Workbook project

I had another workbook project in May from a local publishing firm. This project consisted of about 125 black and white illustrations, of which I've chosen 6 examples of some of the more interesting ones. This workbook concerned comparing and contrasting skills and there were a few 'what's different about these two pictures?' type activities, and sorting activities, and the topics ranged all over the board from nature pictures to science fiction tales (I've included a few more of my 'aliens' as these were my favorite parts of these projects). The art director I was working with was always pleasant and laughed heartily at all my cartoons, which was a big ego booster, and I would frequently bring along my son to these meetings since my wife was working days around this time at a local magazine publisher. (my son would have been 9 or 10 years old at this time). This one is still available for purchase at Amazon here for a reasonable price.




Also this month, for the same parent company, (but a Minneapolis based office, in turn outsourced for a London release) I had a cover assignment for another book. (pictured below) - Amazingly, this one is still in print (but out of stock) and available at Amazon here

Name Brand Mystery Assignment

I had a mystery fiction assignment this month from one of my children's literary magazine clients. This one was for the 'teen poetry & prose' digest and was to accompany a story by an author I've been a fan of for many years, so it was a bonus treat to bring this one to life. This author sets all his mysteries in the horse racing world in Britain, and this short story was no exception. I also had another assignment along similar lines a couple years later for the same magazine, and this was the sort of work that I'd been doing for years for another mystery fiction digest client, although I hadn't done a project for them for over a year at this point, and would only start working with them again the following year. So in a way, these projects took up the slack while I was on hiaitus from the other magazine and kept me in that 'mystery frame of mind'.

The Incredible Lightness of Drawing

As I work my way backwards through my art archives, I've noticed fluctuations in style, and in color palatte and have commented on them from time to time as it seems necessary. Over the past 6 months of the chronology, I've noticed the colors getting lighter and lighter, and have let it pass without comment until I got to these three illustrations for May, and I feel I must say something about it. Fortunately the black and white work doesn't seem to have suffered in any way, but the color tones are getting much lighter and I'm not sure why that was. It could be perhaps that I was using an older computer at this time (I think I upgraded to my current computer sometime around 2002-03), perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention to the brightness settings with regards to how the illustrations were printing. At this point I was rather new to 'computer illustration' having only started the previous year, and I'm still apparently working out the bugs in the system.

Anyhow, the illustration above was for a 'recipe' article for an east coast newspaper client. The dish this time was a light and fluffy white cake (but I think I went overboard on the 'light and fluffy'). Below was an illustration for one of my children's magazine clients, and showed how light breaks up into a color spectrum. (and again, 'light' being the operative term).


The above ATM illustration was for a 'puzzle page' in another children's magazine this month. Another victim of the light color tonality problem of this era.

May Scratchboards

The illustration above was for a west coast legal magazine and concerned the upcoming changes in the music industry.

The remainder of the illustrations in this posting were scratchboard illustrations I did for an east coast legal newspaper and an educational publication, but to be honest, I don't quite remember much about any of them, even to the point of confusing which ones were for which client.

Cartoons in May

The above illustration and the one below were both for an east coast newspaper client in May of '99. The one above was about working mothers, and I'm not sure what the one below was about (playing with your kids?).


The above four spot illustrations were the beginning of an extended project that stretched over the next three months for a midwest publisher, through my agent. I was one of several illustrators hired for this particular project, and I never quite learned what book these were published in. Also this month, for my agent, was the illustration below for a Michigan regional parenting publication.


The illustrations above, below and to the right were all for a local regional publication (where my wife was working at the time). The one above was for a humor article about experiences on the 'comedy tour' by a young comedian. The one to the right was about working mothers, and the one below was about protecting yourself as you surf the internet.

The following two illustrations were both for 'puzzle page' illustrations in the same children's magazine. I don't quite remember the story behind either one.