This was another rough illustration concept for a White House Ornament. It was done with a combination of traditional and digital illustration. Certain liberties were taken for the sake of creating an image that would work within a specific form. Decor was based upon a lot  of historic research. The fake mat framing was purely for presentation purposes. These type of roughs are enjoyable to work on. Even more so if and when they go to final. Even in digital illustration, the process can take quite a time. The ability to go tweak, move and adjust perpetually is one of the biggest advantages of working in the computer. 

United States Capitol Porcelain Bowl

This is a Revere Bowl that I worked on at Design Masters. It shows the four stages of the United States Capitol Building. This was pretty much a straight forward digital design. At the time, I did not have access to a 3D program so I used the built in 3D revolve capabilities of Illustrator and mapped art to the shape. It had it's limitations and hurdles but I was able to find a way to make it work for the conceptual rendering that is seen at the top. It gave me the ability to see and adjust how the art would look on the final bowl. The actual bowl can be purchased from the United States Historical Society. Additionally it was bonus that I noticed while binge watching the Netflix series House of Cards that the bowl I worked on was being used as a regular prop. Some of the scenes are posted below the conceptual rendering of the bowl.

The Getty Villa Acanthus Rosette Magnet

Here is another project I worked on at Design Masters. It was a sculpted magnet based on a ceiling rosette. The top image shows the packaging from the concept. It was not fully fleshed out at that point and during final art we moved in a slightly different direction while still keeping a similar feel. The magnets were carded so that they could hang on pegs.

George Washington's Fan Chair Ornament

This is one of the first packaging illustrations and packaging layouts I did for Design Masters. The ornament was a 24kt Gold Finish representation of George Washington's Fan Chair. This started out on vellum. For George and the chair I used ink. Coloring was all done in the computer. This was around the very early 2000s and I remember being amazed at construction of the ornament. At that point I had no knowledge of how to make one of these. Making these type of ornaments present their own set of challenges but really shine when done right.

Gateway Arch Painted Image

This is the LONGEST post I have done yet. This was a picture that I created for the Gateway Arch. This was all digital involving both Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The long image shows how the image started and evolved to the final image which is shown below the long image. At first I wanted to do something that looked like a travel poster. During that process I worked up another version that was received better. Soon I was working on versions where the angle of the arch changed, colors changed, positioning of elements changed. It was truly a collaborative process. In the end it was used across several products. 

Purchase of the products can be found at the JNPA giftshop. One of the products using the final image can be purchased here Arch Skyline Ornament. Other products can be found through their online gift shop shop.jnpa.com. Puchases made help provide educational programming, exhibits and site improvements to JNPA partner locations.

Steam Yacht Medea - Maritime Museum of San Diego

This was another part of a huge compilation of illustrations that our company generated. This illustration was of the Steam Yacht Medea along with the Berkeley that was on the previous post. This one was done in the same fashion and utilized some similar features and techniques to maintain the series.

More information on this boat can be found at Steam Yacht Medea. Again if you find yourself in San Diego stop by and check out the museum and giftshop. Maritime Museum of San Diego

Steam Ferry Berkeley - Maritime Museum of San Diego

This was a part of a huge compilation of illustrations that our company generated. This illustration of the Steam Ferry Boat Berkeley along with the Medea were digital illustrations that I created for the program. It started as a straight vector illustration. After the vector scene was done, I pulled it into photoshop to add filters and finishing touches. The inspiration for this was heavy on art deco and slight influences from vintage postcards. This whole series was very fun to work on especially this one and the Medea as they allowed me to do a full illustration from start to finish. The close up shot shows some of the detail and finishing effects that I used. The images were used on several products including as mugs and coasters.

More information on this boat can be found at Steam Ferry Boat Berkeley. **Update** It looks like product is on the website now. If you find yourself in San Diego stop by and check out the museum and giftshop. Maritime Museum of San Diego

White House · Warren Harding and Laddie Boy

This was a rough digital illustration concept for one of the ornament designs we submitted. Partially sketched in pieces, scanned in, and digitally finished. If it had been chosen it would have been worked on to completion. Still at this stage, it had begun to take a on a nice feeling and I was starting to map out how I was going to finalize it.

Colonial Williamsburg Lenticular Concept

This concept was for a Motion Lenticular project. I am going to put an animated gif since some people cannot see the video on their mobile devices. We ended up not using this version, but I chose to show it, as I felt it was pretty successful. The reason the top version was not used, was that the wrong group was shown. The official Fife and Drum Corps was replaced in the scene and we used that version for the final. I actually got to go down and take pictures of the Fife and Drum Corps in full dress rehearsal. This version is shown below the top version. Notice the difference in Costume and Movement. The official Fife and Drum Corps does not do the high leg lift. For those in animation this would be a cakewalk. Most of us here though were not animators and have developed a sort of animation-lite approach to making art for Lenticular items. One of the great things about working with a bunch of other talented people is being able to learn from them as well as use techniques and art they have created. In this case, I was able to grab a sequence of fireworks made by Steve Hannah. The rest was a combination of found imagery, digital retouching and some digital illustration. Our company has put out some awesome Lenticular products. Fun jobs to work on. Click on each image to see the animated version.
*NOTE* I just realized that in some cases mobile browsers are not supporting animated gifs. In that case if you would like to see them, after you click on the image you can then save it to your phone. Once opened in the gallery or image viewer it should animate.

Michael Haynes - Lewis and Clark Figurines for DMA

One of the things I enjoy doing sometimes is working with other artists on illustrations. Whether it be, doing under drawings, backgrounds or colorizing their artwork and vice versa. In the case of the the Lewis and Clark figurines that we did for DesignMasters, we worked with Michael Haynes to create a series of Lewis and Clark Anniversary. He is a notable historic artist. http://www.mhaynesart.com/Home.html. In this case, we hired him to do the initial drawings and also provide historical guidance for coloration and costuming. As I colorized his drawings, I sent them for his approval. The top image shows his front drawings. The middle image shows his drawings colorized by me digitally. It is also important to note that in some cases we shifted or eliminated items as needed in order to make sure that production of these figurines would be possible. All I am showing are the front views, but we had to show all four side views for sculpting reference. The bottom image is just a selection of closeups to show a little more detailing. Again, I want to stress that the initial figure drawings were not mine. I was the digital colorist and I in no way shape or form claim anything beyond that. As soon as I find some more sculpts or pictures of them, I will post the finished product.The products were sold in the Gateway Arch Giftshop as part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 200th Anniversary.

WH Concept Portico Painting

This was a painting that was done for a White House Ornament Packaging Option. It was not used and resides on my wall now. This was one of the first paintings that I did of the White House and also one of the first times I tried to paint entirely in Oils. Because of this I was sat out in the warehouse with the doors open. It was near the end of winter and wow was it cold and rainy those days I was working on it. I ended up pulling it into the computer to do some revisions as I ran out of surface to paint on and the picture needed to show more width wise. Additionally I learned a technique to add snow falling in photoshop. Great learning experience overall!

Martin Luther King Jr. Calendar Concept

This was a spec piece I did for a Black History Month calendar. Ultimately they chose other artists, but they were intrigued with the piece enough so to ask for more samples. This was pretty much just a typical pencil and acrylic piece. For awhile I was all about this extreme horizontal format. Just one of those phases I guess.

Grant Sketch For Bust Sculpture

Per Dave's Comment. . . Here is a drawing of Grant that I did recently for a sculpt that we were producing. Finding good reference for this guy was tough. I finally got a pretty good likeness. A photo of the final sculpt is below the drawing. For more information getting a bust you can visit our website Design Masters.