Too busy for a lengthy post today so instead here is the first of an ongoing series of caricature spot illustrations for The Independent, a local North Carolina newspaper. It’s a small image for the header of a column on local NC politicians, printing about 3.5 x 4 inches or so. The column runs tomorrow. READ MORE
When visiting a message board thread about whether signing your commercial work is kosher or not I was reminded of this story I heard about 25 years ago about a mural painter from my hometown of La Crosse, WI. I was told it by a friend sitting in the bar the story supposedly occurred in, but the “evidence” was no longer there. I’m paraphrasing big time, as it was so long ago: An artist who was a college student was approached by a local La Crosse nightclub owner and asked about being commissioned to paint a mural on a huge wall along their dance floor… READ MORE
Deadlines conquered… again. I had to pull an all-nighter last night to wrap up that MAD job but as they say in the business it’s “in the can!” (okay, that reference is actually from the movie business reffering to when filming is complete and the film reels are in their metal containers, but who cares?). I sometimes get comments from fellow cartoonists and/or illustrators about the amount of work I do, and it’s assumed I must work very fast to squeeze in that kind of volume. In truth I don’t really work that fast, and any reputation I may have for being prolific is much… READ MORE
Yesterday I posted this drawing of Michael Cera and mentioned how it was a “cold” drawing… meaning I had one photo reference to work from and no other familiarity with the subject either from seeing him in a film or on TV, or any other forms of reference. Here’s the photo reference I used: I got a few comments and some private e-mails asking for more details about what it means to draw “cold” and what makes it different from using multiple references or drawing from a live model. I thought it would make a good topic for a more involved post. Drawing caricatures from… READ MORE
Detail of a “line and Color” illustration for MAD Detail of a painted illustration I did for a recent magazine cover Recently I got into a debate with a fellow illustrator about the wisdom of having more than one “style” of artwork that one would actively peddle to possible clients. This fellow was adamant that it was the smartest way to get greater amounts of work and also to appeal to a broader audience of potential clients. I disagreed. I’ve blogged about this subject before, where I told the story of meeting cartoonist George Karn, who also was a multiple-style advocate. He was quick to… READ MORE
Hoo Hah! A few projects ongoing right now and sadly not much I can share yet. Here are two pieces I did a few months ago that is part of the “Super Capers” movie project I have been working on for some time now. They don’t give anything away as far as the movie goes, so I think it’s okay at this point to share them here. Sometimes jobs evolve as they progress along, and this particular job has definitely done that. The movie is a superhero spoof/comedy and my part of the production was to be three different jobs… “turnaround” illustrations of the 14… READ MORE
Going through some old files the other day I came across these illustrations from an old job I did for Topps candy company: They are a good example of how odd product and advertising jobs can be, and how you can go all the way to final and yet never see the results get printed. Plus there are two funny stories related to my trying to get reference for the job that I thought would be worth sharing. These are three of a set of seven or eight (can’t remember and could not find any of the others) that were meant to be part of… READ MORE
“I’ve got the great idea for a <product-book-comic-property> and I need an illustrator like you to get onboard and share the wealth! This is guaranteed to be the Next Big Thing! You’re artwork is perfect and together this will be HUGE!!!” Sound familiar? I’ll bet not a few of you are nodding your heads right about now. How about this?: “I can’t pay anything right now, but I’ll give you a share in the profits!!!” Uh huh. Get rich quick schemes are a side product of the American Dream. Sometimes it seems like everyone wants to believe they have the next million dollar idea and… READ MORE
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