Illustrative Stunt Double

Striking a pose.

When ever I need reference material for a creative project involving a male figure I call up my friend John Nissen. He was my best man and we've known each other since attending art school. He also has a good stereotypical body type which makes him my go to male model. ;-P

An agency hired me to create some linear illustrations for a campaign pitch. The topic was medical and they requested a few samples to use in their presentation.


Doctor with stethoscope linear illustration.

John is an Art Director at a local firm here in town where I live and does both design and illustration himself so he knows how to strike that perfect pose. In this case a doctor getting ready to listen to your heart via a stethoscope.

These were going to be animated just like the bank spots I've done in the past.


Acting for the sake of art.

Here John is posing as a sick guy looking for a cure online. Does he have H1N1 or is he just a Hypochondriac?


Googling for Rx linear illustration.

Like so much agency work this project died before it ever had a chance to be animated. Easy come, easy go.

Cassette Tape Art

Blue eyes linear tape illustration. (Click for larger image)

Linear art (also called continuous line art or contour art) has seen a resurgence in the last five years or so in our industry. I've personally done linear illustrations for clients like a grocery store chain, magazine editorials, coffee companies, medical industry, Kleenex box packaging, and a Banks animated TV Ads.

I've had the idea of doing an illustration such as the one above for a few years now but just haven't found the time to do so. Well a couple weeks ago someone shared the art of iri5 with me (Cool art!) and I realized I better hurry up and do my linear take on the same genre before it becomes old hat.

Creating the Artwork

Drawing linear art.

Growing up my parents had a nice size LP collection filled with big band and the classic crooners like Frank Sinatra. So naturally I still love his music and decided to base my tape illustration on "Blue Eyes" himself.

I drew out my art based off a classic reference, and I'll use it to help guide me as I build my artwork.


A sticky situation.

I used my xacto and scraped off small amounts of glue stick to affix the tape to the paper and keep it in place.


Inch by inch.

Placing small amounts of glue stick on the paper I then pressed the tape down. I did this on my light box so I could see my drawing underneath and follow it. I repeated this process for the next several hours until I completed the entire linear art.


Eyeing the details.

Tape is flat so I had to bent, fold and twist it to follow the form I wanted. I almost broke the tape a few times along the way and it got tangled on my desk since I was constantly rotating the paper too.


Antique audio = Art.

It was a slow process but it was fun. I almost did Elvis for the iconic aspects of his image but I decided to go with Sinatra instead since I actually listen to his music more often.

Another idea hit me as I was working on this though. I'd love to get my hands on a real Watergate tape and do a tape illustration of Nixon. Now that would be cool! (If someone at the Smithsonian is reading this lets talk.)

Serious though, I'd love to do a linear illustration of John Wayne using rope, just not sure when I'll get around to that?

Continuous Line Illustration

'Linear styled illustration of a man.'

Sometimes in the course of working with agencies projects change or get axed mid-way through a creative process. Thus was the case with this project. I was hired to illustrate some linear line art for an advertising campaign. With this specific style all the heavy lifting creatively speaking is done upfront in the refining of the sketch. Working out how the one continuous line flows to create the given image. And once the sketch is done you essentially know what the final art will end up looking like so all that remains is just building the final vector version once the sketches are approved.


'Linear styled illustration of a women.'

Well, before I had a chance to build the art the client changed the direction of the project and thus the linear art was no longer needed. That's the way it goes at times but I liked the art so I went ahead and created it for myself.

Linear Line Artwork

'Smiling Face Linear.'

Creating linear line illustration is as close to getting paid to doodle as it gets for me. The amount of time it takes to go from my revised sketch to final is about as short as it gets in regards to illustration. But that said this style is deceptively simple. Sure it's one continuous line (minus secondary elements like movement lines and such) but you have to balance the negative and positive areas well otherwise it can become a scrambled mess of overlapping lines. The other key is to not make the stroke too thick or too thin.


'The Whole Set.'

The ad agency White Rhino (Cool name) hired me to create the set of linear line illustrations shown above. The usage would be for TV spots for a regional bank called 'RiverBank' and on print collateral. The illustrations had to work moving from left to right when animated. The 'Dental Chair' illustration was never used because their client didn't want that theme related to their banking experience. ;-) Included in the project was the need for type matching the same style they could use on print collateral as well.


'Capture from TV Spot 1'

The illustrations were animated for two TV spots they produced. You can watch both spots using the following links.

- Watch TV Spot 1
- Watch TV Spot 2

Now if only Ragu™ would hire me to create linear illustrations out of spaghetti! Dat's a-spicy project!

Urban Wrap

Classy, clean, simple and upscale.

About a year ago I designed a logo for a couple New York based software programmers. They were really happy with the work I did for them and when they decided to partner on a new inner city restaurant venture they contacted me to create their new logo for them. I thought the name they came up with was incredible and it really made me excited to work on this project.


Going Ghetto With it!

My failed first attempt at the logo.

Normally on logo projects I present a wide range of ideas but this project was more on the level of a pro-bono gig so I presented just one idea initially. I of course as you can see played off the whole 'Urban Wrap' theme. I like it, it's definately has an urban inner city vibe but it was a little too over the top for them. Their feedback essentially said "Too ghetto! We want upscale and classy."

No problem. The way my mind works is I almost always immediately see a design in my head and usually about 90% of the time it's what ends up being picked. So I set out to create a nice simple and clean mark with enough subtle conceptual flair to make it interesting. I also tried to keep the color palette flexible for easy application and low-cost reproduction of menus, signage etc.

They loved it and now I'll be designing their awning. I am due to fly out to New York later this year so I'll stop in and participate in some 'Urban Wrap' myself.

Time for tea.

Illustration Friday theme of 'Tea'.