Jim Tierney

2011-12-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

The holidays are here, and along with them comes my new cover for Garrison Keillor's A Christmas Blizzard. The printed cover features very festive embossed lettering:

Those of you who were fans of my killed African Affair comps will be happy to know that Plume has picked up one of my favorite unused designs for the paperback:

And Finally, fresh from the printer is this cover design for Alan Lomax, a biography of a prolific early-20th-century folklorist and music historian. The cover itself is printed with two spot colors: matte orange and glossy black:
.

The Elephant Vanishes

2011-10-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

This is a new poster I designed for the Haruki Murakami "Drawing Inspiration" competition at Nowness.com:

It's based on the short story collection The Elephant Vanishes, which was my surreal introduction to Murakami's work, and one of my favorite books of his.

The voting period for the competition takes place this week, so go take a look because there is a lot of good art (you have to be logged in to vote, but it's a very neat site so you should sign up anyway.)

2011-10-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sketches from a speeding cab - Manhattan and Long Island

New Design Work

2011-09-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

As new as I am to the illustration world, I'm even less experienced at design. I never really worked photos, type, and found art before I started working at Penguin, so I'm constantly questioning my design skills. My lack of confidence has kept me from posting some of my more traditional design work, but looking back on these I realized that maybe they aren't too bad, really.

AN AFRICAN AFFAIR
Rejects (not commercial enough):

And the very commercial final cover:

COMPOSED
Photograph by Annie Leibovitz

CABIN

Photograph by Brian Vanden Brink

ARTHUR MILLER SERIES
The final set:

and some rejects:

JAMES JOYCE
rejects:

and the final:

Around the Arts

2011-09-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

If you happen to have access to the Philadelphia Inquirer, I designed and illustrated the cover page for the Arts & Entertainment section.The theme is "Around the Arts in 111 Days", and features reviews on various events and shows around the area.

Mystic Travelogues

2011-08-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

As most illustrators will tell you, it's rare than any of the prospective authors who occasionally approach you about working on a book they're writing will ever speak to you again. In fact, well over 90% of them will never finish their book, much less find a publisher, and then convince the publisher to hire that artist they like.

However, this is just what J.C.Nusbaum did. I was contacted by J.C. a few months ago about working on the cover for his children's book The Mystic Travelogues. Interestingly, he requested a design similar to an old project I had done in school. The beauty of student work is that you can recycle the good parts later for a commercial project, and end up with something fresh.

(detail)

Wedding & New Work

2011-07-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Once again, sorry about the lack of updates recently, I've been busy getting married.

The wedding took place at a beautiful manor farm in Chester County, PA, close to where each of us grew up.
In keeping with that general feel, we then honeymooned in the English countryside:

Now it's back to work, covering more new books (or trying to, at least).
Here's the latest batch:

These 3 are my favorite killed covers for Nathaniel Philbrick's history of Nantucket.

The final cover ended up being something much more straightforward and in keeping with the 'non-fiction' look. Completely understandable, but I always like trying something out-of-the-ordinary first.

In the fiction category, here's an approved cover for a story about a black pioneer family in the American Midwest.

And another option that wasn't used, but I'm still a little fond of.

More to come soon,
I promise.

Vinyl Menace

2011-04-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

New Spot illustration for a Cowbell Magazine article about nonsensical "return of vinyl".

Brideshead Redesigned

2011-03-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled when Penguin UK asked me to participate in the new designer-based "Essentials" series. My book was Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waigh's classic tale of English wealth and opulence, with a touch of religious and sexual confusion. Right up my alley.

My first few comps:

That last one was cleaned up just a bit, and we have the final:

And here's a great overview of the series here.

Print 20 Under 30

2011-03-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm very honored to be chosen by Print Magazine as one of this year's "20 under 30". Every year the magazine features 20 artists and designers under the age of 30. I've always looked forward to this issue, so it's like a dream come true to actually be part of it.

And I didn't even know this until I got my hands on a copy, but in the back they have a write-up about Vintage UK's 3D classics, under a picture of my Jules Verne cover. Exciting stuff!

2011-03-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

I made this at work today.
because.

Predators

2011-03-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Some new covers for Open Road Media.

Sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster writes of his dangerous and exciting encounters with wild animals.

(final cover)

cars & books

2011-02-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

I've just finished re-designing my website.
...There still isn't any good work on there, but hey it's something

Other than that, here's some new work:

Comps for "Bill Warrington's Last Chance" by James King. A dysfunctional family story, centered around a rebellious teenage girl and her slightly demential grandfather as they attempt to escape from their tiresome everyday lives, and at the same time bring their quarreling and estranged family together again.

And the final:

Strangely enough, I had the most fun drawing the car. Probably because I never draw cars.

And an editorial piece for Barnard College Alumni Magazine, about the school's new "Personal Librarian" service. Basically each new student will be paired with a staff member, who will act as a single point of contact for the library. From what I understand, this person will help the student navigate the vast seas of librarial data, and gather reference material in the most efficient way.

Easy solution - Butlier with some books:

Although I must say that I'm also fond of these sketches:

Plenty more in the works, which I will hopefully be able to post soon.

HOW Magazine

2010-12-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well I guess this is just the month of Magazines. I have my very own page in the newest issue of HOW, alongside many of the best young designers out there.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-25T09:33:00.001-08:00

Poets & Writers

2010-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

This was a massive illustration project for the Poets & Writers Inspiration issue.
This was a quick one, and I ended up doing most of the final art in one weekend, but never have I had more fun or been given more freedom with an assignment. Special thanks to Kevin, Suzanne, Murray, and everyone at P&W for making this a great experience all around.

Layout and design by Murray Greenfield.
To see the un-blurred-out version, buy the magazine, it's great!

Bells & Whistles

2010-12-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

I recently finished an illustration for the Bells&Whistles sections of PlanSponsor Magazine, art direction by SooJin Buzelli.
This was one of those assignments that is so open-ended that it actually becomes pretty difficult.
Here are the final sketches:

(which will make a come-back as my Christmas card)

And the final art:

SooJin is a legendary art director, and it was a real treat working with her, once I worked up the nerve to do some decent sketches.

A Tale of Two Cities

2010-12-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

Furthering my career as "the guy who designs books you can't buy", I present you with A Tale of Two Cities. In response to Oprah choosing this classic Dickens novel as her last book pick, Penguin put several of its designers to work coming up with come cover designs for it. A lot of beautiful work was done, but in the end Oprah decided to combine this edition with Great Expectations, and the whole thing was designed brilliantly by Gregg Kulick.

I'm still a little fond of what I came up with, so I decided to share the mock-up of my design.

Everything is hand-drawn except for the flap typography.

Enjoy.

Monster Friends

2010-11-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

For Print Only just posted the second Monster Friends poster series. There's a lot of very nice work in this batch.

I designed the "Behemoth" poster for the series:

Each poster is silk-screened, and sell for a modest $25 each (although $35 will get you a special edition, with extra glow-in-the-dark details).

Please do buy some!

gorilla drawings + doggie

2010-11-16T05:25:00.000-08:00

UPPERCASE Magazine

2010-10-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you already subscribe to UPPERCASE, the beautifully curated Canadian art+design magazine.

It's consistently full of great new stuff, the most recent issue featuring a neat article called
"Feeling Bookish", wherein the staff asked several professional book designers (as well as all of their other readers) to design a "self-portrait" book cover. The results is a very nice collection of work from people likeSara Wood, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Ingrid Paulson, and more.

My own astronautical cover is inspired by one of my favorite books, John Wyndham's The Outward Urge.

Speaking of Penguins

2010-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

If you are in the area, enjoy book design, have a few dollars to spare you should come see the AIGANY Penguin 75 Talk, where Paul Buckley, Gregg Kulick, and myself will be showing our work and speaking about the unique relationship between illustration and book design at Penguin.

Also in attendance will by author A. M. Homes and designer Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich to share in the discussion.

3D sci-fi classics

2010-10-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Caustic Cover Critic ran a post today about the new series of 3D adventure books from Vintage Classics (Random House UK).

I think they turned out quite nicely. I appreciate the clever combination of classic writing, retro visuals, and contemporary illustration.

The Jules Verne covers, of course, are mine. It was an interesting challenge to create something so completely different from my thesis project, but the art director gave me a lot of freedom and encouragement, so I'm pleased with the results.

Here are a few of the other covers. I don't yet know who the artists are, but I'll update you when I find out.

and speaking of Random House UK, here's a young adult cover I did for them right before the 3D ones:

My First Penguins

2010-06-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

So you've been following the blog for a while, and have seen all of my personal work and school projects, but now comes the exciting part; real-live design work.

In my first month at Penguin, I've been lucky enough to work on a number of books, and even design a few myself. These are far from being ready for print, and will probably go through some minor changes along the way, but so far the art directors, editors, and authors have approved the results.

My first project is one I started on a few weeks before I even got to New York. I guess Paul Buckley wanted to be sure he was getting his money's worth, so he sent me the hardcover of This is Just Exactly Like You by Drew Perry, and told me to have something in mind for the paperback by the time I came in on to work.

The book is about a man dealing with a failing marriage and an autistic son. He owns a landscaping business, which factors largely into the story, as well as my designs.

Rejected comp

Approved Mechanical

A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism, by Slavenka Drakulic is a series of short stories, told by different animals about history and experiences of communism. A few of the more memorable characters in the book are the Mouse and the Bear, so I knew right away that I wanted to use them somehow for the cover.

Rejected comps, with minor changes to the last one.

Approved Mechanical

Lies of the Heart is my first non-illustrated book cover.

It's a novel about a woman whose husband is murdered by the mentally challenged man that they were taking care of. The story deals with a lot of issues of emotional culpability and relationship dynamics, so the image for the paperback had to be understated and contemplative.

Rejected Comps

Approved Mechanical

- - - EDIT - - -

Also, Design Related just ran a nice interview with Paul Buckley about his new Penguin 75 book, and a few of my illustrations are featured on the side bar

Life in the Real World.

2010-06-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well since my last post, several things have happened.

I've graduated from art school, moved to Brooklyn, started my job at Penguin designing book covers. Several jobs are in the process of being finished, so hopefully I wil be able to post them before too long.

If you were one of the people who sent me a graduation card, you got one of these back in the mail:

I designed and printed them myself on a nice cardstock paper. If you're interested in buying a batch of them in a few different colors, send me an email and I can ship you some.

Also, this illustration of mine ran in Philadelphia's GRID Magazine a month or two ago.

It accompanied an article about a woman who associated each stage of her life with a different cheese.

Book Worship

2010-05-08T07:44:00.001-07:00

If you love vintage paperbacks (or just cool retro design) like I do, you need to know about Shawn Hazen's blog Book Worship.

"While I certainly cherish 'valuable' books, that’s not necessarily what you’ll see here. For the most part, these are graphically interesting, but otherwise uncollectible, books that entered and exited bookstores quietly in the 50s, 60s, and 70s." -Shawn

. . . . . . . . . . .

P.S.
Shawn also has a fun blog dedicated to typography around chicago

. . . . . . . . . . .

P.P.S.
For an overdose of pure Penguin goodness, check out this website devoted entirely to vintage Penguin Sci-Fi covers. (obviously much better before and after the 1980's, but it's all good stuff)

Everything is Great/Everything Sucks

2010-05-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a new type-based poster I did this week. This poster is pretty representative of the artist's life. There are good days and there are bad days.

initial sketch:

Mah Frends

2010-05-03T20:04:00.001-07:00

In light of my senior class' upcoming Portfolio Day, I thought I'd share some of my classmates' work with you:

First up is April Read.
I seriously can't get enough of her hand-painted theatre posters. These are what I would be doing if I had infinitely more patience/coordination/skill:

Jee Hye Shin (website in progress)
her senior thesis (re-designed video game covers)...so awesome:

I can't even tell how Stephen Haigh makes his images, but they are always dead-on.
Seriously good stuff:

I swear, everything Stephanie Engel touches turns to gold. Please spend some time on her website:

Kristin Koefoed has a sense of humor that I envy. Top-rate illustrations, keen design sense:

Jessica Adametz's children's paintings are beautiful/hilarious:

Sarah Alfarhan's paintings have such a nice personal feel to them. They remind me of a less-naive Maira Kalman:

And Kelley Lubsen can make colored pencil do things I never thought possible:

April summary

2010-04-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm honored to announce that my Jules Verne books won first prize at the thesis show.

Also, My King Azaz drawing won the Nancy Lee Rhodes Roberts award from the Society of Illustrators. Crazy, no?

Apart from that, work work work. Here's the newest batch:

Jessica Hische Class

2010-04-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

Jessica Hische just posted a collection of the work our class did with her this spring.
We all re-designed covers for the classic "Wizard of Oz", here are a few:

You should check everyone out, there are some very talented folks here.

Buster Keaton

2010-04-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm working on a million things at once...

but for now, here's a portrait of Buster Keaton, the original king of comedy

New stuff

2010-03-20T15:51:00.001-07:00

and some new (orange) stuff, too:

Safari vs Firefox: Color Wars

2010-03-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

For most of you, this might be old news, but for the rest it is the solution to a problem that seems to be plaguing a lot of artists who post images on the web. I've noticed that some images look very different in different browsers, and some don't. Until last night I had no idea how to control this. So, If you are frustrated with the same problem yourself, read on. If not, then snicker to yourself at my dreadfully delayed technological puberty and be on your way.

All of the message boards I found simply offered the advice "make sure your images are converted to sRGB", which I was already doing with little results. So I decided to try some other things.

Of course, your photoshop file is the image you want everyone else to see:

So then you sRGB it, save at 72 dpi, and upload, only to be greeted by some pale washy colors in firefox. Safari seems to be doing things right, though...

My solution is this-
After you convert to sRGB, click on View>Proof Setup>Monitor RGB:

AHA! That's what shows up online, is it not?

All that's left to do now is adjust the image back to the way you want it...

And "save for web", using any file type you like:

And that seems to solve the problem. Safari and Firefox are finally getting along. There are a few minor differences, but nothing like what we were dealing with before:

I've tried a bunch of things, and this seems to work pretty well. However, it is probably a sketchy, roundabout way to do something that could easily be done another way. If you know a better way to do this, please let me know, since I am only stumbling my way blindly through this incoherent voodoo-babble myself.

March

2010-03-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

Things have been happening very quickly in the last few weeks. My main priorities have been getting my portfolio together and putting the finishing touches on my thesis.
In between these, I've also begun the Brooklyn apartment search. Having a place secured well before graduation would make the transition quite a bit easier.

So here's what I've managed to squeeze in between all of that:
a new cover for Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories:

a paperback version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:

completion of my old The Rise of Fishes Cover

and a typographical revision of my old Carl Sagan cover, The Demon-Haunted World:

More to come soon!

Sara Wood's D.H. Lawrence Covers

2010-02-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

I just thought you needed to see Sara Wood's new set of D.H. Lawrence book designs.

Seeing work like this really makes me wonder why classic books so often have such boring covers.

The Blogoshpere

2010-02-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

So it's been a big week for my books and I

First off, Charles Brock made me designer of the week on Faceout Books (one of my favorite book design blogs)

then Charles sent my link to Michael Bierut, who gave it a "wow", and poster my name on Design Observer...

The Book Designers also took notice...

And Canada's National Post gave me a write-up in their "Afterword" book section

and so did Nonsuch Book, Between Clark and Hilldale, Karen Horton's Daily Design Discoveries, and NFG Graphics (even though I can't read it)

I've never been so flattered or appreciative. The internet amazes me...

Jules Verne Adventure series complete

2010-02-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

I am happy to present my senior thesis:
I chose to design a set of Jules Verne novels. Classic books are always fun to design, so I took full advantage of the opportunity to do something a bit far-fetched, and pull some production tricks with things like overlays, spin-wheels, and fun endpapers.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

My first choice was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, one of my favorite books. The half-jacket shows a tangle of tentacles emerging from Nemo's diving helmet, suggesting his hidden, more sinister nature. Underneath are some ornamental squids and the lost city of Atlantis. I feel that this construction suits the book's constant theme of mystery and discovery.

(back of jacket)

(front cover)

(back cover)

(flaps and endpapers)

(front jacket detail)

(front cover detail)

(back cover detail)

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Next up is Journey to the Center of the Earth. The translucent overlay reveals fossils and dinosaur bones. Barely visible through the overlay, and printed on the cover beneath, are some more peculiar items, such as giant skeletons, weapons, and artifacts, hinting at some of the more surprising discoveries made by the characters.

(Front view with overlay)

(rear view with overlay)

(front view without overlay)

(rear view without overlay)

(flaps and endpapers)

(front overlay detail)

(rear overlay detail)

Around the World in 80 Days

for Around the World in Eighty Days, I decided to put a pocket watch on the jacket. Incorporated into the watch is a spin-dial that tracks the characters' journey around the globe. the idea is that as you read, you can turn the dial to correspond to where you are in the book. Underneath the jacket, the cover is designed in the style of vintage postage stamps, and so are the endpapers.

(back cover)

(front cover)

(the spin-dial in action)

(flaps and endpapers)

(detail of front cover)

From the Earth to the Moon

From the Earth to the Moon. Here I stayed with the "interactivity" theme, and designed the jacket to have a pull-slide tab which reveals the rocket speeding to the moon. The cover features the rocket against a simple star field and decorative border.

(back jacket)

(pull-tab action!)

(flaps and endpapers)

(front cover)

(back cover)

(front cover detail)

(back jacket detail)

And there you have it.

My eternal thanks to Joe, Jon, Matt, Gina, Ralph, and Eleanor for helping me figure out how to do this right.

Book cover Process

2010-01-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

I decided to document my process for this book design.
Every project has its own unique problems, but I generally go through the same basic steps.
Be aware that this probably isn't the best way to work, it's just the way I do things.

1. Choose a book.
I usually try to stay away from recent and/or popular books. The reason for this is that recent books are usually still associated with a certain image, whereas older books have usually released by multiple publishers in multiple editions, and have multiple cover designs. This allows you to make your own version without stepping on anyone's toes, and if you do a good job, it will really stand out from the crowd.
Obscure books generally work better than popular books, because you won't have to fight against as much pre-existing imagery or icons associated with the story.

It's also a good idea to avoid re-designing a book if you already like the current cover.

I chose The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino. I really like this author, and have wanted to design one of his covers for a while.
Unfortunately, this Picasso isn't doing anything for me.

2. Find a Dummy.
This is an important step, because you will need to know your exact measurements before you begin designing. You should stick to a dummy that is a realistic size for the book you are designing. For instance, if you are making a new cover for "War and Peace", don't use a copy of "The Stranger" for your dummy. Ideally, you should just use the book itself, but since I don't own a hardcover version, I chose this similarly-thick dummy.

3. Sketch
Now... you should do a few sketches before you settle on one (as you will soon find out), but since this was a self-assigned project, and I had a relatively clear vision, I just went with one. A good trick is to actually wrap the book in graph paper and draw right onto it. This will eliminate any careless measurement mistakes, which I am very prone to.

4. Finish Drawing.
Depending on how you work, transfer your sketch and begin rendering your elements. I happen to work mostly with ink, so I traced my sketch onto vellum, and will assemble and color them later on the computer.

If you make a lot of mistakes like I do, it might take a few tries to get things right. This sheet of lettering is actually a very clean one for me. There are usually about 3 times this many arrows and X's.

5. Panic
Sometimes the image in your head doesn't look as good on paper (or screen).

This is where better sketching would have helped. In this case, I usually scramble around trying different solutions. I ended up re-arranging the snails, and adding some yellow. It seems to have done the trick.

Lay out the necessary typography, and ask a trusted friend what for an opinion.

6. Print, relax, repeat
Once you're done, print a copy, wrap it around your dummy, and make a blog about it.

Book covers

2010-01-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

here's the first half of my senior thesis, enjoy :)

New Batch

2009-12-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Anorak

2009-11-20T09:04:00.001-08:00

It's been a super busy and stressful time lately, but I got some some exciting news this morning. My drawing won runner-up for the Anorak Magazine cover contest.
If you haven't seen it already:

This was a big contest, so I'm very happy about placing in it. I'm not sure when it will print, but pick up a copy if you can :)

Halloween poster revision

2009-11-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

A revision of the halloween ball poster

first version:

Jules Verne sketches part 1

2009-11-08T20:44:00.001-08:00

First batch of sketches for the senior thesis:

Ideas for Screenprinting

2009-10-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

My screenprinting class is doing a print exchange. The topic is "organs", and here are my sketches:

Bela Bartok cover

2009-10-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sleeve for Bela Bartok record:

detail:

Halloween poster

2009-10-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

The finished (for now) Halloween poster:

Tegn and Sara Poster

2009-10-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the final poster for the Tegan and Sara LA show.
They asked me to skepp out "AND" instead of using &, which is one of those tricky little details you never really think about too much. Other than that, I got the go-ahead for the first sketch without any changes.

I'm not sure if they will be for sale at the show or not, but if you're going be sure to keep an eye out for them.

Tegan and Sara

2009-10-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

My Sea Wolf poster managed to get me a job for Tegan and Sara's LA show.
I came up with a fairly simple design, and varied the concepts a bit for these two sketches:

Whole mess o' messiness

2009-10-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Working on 4 projects at a time, it's easy to lose track of what's going on.

a sketch for the Brandywine River Museum's Costume Ball:

And sketches for album cover for composer Bela Bartok:

Final for Darwin Poster

2009-10-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is the current final form of the darwin exhibit poster:

poems

2009-10-02T11:13:00.001-07:00

Poem illustraitons from Children's book class

Sea Wolf Poster

2009-09-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Dialogues with Darwin

2009-09-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Three possible poster designs for this exhibit

and a cover I submitted for ANORAK magazine's contest

Sketch progress for Demons

2009-09-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

Demons

2009-09-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

Some sketches for a book cover for Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World", an argument for better education and more skepticism in a culture full of superstition, astrology, UFOs, religion, and psychics. The book debunks many of these notions, and gives reasonable alternatives through scientific and logical arguments. One analogy that Sagan uses is the "invisible dragon in my garage". This image stuck in my mind, and paired with the theme of "demons" and inter-galactical laws of nature, produced these sketches:

Dodo Finish

2009-09-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Dodo piece in it's final state:

Lemonade Label

2009-09-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

My first assignment for the year (we get to choose) is a drink label. I chose lemonade, an all-American favorite.
here's the progress from start to finish:

Dodo Progress

2009-09-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

I've finished the painting of the Dodo, now to add the lettering

Lest We Forget

2009-09-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

My final year of institutionalized education has begun, and the first assignment I bring to you is the "Dodo Memorial", based on the loosely given concept of "mortality."

Of these three ideas:

I've decided do bring this one to final:

More on that later.

Fish Book, Bee Virus, and "Master/Margarita" revision.

2009-08-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a productive week here. I've been trying to finish up the last of these summer spots.

First things first,
I was unhappy with my Master and Margarita spot:

so I went with a simpler method and revised it to this:

While I still like some qualities of the first one, I think the simplicity needed to be stressed for the intended size of this piece.

If you took a look at the site in the past few days, you may have seen a new fish floating around:

which I then attempted to make into a book cover with the following steps:

(and while I find that last step to be very clean, it just wasn't "me" enough,
so I re-did the type by hand, and changed to a more consistent color scheme:

And finally, a new spot about the decline in honey bees, now speculatively attributed to a string of viruses:

and the final:

More to come soon, I'm sure.
Have a good night :)

2009-08-30T06:40:00.000-07:00

Trip to England

2009-08-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

Summer Spots with Progress

2009-08-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the first batch of our 8-spot summer homework.

I'll start with somewhat of an illustration no-no. I came up with the image first and then assigned a suitable topic to it.

Here are the sketches:

and the final:

In the end I decided it was a spot about gun control...sure.

A couple of these just focus on a single author or book, as opposed to an idea or article.
The first story is "The Turn of the Screw" by american author Henry James. The story takes place at an estate in England, and features a governess who's duty is to protect her students from a pair of ghosts (the student's former caretakers).
The idea is pretty straightforward here:

Another book I've chosen is "The Master and Margarita" by Maikhail Bulgakov.
The novel is metaphorically anti-communist, in which the devil appears in Russia, accompanied by his minions (the most prominent of which is a large black cat), and wreaks general havoc. I started with the idea of a satanic communist cat and this thing pretty much drew itself.

This last one is my favorite so far.
It's about Marcel Proust's series "In Search of Lost Time/ Remembrance of Things Past", particularly the first book, "Swann's Way". The entire story takes place within the narrator's memory of his childhood home village, which is summoned by the taste of a familiar tea cake. Once again, it's a pretty straight-forward metaphor:

which became:

and finally, with a digitally-added background color,

More soon.

About time

2009-03-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's been a long week but the workload is finally letting up. Here are a few products of my labors:

Finishes

2009-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Beasts

2009-02-08T21:04:00.001-08:00

Thin Pages

2009-02-01T23:48:00.001-08:00

not homework

2009-01-25T10:31:00.001-08:00

I spent the morning lazily sketching some fun things, despite the amount of boring assignments slowly piling up in front of me (or perhaps because of it).

I'm not sure why I've felt compelled to design book covers lately. Maybe it's because of the liberally vague subject matter, or the mixture of illustration and design, or just the idea of making "functional" art in the form of a neatly decorated little adventure to carry around.

also

Winter

2009-01-25T10:22:00.000-08:00

From this winter:

Some of those you've seen before, but I still wanted to officially post them.
Guess I drew more over break than I thought I had :)