Girl in the 419

Logo image design for The Girl in the Glass City. Residents of Toledo and the surrounding area should follow her on Facebook here to keep up with events and things to do in the city!

Some cool usage here (click images to enlarge). Seeing your work in print or on the web is one thing; seeing it on a billboard is another entirely. Still gives me a pretty cool feeling when I drive by.

Blaggie Awards

This job for the April 1st issue of Newcity had a 24 hour turnaround, and given the time constraints, I'm mostly satisfied with the results. Not having time to get away from my work for a while, then come back and reassess it in a more objective frame of mind is a challenge, particularly with (non-retail, obviously) caricatures, but I think everybody's favorite disgraced Illinois governor turned out well!

Any readers in Chicago? I'd love to get a photo of the print version if you've got a copy.

Truth Comedy Jam!

If you're in the general Toledo area, this is something you should definitely be joining me at. Two hours of smart, beautiful women making you laugh, and only ten dollars if you RSVP here. All that, and it's for a good cause to boot!

Pick up the most recent issue of the Toledo Free Press Star for more info, or read about it on their website here!

Jaime

Happy Valentine's / Single's Awareness Day / Halfway Through February, everyone!

Class Presentation at Sauder Elementary

This week I did a presentation at Sauder Elementary's 1st grade class in Massillon, Ohio, about Cheeky's Security Blanket and what it's like to be an illustrator. This was my first time speaking to a classroom, and I'm happy to say that everything went great. The kids were all amazing, inquisitive, and very smart!

After reading through the book, I showed some slides of other illustrators to show examples of artists I've been influenced by and an example of how many diverse ways there are to illustrate picture books.

Like the paw prints hidden on every page of Cheeky's Security Blanket, Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books have a mouse and spider who appear in every illustration.

Sometimes I feel like the work of my favorite artists is weirdly dissimilar from my own. But maybe not...

I also showed some samples of my illustration work outside of picture books. One of the kids seemed flabbergasted that my work had been published in and on the cover of magazines, despite just having seen an entire book full of my work!

Because of their age, I wasn't sure if they'd know who this was, so I asked if anybody recognized him. A bunch of hands shot up. My favorite guess: "John McCain." Close, I told him. 2nd best: George Washington.

I showed a few samples of drawings I did when I was around their age, to try and make the point that drawing well is really just a matter of practice and work over long periods of time rather than something you're just born with. Hopefully they were inspired!

Sometimes you don't get things right the first time. Here's a bit of process work from Cheeky's Security Blanket that I walked them through:

Once they saw the thumbnail rough, they were immediately curious what the stairs were doing in the picture. I explained the concept of roughs and preliminary work, and how they allow you to change decisions and revise images with minimal effort in their early stages.

The first sketch looks a little different from the final. There were some concerns with the implication that Cheeky was wandering around the neighborhood unsupervised, so the background was changed from a front yard to a fenced-in back yard.

Finished inks. They were all fascinated with the idea of drawing on a computer using a tablet. Next time I'll have to take some pictures or a video of me working! One kid told me he has a Wii game where you draw on the screen with the controller, and a few asked if it was similar to the smartboard I was projecting the pictures onto, so I think everybody got the idea.

Finished illustration.

Governator

Click for larger image.

Dubya

Sans lines

Sometimes I like to turn off the "inks" layer in photoshop while I'm working on something. Looks kinda neat.

Cheeky's Tales: The Cover

Though the cover of Cheeky's Security Blanket is the first thing a reader will see, it was the last illustration I worked on for the book. Lindsay's suggestion was that the illustration show Cheeky trying her best to retrieve her collar from the mud room hook where it hangs. I wanted something with a dramatic, eye-catching perspective that would pull a viewer into the image, and also wanted to make sure that Cheeky was fully visible and looking toward the viewer.

Though I still like the design of this one, we eventually (and with some of the publisher's feedback) decided that the perspective might be too extreme or jarring for younger readers.

Lindsay suggested something from a more standard perspective, such as a view of Cheeky in the same position, just from behind her. I was still hoping for something more eye-catching that also managed to show Cheeky's face and help the viewer to connect with her--inherently a bit of a challenge when the character is facing toward a wall!

This thumbnail managed to retain all the essential information, while keeping a more conventional perspective. We were all happy with this one, but it was decided that Cheeky's expression should be less forlorn and more mischievous--a good change, as it fits better with the overall tone of the book and Cheeky's personality.

Along the way, it was decided that the trash can should be changed to Cheeky's supper dish. The palette also underwent a few revisions from this early state, and a number of adjustments were made to the display text to make it "pop" and look more pleasing.

Above is the final cover as it appears in print. Cheeky's Security Blanket is available from Amazon.com here!

Rapscallions and Vagabonds.

For the brother's senior recital. Those of you with long memories may recall that last year at about this time I made a promotional poster for his junior recital as well. Decided to stick with the Top Cat theme again this year. If it ain't broke!

Where Children Sang, and Pilgrims Mourned

Visual interpretation of one of my favorite classical music pieces. This kind of work is extremely enjoyable for me!

Teatrio!

Six of my pieces have been accepted into Teatrio's 2009 show! The Associazione Culturale Teatrio holds and judges an annual international competition in children's book illustration.  Work by 30 artists worldwide is selected for a globe-trotting show that will be exhibited first in Italy, and then in other cities throughout the world including Addis Abeba, Mexico City, Atlanta, Guadalajara, and more.

Illustrator extraordinaire Yuko Shimizu was one of this year's judges.  Here is a picture I scrounged up of her standing over my entry during the judging!  Look!  She's almost touching it!  Just thinking about it makes me feel giddy as a schoolgirl in the front row of a Jonas Brothers concert.  Ok, I'm going to stop now.

Directly to the left of my prints and also enjoying Ms. Shimizu's aura are 6 pieces by Katrina Kopeloff, a fellow SCADster (I just coined that) who is also in the show.  Katrina does some really fun and intricate artwork with colored inks and crowquills.  Katrina is going to have carpal tunnel syndrome by the time she is 30.  Katrina's blog can be found here.

Contact.

Kids do stuff like this all the time!  It's normal.

Really, Tremendous Guy

A sneak peak of a sneak peak into the life of yours truly.  Pictured is the studio in the west wing of the mansion in Madrid.  It's true that the Dubai palace is my normal residence around this time of year, but it's currently undergoing some remodeling while they add the bowling alley and movie theatre.

Warm Regards,

Baron Isaac Klunk III

Business Card Sketches Part 3: Revenge of Business Card

The one.

Business Card Sketches, Part Deux

Really feeling this one.  Information on the back (still working that out).

Blahblah Avenue

I'm playing with a number of ideas for a new business card at the moment, a rough color comp of one appearing above.  I envisioned this image being sort of cute and fun, but in practice it strikes me as sort of unnerving and creepy in a way.  Maybe I've just been working too late?

The composition on this one is going to need a bit of work (staring at it right now is immediately making me want to fix a couple million things), and I'm not crazy about the colors either, but all in due time.  I've got a few other ideas in production that I'm a bit happier about.

 

And say, if anybody's had good experiences with any card printers in the past, I'm all ears!

Phew.

Moving right along...

Working on a fairly big project right now--can't post more than this though.  Super top secret stuff.  This is some James Bond, Mission Impossible, Warrantless Wiretap, A Few Good Men-type business here, my friends.  See if you can guess!