25 Years Ago...

I managed to miss the date, but on February 1st, 1990 (two months after graduating from the Art Institute of Seattle), I received my first paying freelance job, doing detailed pencil drawings of dogs and cats to be printed on sweatshirts. That was a fast 25 years! Four years later, I finally ventured out on my own as a full-time illustrator. Not sure how I've managed to fool so many awesome art directors, editors and designers into sending work my way for so long, but it's been a great ride. I'm signing up for another tour!

Seriously, to all of you who have trusted me with your illustration needs over the years, my sincerest thanks. I'm fortunate to be able to do something I love and get paid for it.

New Section On Website

Just added a "Recent Work" section on my website.

New Work For Educause Review

Here are a couple of new pieces for Educause Review Magazine
[Jeff Kibler, AD]

Ski Magazine

Some fun spots for Ski Magazine (Nov. 2014 issue) - "So, You Call Yourself A Complete Skier?" [Jackie McCaffrey, AD]

Busy!

I've been a full-time freelance illustrator since 1994. Stylistically, I was more of a technical illustrator when I started, doing a lot of networking diagrams, cutaways, how-to drawings and the like. I used to illustrate the user's guides for HP's entire line of deskjet printers. Over the years, my style gradually shifted. In 2004, I sent out a Christmas promo (below) that opened up a lot of doors.

It was the dawn of the "mock airplane safety card" style, and at the time, I was one of the very few doing it. I became known for this look and, to this day, still mostly do this type of work. The selling point is adding my warped sense of humor to an otherwise serious-looking style.

Several weeks ago, things came full circle. I got a call from American Airlines. They commissioned me to re-illustrate the in-flight safety cards for their entire fleet, along with US Airways and American Eagle. It's easily the biggest job of my career.

The downside is the timeframe. The goal is to have everything wrapped up (i.e. hundreds of illustrations) by the end of October (20 days from now.) Consequently, I'm turning down all other job inquiries until this project is put to bed. Speaking of bed, I've seen less of it than I'd like. There will be no days off this month. Hey, it's work! Work is good.

So, having spoofed these cards for half of my career, I'm now doing them for real. Irony is sometimes...ironic.

Trusteeship Magazine

Here's a recent full-page illustration for Trusteeship Magazine, for a story about universities not keeping up with students' demand for more online classes.
[Jeff Kibler, AD]

UC Riverside Magazine

These were done for the Spring 2014 issue of UC Riverside Magazine for a story about Ultimeyes (a video game that improves vision).
[Lille Bose, AD]