It’s sad to see it close down. I have a lot of great memories of PI. In fact, when I first moved to Central Florida, this is where my brother’s took me to hang out. After years of not really spending time with my brothers since I was always hanging out with my older friends, my brothers and I reconnected while in Central Florida. We were all in our early 20s and were regulars at PI, dancing and drinking almost every night for a few months. What a blast!!!

At the time I had also gone through a bad break up so going out every night to dance and drink with my brothers and friends was a great way for me to get back on my feet. For the first time I enjoyed being single.

On Saturday night, my buddy called and asked me if I wanted to go one more time. Of course I said yes. So I joined him and his lovely wife for one more visit before PI closed its doors and becomes yet another slew of shops.

We hit the Adventurers Club first. I brought my sketchbook with me and was able to capture a quick sketch of Colonel Critchlow Suchbench (Click to enlarge). This is my last tangible memento of Pleasure Island (It’s still a work in progress). The piece is actually a sketch, but I scanned it and brought it into Painter.

Unfortunately one morning, I got in, getting ready to head to work and when I tried turning her on, she didn’t. I knew it wasn’t the starter nor the alternator.

I had it towed to my mechanic and he said a hose had busted and asked if she had overheated. I said no since it happened while she was in our driveway.

But after talking to him it was aparent that she needed some work. Unfortunately I didn’t want to spend the extra $350 to find out exactly what she needed. So it was time to let her go.

After being an idiot and letting people string me along while trying to sell her the first time, I changed my attitude and my method. First come first serve. No sob stories about your wife being in the hospital and asking to pay me $200.

So after dealing with a few stupid people, I got a call from Eric. Nice guys from Palm Bay. Originally from New York. It just happens that he collects Civics and likes to restore them. Basically, he was my ideal client. I wanted the car to go to a good home. I made sure to mention in the ad that she didn’t run and needed work.

Eric showed up this morning @ 8:45 a.m. after about an hour and forty five minute drive from Palm Bay. Nice attitude, good demeanor and most importantly cash in hand. The deal was made, title transfered, bill of sale signed and he began to put her on his trailer. Oh yeah, he brought his trailer with him. You won’t believe how many people wanted to knock off the price because they wanted to have it towed. Eric came prepared. You can tell he’s been doing this for a long time. I’d say he’s a guy in his early 40. Relaxed, easy going. The kind of guy who seems cool to hang with. He brought his buddy Dan, who helps him restore Civics. Dan was cool too.

I bought my Civic on July 4th, 1995 from South Motors Honda in South Miami. I remember driving her off the lot. She’s been all over Miami, the Keys, all over Florida really. I took her with me to college in Gainesville, travled both Florida coasts. I took her with me to Pennsylvania when I moved there. I drove her to New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, DC and I drove her down packed with my stuff when I moved back down to Orlando in 2002 to be back with Alisha and my family.

It was heart wrenching to see her go. I went through a lot with her. She was incredibly reliable. She gave me 240,342 miles of wonderful memories. I even shot video as they put her on the trailer and drove away.

So, good-bye old friend. I know you’re going to a good home and will get the care and attention you need.

Here’s the first of 4. This is still a work in progress. Click to enlarge.

Here are the 5 turtle illustrations that I will be working with. The 5th is actually the only concept that is much more fully developed, although it still needs some refining. Each turtle will have several variations but one from each core concept will be chosen. Basically they’ll end up with 5 choices from the plethora of ideas my head has spit out.

Once I have the 5 fleshed out logo concepts, I’ll post them and of course I will post the final logo as well.

Click on any of the images below to enlarge.

Update: I won’t be working on 5 concepts. They’ve already chosen to go with concept 5.  It’s the only logo where I’ve applied the theme, which will be disclosed later on. As for the other 4 drawings, I’m going to turn them into paintings.

When design becomes client driven, and the designer sidelined to a role of passive implementer, the result is the timid repetition of formulaic ideas and endlessly recycled stylistic poses. In fact, great design is by definition a merger of technical skill and aesthetic judgement (craft) and the delivery of a clear message (communication).