New 'whale tail' license plate makes a big splash

The new license plate was created as a team effort, Atkins said. He and Tyndall each won a $1,000 award, and Atkins, a digital designer, was paid for time spent coming up with the final product.

"I created more than 70 different concepts," Atkins said. "It was a job."

The two artists, selected after a rigorous competition involving 300 applicants, were asked to meet together in San Francisco at Coastal Commission offices to begin the creative process, Atkins said.

Atkins used his digital skills and worked with Tyndall's paintings to create the final image of an upright humpback tail against a bright sky, with water droplets.

In contrast to the verbal agreement between Wyland and the commission, Atkins said each artist who submitted to the competition had to sign a statement that the work belonged to the commission.

Atkins has been a Laguna Beach artist since the 1970s, starting out at the Festival of Arts and Sawdust Art Festival, and eventually opening up his own digital art studio, where he creates posters for celebrities, banners and other works.

He recently won a competition to design a banner for the City Council chambers, and two years ago designed a poster to help launch the Sister Cities Assn., which links Laguna Beach and Menton, France. He also teaches graphic design at Irvine Valley College.

His posters can be found at the Vintage Poster gallery and his website is lagunaposter.com.

To order a whale tail license plate, visit http://www.ecoplates.com.