Drawing Board wrap-up

It was a very hectic month, as evidenced by my lack of posting here. Here's a quick sampling of some of the recent work gracing my board: (Click images to enlarge).

One of a series of cartoons commissioned by a Seattle ad agency, for Vertafore Corporation.

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A series of cartoons created for London-based IB corp. I worked with their executives to write and draw some cartoons for their international advertising campaigns.

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 A step-by-step process for a cartoon created for regular client, CGNet, a pioneer in cloud computing. 
I worked with the CEO on this, which was his vision; a busy Rube-Goldberg-like cartoon, 
showing how  services offered by his firm might otherwise be handled -- in an-old school manner.  

          1) A first draft with a rocket depicting cloud computing. 2) We decided a hot air balloon better fit the antiquated objects around it, (steam engine, carrier pidgeons, toy train). 3) The character who "built" the set-up was proud of himself and standing in a spotlight...also, the coloring was meant to look old. 4) We removed the spotlight, gave him some tools and then brightened the color scheme.

A cartoon on the Fed's spending policies, for Merk Funds (link)

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A caricature commissioned for an awards cermony honoring Maurice Fiorio,
head of the Fiorio Hair Salons and School. (Being a guy with simple tastes
 in hair care, I wasn't sure who he was until I Googled him for reference photos).

 

 

 

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One of 18 illustrations from a children's book going to the publisher this month...

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It's shaping up to be a busy summer...Several large projects are in line, including two children's book illustration jobs, along with a humor book about dating which will entail around 35 cartoons, and plenty of artwork and character design for a third animated video commissioned by Intel Corporation.

We'll try to have some fun here in between, with a caption contest or two, as well as some new features...

April Showers

With soft but steady rain drops pitter-pattering on my studio windows, I'm reminded of Annie Lennox crooning the opening of her 80's song for the Eurythmics, "Here Comes the Rain Again".

It's also a fitting metaphor for the activity within the studio right now... a new animated commercial for Intel Corporation, as well as  three books to illustrate, and over a dozen other corporate client projects.

I feel very fortunate to be this busy, and after taking a multi-day ski trip a little over a week ago, (first break since Christmas), I'm refreshed and ready to have some fun with it all.

--Meanwhile, here's a sampling of what has been on the Wacom digital tablet over the past two weeks:

A political cartoon created for a column in the San Francisco Examiner, link

Another, for a column in the S.F. Examiner last week, (link).

A patchwork of currencies -- a cartoon for Merk Funds (link)

                                                           (Click images to enlarge)

         

 A cartoon on Ben Bernanke's dalliances with the Gold Standard, (link)

   One of several advertising cartoons for  Zoom Info

One of 42 cartoons (yes 42!) created for a book to help doctors effectively maintain and market

their websites. The book is by medical industry executive Ann Kaplan -- and just went to the publishers.

 (I previously illustrated a humor book for her covering the pitfalls of cosmetic surgery...link).

A cartoon for Energi USA, a California HR and insurance firm. 

A scene from an animated corporate presentation for Towers Watson in New York.
As usual with animation, I designed the scenes and characters and drew the artwork, but left the
 technical aspects of animating it to others. (Honestly, lining up repeating frames in order
seems tedious -- and I chose this profession to have fun.)

Here's wishing a Happy Easter and Passover to everyone!

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.