Illustrating album covers? They still do that?

Here's a recent album cover illustration I had done. My friend Jeremy and some other friends put together an album and asked me to do thier cover. It's pretty cool knowing some people out there still seek traditional illustration for things like this, but who knows how relevant album covers will be in a few more years given the current decline of the music industry. Jeremy knew exactly what he wanted for the cover and it was a pretty quick deal from sketches to finish. Hopefully I can get an image of the final cover soon and post it here and find some link to thier music. All I can say at the moment is the band goes by The Forgotten, and it's not the punk band by the same name.

The sketch idea's were pretty repetitive, but it was more about dealing with the composition since the concept was pretty much taken care of right away.

The 80's, So Hot Right Now.

Immediately after I finished the first illustration for Joe, he shot me back an e-mail about doing another one for the same issue. The article he sent over was about the many different groups of characters that flock to the slopes, but it mainly dealt with "The Joey." Even after snowboarding for years, I had never even heard about this so it was a pretty entertaining little nugget of information. "The Joey" is pretty much the biggest goofball at the resort. The one who always gets in the way, wears the craziest outfits, and is altogether clueless when it comes to any sort of etiquette on the slopes. Joe had initially mentioned using a lot of dayglo colors and after reading that I couldn't help but envision acid wash jean jackets, tight jeans, and patterns that you might see on Saved By The Bell.

I felt like the first round of sketches were too heavy handed, in that they were sort of telling the viewer how to feel, or were giving away the reaction too much.

I was glad with what we settled on after looking at the sketches. I think it captured the idea of "The Joey" better than any of the others and honestly, was probably a lot more fun to do than any of the others would have been. A bonus perk to the whole shebang was that it ended up being a fun trip down memory lane.

Snowboarding in May

A childhood friend of mine helped start up a snowboarding/skiing magazine called Steez a few years ago, and he recently told me to e-mail their art director, Joe LoVasco, about doing some illustrations for them. A week after I initially contacted Joe, he shot an article my way for thier new issue about the SIA snow sports trade show in Vegas. After 37 years, the event has started to become too polluted with "glitz" and "glam," and is being moved to Denver to help get back to the roots. The magazine is usually black and white so it was great to read from Joe that they are now doing it in color, and to just do whatever I want.

These were the 3 quick ideas I had that I was sure would all be turned down. I still want to do the one of that infamous neon cowboy with the snowboard under his arm, just for kicks.

"The Bird Show"

This was a piece I did for a juried show in April. The entrants had to submit a piece that could be whatever came to mind when they thought about birds. I always wondered what it would be like if a bird tried to sneak one out in a birdbath. A pretty idle thought, but it's fun to imagine what it might be like. I ended up receiving first place, so I guess enough enjoyment came from the idea I had to share.

Sex Can Still Be Awkward

About a month ago I was invited to a dinner party for a few local artists where we would all hang out, have a few drinks, or more, and then enjoy dinner together. There was a little catch to the event; we all had to bring a piece with us, that dealt with the idea of sexual energy, for a critique after dinner. It kind of threw me for a bit since I had never done a piece dealing with that subject matter. I really thought about it for a while and eventually got something. The night was a fun time and everyone had an interesting take on the subject. A big thanks to Tom Buechner for having me there.

Another Old Dude

Ambrose E. Burnside was a General in the Union Army, which he relunctantly accepted, and suffered a crushing defeat at The Battle of Fredericksburg. After another failed attempt at fighting the Confederate Army he requested President Lincoln accept his resignation. He may not go down in history as the greatest General but he may have paved the way for a revolution in facial hair.

Ben

My friends and I love watching Drunk History on www.funnyordie.com and in case you're wondering what that is, I'll fill you in. The premise is pretty simple: people get ridiculously drunk and then tell stories from American history. The stories are usually pretty hilarious due to how drunk the person telling the story is and also the absurdity of the story. There's a couple episodes on Benjamin Franklin, who is played by Jack Black. I decided to draw Ben for my friend because he always toasts Ben Franklin, which is in reference to one of the stories, and I wanted him to have some kind of picture on his wall to toast. I am starting to attempt to incorporate type into my drawings but I think it'll be some time until I'm happy with it.

Return of The Scraps

Woody Allen

After some other bigger illustrations I had more scrap paper laying around again, so I've just decided that all scrap paper from now on will be used for these little head studies. I like doing them and it's fun to sort of experiment here and there with them and see how it affects my other work. Who knows how long it'll continue but it'd be cool to have a gigantic stack of them years from now, and plus it's a good way to use the extra paper instead of throwing it out.

Rudyard Kipling

Introducing, Matty P

This is my friend Matt. Months ago he asked me to do a drawing of him and at first it was going to be a simple sketch but I turned it into this mess of a picture. I wanted to incorporate a lot of things/events from his life into it, so all the little bits and pieces in this picture have been his job locations, skateboard poses, traveled roads, childhood stomping grounds, and actual clothes. He's a character for sure.

2000 and Shine

Well, 2009 is kicking off on a good note. I just found out this guy was accepted into the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 47 show and catalog. I had done this piece as part of a final project series for a class last Spring.

Pages From the Book of Sketch

I've always liked it when other people share some of their sketchbook doodles, so I've decided to do the same. It's interesting to see if people's personal sketches are stylistically different or similar to their finished work. I figure this will probably be the last post for 2008 so I wanted to share some of the last few pages of this year.

Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Seventh President of the United States: Andrew Jackson

Hometown coffee shop

A Scene From The City

I saw this one day in Manhattan and I could not get it out of my head for days. When I passed this guy I laughed to myself but it wasn't a laugh meant to mock him, but more out of fear or how depressing of a scene it was. His job is to sit, cramped in a little space, all day and sell magazines of beautiful people enjoying life, cameras to help us remember all the fun things we did that day, candy that we love to eat, gum to make our breath smell better, and everything else for us to enjoy while we roam around the city. It made me think of the scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon talks about the honor in having to work a job where you tend to people and their needs all day and then Robin Williams calls him out on all his bullshit.

Adrian Shine

I saw this guy on a documentary I watched about Loch Ness on the Travel channel and I knew I had to draw him. Check out all that hair! Problem was I didn't know his name, so I figured it was hopeless that I'd find any photos of him or any info on him. Well, by some strange stroke of luck I found out what his name was and what he did; Adrian Shine is a researcher at the Loch and has written over a dozen books about the environment/life of the area. He was initially drawn to the lake because of Nessie but after years of research believes it was either a hoax or is dead. He uses the creature as a jump off point for getting people to understand the region and how the lake affects the surrounding area. I think I remember reading he built his own submarine years ago to do underwater research!