On the Digital Drawing Board

Indian Summer descended upon the Rocky Mountains and it stayed longer than usual. It might be my imagination, but it did so with more than its usual beauty as well.

The temperatures were warm throughout October and most of November allowing an extended period of fall color throughout Colorado...until last week, when a storm system from the Alaskan hurricane caused a dramatic temperature drop, straight into what felt like deep winter. (It was part of the same system that has hit other parts of the country, and just ravaged Buffalo.) It was the most abrupt transition of seasons I have seen since living here...70 degrees and then frigid cold.

A telltale sign of that quick change remains; we're approaching Thanksgiving and most of the leaves are still on the trees in Boulder. They are nearly a month late in coming down.

The huge drop in mercury levels did more than trick the trees...it surprised our furnace. (We had to get a new one this week. I had repaired the old one a few times, installing new ignitors and flame sensors, etc...but it was getting long in the tooth.)

We managed to break away in October and spend some time in the Vail and Breckenridge areas; mountain biking, hiking, swimming and general unwinding. Lots of wildlife and glowing aspen trees were glimpsed.

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Well, it's time to share a few highlights from client work that has graced the studio in recent weeks:

First, an illustration created for a new book on evolution and archaeology, (from an author of of series of books on the subject.)

The illustration depicts an event which is somewhat notorious (in the world of archaeology). A noted archaeologist found a fossilized skeleton in the Sahara...and claimed that he had found one of our humanoid ancestors. Well, after lots of published papers, fanfare and media coverage, what he thought was a human collarbone turned out to be a dolphin's rib! The primitive human went up in a poof of smoke and was later jokingly named: "Flipperpithecus".  http://www.conservapedia.com/Flipperpithecus

It will be a follow- up to this book: amazon.com/Evolution-Grand-Experiment 

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A political cartoon for CNBC financial advisor, Axel Merk and his weekly column:

http://www.merkinvestments.com/insights/2014/2014-10-29.php

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A cartoon for an insurance company in California:

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One of two cartoons created for a financial advisor in Florida.

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A few of many political campaign posters and newspaper cartoons
 created prior to the November elections: 

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One of a few cartoons created for Connect 360, in NY, NY.

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Lastly, a few pieces from a large ongoing project for the John Morrel Food Group.

I have been working for them since July on a number of things, including redesigning the company mascot for Eckrich sausage and Armour Hot dogs. (Also Boar's Head meats.)

The image below is the original mascot created in the 1980's, and in this particular use, he is featured in a company safety poster from their facility in Chicago. I was asked to update him, and for the purpose of the safety posters, to include hearing protection, hair net and protective gloves.

Preliminary sketches...

The new character, "Sal the Salami":

Sal has appeared in some advertising thus far, (they sent me some promotional shirts, vests and hats with his image on them) ...and just recently in a series of safety posters to be located throughout some food processing plants:

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(Clicken to enlargen):

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Other current client work includes illustrating a few books, some work for Roche Pharmaceutical, and illustrating a publication for French analytics firm, AT Internet...but I think I've run past the redline on the boredom meter here.

I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving!