More Work for Kroger...

This will make the third illustration project we've done for Kroger Foods. We've been illustrating cartoon people with frosting all over their faces to chickens partying at Mardi Gras--it's all been fun!! Eventually, we'll get these illos on our website.

Baskets for Education Fundraiser

We received an email awhile back from The Franklin Monroe Elementary School requesting a donation...an autographed book or other item that we've illustrated. It would be in the annual "Baskets for Education" auction. The raised money would help the Kindergarten Enhancement program, summer learning camp and licensed clinical counselors which provide support to students who suffer trauma in their life. Good cause...

So, we shipped out a signed "Galactic Marble Kit" we had laying around the studio. Who would guess that our illustrations could help out?! It's a good feeling...

Monster Munchies POS

Thank the Art Gods!

PixelBoy Studio is exploding with work right now! We have book projects being pitched, birthday gag gift packaging in the works...we're developing super hero characters for a company out west...Easter cartoons for a ton of children materials...and we're helping out a guy in Australia with a really cool website launch! Thank the art gods there are two of us! LOL

Time for a change...

PixelBoy Studio has moved. I've never met anyone that has actually said moving is fun--but I've gotta say it anyway, "moving sucks". Ya. Not having an internet connection for four days was like losing my left arm. No video games---ugggh! But that is all behind us now and we're up and going. I'll have to update the studio photos on this blog once things are in order. I'm typing this while sitting in a pile of wires. LOL

Also, we've recently joined the Neis Group! Judy Neis is a fantastic artist representative with all the right connections for us. We're still testing the waters but I see a future with lots of art being made!

Hot Off the Press from China!

Over a year later I get to finally play marbles with my little green alien! I had a blast working with Running Press and they are very pleased with the final product.

"Que" the Alien

We had to let our creative juices flow this last week and decided to crank out an alien. Why not? This little green guy was the first and only sketch I did--it seemed to work. Lee did a fabulous job with the 3D work and I helped with the details. I even added the sketch into a quick slideshow for fun.

Shogun Robot T-shirt

PixelBoy had to switch over the 3D art we did for The Village Voice into a vector format for silkscreening. We used Adobe Illustrator's live trace and then spent some time cleaning it all up.

Postcard Practice!

Throughout our virgin years we've utilized many vendors for our promotional mailings. None have compared to 4by6.com! 14 pt. card stock with a nice gloss coating. Four color fronts with a black & white back. The costs are low and turn around is good. We also purchased a mailing list of ad agencies and publishers from AgencyAccess.com. The lists can get somewhat confusing but the ease of printing labels from downloaded PDFs is perfect. We send out two mailings of 300-500 postcards each year. We'll put the labels and postage on ourselves to save money--we do this while watching a movie. We've figured out that it costs us $1 per postcard on the first round and we'll recycle the updated mailing list for our second round of cards. So, that brings us roughly to $800.00 per year of promotional mailings. One job easily pays for this cost and from the 1000 postcards we send out we usually receive a ton of calls and quite a few jobs. A good response would be 1% of your mailings---10 calls. Of course, not all these calls would necessarily bring in a project. Sending out postcards is always in our yearly budget and it's well worth the effort! It will either go in the art director's trash can or on the wall...we'll be waiting for that call.

The Cat and the Fiddle

We've been working on concepts for children books lately. This image was one that we could actually show. Take note of the little mouse hanging out on the chimney eating cheese and listening to music.

CDW Disasters!!

Ogilvy hired us to illustrate disaster scenes for a CDW micro-site (you know--the computer store). The first issue...they wanted the art in a completely different style. But we were definitely up for the challenge! The second issue...there were eight scenes to be illustrated in less than a week with many animated parts. There were numerous stages of floods, fires and laser-blasting robots.

I believe we had too much fun to realize that we were under any pressure--but we delivered on time and the client was thrilled! (Note: No animals were harmed in these disaster illustrations. The squirrels and ducks were saved.)

Check out the site at http://www.cdwbusinesssolutions.com/ Click the Business Continuity button and you'll see 'Disaster Happens' at the bottom.

Topless Robot T-Shirt Illustration

We cranked out this illustration for the Village Voice. They write a geek blog called 'Topless Robot'(controversial name)that was in need of a rehaul and they wanted 3D art of a female, shogun warrior robot. T-shirts would also be created. See the preliminary stage below. I took the liberty of designing a new logo for the blog and used it on the t-shirt design. They loved the new logo and were blown-away by the artwork! Thanks to Bill for the fun project!

No News Can Be Good News...

We had a breather and decided to finish a newswoman that we had started awhile back. Let us know what you think...

PLAY! Resource Book is Out!

The PLAY! book just came in the mail today! Three of our images are on the cover. We feel very privileged--considering the amount of amazing talent in the annual. A big 'thanks' to Ellie Girl for getting us started!

It's Good to Be a Freelancer!

Most everyone has experienced it...being caged within a vice-grip cubicle with the sick glow of fluorescent lighting and, of course, the boss from hell. I've been freelancing for 14 or so years and have been very fortunate to work with some great creative directors.

This image took Lee and I around 3 days to complete. We believe it's one of our stronger pieces. Gonna get some postcards printed for this one!

Toy Robot