Throwback Thursday: Golf Dad Mug Design

REPOST DUE TO SO CORRUPT AND/OR LOST IMAGE FILE WITH BLOGGER:
Originally posted on 2/4/16

This one goes back many years ago when I worked for a giftware company designing novelty products. They wanted a humorous Father's Day mug related to golf. I wrote as many insults and oddities about a typical Dad playing golf.

The mug sold well on the market, so someone asked me to create 3 more for the following year. I remember the three follow-up mugs were, Fisherman, BBQ Chef and Couch Potato -- but this original Golf mug outsold the other mugs combined.

One thing I remember while creating this design was that I did a spotless vector version, which looked very polished with solid clean lines. But this rough and loose style seemed to work much better with the text humor.

Old Sketch Found: Dog

UPDATE: Image colored with markers

Inked image colored using Prismacolor Premiere Markers

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I found this very old sketch of a standing dog in a pile of old papers. I have many of these scattered around my office, never really having time to archive my work. Now many of the sketches I make are not really worth keeping, some of it is just not good enough and usually winds up in the garbage. But when a sketch has something worth keeping, I'll be sure to tuck it away somewhere. That's what happened to this image.

The AFTER and BEFORE of a newly found old sketch

I have no idea how old this image is. It was drawn on what seems to be a manila envelope or folder. (Maybe the toll cost in Chicago could be a clue to the year.) Apparently it was the only image worth saving and was torn from the page (or envelope.) So I decided to quickly draw an inking of the sketch and scan it for possible future usage. I've no plan to use this character now, but you never know when an idea might arise and this character could be a perfect choice.

Monsters and Bunnies: Nap Time

Another image from my collection of sketches called "Monstas and Bunnies". This is one of a planned set of 12. Once the set is complete, I plan to create a calendar for 2017.

"Nap Time" - finished sketch created with pencils scanned and colored with Photoshop

Possibly might try to KickStart this project, hoping the work itself will be enough to generate interest to get the calendar printed. If the KickStarter goes past the set goal, I plan to then turn the set of images into a children's book with a story about the Bunny and his year long travels meeting "Monstas".

Penciled cave background added and gray tone colored using Photoshop

Originally, I created a single image of a lion terrified of a group of bunnies. It was a sketch exercise I created for the website Illustration Friday, where I still occasionally submit new artwork, (work + time permitting.) The lion was high in a tree while several cute innocent bunnies were simply passing by. I got a lot of site hits and feedback from posting that image and it later inspired more similar sketches. But this time, the big creatures weren't frightened by a bunny -- they were adoring the bunny.

Original pencil sketch created around Spring of 2015

There something appealing about big giant monsters (many inspired by Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are") being friendly with a small cute bunny. One by one, images appeared in my head and I started sketching them down. More to come ... 

Throwback Thursday: Dragon Tattoo

This one goes back to the summer of 2001 when I was successfully freelancing (until 9-11 changed everything.)

I got word that a local tattoo shop near my home was looking for a large detailed flying dragon for his client's entire backside. The tattoo artist only wanted line work, but it needed to be made to scale to fit the gentleman's entire back.

GIF scan of the top portion of a pencil sketch made for a tattoo created circa summer of 2001

The instructions were to create a dragon with huge wings hovering over flames. I had to do the design on two sheets of paper to fit the dimensions needed. I remember wanting to scan a copy of the work to keep on record, but I had a hard time trying to scan such a huge image back then.
Now, I only have this small GIF scan of the top half; I've no idea why the bottom half isn't in the same folder.

I never got to see the finished tattoo -- but when I got paid, the tattoo artist gave me back the original artwork, which I quickly archived into my portfolio. Unfortunately, a few years later, that entire portfolio was lost when I applied for a job with Fisher-Price. They insisted that I send my portfolio to their New York office and then they lost it several weeks later. They claimed they never received the portfolio, even though someone signed for it when it was delivered. ( Yes Fisher-Price, I still remember how unprofessional that whole portfolio fiasco was . . . )

Perhaps I'll find that bottom half one day. But I learned my lesson that year:
If you like an original piece of work, NEVER mail it out in a portfolio.

Throwback Thursday: The Christmas Card Design of 2002

Just found this old Christmas card design from 2002. Back then I did an annual Christmas card cartoon which usually had bathroom related humor. I think friends enjoyed them, but family didn't quite appreciate the humor at that time of year. (Sorry, Nana!)

2002's Christmas card cartoon entirely digitally designed usig Photoshop