New Snapshot: The Newman Money Museum Robo-Franklin

I have a new illustration up over at the Beacon! This time I illustrated something that relates directly back to my own past as a student employee at the Kemper Art Museum. In the basement of the Museum is the Newman Money Museum. Inside this tiny museum in a museum is an amazing "animatronic" Ben Franklin that talks to you when you enter. The robot has been turned on for years, and as a result the face (which is a projection on a bulb) has the coloring of a warped tv. It's a delightful little gem if you ever get a chance to visit St. Louis.

Big Box Mergers: Too late to count?

This is an interesting trend in business: two large competitors are both suffering in a rapidly changing business environment. Unable to keep up with the times, they merge together in an effort to maintain market share. One such merger was announced last week in the coupling of Office Depot and Office Max.

Such an event provides a wealth of editorial illustration opportunities (indeed, I am hoping to produce more work around this idea). To commemorate this grouping, I made this illustration of two robots selling office supplies. Cutting edge technology, now faded (like the big box store concept itself) reduced to joining forces to make an impact.
I'll provide some more behind the scenes work of this on behance later this week.

FAMOUS FICTIONAL RETURNS!

Hello All,

Big News! I was once again invited to participate in Famous Fictional this year! The theme this year was "Family Feud" so I took the opportunity to illustrate two of my favorite fictional familes: The Munsters and the Fratellis (of Goonies fame).

I wanted to try a different genre for this year so I decided to produce two fully playable board games! I will reveal the boards here, but to actually experience the games be sure to come to the show!

Many thanks to Dan Zettwoch for inviting me to participate again this year!

Some Recent Warmups/ Experiments

Thought I would share with you all some recent warm-up sketches/color studies I have been doing. I've been wanting to practice better color-relations and have been especially influenced by old cartoons like Mission Hill and Doug lately.

I always enjoy the graphic results of using flat colors, and this lets me explore interesting patterns too. I've been posting these almost daily over on my twitter feed, and hope to keep doing so as time allows.

Cheers.

Big News ahead, Sketches to keep your Appetite whetted in the meantime

Hey everybody,

I hate blog posts that start with "I know it's been a while" so I'll keep it short and sweet. Stay tuned for some big news coming up- Lots of stuff that I've been working on for along time is coming together and I will have some exciting news for you soon.

In the meantime, I encourage my firends in St. Louis to stop by Starclipper comics next wednesday as we are signing/ selling copies of Spirits of St. Louis!

Alright- since I love pictures more then words- here are sketcbook scans. More to come soon as I finish up these projects!

Time Abroad- Good Thing I Had my Moleskins

Hi there!

I just got back from a post-graduation trip to Europe- and it was amazing. You can't find some of the great examples of sculpture and painting over here that they have to offer, especially in Paris and Rome. I've fallen in love with the work of Rubens again, as well as Goya and Daumier. I was also fascinated by some the sculpture I saw, which I plan to study from for awhile. ALSO I visited the armory at the Spanish Palace (AMAZING).

I brought two moleskins with me for the trip, the standard size, with a red cover, and a pocket size for quick drawings and experiments. It was great having the resource with me close by for when inspiration hit.

Drawing is something that is definitely therapeutic for me. I'm happy to be pursuing something I can work on at any time. Doug Chayka made a great post on the Illustration Academy blog on sketchbooks. CHECK IT OUT!

Also, check these out

I will make some more posts on these later, and some onsite drawings, but for now some work produced on the plane ride over and in the pocket moleskin. 

They were showing "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on the way over. Keanu Reeves was boring me to tears so I had to stay awake somehow.