Cardinal!

 

The cardinal might be a little lonely (Illustration Friday theme).

Adobe Illustrator CS2

Illustration Friday meme: Space!

 Songbird

Bluebird

I made sure to leave a lot of space around the birds so they'd stand out. :)
Just working with simple shapes and colors.  Ever see any of the Ed Emberley drawing books?  As a kid I loved how he could create anything from a horse to a pirate ship with just the simplest shapes. :D

Adobe Illustrator CS2

Community Passages Logo Part Deux

As it turns out, I won the company logo contest (WooHoo!).  My unit director decided to go in a different direction than my previous entry and showed me an example of what he had in mind.  I came up with these logos next and apparently I'd nailed his idea.
The top part represents a path, just a simplified abstract icon.  I created a couple dozen different shapes along the same lines and these two captured the correct "path" feel I'd wanted. :)
Adobe Illustrator CS2

Community Passages Logo Concept

The company I work for, Community Passages, is a subsidiary of Resources for Human Development.  Community Passages provides assistance to mentally and physically challenged individuals.  The big wigs decided to host a competition for Community Passages employees to create a company logo.  Obviously a challenge right up my alley, I designed this logo:  

The C and P initials make up the outer heart shape;
The heart stands for the heart we have for our special needs individuals we work with, and also our heart for making "passages" for them into their communities;
One side of the middle "split" represents our individuals; the other side the community;
The clasped hands represent integration between our individuals and community;
The hands and opposing colors crossing over the middle represent crossing over barriers of separation between our individuals and community;
The orange and purple are color compliments, both of which are generally considered "passionate" colors.

While a little too small to be seen in the logo, in the hands I attempted to add some extra dimension, creating little spaces in between shapes to make an illusion of some shapes in front/back of others.  I've done this in other illustrations like the Armor of God and Kitty Cop, trying to get something more 3D from flat 2D line art.

I used my phone cam to take a photo of my wife's and my hand clasped for reference.  I had to enlarge her hand since it's a good bit smaller than mine. ;)

I could probably execute my ideas behind this logo a hundred different ways (alright, maybe at least a dozen or two).  I'll simplify the hands at some point to allow more readability when downsized. :)

A Couple New Ones...

Superman
Brian Williams caricature, host of NBC Nightly News
Photoshop CS2, Wacom Intuos4

Mutant Attack

Pencil, inked, scanned, Photoshop colored.  Background detail done in Illustrator.  Not my best, but I like the action, composition, and perspective. :)
Illustration Friday theme: Boundaries. This spacer's boundaries are about to be imposed upon by his mutated comrade.

Kitty Cop

Pencil drawing scanned in from my sketchbook, Photoshop color.

Recent Illustration Commissions

Superhero Squad

A Christmas present from a friend to her nephew (whose head is on the Iron Man suit.) I needed a lot of reference from online (images and videos) for the Squadies to nail their distinctive art style, and had a couple photos of the boy's face. I worked hard to make all the linework interesting, paying attention to shapes, width, weight, and flow.

The Cat Trick

My friend hired me to illustrate this as an anniversary present from him to his wife. I used photos for their three cat's heads, and rummaged online for the hockey uniforms, goalie net and rink line details. I created the little ads in the back in homage to the couple's culinary interests.

Note my new signature logo, an AM shaped and colored like a pencil, my favorite drawing utensil. Why do I use a signature logo? Is such a thing necessary? Who else does this? :)

Adobe Illustrator CS2

Recent Logo Designs

Adobe Illustrator CS2
Paying work makes me happy! :)

Glenshaw Alliance Church Bible quizzers revamped t-shirt design.
Logo for Independence Professionals, LLC webpage. They work with mentally and physically challenged individuals.
Design for local beauty enhancement company.

Illustration Friday-- Mail

Adobe Illustrator CS2
Tried my best to just use simplified shapes and concentrate on design, color, and composition. :)

Illustration Friday-- Sneaky

Moroccan Mark/Adobe Illustrator
This man looks like he could be a little sneaky. :) Actually, this was a friend's Halloween costume, and inspired me enough to draw a caricature of him. :)

It's been a long time since I...

...posted anything new. Well so, these aren't exactly new, but more like updated versions of illustrations I've already posted. Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things soon, posting some new freelance and such. :)
Submission for Illustration Friday-Suspense
Big Boss Man
Adobe Illustrator
Swim Against Death
Adobe Illustrator