Artist David Colman (his blog, his website) has recently published a book, "The Art of Animal Character Design". I just got my copy and overall I am very happy with it. Colman is extremely talented, and this 174-page hardcover book is filled with great eye-candy. While light on text (Colman's writing is short and to the point, which I like),...
I've had some pretty fun projects lately.I spent my my teenage years in the small town of Waterville, MN, the Bullhead Capital of the World. Every summer they celebrate with Bullhead Days, a town festival complete with a parade, carnival rides, a fried bullheads stand on the corner, and a Miss Bullhead competition (well, they call it "Miss Waterville" but...
These are some concept sketches I did for a character I am developing for a book publisher. I don't want to say too much about the project yet, but since these particular sketches didn't make the final cut I thought I'd post them. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. (Click for a larger image)....
I've recently been hired by a dairy producer to create a cow character that will be printed on kids' milk cartons. The cow needed to look smart and scholarly, maybe a Socrates or Einstien cow. These are the sketches I've developed so far. Last I heard the project is "on hold", but they are leaning towards Sketch C3.(Click for a...
(Click for a larger image.)Recently I was contacted by a local ad agency looking to update the logo for Hardware Hank, a chain of small-town hardware stores sprinkled throughout the upper midwest. When I was a kid it seemed like every town had a Hardware Hank store, but in recent years they've been eclipsed by the "big box stores" (Home...
I've been super-duper-crazy busy lately with freelance work. I've had several large projects on my plate for a while now, and the deadlines are all converging within the next two weeks. With freelancing everything seems to happen at once. Illustrator Tom Richmond put it well on his blog: "Part of the problem with freelancing is that you never know...
