Workbook Illustrators share their favorite projects from 2019.
Illustrators Share Their Best From 2019
Posted on
"This is a series, inspired by the Japanese Shin-hanga movement, that has been conceptually and technically in development for two years for the purpose of publishing as a limited edition series and potential commercial application and has now been picked up by a publisher. Subsequently, the works were presented to a fine art gallery as a pitch for a concept involving the environment - a solo exhibition is now scheduled for September of 2020." Dennis Mukai
"These are illustrations I created for the Central Aquatics co. for the Kaytee line of small animal feed packages. I've also included the sample photos Central Aquatics sent me showing how my art was used in the packaging. These were created completely in Adobe Illustrator and it was very exciting to adapt my style of pen&ink with watercolor into vector art." Keith Ward
"The Power of Place is my favorite project this year, not because it was created for the legendary brand or product, but because it was one of the most challenging concepts of the year and it was something that really made me think about science on a global level. This drawing and final art was in collaboration with Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, a world class scientific field station whose work is a testament to what adventurous and curious people can achieve when they dig into a big idea to see what they can discover. It turns out that scientists are very much like artists. When scientists need to explain their work, they need to become storytellers. Here is how we, the left-brains and the right-brains, decided to tell the stories about Gothic Mountain, a remote place in the Colorado Rockies. We wanted to explain how plants, animals, and the tiniest living things interact with their environment and effect global climate. But the story was also vast. All of the research becomes part of an extraordinary apparatus of metadata. So, like many illustration projects, the hard part was how to create a simple visual image that explains the enormous, multi- dimensional concept to the everyday person. The easy part was remembering this simple phrase — “one picture is worth a thousand words”. Here is the result. The body of shared knowledge is depicted as building blocks of an architecture. The image of Gothic Mountain is a metaphor for the huge dataset, in the image of the ideal natural environment. This simple drawing evolved and has has been telling stories about this mountain all year long." Narda Lebo
"The Flamin' Hot Nacho were released in January, 2019 while The Flamin' Hot Limon (Green) was just released. It was an adventure in creating multiple types of imagery/textures very fast, all for a fun concept. The real joy was seeing its debut on a full minute ad during the Superbowl with Chance & The Backstreet Boys. Much more validating than an award." Ben Garvie
I’ve long been a fan of old cars, and the Hudson is truly a beast from another era Showing it at a gas station seemed appropriate, I would have thought, but it averaged about 15 MPG in the city and 18 on the highway. Not too shabby for this steel-bodied behemoth. The visor actually shaves off a couple MPGs, though. The image of this Hornet, with a dog in the back, desert background in the distance, makes you want to strike out in search of adventures on the road, doesn’t it? Tony DeLuz
Stone fruit harvested in late summer inspire this September watercolor whereby the unusual hybrid of apricot and plum (aprium) in warm rose hues appealed to the artist in contrast to the aqua and olive handmade bowl, using a rare gray setting that seems to float the bowl of fruit in this realistic still life. Marjorie Muns
