a nice print, one day…]

Recently on Twitter, I wrote:

Art that brightens up the office vs Art that brightens up the home. Two different vibes altogether. I prefer making the former.

To which my friend, Kathy Sierra replied:

Good! Homes are less likely to *need* brightening the way offices do. I can brighten my home just by making toast.

Whether we’re talking wee cube grenade laser copies or something much larger, like The Purple Cow Print, when I launched the gapingvoid gallery earlier this year, that was my intention– to make art for the workspace.

This desire goes back to my early years working as an advertising creative. There was always cool stuff– fine art, posters, graphic design, cartoons– hanging up everywhere. Stuff to amuse and inspire us, stuff to tweak our brains in the right direction. And though its effect on the agency’s bottom line would’ve been hard to measure, somehow it worked– or at least, helped.

Why can’t all offices be more like this? Is there some law that requires certain types of businesses to maintain a dull, gray, machine-like, life-sucking visual environment? You could ague that maybe for some companies, sure, but that’s not a world I’ve ever aspired to belong to.

“Office Art” tends to come in two main categories: 1. REALLY expensive. 2. REALLY cheesy.

I wanted to make office art that was neither…

[Afterthought:] Of course, a lot of my collectors work from home, therefore their offices are in the house, not in an office building. But the prints were made with the workspace in mind, not the “living” space, regardless.

6. “Art And The Real World”.

[Originally posted on this blog, October, 2009]

[“Port­fo­lio Num­ber One”, han­ging in a collector’s office in Germany.]

I’ve been pla­ying around with this line  a lot recently: “Art For The Real World”.

I’m inte­res­ted in how art affects what some peo­ple call “The Real World”- the work­place, the world of work, the world of busi­ness. That’s what the Cube Gre­nade idea is all about.

My adver­ti­sing buddy, Vinny Warren, grew up in a Roman Catho­lic hou­sehold in Ire­land. He was telling me that his parents would always have a few reli­gious icons han­ging on the wall somewhere. Pic­tu­res of Saints, Mary & Baby Jesus, that kind of thing.

Why? Says Vinny, “To remind us who we were.”

Art that reminds you who you are. Exactly. What applies in Catho­lic hou­seholds also applies in pla­ces of busi­ness. Sha­red Mea­ning. Exactly. Social Objects. Exactly.

I don’t think any of this is roc­ket science…

[Update:] John left a good com­ment:

I think surroun­ding our­sel­ves with icons, art, books and such to remind our­sel­ves of who we are, where we have been and where we hope to go is essen­tial to kee­ping our hearts alive. It is too easy to lose our way. My office is full of these things.

7. MOLESKINES:

[“Moleskine 42″ in a nice wooden frame. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[“Moleskine 42″ before the framing, approx 5“x7”: Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Close-up view]

In May, 2008 I blogged about a new drawing, “Moleskine 42″.

Since then I’ve gotten a lot of requests for them. So I plan to be doing more in future.

ADVERTISING MOLESKINE:

[“Adver­ti­sing Moles­kine”. 5“x7”. Fra­med. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Unfra­med. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

Dave Whittle, an adver­ti­sing exe­cu­tive down in Aus­tra­lia, com­mis­sio­ned me to draw him a Moles­kine, based on an old car­toon print-out of mine, that he had han­ging on his office wall. A Cube Gre­nade. Exactly. I sold my first Moles­kine to a collec­tor in Paris. This one is going to some­body in the South Paci­fic. I love the way the Inter­net gives rela­ti­vely small ope­ra­tions like my own a glo­bal reach. Thanks, Dave!.

[The Moleskine archive is here.]

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Work with Hugh. Twit­ter. Cartoon Archive. News­let­ter. Book. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Cube Gre­na­des.]

[“Murmer”. Ink & Pencil on Moleskine. April, 2009.]
I have some new original pieces for sale on my gapingvoid gallery page, including three new “Moleskine” pieces.
I’m asking myself a lot these days, “How did I get into the art business?” It certainly wasn’t intentional. That could be a good thing, of course…
I hope you’ll check them out. Thanks, Everybody!

[“Moleskine 42″ in a nice wooden frame. Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[“Moleskine 42″ before the framing, approx 5“x7”: Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Close-up view]
In May 4th, 2008 I blogged about a new drawing, “Moleskine 42″.
I’m planning on doing more of these. I like their simple, plain, black & white austerity.
Yes, I’ll be selling them. I’ll also be taking commissions, just like I did with The “Wikipedia” Moleskine. If you’re in the market, feel free to let me know via email, Thanks.
[Moleskine Archive is here.]

[Moleskine homepage.]

[“Wikipedia Moleskine”. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
Somebody recently commissioned me to draw them one of my Moleskines. The idea is to frame and mount it, like “Moleskine 42″.
The guy has issues with Wikipedia. Long story.

[Click on image to enlarge/print etc.]

[Another one from my Moleskine… Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[“Moleskine 42″ in a nice wooden frame. Click on image to enlarge etc.]
On May 4th I blogged about “Moleskine 42″:

[Overview: Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Close-up view]

“Moleskine 42″. A wee sketch I did over the weekend in my Moleskine notebook. Approx 5x7 inches.

It was a single drawing in a brand new Moleskine notebook. Which as you will see from the photo above, I went out and got mounted and framed.
This will look good on somebody’s wall. Yes, it is for sale. We’re talking in the $700 range.
[UPDATE:] Somebody made me an offer for the piece, and I accepted it. Rock on.

[Overview: Click on image to enlarge etc.]

[Close-up view]

“Moleskine 42″. A wee sketch I did over the weekend in my Moleskine notebook. Approx 5x7 inches.