I ran out of time for a completed illustration this week, so a sketch’ll haveta do ya!
Anyone who has kids who can speak know that it’s near impossible to keep ahead with finances.
{ 4 comments }
From the category archives:
Illustration
Family dynamics are always fun to illustrate. Growing up with 6 sisters and 1 brother gives me lots of fodder for humorous banter.
{ 7 comments }
Did you know that over a hundred tiny Praying Mantises spill out of one egg case when they hatch? It’s quite spectacular, and then you need to quickly release all but one or two into the wild. These little guys are carnivorous and very hungry. If you don’t give all of them all plenty to eat, they’ll feast on each other. Hey, a little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone, right?
The Praying Mantis Pagoda, obvious by its name, was to have an oriental flair. So I used a Buddhist temple, or tower, as inspiration for the logo, and created a custom font.
The Japanese writing on the base of the logo says “Praying Mantis Pagoda” repeatedly… how original.
At the same time I was working on the packaging, I was to create the look of the product itself. This needed to be done quickly so that it could be manufactured while I worked on everything else. I designed the base of the habitat, the pattern for the frame, and a little oriental lantern that would hang in the center of the habitat to hold the egg case while waiting for it to hatch.
I then had to create the illustrations for the Pagoda instructions.
Put it all together with a cute kid photo shot, some illustrated mantises, the essential legal mumbo-jumbo, and you’ve got yourself a bona fide product with packaging that fits well with the Insect Lore look.
{ 4 comments }
Insect Lore’s UK division is able to sell living walking sticks while it’s illegal to sell them in the US. The reason being that walking sticks are a common pest. Strange, since the US division can sell mealworms/darkling beetles with no restrictions. Ok, this is totally beside the point… the point being I was given the challenge of updating their antiquated logo and packaging.
Aging Living Twig packaging
Ack! Those walking stick characters look like poo with legs. The challenge here was to align it with our unified Insect Lore look, and make it friendly for 10 languages. This looks like a job for illustration!
First off, I created illustrations to show how the kit worked, independent of any copy:
Next came the logo.
Sometimes I get on a kick and create the whole logo with textures and all, and realize that I’ve been going the wrong way the whole time. Although this logo has some punch, other than reading “Living Twig”, it says nothing. Back to the drawing board.
Ok, this idea had some merit. It was approved by the powers-that-be, so I finished it up:
As you can see, I stayed pretty true to the hand drawn look of the lettering, but modified the leaf “shield” behind to help it sit on any colored background and look good.
The children on the front are from two separate photos, and we didn’t have a shot of a habitat with walking sticks crawling around in it, so that took a bit of photoshopping to get what we needed. I added the obligatory choking hazard label, odds and ends, a little fizz, and there you have it, a fresh updated look to a very cool live insect kit!
Not available in the US, but you can get it in the UK here.
{ 4 comments }
Musical Birds came from a sketch I did a while ago that I felt had some merit to complete. It doubles as a Mother’s Day gift for my mom, being a bird collector. I know I’m a little late, but I think she’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
This is a newer technique for me, more of a loose and playful look, and I’m rather enjoying it. I make myself use a larger brush than will fit in smaller areas so that I don’t get so tied up with the details. It’s much quicker for me too!
{ 3 comments }
Here’s something I did a while ago that matches this week’s Illustration Friday theme perfectly:
{ 11 comments }
During the LDS General Conference yesterday, I kept myself alert by trying my hand at caricatures of the speakers. I’m not proclaiming myself a caricaturist by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve always wanted to be good at it, for no other reason than to be a fun party guest.
Anyhow, here’s what I came up with. Try and guess who these people are (hint: all from the Sunday sessions), and the first person to guess correctly wins 100 points (redeemable by email)! If no one guesses correctly, then I need to keep practicing.
{ 4 comments }
Perhaps instinct drew them together to bathe in this one particular puddle. Either that or I did.
{ 13 comments }
For this holiday season I dug up an old flash animation I created (in 2002) to wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you all for your support and friendship!
{ 0 comments }
I just love drawing fat fingers and little kids’ toes. Nothing fierce about those at all.
Click to see it larger. Watercolor and ink with brush.
{ 6 comments }
Any dentist that uses needles, drills, picks, cold water, abrasives, scissors, floss, anything with high pitch sounds or tastes bad is still in the dark ages as far as I’m concerned.
Brushed ink lines and watercolor wash.
{ 6 comments }
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love drawing monsters. They can be ugly, cute, scary, cuddley… I’m guilty of the same. Here’s a fun ink wash study of a cuddley cute one, but that’s subjective.
{ 3 comments }
Just in case you have a hard time focusing on those huge puzzles with a gazillion teeny pieces, here are a few that will just put your mind at ease. Then when you complete them, they can be used as little futons to take a nap upon. They’re big (20×30 inches), they’re made of thick, soft, but durable, foam, and you’ll learn the life cycles of various creatures while having fun!
These aren’t the cartoony illustrations I’m used to drawing, but it’s fun to take on a different style once in a while. Again, logo and illustrations done by me, and Giant Life Cycle Puzzles furnished by Insect Lore.
{ 0 comments }
No time for color this week, just a couple sketches.
Faith is overshadowed by superstition here. The basic idea of this one was from my wife. She may not be artistic, but she’s definitely creative.
{ 5 comments }
It’s a good thing that Thanksgiving is between Halloween and Christmas (at least in the States it is). Acts as a buffer and gives the two extremes a bit of breathing room. The turkey always gets it in the end anyway despite his intentions to make peace.
Hmmm… this might work well for this years’ “Happy Holidays” card.
{ 8 comments }
Although scolded every time, juggling the farm animals was a habit Cindy couldn’t kick until her early teens.
Update:
I played with this a little more to give it a warmer hand sketched look. I kinda dig the rougher feel of the cow below. What do you think? What style do you think children’s book publishers would welcome more? Click on the cow to see it up close.
{ 21 comments }