More Commercial Art Projects

This holiday season has not been the super productive time that I had hoped. But then again, this is my vacation and other things need to get done.

I thought that I would post some more commercial art projects. This was the final project of the year and would actually be put together at the beginning of the second year class (which I did not take). Therefore I never finished this project which is a shame. I had seen what the final project looked liked from other students, and it is much cooler than these pieces would indicate.

So, the concept: make an abstract cover that was suggestive of sea shells by using free-hand line work to form the illusion of peaks and valleys. This was actually much tougher than it looks. It took me a long time to get the hang of giving these lines depth and if it was not for the help of another student in class, I might never have finished (I heard through the grapevine that the student who helped me has gone on to a very productive career in art, and even worked on the first Shrek movie).

Sea Shell Pamphlet cover 18x24 

Sea Shell Cover (detail) 

Hand Lettering (3 inches tall) 

Illustrations and Lettering

One of the neater projects in my high school commericial art class was doing a page from a children's book. We were supposed to choose a children's book (I chose one written by a friend of my mother). After reading the book, we were to pick out eight symbols/characters from the book and make a single symbolic illustration that would fit into a 2-inch by 2-inch square. Next, using calligraphy, we were to hand letter the first couple of paragraphs. The illustration is not one of my favorites, but I was quite satisfied with the lettering.

To make extra money in high school and during undergrad, I would do all sorts of hand lettering for people (i.e. wedding invitations, seating cards etc. . .). Now with computers, there really is not much cause for hand lettering.

Children's Book page 

Children's Book page (detail) 

Fashion Figure Ad

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have unearthed my old high school portfolio. My high school had an intense commercial art program that did a great job of placing students at the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design or FIT. The curriculum was tough, but it stretched me as an artist. Although I chose not to go to a NYC art school, opting instead to go to a regular university, I still remember these classes. Sometimes I wish I had become an artist or pursued my dream of being a cartoonist, but I did not want to live the cliché of a “starving artist” (wish someone would have informed about the cliché of a “starving graduate student”).

Before computers and their wonderful font programs, commercial artist had to do much of their lettering by hand, especially for ad layouts. The letters for my ad assignment were 3 inches tall and are shot down (forgot the name of the machine) to size. I hated hand letter. If you look closely, you can see the Dr. Martin’s Bleedbroof White, which I became quite proficient with over the years. Incidentally, I think the spilt ink in the corner lends the final personal touch.

The fashion figure was painted entirely with a brush on 18-24 inch cold press paper. Of all my work in high school, I am most proud of this figure. I had never before used a brush to draw. The brush allows for incredible control in line thickness. Plus it is really cool. And yes, the figure does have a disproportionally long torso because this is the way they are supposed to look.

The final layout, in my opinion, was quite dynamic. I think this was the highest grade I ever attained in the commercial art class, probably a B or B+ (obviously, I never earned an A).

Hand Lettering (3 inches tall) 

Fashion Figure 18x24 

The Final Ad 18x24 

From the Mind of a 14 year old boy

Back in high school I took every art class available because all I wanted to be was a cartoonist. In one of my drawing or design classes we were asked to design a new lettering style. This was back in the mid-80's before computers and font packs, so much of professional lettering was still done by hand (more samples of this later). Me being the huge comic book geek that I was, I did something decidedly different. Drawing inspiration from the ninjas and Electra in Frank Miller's run on Daredevil, I designed "The Ninja Alphabet" or "Ninjalphabet" for short. I alternated between the black and white ninjas and tried to incorporate every weapon that I could remember. My favorites are the ones where the ninjas are injuring themselves (E, P, R) and I especially like Q and W, where the two ninjas are just hanging out. It was probably one of the more fun things that I ever got to do in school. I got to screw around and get an A, not too shabby.

More fun stuff from high school coming soon.

The NIJALPHABET 

From the Archives

Those who braved the old website should already be familiar with my old pencil sketches and my desire to move everything from there to here. This use of heavy cross-hatch was my favorite style (compared to the minimalist style I am currently using). And for the longest while, the only real medium that I used was pencil, mostly the trusty ol' number 2 pencil (not just for taking scan trons) but sometimes I would use HB, 2H, 4H, 2B and 4B.

I just found my old portfolio locked in storage. I always wanted to digitize them, but at the time (late 80's), there were only very expensive options. Plus, they are far to big to scan now. The digital camera should work just fine. Look for them early next week.

Woman with nice hair
6x9, pencil on paper 

Indy
6x9, pencil on paper 

Girl with scarf
6x9, pencil on paper 

Not feeling the love. . .

Hmmm. . .Not feeling the love with this picture. It looks more like something you'd see in Veiwtiful Joe than what I was imagining. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I had other hopes for this picture. Part of my issues, I guess, is that I was working with a limited palette of colors. I had planned on buying a bigger set of watercolor pencils, now my enthusiams is not as strong (but they really aren't that expensive, so I still might). I have not yet abandoned this technique just yet, but I am getting close.

So, what does everyone think about this multi-media technique?

Summer by the Tree
9x12, watercolor pencils with ink and pastel on paper