I’m sort of taking this week off from the “Sketch o’the Week” after spending quite a bit more time than usual on that series of ink wash sketches over the last two plus months. This week’s sketch is actually the rough sketch for a small project. It’s a trading card that is part of a series being used in an ad campaign for a company. Once the campaign is launched I’ll post the finished art here, and tell you about the project and the rarefied company I am keeping in doing one of these cards… some of the artists they have doing art for this series are legends.
I’ve been advertising on and off in Serbin Communication’s Directory of Illustration for about 15 years now, and while the results aren’t exactly staggering I usually get enough new jobs from my ad to pay for it. The real value of it comes from not picking up new jobs per se but new clients from whom I get ongoing work. I still believe the best way to market yourself as a freelancer is a combination of an internet presence, direct mailing and ads like this that get distributed to tens of thousands of buyers of illustration.
The toughest part for me is always putting the page together and finding work that shows a range of subject matter and techniques. This one runs the gamut from my line and color style (Brett Farve illo originally for the Minneapolis Star Tribune) to my new colored line style (guys fighting and guy eating hot wings for breakfast, both for Penthouse) my digital painting style (the Gates vs. Crowley/ Obama referee image done for MAD), a straight up cartoon (Piranha done for the Minnesota Twins) and just for fun I tossed in several of my LOST ink-wash caricatures… I admit did a little digital touching up on some of them as the scans were a bit washed out and some of the detail was being lost (pun intended).
I received this link courtousey of fellow caricature illustrator Patrick LaMontagne‘s blog. The funniest thing about this video, which depicts “real world” equivalents to some all too typical examples of client/creative freelancer interactions, is that it’s basically spot on with some of the things clients occasionally try to pull.
Fortunately for me I have a lot of terrific clients that treat me as professionally as I treat them. I’d be lying, however, if I said some of the things in this video do not remind me of a few past clients.
Here’s another of those oddball advertising jobs that come along, you do them and get paid for them, but they never get produced or used in the way intended.
This project was done a few years ago for an ad agency. They wanted a “superhero” team designed in a style somewhat reminiscent of the Bruce Timm animated look for some ad campaign pitch to Canon, the photocopy/consumer electronics company. I got the job via referral from a fellow illustrator.
I needed to design 5 heroes, two of which were a hero/sidekick combo. I honestly don’t remember the exact details but the leader of the group was “Golden Eagle” and I think he was supposed to represent some new kind of technology or feature set being introduced. The others were “Canon Man”, “Digital Diva” and “Captain Connectivity (and sidekick)”. I did a few simple roughs with some goofy ideas noted:
Uhhh… legs too short on this one…
They approved “Canon Man” and “Captain Connectivity” right away, but we needed to work on the other two. Apparently someone in the office had a problem with a “double D” plastered across the large breasts of the lady superhero… who knew?? Also, and more bizarrely, they wanted me to give “Golden Eagle” the actual HEAD of an eagle. The client is always right!…
Funny, they decided the eagle’s head was too weird (REALLY?!?). Also even one “D” was too much on Digital Diva’s chest:
Those got the nod, and I did the whole group in a pose together in color for the “pitch”:
Click for a closer look…
I assume since I never heard from the client again after getting my paycheck for this coneptual work that the idea was not accepted and the ad campaign not developed. This could have been one of several different ideas that get pitched to the ad client, you know, like Darren Stevens used to have to do on Bewitched all the time with Larry Tate rolling his eyes in the background… I think I may have just dated myself.
Anyway it was fun while it lasted. You have to love getting paid to draw goofy superheroes.
Still unbelievably swamped with work and deadlines…. I’ve got several jobs “in the can” as they say (meaning done) and several more with deadlines either creeping up, looming or trying to kick my ass right now. I just finished this one the other day for the workplace poster company and can share it right away as the client doesn’t mind me doing so:
Click for a closer look…
It may look like I cheated and used a photo background, but I actually cheated and used the fully painted background I did for a piece I did for MAD a few years ago called “Rejected Characters from Pixar’s CARS“. I really dislike the use of photo images within a cartoon illustration like this… it creates a disjointed and disconnected feel. Even more painterly stuff looks a little out of place when there are no lines to bind it in. In this case though it isn’t working too badly and the subdued color and minimal contrast in values reads as “atmospheric perspective”… I hope. I painted the rest in about 3 hours to make the deadline.
Monday I will be able to post the illustration I did for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as it will be in the paper on Sunday as the cover of a special pull out section on the baseball opener. The other jobs I’ve been sweating will have to wait for varying lengths of time before I can post them.
The latest issue of MAD (and presumably several DC comic books this month as well) has a special advertising insert similar to the one done several months ago for Ball Park Franks. The concept is the same… kind of a mini MAD with “articles” pertaining to the ad subject. Unlike the Ball Park ad, this one does not advertise a product as much as a group of people… NYC sketch comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’ Know“.
The “WKUK” had a sketch comedy television show on the FUSE Network in 2007, and has moved to the Independent Film Channel for season two. IFC is uncensored so, unlike on FUSE, their sketches air intact and unedited. Their material can be very adult and racy, so no doubt they and their fans are glad of the change.
The ads are an interesting study in the differences between comic art and live action television. Our assignments were to illustrate one of the WKUK’s most popular skits. That involved the editors working out a scaled down script, and we illustrators drawing it out in MAD form. What I found most interesting was how the comedy of a live skit could be transfered to the comic page, and what needed to be considered to make it work best.
Here is a YouTube clip of the skit I illustrated, called “Sexy Fawn”. It’s the FUSE version, so the language has been bleeped out, but I don’t know what they bother since they leave in the first sound of each word and it’s totally obvious what they are saying. Warning- the skit is more than a little racy and inappropriate for under 18 or those with a low tolerance for blue humor.
Now here are some panels from my MAD version-
The MAD version was ‘cleaned up’ considerably, replacing words like “sex” with “mate” and of course eliminating the profanity. There was no getting around the concept, though. The ridiculous “deer” outfit, complete with slutty clear pumps, is the funniest thing about this sketch, so I really made sure it was clearly a bad deer suit. I also tried to capture the odd movements the “deer” was making.
All in all a very different project with some unique challenges.
Kind of quiet on the drawing board right now, after a crazy December. Once that MAD job was in the can a week or so ago I have just a few smaller jobs with no crazy deadlines in sight. Here are some things I’ve got going that I can share:
Advertising Character- The client wanted a simple, small spot of an adult male with a “Home Alone” kind of expression. Very quick job. Pencil sketch and final after some revisions to tone it down a little and change the hair, etc…
Sherlock Holmes Illustration- This is going to be used by the same folks I did the audiobook art for a different project.
Workplace poster sketch-Another poster illustration, at the rough stage right now.
Final Law Museum Art- Wow, this was the most drawn out job I ever worked on. I first blogged about it back in July…2006!! These comic book style pages will eventually be part of an exhibit in a museum planned by a certain famous consumer advocate and former presidential candidate highlighting famous cases in consumer and personal rights law.
These will be 6 feet high, with text and artifacts from the cases they portray embedded and surrounding each display. I am one of a dozen comic book style artists that are working on the project. This museum is supposed to be opening in Connecticut somewhere, but apparently it’s been in the works for a decade.
Things I’m also working on but can’t share yet…
Movie Project- This is just about to heat up. I am doing a series of illustrations that will be partially animated and used in the opening credits as well as several scenes in this live action film. I can’t share more about it yet. It will be a lot of work but it should be fun.
Personal Commission- Hope to share this with you next week, along with a long story and apology.
Ad Job- Series of illustrations for a west coast company for an ad campaign. This one is also a long time between feedback and revisions, but nothing will ever top the law museum job in that category!
Retail Product Design- I’m working with a resin sculpture manufacturer on a series of sculpted, cartoon character pens that should be a lot of fun.
Sounds like a lot but not really. No deadlines and no jobs for MAD makes it a laid back drawing board. I have several projects from the last two months that should be published soon, and then we’ll have more “On The Drawing Board” goodies to look at…
Most of the time the way freelancing works, at least with illustration, is that you get a call or e-mail from a client with you in mind for a particular project. They describe what it is they are looking for, and most of the time name a dollar amount as their budget on the job. Then you either accept the job, or you don’t.
It isn’t always that way, however. There are three main scenarios where a “job” comes in that isn’t really a job but is a “potential job”… you may or may not end up with any work out of it. The first involves a client not revealing a set budget, but inquiring how much you would charge and setting you in competition with other illustrators based on your fee. The second also involves competition, but of the art variety. The client requests to see your portfolio or further samples of your work, and compares it to other portfolios to try and decide who would artistically be best for a given job. The third surfaces mostly in advertising jobs where you are being considered by an ad agency to work on a third party’s ad campaign. Your work is part of one of several “pitches” the ad agency makes to one to their clients, and you getting the gig is dependent on that advertiser deciding on the campaign involving your work over other choices. Any of those scenarios might result in your not getting a job, and that’s always a little depressing. Especially if it’s a job that would have been particularly fun and/or high profile.
Last week I posted the final artwork for an ad job I did for Hardee’s Restaurants that was supposed to be used in full page ads in Rolling Stone and other magazines, but ended up not being used at all due to ad budget cuts and instead was used for some internal promotion.
That may seem outrageous but that is what sometimes happens in the advertising business. Companies often just burn up money producing images and designs for ad campaigns that never get off the ground. I’ll get paid full rates (and advertising generally pays a lot better than editorial) to do finished art that is only used as part of a pitch to a client… one of several different ideas to advertise the client’s products. If the one I worked on is not chosen, then it doesn’t see the light of day. Even though I get paid in full for the job, it’s sometimes a little disappointing not to see the work in use.
This is a job from a few years ago that illustrates that point. The end client was Taco Bell, and the concept was to create a large display image for a new kid’s meal toy concept called “Cleat Peepers”. These were small, plastic baseballs about the size of large marbles that were fused together like two pool balls touching, and then were affixed to a clip that would wrap underneath the shoelaces of a pair of tennis shoes or baseball cleats. They looked like eyeballs on the tops of your sneakers. One pair lit up along the “laces” of the balls, one had pupils that googled around weirdly, one squirted water (??)… can’t remember what the fourth one did. Anyway the client wanted a fun, cartoony sort of illustration that would be loaded with text and used in those standing displays with the real toys affixed and displayed somewhere on the image.
After some roughs it was decided we would use baseball cards as the placeholders for the display toys, and anamorphic cleats with the “eyeball” type cleat peepers on them in a baseball stadium. They wanted simple, colorful and a little goofy. Here are the resulting roughs:
This was more of a “kid as the player” approach
This was the pro player version with the full stadium, uniform, etc.
They liked the pro version. The old fashioned baseball graphic element at the bottom was axed and we went ahead to final art. This was very big (18″ x 21″). I did the inks and then colored in layers:
I did the “cards” seperately and dropped them in on another layer, for the final art:
Click image for a closer look
Text and other graphics where to be added by their art department. They were very pleased with the peice. They sure put me through a lot of revisions on the pencils and color (sorry I didn’t save all those steps), but that is another thing about advertising… they pay very well but expect even the most minute changes to be made no matter the stage.
As it turns out this never was used. I believe they test marketed the toys in certain areas and kids didn’t like them, so they dumped the project. I spent all summer eating Chalupas every day for lunch looking to see some of my artwork in Taco Bell, and all I got was an extra ten pounds around my midsection. Again, I was paid well and promptly by the client, but it was disappointing not to see the piece be used… it would have been cool to think how many people would have seen that artwork in all the Taco Bells all over the US.
As usual several projects going right now including another MAD job, a poster job, an ad job for a car storage company, another ad job for a mortgage company and a few personal projects.
Another job from last month is finally hitting the stands and I can share the art and process with you. This one was odd as I had to do the final artwork while on the road in Orlando, so I ended up at my good friend illustrator and caricaturist Keelan Parham‘s studio and usurped his Cintiq and computer for an entire Sunday while The Lovely Anna and my kids went to the Magic Kingdom with Keelan’s wife Barbie and their daughter Brady. Only missed one day of vacation…
This job was for Hardee’s restaurants, and was art for an ad promotion for their newest sandwich offering… the “Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger”. It is a giant hamburger topped with cheesesteak fixings on one bun… not for a light lunch. The ad was supposed to be like a MAD “Fold-In” concept… something I’ve seen other companies like Dodge do in the past so I knew it was not unprecedented. The thing that concerned me was that the Hardee’s people might want me to copy Al Jaffee‘s style of artwork, which I would absolutely refuse to do. When I raised the issue with them, they said they wanted me to draw like me, and just to design the layout in a way that the folded version showed the results they wanted. Freed from the worry of having to ape another artist’s style, I accepted the job.
Let me tell you, I did not think it possible to have more respect than I already had for Al Jaffee but I was mistaken. It’s a real puzzle having to design and execute a single illustration so that is shows a different scene when folded properly… especially when the idea is to keep the final results hidden until the folding happens. I’m not sure I was very successful at the surprise ending part, as what I needed to illustrate was pretty hard to disguise, but I had my try at it.
Here’s the initial rough-
The way it worked best was to do a very rough sketch of the basic full scene, then to draw the two halves in their folded position first. Then using an exacto I cut the folded image along the fold and pasted them to a fresh sheet of paper with the appropriate distance between. Then I just started drawing the image in between, changing the outsides as needed without messing with the important parts.
I did not ink this one, as a softer feel is crucial to getting it to work. You need to be able to make the viewer think something one object when it is also part of something else. Hard lines make that difficult. So, I brought the scan with my to Keelan’s, loaded it up on his computer and commenced a’paintin’. It took me about 12 hours to get it finished. Here’s what the final looks like open:
Click for a closer look…
And folded in:
This ad should be in copies of Rolling Stone, Maxim and other magazines* where the main demographic includes meat-eating men. These kinds of ads are purchased regionally, so unless you have Hardee’s restaurants in your area likely you won’t see the ad. You also won’t be able to purchase a Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger…
Finally, thanks to my pal Keelan for putting up with me at his place… and Barbie too, who came home to find out I don’t put the toilet seat down after I use the bathroom (THE HORROR!!!!).
* EDIT: I just got an e-mail this morning from the AD on the project saying due to scaled back ad budgets they did not run this piece in print but instead used it for an internal incentive program. That’s a bummer but also common in advertising. C’est la vie.
