Calligraphy Logo Sketch

Messign around with hand-drawn calligraphy. I think I’ll work on refining this and try it again. I especially like how the leaves turned out.

Jekylle/Hyde messing about

Just messing about.

Wilderness Lessons

I was asked to create an illustration of a wilderness scene. After kicking around some ideas that were mostly Photoshop image composites, I was asked to do something with natural media.

I painted the background with gouache and a smidge of a  new long-drying acrylic sample I had on hand from a local art store. I painted directly onto some computer paper which I had taped onto a portable lap desk. I kept working the image over adding color before moving on to texture.

I ended up incorporating some paper towel into the painting (the mountain range, lower left corner, and area behind the tree). I sponged the painting with paper towel and flicked paint to add more texture. I wanted a really physically tactile painting.

When I was happy, I moved on to the tree which I painted in a similar fashion on a different piece of paper. On the version shown here I actually created a negative out of the drawing of the tree. I liked the contrast and openness; the Joshua tree is almost a doorway into something beyond the desert landscape.

I created some texture to scan using bubble wrap and cellophane, scanned every thing and brought it into Photoshop for compositing. When I scanned the background, I placed piece of cellophane directly on the glass, creating some interesting reflection lines which I liked.

I played around with layers and blending modes and added some texture with a custom brush and incorporated a gradient overlay.

I sent the client 4 variations but like this one the best overall.

Desert bloom

Must be the season of the witch

I whipped this story fragment out after looking at a binder-paper comic page a student drew (Thanks SG). Blue crayola pencila and an ink-filled Pentel AquaBrush, colors in PS.

Honeybear a la Thiebaud

I really like Wayne Thiebaud’s nearly edible paintings (thanks Mykelle). His layering of rich, luminous color and texture are so enjoyable and engaging. Common objects attain a kind of sublime transcendence, forcing the viewer to see them in a new way.

Homespun Logo

I engineered the type here from hand drawn type from a Jim Flora record sleeve. The logo was going to be used on the website of a charity organization . The band played at an event the charity sponsored, but somehow the logo never made it up. Oh, well. It was fun to play around with type forms.

Baby in Ink

“I am become Cockroach…Destroyer of worlds”

A colony of cockroaches has taken up residence in our home. I drew an ink sketch of one of the little free-loaders and then transformed it into a super-villain.

Happy All Hallows’ Eve

I began just playing around and an hour (and 20 layers )  later, I had a jack o’lantern. I’m working very loose so I’m not sure How things would go if I was to tighten it up. There are scads of lighting issues, but I was all funned out.

I like the implication that the pumpkin is witnessing something magical just out of view.