Rolling back the clock

I've recently been revisiting some of my old work done in Illustrator (thanks to Steph Laberis for reminding me that I really liked working that way!). For one reason, because I think in many ways it's the one app that helps me retain some of what I consider key qualities of my style -simple shapes and simple sweeping lines with a minimum of fuss. I still love getting all painterly in Photoshop, and I think going forward I will continue along a more graphic, yet still rendered approach, trying to strike some balance between what you see in these old samples and what you can see a few posts down in the Spoutwood logo work.

My only gripe about Illustrator is that it is really time consuming (for me) and lacks the spontaneity of dabbing and swiping away with a brush. The end result can sometimes seem a little to machined for my taste, but maybe if I leverage the best of both Illustrator and Photoshop I will get some tasty results.

Without further adieu, here is the old stuff:


My recently departed dog, Tonka. I kind of cheesed on the body and put my time into the head.


Probably the first thing I did in this style in Illustrator. In some ways I don't think I've surpassed it. There is a certain proportion to it that I've never quite captured since.


My magnum opus. Once upon a time, another lifetime ago I played Everquest (playing WoW these days). We had a guild forum and I made avatars for my wife and I. Well as soon as I did that, the whole guild wanted them. These were done over a period of time and range from quite good to really bad. Quality varied with how much I liked my guildy, how interesting their toon was and how fast I did them.


One of my guildies was game-wide famous for his guide to food crafting and asked me to make an image he could use for his on-line guide. I cheesed some of it, but mostly I like it. All the food ingredients were fun to do.


A shirt design with my EQ character -hate the horse, but like the overall design.


Another shirt, this time for my wife. I really like the way this one came out.

Sorry for all the old work. I know I had set the goal of showing only new, but sometimes you need to travel in the past to find your way forward and I think this has been a helpful journey for me.