Recently I was hired by Alex Brands to help with the launch of a new line of Big Wheels bikes. They were considering using illustrations for the packaging and asked me to whip up a couple of preliminary concepts of what that might look like (one boy, one girl). Here’s what I submitted (posted with client permission):
I’ve worked on a lot of projects for Hasbro over the years. Most of it is concept art that must stay forever under lock and key but every once in a while I do something I can show to the world.
Recently Hasbro hosted their first very own convention, Hasbro HASCON 2017. In one of the booths they wanted to put up a giant activity board featuring Fur Real talking animatronic puppies. Kids who stopped by were given Post-It notes and invited to stick on their answers to various word balloon questions. I was hired to illustrate the icons inside the balloons and also the background pattern. The Hasbro design team put together the final layout.
Here’s a photo the client sent me of the Fur Real booth at the Con:
Wish I could have been there. I live halfway across the country from the event but it was a lot of fun to take part even in this small way.
Over the years I’ve worked on dozens of projects for Hasbro. Most of what I do for them is “planning and production” so the artwork stays behind the scenes and will never be seen by the general public. The toy business is competitive and Hasbro is naturally very protective of their ideas, which I respect.
Every once in a while something I do for them makes it out into the world, usually in the form of packaging or stickers. Back in 2015 I illustrated some stickers for a My Little Pony Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie playset. These stickers were applied at the factory to give extra color and detail to furniture in the room. The playset was released last year and can be purchased from Amazon.
Hasbro has given me permission to show a couple of the stickers: a cork board and a board game. On the cork board two of the small character photos were pasted in from existing art but otherwise I created it all from scratch. Also, the lower corner of the game board was intentionally left blank to make room of a plastic spinner.
Here’s a silly, energetic video I found online of someone having fun reviewing the playset. Hope it gives you a smile:
Chuck E. Cheese has a YouTube channel where they use puppets and songs to help sell their pizzas. Recently they decided to do a music video explaining the origin story of their band of characters. Rather than use the puppets they opted for some flashback illustrations done in a watercolor storybook style. I was fortunate enough to be hired for the job.
They asked me to not illustrate the characters as puppets. Instead, they wanted me to try and match other modern 2D versions of the characters which in some cases were slightly different designs from the puppets. I did a total of nineteen illustrations. Here’s a few samples followed by the finished video:
One of my clients, the Strottman agency, hired me to illustrate a children’s activity page with a Valentine’s Day theme for the home improvement chain Lowe’s. The male and female character had already been designed by another artist but otherwise this was built entirely from scratch. My understanding is that these were printed and distributed to kids who came in to the store with their parents for family activities and workshops during February.
Brooklyn Center is a Minneapolis suburb with a stretch of road containing several car dealerships that are all owned by Luther Auto. Last summer I was hired by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to do a full-color illustration for Luther depicting a simplified version of that stretch of road. The artwork was used as an ad in the newspaper and online.
