Harry and the Potters Album Cover

One of my illustration assignments at Pratt was to draw an imaginary album cover for a band.  I chose Harry and the Potters, because I had just found out about them a year or two before and was kind of obsessed with them at the time.  I sent this image to Harry and the Potters, and although it was never used for an album cover, they have used it a few times on flyers or things like that.

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Bob Boehler Portrait

Back in 2005 my friend Bob hired me to draw his portrait.  If memory serves, he super-imposed a red "NO" symbol over it (like a "NO SMOKING" sign) and put it on a T-Shirt.  I can't remember exactly why he needed a "NO BOB" shirt...  Anyway, it was fun to draw!

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Old Website Backgrounds

For the final project of my Professional Practices class at Pratt I built the first version of this illustration website.  Version 1.0 had one background illustration for each of the four sections, which were split up my medium: Digital, Acrylic, Watercolor and Pen & Ink.  Below you can see those images (click on any of them to make them bigger):

 

I also made this background for the initial splash page.  It was also used on the back of my business card for years.  I thought the image of a rooster, getting up at the crack of dawn to greet the day was a good representation of my work ethic and attitude.

The site was later updated to have just one portfolio section, and then eventually it morphed into its current illustration blog format.  I wonder what it'll look like next!

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Evil Dead: The Musical Poster

This was another illustration assignment from my Pratt days.  If memory serves, we were supposed to select one of the plays that was currently running in New York and make a poster for it.  I chose Evil Dead: The Musical because I thought it would provide some interesting imagery.  Ironically, I have never seen any of the Evil Dead movies (or the play) because I can't handle horror movies.

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Beg Yr Pardon Poster

Back in 2006 I was asked to illustrate a poster for the Beg Yr Pardon concert series in New York City. It was a lot of fun to try and get all of this information onto a single sheet of 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.  Hand lettering all the way!

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Self-Promotional Mailer

My last semester at Pratt we had a Professional Practices class which was supposed to prepare us for working out in the real world.  One of our assignments was to make a self-promotional mailer to send out to clients.  I decided to turn mine into a little picture book that explored a lot of different cool locations.

This was a lot of fun to draw, but ironically it was super expensive to print (full color!) so I never mailed it out to anyone.  Here it is in it's entirety; click on any image to see it bigger.

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Air Guitar

Back in 2006 my buddy Aaron Renier gave me one of the most amazing birthday gifts I have ever received: an original drawing by Carson Ellis (who is one of my favorite illustrators).  This was very cool of Aaron, because he had had to trade Carson one of his original drawings to get the piece in question, but it was also very cool of Carson, because she had no idea who I was.  

I decided to send her a little painting as a thank-you present:

I always like this idea of playing a guitar in a thought bubble as an "air guitar."  Anyway, you can see that my watercolors have come a long way since 2006!

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.

Phase 7 Cover

Okay, let's jump back into our time machine to take a look at some of my older illustrations that were never posted on this site, but used to be in my Flickr account.

Last week I posted the book cover for my most recent collection of Phase Seven Comics, so I thought this week I would post the book cover of my first collection of Phase Seven Comics.  It was called, appropriately enough, Phase 7 #001-#004.  Click on the image below to see a larger version of the cover.

The idea on this one was to mashup as many elements from the first four issues of Phase 7 as I possibly could.  This was a lot of fun.  You can still order this book from Lulu.com, Amazon.com or from your local bookstore.  You can also order it as an eBook.

B-Sides Cover

While we are still looking at some of my recent work, I thought I would show a book cover that I drew this year for the most recent collection of my comics, which is called B-Sides: Phase 7 #012-#016.  

The idea here is that this book collects five "B-Side" issues of Phase 7 that I released while I was working on my first graphic novel Basewood.  So the front cover shows me slaving away at Basewood, while the back cover has a visual element or two from each of the issues.  Click on the image below to see it bigger.

I wanted the whole back cover to be very muted and dark, but unfortunately there are very strict rules for print on demand distribution which specify that the ISBN number must be printed black on white.  Thus I added the additional "spotlight" on the back cover, which I'm not sure makes total sense, but it gets the job done.

This book is available through Lulu.com or on Amazon.com or you can ask your local bookshop to order a copy!

Next week we'll take a look at some more of my old Flickr illustrations that were never posted on this site.

Bravest Warriors Issue 12 Cover!

Okay, I hope everyone enjoyed revisiting those Animal Alphabet paintings and had a great Fourth of July weekend.  I thought we could take a short break to look at a few NEW illustrations, before we dive back into reposting some of my older work that used to be up on Flickr.

A few weeks ago Comics Alliance released the covers for Bravest Warriors issue 12.   I drew one of them, with the gang zipping around on some hoverboards.  This was super fun to draw!

I left space (literally!) at the top of the image for the title, but I guess it's going to run without it, so this is how it'll look.  Keep an eye out for it in your local comic book shop! 

Alec's Animal Alphabet: Zebra

This painting is from Alec's Animal Alphabet which is still available both as a physical and electronic book over on Lulu.com

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work. 

Alec's Animal Alphabet: Yak

This painting is from Alec's Animal Alphabet which is still available both as a physical and electronic book over on Lulu.com

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.  I will be posting one animal per day until I get them all back online!

Alec's Animal Alphabet: Xenops

This painting is from Alec's Animal Alphabet which is still available both as a physical and electronic book over on Lulu.com

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.  I will be posting one animal per day until I get them all back online!

Alec's Animal Alphabet: Wolf

This painting is from Alec's Animal Alphabet which is still available both as a physical and electronic book over on Lulu.com

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.  I will be posting one animal per day until I get them all back online!

Alec's Animal Alphabet: Vulture

This painting is from Alec's Animal Alphabet which is still available both as a physical and electronic book over on Lulu.com

I am posting this old work to get it back online after I stopped using Flickr to display my illustration work.  I will be posting one animal per day until I get them all back online!