if : immovable

Here's something I whipped up tonight for this week's Illustration Friday! It's been a while but I've been busy housesitting, vacationing, oh and also getting some long over-due self promotion mailing out of the way! It feels good to get some work done again, what do you think?

~Greg

Stare Off!

Hi Everyone,

In December of 2008 I posted an image that was the first of a set of Children's book illustrations. the problem was, I got kind of stuck after that, I didn't know which way to go with it. With getting married and all of the adjustments that and moving to a new place can bring in early 09 I didn't take much time to sit down to think it through either. I should note, this work is pro bono, it's a project I value and a project I want to do well. Fast forward a year, I sit down and start working on it again and this time make progress at last! I had worked on various illustrations for it through 09 but just had a difficult time making anything that worked. I think much of it revolved around the main female character, I was having difficulty designing a character that worked. Since December I have determined which illustrations still need to be made and that's a good feeling. I've been making progress, but with a full-time job and other projects on my plate as well, that progress comes slowly. But here is an image I finished recently for your viewing pleasure!



It's funny, I'm not really one who puts much stock in 'the muse'. I know that to be a good illustrator you've sometimes got to drum up the energy to make good illustrations even when you're not completely in the zone. But this book project has been special to me and the time to sit and mull over the project has been time well spent. I hope that the yield is worth the long wait!

I'd love to know what you think,

~Faux

if : ripple

So here's my Illustration Friday submission for the week. The theme was 'ripple' and the illustrations made can be purchased from the artists as an effort to raise money for the oil spill cleanup. The image is my take on the Japanese creation story, wherein Izanagi and Izanami formed the islands of Japan when water dripped off of their spear into the ocean. So perhaps it's a bit of an abstract connection to the oil spill, but even in a seemingly dead ocean of oil life still exists.

~Faux

Hand Lettering!

So I figured I'd throw up an image of a piece of a self-promotional mailer. I like it, what do you think?

~Faux

if : trail

So here's something a bit new, I haven't done something for Illo Friday for a while but this week I was going through my art as I was putting it into our new flat work drawers and noticed some old illos I did a few years ago. What do you think?

~Faux

Something to note, the A symbol is the sign they use to mark the applachian trail for those of you far from the eastern US!

an exercise in illustration

Hello all, two posts in two days, what a notion! I've made yet another image, shaped around the same concept that drove the illustration in my previous post seen here. This time I tried the illustration in the collage style which I've been doing off and on since 2007. For these illustrations I head to my collection of books, older than 100 years, for images, and then I repurpose them, cut them up, reassemble them, and altogether alter them so that they work as I'd like them to. The concept, once again, is an article about canning. I think some of the concept may be lost in the digital collage-styled image, however, I think it makes up for it with visual and textural interest. What do you, the readers think? Should I pour more effort into the cartoon or the collage style?

~Faux

Canned Summer

So here we are, in winter, and my wife and I are digging into our stash of wonderful stored foods. Sometimes there's nothing like a peach smoothie in the middle of the winter, to brighten your day! This illustration was self-initiated. I thought about the blogs I enjoy reading and imagined an article about the growing popularity of canning. I'm not sure I should really say more about it, as I feel that it's pretty self-explanatory. If you do have any questions just direct them my way, I'd be glad to answer them.

As I made it I had a brainwave, the result of said brainwave can be found here:

http://www.threadless.com/critique/61891/Canned_Summer

Currently it's up for shirt design critiquing on threadless, so if you have an opinion on it let me know!

~Faux

Test Prints!

So this week I have been working on some self promotional mailers. Today I did a test print with the blocks, I'm pleased. I pulled out the yellow as a test color, thinking I'd chose a better color scheme later but to be honest I really like this with the yellowy gray outline.

I'll throw a finished version online for you all to see when I'm finished!

~Faux