Scandinavian Winter

People often talk of Scandinavian summers with daylight nearing 20 hours a day, slim blond girls riding bikes everywhere, and public parks blanketed in sun revelers. Not many people talk about the Scandinavian winter. Maybe because they are inside under a blanket eating æbleskiver and pretending the 45 tea lights in the room are an acceptable substitute for sunlight. Nonetheless, the darkness lends a special matte sheen to everything, and the flickering of firelights emitted from every pane gives different sense of community.

Formatted somewhat after the long tapestries and woven rugs that are prevalent in castle museums, here is my tableau of Nordic wintertide.

scandinavian winter, dala horses, castles, swans, viking ships, tea lights, and the winter solstice

Portrait Sketch 1

I don’t sketch in my free time. I don’t have a sketchbook I’m always doodling in. I don’t go out and observe my surroundings with a pencil in hand. I only sketch for money, on projects that have a process and an end result. Bad, bad designer! Which from a creative standpoint doesn’t allow for much exploration. Sad, sad designer!

That’s why I force myself to be spontaneous by inviting friends over to creative nights at my house, where I must be stationed at a table and peer pressured into creating something during the time at hand. Go, go designer!

At a recent creative night I revisited my drawing focus as a 14-year-old, when I had just come out of a 7-year horse drawing phase and moved on to people’s faces. A true sketch, drawn from no reference.

pencil sketch without eyes, in school portrait layout format

SS Halo Logo: Study for Singled Sided Hearing

This illustration was a done as a favor for a friend in the medical field. The project was for a grad school course involving a mock research grant proposal for a study on single-sided hearing – the proposed research would invoke youth with single sided hearing loss and quality of life outcomes.

The Seattle-based team wanted a ship to represent their study, called SS Halo, and from a few digital sketches chose this one to use as their icon. The only requirements were that it should have some orange and blue to feel connected to the Seattle Children’s Hospital and the name be prominent in the clean and simple illustration.

One of the options not chosen was a more whimsical style that led to the series “Famous Ships in Bottles”. I often find that cast offs from paid creative work is what I am most drawn to and helps inspire side projects and personal illustrations.

The SS Halo
The SS Halo

Tandem Activity Book: Radio Show, News, and Hot Air Balloon

Here are the last spreads from the illustrated book I worked on for Leafcutter Designs through Chronicle Books that was published last fall. It’s a Tandem Activity Book – a journal you complete with other people – with drawing, writing, storytelling, and games that you can complete as friends, strangers or somewhere in between. News is that sales are strong, so join in the fun by ordering the Tandem Activity Book…

Make a song list for a radio show that includes three songs that remind you of your friend and three songs that are about you. Rotate the book, try to hum your friend’s songs, and explain your choices.
Make a song list for a radio show that includes three songs that remind you of your friend and three songs that are about you. Rotate the book, try to hum your friend’s songs, and explain your choices.
The morning paper just arrived. What do you wish was on the front page? Fill the newspaper with the best news you can imagine, then rotate the book and share.
The morning paper just arrived. What do you wish was on the front page? Fill the newspaper with the best news you can imagine, then rotate the book and share.
If you were in this balloon together, where would you like to be floating? Draw yourselves in the balloon and the landscape below.
If you were in this balloon together, where would you like to be floating? Draw yourselves in the balloon and the landscape below.

Tandem Activity Book: Factory and Lost Button Game

tandem-activity-book-promo

Here are some more spreads from the illustrated book I worked on for Leafcutter Designs through Chronicle Books that was published last fall. It’s a Tandem Activity Book – a journal you complete with other people – with drawing, writing, storytelling, and games that you can complete as friends, strangers or somewhere in between.

If you co-owned a factory, what would it produce?
If you co-owned a factory, what would it produce?
Lost Button Game. Who will be the first to find the one button with four holes instead of two? Ready, set, go!
Lost Button Game. Who will be the first to find the one button with four holes instead of two? Ready, set, go!
Photo from Leafcutter Designs
Creating your own constellation spread – photo from Leafcutter Designs.

The book is available for sale on Amazon, as well as in many bookstores.

Well Vegan Promo

At the start of the year resolutions are in full effect, and if your goal is to go vegan then here is the plan for you! Long-time client Well Vegan and I teamed up again to create a simple promo postcard to be included in the first box of goodies in 2016 from Vegan Cuts.

While the service might seems simple – meal planning and shopping lists – you can find much more on wellvegan.com including a ton of free recipes, a basic guide to tofu, and how to make kid-friendly vegan lunchables.

Front of postcard illustration for Vegan Cuts promotion.
Front of postcard illustration for Vegan Cuts promotion.