ChaDes Challenge LXV: Highlanders

This is my return to the ChaDes Challenge set forth by honorable Austin Madison. I have been absent from the challenge for too long. In anticipation of the movie Brave, challengers are creating Highlandish character designs. This is Crannog Mackinnon the highest of the Highlanders from the Isle of Sky; please excuse the bad pun.

I have another illustration / design based on an older ChaDes Challenge that I did not participate in, but loved, that I will post soon. Keep yar eyes peeled.

Brain Wash

Here is a recent illustration I did for a client presentation. It is a good example of working with a client and adjusting an illustration to meet their needs. In the initial concept meeting we discussed using an image of a brain taking a bath. After I did some pencil sketched, which I wish I could find as an example, we decided to go forward with the illustration pictured below.

I thought it was a clever illustration because it implied both brain bath and "Brain Wash." When I mentioned this to the client they rethought the message and said they really wanted to imply a bath of chemicals. To me this implied a negative impact on the brain which lead to memories of Bugs Bunny bathing in a hot cauldron unaware that he was being cooked. We decided to go with an image of a Brain bathing in a cauldron filled with a chemical broth.

Although I like the double meaning of the original illustration the final art was a much clearer communication of the clients message. I also like the art in the second version more, so it's a double win.

Visual Vocabulary

Here is some more work I did for Literacyhead.com recently. As usually these were done super fast. I enjoy doing these little studies because they get me thinking differently about visual communication.

These are all intended for web viewing and are pencil sketches with digital texture / color.
All images ©2012 Literacyhead, LLC.

Finished "Reading Opens Doors"

 I recently got a printed copy of the "Reading Opens Doors" flip-book I completed a while back. It turned out great. If you refer back to my previous post, you can see there were some changes in the cover illustration which I think were for the better.

Click for detail

  

 Here are a couple more examples of the layout inside the book. As I mentioned before, each chapter had a door with art that represented the age group discussed in the chapter. Every example below is pulled from a different chapter to show how each chapter has a different color code. I also wanted to post an image that showed the page icons and general layout.

Click for detail

Click for detail

I know it has been a while since there has been a new post here. I have neglected this blog but I plan to post new work weekly in the future. To be able to post weekly I am going to start posting more Graphic Design work. If you have any objections please let me know.

Reading Opens Doors

This is a recent project I have been working on in collaboration with my Literacyhead.com partner. We were contracted to create a 5.5inch x 3.25inch educational flip-book for Smart Start Education, a division of The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. The flip-book would be given to parents to help the parents encourage reading through games and activities described in the flip-book. The project is not finalized and we are still working on some client requested edits. Pictured above is the cover we presented to the Smart Start Panel.

The image above is the first draft of the cover. Initially, we decided to make the front cover be a door that opens into the content of the book. The challenge was to make a door interesting and inviting. We thought using a child would be engaging and also established that showing the child's thoughts, of what doors could be opened through reading, would work well conceptually.

After the initial draft was approved, I redrew the image to be used in the color draft (pictured above).

Next I added the color, texture, and the children's thought images. From here we came to the conclusion that the kid's face needed to be cuter and more family friendly. I was also asked to include a pot of flowers to add some visual interest. The draft with these changes is the final draft image at the top of this post.

While I was working on the cover, I was simultaneously working on the book layout. Each chapter was appropriate for a specific age group. We thought it would be cool to make each chapter be a different door that is being opened. Each chapter door has drawings, or elements, that relate the to the age group represented in the chapter. Pictured above is a chapter introduction spread for the 4-6 Years chapter.

Pictured above is a spread of how most of the pages look in the flip-book. Each chapter uses a different color scheme to let the reader know which section they are in. Everything that is red, in this example above, changes to a different solid color with each advancing chapter. The pages are 5.5inches x 3.25inches, the font size is 11 point, and it will be spiral bound.

This is the Back Cover. We wanted to have visual interest/friendliness and invite the readers to use the flip-book again.

Recent Art

I have not posted for awhile and for that I apologize. I recently committed to remaking a design by an artist on Threadless. I respect the artist Isaboa (Joe) and I thought his design had some potential. Here is my version.


Below is Joe's original design. I took his concept, added my style, and subdued the color. I also kept the dynamic composition.



I was late submitting a design for an Indian Pale Ale design for Finch's Beer Company. It was an open competition and I drew this picture the day it was due. Needless to say it was not going to get finished for the competition.


I also had the opportunity to create a design for the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Most of their merchandise was pretty strange looking hand drawn art and I tried to push the envelope in that direction. I was going for bazaar but drawn well; I really liked my final product. They ended up going with designs that were more solid graphically speaking.