Katherine sent this link, which I thought was funny/interesting enough to repost on [d]online. I was a late admirer of J. R. R. Tolkien. In 4th or 5th grade, Mike Fishbein read The Hobbitt. All I knew was that he could draw a much better dragon than I could (probably still can). So my 9-year-old mind figured that it must have to do with some secrets he’d gleaned from the Tolkien book. Not understanding most of the words or messages in The Hobbitt, I gave up after three pages.
Sketch
I ♥ Sketch
Ok, here I am, smugly proud of myself for the math involved with Musikal Chairs (most of which was written by Zeh, Paul and Mike), and then I come across I ♥ Sketch, a magnificent application that blows my work out of the water (yet again).
I don’t really understand most of the views/terms in the tutorial, but assume they have a lot to do with architectural renderings. Either way, this program (and the modeler in the tutorial) make me feel significantly less intelligent than I thought I was. Enjoy.
Sketchbook 2
Well, another year and I’ve got another sketchbook to show for it. I don’t know if you got a chance to see the previous sketchbook, or the illustrations I did for the global investment project, or the illustrations I created to accompany my short story, “The Change“, or the tarot cards that we created for Tina’s birthday. If you didn’t, have a look. Anyway, enjoy these sketches too. Your comments and feedback are always welcome/appreciated. Read more
Birds, Birds, Birds…They’re All We Have Left to Go On…
For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on a new identity system for my new ERA404 client, First Funds, LLC. They’re an amazing team, there, full of creative visionaries and allow let me do a lot of exploration. Their company was badly in need of a branding overhaul so the Director of Marketing approached ERA404 to create a whole new campaign.
Eric Grohe, Muralist
Many thanks to my mom for sending along a forward about Mr. Grohe. I’m blown away by this guy’s talent.
Eric Alan Grohe was born in New York City in 1944. He moved to the West Coast when he was young, currently residing just north of Seattle, Washington. His professional career as a graphic designer and illustrator began in Seattle in 1961, briefly interrupted by a tour of duty in Vietnam. Back at home, Eric was hired as a graphic designer by Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson, a national architectural firm. Later he worked with the Cambridge University archaeology dept., illustrating digs in France, Greece, Israel and England. Returning stateside, Eric worked in New York City as a freelance illustrator.
In 1973, he was asked to design graphics for Expo’74 in Spokane, Washington. At this time, he began receiving commissions for his artwork, which have continued to grow in scope and size, leading to today’s large-scale trompe l’oeil murals. Throughout his 43-year career as a professional artist, Grohe has received national recognition for his work, which is now focused on painting figurative and architectural murals for clients throughout the country.
Global Investment Project Illustrations
I’m mentioned in a previous post, here, that I was working on a number of illustrations for a 60 page printed book for a client of my company, ERA404. The book came out great and is in production now. 10,000 copies are being printed, bound in blind debossed leather and affixed with a wooden, laser-etched medallion soon to be shipped around the world. It’s by far the most intense print project I’ve ever worked on and, to make things more exciting, I was also contracted to create the below illustrations.
The book is being printed at Premiere Printing Corporation, in Plainwell, MI, and bound at John Galt Bindery in Dayton, KY. Each book is going to be wrapped in aged, wrapping paper that we’re printing at Nova Offset, here in NYC, affixed with aged mailing labels and taped with printed tape, produced through PlusPackaging.com. I hope to add some pictures to the final pieces later, either here, or in the ERA404 portfolio.
While I’m waiting for the project to complete (and the NDA to lapse), and starting the web site to supplement it, I figure I might as well throw the illustrations online for others to see. Click any of the illustrations below to pop-up a window of a larger version. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
affixed onto the front leather cover of the book
in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Petroglyphs in Australia
Taj Mahal in India
going down the Mississippi River
Scottish Play Illustration
I found an old gesso’d board along the side of the street in Chelsea that some photographer threw away, along with a bunch of prints and photo-paper that they no longer needed. The board was great, because it was painted white, but wear-and-tear had created a unique “aged” feeling on it.
I hadn’t actually painted for a while, so I thought it might be time to get my brush wet again. The concept was to draw a scene from a Shakespeare play and, of course, I drew something from MacDeath. Below is the watercolor illustration of Lady Mac and husband after “the deed is done.” Click for an ultra-hi-rez version.
Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.
