When is a drawing done?

When I finished the preliminary sketch of my holiday card (see previous post) I thought it looked pretty good. But that drawing came quickly. I didn't trust it. It was too easy! I must suffer for my art.

Was the first sketch good? Or just good enough?

These characters are stylized but are based on real animals. The more inspiration I draw from the actual critters the better. I Googled shrimp. After studying several photos I realized my "shrimp" looked more like a lobster. I narrowed the body and legs. I gave him a pointy head. I rearranged the antanae. I also used this opportunty to exaggerate the gesture and expression.

I moved on to the angler fish. I looked at a dozen angler photos. One photo in particualr caught my eye. It was a freaky looking fish. I would be a fool not to let that image inspire me.

Is the drawing done? I think so. I could spend the rest of my life perfecting these characters but I have other fish to fry.

Holiday Card Sketch

I was channel surfing and stumbled across "Blue Planet" on the Discovery Channel. This particular episode was all about the scary fish that live way down deep. I've always been intrigued by angler fish and this program featured several rarely seen specimens.

The next day I was strolling down the street (cup of coffee in hand), brainstorming for my holiday card. A chameleon on a red Christmas tree bulb?

Done that.

I thought about a glowing Christmas tree bulb. I remembered the phosphorescent lure of the deep sea angler fish. Where do ideas come from? Channel surfing and coffee.

Posted is a sketch colorized in Photoshop.

Something Ancient

When I was a kid, the local Recreation Department held a Halloween window painting contest and every year I would enter. I recently found this old negative and scanned it at 2400 dpi. The resulting image is choke full of lost details and memories. Decades later I can read what I wrote on the coffin–"Dracula's Pad". That's my brother David stealing my limelight.

An Award Winning Illustration!

The New Hampshire Creative Club's 19th Annual Exhibition and Award ceremony was last night (For an explanation of the NHCC see previous post). The festivities were held in the Manchester photography studios of Althea Haropulos. The studio is housed in a beautiful riverside mill building–lots of brick, hard wood and tall windows. An enviable space–sure beats my cluttered studio.

The Exhibition honors design professionals in New Hampshire. Award categories include best design, web, photography, copy writing , student work and of course illustration. The Portsmouth Ballroom logo was entered by Harbour Light Strategic Marketing (they commissioned me to create the logo).

The competition was strong and I didn't think a logo would win. Compared to more detailed and colorful illustrations my logo looked woefully simple. I am happy to win but still fear the judges made a mistake!

The ballroom logo started as brush and ink drawing that was then scanned and manipulated in Adobe Illustrator.

New Hampshire Creative Club

The New Hampshire Creative Club is an organization of creative professionals such as graphic designers, photographers and illustrators. Every year they sponsor the "Academy Awards" of New Hampshire creative types–the NH Creative Club Annual Exhibition. This year, I was invited to design the call for entrees brochure. I was happy to oblige–an opportunity to get my work in front of colleagues around the state plus the NHCC gave me free reign.

The NHCC logo features a person having a eureka moment. Staring at the logo I thought of the statues on Easter Island. The idea of bringing the logo to life tickled me–and it would fun to illustrate. The fact NH is the granite state–well, that was just gravy.

Once Jim Roland (NHCC member) assured me that no one had done an Easter Island theme I started brainstorming headlines. "Don't just stand there" and "It's time to show the world what you're made of" seemed clever enough. I'm particularly fond of the bunny.

FYI–The final brochure was a tri-fold, 6x9.

Magazine Illustration

These illustrations appeared in Accent Magazine for a story about concierge services.

Stego Final?

This just might be done. My super critic, John (every one needs a super critic), wants to see the background developed more. I don't want the background to detract from the kids and the stegosaurus (my favorite dino by the way). Perhaps a few more details–bricks on the chimney, shingles on the house. Scroll down to see earlier drafts of this illustration.