Character Design / 2D Illustrations for Smart Phone App Game: HEROES OF TOMORROW

I served as Art Director and Character Designer for a smart phone video game app called Heroes of Tomorrow, a 'Street Fighter'-type video game for a smart phone app for U4YK ENTERTAINMENT.

This job was both very interesting, and incredibly mind-numbing.  The characters used in the game were to be reduced down to a very small size, so I was directed to keep the coloring as simple and as stark as possible.  Doing so made all the characters 'readable' in their final size within the game.

The mind-numbing part had to do with having to illustrate the sheer amount of individual characters without dying of tedium!  You try doing this amount of figures without becoming a total zombie!

I'm only showing you below, six of the nine sets total that were completed. 

I thought my brain was going to melt while pushing to make my deadline.  I think most of my brain is still left... I think. =P 

Penciled & inked, scanned & colored in Photoshop. 

Advertising Color Storyboards: POLITICAL ADS

On occasion, I have worked on storyboarding political campaign ads.  I remain neutral as to whom I work for, because I believe that everyone has their right to free speech, even when my friends on The Right or The Left frown at me for working on something they disagree with.

Posted here are samples of color storyboards I did from a number of political ads for several different campaigns.

Penciled & inked, then colored in Photoshop. 

Advertising Storyboards: TARGET

A long time ago, it was suggested that I produce storyboards for my portfolio that showcased the various ways I was able to deliver them because I apparently didn't have enough to show clients.  I had done all forms of black & white and color frames already, but I couldn't show them to clients because of the non-disclosure contracts I had signed.

Waiting for the commercials I worked on to air so I could finally show my work was preventing me from getting work!  What a catch-22.  Frustrating.

So I decided to produce a sample storyboard based upon a Target commercial that had already aired, breaking up the boards into sections:

- Black & White Pen & Ink

- Graytone Markers

- Color Markers

- Photoshop

I'm happy to say these boards did the trick.  I immediately got work from clients who could finally see that I had the capability to do whatever they needed.  These boards still hold up pretty well, so I thought I'd present them here.  They demonstrate that I can work in any kind of format the client might require.

Nowadays, I no longer work in markers.  I do all my graytones and color work in Photoshop. 

Character Design / Orthographic Turnarounds For 3D Modeling: THE BOOK OF ESTHER 3D-Animated Feature

Oh well, nice try...

Greengrass Studios contacted me one day, telling me they had a shot at becoming the primary production company for a 3D-animated feature film based upon The Book Of Esther.  They felt very good about their chances, so they hired me to produce a character design for the main character of Esther.

I had literally a day to come up with the character design, and then to produce a color presentation piece, which you see above.  The Greengrass guys were very pleased with what I did.  I offered to do a set of orthographic turnarounds to show what the 3D model would look like (see below), which I completed soon after.

As with many of these pitches, nothing happened.  In this case, apparently the people who owned the rights to this particular adaptation just couldn't ultimately come up with the capital to get the project off the ground.  We all waited and waited, and there were adjustments here and there to scheduling and budget in hopes of wedging all the elements into the right place at the right time, but to no avail.

These things happen.  You just have to do your best, and hope that all the stars and the moons align properly to allow the project to become real.  When it doesn't, you get a good night's sleep, and move on to the next 18 projects you're working toward.

If it had become a 'go' project, that would have taken me out of the freelance arena for at least six months.  That would have been nice.  The goal of any long-term freelancer is to land those bigger and more permanent jobs.

Hey, regular paychecks are a good thing!

Comic Book Full Pencil & Ink Art: HOWARD STERN'S FARTMAN

This is a story about how I lost a job that maybe I would or wouldn't have ever been offered, that I never even knew existed until after I saw it in print.  This is a story of how I missed a dream date with Howard Stern's Miss America.

I'd been listening to The Howard Stern Show since January of '86, after I had moved to New York City.  Love him or hate him, it's difficult not to be drawn in to Stern's brand of radio.  Especially since it was - and still is, I believe - the single most interesting radio show ever broadcast.  Stern's show is the ongoing, never-ending round-table of blunt adult talk & play, laugh-out loud humor, and quite simply the most consistently in-depth honest interviews that you will never get anywhere else in this world of canned talk shows.

In December 1993, Stern was planning a Pay Per View live special called Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve.  I had already made my PPV reservation, and was looking forward to enjoying the show while I ate pizza through the new year.  Howard was giving away tickets to the live show from time to time, and I would always try to win a pair.

One day I was about to fall asleep while listening to the show, when another opportunity to win came up again.  I remember dialing the phone half-heartedly, and I would always get busy signals, or the phone would ring until I would be immediately hung up on.  However this time, the phone rang, and I heard the most wonderful words: "Stern show.  Hold on, we'll put you on the air." 

Stern put me on air and told me I won the tickets!  Holy crap!

Before I attended the show with a friend, I wanted to do something fun and goofy.  I ended up drawing the cover you see above, and had the black & white version blown up to poster size, and pasted on a stiff foam core board.  I thought it would be fun to flash it around if the camera ever was pointed at me.

So there I was, at the theater in Newark, New Jersey with a friend, poster in hand.  I was excited to get seated, when one of Howard Stern's regular members of the so-called "Wack Pack", Melrose Larry Green, was raising a ruckus.  He is a frequent caller to the Stern show and is best known for screaming “Murderer” at the top of his lungs while OJ Simpson entered and exited the LA courthouse during his trial.  In person, Melrose Larry was just... creepy.  Seeing him there made me suddenly feel self-conscious about holding my poster, like I would be perceived as much of a disturbing wacko as he was.  

Right then a man walked up and introduced himself, and asked to see the poster I had drawn.  It was Don Buchwald, whom I knew was Howard Stern's agent.  Still feeling creeped out by Melrose Larry, I was very embarrassed to show Mr. Buchwald my Fartman comic book cover.  He liked what he saw and complimented my work, then I moved on from him with my friend telling me I should go talk to him about doing a Fartman comic book!  For some stupid reason, I didn't heed his suggestion.  I didn't have any confidence in myself.

In late 1995, Howard Stern's Miss America hit the bookstores.  I made sure to get a copy, and when I did, my jaw hit the floor.  There was a Fartman comic book printed within the pages of the book!  It was penciled & inked by fellow comic book illustrator (and now incredibly talented storyboard artist) Tom Morgan, who did a fine job drawing the comic book story.

But why wasn't that Fartman illustrator ME?!?  

All I could think of since then was, what if I had made a point of speaking with Don Buchwald about doing a Fartman comic book?  Would that have led to me being the artist on the comic book story instead of being in the position of envying Tom Morgan for doing it instead?  Tom is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and I was very happy he got to have fun drawing that story.  But could I have been the one to have the pleasure of drawing a comic book of the adventures of the amazing Fartman, for the even more amazing Howard Stern himself?

I will never know the answer to this, and this always drives me nuts when I reminisce about it. 

I will always believe that by not stepping up and speaking with Howard Stern's agent, I absolutely missed any chance to work on one of the most unique projects of all time.

Step up, boys and girls.  TAKE INITIATIVE!  You never know what opportunity you're missing if you don't.

Advertising Comps: WAL-MART / SAM'S CLUB

Sometimes a job will just physically hurt.  This is one of those jobs.

The client assigned me to illustrate 2 ad comps in color, one for Wal-Mart, the other for Sam's Club.  The deadline was tight, as they always are.  However, the Sam's Club comp not only needed an aisle with (what seemed to be) a thousand cases of soda, but every soda had to have a logo on it!

This made what was already a tight deadline into a very painful deadline, because I had to place every logo of all the soda cases individually, at a prolonged fast pace.  After the job was completed, my hand felt gnarled and painful, like it had locked itself into a claw from turbo-working the Wacom pen so much.  It was an extraordinary amount of detail to accomplish in a very short time.

But I'd do it again.  I'm a glutton for punishment that way. :)

Licensing Artwork: CARTOON BOARDROOM MEETING

I had worked for a while for a company called Promotional Partners Worldwide.  They produced promotional 'premiums', which are toys and other license-related objects or trinkets for fast-food companies and the like. 

PPW called one day, asking me to do an illustration for their company's own promotional materials, to showcase to their clients how their company would be able to handle every conceivable cartoon stylization that could be thrown at them to accomplish.  The only direction I was given was to cram as many various characters based upon current cartoons into the piece as I could.

Penciled and inked, then scanned and colored it in Photoshop. 

I don't get to do a whole lot of this kind of fun finished cartoon work.  I'd love to do more of this!