The Oklahoma commemorative quarter will be minted in 2008. Gov. Brad Henry has asked me to assist him in selecting the final design for our quarter. (Well, he didn’t ask me personally; but he did specifically ask “fellow Oklahomans” to assist him, and that includes me.)
On Henry’s website is a form, where you can vote for up to five of the ten “narratives” depicted. You can see a pencil draft of each design on his site, but I thought it would help you to visualize the coins if I ran these sketches through the old Photoshop emboss filter, so they would look a little more like embossed coins. Here, to aid you in your deliberations, are all ten designs.
Now go vote for your favorite. Voting will be open until Sept. 20.
Too bad there’s no vote for “they all stink.” The oil well gushes would look better if they were lifted Robert Crumb sweat shots. All the people look like husk dolls, and #6 looks like South Carolina. I don’t suppose you could recommend a real artist to do these? Or is it open only to the Governor’s kid?
Kevin, from the way you are criticizing the renderings, I think you may misunderstand their purpose.
What we are choosing is actually not any of these drawings, but rather the paragraphs, or “narratives,” describing them. For instance, if you vote for Number 1, you are not voting for that picture, you are voting for “Centered on the coin is a simple, three-dimensional rendering of the shape of Oklahoma with 46 stars, signifying the state as the 46th state to join the United States.” And so forth.
The State of Oklahoma will send its chosen “narratives” to the U.S. Treasury Department. The Treasury is responsible for rendering the “narrative” into a coin. It is not bound (or even likely) to follow these rough drafts for the final design, it just has to follow the text.
I don’t know who did these pencil drawings, but they are thumbnail sketches, to give folks a rough idea of what the composition of the coin might be. To help people visualize the coin a little better than the text alone would. And they serve that purpose well.
But if you would like to provide better drafts of the ten narratives, please send them to me. I will update this post with your improved renderings.
Done. Check your email. I kinda petered out drawing those stars.
[Below are the three designs Kevin e-mailed. — Sean]
That last one is an homage to Terrytoon’s Go-Go Gophers, right?
That and the Tumbleweeds strip. My pop cultural influences are all moonched up in the brain blender.
We agree with Kevin. How about just using the seal or the Oklahoma flag, both beautiful. Just incase you can’t use either #7, # 10 and # 5 are the best of the lot, starting with #7 down.
well, i agree that 7 is the best and that 10 is good, but i feel that 6 is better that 5. oh well.
I believe that the best design, and I am sorry to be out of my native state now and missing the vote, would be the design from our flag. The osage warrior’s shield is iconic and beautiful. And round, so it would fill the coin well.
And while the state govt is at it, get the “Oklahoma” off the flag and make the shield larger relative to the field. I don’t think we need be so self-conscious; we can let the image stand alone on the flag. Hey, even do away with “native america” on the tags. Sweet and clean.
I agree with Kevin they all stink. They do not reflect the spirit and identity of Oklahoma. As to Greg’s last comment about our flag…I AGREE whole-heartedly. I’ll go him one better and say, lets go back to the original state flag.