Changes to the Last Illustration

The illustration of the view from the air traffic control tower has been bugging my client for a long time and she couldn’t put her finger on why. We finally realized it was the 2-point perspective of the runway – it was a bit off, making the far taxiway look like a “high speed taxiway” (angled) rather than parallel to the runway.

Since consistency is key going from page to page in a children’s book (just watch “Elf” for an example) I will be redoing the runway – a very large undertaking for one illustration this late in the game, but a necessary step.

Since I nailed the runway markings on the following page’s illustration, I needed to make a reference to make sure the runway is technically accurate. I made a quick, flat, 2d version on a separate layer in Photoshop, which I will be duplicating as neccessary and playing with the perspective tools until I have it perfect.

All in all, even though this change is a LOT of work to a previously approved illustration, I’m confident it will look TONS better!

T-Shirt Design at LOLMartShirts.com: Pants On The Ground

Check it out – my shirt design, “Pants Off The Ground” is the shirt of the day at LOLMartShirts.com! Go buy some!

Virtual Decorating for Rhapsody Marketing

So I’ve got projects now and then for Rhapsody Marketing where I’ll be Photoshopping empty rooms to make them look already furnished. I guess watching all those HGTV shows with Jennifer is starting to pay off! Take a look at my before and after shots…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

If this is a service you’re interested in for your home, get in touch with Rhapsody Marketing here – it’ll save you THOUSANDS of dollars!

After Effects Cartoon

"Not a Real Cowboy"

I just created this cartoon last week for the class my wife and I teach at church. The dialog and character names come from Randall House – the illustrations, animation and voices are all me. (Except the funny snore – that was a WAV I found)

New Project: Tradeshow Banners

Here’s a quick project I’m working on this week for J&D Foods. They will have a presence at an upcoming tradeshow, so I’ve been tasked with designing two large vertical banners to sit on both sides of their booth.

I’ve used an old-school dithering trick I learned from Greg Hunt back at HLM (now HL2). It used to drive us crazy in the e-pro area when he’d create these dithers because they took so long to process and RIP, but now that computers are faster and printing is all digital it lends a great “natural” effect to vector layouts.

If anyone wants to know how to create it, I’ll be glad to share in an upcoming post. Just ask. For now, here are the banners:

PS: In case you’re wondering, that blue line was a guide on screen when i took a screenshot in Illustrator. I’m also going to reduce the size of “POP IT” and “DIP IT” so they’re more uniform to the neighboring banner…

Bacon Ranch, BaconPOP and Mmmvelopes on TV!

A newscast in Idaho Falls, ID just reviewed the products I designed for J&D Foods… check it out!

Recent Projects

Check it out: Mmmvelopes have been featured on Coroflot’s Member Gallery!

Also, here is a recent illustration I did for BDS MKTG out of L.A. They did an email campaign to their client base on what ‘value’ really means to consumers – because price is not the only factor when it comes to perception of value. A great concept, and quite fun to illustrate.

It really pushed me out of my standard style, while the chaotic jumble of doodles was a blast to put together – it even included my own hand-drawn typography, which I’ve always really loved doing.

There’s so much going on, it really reminds me of a Richard Scary illustration I stared at in my elementary school days.

Can you judge this book by its cover?

REVISED COVER CLOSEUP:

I’ve centered the “Penelope” title in the oval better as suggested… I think that helped. I’m liking this tighter crop too, but it’s only because I’m zoomed in in Photoshop…

REVISED COVER POSTED:

Let me know your thoughts/concerns on this new one… I’ve lightened the environment, added detail and shading to the background elements and taken away the pink ribbon for “and her First Day…”

—

HERE IS THE FINAL COVER DESIGN! http://robthedesigner.com/wordpress/final-penelope-pilot-cover-art

Book designers, if my pages are 8 1/2″ x 11″ and I have about 40 pages, assuming it’s not a hardback, how much room should I allow for the spine’s width?

Any feedback on this cover design is appreciated – would it grab you on a shelf and prompt you to pick it up, if you were looking for a gift for your daughter for example? Are the colors too dark or too bright? I’ve turned off the text to not give stuff away since it’s not finally approved yet, and I still need to add detail and shading – but please give me your honest feedback about the cover.

We might say we don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but in the publishing industry, that’s just not true these days…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here’s this year’s virtual Christmas card – going “green” this year… What do you think?

Here was the preliminary sketch:

BaconPOP featured on ThinkGeek.com

Check it out – BaconPOP has been featured on ThinkGeek.com!

PS: It’s hard to work in the middle of a NERF gun war.