huckleberry finn

/ Don

Copies of a Copy

In 2007, an investment firm hired my studio, ERA404, to design an “Indiana Jones diary” for a global investor, as a unique way of showcasing their findings from a literacy study they conducted. Part of the project was creating a dozen or so original illustrations from his travels. One of the illustrations was of Huckleberry Finn rafting down the Mississippi River. I confess that I borrowed inspiration from an iconic book cover when creating the artwork.

"Huck Finn River" Google Search ResultsA few weeks ago, a friend and colleague pointed my attention to an article on VentureBeat.com which incorporated a cropped version of this illustration. On a whim, I did a Google Image Search, and was able to find that this image has been reproduced, re-cropped, and re-used in 8 pages and 90 links worth of results, making it one of the most frequently returned images in Google searches with the keywords “huck finn river”.

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/ Don

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.

Laser-Etched Medallion
Mock-up of the laser-etched medallion that will be
affixed onto the front leather cover of the book
Illustration of Big Ben and Parliament
Illustration of Big Ben and Parliament
Illustration of a Cambodian Boatman
Illustration of a Cambodian Boatman and Temple
Illustration of a Coffee Branch
Illustration of a Coffee Branch
Illustration of Christ the Redeemer
Illustration of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor)
in Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Illustration of Aboriginal Boomerangs and Petroglyphs
Illustration of Aboriginal Boomerangs and
Petroglyphs in Australia
Illustration of Hiking Gear
Illustration of a Sextant
Illustration of a Sextant
Illustration of Clock Inner-workings
Illustration of the inner-workings of a clock
Illustration of the Taj Mahal
Illustration of a boatman in front of the
Taj Mahal in India
Illustration of Easter Island Moas
Illustration of the Moas (or statues) on Easter Island
Illustration of Huckleberry Finn and Jim on the Mississippi
Illustration of Mark Twain’s Jim and Huckleberry Finn
going down the Mississippi River