After two years of the previous design, returned to the Adobe chalkboard for another non-computer project. For a first project of the year, it made for a lovely full-day start to finish just illuminating a basic design in black and white and listening to some good music.

Last August kicked work into high gear, fortunately, and has been stacked since. So, though my site hasn’t changed much, apart from some fidgeting around with blog themes, I’m starting to get some of the finished projects at least mentioned.

As social media moves faster than just about anything else, last week I saw a Facebook link to a project I’d worked on for the LDS Church at the end of summer before I heard about it’s completion from the client— link here on YouTube or on the LDS Church’s site.

It’s the first time in awhile that I’ve done that much illustration for a client and my hand felt it. Note the backgrounds in the clips, those are mine. This is another highly collaborative work, so I wasn’t involved with the live video, or the figures, and actually not the coloring or animation either. Still plenty of work sketching out the backgrounds and good to see how my stylization was used in the animation.

Working in sci-fi and fantasy illustration, he cited inspiration from Waterhouse, Rockwell, Frazetta, and the punk scene—I like that variety. He commented about surrounding yourself with good art that you enjoy, learning by imitating it; and a good variety such that your work doesn’t become a knock-off. Sometimes I think I get some design and illustration ideas by osmosis, seeing the same (and hopefully good) work often such that those techniques come naturally when designing. Not to say that I don’t study specific interpretations of subjects similar to a project at hand.

I’m enjoying when illustrators show some early work or projects that they didn’t necessarily enjoy doing, recount early rejections, and describe some of their nonconformist paths. Additionally, there are some habits that Brom, like some other illustrators, have indicated, that I identify with. He spoke about employing non-academic techniques, such as sketching from imagination, sketching out the concept into detail before gathering reference to keep from becoming limited by the scrap. He largely works in traditional media: sketching, photoshop comp for approval, detail drawing on gessoed masonite, acrylic underpainting, and oil finish with digital tweaks. As some illustrators have indicated before, different approaches to illustration styles and new types of projects keep the work fresh and enjoyable and also keep one active in the market.

There were other details in his work that I enjoyed from my graphic vantage point, such as unified color schemes and the stylization of single figures, and symmetrical elements. I enjoyed how he denoted the mindset you have while working out concept contrasted to the mindset during production work. For example, I really can’t listen to music while brainstorming, but often remember the song or movie I listened to while rendering the design.

Further down the road, I’ve registered for the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin. Really excited about this one despite the fact that I don’t quite know what I’m up for. The basic aim is to get out, make new associations, acquire some knowledge that’s a bit out of my experience, and have a good time in a new city (travel is always good). This moves up another portfolio project—business cards. Postings to come on that as they progress.

Unfortunately, that design didn’t stay up for long, and the time came again to disturb the clean black slate with a new design reflecting the Adobe ownership. The concept is to relate the right brain/left brain differentiations with the creative suites of Adobe and the analytic software of Omniture.

A bit of process to near-finished product—

—and after a bit of restoration, the good addition of ears, and some spray fixative that I’m sure made the day more enjoyable for everyone in the building—

It was fascinating that although highly proficient with computer software for his work, he doesn’t seem set on any one medium, process, or combination of media. Sometimes entirely computer-rendered, though sometimes he’s combining or entirely using gouache, sometimes oil, occasionally rough and loose, while other pieces are detailed and finely rendered. That odd evolution of pieces and styles while maintaining a consistent steampunk flavor was particularly intriguing.

Where Jon mentioned being focused on figure work (which i can identify with), I was noting that the background elements are often silhouettes.

From the beginning of his program, he was remarking that he had had to move past the caring about outside rating and comparing of his work to that of others’, judging it a wasteful and inhibiting endeavor.

I found it interesting that he not only uses himself as a model, but does so frequently. I always remember that being one of the cardinal rules of scrap—to never use yourself as a model. Even when using other models, he’s drawing from the same small group, but he’s able to make it work and adapt it for the piece.

Ah yes, it’s Halloween season and a couple weeks ago during another moonlit working session, I altered the backgrounds and colors of my website on a whim for the season. Traditionally, I think of oranges for Halloween, or fearful greens, but for the site, they didn’t evoke the desired effect (and together they remind me more of a carrot). Thus, I arrived at the blood red and stark whites against the grey, which fit also with the mailer idea I was working on.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete the mailer this year in time to produce and send it. I suppose that considering I was delayed in my efforts with paying work, the immediate need for a mailer doesn’t seem to be present. I still think, though, that when business is good, it’s still time for self-promo, both to advance as well as to keep business flowing.

Some time ago, a concept of a moontanning vampire stuck in my head and I adapted that to a card idea playing off a traditional holiday or vacation card which relate sunny days, beaches, and such. In the Halloween vacation card, the moon replaces the sun, and a pale vampire enjoys a sanguine drink on the beach, his reflection absent from the water, of course. I’ve had the correlation pointed out to me, as lately (the past couple decades), I have a natural inclination to be most active at night, though I don’t think that’s terribly uncommon with designers and illustrators.

Yes, it’s been two months since my last blog. Although there has been plenty of work going on, there’s much that’s still in process and accordingly I’m not able to blog about those project, fun as they are. I did get to do some quick illustrations (one afternoon) for a tag associated with some t-shirts Omniture distributed at a BYU game. The plan was, of course, to get everyone to put them on with the reward of prizes, so for the tags the thought was aiming for the kind of drawings typically seen in airplane safety instructions. Originally I went with the parted plastic hair I usually associate with schematics from a few decades ago, but apparently that was a bit too nerdy.

At the beginning of the month, I was in the Victoria and visited the Royal British Columbia Musuem and particularly enjoyed the First Nations Gallery. Strong graphic quality to a lot of the masks, carvings, and drawings that I’d like to look into more. I like the sparing use of color and the play of organic shapes. Some items struck me as reminiscent of Mayan designs. There were also a couple interesting galleries in Seattle with current artists’ designs that I’m glad I saw. Last May when visiting the Met, I was glad to have made a point of spending more time in the African, American, and Pacific art sections.

Today I received a few emails notifying me of the approaching release of Adobe Creative Suite 4. Seems like all to recently I upgraded to 3. I have to wonder if new releases come around too often forcing everyone to upgrade to maintain compatibility with each other just for a version with a slightly new UI and minor buttons. There’s even been a couple times when some functions are more complicated in newer versions. Not that I’m making any particular total conclusion here, new stuff is always nice, but I have to ask if a minor upgrade every two years is more waste and hassle than progress.

This issue struck me as having more weight on narratives and broadly realistic approaches than I’ve seen in issues in recent years. I could be wrong, but there appeared to be a bit of a broader spectrum rather than a heavy focus on highly political editorials and plethora of naive styles that I often see in design periodicals. Sometimes it seems that there’s a bit too much focus on anger and politics, and while those themes need to be communicated, they aren’t the only things to convey.

I was also discussing with Brad some of the artists I was looking at in New York this last month. The J.C. Leyendecker show at the Society of Illustrators was definitely worth the time. There were a couple pieces there that called to mind some sketches of Dean Cornwell. Thinking of the way I sketch the figure, I’m probably drawn to the the deco-style adaptations. I like the way that Leyendecker streamlines organic shapes and how, even with paint, there’s a certain kind of cross-hatching.

It’s been a busy month. Work at Omniture has been centered on Summit, a fairly intense time for them. Frequently, people have been out of the office for Summit. It was an odd feeling going in to Omniture and being the one of the few people in the section of the building during the Salt Lake Summit. My contract there just finished this week and I’m looking forward to working with them again next quarter. The last major piece I worked on was a collaboration with Steve Gustavson for the annual report cover. The Omniture style makes an interesting challenge to design with two colors, one font family, and no photography.

Between work with Omniture, I’ve had some other small freelance jobs and have also been working again with Venafi on a couple of larger projects. I feel the increasing shift toward the corporate and technologies.

I was hoping again to balance out all the corporate design work and have pieces ready for the Communication Arts Illustration Annual, but despite their annual practice of moving the deadline back a couple times, the month was full enough with freelance projects to be able to do a satisfactory piece. I suppose that if work is that busy that I shouldn’t be needing to advertise for more just yet. Still, it’s always good to have as many options as possible.