On the Digital Drawing Board

It's March already? Even with the extra 'leap day' lengthening February a bit, it seems hard to believe.

I thought I'd surface for a breath of air after a busy month to share a few of the projects recently wrapped up...

A book cover illustration for California author, Michael Brown.

Click to enlarge

One of a series of three marketing cartoons created for an insurance company. 

A poster for Florida-based Career Directors International, for their annual conference. (Link)

One of six cartoons created for the Boston social media company, Hubspot (Link to cartoon)

The monthly cartoon for The Michigan Association of School Principals

Political cartoon on the Greek bailout, for Merk Funds. (Link to cartoon in column)

Another political cartoon for Merk Funds...here Ben Bernanke is taking the Federal Reserve to new heights. (Link)

An advertising cartoon for a long-time client, California technology firm, CGNet.

A public service cartoon, (while not all of my work is funny, this one is intentionally not funny),
commissioned by the magazine, "Cancer Monthly".

It looks March is arriving like a lion in terms of work, with 14 client projects on the board right now, including some corporate ads and three new book illustration jobs. It could go out much the same way, as I was notified yesterday that Intel Corporation would like to do a sequel commercial/video featuring the character I created last fall.

It may be a little while before I'm here again, but in the meantime, I hope you have a terrific month!

Helicopters, helicopters, everywhere a helicopter

...Or maybe that's just the way it seemed in my studio during January.

This past month brought many new clients, and among them was Erickson Air Crane, a company based in Portland that manufactures large scale helicopters. The gargantuan machines, characterized by an opening just underneath their doors are used for many tasks -- some that I had never would guessed involved a helicopter.

I was commissioned to create roughly 40 helicopter illustrations and a map showing their company's presence around the world. As you might imagine, it involved a lot less humor-writing than usual...and more straight illustration, but it was a great deal of fun.

A few examples of illustrated events or locations:

Sears Tower, Chicago: They aided in construction and continue to do periodic A/C replacement.       

                                     (Click to enlarge images)

Logging and transmission line construction, Italy

     

U.S. Capital Building, Washington DC -
 Statue of Freedom placement on dome.

Firefighting in Hollywood, CA

Firefighting in Sydney, AU

Rhino in Malaysia: This past Christmas day,
 (covered on CNN) They saved a rhino trapped in a deep hole.

Vancouver Olympics: remember the lack of snow
 for those winter games? Their helicopters brought snow
 in from outside, allowing the ski events to happen.

A helicopter with its various devices for service

The Dancing Moose: In the Flesh

I received a phone call recently that was a bit of a surprise. In fact it was so surprising that if it had come roughly two months from now, I would have guessed it was an April Fools Day prank.

The caller was a gentleman from Boston who is the editor of a prominent business magazine. He told me that his wife is a ballet dancer by profession and she had read my blog. He further explained that he and his (at-that-time) fiance liked my 'Dancing Moose' illustration very much, and wondered if I'd mind if she had a tattoo created based upon the logo/illustration. He assured me it would be placed in an area where only she and he would see it. (The mind runs quickly to images of where that might be...but I didn't ask.) 

He asked how much I would charge for the use, and I told him no charge - I was flattered that he and his wife enjoyed my moose enough to have it reproduced in such a unique manner. 

 

I sent him a larger, high resolution file for the tattoo artist to use for reference. (Below).

 

 

Well, flash-forward a few weeks to after their recent honeymoon: She went ahead with it. I later received a photo of the 6-inch tattoo...and here it is, 'in the flesh'. It looks like the tattoo artist did a pretty good job recreating it, and also moved the left "arm". It is a slightly different ballet pirouette, and  I get it...my classic pose was tough to draw behind the antlers while making also it clear it was not part of the antlers.

To the caller and his wife, (who, at his request, will remain anonymous here): Thanks for taking the time to contact me and let me share in the fun.

On the Digital Drawing Board - Intel Corporation

After a long hiatus from the blog, (lots of work as well as a couple of fairly major holidays),  it's time to catch up a bit.

One of the more significant and time-consuming projects that graced my door recently was an animated commercial and video for Intel Corporation. (It wrapped up last month, though I wasn't able to share any art until the commercial and video were released.)

The purpose of the animation is to highlight the new technologies that Intel is introducing; primarily touch screen-based systems in retail stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals and public transportation centers.

I was hired to be part of a creative team, which included a writer and an animator. I was first asked design the characters and background scenes. (This was a competition of sorts with a cartoonist in New York, and don't ask me how, but in the end the folks at Intel chose my characters and artwork.)

The next step was to draw all of the character and scenery illustrations to be used in the animation. Also needed were individual mouth and eye movements for the main characters, to allow them to speak and appear 'alive'. The video ended up running over 6 minutes, which for anyone who is familiar with animation well knows, that was a lot of illustration.

I've seen the finished animation as a video, and although I cannot post it here yet, I think the voice actors did a great job.

Here are a few scenes and characters...

(click to zoom illustrations)

The action takes place as Bob travels through the city in his car...his guide is Michael Caine!

I'll be back shortly to share some other things on the board recently, including illustrations for a new children's book and a world map for Erickson Air Crane, a helicopter manufacturer... Meanwhile, be well and best wishes for the New Year.

Caption Contest 4

It has been a while, and hence it is time for another cartoon caption contest...

Anyone can enter, including everyone who entered the last three. If you can think of a caption for the featured cartoon above, submit it. (You can post it as a comment below or email it to me.)

The winner's name will be posted here, along with the finished cartoon featuring their caption. He or she will also receive a copy of the cartoon, (with their name added to the signature line).

Update: Another entry from Kevin Gleeson: "I don't have time to get into it now, dear, but numb nuts there is trying to direct the project from the back f some Christmas wrap."

Night and Day

...That's the title of a great 80's music album by Joe Jackson.

It's also an apt description of my schedule since August...non-stop busy with client projects. With the current state of the economy, you'll hear no complaints here -- I feel extremely fortunate.

But after spending time with my family it leaves little to time to blog or draw the 'Boneheaded Dog'. The blitz continues on, leaving me booked up for at least the next month or so, and now turning projects down.

With that, I'll keep this brief and attach a few pieces that were on the board recently...

http://www.merkfunds.com/merk-perspective/insights/2011-09-21.html

A few political pieces lately, for clients on both the right and left. (I'm a switch-hitter.)

http://www.merkfunds.com/merk-perspective/insights/2011-10-12.html

(This subject had an immediate effect on the stock market this week)

Political cartoon for MoveOn.Org... (Their campaign director called and requested this piece to be drawn for them, after the Eric Cantor-led protest of Hurricane relief funds. The concept was provided, I simply came up with the imagery.)

A 70's style comic book for a long-term client, (a pioneer in cloud computing), for their technology conference...A fun diversion that allowed me to draw in a style that takes me back to comic book-reading days as a kid. Cover, and several illustrated pages inside, with a collection of cartoons, too.

Illustrations for another long-term client, Career Directors International, for their upcoming annual conference.

A cartoon for SAPtips, for their caption contest

 Monthly cartoon for the Michigan Association of School Principals.

Also on the board: a shirt logo for a golf sportswear company, a dozen financial cartoons for an investment firm and a couple of cartoons for a greeting card company. I'm also currently illustrating three books; one for business, two children's books.

Lastly, I have been working on an animated video & commercial for Intel Corporation.  --Lots of work for that project, creating multiple characters and 50+ scenes. (I can't share anything from that here until it is released.)

Well, back to the digital drawing board. It will be another late night...

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

(Click to enlarge)

Steve Jobs would have been an innovator regardless of when he lived.

His early Apple computers were the height of simplicity and aesthetics, all the way back to the final days of glitz and disco. The first Mac, which debuted in 1984, was a step well beyond that, introducing the first computer mouse.

I bought my first Mac shortly after that, and have appreciated them ever since. (Just last month, I bought a new Mac that is over 10,000 times more powerful than that first one.) I've lost count of how many Apple products grace my studio and our household.

Others will have more pertinent comments and greater insights today on the man than I possess, so I won't add more detail...but I thought I'd pause a moment to acknowledge the passing of a great thinker and designer.

Some time away...

July was a crazy month with clients, but I did get to take a 10-day vacation. However, as most self-employed people can attest, vacations often mean working to get ahead, (I left town with my eyes barely able to remain open, needing many late nights to meet deadlines), and then afterward, working long hours to catch up. But as always, it was all well worth it.

We arrived home from our vacation to Kiawah Island, South Carolina, two weeks ago today. It was fabulous; we all had fun at the incredible beach and resort, and and we had a wonderful celebration of my parents' 50th anniversary. My family flew into Charleston, meeting my brother and his family, along with my parents, (all coming from Illinois.) We danced, partied, had a mini replica wedding cake made, and also presented them with a 24" X 36" drawing I created, (a humorous take of their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, surrounded by congratulatory messages from many of their oldest friends.) --All in all, a great time spent with family, and much-needed break.

My parents, celebrating on their anniversary.

My niece, daughter and nephew clowning around with me in Kiawah Island...

Now, back to regular life & work. There still remains a great deal of corporate client work and two children's books to illustrate over this coming month. 

A sampling of things recently on the drawing board: (Click to enlarge)

A birthday commission for a Georgetown University professor and (semi-retired) psychologist

A cartoon about Google CEO's battles with Facebook -- for Hubspot's blog

Monthly cartoon for Inductive Automation, a California IT firm

A political cartoon commission for a newspaper in Texas--about the debt crisis.

A monthly cartoon for the Michigan Association of Secondary Schools

One of several financial/political cartoons done for Merk Funds recently.

A couple of marketing cartoons for CGNet, a pioneer in cloud computing.

One of many B&W first drafts for a current book illustration job.

One of three advertising pieces for Tony Pelusi, a family counseling expert in Boston.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Here's hoping that you have a fun, safe Holiday weekend. And be careful with those fireworks! (I used to make my own pyrotechnics, but have gone onto being a good dad--and just use the ones from 'over the state line'. Ssshh.)

In the meantime, speaking fireworks, I thought I'd share a Holiday -themed cartoon that I drew this morning....a last-minute request from a regular client. (And speaking of that subject, it looks like there will be no 4th of July break for lawmakers, while they work on the debt ceiling issue. Poor babies.)

(Click to enlarge)

Just here for a moment to catch my breath

It has been an engrossing few weeks, with a veritable avalanche of client work falling onto the drawing board. (I am feeling very fortunate, I'm having lots of fun, but it's also a little overwhelming.)

In lieu of any caption contests, or any sort of post with a high word count, here are a few images of projects currently or recently on the board:

One of 12 cartoons for E-Money Advisor (Click to enlarge any of these)

One of three cartoons for a long term client; a technology company in California that pioneered in cloud computing.

On of 15 Illustrations for an English as a second language book.

A monthly comic feature for a technology magazine.

Three sketches in various states of finish for a children's book that I'm in the beginning stages of illustrating. There will be 27 illustrations total, in color. I'll probably use watercolor washes.

A new political cartoon created yesterday for Merk Investments Link to cartoon on Merk website

Also on the board right now: Product drawings for a new customizable girl's doll, (for a toy company in Maryland), illustrations for a family/marriage counseling service in Boston, a monthly cartoon for a Michigan schools association and a regular cartoon for a leadership conference in California. --Well, that was a nice break...now back to the drawing board!