Image for a St. Valentine’s Day card.

videogame concept art – various sizes, pencil and digital
all images copyright © 2010 Bazillion Pictures

The Chocolate Milk Experience is a web-based 3D game designed to inform young consumers about the benefits of flavored milk products over sports drinks and sodas. In the game, you play a young protagonist who, while looking for chocolate milk in a local connivence store, is magically transported into Chocolate Milk World. There you must solve a series of ancient puzzle to undo the damage wrought on the chocolate environment by the nefarious Choco-Nogos and eventually find your way home.

I created the majority of the concept art for the game, painted 3D textures, and contributed to puzzle designs, game programming, and 3D modeling and UV mapping.

Below is a collection of development sketches for different aspects of the game.

Chocolate Milk World Geography

At the center of Chocolate Milk World are the ice cream mountains and the chocolate volcano. Ice cream snows down on the mountains and then melts into milk rivers which flow to the valley below along with melted chocolate lava from the volcano.

The Chocolate Milk Whirlpool

The milk rivers and chocolate lava meet at a large natural whirlpool where they combine to form the chocolate milk river. It’s this river that feeds the plants of the valley, keeping them lush and healthy. Unfortunately, the Choco-Nogos have dammed the river and now the valley is dying.

Chocolate Milk World  Plant Life

The Ancients and the Nogos

An ancient race once lived in the valley in harmony with their chocolate milk environment. With their special knowledge of chocolate milk they were able to build a thriving civilization, but they have long since disappeared leaving behind only their enigmatic milk bottle ruins and temples. The Nogos, opportunistic squatters, have now taken over. Below are concepts for ruins and temples.

To try and contain the Nogos, the ancients built many fortifications marked by magnificent doorways and protected by complicated combination locks.

The legacy of the ancients is also visible in their written inscriptions which adorn many of the ruins and puzzles in Chocolate Milk World. I explored several styles of writing systems before we settled on a ideographic / hieroglyphic system of symbols derived from pictographic images of the world and it’s features. These glyphs symbolize different important sites in the game, and were also designed to be used for the combination locks on puzzle doors.

Puzzle 1 – Strong Bones Temple

In this puzzle the player enters a temple to find an irrigation system feeding milk fountains and what seem to be 2 large skeleton statues. However the flow of milk has been misdirected and the statues lie in ruins as piles of bones. The player must adjust the valve system to redirect milk flow to the statues, causing them to stand proudly once again, and in the process learn about how chocolate milk helps to build strong bones.

Puzzle 2 – Three-to-One Bridge

To cross a gorge  the player must use a magnificent bridge constructed by the ancients using their mastery of the chocolate materials of their domain.

However the bridge is blocked by a series of rotating doors controlled by a balance lock. By releasing boulders into a set of balance cups in a ratio of 3 to 1 (the ratio of protein to carbohydrates in milk) the doors are balanced and the player can pass.

The Tower Crane

Finally, reaching the end of the valley the player finds a towering monument created by the ancients that the Nogos have converted into a rickety crane to build their chocolate milk river damn. Entering the tower the user must make their way to the crane’s control hut and release a giant log in order to smash the damn and return the flow of chocolate milk to the valley.

animated feature concept art — various sketches and paintings

“Runcible” is a concept for an animated feature about an ineffectual supervillain, Bascom, who mistakenly becomes the king of the small island nation of Runcible. Presented here is a collection of concept development work for designs of the film’s characters, settings, and elements.

The Evil Lair

Bascom comes from a long line of supervillains, and as the story opens he works as a low level executive for his successful villain sister Gideon. I developed a concept for Gideon’s lair as a menacing creature perched atop an ordinary skyscraper, looming over the city.

The Island of Runcible

As the story unfolds, Bascom is sent to the island of Runcible by his sister to prepare the island for demolition to make way for a new evil fortress. I imagined an island sitting in a narrow sound, such as in the pacific northwest, with geography rising to a central hill on which the royal palace is situated.

The Royal Palace

The palace is the central feature of Runcible, and so it’s architecture sets a style for the rest of the country. Starting from a mixture of historic church and temples I designed a castle based on a high pitched alpine roof and long gothic corridors. Included also are designs for windsock and kite like banners which take the place of simple flags in Runcible.

The Castle Gardens

Surrounding the castle are a set of manicured gardens which include a royal graveyard. In a pivotal scene Bascom, unsure of himself, wanders aimlessly in the graveyard at night and meets the ghosts of the former royal rulers of Runcible.

Island Architecture

Branching off from the design of the castle, island architecture makes heavy use of high pitched roofs and gothic influences. Given the steep, hilly geography of the island, housing and shops form long connected units that follow the incline of the steep streets of the main village down to the waterfront like the spiky tails of giant lizards.

Inhabitants and Local Fashion

Runcible’s earliest inhabitants were outcasts of the English victorian court, and so victorian clothing forms the basis for Runcible’s fashion sense. However, in the intervening years, the isolation of the island and the need for practicality have lead to a unique evolution of styles. As a basis I studied 1920′s designers like Paul Poiret, 50′s ethic trends like zoot suits, and clothing designs for the handicapped to find basic forms that are markedly different than familiar modern cuts. Hats are also an important accessory worn by most of Runcible’s citizens.

Character Studies

The inhabitants of Runcible are well known for their theatrical natures. Many of the early inhabitants were artisans and crafts people.

Bascom – The Super Villain King

In thinking about the character of Bascom, I’ve always envisioned someone who is thoroughly misanthropic. A Nebbish, but in an endearing or dorky sort of way. To help invasion the character I am working from sketches of actors and personalities like John Hodgman, Bob Hoskins, Kevin Smith, Woody Allen, and Merlin Mann.

Curri – of Her Majesty’s Palace Guard

With little crime, the palace guard of Runcible has been converted into a youth group providing the young of Runcible with education and structure. One of the guards, Curri, becomes a major influence on Bascom as he struggles to find his place as King. Befitting their ceremonial role palace guards have vibrant uniforms similar to the Vatican’s Swiss Guards.

Ancestral Ghosts

Equally influential in Bascom’s tranformation from villain to King are the ghosts of royal court who haunt the sculpture gardens around the castle. To design these characters I explored victorian portrature and early daguerreotype portraits to find interesting hairstyles and facial features.

King-Sniffer Foxes

Bascom is selected as the new king or Runcible after the colony of king-sniffer foxes who live in the palace sniff him out as someone with the proper royal lineage. The foxes are bread to attack anyone with the royal bloodline, but are also bread with severe narcolepsy, so that once angered they quickly pass out.  To design the foxes I studied live foxes at our local zoo, as well as Japanese netsuke carvings  and the animal sculptures of French modernist sculptor François Pompon. In addition to sketches I also created a polymer clay maquette of the final design.

Pareidolia is defined as “perceiving a vague or random stimulus as somehow significant”. Think for example of seeing shapes in the clouds, a face in the craters on Mars, or a cartoon figure’s face in the burn marks on your morning toast.

It’s also the title of a collaborative art book created by myself and several friends in the summer of 2009. Collecting the writings of various authors on the nature of the creative process, we each created spreads for our text, and then letter press printed each, hand binding the result into this book.

My selection was from my favorite book “The Areas of My Expertise” by John Hodgman. Along with letterpress layout I also created hand carved rubber stamps and linoleum block prints to illustrate the page, and designed this block print title page and title illustration for the book.

wordpress template – digital illustrations, HTML and CSS layout, PHP template

When a friend of mine learned he would be headed to the Windy City for the next two years of his med-school residency, he and his wife wanted a blog where they could write about their big city adventures and keep in touch with all of their local friends from afar.

I designed this stylish blog template to reflect the couple’s modern style, love of music, food, and culture, and to reflect the intelligent and whimsical sense of humor in their writing.

When Erika and Luke told me they were having a wedding in the woods and asked for a few illustrations to put on their invitations I figured it was only fare that all the little forest inhabitants be included. Lucky for me they all agreed to pose in their wedding day finery.

For the invitations I created a set of images the couple could use not only for their invitations but also on thank you notes, place cards, programs, and other paraphernalia. The set include 2 larger illustrations for cards along with  8 silhouette icons, and 5 woodland couples arriving as guests.

Additional Characters:

Invitation Design:

Research Sketches:

Character Concepts:

Card Concept Development:

A collection of a few unassociated character design sketches and studies – pencil, digital

Wanted by 25 separate federal agencies, crustacean-non-grata in 38 countries, suspected in over 200 critical security breaches at major corporations and military installations around the globe. It would be an understatement to say that Criminal Crab is one of the world’s greatest hacker geniuses. Or it would be if any of the fanciful stuff he writes on his blog were true (but it’s not).

I designed criminal crab as an ongoing character to accompany a series of computer security training modules. Mr. C, as he likes to be called, is a hardworking but ultimately hapless threat to your corporation’s private data by dumpster diving, network snooping, and social engineering techniques.

Network Eavesdropping:

Dumpster Diving:

Wire Tapping:

Social Engineering:

An Inside Job:

character design and storyboards – pen and ink, digital collage

Designed as a personification of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council and it’s regulations, this little fellow secures and certifies businesses through on-sight inspections, assessment questionnaires, and network security scans.

The illustrations are simple ink line drawings highlighted by simulated cut-paper color swatches.

character model and storyboards – vector illustrations

The security of credit card data isn’t only the responsibility of the police, oh no, it’s important for all of us to do our parts: employees, citizens, and even cartoon characters.

I designed this set of characters to illustrate a training module designed to teach employees about credit card safety. The characters center around the story of a mid-level executive (with fantastic hair) who loses a laptop with customer data, resulting in bad press for the company and misfortune for it’s customers.

The characters are vectorized illustrations articulated at the joints so that they can be animated in AfterEffects.

At the end of our senior year in illustration and design at KU we organized a Senior Show as an opportunity for we students to show off our work and make sure we still had some interpersonal skills after 4 years locked in the computer lab.

To satisfy the other side of that interpersonal equation, we sent out several hundred postcard invitations to local firms and designers inviting them to join us.

As our theme we chose the slogan “I Create”. This message was blind embossed on each card, and about a dozen blank cards were distributed to each student to fill with whatever they liked to represent them. This was my design.

After meeting so many wonderful people at the show, I wanted something to send out afterwards as a sort of “thanks for coming, it was great to meet you” note. One thing everyone who attended left with was a veritable pile of business cards from each student they had talked to, so with recycling on the brain I came up with this little comic.

14 in tall – sewn fabric, buttons, lentils

What’s that old saying? Good help is so hard to find. Well if you think help is hard to find, try writing a Craig’s List ad for minions.

“Wanted: Ghastly crime against nature to serve as menacing henchman for local supervillain. Must be self motivated, excellent communication skills, and have the ability to follow complex orders bellowed over explosions or other commotion. Tentacles and fangs a must, ability to spit acid preferred but not required. Dank dungeon living quarters provided.”

In a tough economic market like this one, sometimes the only real solution is to make your own.

11 in x 17 in – digital

Hail space cadets! It’s time for the thrilling adventures of Buck Rogers from 500 years in the future! The future is full of excitement and danger, and this adventure is sure to be mighty interesting.

“But golly Mr. Announcer?” I hear you say in your typical American girl or boy voice, “Why, Buck looks like he’s turned into a bird! And is that Wilma Deering his intrepid companion there? Why she’s got a snout, and a sow’s ears to boot! They sure look dashing, but what’s going on?”

Now now space cadet, even our primitive modern day scientists all agree that in the future animals will develop the skills necessary to, well, wear clothes, fly rockets, and carry atomic disruptor pistols.

“Boy howdy Mr. Announcer! That sure sounds super. I can’t wait! “

That’s right cadet. So sit back and we’ll hear the story of Buck’s next exciting adventure as he battles Killer Kane and his army of fire robots in . . .

The 11,000,000 Mile High Inferno!

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Character Concept Sketches:

Vehicle Concept Sketches:

various roughly 6 in x 8 in – watercolor, gouache, ink, graphite

Five illustrations representing the raw infrastructure of the letterpress lab. These include:

The Ink Fairy—source of all ink.

Hybrids—a clean source or energy running the press rollers.

Ogden and his Bird—source of all squeaking noises in the letterpress.

The Testsheet Bird—source of all letterpress test slips.

The Information Window—where you go when it all goes terribly wrong.

Insect Vehicle Concept Sketches

Have you ever thought about what supervillains were like as children? In this project I explored the possible murky origins of some of my favorites, finally presenting the early years of Batman’s The Penguin.

Even as a boy, Oswald Cobblepot had an affinity for penguins, insisting on visiting them at the local zoo on a regular basis and spending every penny of his allowance on stuffed animals from the zoo’s gift shop. But it wasn’t until he had collected a large group of them that his parents began to grow concerned.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Villain Exploration

Exploits of a Young ‘The Penguin’

Meet Ada.

Ada is a little girl with no pet to bring for show an tell. When she tries to substitute the animated squid who lives on her cell phone her classmates are, well, less than kind. But with a little ingenuity, and a miniature hologram projector, Ada soon changes their minds.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Animatic:

Animation Rough Pencil Test:

Child Reference Sketches:

Character Designs:

Logo Mockup:

Polymer Clay Character Maquette:

Do you talk to your computer? I do. (Yes, yelling counts.)

Does your car have a name? Mine does. (It’s Penny.)

And is your pencil sharpener house trained? Mine? No, not yet. (But we’re getting there.)

In this project I looked for faces in everyday inanimate objects, and then tried to give them some personality or emotion. The final piece features my loyal pencil sharpener.

Concept Sketches:

With winking apologies to Charles Shultz. For this project I explored what some of my favorite illustrated characters might look like as the walking undead. I settled on Lucy Van Pelt and her unrequited but ultimately undying love for Schroeder.

Click here for a larger view.

Character Zombie Studies

Peanuts and Cat in the Hat Studies

Skeleton Studies:

Figure Studies:

What exactly constitutes a vehicle?

Would a shoe count? Maybe that’s not mechanical enough. But what if it were a very fancy shoe? What about a prosthetic leg? Is a cyborg a vehicle?

Exploring sketches I hit upon the idea of a mechanical suit worn by a fish. Perhaps to replace a body that could no longer swim. I got so carried away with the idea that I ended up writing a short story about it. In the form of journal entries, the story follows a scientists at a country estate who discovers a new form of engine with disastrous results. Wracked with guilt, the scientist uses the design to build a mechanical body for a dying fish.

I created a series of illustrations to accompany the story in the style of field watercolor sketches, and then printed and bound the story and images as a short book.

You can read the full text of the story with accompanying illustrations here.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Illustrations:

Vehicle Concept Sketches:

Concept Paintings:

“To the stars, through teeth.”

An alien creature concept.

Although these little fellows may resemble teeth, they are actually a species of scavenger mite which feeds on small likens and the sluffed skin, hair, and scales of other species. Largely benign, they are seen as welcome visitors by the crews of long haul ships as they help to keep the bulkheads and living quarters clean. Known for their mournful whaling cries, they are usually harmless except when preparing to multiply as indicated by a drastic shift in their carapus from pearly white to a sooty black, a result of tremendous inner heat.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Early Alien Concept Sketches:

Tooth Alien Concepts

“Helpful Robot” concept assignment.

“But who could use some help?” I thought to myself in a British accent. Someone who works hard, very hard. And who works harder than Queen Victoria?

This concept is presented as a 19th Century newspaper advertisement for the Cuthbert Modern Doctrine Engine, a “superlative novelty in mechanical automata” to be purchased by wealthy members of the English upper class. The robot relays propaganda messages from the monarchy to the home, and also serves to listen in on household servants and visitors looking for evidence of subversive activities.

Concept Sketches:

Concept Refinements:

What animal do you most resemble? It’s an uncomfortable question, or at least it was for me. But once you get passed the initial embarrassment, through the secondary blushing, over the tertiary awkwardness, and come out on the other side of the uncomfortable silences and stifled giggles, you’ll feel much better.

And, you’ll have earned the right to pick animals for everyone else.

In the beginning I worked towards an character with a lot of physical resemblance, but once I found a few animals with traits similar to my features I decided to focus on an image that would convey my personality.

I found an old photo from the 1930’s showing a circus elephant being lead through the rainy streets of New York City in the middle of the night on its way from the train station to the fairgrounds. Growing up in Seattle I’m a big fan of the rain.

Winner: Brass Ring Awards No. 24:  Silver Medal in
Color Illustration 2010

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Self Portrait Study:

Concept Sketches:

An alternate concept rough:

A set of mixed animals as a study of animal anatomical forms.

Designed as a “creative kindling” project, the Lampson Pneumatic Post project is a game presented as an old, official looking box from the storage room of the Lampson Pneumatic Post Office. Inside, you will find a collection of strange post cards. 14 cards feature “leading images”, slightly bizarre scenes inviting creative explanation.

Winner: CMYK Top 100 New Creatives 46, 2010: for the illustration “Burned Forest”

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Another 2 dozen cards feature an unfamiliar hand lettered word and short passage providing the word’s definition by context.

Along with the illustrations, writing, and hand lettering, I also designed logos and insignia for the Lampson Postal Service, pneumatic postal stamps, and rubber cancelation and station check stamps to mark the cards and box. I constructed the box itself, and hand bound the blank notebook inside.

The illustrated cards include the following curious images:

The Coterie Theatre is a community children’s theater based in Kansas City. I was asked to submit possible poster designs for several up coming productions.

Winner: Brass Ring Awards No. 24: Merit in Poster Design 2010 for Life on the Mississippi

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Life on the Mississippi was selected by the Theatre and used for promotion of the play, a musical based on the autobiography of Samuel Clemens – digital

Spooky Dog – a satirical take on Scooby Doo, “improvised, plagiarized, and not for kiddies!” – pencil, digital

Tell Tale Electric Poe – the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe set to rock music – scratchboard and watercolor

Little House on the Prairie – based on the classic children’s book – digital fabric collage

Design for a holiday greeting card.

Attention space fans! Commemorating the recent anniversary of the first Apollo missions, NASA is releasing for the first time ever a commemorative DVD box set containing all of the Apollo mission footage.

But that’s not all. Act now from this special offer and you will also receive as NASA’s treat for collectors, this hilarious reel of gags and flubs direct from the original NASA/MGM Moon soundstage sets. You’ll shake like a moon quake with laughter as you see the timeless antics of Buzz, Jim, Gus, Shepard and all your favorites in their fake zero-gravity hijinks.

Animation:

Animation Stills:

poster 11 in x 17 in – vector illustration and graphic layout
flyer 8.5 in x 11 in – vector illustration and graphic layout

Presented each year by The University of Kansas’s Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center and the Commission on the Status of Women, the Women’s Recognition Program honors one or more outstanding female students, faculty, staff or alumni.

I designed posters and outreach materials for the program from 2008-2010. This set from 2009 highlights the completion of the KU Women’s Hall of Fame, a commemorative installation in the Student Union.

This award is a huge honor for its recipient, and so above all I strived to create materials with the proper air of respect and gravitas befitting the occasion.

8.5 in x 11 in – trifold pamphlet, digital illustrations and graphic design layout
3 in x 5 in – postcard mailer

The Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center (ETWRC), part of the University of Kansas’s (KU) Student Involvement and Leadership Center (SILC), is a campus organization that offers services, support, and information for female students and faculty.

I was asked to create a trifold pamphlet describing the ETWRC and providing information and contact numbers for the center.

Because the ETWRC is associated with their crisis services such as rape counseling and sexual violence prevention many students are unaware of the other, more cheerful services available such as scholarships, classes, and volunteer activities. With this design I strived to create a format that would be fun and interesting while maintaining a level of professionalism.

As an addition to the pamphlet, I also proposed and created a postcard-sized mini-handout that could be printed and distributed when pamphlets might not be appropriate.

Pamphlet:

Card:

]]> http://alsoalso.net/etwrc-outreach-materials/feed/ 0 http://alsoalso.net/a-pirates-day-out-the-chrysler-building/ http://alsoalso.net/a-pirates-day-out-the-chrysler-building/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:58:55 +0000 admin http://alsoalso.net/?p=1658 14 in sqr. – ink, digital color

This piece was created as a response to a postcard sent by a friend on his vacation in New York City. The card featured a photograph of the Chrysler Building, and its message played off of a running joke between the two of us about sailing to New York in our pirate ship.

In response I imagined myself and my friend as pirates visiting the building, and the mayhem that would inevitably ensue, including: troubles at the metal detector, pressing all of the elevator buttons, souvenir shopping, ransacking the supply room, presenting to the board of directors, etc.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Beginning in the mid to late 1960’s a rash of mysterious cattle mutilations swept through the American southwest. A number of theories were floated to explain the phenomenon, but the most persistent revolved around mysterious government experiments and extra terrestrial involvement.

Whatever the cause it’s certainly a gruesome subject. Not the sort of thing for children. Better to stick with nursery rhymes: Ring Around the Rosie, Rock-a-Bye Baby, and The Cow that Jumped Over the Moon.

The background of this illustration was created by first incising a piece of illustration board with a metal fork, and then rubbing the surface with oil paint. The other elements were added in acrylic.

Appeared: KISOK No. 39

Environmental concept.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Yes, I’m afraid the dog has passed away.

This is an illustration created to accompany Stephen King’s short story “Everything’s Eventual”, the sorted tale of young Richard “Dinky” Earnshaw, who discovers he has the power to influence people, even kill someone, by drawing strange symbols.

This image depicts an episode in Dinky’s childhood when he first exercises his powers on the neighborhood dog that has been terrorizing him.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Charcoal Studies:

Are you afraid of chopsticks? I mean really afraid? Well then you might have consecotaleophobia. Don’t laugh. It’s a serious affliction. It must be, it has a fancy Greek name and everything.

I designed this illustration to get the word out about this troubling condition, and those who are affected by it the most, pork dumplings.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

Appeared: KISOK No. 39

The unusual assignment for this piece asked for an image incorporating the following items: a man, a woman, a dog, a bird, and a banana in a room. The goal was to create an illustration that smoothly integrates these seemingly disparate items.

To help make sense of it all, I invented a story about a fictional group of oversized pet enthusiasts in the Victorian era: The Royal Large Pet Society.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

UEI Group is a company specializing in foil stamping and embossing. This card was designed as a corporate greeting sent to clients worldwide as a demonstration piece. The design was selected from among a dozen other entrants.

The company wished to emphasize their advanced foiling and embossing processes. The concept shows a technical schemata for the construction of a perfect snowman, paying special attention to environmental techniques and attention to detail. Production and printing of the card required more than 10 processing stages.

Winner: Best of Show, Foil Stamping and Embossing Association 2008 Gold Leaf Awards

6 in x 8 in – linoleum block print, rubber stamp, hand lettering on reverse

Designed as a personal holiday greeting. The front image was carved in a linoleum block and printed using a letter press. The back is hand lettered in acrylic ink and stamped with a custom carved rubber stamp.

13.3 in x 6.8 in — oil on paper

Illustration for a personal greeting card.

Twist your trunk and make a loop;
lift one leg, then bow and swoop.
Flap an ear, wink, snort, blink, smile;
elephant hugs can take a while.

12 pg. accordion folded menu in handmade Japanese clasp cover 5 in x 7.5 in
original text, hand lettering, 9 graphite illustrations

As a freelance illustrators in a rapidly shrinking market, I pride myself on the unique services I can provide to my clients. This handy menu provides just a sampling of my one-of-a-kind offerings, including:

• Count the number of cats I see in one week and provide you with this figure.
• Speculate on the future of any given subject, concept, or object, and provide you with a brief monograph on my thoughts.
• Sit in a chair on your behalf for 10 minutes.
• Suggest a possible name for your beard, pony tail, bald spot, pig tails, or other hair style feature.
• Eat one raisin on your behalf, and provide you with a brief monograph about the experience.
• Suggest the method of outmoded transportation that would have best suited your personality, had you been born in a different era.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

8 in. x 10 in., 12 pages – pencil, vintage type, digital

A children’s book in the theme of a 1950’s style film-noir detective story based on the theme of the five senses.

Each spread follows one day of investigation as Alex, the child detective, searches for his stuffed bear Bogie.  Each stage of the investigation hinges on actions or clues associated with a sense – questioning Mrs. Rabbit (hearing), smoking the culprit out from under the bed with a dirty sock (smell), etc.

The book is designed to resemble a detective’s case file, and incorporates both original illustrations, and an original story.  The illustrations are in pencil and stress dynamic film-noir style lighting situations, while accompanying text is composed on a vintage manual typewriter.

Received: AIGA Kansas City 2008 Design Award

]]> http://alsoalso.net/a-bearnapping/feed/ 0 http://alsoalso.net/2-color-ink-objects/ http://alsoalso.net/2-color-ink-objects/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:24:12 +0000 admin http://alsoalso.net/?p=1597

6.5 in x 7.5 in – pen and ink

Personal work.

6.5 in x 7.5 in – pen and ink

Designed for JetPens.com, an online retailer of imported and hard to find pens, this piece was designed to show off the capabilities of several JetPens products including a pen billing itself as “the world’s thinnest pen”.

Playing with this theme, this piece exhibits fine line work and detailed mark making, while at the same time a close examination of the composition reveals an odd juxtaposition of telephone lines and kite flying.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show

8 in square type specimen – digital

A distinctive font for titles and pull-quotes in the JayPlay, a weekly insert to the University of Kansas campus newspaper. The font I created is called Astrobase!, and is based on original lettering developed with a crow-quill pen. The font includes upper and lower case letters, figures, and general punctuation.

As a demonstration of the font I created a fictitious spread based on the design and dimensions of the JayPlay. The original text describes a fanciful government research project to create a new letter for the alphabet, the “struts-o”. Spot illustrations were created using the font’s letter forms. Also included is the type specimen.

4.375 in x 1.5 in (final), 9 in x 4 in (original) – ink, colored pencil

I created as an exercise a black and white spot illustration to accompany text from the New York Time’s Op Ed section. The text contains letters commenting on a recent article about driver’s speed habits and possible solutions.

The final illustration was produced to size in black and white. However the original was produced at larger size on colored paper to provide a suitable midtone.

Appeared: KU Design Dept. Scholarship Show