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.

Tandem Activity Book: Thumb Wrestling, World Map, and a Treehouse

Here are some more spreads from the Tandem Activity Book I worked on for Lea Redmond through Chronicle Books. You can order it online or read more about the project.

The strategies for thumb wrestling can be complex – sharp nails, stealthy pouncing, the fast dance fake-out, genetically long thumbs, overpowering with pure strength, and good old fashioned luck – so be sure to choose carefully, as it’s usually over in less than 30 seconds.

Thumb wrestle in the ring. Keep score by coloring in the flag for each bout you win.
Thumb wrestle in the ring. Keep score by coloring in the flag for each bout you win.

I feel like this spread should have been a giant fold out.

Mark all the places you've ever been with an X and the places you want to go with an O.
Mark all the places you’ve ever been with an X and the places you want to go with an O.

For all of us who fantasized about treehouses as a child but instead built forts out of stacks of firewood…

Design your own treehouses then add creative ways to communicate or travel between them.
Design your own treehouses then add creative ways to communicate or travel between them.

Tandem Activity Book: Designing Money, Tent Guess, and Food Memories

Here are even more spreads from the Tandem Activity Book I worked on for Lea Redmond through Chronicle Books. You can order it online or read more about the project, or see more pages from the book here, here, and here.

There is also a new review pairing a man and a woman who haven’t met before to do some of the activities in the book.

Design some money. Who or what would you commemorate on these coins and bills?
Design some money. Who or what would you commemorate on these coins and bills?
Pick up the book and stand it up like a tent, with space between the two covers. Take turns hiding a small object inside the space. Ask "yes" or "no" questions until you can guess the mystery object.
Pick up the book and stand it up like a tent, with space between the two covers. Take turns hiding a small object inside the space. Ask “yes” or “no” questions until you can guess the mystery object.
Jot down any memories you have associated with each of these foods. Then rotate and compare notes.
Jot down any memories you have associated with each of these foods. Then rotate and compare notes.

Tandem Activity Book: Bucket List, Friendship Bracelets, and Flower Shop

Here are some more spreads from the Tandem Activity Book I worked on for Lea Redmond through Chronicle Books. You can order it online or read more about the project.

What's on your bucket list? Take turns listing 10 things you each want to do in your lifetime. Share and compare. Then, on the next page, list 10 things you want to do together.
What’s on your bucket list? Take turns listing 10 things you each want to do in your lifetime. Share and compare. Then, on the next page, list 10 things you want to do together.

This illustration was especially fun as I spent many hours as a pre-teen making friendship bracelets and working on the cache-building skill of macramé. If only I had had this handy diagram back then, I could have planned my color ways more diligently.

Color in a friendship bracelet for your friend. Inquire about his or her favorite colors before you begin.
Color in a friendship bracelet for your friend. Inquire about his or her favorite colors before you begin.

I don’t own flowers or plants because they die in my presence, despite watering them as per their instructions. So this is probably the only type of flower shop I will ever be involved with.

At your own personal flower shop, what flowers would you offer? Draw, color, and compare.
At your own personal flower shop, what flowers would you offer? Draw, color, and compare.

Tandem Activity Book: Campfire Stories, Compass Game, and a Maze

Here are some more spreads from the Tandem Activity Book I worked on for Lea Redmond through Chronicle Books. You can order it online or read more about the project.

Trade stories, any stories. Optional: start with one of these sparks.
Trade stories, any stories. Optional: start with one of these sparks.
With the other half of the book folded under this half, rotate the book so the compass points north. Take turns sharing stories of being lost, found, or both on the next page.
With the other half of the book folded under this half, rotate the book so the compass points north. Take turns sharing stories of being lost, found, or both on the next page.
Find your way to the picnic, picking up useful items along the way.
Find your way to the picnic, picking up useful items along the way.

Tandem Activity Book: Snap Doodle, Clocks, and Wishing Well

Here are some more spreads from the illustrated book I worked on for Lea Redmond through Chronicle that is coming out this September. It’s a Tandem Activity Book – a journal you complete with other people.

Find someone to make a quick sketch of the two of you together.
Find someone to make a quick sketch of the two of you together.
Guess what time it is right now. (No peeking!) Block your friend's view of an empty clock on your page, fill in the time to show your best guess. Reveal your guesses to determine who has the best sense of time (at least at this time today).
Guess what time it is right now. (No peeking!) Block your friend’s view of an empty clock on your page, fill in the time to show your best guess. Reveal your guesses to determine who has the best sense of time (at least at this time today).
Toss a penny into this wishing well and silently make a wish. Write your wish at the bottom of this page, tear it off, and tuck it in your pocket. Keep it a secret.
Toss a penny into this wishing well and silently make a wish. Write your wish at the bottom of this page, tear it off, and tuck it in your pocket. Keep it a secret.

It’s good for just about anybody who can read and like to be creative, although I’ve had reports of non-reading children enjoying looking at the pictures and having the prompts read aloud to them. Pre-order the Tandem Activity Book.

Tandem Activity Book

I am so excited to share a project that I worked on last fall and winter through Chronicle Books. SO EXCITED! Combining creativity, illustration, and a test of my design stamina, this is the kind of project my ilk live for. It’s a Tandem Activity Book – a type of journal you complete with other people.

I love this book because it is good for all ages, and is the exact opposite of going to a coffee shop to “chat” and then surfing on your iPhone for an hour next to the person you came with. This book should be an iPhone replacement in 90% of coffee shop interactions! It also reminds me of my childhood when we made up activities for ourselves that entertained us for hours and days and weeks – it’s a series of mini-games that don’t have a winner or a loser, just fun. Does it sound like I enjoyed this project? I DID.

Tandem Activity Book - cover with sleeve.
Tandem Activity Book – cover with sleeve. Art directed by Brooke Johnson.

Continue reading “Tandem Activity Book” →