Sportscaster Illo for Highlights Magazine

by

Sportscaster Seal for Highlights Magazine

The July 2014 issue of Highlights Magazine just arrived in my mailbox. On page 15 is this spot illustration I did for a math segment called “What’s The Score?”  The client wanted a seal posed as an excited sportscaster with some fictional team logos on the screen behind him. The empty area in the lower left was intentionally left blank to allow for placement of a word balloon.

I have fond memories of reading Highlights at the dentist’s office when I was a kid. It’s an honor to now have my work popping up inside. I’ve done a couple of more illustrations for them since that will be appearing in future issues.

I’ve Been Nominated For A National Cartoonists Society Award

by

ncs_chrome

For several years I’ve been a proud member of the National Cartoonists Society. It’s a terrific organization that celebrates cartooning in all its forms, and its membership includes many of the giants in the industry.

Every year the NCS holds a black-tie dinner and gives out several Reuben Awards (named after cartoonist Rube Goldberg) to the top artists in various categories. If it’s possible to combine “prestige” with “funny drawings”, the Reuben awards banquet would be it. Think tuxedos and giant foam cowboy hats.

The NCS just announced the final nominees for 2013 and I’ve been selected in the Advertising Illustration category. Wow! This is a real honor and puts me in some terrific company. The other two nominees this year are Rich Powell and Sean Parkes. The winner will be announced on May 25, 2014 at the Reuben Awards Weekend in San Diego.

We are in the process of selling our house and buying a new one so whether or not I can attend will depend on the timing of our move, but I really hope I can make it. The Reubens is a terrific event and a rare opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the industry greats. Any time you get that many cartoonists together it’s also just plain fun.

While I’m on the subject, the NCS just launched a brand-new website. Check it out. You can also follow the NCS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

I’ve Been Interviewed on “Creative Independence”

by

creativeindependence

The super-talented-illustrator-and-all-around-nice-guy Bob Ostrom and his co-host Chris Wilson have re-launched their Creative Independence podcast and have given me the honor of the first interview! I prattled on about my Kickstarter campaign for the Pose Drawing Sparkbook, including what I learned and what I’d do differently next time. Give it a listen. And if you like what I have to say, you can get more info in my upcoming webinar “Kickstarter Tips and Tricks”.

Gogurt Packaging Illustrations

by

Gogurt Packaging Illustrations

Earlier this year I was hired by Ultra Creative to do some wrap-around packaging illustrations for Gogurt. For those not familiar with Gogurt, it’s yogurt “on the go” that comes in long, skinny plastic tubes, and it’s a favorite in our family.

On each side of the tube is a silly scenario that kids might find scary, and the packaging asks “Which is scarier…?” It’s a clever Halloween-themed idea and it was a lot of fun to work on.

EDIT: I found some of the actual packaging at my local grocery store:

Gogurt-Photo5

Artwork For Monster Cereals Packaging

by

Frute-Brute-Fruity-Yummy-Mummy

Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Booberry cereals will have two old friends re-joining them on store shelves this Halloween. I’m delighted to say I got be a part of it.

Frute Brute was a werewolf cereal character for a few years in the 1970’s-80’s, and Yummy Mummy also had a run from the late 80’s to early 90’s. For the first time ever, all five flavors will now be on store shelves at the same time. That’s big news for monster cereal fans. (Just do a google search for “monster cereals” and you’ll find they have quite a following.) The news even warranted a story in the Wall Street Journal!

Ultra Creative in Minneapolis was tasked with helping bring Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy into the 2010’s, and they selected me to do the final packaging illustrations. This was a huge honor! It was also a bit of a challenge because we had to try to match the style of the existing monsters which were created a few years ago by another illustrator (I have no idea who):

378179_10150631545387406_290005584_n1

Art director Todd Demulling worked up some rough character designs and then gave me the ball to run with. He was very helpful as we worked back-and-forth. I created the detailed artwork and then Ultra Creative made a few final tweaks in-house.

I was also asked to do some artwork for the back of all five of the monster cereal boxes, working with art director Terry Schnipkoweit based on his rough color sketches and layout.

Here’s some hi-res images of the final packaging art. (Click to enlarge):

13GM090_FruteBrute_BOP

13GM090_YummyMummy

13GM090_FruteBrute

Target stores are also selling exclusive “retro” packaging for the monster cereals this year. I didn’t do any work on those, unless they are also using my artwork in the back panel. I haven’t had a chance yet to stop in to Target and look.

This is a very high-profile project and I’m deeply grateful that the very talented team at Ultra Creative felt they could trust me with it. The cereals are not available year-round. They are only in stores around Halloween so get them while you can!

Cocoa Puffs Cereal Box Art

by

It’s always been a professional goal of mine to create artwork for a cereal box. So I was delighted when Todd Demulling at Ultra Creative hired me to do a packaging illustration for Cocoa Puffs cereal. Todd gave me a rough sketch to build on. I illustrated the full-body figures and the background. Then the team at Ultra Creative made a couple of tweaks, added the big head at the bottom, and inserted the text:

CocoaPuffs-Dream-Final2-01

I was pretty exciting to visit my local Walmart today and see how it turned out:

cocoapuffs-photo-instore