When beginning an illustration project, I usually start with a prompt of some sort. For this process, I’ll use my work with the well known nursery rhyme “Jack Be Nimble”. This project began as a exercise at an illustrator’s intensive with Kristen Nobles, art director at Candlewick Press, but I won’t go into that (if you get the chance, take her class!). Instead, I’ll share with you the steps in how I create my illustrations.
Time lapse animation of my process.
The latest identity project here at the studio is Witness, a new bar located in the heart of Broadway in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. It was the dream of bartender Gregg Holcomb to open a Southern church-styled bar that is a place for all to gather. With 102 year old church pew seats and glass windows evoking a church, I was contacted to craft a logo that would give the bar a timeless feel of Southern hospitality. Obvious cliches of church themed typefaces and logos (including Bible aesthetics) were pushed aside in search of something deeper within the zeitgeist of the deep South, and explore the idea of community that involves Sundays after church with potlucks and fellowship.
The Kalm Down logo is for a drink made from kava, drunk in Polynesian culture (especially within the island of Fiji) for hundreds, if not thousands of years, for it’s relaxing qualities. My client, Kalm Down, LLC., have been in business within the year, but felt that they needed to revamp and develop their brand to stand out among many of the mediocre kava makers in the market. Continue reading