Recently I was hired by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to illustrate three comic strip-style banner ads for Culligan. They supplied me with scripts for the ads, then I created the artwork. Click to enlarge:
It looks like the ad is now live, with the strips rotating in a slideshow format. You can view the ad here.
Like a lot of other artists I’ve decided to jump on the Gumroad bandwagon. It’s a bit of an experiment for me. I already have my own website store and people seem to be happy with it, but I’m very impressed with Gumroad’s slick-and-simple website. Just create a Gumroad account and have easy, “forever” access to any files you purchase from various Gumroad sellers. Also, Gumroad only takes a small sliver of commission which makes them an attractive place to sell.
As an experiment I’ve put together a PDF sketchbook called “Sketchercise!” (45 pages with over 120 drawings) and I’m offering it as a “name-your-price” purchase. For the time being you can have it for whatever you think is a fair price, no questions asked and no strings attached. Other artists such as Will Terrell advocate this model for selling some of their content so I thought I’d try it and see what happens.
You can also get the Pose Drawing Sparkbook (both versions) and my drawing webinar on my Gumroad page, at full price.
(Click image to enlarge.)
Recently I was hired by Tourean Design to illustrate a series of mobile messaging stickers for use in an upcoming project. There are four sets of 16 stickers each:
A few samples are shown above. There were over 60 stickers in total so I brought in some help. Illustrators Justin Dial and Paul Agner inked and colored some of my sketches and they did a fantastic job.
Once the project is finished and the stickers are available I’ll be sure to let you know where you can find them online.
EDIT: The stickers are being used in a new social media app called Kewe.
A few months ago I was hired by Crayola to create an illustration showing some of their marker characters interacting with the Empire State Building. The artwork was used as a coloring page on the back of some packaging. Unfortunately it is only being sold in one store, the Toys-R-Us in Times Square. New Yorkers have all the fun!
I’ve been a member of the Graphic Artists Guild for a couple of years now. They frequently host webinars on various topics related to business and art. The webinars are open to everyone for a fee unless you’re a member. Then they’re free. That alone makes a membership worth the cost. To give you an idea, here’s a list of past webinars.
On July 30, 2014 the Guild will be hosting a webinar/workshop for illustrators called “The Pricing Game”. Four experienced illustrators will each share an example of a real-world project, give you a chance to quote your own price, and then tell you what they actually charged and discuss some of the how’s and why’s of pricing your work. Here’s the official description from the Graphic Artists Guild website:
Do you feel like you’re rolling the dice every time you bid on a new illustration project? This workshop is designed to help you learn what other working illustrators are charging, and how you can defend your pricing decisions. We will be presenting a project from each of four experienced illustrators, showing a range of project types. And we’re following up the Pricing Game with a discussion with our illustrators on how they estimate on new assignments, manage their client’s expectations, and follow through to successfully close a project.
The four pro illustrators are Marty Blake, Mark Monlux, Ed Shems, and myself.
Register or get more info here.
The August 2014 issue of Highlights For Children just came in the mail. On page 38 is a spot illustration I did for an ongoing series called “Your Best Self”. Here’s the original art before the word balloons or captions were added.
