Adam McCauley at Drawger.com!

Feudalism, Structure and Pagans

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:20:57 EDT

These are a couple of recently completed cover project designs I did with The Folio Society. This cover above was for a book about the feudalist economic system of medieval Europe. The art director requested a way to sort of diagram the order of the feudalist rule; essentially, the King rules the Squires, who in turn rule the Knights, who in turn rule the Peasants. I found the inspiration visually from illustrated manuscripts of the time, which often stacked royalty and knights in sort of vaguely castle-like border framework. This piece will be screen-printed in gold ink on black book cloth, like the books below.

I illustrated this set for Folio in 2009, and they finally recently sent me ten sets! Man, this publisher knows how to make a book. These shine like gold bullion; the enclosing case is printed in gold foil. Really sweet.

The other new cover for them is for a book by J.E.Gordon about Structure. Delving into all aspects of structural systems, from bridges, dams and buildings to sea shells, feathers and dressmaking. Another 2-color book, they left it open as to which 2 colors I wanted to pursue. I was hoping to get as abstract as I could with this. Here are some of the sketches.

Above is the cover image they went with. It was inspired by Joseph Stella's "New York Interpretted". The art director also had me design some dingbats for the spine. One is a simple logo for the book, the other a "structural" version of Folio Society's "FS" imprint logo that they place on all of their spines.

More Animals

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:34:53 EDT

A baby Cheetah, for Lisa Lewis at Baby&Toddler Magazine. This is meant to be printed onto a big sheet of paper and made into a kite.

Sun Bears, the second collateral image for The Oakland Zoo's 2012 Walk in the Wild. I recently posted the first image, Tigers.

Tag, Toss & Run

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:35:42 EDT

This spring arrives with the release of this book from Storey Publishing that I illustrated, "Tag, Toss & Run," art directed by Alethea Morrisson. It's a really nice concept for a book, a compilation of lawn games along with their rules, histories, some diagrams and illustrations. Everything from more commonly known games like badminton and croquet to lesser known games such as Quoits and Cherokee Marbles.

I did these drawings in the summer of 2011, and will always remember the book as one of the toughest deadlines I ever had. This is because right before the finals were due, I had to go and have wrist surgery on my drawing wrist, which put me in a cast for three weeks and, after the cast was removed, projected me into months of hand therapy. There were a ton of drawings, a rigorous schedule, and a further challenge: the interiors needed to be colored in "channels" using 2 Pantone Spot colors.

Sometimes it's fun to do a project that is pure design and gesture. Conceptually, the only challenge on these was to show the idea of how the game works, and do so in a way that focuses most on the fun of the play. Before the surgery, I made a point to finish all of the interior sketches. Here are a few of them.

While in the cast, I had my assistant Catalina Bastias transfer all of the sketches onto board. When the cast was removed, my forearm was extremely weak, but fortunately the small movement of painting the line art with ink was therapeutic.

After finishing all of the line art, I set about educating myself on how to work in channels. With a good bit of help from Storey's production department, once I figured it out it was a fun way to work. Channels allow for an interesting play with transparency, something I'd like to explore more in the future. For this, in order to stay on deadline in semi-gimp mode, I worked them in a more technically straightforward approach, using Illustrator, Painter and Photoshop.

Something I've noticed recently in the publishing world is that covers are getting more and more obsessed over. In this case, the title kept changing. It originally began as being called "Olly Olly Oxen Free," which I loved. As a kid in Missouri in the 70's, we used to scream that out while playing neighborhood games. However, it got changed a few more times before being finalized. As my cover treatment was typographically focused, it was a bit of a shuffle. In the end, I look back on this project and realize it was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to work on a unique product with an excellent art director. I'd worked with Alethea once before when she was at Chronicle Books, on a gift book called Angel Catcher for Kids. Stressful at times, but a good learning experience and a productive way to help heal a wrist.

Calef Brown talks at CCA

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:19:47 EDT

California College of the Arts has the great pleasure to have the one and only Calef Brown come and talk about his art, poetry and books. If you're in San Francisco, you can't just miss him! Monday, March 26 at 7PM, 1111 8th Street San Francisco.

Oakland Zoo '12

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:02:50 EDT

For months now I've been up to my ears in a few different book projects, but I've managed to sneak in a few extra things here and there. This is the first of two images for this year's Oakland Zoo "Walk in the Wild" event advertising collateral. It's the seventh year now that I've illustrated this event, thanks to the most excellent Zipfly Design. This year's first beast is the tiger. The Oakland Zoo has a really nice, huge area for their tigers, grassy and tree-filled just like their native stomping grounds. It's a good thing that there's a lot of space, because the zoo, being an orphan animal zoo, just acquired four new lady tiger sisters from a roadside freak show in Texas. It's a happy ending to a rather depressing story, and a fun painting to put together.

The Law of Convergence

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:08:51 EDT

Something has been bugging me. Something, that is, besides the Congress, politics in general, the Antarctic heatwave, texting, Justin Bieber, the state of the world, etc. That something is what I now have come to call the Law of Convergence. Although I notice it's effects all of the time in all sorts of situations out in the world, I especially notice it every time I go for a jog in the neighborhood. Allow me to indulge myself in attempting to explain my theory, which I swear must be some basic principle of physics. The following is simply an example of this effect...

First, imagine a young urban professional couple, getting an early start in going out for their anniversary meal somewhere out of town, in their SUV. Likely heading up to Napa Valley (The French Laundry, one would assume), they arrive onto 16th street from the north.

Next, imagine a self-absorbed junior high school girl fresh out of class and walking to her baby-sitting gig. She is walking down Rhode Island street going east.

Now, imagine that the house at 2142 16th street has been under some renovation lately, and the construction crew has had to cut a new gas connection to the city line.

Then, imagine you're me. It's Sunday, and it's a three day weekend; the city seems blissfully vacant. Jogging through empty streets is helping to bring on an especially peaceful meditative state. Turning onto 16th street, you're amazed by how empty the street is. No one to be seen anywhere, not even a car.

And then you see it: not far ahead, the sidewalk narrows, because of plywood barriers and construction tape due to the house that's being renovated, jutting out into the sidewalk, at the exact same place that a large treewell cuts into the other side of the sidewalk.

As you approach this narrow passage, all of the sudden the self-absorbed junior high-school student comes around the corner from Rhode Island street, headed straight for you. Getting closer, it looks as if you and the student are going to come to the limited access space on the sidewalk at the exact same moment.

Flummoxed, and thinking on your feet (so to speak), you decide it may be best to swerve out into the empty street in order to avoid this awkward annoyance.

Unfortunately, against all odds, an SUV comes up out of nowhere, slows to a stop and blocks your path into the street.

You're forced to stop your jog and squeeze through the narrow construction-taped passage with the student.

The moment you pass this bottleneck, the streets are once again devoid of anyone else, silent save the whir of chirping crickets. The Law of Convergence has struck again. I've noticed this more and more happening all of the time. Did Einstein or Hawking or someone figure this out already?