This is a mock up of a branded car wash franchise I created from (literally) a napkin sketch. I actually did the rendering last November, but becasue of NDA’s etc, I was not able to talk about it. (But now I am!) The rendering was created using Google Sketch-up. This gave me a completely fictitious 3D building from which I could rotate, and send different views, from different angles, to my client from which he could pick and choose. For the final rendering, I jumped into Photoshop and created custom surface textures. I am not really into 3D modeling, but Google Sketch-up makes it really easy to create quick three dimensional doodles. It helped that I had some experience in creating gaming textures. The client saved thousands of dollars by NOT having an architectural, structured rendering done from engineered plans. It was created expressly for a pitch in Tennessee; A speculative proposal backed by some very well-heeled VC partners. The franchise company loved it (Making my client VERY happy).

The project is a go. I am now bidding on creating the branded logo and collateral for the Car Wash. (The one on the flags was for the presentation only). Getting that gig would be cool beans!

This is a model sheet for a new character I am working on. The Character is the mother of the protagonist; a little boy named Joshua. Whenever Joshua is faced with a problem, he goes to his mother who helps him “think it out” to find a solution. Joshua’s mom is a superhero of sorts (as all mothers are). She carries a purse which has EVERYTHING in it, and a utility belt that would make batman jealous. She always carries a Leatherman-type pocket tool and can usually be found in the Kitchen or Garage building or baking something wonderful.

I am unsure about the anime hair. It sort of works but it also feels too “trendy.”

It’s funny. Every once in a while, while I am rummaging through Amazon, I will run across a book cover that I have designed. I have done lots of these covers for a variety of clients. I have worked with big publishers and small independents. I have held the hands of self publishers, and have dealt with large bureaucracies of editors, project managers, art directors, and authors. I have worked in trade paperbacks and educational textbooks. I don’t do as many of these that I used to, (book covers I mean) but each time I run across something like this it makes me long to get back into it. This particular sample is not one of my best, but still, it was fun and a wonderful example of why I liked doing them. It has a feeling of a logo, but with a more intimate directed focus. The ultimate expression of integrated typographic design and illustrative visual.

Change. People are resistant to change. But change can be so beneficial if you are open-minded enough to embrace what is good, while providing solutions to what is not. (Notice the lack of whining option?)

Take the stylus for example. Please … take it! I don’t need it for my iPhone or iPad. I just happen to have ten, eco-friendly, organic styli conveniently placed at my fingertips. Yes, it requires a conceptual jump. Just like the jump from analog to digital, only this time I am jumping to my fingers. Oddly enough I have been using my fingers for years for all sorts of stylus-type jobs. They are willing soldiers just waiting to do whatever job I point them at. They are sensitive, flexible, and exhibit almost no fear in the face of the unknown. The real demon here is not the lack of styli, it is the software. Software is UI driven. In a world of 27-inch computer monitors, or multiple monitors, software engineers have become lazy, or in some cases downright belligerent, in filling our screen real estate with endless panels and docks. When this problem is forced into a small space such as the iPhone, the UI becomes paramount.

If anything, Sketchbook Pro is a pioneer at clearing away the UI so that an illustrator can concentrate on creative expression. Their gesture-based lagoon on desktop machines does a reasonably good job at subjugating the UI to the priority of the work at hand.

It is not surprising then that they where able to successfully tackle the limited confines of the iPhone. It comes at a price, however; You have to change your way of thinking.

The jump is not hard. You just need to drop the idea of a single stylus point and start thinking in terms of gestures.

After a few tentative strokes your mind begins to make the connections. Soon your other fingers jump into the fray and you realize that pinching, pulling, moving, and gesturing through a drawing is pretty intuitive.

The iPhone and iPad and related software have not taken away our stylus, they have given us nine more. I suspect that improvements will be made in both hardware and software as time moves forward. But in a gesture driven device, the last thing I want is a single stylus holding me back. As a matter of fact, When I go back to the tablet on my desktop I start to crave the simplicity that iPhone gestures have provided. The tablet begins to feel much like the pencil did not so long ago; like a tool of a bygone era.

My rant of the day that appeared on Gizmodo speaking to idiots who are so locked into the what the iPad is “not” that they forget to see the tool that it “is.”

RANT:
I am a professional illustrator and designer. About 5 years ago my publishers required me to move 100% digital. I was hesitant, but saw the writing on the wall. I used (and still use) Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop and Painter to accomplish this task. I rarely touch paper /pencils / pens / or paint anymore. All of my thumbnails are done digital. All of my concepts are rendered digital. And my drawing and paintings are completely digital.

Sketchbook Pro has a built-in email feature that allows me to sketch hi-rez and and email low-rez concepts on the fly with one button. This past year I bought SBP for my iPhone. It works the same way. I use it a lot for “napkin doodles” as I sit in lunch meetings with clients, or sit in my car (parked!) sending off creative ideas in one direction as I travel in another.

As a long time Wacom user, it took a conceptual jump to produce anything of value on the device using my finger. But like making the jump from pen to stylus; jumping from stylus to finger is worth the small investment of time.

I can’t wait for this app and my iPad.I am not obtuse enough in my thinking to assume that it is meant to replace the tablet or even my desktop. It is a tool. I turn it on, the software and hardware disappear, and I work productively and transparently — just like Apple devices are meant to do.

If you are waiting for Microsoft to engineer something innovative that reflects the cultural meme of creative gestalt; You have other serious issues than not being able to draw with your finger.

Sometimes, logos come easy for me. I see them clearly in my mind’s eye and trace them from this vision I have inside my head. Sometimes I struggle. This generally comes from me trying to push a square solution into a round hole. Regardless, it is a frustrating exercise to almost be there, to be so close, and see that I am close, but recognize that something is missing. It is a loop that I visit again and again. The loop will spawn new ideas, and I will start tangent paths, that end up in the same place. Close, but no cigar.

This grouping of logos fall onto this tortured creative ground. I have been working them on-and-off for two weeks. They are making progress, but the final solution eludes me.

This is an assignment overview for my digital Illustration class. We emphasize the use of multiple applications as tools to achieve singular results. This assignment is a lead-in for our next assignment; creating
gaming textures!

There is a weblog called Monsters in Real Places. You draw a monster and place it in picture. This week’s submission calls for the use of a Vancouver Olympic mascot in city close to you. I created “Quatchi” at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Yes, I know that my version of Quatchi is less cute and is sport’n a tude. Go figure! A quick Friday morning distraction. Drawn and painted in Photoshop.

The descriptive blurb that is supposed to accompany the picture:

“The now famous Vancouver Quatchi, with the Winter Olympics behind him, settles down to some golf and sunshine at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Shhhh … he is about to take his shot.”

The Website: Monsters in real places
The Real Quatchi (and friends)

Yep, three posts within the same week. Life is getting back to normal. School is covered, Studio work is doing good, and I actually spent time with the family this weekend. OK. So, a client gives me a thumbnail of a character they want drawn for a product display. The client sells (amongst other things) custom barrettes for little girls. This client gives me a thumbnail for the design / illustration and gets me started.

Over the course of my career, I have seen hundreds of client provided illustration thumbnails. They range in quality from the vaguely intelligible hieroglyphic, to the amazingly adept.

This is an example of one of the latter. The thumbnail gives me great distinguishable lines, direction, size, product display, gender, and proportion.

When I receive thumbnails from clients, I will often provide thumbnails back to make sure we are talking about the same thing. In this instance, I drew a nice tight mockup in Sketchbook Pro, directly from their thumbnail.

I finished up the illustration, in Adobe illustrator using a custom pressure sensitive brush. To top it all off, I have been using it as a classroom sample for an assignment we are currently working on.

After years of stringing my tablet to my computer; Often at the expense of comfort or natural positioning, Wacom has introduced a wireless solution. The only question left to be unanswered is why they did not send me one to review?

Now I have two pads on my wish list. An iPad and now a wireless tablet. Hmmm … I wonder if I cold get the two of them talking via my Sketchbook Pro iPhone app? Now that would be VERY cool!