RIP Sparkey

I lost an old friend two days ago, on November 9. He was someone I became accustomed to, and I looked forward to seeing everyday, even if it was to feed him a piece of wheat bread and alfalfa. Sparkey was a pigmy goat, that was born here on our property 12 years ago. Life expectancy of a goat is 8 years, so he lived a good long life. We originally bought two pigmy goats for our children, and Sparkey was the offspring of one of those goats. Our children grew up, moved out, went to college, and Sparkey became my responsibility. Working from a home studio is sometimes a lonely road. I often would step out the back of my studio and call up to Sparkey's barn. He would always answer back and often come down to the fence line to greet me.
Over the years there have been a few times he has even helped me out, serving as reference for a few goat related projects.
I cherish having a wood engraving of him that I created years ago when he was a little boy.

After transporting him in a wheel barrow to his final resting place, I buried him out the back door of my studio beneath an small evergreen tree. As that trees grows, I will always think of him.....

Jambalaya

Recently, I created an package illustration depicting Jambalaya for Cost Plus World Market. Let me show you how I go about working on a project such as this, from my first rough sketch to final color artwork.

After receiving a layout and a list of ingredients, I generate a first rough sketch (shown top). This first sketch was not conceptual as there were specific elements wanted, so this sketch was tighter than I usually work, and it was immediately approved with no revisions, so I transferred the sketch to black claybord.

The process of removing black ink through drawing and scratching is reminiscent of creating wood and linocuts, but is much faster, and the process is done face up, rather than in reverse. (Shown with the black background are a few stages of how I work from dark to light).

After the B/W claybord illustration is completed, (shown second from the bottom) it is scanned. The illustration is then colored in layers utilizing Adobe Photoshop. (Shown bottom is the final colored illustration). If there are any color revisions requested by the client, they can be easily made before the illustration is flattened and emailed.

For several years, when my children were younger and living at home, we use to go backpacking every summer with a few other dads and their children. Each of the dad's would be responsible for providing one of the meals on the excursion. One of the dads brought Jambalaya every year. Of course it was dehydrated and out of a box. To this day I have never cared for Jambalaya. We will have to see if this product is any better.............

Pro Bono Camp Cody

Occasionally, I am contacted about doing a Pro Bono Job. It would be great to be able to help out everyone with such a request
but time and work load are two factors that affect my willingness to help out. Also, I am particular about who I am working for
as I have to believe in the organization or the cause. I was contacted early this year by a designer in Sacramento about creating a logo for a Boy Scout Troop which her son belongs to. The logo was to be of Camp Cody Lake, where the scouts camp and boat for two weeks each year, and have been doing so since 1930. The logo was to be used on hats, shirts, stationary etc.

My first attempt was far too detailed, so I ended up redoing the illustration and converting it to vector based art. The project took 6 months and much patience on the designer's part, as I had to juggle it amongst other deadlines. In the end I think we were both happy. She also ended up paying me a small fee out of her own pocket so I can't say that it was all Pro Bono. Shown here are my initial sketch, Final BW art, Revised Final BW art (simplified version) and Final color art.