Moon

reprise of "Night"
For a book cover called The Enchanted Cat
The moon is a doctored NASA photo, the rest is from scratch in Photoshop.

Twist(er)

I know the theme is TWIST, and this is a lame substitution. This started out as a book cover, and now it is threatening innocent beach-goers once again.
Acrylics and Photoshop (I got a little filter happy, I'm afraid)

Rejection

The old passive-aggressive heave-ho.

Suit

Mr. Monopoly; the quintessential "suit". This is from the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Poster, and it's my favorite of the four I've done. It's all digital, created in Photoshop and Illustrator.

To see the whole 2002 Macy's poster, click here.

Cars

From a time when cars represented much more than transportation from point A to point B. They represented transportation from childhood to adulthood, or so we thought. Cars were the way out, of the confinement of parents and home, as well as a way in, to the freedom of the road and independence. It's still that way today, I guess. Though the cars have changed and the culture of the road has changed, the romance of riding down the two-lane with the wind in your hair is still a siren song for everyone who wonders what is just beyond the next hill.

Acrylics on Strathmore illustration board with a touch of Photoshop for effect.

Citrus

Last minute entry; an old but tasty one. I'd prefer a Corona with citrus, but nobody has asked me to paint that yet. Maybe someday, then I could do LOTS of research on the product and call it a business expense (don't tell my dear friends at the IRS that I said that...they don't have much of a sense of humor).
Acrylics on Strathmore board

Polar

From a book cover titled "Elements of a Kill" by Christopher Lane.
I've never figured out why I was chosen to illustrate this series of mysteries that are all set in the "Frozen North". I grew up in Alabama and Georgia, where it might snow every third year or so...not exactly Inupiat territory. In fact the closest thing I've ever seen to a Polar Bear in the wild was an albino squirrel who lived in the woods behind our house a few years ago.

By the way, the odd looking thing in the water in the foreground is an authentic Inupiat ceremonial mask (it's supposed to represent the spiritual aspects of death and rebirth, I think).
acrylics on Strathmore illustration board

This is the actual cover with type and all.

Fortune

Apologies for this reprise, with alterations, of a previous post.
Pencil, acrylics, watercolor, oil wash, colored pencils, Photoshop

Green

The Masters Tournament in Augusta exemplifies the color green. It ended today, and although Tiger Woods finished tied for second, he always looks darn good in green. Congratulations to Zach Johnson, who is wearing the fabled green jacket for the first time.

Wired

A reprise of a previous IF post, but with a few tweaks. The theme is perfect for this week where I teach...it's the last week of the quarter and all the students are running on Red Bull, coffee and any other chemicals that will help them stay awake and finish all their projects on time.

Crash

Another old book cover. I know, too literal, too old school, but hey, it's a crash. And it's all I got. Sosumi. I thought about drawing Anna Nicole Smith, but that was also too literal. And just too sad on so many levels.
Click here for a larger view.

Red

This is a detail from a Nero Wolfe book jacket I did called "Some Buried Caesar". I don't have time for a new IF piece this time, and it's the only thing I could find that had enough red in it for this week's theme.
Acrylics on Strathmore 240 illustration board.

80's

A quick doodle of three 80's Pop icons as if in their 80's. Sadly, MJ didn't need much work to make him look decrepit.
Click here to see a larger view.

Buzz

Peace

Happy Holidays to everyone!

airbrushed acrylics and Photoshop

This was cobbled together from these two book cover pieces:

Help

If this were me, HELP!!! isn't the only thing I'd be screaming, and a few involuntary bodily functions would likely be streaming. Dangling by one's fingertips hundreds of feet above a rocky, instant death. What fun!

Mask

Chalk pastels on sanded pastel paper.

Thanksgiving

These are two of the four Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade posters I've done; 1990, 1996, 1997, and 2002. It's always an honor to be involved in a project that is so univeraslly recognized as an American Tradition.

This is the one from 1990. It's traditional media; airbrushed acrylics on Strathmore board.


This is the most recent, for the 2002 parade. This one is digital, mostly Photoshop with a smidgin of Illustrator for type and such. The file was huge, and when I added up all the layers for all the individual components, it was well over 1000. The scratch file was about 2 gigs...yikes!



These are a few snippets from the 2002 poster at actual printed size:

Kermit


Monopoly Man


Clifford and other balloons and floats


And here's Old St. Nick. Happy Holidays!

Clear

This is an image I made for a book cover titled "The Heart of the Dove". It is a composite of a photograph of a piece of damask fabric and a dove I modeled in Strata 3D. Plus a LOT of Photoshop to make it look at least a little convincing. I was never that happy with the result, but it makes a logical entry for this week's theme.

Smoke

Long time no IF entries. I HATE when that happens. Just too dang busy to breathe these days. And way too busy to create something new for this topic, which has a ton of fun possibilities. But, I chose an image that isn't fun, but is appropriate for the Halloween time of year. It was done as a book cover called "Happy Birthday Murders". Hope you find the smoke to be deliciously deadly.