I. "The Smudge Gremlins"
These are a series of illustrations appearing in an October newsletter, for articles about various applications of a software package.
- Moses: for a slightly
tongue-in-cheek article on how the applications will free users to contemplate
the Meaning of Life.
- Juggler: how a personnel
tracking system has helped a college department juggle diverse tasks.
- TechAngel: how scanning
barcodes simplify inventory tracking. The author wrote, "Now close your
eyes and imagine that you could be magically transported to a different
world. In this world, you would float from room to room. With you would
be a small device about the size of a walkman. As you float by each piece
of equipment, you point the device at a barcode, squeeze a trigger, and
listen for the beep."
- TV Shepherd: how a
public broadcast station is keeping track of its scattered inventory.
- Wumpus: for an article
comparing the maddening preparation of budgets before the end of the fiscal
year with hunting the mythical Wumpus. The illustration also solved a
design problem of how to treat an unwieldy definition of "Wumpus," which
was a bit unrelated to the topic of the article.
II. A style I call "Stone Soul" because it looks like bas relief in stone to me.
Poster image for WANview, a software program that allows technical support staff to view a client's screen.
Editorial illustration for feature article on "Client/Server Architecture" in a two-color newsletter.
III. That Matissian Cut-Paper Look
Illustration for an article about saving processing time by bar coding gifts to the University.
For the cover of a Forbes magazine supplement on a PBS special about the theoretical decentralization of consumers, thanks to the internet. (Art direction: Dustan Shepard)
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Posters based on the Twelve Days of Christmas.
IV. "Borrowings:" I have to do something with that Art History degree...
After Dance II by Henri Matisse -- I call my rendition Dance of the Network. It was produced as an illustration for a newsletter article titled "May We Help You Implement a LAN?" and it is an homage to one of my all-time favorite artists.
This is after Edvard Munch's series of woodcuts and paintings variously titled The Cry and The Scream -- images that have caught the collective popular imagination for their relevance to our modern lifestyles. My work has been largely influenced by Munch's, though I like to think mine is a little more light-hearted. This piece illustrated an article describing the challenge (and subsequent solution) of producing a mailing and scheduling system for a two-day over-night student orientation program.
After Threatening Weather by René Magritte -- This was an illustration for a cover article titled "The Administrative Office Environment." When asked for approval for publication, the Director of the department commented, "When it comes to this University, nothing is too surreal."
V. A montage style
Page
spread
Web
page header
Editorial illustration for an article which refers to streamlining the high volume of small-dollar transactions -- a project which will affect how the University buys and pays for materials. The illustration spans the newsletter's centerspread (The Integrated Circuit, Jan/Feb 96). The article was also made available on the Web, and the illustration was reworked for the Web page header.
Printed as a duotone, this was the cover illustration for a local "alternative" paper The Optimist. The paper's banner overprinted black at the top, and the "what's inside" text dropped out of the dark "soil" at the bottom.
This was an editorial illustration for an article on "The Information Warehouse" that was "bonged" by the squeamish powers-that-be -- ok, so maybe it's just a little bit disgusting. I like it a lot though -- it refers to maps with "continents," as well as the best model of an Info Warehouse, the brain. (Yes, that's an x-ray of a brain; no, it's not a walnut.)
A cover illustration, printed as a duotone. This one appears on the fourth issue of AISS's newsletter The Integrated Circuit, which I redesigned.
VI. A spontaneous line-art style
A chorusline of blind golfers for the Annual Tin Cup Follies T-shirt.
An editorial illustration for an article on "The New Knowledge Worker". This was designed to run across the bottom of a 2-page spread so that the text columns fit to the illustration in a nice ragged rhythm.
An illustration for an advert for computer training to run in the student newspaper. (Click to see the advert.)
VII. A contemporary wood engraving look
An illustration for Illustration Friday, and available in a print-ready resolution.
The first thing I think of when I think of Christmas is my childhood and looking forward to opening presents. But I know my father was as eager for us to open the presents he'd bought for us as we were eager to open them.