Illustration Friday: "LAUNCH"..

Well, I'm getting a bit better at my "Illustration Friday" participation.. I actually got to the "inking" stage, this time 'round! I had hoped to add some color, too. But I have some urgent freelance work, that's going to prevent that idea. Maybe next time?
Here is my entry for the this week's Theme: "Launch".

Earlier in the week, I'd stumbled across a Tumblr that had a cute photo of a little tyke in a crazy retro Space Helmet, gazing intently upon a Toy Rocket. Serendipity, or Synchronicity? I dunno, but I took it as a cue for my drawing, here..
Here's what the Final Art ended up looking like:

As you can see,-- I used a combination of col-erase pencils and ink. I'm fairly happy with the results. The drawing came together quickly, with only a few probs. More disconcerting to me, was the trouble I had with the inking. My old eyes just aren't what they used to be, I guess. And even with relatively-new reading glasses, I still had trouble seeing the smaller details. Thank God for Photoshop, eh?! hah
I think I can credit the facial expression to my heavy Wally Wood influence. But I also see a bit of Rick Geary here, too. That came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I haven't looked at his artwork in a very long time..
Hope you enjoy seeing this one!

Many thanks, for dropping by.. See ya, next time!

Illustration Friday: "RIPPLE"..

"A small ripple in the water, stirred the enormous creature from it's slumber.."

Here's this week's installment towards the online "Illustration Friday" experience.. Once again, I didn't get the image as finished, as I'd have liked. But the discipline of having a weekly deadline, is forcing me to work faster. Something that's never been my strong suit. And a part of my Skill Set, I'm hoping to improve upon. One more reason, why I wanted to start contributing regularly!

This week's subject is: "Ripple". And here's what I came up with..

As should appear obvious,-- I (again) chose the opportunity to exercise my Frazetta muscles! The composition and staging, definitely owes a lot to his Fantasy Art.. There are some details that still need some tweaking. And it could probably use a 2nd "scrub" in Photoshop, to remove some of the visual noise. But I'm kinda happy with the way it turned out, for the most part.

Years ago, I finished a similar image to this one, featuring Mike Mignola's HELLBOY character. I think the experience of working on that, helped this one. I can also see where there's a bit of a Bernie Wrightson influence coming thru in the creature pose.. But of course, Wrightson was something of a Frazetta devotee back-in-the-day, too..

If I have time, I'll update this pic with a color version.. Dunno if I'll make it by Friday, though. As another freelance Design/Layout job, happily fell into my lap today..

Illustration Friday: "TRAIL"..

Hello, again!

I've been attempting to continue my participation in the online "Illustration Friday" experience, for the past couple weeks.. But something always seems to prevent me from completing my images. Last week, was chock full of Family functions. And the week prior, saw me busy with an extensive freelance Design assignment..
Even so, I was happy with the sketches I'd begun for both: "Early" and "Slither".. And I hope to finish these "Theme" subjects, if only as added Portfolio items. Perhaps when I get them finished, I'll be able to post them here on the blog, too.

This past week's subject was: "Trail". Here's what I came up with..

I wanted the theme "Trail" to work both as a Noun & as a Verb, in the image.. So, I came up with a "Fritz" (Frazetta) funny animal vignette.. Which featured an old Dawg Detective (and his fine-feathered sidekick) hot-on-the-trail of some nefarious Forest creature!
I would've loved to give this a slick 'Thick&Thin' inkline treatment.. But it's Thursday evening already, so that would pretty-much be a pointless exercise. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring the next "Theme" subject, closer to full completion. Perhaps with some color added to the mix, too?

We'll see, as they say..

Illustration Friday: "EQUIPMENT"..

Hello, again!

I've been meaning to begin participating in the online "Illustration Friday" experience, for quite some time now.. But for whatever reason, Life always seems to conspire against this plan. I either start my contribution too late, or get too busy to finish anything at all..
And that's part of the reason I'm so intent on participating.. Teaching myself the discipline of "getting it done..", in the same week that each new "Theme" subject is announced? A unique skill that any effective illustrator has to be able to call upon, in any given instance..

This week's subject, was: "Equipment"..

Do I go with showing a pile of Fishing or Sports equipment? Or do I go instead, with drawing a construction worker with a bunch of gear? The possibilities boggle the mind.. And I suppose that's the idea.
For my debut entry, I took the easy approach. And dug out an existing Location Design that I created a number of years ago.. It seemed appropos, as it's essentially a cartoony Laboratory, stacked to the rafters with exotic machinery & Jack Kirby -styled equipment!
Hope you'll like it..

COUCHY On The Rampage!!

Okay, Folks.. Sorry for the extended dry spell, Posting-wise!

I've been very busy lately, due to a number of Life details. Only one of which, has been putting together a formal Illustration portfolio. Essentially, evaluating a lot of the artwork I've done over the past few years.. And seeing if I can somehow "juice 'em up.." enough to make them a viable addition towards this effort?
This process usually involves tweaking any really obvious mistakes, found in the original art. And then coloring the black-and-white drawings with a splash of Digital Color, to give 'em a bit of the old ZING!

Here's my most-recent example..
This illo was completed for my friend Warren; who works at the Hunter-Straker Ltd. advertising/marketing agency, here in Toronto. I first met him at one of the local comic-book conventions.. He was kind enough to purchase a copy of my published Sketchbook. Bought a bit of my artwork. And then later on, he commissioned me to do a T-Shirt design; which was to be used for an annual Sporting Event that he organized with some friends..

Warren (along with his brother, I believe) stages an annual Sporting Event.. Which involves getting a whole group of drinking buddies together for a kind-of 24-hour Sports marathon.. He told me that the group attempts to play: (a) ONE full round of Golf, (b) ONE 3-period game of Ice Hockey, and (c) ONE 9-inning game of Softball.. All within a 24-hr period!
Their enthusiasm & stamina, (apparently) fuelled by copious amounts of beer and (possibly?) other libations?!

The first T-Shirt I designed for Warren, essentially featured their mascot "Couchy" (the couch potato, natch!), dead-drunk in an alleyway somewhere.
The one featured here, is my 2nd attempt.. For this one, Warren told me that he wanted more of a GODZILLA -version of "Couchy", terrorizing some non-specific Ontario township..
He seemed genuinely happy with the results, thankfully.

I'm by no means an "expert" when it comes to Digital Color.. But I'm getting a little better, each time out. With this one, I experimented a little bit with the 'Gradient' apps found in Photoshop. Some of which worked better than expected, like his bloodshot eyes..

I'm hoping to have an actual Portfolio "link" posted in my Blog's sidebar sometime soon. So please do check back & look for it, if you find the time.. Thanks!

The Pajama Game!

Hello Folks!

Apologies for the long delay between posts.. But over the past couple weeks, I've been busy with a freelance illustration job, which fell fortuitously into my lap..
A friend of the family, has a wife that is a member of a theatre group that performs here in Scarborough. She'd recently won the lead role in their upcoming production of: 'THE PAJAMA GAME'. And he thought it'd be a nice gesture to commission a poster recreation, to celebrate the event..
He provided me some of the required Photo Reference. And a rather poor JPEG of the movie poster, which he found online. It was so gauzy, I couldn't see what was going on.. So I dug around downstairs & found (fortunately!) an old MOVIE LIFE mag from October 1957, that had not only a full-page ad for the Doris Day film.. But also some great color ref, for the actual pajamas..
Originally, the client had asked for an authentic Broadway poster recreation, based on the original play. But felt that a recreated movie poster ,would work better as a "gift". So, that's the direction we went..
Amongst the photos he lent me, I found a nice headshot of his wife, that was perfect for the Doris Day pose.. But he also wanted EIGHT other cast member profiles, featured off to one side?! Oi-Vey, that was gonna be a whole other conundrum!
Luckily, their theatre group: 'Spotlight Musical Productions' has an excellent website.. With a number of terrific 'Photo Gallery' pages from past shows.. I was able to dig thru those & find a few other suitable shots, to fill out the rest of the image..
The initial deadline was excruciatingly tight.. He wanted the finished poster completed & printed, so he could present it at the After Party (April 26th) of the closing show.. That only gave me about 5 full days, to get it done.
By Friday evening, I knew I'd never make the deadline.. I suggested working towards just getting the central figure of his wife (as "Babe") done. And then getting a single Poster composited & printed with all of the other elements blocked-in, so that he could show off what the final product would look like? It was the best compromise I could think of..
So at about 11pm, I drove like a madman to a downtown Kinko's -- got it printed at full size (14" x 22"!).. And raced back to the 'Fairvew Library Theatre' in Scarborough, where they'd just begun breaking down the sets backstage..
I think I impressed my client with my personal hand-delivered shipment, just past the Witching Hour! hah
To my great relief, he was very satisfied with the results.. And now that the show's deadline was past, I'd be able to finish the rest of the Poster, at a much more relaxed pace!
Initially, I thought I could save some time by using the scanned-in pajama top, for my final image. Which is why you see "Babe" (above) in 3 disjointed parts? I was gonna composite those onto the pajama top, thru Photoshop.. But the chunky halftones were simply too distracting & looked out-of-place with everything else. So I went back, and drew up a whole new tunic..

All of the color work was done, using a combination of Pantone markers and pencil crayons.. Mostly Col-Erase pencils, actually.. Which tend to go down on the page a bit smoother..
I had met the client's wife (Teresa) before.. So, I knew instinctively what she looked like. That makes drawing a person, so much easier!
I had no such help, with the other 8 character heads.. And they proved a much tougher challenge. Especially, with the limited number of good photos I was able to glean from the theatre group's webpages!
I'm sure a few of these folks, are gonna be appalled by their likenesses?.. Sorry, gang! I did the best I could, given the circumstances..
Here's a JPEG showing their progress..
I thought the final assembly of the image would be easy? Not so!
The text pieces were okay.. Most of it achieved, using Pagemaker and/or Photoshop. "The Pajama Game" masthead was hand-done & that took a wee bit longer.. The initial printout was also showing that my Yellows were all skewed too "Green". So for the Final Image, I went back & changed them to a richer hue..
In hindsight, it seems like I spent oodles of time simply "compositing" things to the BG.. I dropped in some small figures along the baseline, directly from the cleaned-up scans from my vintage poster ad. And then used Photoshop's cloning tool to create a nice "soft" edge transition, around all of the main character elements.. Hopefully these bits of extra attention will pay off, once the File is taken to the printers? We'll see..

Well, that's how the whole thing came together.. Hope I didn't bore you too much with all of my Process Talk? All in all, I really enjoyed working on this Job. And I hope that I get a few more like it, in the future..

TTY'all Laterz!

Cheese Products!

Yes, it's finally come to this, Dear Friends..

Last month, I was contacted by a friend that works at a local Ad Agency.. I'd done some freelance illustration work for him, in the past. But this time, he promised me that he had "real work" for me to do..
Turns out his company had been hired by an International Foods conglomerate, to reinvent the Character Design for a line of their peelable Mozarella Cheese.. They'd been market-testing their existing Character model.. And found it wasn't really connecting with the 11-12 year olds, like it was intended to..

Now I'd done some freelance illustration work for advertising, before.. But this was going to be a bit different, in that it was purely "Development Art".. Rather than, finished packaging artwork.
They wanted something that was fun & light-hearted. A bit kooky. But with a little Hollywood "cool", as well.. He supposedly leads an "active" lifestyle. So they suggested he might possibly be an X-Gamer or Superhero -type, too..

This was my first pass, on the thing..

Really, I just wanted to try and nail down what Body Type he would be, first.. The long & wiry scheme that they had already, seemed to work best. It shows off the flexibility best, etc.. It's such an odd foodstuff, that I imagined maybe an off-the-wall Wally Wood -type Alien guy might work, too. But it ceased looking like the actual stringy Cheese product..
I did a number of different approaches.. I think they liked this guy, the most. Though they mentioned it was perhaps looking a bit too "retro". And was skewed too old for their target audience..

I kinda dug the idea of doing a few Superhero -types, too.. The one guy in the cape, was a riff on the character designs of cartoonist: Benito Jacovitti.. I confessed to the agency, that the small cheese snake, was (in fact) a verbatim ripoff of one of his designs. And really wouldn't be a good idea to use..

My girlfriend Suzanne & a few other Animation friends, liked that one best..
The "Cheezkateer" was a last-minute idea, of mine.. Trying something a bit different, just to see what the reactions would be..

One of the ad execs suggested that perhaps a Jack Cole 'PlasticMan' or FF's "Mr. Fantastic" might be a good jumping off point.. given their flexible/bendable nature? I liked the idea, immediately. But I wanted to retain the goofiness.. So I came up with "Cheez-Lad". Who I imagined as a kind of pimply/awkward Teen.. The kind that used to appear on those 'Firesign Theatre' comedy records! haha
As an afterthought, I also did a Surf Dude.. I wanted someone not quite as goofy. A bit more Beatnik & Bohemian.. Yet, still "active". I like the way the jaunty walk turned out, here..

Though I didn't tell the agency outright, I wasn't terribly keen on the 'X-Gamer' approach.. If only, because it would entail adding a lot of inane Safety Equipment (Helmet, Knee Pads, Elbow Pads, etc).. bogging down the overall silhouette. And killing the stringy hairlines, I'd been working out..

In the end, I think I liked the Surfer Dude idea the best.. It could just as easily be Snowboard or Skateboard, I suppose.. I amped-up the thin/stringy quality, and felt I was getting closer to what I wanted..
The one featured above, has the slacker/hedonist thing going.. But he still looks a bit too poufy/gay.. Maybe it's the damned Turtleneck, or something? He has that arrogant Parisian "look" about him.. And, that wasn't my intent.

Anyways, the job was real good FUN!!
It's not often you get paid decent money to just "play" with Visual Ideas.. And I'd certainly welcome the chance to do s'more of it again, soon!
Though I've been paid for my work .. I have (unfortunately) not yet heard how the Project is proceeding.. I know that there were a few other artists that were also contributing Designs for this.. So perhaps, they've chosen to go in a different direction entirely..

Sorry, for the long delay between Postings.. I'm hoping the next one, won't take quite so long.. See y'all later!!

The RIPPING FRIENDS in: "Beef Rescue"!

I've been in a bit of a drawing slump, lately.. So for a new Post, I decided to just drag out an older illo & try throwing some color onto it? Here's the result:

In 2003, a local Toronto kid named "Julian" approached me at a comic-book convention.. He asked if I'd do a "Ripping Friends" commissioned Drawing for him? I said sure. But then he told me that he not only wanted the entire Foursome.. But that he wanted them geared-up in the same Spacesuits they'd worn in the "Frictor" episode?! Oh, yeah.. And also? Please include at least 1 of the cows that were in the "Ovulator" episode, as well...
Sheesh!!

Well, I always enjoy a challenge.. And fortunately, still had all of the necessary Model Sheets, too..
So, I simply invented a screwy scenario where 'Jimmy The Idiot' and the Cow, were rescuing the stranded RF team, somewhere on the Moon.. Bringing them heaping helpings of sorely-needed MEAT, to sustain their heroic strength!! heh

Hoping to post some "fresher" artwork soon, folks.. Apologies.
See yuz, later!

Season's Greetings!

Hello Blogosphere.. Welcome to my 1st-ever Post!

Here is the 2006 version of my annual family Holiday Card..
The Design was inspired by a number of old-timey 'Art Deco' Christmas Cards that I'd purchased off of eBay, about a year ago..
I tried to create a more elegant -looking Image, this time 'round. I'm not sure it was entirely successful. But I've sometimes had family & relatives take issue with the more "cartoony" ones, I've done in the past. It's hard to please everybody.. Which is why this is always one of my most stressful assignments, each year!

I hope everyone had a terrific Holiday Season.. And Best Wishes to all of you, for 2007!