On the digital drawing board: Humor, Character design & Book illustration

My apologies for the lack of activity here. It’s been over a year since my last ‘journal’ post. I'd hoped to stick my nose in, sniff around, and type a few words during Thanksgiving weekend - like last year. 

Not to be. A large illustration for a long-time corporate client emerged a few days before the turkey went in the oven. …and I'm not one to take away from what became reduced family time.

I am fortunate, as 2025 has been my busiest year so far, with almost nonstop client and book publishing deadlines. Thus, I’m here for a quick stop-in to share a handful of samples of recent work - and hopefully not bore anyone. Let’s start: 

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A couple of cartoons created for a book about online dating that I am illustrating for an author in NYC. This has been a long-running project, entailing over 75 illustrations, and is nearing completion.

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I’m working on preliminary designs for a corporate mascot, for a soon-to-launch dog food and supplements company.  After some sketches, we settled on an Australian Shepherd. 

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A few years back, I illustrated the biography of a former Pixar executive. The publisher is releasing an updated version of that book, so I am adding some more currently relevant details to the art, as well as creating some more illustrations. It’s been fun so far.

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One of twelve monthly magazine cartoons created for AIU Insurance in New York.

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A series of IT & cyber security cartoons created for Fidelity Investments, and their corporate customer website portal.

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One of several illustrations in the works for an upcoming children's book.

 More details to come when I it nears completion. 

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McKesson Pharmaceutical: A series of monthly cartoons for their 80,000 employees, covering cyber security, and encouraging increased care with company computers and personal logins. These spanned from Fall 2024, through this year.

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Icon & mascot created for Point clothing, NYC. The heron character was created for their social media, clothing tags, advertising and the watercolor illustration below was created for T-shirts.

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Illustrations for postcards and framed prints - for a fantastic cookie bakery in Maui...

 

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The aforementioned Thanksgiving week illustration project for longtime client, Capgemini Corporation in Paris…a 20 X 30 illustration for a retiring executive, (later framed and presented at his send-off celebration.

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Illustrations and cartoons for a soon-to-be published business book, for an author in Los Angeles who specializes in selling businesses and companies. 

This has been a large project, involving writing and drawing humor for over 90 cartoons so far.

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A political cartoon created for Vision 360 in Washington DC, 

including a chance for me to draw a young Matt Damon.

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A pro bono piece created for Wowbrary - which is a non-profit, national book service that sends weekly updates about the most recent items added to your local library's collection. You customize which genres, and subjects you'd like to be notified about via newsletter/app/text, and also reserve bestsellers instantly.

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Lastly, an illustration of the University of Colorado football team’s most famous fan, Peggy Coppom, known as "Miss Peggy.” This was presented to Peggy at her 100th Birthday celebration, at the stadium. 

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Merry Christmas! And may the coming New Year be one of your best.

On the digital drawing board: What is the proper mix of work and play?

I was recently talking with a college friend, and amidst the usual discussion of family and life's pursuits, we pondered the proper ratio of work and time off. We came up with some algebraic formulas with a little calculus thrown in. 

 

Truthfully, math was my worst subject in school, so there was nothing of the sort. And we both admitted to being at the mercy of outside forces.

 

Our numbers were fuzzy and inexact, but I felt that the Pareto principle ("The 80/20 rule" often used in business) was close. 1/5 of our time spent in absolute joy allows work to flow the other 4/5. 

 

Well, actually, 100% play, 0% work is a really favorable ratio, but few people can pull that off, except for perhaps trust-funders and ex-Hollywood actresses who marry into the British royal family. 

 

Even 80/20 is tough for me, with a daughter at a private college. Weekends off usually have to suffice, but a vacation is always nice. 

 

I have not posted here since February, and that's mainly because I've been swamped. (I know I'm fortunate; many friends, colleagues in my field, and family members, including my wife have had major downturns in business/work since Covid descended.) So, a long gap of no posts. But in keeping with the work/play theme, I'll mention a couple of highlights since last popping in here. 

 

My family and I took a few trips, including one late season ski jaunt, taking advantage of a big snow storm. It was a multi-resort, week-long respite after 4 weeks of intense work. (See, there's that ratio.)

 

I also took a solo trip to Nashville to move my daughter out of her dorm. Carrying belongings, furniture and what they now loosely call "dorm refrigerators" (85 pounds and three times the size of what I had in my dorm) down two flights of stairs, packing and shipping boxes, is not really a vacation. But it's still a break, and terrific exercise. She and I also couldn't pass up the chance to see some live music downtown. We saw some new singers, a good Pearl Jam cover band, and of course, some country, which I tolerate.

 

That was in April and early May. It has been nearly all "play time" writing and drawing. (I call it that so that it remains fun and that I never feel overworked.) Before I go, here are a few glimpses of recent work (or playtime?) from the drawing board:

 

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A A few weeks ago, large oil producer Colonial paid a hefty ransom to the hackers who infiltrated its system and forced the shutdown of a major oil pipeline supplying fuel to the East Coast. 

A long-time Silicon Valley California-based client is a cloud computing pioneer who offers solutions for the increasingly common ransom hacks of corporate websites. I worked in concert with the CEO and the Marketing Director on this one, starting with some sketches and gradually refining the scene to this.

 

 

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This was created for a Disney Channel writer who is transitioning into advertising copy writing. She's with an agency in Los Angeles, and wanted several humorous illustrations to use to pitch to clients. She wrote the concepts and came to me for the art...in this case, the client is Omaha Steaks, with a scene from the movie "Psycho". Fancy a steak grilled by Norman Bates?

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A cartoon for a woman in New York, commissioned as a gift for her husband's birthday. (The concept was an idea he had for a New Yorker cartoon.) It was matted at 8 X 10 and framed at 11X 14.)

 

 

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A character and series of humorous illustrations created for Merck Pharmaceutical & Johnson & Johnson. This was for their corporate website and an interactive area for customers with questions about Covid vaccines and prescriptions.

 

 

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  After a long week of deadlines, I can relate to the guy on the right in the above cartoon.

 

 

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A New Yorker cartoon - about that never-ending fad of "ink".

 

 

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 One of a series of cartoons for a physical therapy business in New Jersey. 

(Referred to me by another long-term client.)

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A book cover illustration from a recently published biography of a American physician who became a mayor and then an elected regional leader in the Congo. The stories cover 60 years, and they are fascinating. (In addition to the cover, I was commissioned to create 18 Pen and ink illustrations.)

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Peter Linquiti is a distinguished professor at George Washington University, and he recently authored a college textbook on philosophy and practical self improvement. As he mentioned to me over the phone, it applies throughout one's life; in school as well as into the work force. He hired me to create a series of humorous B&W illustrations for the book, and later the publisher approved several of them to be prepared in color. One is pictured above.

 

 

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This was a personal commission for a gentleman in New York City who initially called me to discuss creating a large 18 X 24 high detail cartoon illustration print to give to each of several friends. He wanted a group scene set in a famous casino room, depicting he and his friends seated at a high stakes poker table. 

 

 

I worked from individual photos of everyone, and since they were typical phone snapshots taken with varied lighting, and expression, the trick was giving everyone the same same light source (highlights and shadows), with a similar range of emotion/smiles. etc. I also made the decision to draw everyone in tuxedos to fit the tone and to make it cohesive. After approval of the B&W draft, I added watercolor. After he approved the color art, I  gave the client a high resolution digital file which he easily uploaded to an online specialty printer, to have the canvases printed and framed.

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Lastly, a Happy Father's Day to the dads...and with that, a cartoon to remind us of the importance and joy of spending time with our kids, (both planned and unplanned.)

A few new things

The past couple of weeks have been a blur, with some book illustration jobs on the board, 

as well as corporate work...and some family outings. I thought I'd pop in and share a few things:

A B&W sketch for another Ralph Lauren Polo cartoon. This one was created for them earlier and saved, but since it features Michael Jordan, it is being used to tie into the recent airing of "The Last Dance" on ESPN. It will be used in ads and SM for their New York City Polo restaurant. Michael joins the surprisingly lively Carol Channing and Clark Gable.  

The next step is to add some more contrast and color.

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A political cartoon for a Canadian news magazine,

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Stopping by for a breather, (through the requisite face covering, of course)

I hope you and your loved ones are staying well in this science fiction movie-like existence.

Like nearly everyone, I am mostly sticking to one GPS location, (and not chasing the siren songs of the deep snow at A-Basin, as usual this time of year). Being busy drawing and writing prevents most rumination about the no-skiing rules in effect. 

I'm taking breaks by doing things like teaching the dog to point. We're also, shaking hands/paws, as I am out of practice. By the way, the dog is the happiest of anyone in our family...he is thrilled that no one leaves the house for long. So, our relationship is definitely on an upward swing.

Another benefit: All of us can say that our cooking skills have improved, (well, except for the dog.)

The impact of the global pandemic is considerable in its reach. Kids are no longer in school and sadly, many people have lost jobs or have been furloughed. (Let's hope that is short-lived). Many more are working differently, staying put and utilizing video meetings and apps.

So far, I am fortunate to have enough work with books and corporate clients, and for now, I'm taking on more projects than usual because I don't know what lies ahead. Most of the people I know in my profession are staying busy. I hope the same is true for you.

Over the past few years, I've become well accustomed to working from home. I leased offices for over a decade, but changed that several years ago. I realized that I rarely physically met with clients (over 95% are out of my home state of Colorado), and didn't need splashy commercial digs, much less a conference room, or receptionist.

I decided to stop signing leases, and instead, we put an addition on the house, creating space for a new studio. I've been walking twenty feet to the studio, instead of seven blocks, ever since. I miss the social aspects sometimes - and certainly more so now, as friends are not dropping by, and I can't visit them, either. But other things are not missed, like the monthly rent. The office on the iconic Pearl Street Mall (right upstairs from where Robin Williams and company filmed the intro sequence to "Mork and Mindy")  - has since increased to being more than our mortgage payment. It was fun, but not a good value.

From the website of my former office building on Pearl St.

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One of a series of  advertising cartoons created this month for a Microsoft affiliate and long 
time client CGNet. Very timely with most of the country working from home.

My wife and I are both used to working this way...just not living this way.

I need to get back to some deadlines, and I don't want to make you snooze, (you can nap anytime these days, right?) so I'll wrap up soon. So before signing off, I thought I'd share some of a current project in the studio.

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I was recently hired to illustrate and write humor for a new book by author, Gary Hamel. Gary is the originator (with C.K. Prahalad) of the concept of core competencies. He is also a visiting professor at both Harvard and the London Business School.

Gary Hamel interviewing Google CEO Eric Schmidt for material in the book.

His new book is Humanocracy, written with co-author Michele Zanini, and will be released in August by the Harvard Business Review Press. It has been fun collaborating with him and I'll share an early sample illustration: 

I have written and drawn roughly 20 pieces so far, and I'm doing them all in high resolution, as some of them will also be used by the author in presentations on a book promotion tour.

When time allows, I'll share a story about Gary's unique interview and "tryout" hiring process, as well as some other client work, including two other book illustration projects that will be starting soon.

Meanwhile, stay home, and try to keep your sense of humor...though it's not easy to do both long term.