Writing World

Screen grab of the game in progress.

This is the second in a series of games done for Dreamco for the Tucson Public Library's summer reading program. The device is to capture the letters to complete a sentence sort of in a crossword puzzle style. We decided to keep the background very Tucson with the desert colors and landscape. I originally had a green grassland but Greg at Dreamco suggested the more desert brown and he's right—way more desert-y! I myself prefer sunsets and sunrises for background sky colors as I think that is the time the desert is most alive, so I created the background around that. Go test your skills hunting desert bugs here: Pima Public Library.

P.S. I almost always do my rough sketches in blue pencil. It helps me keep neat lines when I go over it in graphite and I can set my scanner to eliminate the blue. But I don't like those non-repro pencils—way too hard and you can't see what you're doing. Great for paste-up, not so good for sketching.

Background play space. You'll see saguaro, prickly pear,
mesquite, palo verde and a simple desert background.

Intro page ready for text.

Evolution of An Illustration

A few months ago I had the pleasure of working on video game art for a local company. There are 6 games in total, and today I feature the work on Robot Rock! Starting with loose sketches I explored numerous shapes of robots, some inspired by everyday household objects.

Next, I worked up a background and drew up one of the robots to near completion to see how it would interact. I wanted a really dramatic background, but when in color, it would be quite minimal. Does that make sense?

The developer wanted kids to be able to choose a “girl” or a “boy” robot, so here they are:


And here's the final layout:


If you're interested in playing the games, check them out here: Pima Public Library.

Book Cover Illustration

This particular illustration was based off of very specific requests from the author. I also supplied a design of my own that he ultimately chose—but the book's not out yet, so I won't post that one until it's available! One thing specifically requested was to see both the setting sun and the moon hanging low over the horizon. Because of the brightness of the sun and the relatively poor reflectivity of the moon, it is nearly impossible to see both at the same time, unless they are rather far apart in the sky. I justified this—in my own mind at least— by putting the sun as far to the right as possible and the moon as far left as possible as though the entire thing was shot through a fish-eye lens.

I illustrated the entire thing in PhotoShop and used a combination of transparent shapes and a photograph I had taken of an Arizona sunset. I wanted the colors muted because of the serious tone of the novel.

Book Cover Illustration

This is an illustration I did for a recent book cover—though the author ultimately chose the photographic cover I designed. I was inspired by the old travel posters that were so prevalent during the 40s and 50s. One of the difficult things about working on book covers, is that I am only allotted 4-5 hours of design time for these book cover, including a second proof and interior layout, however I still want to present the best possible image choice.

Below are some samples for my inspiration. I love the designs of this era, from interiors to fashions—probably the best thing about living now is that I get to choose what I like from that time and ignore what I don't (war, disease, politics, etc.).

Orchesis Dance Company logo…

— EVOLUTION OF A LOGO —

This is a logo design I worked up for a local youth dance company. I often times work logos up in sketches, then go immediately into Adobe Illustrator for refinement. I've found a lot of clients want to see a more finished version of their artwork to be able to visualize its end use. This particular logo started out with simple drawings of ballerinas and modern dancers, but the final was worked into an androgynous man/woman dancer without any emphasis on the dance style.

Spot Graphics…

Spot illustrations depicting different personality types among trendy young women.

New Look…

In anticipation of launching my new website, I've updated the blog to reflect the direction I'm going. I should have the new website up and running in about a week and will soon be re-directing all blog traffic there. In the meantime, take a look around and enjoy.

Time to post up…

I admit—I haven't posted in a long time. I've been thankfully busy with working on projects and finishing up my new website. Eventually, that will take over this blog and all elements will be in one handy location.

What's going on? I'm working on about 12-15 book covers right now, trying to find a client of mine (Charlie the Choo-Choo—you out there?), trying to get my illustration mojo back, going back to school this fall for business and planning my 11 year anniversary.

Here's a drawing I did to honor the beginning of the Monsoons. I'm ready for them!