This sketch was for a client that went MIA after we got started on the project. The theme was for a “USA” branded pinup style girl — the draped fabric was to be a United States flag.

I think the drapery was coming along nicely, but I know I was dreading making all the Stars & Stripes read realistically enough. Probably wouldn’t have been as hard as I imagined though.

She’s been sitting in my hard drive long enough and I liked how this was coming along so I thought I would share.

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“Liberty Girl” Cartoon Character Pinup Sketch

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Working color vector art for a mascot character project. The ogre will be used as a mascot for a video game portal website. We needed a prop and I suggested a video game controller, the client wanted to go with an old-school Atari 2600 controller, which I think looks great. it’s such an iconic design it really reads well, which is important for smaller sizes.

Client asked for two versions, one a “thumbs up” version as well as a more “dumb” version of him scratching his head:

Vector artwork created in Adobe Illustrator CS4 using a Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet.

Here’s the very rough initial sketch I created in pencil on paper to get a feel for the look of the guy:

I always work very rough and loose to get the feel for the character, and then work on refining the character in Photoshop (note I am still working very rough at this stage):

Working on layers helps immensely. In this case I wanted the legs just a little bit larger. Also did some further refining to the line art:

A little more refining and some rough tone:

At this stage, I suggested to the client that perhaps to brand the character more closely to the video game theme, we should swap the club with a video game controller. The client suggested the old-school Atari 2600 controller, and I couldn’t have agreed more:

You’ll note in the above sketch that I left in a reference photo I used for the hand. I used Apple’s Photo Booth to capture the image with my webcam, dragged the snapshot right from the Photo Booth tray on to the Photoshop icon in the Dock, then copied & pasted into the Photoshop sketch file.

Client enthusiastically approved the Atari version, and the final line art drawing was finished to use as the template for the final vector art:

An alternate version with the ogre giving a “thumbs up” was also created, with some small tweaks to the brow and eyes. From here the art was placed into Adobe Illustrator and the vector art was hand-created using the Pen tool and a Wacom Intuos graphics tablet.

Initially the ogre was too green in color (I was given a lesson in true ogre skin color from the gamer’s perspective on this project):

Since I created all the main color areas as global swatches in Illustrator, the colors were easily tweaked to the finals you see at the beginning of this post.

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Cartoon Ogre Mascot Character

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This character was created for a company providing online, off-site file backup solutions. They wanted a character that would embody the idea of safe, secure and encrypted. Hence, the big key, the secure briefcase handcuffed to the character, the binary code reflected in the sunglasses “Matrix” style.

I knew from the outset that I wanted to go with a “bodyguard” or “secret service agent” look to the character, and that he needed to be big and tough to an exaggerated degree. Read on for more info on this project as well as some insight into the sketching process…

The general look of the character was maintained through out the process from the early rough sketches, with details and refinements added, in particular the addition of the crewcut hair, the handcuff-secured briefcase and the big key.

The client had worked with other artists to create this character to disappointing results until contacting me for the project. We had a very tight deadline, but both principals of the company felt after a detailed phone call that I was the right artist for this mascot character project, and we got to work.

The clients were very pleased with the character at every stage, even going as far to tell me they felt like kids on Christmas morning waiting to see the next variation or revision as the character was slowly being realized.

Both the client and myself were very pleased with the final results.

Initial rough sketches were scanned into Adobe Photoshop CS4, and then cleanup and revisions done entirely in Photoshop with a Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet.

Final art was created with hand-created vector art in Adobe Illustrator CS4 and the aformentioned Intuos4 tablet.

Here’s a very early rough sketch for the character. This was not sent to the client, but rather used for me as a starting point to get the overall proportions and the general feel down. Note how loose things are, almost like a gesture sketch. And note the use of geometric shapes, particularly in the legs—one large, one smaller circle overlapped. The upper body is also based on semi-circles and triangles:

Here’s a more refined sketch tweaked in Photoshop, based off the rough version. Legs were changed considerably to make him more human and less cartoony. I also reduced the proportion of the legs to the body:

Client very much liked the look of the character, but wanted to add props that said “security”:

Arms changed, props added. We even played with the idea of a tattoo, but I suggested it might get lost at smaller sizes and we shouldn’t rely on it as something to “sell” the character. the skeleton key wasn’t working for the client:

And then it was agreed that he should be less “commando” and more “secret service”:

The legs were streamlined to work with the suit. This was pretty much OKed by the client for the final art, so I went into the finished sketch:

Small tweaks to the position of the lips/mouth, and the head was slightly enlarged. Client asked if we could try some different hairstyles (including facial hair), and the flattop was agreed upon as the best choice:

From here the final art was cleaned up and placed in Adobe Illustrator as a template to create the final hand-created color vector art.

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Bodyguard Cartoon Mascot Character Illustration

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I recently created an in-depth Adobe Illustrator tutorial for the Go Media graphic design and illustration blog GoMediaZine. The tutorial covers the creation of a cartoon character mascot from sketch to final vector art. The character art is a fun Twitter blue bird cartoon character, and the vector art files as well as icons for use on your own website or blog are available as a free download as part of the tutorial.

This tutorial is a good overview of my working process, at least on the creative and software side of things. As I was working on this tutorial, I ran into a situation where I wanted to change the artwork at the vector stage, something I rarely do. In this situation — since I was creating the artwork for myself — I moved on to the vector art fairly quickly so I could get working on the tutorial. As I neared the end of the process, I realized I needed to make a significant change to the character art.

Rather than rework the tutorial, I thought it was a good opportunity to demonstrate why the techniques I use in creating my vector art are beneficial in situations like this. Because of the nature of my vector art creation methods, the artwork can be edited even at a late stage in the creation process with minimal work/time spent. I included this in the tutorial as most tutorials cover what to do, not many cover what to do when something goes wrong. Additionally, I hope it’s clear why the techniques I use help one to be prepared in case something like this comes up.

In particular, working on layers, creating your vector objects as distinct objects and keeping your anchor points to a minimum helps to make things much easier as far as fine-tuning — as well as going back and making major changes.

Head on over to GoMediaZone and check the tutorial out for yourself, and drop me a comment with any thoughts, suggestions or tips to help streamline the process.

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Tutorial: Create A Vector Art Twitter Bird Character Icon In Adobe Illustrator

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Click here to view the embedded video.

In this video, I am sharing with you a vector path creation technique to speed up the process of creating curved paths by adding intermediate anchor points after your corners have been created. I used to create my anchor points as I was following the curve of the shape I was tracing. Instead, with this technique the anchor points are added to your vector path after your corners have been created, allowing Illustrator to approximate the length of the curve handles for you with much greater accuracy the first time around.

It’s tough to explain with words, which is why I created this video

Enjoy, and boost your productivity in Adobe Illustrator!

* the song in the background is a little ditty I created myself in GarageBand with my trusty guitar.

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Adobe Illustrator Video Tip: Quickly Add Smooth Transition Anchor Points

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It’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog with recent work, I have been (gladly) super busy with client projects, deadlines and upcoming work that I need to make time for now. A lot of really great cartooning projects have been recently wrapped up, with lots more good stuff on the digital drawing board right now.

The image above is a quick teaser showcasing some of the recent work — both finished and in progress — including: a cartoon Marines character for a t-shirt design for a Young Marines troop, a cartoon monster character for a self-published children’s book project I was just awarded, a cartoon ogre mascot for a video game portal website, an “inventor Mom” character with her home made robot, a tough security guard/body guard mascot character for an online data storage company, a puppy dog mascot character, a surfer character for a gyro/souvlaki restaurant, a frog version of the Statue of Liberty for the Ohio Canal Corridor’s annual event t-shirt, more avatar portrait illustrations for the Cleveland, Ohio travel & visitors bureau Positively Cleveland, and a fish mascot character and logo for a niche fishing utility product.

Whew! And that’s just the most recent. There’s lots more on the plate right now that’s upcoming, including novelty product concept & turnaround art, cartoon-style footwear designs for toddler’s shoes, and a space-themed t-shirt design for an upcoming cake design competition.

I’l be posting in-depth posts on all of the above work once things settle back to a less hectic pace. For now, I just wanted to pop my head up from the desk and get a teaser of some of my recent artwork up here. Lots of good stuff coming soon!

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Cartooning & Illustration: Recent & Current Work Teaser

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WMMS Buzzard mascot cartoon character illustration, created by David Helton.

If you grew up in Cleveland in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, you saw the WMMS Buzzard mascot cartoon character everywhere. Or maybe just if you were just a young art geek like myself…

The WMMS buzzard mascot and all the related artwork was a huge influence on me as a young artist. I loved the style, the line work, the attitude of the character. I found myself drawing it over and over to unlock the secrets of it’s design.

David Helton is the illustrator/artist who created that iconic image. I was thinking about this recently and found an article by the Cleveland Plain Dealer regarding the origins of the creation of the WMMS Buzzard, an excerpt from the book The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio.

Regarding the actual drawing and concept for the logo, Helton recalls:

Helton brought up Looney Tunes, with Porky Pig saying, “Thatha- tha-that’s all, folks” at the end of a cartoon, and sketched the Buzzard in a Looney Tunes-style target. But it resembled a dartboard- ammunition for our rivals. He drafted more conceptions, first drawing the Buzzard’s head, then sketching a backdrop. He tried circles, triangles, and finally the “Star Buzzard” logo, the most familiar of all Buzzard designs. We never used consultants, outside agencies, staff meetings, focus groups, or test marketing for it or any Buzzard campaign.

It’s interesting to note that the character was developed solely by the illustrator. A great mascot character can have immense marketing potential for the right type of client.The WMMS Buzzard  was a mascot character that Helton executed masterfully. Helton goes on to explain how the resulting marketing and branding campaign was developed around the artist’s creation:

With the Buzzard our official logo, we coveted the idea of going where no station had gone before. How we could exploit the identity, how could we make WMMS greater than the combined respective peaks of WIXY, KYW, and WHK? How could we build the Buzzard into the most recognized logo in Cleveland since Chief Wahoo? Going beyond the obvious T-shirts and sweatshirts, I felt we could market key chains, belt buckles, roach clips, even Buzzard comic books, and we did. Air talent Denny Sanders warned against letting the logo become too corporate, and he had a point. One of the most difficult things was knowing where to stop. Even though the Buzzard was created for promotional, commercial purposes, I wanted to keep it as a sort of icon and avoid crossing a vague line into exploitation.

Again I find it interesting that not only was Helton looking to utilize the marketing and licensing potential of this iconic mascot artwork, but also had the foresight to pull in the reigns where that commercialization might go beyond a great brand and into the venue of cliché.

It’s worth noting again that the entire WMMS Buzzard marketing campaign—which was hugely successful—was developed not with a character as part of the campaign, but rather around the mascot character. The impact a great mascot can have—for the right type of client and the right demographic—is something that should never be overlooked when considering a marketing or branding campaign. And as Helton has shown, it can even be the center of the campaign.

I was surprised to find, on visiting Helton’s illustration portfolio site, that most of his work actually was nothing like the character he developed for the WMMS Buzzard, which I found extremely odd. The Buzzard mascot has such a signature feel to it, I just assumed I would find more work in the same vein, but instead I found a much more whimsical, children’s book style to Helton’s work.

Until Helton’s Buzzard mascot art resurfaced in my consciousness, I hadn’t realized how much that Buzzard cartoon character had influenced the style of artwork I produce today as a professional illustrator. The bold, expressive, minimalist, thick line art, the flat color, the method of tapering his lines. Looking back at Helton’s work I can see all of this influencing my work now—with of course a heavy dash of my favorite MAD Magazine artists such as Don Martin, Mort Drucker and Jack Davis.

**UPDATE**: I changed up the buzzard image on this post after being contacted by David Helton, who  informed me that I had included a newer updated Buzzard that he did not work on. Sorry about that David!

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WMMS Buzzard Logo: Mascot Character Art Origins

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For longer than I can remember, I have been flustered with the Flatten Transparency feature in Adobe Illustrator CS3 and CS4. Very often I use the excellent Layer Targeting feature introduced into recent versions of Adobe Illustrator, however I found that when using the Flatten Transparency feature, it seemed to ignore the attributes of the Targeting, which forced me to find lengthy workarounds to solve this. Turns out there was an approach to solving this that I had overlooked…

Typically I use Layer Targeting in order to add a shading layer to my illustrations. I do this by creating a new Layer, then Targeting that Layer, and then adding a Layer Appearance effect—in this case I am changing the layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply with a 40% opacity setting. This allows me to just use flat color on this shading layer, and because of the targeting, any objects placed on this Layer inherit the effects applied when I set up the Targeting.

Here was the snag: when exporting final files for clients, I usually provide the vector art as a version 8 Illustrator EPS file, as this removes all special Illustrator-specific features I used in creating the artwork, resulting in a file that is just about as compatible as it can possibly be with not only earlier versions of Adobe Illustrator, but also other vector graphics software. “Dumbing down” the file like this ensures that clients will not run into issues of needing to have the same version of Illustrator I use, especially since I keep up to date on the current versions and realize not everybody else is as quick to upgrade as I am.

Typically when running the Flatten Transparency feature, all one needs to do is select all the items which are affected by the transparency and run Flatten Transparency (typically I just select all the artwork to do this). However, I found in Illustrator CS3 and CS4 that all my targeted (shading) layers were defaulting to flat areas of solid, opaque black. this was not the result I wanted. I went so far as to submit a bug report to Adobe on this, with no reply.

Frustrated, I posted to Twitter about this. Illustrator guru Mordy Golding is one of my followers, and he picked up on my complaint. At first he was in agreement that I had found a bug. However we began to “tweet” back and forth, and by doing so Mordy stumbled on to the solution: not only does one need to select all the artwork, but additionally one needs to also “target” the layers with targeted effects applied. Bingo!

We discussed briefly after confirm this solution that indeed this makes sense, as the Flatten Transparency feature only works on items that are selected, and indeed the Targeting feature is a form of selecting items, although not very obvious or intuitive at first.

If you refer to the image on this post, you’ll see I have highlighted the Layer Target circles. You can determine visually if a layer has been targeted and effects applied of the circle is filled in with dark gray.

Contributors to iStockPhoto might find this especially useful, as iStock requires all art to be flattened and submitted as version 8 Illustrator .eps files.

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Flattening Transparency Properly When Using Layer Appearances in Adobe Illustrator

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OS X QuickLook Plugin for Photoshop Brush Files

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A handy, exhaustive resource on Greek key border patterns, including a handy online Greek key border pattern generator to create dozens of variations.

I recently worked on a project where I was in need of creating a Greek key border, and while I needed to manually create a border pattern in Adobe Illustrator, this site was extremely useful in deciphering the geometry behind how Greek key patterns are generated.

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Greek Key Border Pattern Generator

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