Interior Art In A Hurry!

The record project that Josh Asked me to do had two parts. I had planned to make an image for the interior that was more in keeping with the cover. I constructed the whole image for the cover fom my head using reference as a guided for accuracy. The circumstance of my weekend caused a shift in the approach for the interior.

I had two major jobs for Adidas and for Darkhorse that absolutely had to be complete by Monday morning. I knew Josh needed his piece in the same time frame and that if I didn't find a way to make his image quickly it just wouldn't happen. I looked online and found pictures I liked of Cleveland and San Francisco. I picked starting images that I thought evoked each city and then I knit them together in photoshop-printed them out in blueline and inked over the bits I thought looked best.

Normally I think of that as a lazy approach and I suppose it would be if you had tons of time but I had next to none. I have found, in the business of professional illustration, that delivering on time is better than sticking vehemently to some aesthetic dogma. Experience is a great teacher and this weekend showed me how to be as efficient as possible.

Cleverancisco

The same musician friend who I mentioned in last week's post 'Jazz is like Jello Pudding' commissioned me to do another cover. He told me, neglecting not the slightest detail, what he wanted to see and this was my best attempt at capturing it:


He had asked, specifically, that I switch two buildings from each city's respective skylines and fuse them in the fold of the CD jacket. It is somewhat busy, but overall, I'm pleased with it.

Gameshow Fun

I had been given a job by the Oregon Children's Theater and the Kaiser Permanente Educational Theater Program to design and illustrate a backdrop that will be used around Portland to entertain and engage kids and adults about health. The project director had a color palette in mind and a reference point of match game for me to go off of.

I produced this:


When they asked for a second round of characters I sent them this sketch:


You can see which ones they ended up enjoying the most. they narrowed it down to the comedienne, The 'Muppet' and the athlete:


I like Cakey Monster the best. Look for these backdrops at events around Portland this summer and check out the Oregon Children's Theatre WEBSITE.

Jazz Is Like Jello Pudding

My close friend Joshua Smith is a fantastic sax player who has made many exciting and unusual recordings in the 12 years that we've been friends. This album by the Cleveland Trio, his most recent, features art made by yours truly.






He called me last year (after he'd made the recording) to brainstorm ideas for a cover and, within a few minutes of the start of the call, I sketched out what he described. Doing the final art only took an hour or so and the final printed result is beautiful. I enjoy Josh as a musical collaborator but we seemed to make a good visual team too! He just came through town on a tour and gave me a few copies of the printed album. If you like Jazz vocabulary but you like music that veers away from familiar tropes then check out my amazing friend Josh's Website and his other astounding sonic explorations.

Comission Mission

A month or so ago I was asked to do this commission:


I tried a couple roughs for my client with more extreme/dynamic angles but she wanted a straightforward portrait. There were a lot of requests for small details and I feel like I did a decent job accommodating those. I learned a couple things from doing this piece:

1. Charge per person depicted when you do a portrait commission. Likenesses are hard and time consuming. One should be paid appropriately. Thankfully I really liked the client and It didn't care that I had quoted her a low rate because she was so easy to work with.

2. I have to work on proportion and doing this pointed that fact out to me. There are a few little issues apparent in the image but I still like it.


I would do commissions like this in the future on a case by case basis. For now I like doing stories or pinups of characters that are well established. It requires less busy work to render a firmly established character or aesthetic.

You're Gonna Find Yourself Floating Home

I have a more elaborate Han Solo drawing on the back burner. This image was done as a tryout for a possible comics job where the request was to draw the characters more simply. There is a difference between getting a likeness of a fictional character played by an actor and just doing a drawing of the actor. With this image I tried for Han Solo rather than Harrison Ford.

If you're a super 'original trilogy only' dork like me you'll note where the two bounty hunters, that are tracking Han, are from.

When I finish thepinup I will post that too. Both will be available on the Periscope Studio Etsy Store.

Too Old To Begin The Training

So, as some of you may know, I have an obsession with Star Wars that spans my whole life and I decided to celebrate that by doing some pinups. This is the first one and you can see in the thumbnails the other images I had planned.


I'll also be posting my Han Solo/Yoda image upon completion.


I used prismacolor markers and some pitt pens. I find that I like the looseness of the sketches and that I have a little trouble transferring that energy to the final. Overall I feel that what is lost in energy gets balance out with solidity.




In other news The great Paul Gilbert has a new record coming out so you know what I'll be doing on August 3rd. If you like amazing guitar then fill your ears with THIS!

Be on the lookout for some PG fan art by yours truly.