January 7, 2013 — Raccoons Local #646

A year ago it was frogs. Now it's furry forest creatures. The face is excessively dark, but I like the top to bottom contrast, and the way the whiskers at ten and two set the lower edge.

This was done as an exercise for a mascot, and is based on a loose line and texture style I'm already fairly comfortable with. I can't help note the similarities between this fellow and the soccer shield below; the layout and line work are basically the same. As usual, this raccoon was drawn up by hand and then moved over to the digital space for finishing, though I didn't want to spend too much time on him after that. Moving right along...

October 1, 2011 — The Immaculate Shield of ISL

A long-time soccer mate suggested putting together a mock shield for his team in New York, although I admit the humor aspect he was hoping for is playing second fiddle to my own predilections.

The style is sort of Pinball Nouveau—that is, a few pop art references mixed with an "Empire" Art Deco theme that I thought would complement their home turf. Appropriately, the colors are those of beer and wine, while the few sporting elements take a shade of royal blue. The Latin inscription reads: We are more stupid than meets the eye.

January 30, 2011 — Baltimore Dragon Boat Club 'O' Graphic

A good friend of mine is really into the dragonboat scene, and I just kinda' grabbed the idea to play around with text and illustration. I have some other ideas for this particular theme, and will try to work them out over time. The dragon could have been detailed properly, but I decided to simply cut the process short, fit the concept together, and have a look at it.

This image is also the first chance I had to try using a tablet and stylus. I didn't find the transition seamless, but will be keeping the tablet in mind for certain things.

January 7, 2011 — Experimenting with Art Nouveau

Lots of line drawing—that's the basic prescription for this style of illustration. I did four separate drawings by hand, then combined them on a digital canvas with separate painted layers. So, the original line art is preserved and, in this case, sits on top of the paint to give the whole image a definite crispness. I initially tried to draft a motif for the background, but then decided to stop and leave it solid. The other little glitch is that I have a nice sun dial of doves sitting in the circular section behind the figure, but the way things came together it's mostly hidden and, at that, I also increased the transparency quite a lot. So I'll probably use this motif later on in a more pronounced way.

January 1, 2011 — Damselfrog, Code-Name: Alex

The Damselfrog came about by thinking of the wild patinations on exotic frogs in contrast to the color of tropical fish. I always loved the brilliance of juvenile damselfish, which are an ultra deep shade of blueish black and dotted with extraordinary pinpoints of topaz. It's as if they have an internal light-source, or in modern-speak they're studded with LEDs.

I definitely didn't get that same sense of brilliance here, but at least put together the concept of a tropical frog hanging out on a coral reef.

December 28, 2010 — Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Code-Name: Roger

I hadn't drawn anything just for the hell of it in a very long time, but found the inspiration to jump back into the groove by sketching a few simple things—frogs, as it turned out.

Nice to know, a good friend who works at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn commented that this pose is exactly how she sometimes catches tree frogs, stuck to the glass of their exhibits. Another friend quickly came to our aid by proposing a name, Roger, which I felt was good enough.

December 22, 2010 — L'Hirondelle F-22 Concept

After photographing cars for so long, it was time to start drawing again. Here're a few versions of a basic design sketch. I did a number of different scale drawings and perspectives, and only just decided in 2013 to re-post a few. It was all a first-take kind of experiment, though, and I'm thinking about getting back to this little project and kicking it up a notch.