I'm a strong believer in keeping a daily sketchbook. I'm also a hypocrite. I often go days or weeks without cracking mine open. Don't get me wrong. I do a lot of drawing but the overwhelming bulk of my artwork is created for clients with strict guidelines and objectives that have to be met. Between commissioned work and the never ending slog...
Artist David Paccia runs a blog called David Wasting Paper. Among other things he has posted over 100 interviews (and counting) with various illustrators and cartoonists. As of yesterday I'm one of them. Check it out....
A few months ago I was hired by the Trifecta BBQ sauce company to create an illustration for their new brand of BBQ sauce. It was a fun project which I blogged about showing the steps from intial concept to final artwork. I'm an illustrator, not a graphic designer, so I did not do the full label design. I just...
A few months ago I was hired by the terrific team at Minneapolis agency RPM Connect to illustrate an in-store display for Act II Popcorn, a brand owned by ConAgra Foods. RPM came to me with a fun concept (two kids bouncing around on a sea of popcorn) and a rough layout for the signage, then asked me to work...
As a freelance illustrator I'm often hired by ad agencies and marketing firms to create "comp art" or "marker comps", which are fast, rough sketches used to pitch an idea to a client. They can be black-and-white or color, depending on the deadline and budget, but they are a lot of fun to do. Because clients are very protective of...
Several times a year I am called on by local ad agencies to do marker comps. "Marker comp" is an industry term leftover from the days before computers. Back then if an agency wanted to pitch an idea to a client they would sometimes bring in an illustrator, plop him in front of a drawing board stacked with paper and...
