Mercury is in the Toilet

I got to do another illustration for The Portland Mercury this week! The article is about new bathroom construction in public parks so a toilet in the park seemed the best way to go. Black and white for the printed version and color for the internet.



I was asked to revise my original design because it didn't look enough like a toilet, but I miss the charming eyes and smile of the toilet in the design below. Oh well, that's the illustration business I guess.



Hope everyone enjoyed the splash of nice weather we've been enjoying the past two days, because it looks like it's going to rain again tonight. When is summer coming??

Mental Health

I recently got to do another illustration for the Portland Mercury for an article about the mental health system here in Portland. I'm also very excited that they've switched me over from design intern to illustration intern, which means I'll be doing these somewhat regularly. I'm still working way too long on them, but I'm working on ways to cut down the time. Can you blame me for wanting them to be perfect? Here's the black and white version that appeared in the printed issue yesterday:



I'm more partial to the color one that appeared in the online version which can be seen below or by clicking the link above:



I felt way more confident about this one than the last, and had a great time doing it. I wonder what the next one will be?

The Evolution of an Illustration

Well I'm back from my vacation to the Redwoods of Northern California, and ready to get back to blogging. Here's a few early versions of my illustration for the Portland Mercury, as well as the final product.



As you can see I originally drew the sign breaking, but this added element skewed the message of the piece and the Art Director asked me to redraw it with the sign intact.



I got a little overzealous in this second version and in an effort to create a whole scene threw in a lot of extra elements that ultimately distracted from the point of the illustration. Plus the printed size of the drawing would make it very difficult to see any of these details clearly. I decided to go for something a little simpler.



And here we have the final version. All of the extraneous details have been eliminated and some birds were added to the left corner to balance out the composition. This took me way longer than I would have liked it to, but now that I have the hang of it I think the next one will probably take half the time. Let's just hope there IS a next time!

Portland Mercury in Retrograde

If you live in Portland, make sure to pick up a copy of The Portland Mercury tomorrow, where you'll see an illustration by your truly. It's my first printed illustration by them and I'm hoping the first of many.



This is a concept sketch that I did for the piece right after I got the assignment, so the art director, Scrappers, could see what I had in mind. Stay tuned for the finished version.

Smilodon for the Camera

As promised here's another idea for the "clicky-doodle" on our giant spinning prize wheel. I suggested we think of alternatives to antlers thinking they might be too obvious so we discussed the possibility of something feline related. BUT do you know what's even cooler than a cat? A TIGER. Do you know what's even cooler than a tiger? A SABER TOOTHED TIGER! This is what it might look like if a Smilodon got really mad at the Portland Mercury logo.

Giant Spinning Prize Wheel

I'm not sure I've mentioned this on here, but I've got an internship at the moment in the design department of the Portland Mercury, an awesomely bitchin' weekly magazine here in Portland. And it's free! My tasks vary from week to week and some weeks are more interesting than others. For example today our project was to design and build a giant spinning prize wheel. I've been told it's going to be used for various contests and promotions on the blog, but I'm guessing it'll mostly be used to figure out what kind of takeout to get for lunch in the office.

The art director gave me a rough sketch of the design to flesh out and this is what I came up with. I'm not used to drawing without reference, but I think this came out pretty good.


We built the basic skeletal structure today, and will probably end up finishing it sometime next week. It's still up in the air how we're going to decorate the thing (goodbye antlers?) so I drew up a few more possibilities. Tune in tomorrow to find out what they are!