Koh-i-noor Rapidograph pens are one of my favorite tools of choice. One of my styles of illustration is done with intended accuracy, and this tool does the trick. Danny Elfman from Oingo Boingo is pictured here.
I dabbled in fashion illustration using a variety of media including watercolor, marker, charcoal, and more. Here’s a fashion model in ink.
This is an illustration for the cover of a book for the CommA Club (my Commercial Art Club at the American Intercontinental University). It’s a lizard embryo and a planaria worm, known for its regenerative qualities. The club was newly formed by a small group of designers in my class; hence the theme of birth and regeneration.
I enjoy playing on words. This was an exercise in texture:
This was for a cover of a graduation commencement program. Typography was done by hand as well with a Rapidograph.
I must admit, I grew up in the 80s where heavy metal bands used common themes like black roses and crackling earth. This was airbrushed with a Paasche for a CD cover.
Guitarist gods with a lot of hair like Steve Vai inspired my practice to airbrush portraits. This piece was unfinished, but worth showing as a portrait capability. Also done with a Paasche.
Quick sketching with what I call messy media (conte crayons, chalk, charcoal, pastels) is a technique that I like because I could render a scene quickly and not feel compelled to agonize over detail. This is the central clock tower at a school I attended:
This was another “quickie.” It is the thumbnail rough I drew up for approval to proceed with a full-sized version of a painting for one of my clients. Sadly, I am unable to locate the photograph of the final painting.
Here’s a book cover comp cut by hand out of Letraset Pantone sheets... does anyone remember those? Typography was all done by hand as well, with Koh-i-Noor pens.
I illustrated and wrote a children’s book about a boy and a dog separated by geographic miles, but brought together to play happily in their shared dreams after the dream fairies cast a magical spell upon them.
A creative exercise with Rapidograph and marker:
First row
Left: Rapidograph ink
Center: Gouache with acrylic medium
Right: Gouache in wet technique, pen and ink
Second row
Left: Dr. Martin’s watercolor dyes
Center: Crowquill pen with Dr. Martin’s dye
Right: Gouache with salt
Third row
Left: Dr. Martin’s dye with bleach and crayon
Center: Marker
Right: Dr. Martin’s dye, pen and ink,
acrylic medium
acrylic medium
Work with frisket film, Dr. Martin inks, and a Paasche airbrush:
More frisket, airbrush, and inking only for the black areas, Prismacolor pencil for the smaller details like hair.
