I Am Not A Book

Shakespeare in Politics
Though it is tough to imagine ol' Will entangled the mess of modern politics, it definitely isn't impossible. Besides looking rather dapper in a suit and tie, Shakespeare certainly knew how to play the game. Politics are embroiled deep within the plots and subtext of many of his works (I just threw the world "embroiled" in there. Hope it fits.).

Enough, in sooth, to warrant an entire class on the subject. Continuing with the LaLouisiane-commissioned illustration series (first mentioned in the post below this one), here is an image representing the class "Shakespeare in Politics."

Shakespeare looks comfy in the classic Nixon pose, don't you think?

Color of the Blues

I was commissioned by LaLouisiane magazine to do a series of four illustrations. Each illustration would represent a new course being offered by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The magazine selected a few of the new/interesting courses to which students have taken a shine.

The one above is for The Color of the Blues, which covers the influences of Blues music across our culture. I would have loved to have taken that course!

Featured above is Robert Johnson making a little pact with a certain character of ill repute.

Follow Your Appetite!

It's always fun when I get to illustrate things for work. This tasty treat was for BBR's Media & Vendor Breakfast, where we treat business associates to a nice breakfast to thank them for all their hard work. And so I was told to design a self-mailing piece for the occassion, and could do whatever I wanted.

So, naturally, I drew a pied-piper-ish chef leading an assortment of bipedal breakfast items. The bacon flute was a spontaneous, yet deliciously perfect, last-minute addition.

I experimented with a different illustration style to match the concept. I didn't think that contour lines and such would inspire the whimsical fun that the flat color shapes provide. I originally drew everything in black ink, scanned everything, and then colorized the different pieces in Photoshop. It was quite fun. But now I'm hungry.

Dirty Jokes

Last week, my friend Zach asked me if I would like to design a poster/flyer for an upcoming comedy show featuring himself and another one of my friends, Tim. I said yes, of course, and was then elated to hear the name of the show:

"Dirty Jokes with Tim Landry and Zach Broussard"

Within two minutes I had the concept and rough illustration in my head. I'll let you play with the image/wordplay. I decided that I wanted to make this a one-color screenprint, so I went ahead and ordered some screenprinting supplies. Finally taking that plunge.

So what you see above is basically a comp of what the final printed poster will look like. The ink will be black-brown on top of a gray-tan-green paper stock (I'm doing everything possible to give it a "dirty" feel). The posters will be about 10x19 inches. They actually won't have the distressed edges; that's just for the web promotion.

Quite a fun project, wouldn't you say? If you'll be around Lafayette on December 26, come check out the show. They are funny dudes!

Ogre the Top

A couple weeks ago at Sketchgroup I decided that it was high-time to get into the Howloween spirit. (NOTE: "Howloween" is the monster name for our Halloween.) So this illustration leaked out of my pen. Monsters are usually known to feed on unsuspecting humans, but for one night out of the year their tastes turn to the sweet offerings of Halloween candy. Now, if acquiring candy happens to involve consuming a Trick-or-Treater or two, then so be it.

You know, maybe since everyone is in costume, they don't really view it as eating "humans." You know? Kind of like if you go around a forest in hunting season dressed as a deer. You're kind of asking for it. I guess Trick-or-Treaters should wear fluorescent orange vests over their costumes to alert the monsters to their presence.

Anyway, so the demon-spawn ogre here has just procured a plastic jack-o-lantern full off sugary goodness. He squats on a nearby car to enjoy his delectables. Earlier in the night, he happened upon a entire bag of Circus Peanuts, which threw him into a terrible rage. Luckily, one of his monster cohorts plugged an entire caramel apple into his mouth, which soothed his bloodrage. Disaster averted, Howloween continued with surprisingly little ruckus.

I'll let the ogre naming rights go to you. First come, first serve. Be creative!

Scootjitsu

Let me start off by saying that I hate drawing vehicles. I have never, EVER been good at it. My cars always come out looking like they belong in the '70s. Maybe I should try using reference photos sometime.

Surprisingly, I found myself drawing this during Sketchgroup a few weeks ago. Maybe because my friend Matt (who was sitting across from me) has a scooter. Maybe because of the show FLCL. Maybe because I felt like drawing a girl on a rocket-powered scooter. Who knows. I actually like how the scooter came out, though!

The rest (ninjas) just kind of came about just now when I was coloring in Photoshop. I was trying to incorporate some background, and the blob I drew sort of looked like a ninja, so I just went with it.

It has a certain Kill Billian vibe to it, eh? Ah well. An interesting experiment!

Zero-G(olf)

Space, where no man has golfed before.

Or, at least that is what I thought when I started drawing this. And then, as the illustration neared completion, I thought "You know, someone has to have drawn this before."

Which led to a quick Google search. Which led to me discovering that astronaut Alan Shepard had actually played golf on the Moon. Well, crap. Golfstronauts.

You know, I think deep down I had known this. And last week's Illustration Friday theme, "Infinite," triggered this image in my head. And I just didn't connect the two. Unfortunately, this is not an original concept, haha. And also unfortunately, I missed the deadline to submit the illustration!

And yet, fortunately, I have thought of a pun for it:

What's an astronaut's favorite golf club?
A hyper-driver.

Ehhh??? EH??? Yeah, buddy.

Also, check out this new and fun astronaughty comic: Loneliest Astronauts

Birdwatching, Pt. 2

Andrew Bird will be playing this Saturday (October 3) at Tipitina's in New Orleans. I've had my ticket for months. And this drawing has been done for months. Unfortunately, I've just gotten around to finishing it. Though I won't have time to print this out, the least I can do is post it online.

I'll state again that Mr. Bird is my favorite musician and was my inspiration to buy a violin and start learning how to play it. That instrument is quite a noble beast.

If you haven't heard any music by him, I implore you to check some out. His earlier works are very old-school jazzy, while his newer albums have drifted farther from that, into more of his own genre of violin, guitar and quirk rock. I'm not sure "rock" is the term to use. Eh, why not? Listen to Fake Palindromes and tell me it doesn't rock. I dare you.

Lookin' Sharp!

Edward Scissorhands was on TV last weekend and I just happened to catch the ending. I thought "You know, I should eventually do an illustration of ol' Eddie." So when Sketchgroup came around, I finally got around to drawing the character.

I gave him a leather hoodie because he's so emo. I also thought he kind of looks like Ben Linus from LOST. Yeah? Hahaha.

I always loved the parts of the movie where you can see on Eddie's face the love for making art with his hands. Sculpting hedges and trimming hair were acts of beauty for him. If life gives you scissors-for-hands, make lemonade!

Side Stitch - A Design Comedy

Working at BBR Creative means that I get a chance to write a blog once every so often and post it on the blog portion of our site. When initially concepting what I wanted to do for my blog, I figured that I would draw something and then write about it. Just to promote being creative in your free time, as well as at work.

Since I recently drew a silly comic and liked how it turned out, I decided that I'd draw a comic for my blog. Of course, I had to make it relate to my job in some sense. It couldn't just be a comic about cats having a party or something.

And so Side Stitch was born. "Side stitching" being a rather low-cost binding technique where you just put a booklet or group of pages together and staple near an edge to hold it together. It also, of course, is a play on "stitch in your side."

The premier comic features a supervillain holding the world's logos ransom. He imposes his demands upon the League of Extraordinary Advertisers & Desigers (LEAD), who quickly shoot down his dastardly plot.

I'll hopefully be doing a Side Stitch comic each time my turn to blog comes around. Be on the lookout for more!

Click the thumbnail above to open the comic at actual size.