Puzzlemania by Peter Grosshauser

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Cliff

During the past year Petter Grosshauser created numerous illustrations for Puzzlemania Magazine – a creation of Highlights For Children. Each magazine contained chances to solve puzzles, navigate mazes, and find hidden pictures among many activities for young children. Peter created “hidden picture” illustrations where kids would look for hidden objects, items that should not be in the scene, etc. These are a few of the illustrations that appeared in the various issues. Click on the images to see the entire scenes.

New Digital Style by Larry Jones

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Cliff

Larry Jones has created a series of new illustrations that digitally show a nice clean design look. The art is built in Illustrator and then textured in Photoshop. Something to think about for your next project!

Media Bullpen Website by George Schill

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Cliff

George Schill’s assignment was for the Media Bullpen, the Center for Education Reform’s website which brings accountability to national education reporting and “scores” stories across the media. The site redesign was to have a baseball theme, and George was called upon to create a series of banners and spot art using education, baseball, and media metaphors. Here is a typical sheet of idea doodles sent to the client.

After approvals and working with their color palette, the final art was created in Photoshop. Here is a sampling of banners and spot art that is used throughout the site. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

Old Testament Mural by Peter Grosshauser

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Cliff

We were approached by the Central Lutheran Church of Minneapolis, MN concerning a very exciting mural project. Peter Grosshauser had illustrated a beautiful bible story book for young children for Augsburg Fortress Publishers and the church wanted a mural created in the same art style that would be exciting for children to view. The theme would be the Old Testament. The wall space for the mural would be 56 feet in length by roughly 8 feet high! We explained to the client that it would be impossible to paint the mural on site due to the sheer size, amount of time to complete, travel restrictions, cost, etc. Peter came up with a great idea of illustrating the mural digitally in three sections after approval of sketches.

Peter then sent the digital files to a supplier in California who printed the art on flexible canvas. The “rolled-up” canvas panels were shipped to our client and they mounted all three on frames and secured them to the wall. They were delighted with the end result – a great solution for the project! Enclosed is a picture of the mounted murals that was sent to us – not a great picture but at least you get an idea of the sheer size!

Digital Portraits by Garry Colby

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Cliff

In an earlier post I discussed how Garry Colby created an oil portrait of Donald Trump – a different approach from his normal digital style. Obviously, painting on canvas is time consuming. In the real world we are well aware that clients want artwork created quickly due to tight deadlines. So…back to portrait illustration created digitally!

The stylized portraits of Barak Obama and Sarah Palin started with a pencil sketch and then a comp in acrylic. Final rendering was completed in Photoshop.

Using another approach for the portrait of Ron Paul – Garry created a sepia of the b&w sketch and “toned” the paper. Final rendering again completed in Photoshop. The advantage of creating these illustrations digitally? As opposed to a traditional oil painting – all of these portraits can be accomplished in 1-3 days!

Garry Colby

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Cliff

Garry has produced numerous product illustration. logos, and character designs for various advertising agencies and an array of colorful illustrations for the educational publishing markets. From textbooks, to mazes, to puzzles, to book covers, his digital stye always has a fun, kid friendly look. His programs of choice are Illustrator and Photoshop.

John Walker

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Cliff

John creates artwork for advertising, editorial, and publishing clients using a variety of traditional and digital media. Completed assignments range from point of purchase displays, magazine ads, board games, children’s books, ebooks etc. Many of his projects involve painting people in a representative style, along with animals/dinosaur art using both a realistic and anthropomorphic approach. He paints regularly with traditional methods, mixed media/acrylic on board, but most illustration projects are painted digitally using Photoshop and Corel Painter.

Peter Grosshauser

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Cliff

Peter’s wild and humorous digital illustrations are created in Painter, Illustrator, and Photoshop. His area of expertise is the children’s market where he has illustrated numerous children’s books and products including extensive work in elementary textbooks. He has created games, mazes, doodle books for kids, comic strips, and web site art to name a few. Kids just love his art!!

Ron Magnes

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Cliff

Ron has been creating bold and vibrant digital illustrations for advertising, corporate, and editorial clients for many years. He excels at conceptual art and also provides illustrations for technical/info-graphics, logos, pop art, and animation. Many clients request his strong design services to take projects through the entire phase of design/concept/illustration to final production.

Lori Osiecki

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Cliff

Lori’s zany illustrations are created with scratchboard, then color added in Photoshop, and a digital file is the final result. Her work can be seen in all areas – advertising, corporate, children’s books, promotional materials, editorial, and animation. She also has her own production company featuring brand development for start-up companies – logos, character creation, marketing, web site design, and product design.