Indiana Jones

Watercolor and India Ink

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This is an illustration I did just for fun. I used watercolor and India ink on Crescent cold-pressed illustration board.

Indiana Jones is one of my favorite movie characters. In my opinion, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the best of the "Indy" movies. One of my favorite scenes is when Indy and Marion reunite in Marion's bar, in Nepal, having not seen each other for 10 years. The ensuing argument between them is one of the reasons I think the sceenplay written by Lawrence Kasdan is so excellent.

The Dragon Slayer Final

Watercolor on Crescent Cold Pressed Illustration Board

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I've finished  my watercolor illustration of The Dragon Slayer! The slayer is engaged in an epic struggle with a fiery serpent. He clearly has experience with this sort of thing; his armor is crafted from the hide of a previously dispatched foe (note the horns in his helmet, the dragon scales  on his various guards, the under-belly plates protecting his chest and back, and the dragon teeth dangling decoratively from the tassels of his armor). Even while the death grip closes in around him he does not give in to fear. He steadies his aim, waiting for the moment when his enemy will expose its one weak spot (the roof of its gaping mouth).

As the dragon prepares a sulfurous blast of flame it is already too late. The slayer's arrow is set to fly.

The dragon slayer can't win on his own. He needs his brave horse to carry him into the thick of  battle. Perhaps the slayer's worthy and courageous friend  is soon to be fitted for some handsome red armor.

The Dragon Slayer Sketch & Underpainting

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This is the original rough sketch for a piece I'm working on now. It involves characters from bedtime stories I've made up for my kids since they were little. I think this dragon is too cute to kill or be killed (he looks like he wants to play "fetch") so I made some refinements to him and to the Dragon Slayer for the underpainting below.

Now that's a face only a mother could love. This is the underpainting for the piece. I'm using watercolors on Crescent cold pressed illustration board. I'll probably throw in some colored pencil and maybe some pastels by the time I'm done.

I don't always do a full underpainting in this manner. But in this case I think it will help me create the atmosphere I imagine for the scene. The Dragon Slayer and his trusty horse are wrapped in a warm embrace (a VERY warm embrace) by their fire spewing foe who may have just opened his mouth one too many times.
The whole scene is shrouded in fire and poisonous fumes.

Is the Dragon Slayer about to be fried or will he deliver the death blow to his adversary?

"Horse in the Meadow"

 

Watercolor on Strathmore illustration board.

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I did this painting several years ago but I like it so I decided to post it. It expresses the idea of freedom; a horse standing in the middle of a wind-swept grassy meadow with no fences to keep him and no pressing deadlines (er, cowpokes) to stress him out.

Package Design

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Packaging

By package design, I don't mean the design of the physical construction of the packaging. Rather, I mean the design of the graphic elements on the packaging. I've had the pleasure to work on quite a few projects of this nature, including the above packaging for Legends edition of Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards. This packaging required 8 different color schemes, 3 of which you see here. It also required lots of illustration and photo composite work.

 

CD packaging can be a very fun challenge. I designed the packaging elements of this music CD for Northridge Church's collection of worship music titled Vertical Worship.

I've enjoyed having the opportunity to design quite a few themes for Perry's line of ice cream products. Panda Paws is their number 2 selling flavor (just behind vanilla). I designed the front panel of this ice cream package, directed the photo shoot, and illustrated the background in watercolor. Since ice cream melts under the hot lights of a photo shoot, a food stylist is hired to create something that looks like ice cream but doesn't melt. All of the food stylists I've worked with have their own unique recipes for fake ice cream...but I don't think any of it is edible.

Thankfully, Monkey Mania didn't require photo direction. Imagine trying to photo-direct three monkeys eating ice cream! I did design and execute the illustration (using Macromedia Freehand and Adobe PhotoShop).

 

I love chocolate, coffee AND ice cream so designing for this flavor was a pleasure. No illustration required for this one but there was a great deal of photo composite work. I believe there were 5 different photo elements to be combined here.

I won an award for the design of the packaging for Perry's line of novelty products. At the time I believe there were 9 different products in this line (now there are more).  

One of the greatest perks of working on retail packaging is that the grocery store or retail outlet becomes your art gallery! It is so fun to walk into the grocery store and see your work on their shelves. And at family gatherings, when someone breaks out the Panda Paws ice cream I get to hear my wife say for the one thousandth time "Hey, my husband designed that!" I never get tired of hearing her say it!

Logo Design

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This logo for Northridge Church is my latest design. The logo is designed around a compass theme, both because of the name Northridge and because of the structural organization of this church's programs. The compass points due north (or up toward the heavens). The color blue keeps with the nautical theme of the compass (the church also does baptisms in Lake Ontario) and also suggests the color of the sky and a heavenly focus.

Here are some of my other logo designs:




Not all designs get chosen. This logo design for one of the Democrat and Chronicle's internet sites was not selected as the final design, but I still like it.




Legends is a trading card company based in Rochester. I designed this logo for them back around 1995. They are still using it today. In the world of logo design, that's very good.




No, this Marty is not me. This Marty sells hunting supplies. He also wanted his dog in the logo! So, not only did I stylize this typeface, I also did what I consider to be a rather nice illustration of his dog.






The Black Pearl and Antonetta's are restaurants.




I designed this logo to have a stamped-on look. I don't think this company is still in business. Obviously, having a good logo alone doesn't ensure success. But it's better than having a bad logo.

I hope to discuss the development of my own logo in a future entry.

The Triumphal Entry

The Triumphal Entry
Watercolor
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I experimented a little with technique on this piece. I mixed egg yolk in with my watercolors and painted on a surface of gessoed Crescent cold pressed illustration board. This was a fun technique that had some interesting effects. It reminds me a little of acrylic glaze painting however and for control I think I prefer acrylics. If I try this technique again I would like to use true gesso (not the acrylic polymer that usually passes for gesso these days) or I may try just working right on the surface of the illustration board.

If anyone out there has any suggestions on this technique let me know via the comments link at the end of this entry.


I have always felt a little uncomfortable with illustrations of Christ that portray him with a specific likeness. By covering his face with the Hebrew prayer shawl (or tallit) I am attempting to avoid doing so myself.




You may notice that the colt looks more like a horse than a colt. That was intentional on my part. I am attempting to suggest that there was more going on in this scene than meets the eye. I am trying to cast a forward glance toward Revelation 19 where Christ is seen returning on a white horse.