Friday, April 30, 2010

The Greatest Show on Earth

No, I'm not talking about LOST or Battlestar, I'm talking about the CIRCUS. And/or a carnival. Because that's the theme of this post. Though I may tempt myself to meander into a LOST discussion...

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by my friend Katie. She asked if I'd be interested in helping one of her fellow students out with some illustrations for a booth. Once I found out that the art would include carnival themes and old people, you knew I jumped on that. Drawing those oldies is always a hoot.

So the mission was to create a few grannies and grandpas that are still very active in a circus environment. They were then made into plush dolls that would be adhered to an illustrated carnival background. Here's what I came up with:

Granny Suspenders holds herself aloft in the hair by sheer strength of her dentures. She "bites" onto a rope that hands down from the tent ceiling and wows the audience with her endurance. Note: The rope isn't pictured here because it's drawn into the background scene, which I'll show later.)


The Trapgeeze Artist has many, many years experience soaring on his trapeze (not pictured here) high above the ground. Though his 'stache isn't very aerodynamic, it sure does add flare.


Our beloved Unigranny gracefully rides across the stage on a tightrope. The years have given her a little extra gyroscopic balancing support, as you can see.


Our eccentric Ringleader takes delight in announcing every act for the audience. And his handy-dandy megaphone doubles as a Beethoven-style earpiece/sound amplifier.


The Grannonball knows exactly how one should be shot out of a cannon and into a pool of trick dolphins. You'll see what I mean when I post the actual booth artwork!

OK! So those are our main attractions. Like I mentioned, they will be made into fun plush dolls. I may wait to show the scene until I get pictures of the finished product. I'll keep you posted, though!

Let me know which is your favorite, and come up with a little sidestory for him or her, if you'd like. :D

Friday, April 16, 2010

Goes Down Smooth


Funnnnnn. I just did an illustration for an RFP that we just sent out today. I love when I get to do illustrations at work! We were looking for a clean, tropical look, as opposed to the flagrant/gaudy tropicalness that a bunch of places gravitate towards. This isn't a "typical" Burt style, but I'd like to think I'm a pretty malleable illustrator. We really like how it came out, so hopefully the potential client will, as well. :D

Sidenote: I wore a very, very tropical strip of fabric as a headband while working on this RFP. It had many, many parrots on it.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Dad's Birthday Card 2010



Happy 68th birthday, dad!

-burt (your son)

Ignore my disheveled appearance. It was about 1 a.m. when I finished the card and posted this video!)

Also, you can right/option click and select "View All" or whatever option comes up to view the entire format. Blogger is deciding to crop it somewhat.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Striking Chords


A couple of weeks ago at the Creative Summit, I started this illustration in my moleskine while waiting in between guest speakers. Not really sure why. The idea to draw Elvis Costello jamming with Jimi Hendrix just popped into my mind. And as it progressed, I decided that it'd be neat if their guitars were jacked into each other. Awesome music = awesome music, right? Very different music styles, but both very influential. I'll let you pull your own concept out of it. That's what art is about, eh? Or, at least one aspect of it.

Anyway, I really like how it came out. I'd say it is one of my favorites! And I have it saved at SUPER high quality, just in case.

;)