Every year the Evangelical Press Association publishes a catalog of freelancers (artists, writers, photographers, etc.) who want to work in Christian markets. Last year my listing was published with the wrong phone number. Turns out it was completely my fault, not theirs. But to patch things up they were kind enough to let me design this year’s cover in exchange for a free listing.

Even though I won’t be getting paid for this project, it is a neat way for me to promote my work. And I can pretty much do whatever I want, which is a rare freelance opportunity. I decided to stretch myself by doing something in Illustrator with a flat, graphic look as opposed to my usual “soft and shaded” work in Photoshop. Since this is essentially a promotional piece it could be argued that I should show off my strengths, but I’ve been doing a lot of self-promotion lately so I think I can afford to bust out of my mold a bit. Besides, it was a lot of fun.

Once the main character was designed, I had to create a layout. This is where I really feel wobbly since graphic design is not my strength. Fortunately there are some great books out there filled with appealing color schemes, so I think the color harmony keeps it from totally falling apart.

(Click images for a larger view.)

According to VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, NBC has done an about-face. When the network first began airing VeggieTales a few months ago, they were editing out most of the references to God and/or the Bible (a decision which never made sense to me). Well, no longer. Future episodes will apparantly be aired un-edited. Woo hoo!

Two projects which I just finished:

First, Arctic Cat publishes a children’s magazine three times a year, and they wanted to update their “Cool Cat” character who offers a safety tip for snowmobiling at the end of each issue. This illustration will be placed next to the safety tip. It was a rush project, so if I had it to do over again I would have made the pose read more clearly. It’s hard to make out the right leg at first glance.

City Place Steakhouse is a new restaurant that will be opening soon in New Jersey. The owner is styling his menu in a newspaper format, and he wanted a comic strip to go on the “Children’s Menu” page. This was what I came up with (click for a larger image). It’s adapted from an old Ole and Lena joke. Hey, I’m an artist not a writer. At the last minute the client requested that the restaurant name be incorporated into the comic strip somewhere. So I stuck the logo in the background on the first panel. Hopefully it looks natural.

If you live near Carlstadt, New Jersey, look for City Place Steakhouse to be opening soon.

Custom Tract Source recently commissioned this illustration of Santa for a “Christmas Cash” gospel tract. The tract will resemble colorful toy money, with an upper-body “portrait” of Santa on the front, and on the back Santa will be holding his “naughty and nice” list. There will be some accompanying text with the Christian message that we are all “naughty” sinners at times, and therefore we need a Savior.

It was a fun project to work out. I mean, how could you not have fun drawing Santa?

Wow. This really puts it in perspective.

(Thanks to Mirosław Urbaniak for the link.)

My wife and I went up north this weekend for a mini-vacation at a friend’s cabin and to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. It was also our first trip together with no itinerary, no friends or family, nothing to do but relax. We had a great time, and we both came back very refreshed.

Of course, what’s a weekend getaway without some sketching? It was nice to just kick back and draw whatever I wanted without having to worry about deadlines or a client’s specific needs. I’d recently purchased some 8B leadless pencils and was looking forward to trying them out (John Naverez does wonders with those things). There was a nature magazine in the cabin so I sketched a bird from a photo. I think this took me about an hour.