Guy who drew the seal

The Breeze goes behind the scenes of the L.A. County seal controversy with a feature on Loren Clapp, the civil service graphic artist who designed the new version. He's no Millard Sheets, who drew the first county seal based on a design by Kenny Hahn, but Clapp gave his boss, county CAO David Janssen, what he asked for.

Clapp figures he went through more than 30 versions of the county seal, putting pictures to the ideas offered by Janssen, the chief administrator. He expected some of the criticism that followed the unveiling of his seal; "I just didn't realize it would become such a huge political deal," he said.

"You kind of shrug your shoulders and say, 'Well, everybody has their opinion,' " he said. "As an artist, you think of it as an extension of yourself.

"I think I did a good job."

Now if only the squabble would go away...

Previously: Seal debuts