Healthy Food Fight Poster

Over the summer I was very pleased to work with a NY design firm on a really fun project. They had been picked to provide art and design for a nationwide cooking event; I was lucky enough to be chosen as the artist for the project!!! Even though this was a quick turnaround, everyone was really easy to work with, and I'm so happy to finally feature this artwork.

A special thanks to Cozette and Tybre for helping me out by being photo-shoot models!

Initial sketches (three poster-type images and logo treatments):

Revised sketches (the client requested the cooks look like backyard chefs as opposed to professionals. This was so obvious after they pointed it out, I literally slapped my forehead):

Final artwork (the color palette was used to fit the client's branding. I think it really made the artwork much better and I'm now trying more color substitutions for shadows):

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Philadelphia Magazine: The Bruppies

I was very lucky to get a call from Philadelphia for a 1/2 page illustration at the end of April. The article was about white-collar workers seeking out blue-collar jobs as the economy changes. This new workforce, called "bruppies" (blue-collar yuppies) is growing as more people either seek out labor jobs after being laid off or after just getting bored with cubicle life. In the article, several examples of people starting their own business as well as places to get training for such careers are discussed in great detail.

My initial sketches:

I favored sketch #1 as I felt it really "hit the nail on the head" (sorry for the pun.) Sketch one showed a business suit built from boards and nails. Sketch #2 is a man so dirty from working in white collar clothes that the dirt leaves an outline where his tie was. Sketch#3 is the weakest and shows a white-collar worker playing dress-up as a carpenter. And sketch#4 is the iconic figure taking control of his future by brandishing some huge tools.

Revised sketch: The AD decided to go with the final option as it was the idea he wanted to see sketch in our initial conversation. There was a request from upstairs that the figure be given a suit jacket to cover his vest. I really liked the vest version, but I was happy to oblige.

While working on the artwork, Jesse (the AD) called me and let me know that they now want to run the story as a feature with a spread and spot! How awesome! We had to alter the artwork to fit a 2-page spread so I lengthened the figure and he would now span onto the left page where text would be laid out.

For the spot artwork, the AD wanted something highlighting the education aspect of the article as it would accompany a blurb listing places to go for classes.

Accompanying spot sketches:

Final art:

Thanks to Jesse for making a regular job into a fantastic job!

Enjoy the Day,

Chris

SMASH Magazine: Footwork!

Featured in this post is some sport-based artwork for SMASH, a teen magazine published by Tennis. In a great turn of events, an AD I worked with at Cincinnati relocated to NYC and took a position at Tennis. Congrats to Dennis for making his big move to the Big Apple!

The article is an instructional section of the magazine that helps kids and teens improve their tennis game. This particular article addresses a player's footwork. To me, the main emphasis was on constant foot movement and small steps at a high volume to maintain control and get to the ball. Here are the submitted sketches:

Dennis liked the extreme perspective version, and I was more than happy to take it to finish! With this piece, I tried to open up my color palette a bit as I have been getting numerous requests for the red/gold or red/white limited color work. I am pretty happy with this piece, and I think it is exciting for both grown-ups and kids to view. The final art in context:

Enjoy the Day,

Chris

Sketchbook Excerpts Vol. 5

Here are some recent sketchbook pages done on a cheap craft paper. Its a small sketchbook I work in when I feel like my regular sketchbook work is getting stale or if I feel like I need to do some academic-type studies to keep my rear in gear.

As with the regular sketchbook, no eraser to make myself commit to a line. Just playing with working on a mid-tone surface, different pens and pencils, line vs shape, etc:

Enjoy the Day,

Chris