The Western Regional contest season is getting off to an early start thanks to the organizational skills of Chapter 36 contest director, Casey Erikson. This 50′s style poster uses a painterly style (done in Corel Painter) to evoke the romance of aerobatics and encourage new members to join the fun.
Poster, Program and T-shirts for the Delano 2010 Contest feature Tim Just’s Extra 300S with a tabloid, potboiler theme. Articles in the program featured the discovery of Amelia Earhart’s Barfbag, a sighting of Pancho Barnes’ ghost and aliens practicing aerobatics in a cow pasture.
The hottest contest of the year…wasn’t. For the first time in several summers, the weather for the Delano contest was in the balmy and pleasant low 90′s. The graphics for the contest featured a series of “hotter than” quotes and black t-shirts, all with an aggressive head-on image of an sBach 342.
For 2008, the Apple Valley Contest became the “Duel in the Desert” with a wild west theme. The weather didn’t let us down, high winds and blowing sand caused cancellation of flying in the afternoon of day two. The poster, program and shirts all featured a Sukhoi 31, weapon of choice for serious aerobatic gunslingers.
In spite of the upbeat title “Happiness is Delano” can be one of the hottest, most miserable contests of the California season. Temperatures often reach 105 degrees leaving pilots and judges to bake in the heat. The graphics for the 2008 contest poke fun at the insanity of sitting in the heat trying to judge a contest while vultures circle overhead. The program featured comic quips by past champion Pete Anderson.
Contest graphics for the 2008 Apple Valley Gold Cup featured National Champion Vicki Cruse’s Edge 540 and a program designed to look like a vintage logbook. A classic embroidered polo completed the set.
The first poster I designed for an aerobatic contest featured a beautifully restored Pitts Model 12.