A Textbook (Art) Example

Earlier this year I did a whole pile of illustrations for a textbook series on vehicles and transportation. A WHOLE pile!



All of these vehicles illustrations were done as spots, to be inserted in various places along with text and photos. But to make things a little more interesting for presentation here on my blog, I decided to mock them up as imaginary covers. So don't bother looking for these at the library or in your six year old's knapsack. (I just made 'em up)



Normally I don't really love drawing vehicles because, *ahem*, I'm not very good at mechanical objects. But this came by way of a designer friend who specifically asked me to do them and I was looking for a little freelance to do on the weekends and evenings between teaching my classes.



And as I worked on them, I was so happy with how they were turning out that it actually became quite a fun assignment.



Believe it or not, all of these vector-looking illustrations were done in Corel Painter. Why? Because I'm not an Illustrator illustrator. I've been using Painter for a few years now and find it quite versatile. I know, I know, I really, really need to learn how to use Illustrator. I've just been, you know... a little busy lately.



Right now I'm working on another giant batch of vehicles for a new series of textbooks from the same client, so this seemed like the right time to show off the last batch.



Hope you like 'em! Let me know what you think!

Seven Spots for the Medical Post

Here's a job that arrived on a Friday afternoon and had to be done on Monday morning: seven spots for the Medical Post. That's a LOT of art to complete in just two days, but I didn't have anything planned that weekend so... what the heck!



These first few are my favourites because I was able to devise these sort of interesting contrasting visual elements of the 'infographic' style juxtaposed with the more painterly style of the small figures. In retrospect, I wish I'd used this devise throughout the entire series, but "them's the breaks" when you're cranking stuff out at speed, I guess...




One thing I am really happy about is the handmade paper background element I used throughout. I think it works well as a nice unifying visual device - and is a little more interesting than the typical flat colour treatment you see in most infographics. I felt that by adding something 'organic' to the mix it would balance images that otherwise could end up with a very cold, technical look because of the the line art style.



Yeah, I know this one looks very odd. Apparently doctors are using honey to treat burns. Go figure!



All of these were printed at about 3" by 3", in case you're wondering. Not too small, but small enough to best be served by a simple style, which is why the AD asked for this bold line style I used.



This last one with the six-pack was added late in the game and without any concept sketch from me - just a quick email describing what was wanted. Because of the subject matter it feels to me a bit out of place with the rest of the spots, but I did like how it turned out.



So there you have it -- seven spots for the Medical Post!