Witchy Night

Here is one more Halloween piece for this year. It started off as a traditional green witch with a black cat. Then during a long meeting at my dayjob, I was coloring my thumbnail sketch with an orange highlighter. Oh, and then I thought a pumpkin chucking gorilla or Yeti would make a more suitable co-pilot. I opted for the Gorilla since I liked that color scheme more. I feel like drawing a Yeti now...

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween: 1979

Here is another ink/Photoshop illustration depicting myself when I was five years old and we had to wear a costume in my pre-school program. My mom made this cool Batman suit for me, since Batman had always been my favorite super hero. I still have this costume sitting in my studio...too bad it does not fit. It is still in really good condition, even the tights.

I love you Mom!

A Jolt For Frankie

Another Halloween piece for this year. I'm getting more into India ink work and digital coloring, so much faster! I have been a graphic designer for well over a decade so i understand the time you can save working digitally, yet my heart is still in traditionally rendered illustration. So I'm hanging on to the brushes for as long as I can, but it sure is nice to change colors with a magic wand.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday next to Christmas. It is a great and inspiring time of year. This piece was rendered in India ink and with a brush. I really enjoy brush inking now, it took me a while to get used to. I'm hoping to work up some more Halloween pieces before the end of the month, we'll see.

Sesame Street Birthday Invite

This was the front of my daughter's first birthday party invitation. Since my wife and I are HUGE fans of Sesame Street and the Muppets...of course our daughter is now too. With this invitation, I wanted to pay homage to the beautifully illustrated Sesame Street children's books of the 70's and 80's. Brilliant artists like Joe Mathieu, Michael Smollin, Michael Gross, and Sal Murdocca. These renderings matched the feel of the puppets, and even mimicked their fluid and funny movements. I also love the 1990's work of Joe Ewers, Tom Brannon, and Maggie Swanson.

I drew my daughter being held by Cookie Monster set on the steps of the 123 Sesame Street Apartment Building. I can't tell you how much I drew the Sesame Street set as a kid. Of course I had to put everyone's favorite Grouch in there as well for a cameo.

Sesame Street Invite- BACK

Here is the back of the card. Pretty simple, and looked good with the front. I originally had a "1" with a big bite mark out of it...kind of like how Cookie would gobble up letters on the show. My wife made these really cool Cookie Monster face cupcakes. Each one had a real cookie in his mouth. After the party we found bright, blue frosting embedded in the carpet and on most of our furniture. Yikes!

The Count

Here is the illustration I put inside my daughter's birthday invites. Her picture was inside the frame and The Count was saying something related to the party info. I love this character. My parents have old film footage of me running down the hall carrying a Count puppet. I never knew what happened to that thing....I wish I knew. Still today, you don't see a lot of Count-related merchandise in stores. This illsutration is rendered in ink washes, and colored in Photoshop.