Richie Raccoon Illustrated character “cubed!”

Remember, kids, always wear a helmet!

Tim Floyd, over at Palmetto Health Richland, recently uploaded some neat pics to Facebook. They are a new sign for the children’s hospital featuring the affable “Richie” mascot character. Tim is always great to work with and a great guy to boot. It was fun developing the look and feel of Richie and even more fun to see him “living and breathing” on all the applications around the hospital. A fun, well thought out illustration and a great design are always a rewarding combination!

Hello World!

___Blank___Race ...

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "racing" suggested by Traci Maturo. Made me think of an illustration I created a while back for a conference in Baltimore. I guess they have pretty big warf rats in Baltimore, being a port town and all, so, I assume there was a logical tie-in. Anyway, the rat race is an old term, but, I guess we all get caught up in the “race” at some point or another, whether we realize it or not. This rat seems to be enjoying his race as he looks back over his shoulder. Who knows what awaits him ahead?

SpOoKy FrIdAy

This week, the theme for Illustration Friday is “Spooky.” I just happened to be experimenting with my Pogo Sketch stylus from Ten One design this morning, so, I decided to go ahead and use my “experiment” as my illustration for Illustration Friday. Actually, the software “InkLet,” from Ten One, is what allows you to draw with the trackpad on your MacBook Pro.
It does take much getting used to. I have been using Wacom graphics tablets for many many years, so, the hand eye coordination was not the challenge. The challenge is just in getting the settings right and re-learning how to draw with a special kind of input device. You have to toggle the InkLet software on and off using the tilde key (~) to change brush sizes and settings etcetera. The “active area” of the InkLet app sits “on top” of all active software, which is a mental adjustment as well. I like to experiment with various drawing apps for my laptop and found that even though I have Alias Sketchbook Pro, that a little program called “Scribbles” worked just fine in conjunction with InkLet and the Pogo. The interface is über simple and clean, so jumping back and forth between layers, brushes, erasers and the like is quick and efficient. It’s also vector based (even though it doesn’t seem to be or feel like it) so, you are not confined to one size or resolution.
Although I cannot say I used it yet on any “real” client jobs, I can’t see why I necessarily couldn’t. Anyway, this was fun and challenging and I hope it came out SPOOKY.

Transported by Music for Illustration Friday

Interesting synergy today. Right after I scanned my drawing into my computer from my sketchbook to begin coloring it, I opened my web browser, which like many more, automatically opens to Google. See if you see what I am referring to between the character in my image and the google-oid from today.

(Which, btw, is there to celebrate the birthday -- tomorrow -- of John Lennon, who would have been 70) Anyway, the topic was suggested by Christie Beckwith and came with a great quote from John Cage: “Music is a means of rapid transportation.”  I usually try not to take a quote too literally, but, this is what I envisioned anyways. Happy Birthday John John. Continue resting in Peace.

You never know what’s “Beneath” the surface....

Illustration Friday once again, and today’s theme is “Beneath,” submitted by Susan Sorrell Hill. No explanation for this other than I just started drawing and this is what happened. I ended up with two ideas. The first seems to be a commentary of the recent discussion of the nation’s city’s aging, and crumbling infrastructure. The second, (is this setting longing for a bit more tropical summer?) hopefully speaks for itself.