Tag Archives: Illustration

Posts with Illustrations from 2005

Speak Up’s Word It for November

…is “quick”.

The Great Wardrobe Shift

It’s fall and time for that fun game we all get to engage in twice a year—The Wardrobe Shift. This is the game in which you attempt to remember exactly what you own that will see you through the next season. At about the time I finally have the summer clothes all figured out and on a nice rotation, the temperatures start dropping, and I know it’s time to begin THE SHIFT.

As if it weren’t bad enough that we have to go from one complete wardrobe to another for the cooler temperatures, we also have to make the incremental adjustments along the way. There’s no time to really settle into the spring and fall clothes (as if there are actually “spring” and “fall” clothes). They are the outfits that are strange blends of summer and winter items brought together for a short period of time—just to see us through until the weather is fully committed.

The clothes, themselves, rarely enjoy this in-between-season time. The sweater really prefers the heavier pants to the lighter summer pair you are currently wearing because you think it’s “not quite cold enough yet”. So the sweater and the pants nag you all day long that they just don’t belong together. Every time you look in the mirror, you wonder why you forgot to turn on the lights before you looked at your murky reflection. Maybe just one more cup of coffee before you left the house would have snapped you out of your wardrobe malfunction. Maybe there should be a Garanimalesque system for adult clothing, you think to yourself. And you could corner the market if only you had the time.

There’s one solace in the dark season of clothing confusion—you’re strangely comfy.

KPK’s Monster

November 10th

Scarier?

Illo Friday “Imagine” and SpeakUp! “Star”

I did a combo illustration—lazy or creative? You make the call.

I’d initially done this for Illo Friday “surprise”, but it was too late. I think it applies well to “imagine”, as in “Imagine poor Harvey’s impending mysery at the hands of his closest friends.”

Flash forward to 2022: Harvey’s closest friends were immortalized in The Word It Book published in 2007, edited by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armit Vit. You’ll find the trio on page 169.

2022 Note continues: None of us ever imagined Harvey’s pals would hang out on a page with Marilyn Monroe for eternity. I think the editors had a little fun with this page arrangement.

Illo Friday “Holiday”

This is a colored pencil drawing that adorned my Christmas letter this year. Merry Christmas everyone!

And a Happy New Year too!

This post is a consolidation of several posts from 2005—with a little new information tossed in for good measure.

Illuminating

My collection of sketchy, daily Moleskines dates back to 2006. They all share a common trait…empty centers. In the summer months I don’t spend as much time drawing/writing/creating in my Moleskine. There are other things to do.

Continuing the scribbly lined tree theme for the year.

While I slowly cooked my breakfast this morning, and listened to the latest edition of The Economist, I did a little illuminating. Some might call it doodling, and that is not a wholly inaccurate description of the activity. However, this was doodling with intent after self-assessing my annual habits.

This one is the closest to.a doodle of the them all. It was wonderfully meditative creating the little loops…leaves, bows, who knows?

I also made a conscious choice not to go farther than the pen work on these. I’m giving my overburdened/distracted/outdoorsy future self a chance to play with watercolors later. Yep, I’m making coloring pages for myself.

Faint lines of perspective visible.

The garden club I belong to (Four Seasons Garden Club) plants a tree each year to celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day. We plant each one at a school in the area, so the kids can help with the planting. Fun is had by all.

Here’s how Arbor Day came into being according to the History Channel: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/the-history-of-arbor-day.

The modern idea of an arbor is more of a garden structure for shelter and/or plant support.

My sketch taps into a memory from my childhood of our elm-lined street. Everyone’s house had one or two elms on the parkway. Their canopy covered the street in a cathedral of moist, verdant shade. Blistering summer heat never penetrated that shield, and raucous winds were caught and mitigated by the high branches and leaves.

The monoculture planting that created this beautiful effect showed its inherent weakness when it was devastated by Dutch Elm disease…one by one the trees came down.

A smattering of new trees (more varied for greater resiliency and to address individual’s tastes) were planted. Volunteer trees that grew in convenient locations were left alone to flourish where they sprouted.

The neighborhood was never completely restored.

The strength of a tree is in a forest.

Years ago in the living arbor of Door County

A single tree can provide some shelter, but for a true arbor you need the forest to envelop you.

On the day Daylight Savings Time begins.

I finished today’s illuminations with a return to a bit of doodling. These were created by outlining a petterned glass candleholder that lives on my kitchen counter. I offset it a bit and partially outlined it again. Do we think this will likely end up with a clock face? Not only possible, but probable.

Enjoy your weekend!

Personal Project—2022 Planners

Inktober and other fun projects took a back seat this week because a personal project arrived!

Opening this box was like Christmas morning in October. I was so excited for these to arrive!

2022 calendars have been on my mind recently because I receive several wall calendars in the fall, and they are usually accompanied by donation requests.

Still, It occurred to me that a calendar would be a great piece of swag to send my clients as an end-of-the-year thanks. Instead of another wall calendar, though, I thought a planner might be more fun. My business is publishing, after all, and 2020-2021 have been far more digital than print. I’ve been itching for a box of fresh printing to arrive on my doorstep.

I wanted the planner to showcase my design tastes, and the artwork needed to be mine too. I crawled through datebooks and sketchbooks going back to 2006, and pulled some of my favorite pieces. There are a few below. Every month has one or two pieces of art, and there is room for making notes/doodles/to-do lists.

The planner contains my personal and professional brands because it is where my art and my design world meet. Twenty have already shipped with hand-written notes and, yes, a couple of business cards, to my clients from 2021. And some of these will be thank-you gifts to the people who have been so supportive to me as I’ve built Nan Mellem Publishing.

Glitch Happens Illustrations

Many blessings upon the editors who sometimes let you fly with an idea! Tim Clancy was just that Editor-in-Chief, and he really let me run with this one.

The Glitch Happens article that appeared in the October 2007 Graduating Engineer & Computer Careers magazine was written by Dee Giffin Flaherty and Philip D. Flaherty, and they told some wonderfully descriptive stories that screamed out to me for very specific artwork.

Continue reading “Glitch Happens Illustrations”