Late Night Logo Work

Just doing some late night illustrations. I've been trying to come up with a good monkey for my logo. The text version is for professional purposes, but the monkey drawing one would be for labelling.

If you so desire: http://www.zazzle.com/monkey4sale_mug-168540991026752477

Progress

I went to the Country Fair the other day, it was pretty amazing. The food was amazing, the people were amazing, it was 7 hours of nonstop walking amazing. Next weekend we'll go to hempfest, hopefully it too will be amazing.

You can check out some of the awesomeness at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cgrossmanrun/OregonCountryFair2009#

I didn't get too many photos. It was easier to keep my camera turned on, and take photos as they became available. This, of course, drained the battery much faster than normal. I'll have to keep it in mind for Hempfest.

I was really looking forward to the Country Fair, and enjoyed going, but sadly my wife wasn't there to enjoy it with me. She's off in Seattle listening to lectures about Vet stuff. She'll be with me next weekend for Hempfest though, so I should be able to properly enjoy myself.

The weekend after, we'll be celebrating our 4th anniversary (which fell on July 4th, but scheduling required it to be celebrated later) in Portland. We are going to do a Chocolate Walking tour of Downtown Portland. My parents were kind enough to gets us a room for a couple of nights at The Vintage Hotel. Good Food, Fun activities, and a nice hotel are good ways to spend an anniversary, I'd say.

July has turned out to be very festive. Between Jen's 24th Birthday, the Oregon Country Fair, Hempfest, and our Anniversary (both on the day of, and the coming up), I haven't had a lot of time to get much work done. I've been plugging away at the Pigeon stuff. I'm still not done with the one page. As you can see above, there have been some improvements, however. I've been messing around with some other projects here and there, but nothing amazing. Illustrator has become a very useful tool.

There isn't any news with the book. At this point I don't think it has a future. We'll try to put some on shelves when we go to Portland, but I don't expect any sales. I don't know what is next for independant projects. I will keep you informed, as I do.

Woot

I have a new submission at Woot (http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=33490) go there and vote (you can only vote if you have purchased from them in the past).

June 30th time waster

Up top is the original image, as found on the internets.

Below is my Illustrator version.

As promised...

I promised that I would show you my progress on the Pigeon illustrations. The red outline here is just a template for putting in a fireplace later. I'll also be adding something to the frame on the wall, I'm not sure what.

There will be a table in the middle, with the pigeon enjoying either a cup of cocoa, or some pastries; I'm not sure which yet. I also plan on using a circular border, perhaps feathering the edges. It's still a pretty young project, so it has a lot that could change over the days it takes me to complete it.

Vector work

I've been messing about with some found images. Trying to get the hang of Adobe Illustrator CS3. One of these days I'll have to pick up a copy of "Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book," so I can figure out the program by more than trial and error alone. If you want to get me the book... it's available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Illustrator-Classroom-Book-CD-ROM/dp/0321492005/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1Y4YT9V577HFD&colid=2N08VD5FTX4RK

No pressure.

I found this image amongst the interwebs, and started tracing it out in Illustrator. Working on coloring, and human form. I think the use of negative space looks much better than a filled in version. I can see the image without all the extra details, hopefully you have the same experience.

Percy and the Pigeon is coming along. I worked out a background for the scene where the Pigeon is enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. It took me about two hours to get to where it is now, so it should probably take me 6-8 to complete. I'll post a picture of my progress once I've added the fireplace.

I'll try not to leave you hanging all summer. I don't tend to get any work done when Jen is home. I want to spend my time hanging out with her, instead of working. We went to Chip Ross park today and got some nice shots of the valley. Yesterday we went out to Finley and got some pictures of some beavers, and the fabled river seal... I mean, an otter. When I'm done writing here, I'll upload the photos to Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/cgrossmanrun).

Percy the Pigeon

I'm sure that my parents thought I wasn't actually working on anything for this, but Hah! I showed you... This is a possible cover/title page illustration. I am also thinking that I could do something different with the title location.

I drew up a few ideas on the whiteboard, while I was waiting for Simone to be done with her checkup too. I have some ideas for the first illustration, as well as when the pigeon is eating cheerios, and drinking hot chocolate. It was a long wait. Luckly they have a really high quality dry erase board.

I'm still trying to figure out how I will do the mailperson illustration. I don't know if I want to aim for realism, or cartoony. I just don't want it to look amateurish.