From the Archives: UNICEF Halloween Card

I was digging in the root cellar and found this Halloween card design I did for UNICEF. The date on the file says 2002. As usual, I think the sketch looks better than the final.

Kringle's Tree Farm

I developed this from a left-over sketch from a previous job.
Below is the sketch and a close up so you can see the texture. Click it to see it up close.




























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Some Eco illustrations

My illustration rep, Lilla Rogers, gave us Lillastrators an assignment to produce some eco/green pieces. She included a story about Obama fixing the environment. So I illustrated that story, and did a more general one for global warming too.
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Jet Lag Illustration

I did this for a magazine called Endless Vacation
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Vote Early Poster

I was asked my my illustration rep, Lilla Rogers, to do a "Vote Early" poster.
Here is my submission. 21902

Hallmark Card Finalist

Link

Holiday Penguin

Click below to see the detail:



Here is a sketch

Santa

Click to see the close up of the texture:


The original sketch



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Shirt.woot Analytics

Shirt.woot.com Editor's Choice

I did a design for shirt.woot.com's derby theme: Motion awhile back. I didn't win, but I got an honorable mention. Then they had another derby with the honorable mentions from various themes, and I still didn't win. But apparently the editors at woot liked it enough to produce it.

The shirts are $10 the first day, and $15 the next. So get yours now! Click here

Some of my favorite comments from the forum on this shirt:

The 'cuteness' factor in most of these shirts is overwhelming, sugary, sticky.
Do you guys actually WEAR precious pink baby turtles???
How about some tees with testosterone? Grow a pair!

this style of illustration or maybe its the colors, something makes me quite uncomfortable

The best one:

Someone at Woot must have REALLY liked this shirt, considering it didn't even get 100 votes in its original derby and the double-take derby COMBINED...

Texting Pattern

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Cute Snowman

Click on pic below for close up on the texture 19331

DR Map: Final

I think this is the final. At least til I decide to revise it.
I was thinking how it could be in a magazine article about going from Santo Domingo to Santiago to Monte Cristi. So thats why those names are in red. 18994

DR map in process: pt 2

Still in the exploratory phase. But I'm liking the direction its going.
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DR map in process

I'm working on a map of the Dominican Republic to try my hand at some map illustration.*
I lived in the Dominican Republic for a over 2 years 1993-1995 in the Peace Corps.

I'm trying out a few different things. I especially want to do some hand lettering. I got some new brush pens from jetpens.com

Also, I'm trying to incorporate some fake halftoning too.


























I'm still working on some new lettering. Then I need to do some small illustrations for the various cities and regions.

*I used to work at a company called ESRI, that makes GIS software. I was a graphic designer there. But when my friends from high school asked me dad what kind of work I was doing, he said "John is making maps." So its been a running joke for over 10 years, where they ask me if I still am making maps.
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Shirt.woot.com Theme: Slogans

Here are a few designs from the Slogans week. Coffee is for Closers was rejected because there was a similar shirt out there. But not with the cool Dunkin Donuts font.

Shirt.woot.com Derby Summer Entry

If you have a woot login, vote for it here: http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=16376

Update: I ended up with 186 votes, 20th place. And I got me 3rd Honorable Mention from Woot: http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=4947
"Melt With You by redcoulter
Puts the "i" in "funniy"."
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Shirt.woot.com Derby Motherhood Entry

My second attempt for the Shirt.woot.com/derby Theme: Motherhood.

I know robots are big on Woot, and me and a friend were joking around about having a cat feeding a robot, and the image kind of stuck in my head.

Vote here if you have a woot account. or leave a comment on there:
http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=13946

Update:
I got Honorable Mention again.
quote: Meowbot 3000 by redcoulter
Who needs artificial intelligence when you've got artificial cuteness?
I ended up with 115 votes, 30th place.

I got a mention on Bestlosers.com as well:
quote: ..And Mine
There's too many already but have to at least mention RedCoulter's cute/weird "MeowBot 3000"

Woot Shirt Derby: Turtle Rage

Here is my first submission for the woot shirt derby theme: Motion
Vote for it here if you have every used woot.

So in the final I got 51 votes, 90th place. Which was pretty disheartening considering the crap that got more votes. But I ended up being in the Woot editors first every honorable mention category. Basically stuff they thought was good that lost.
http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryId=4597
Turtle Rage by redcoulter
Atomic Age awesomeness, from somebody who likes all the right children's books.

Urban Chicken

This was for an article in Denver's 5280 magazine, about raising chickens in the city.
Below is the illustration in the layout. 14747

From the Illustration Vault: Out Magazine

I found this in my archives. It was one of a few illustrations I did for Out Magazine (not that there's anything wrong with that...).

This was for a story about an old guy who was in the closet at his nursing home, and his younger boyfriend comes to visit, and the old guy is afraid that he'll be outed.

Target Gift Card Idea for Spring

A couple ideas for a Target Gift Card for Spring.

Harvard Business Review

For an article in Harvard Business Review,
that says people who were angry made better stock selling decisions.

For an article in Harvard Business Review,
about how many Chinese business people still use Mao's advice when considering business decisions.

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Illustration Friday: Superstition

When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic, Dominicans would talk about "La Cigüapa", which is kind of like a female boogie-man, but with backwards feet.
"cigüa" is a bird indigenous to the DR, and "guapa" usually means "pretty" in Spanish, but in Dominican spanish it means "angry." So it sort of comes out to "beautiful angry bird monster."
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From the Wikipedia entry:
A Ciguapa is a fictional creature originating from the Dominican Republic. They are legendary women that live in the high mountains in the Dominican Republic. Since they are nocturnal, they come out at night to look for food. An odd feature to these women is that their feet are backwards, so you can never quite tell where the footprints came from. In some cases, people believe that they bring death, and are warned not to look them in the eye^[1]

Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat 2

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Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat

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Illustration Friday: Grow Pt 2

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Showgirl Reel to Reell

Trying a little more texture photo-collage. Inspired by this guy.
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Illustration Friday: Grow

I've been thinking about doing "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" for some time. Perhaps, I'll do the whole set of 12. 2 Turtledoves is next.
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Welcome Print & Pattern visitors

One of my favorite blogs print & pattern featured me today. I originally emailed its creator, Bowie, about her rss feed. I've been using the Google Reader to consolidate my daily blog reading, but print & pattern didn't have an RSS feed. Bowie was nice enough to email back, that someone had been hijacking her content, so she shut down her rss feed.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment if you want to...

Blue Ornaments

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Some new card designs

I've really cranked up my texture exploration on these.
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Illustration Friday: Open