USA 4th of July 2013 - Wrap Up

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to create a post about one of the Holiday's I celebrated here in the states, Independence Day also known as the "4th of July!" It's all about celebrating America and it's freedoms. I saw a lot of really fun ads on my Facebook feed and wanted to share with you guys some of my favorites. Check them out below:

These two gems were pulled off the "Venture Bros Blog" fanpage on Facebook. The Venture Bros is one of the only things I watch on television and it's highly underated. I couldn't resist sharing these star spangled tributes to America.

The Kraft branding is fairly easy to recognize; unnatural yellowy-orangey color on a royal blue background. They incorporate their product, mac and cheese, cleverly in two patriotic ads. 

These ads featured on the "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" fanpage, were silly and targeted towards those who already like Kraft Mac and cheese with bold captions such as "You know you love it. Evidently so does Uncle Sam." As an illustrator I also appreciate the fact that these two ads were completely illustrated and still very modern, eye-catching and tantalizing! 

Here's an ad I came across on the "Crayola" fan page!! Crayola crayons are another thing that are pretty easily recognized. What a smart idea to lay their actual product out to create an American flag!! It was accompanied by the caption,"Give a big thumbs up for our forefathers, who made it possible for us to have the freedom to create, imagine and inspire!" The white crayons look a little green to me but I still love  Crayola crayons and this sweet ad.

Here were see the same concept presented with a different product. Cheezit's released this ad on their fanpage to celebrate America!! While I find Crayola's take on the idea sweet I find Cheezit's ad visually more appealing. In fact, it makes me pretty hungry. But if we're going for accuracy points, the stars as well as stripes are misrepresented while Crayola made sure to duplicate the flag to a T!

And last but not least, Hello Kitty added this lady liberty to their fanpage. I love the simplistic art style that is Sanrio. I draw a lot of inspiration from their brand and am a self proclaimed, Hello-Kitty-a-holic! Having the brand's mascot drawn up as a little Statue of Liberty is too cute and very visually striking!! Bravo Sanrio!!

As for me?? I spent Independence relaxing with family and friends at a picnic. I made sure to bring a very patriotic cake along (pictured above) with that was a HUGE hit!! Hope everyone else had a great Holiday and a great weekend!!

Mika Doodle Contest 2013 - Part II

Hello everybody! Just wanted to update the blog with the continuation of my "Mika Doodle Contest" entry from earlier this year. If you missed my previous post about the competition, let me catch you up. The contest was open to all illustrators, artists and anyone else who wanted to doodle select tracks off the album, "The Origin of Love," that were posted on the MIKA Facebook fan page every week. I made it my mission to submit an entry for EVERY one of the songs posted. This post contains the other half of my entries below!!

Song 6: Popular

This track was based off the original tune "Popular," from the musical Wicked. I love the production Wicked and this song sang by Galinda to Elphaba. MIKA's version has a similar melody but the message was less about BECOMING popular and more a stab at the "popular" kids that put down the other kids at school. I resisted the urge to create something girly and cute and based my drawing on the the line that said, "Dunk me in the toilets now it's you that cleans them." Your typical queen bee trades in her tiara for a little janitor's bucket printed with the song title and filled with cleaning solution, a sponge and a toilet brush. 

Song 7: Love You When I'm Drunk

Next was a song called, "Love You When I'm Drunk." My doodle depicts the chorus, which is exactly the same as the title of the track. I drew a bottle of whiskey with the lyrics written on the label and a half empty shot glass with heart-shaped ice cubes beside it. The entire drawing is surrounded by little broken hearts because as happy as the melody sounds the theme is pretty depressing. The text was based off of 3 different fonts from my computer. 

Song 8: Stardust

Next up was a track called, "Stardust." My original concept was going to be a silhouette of the singer made of little tiny stars taken as a Polaroid picture. After a few sketches, I was convinced it looked much better as another cartoon Mika instead. As for the colors, I was going for galaxy; purple, dark blues and dark pinks. Once I was done, I realized it looked A LOT like Coraline and her star-covered pajamas. Oops!! I still think it came out pretty good though.

Song 9: Emily

I loved the style of the video which starred "Fanny Ardent," dressed in red playing the part of "Emily," that went along with this song. The video's artistic interpretation of the song was spot on but didn't want to translate that too literally into my piece. "Emily" seemed to me from the song, to be a woman under an identity crisis. I wanted to play with the idea of changing identity by illustrating a mannequin head complete with wig and hat labeled "Emily." The curly short haircut and bright red color of the hat tie in with the look of the music video. Elegant yet still fun this is a stand alone piece and an illustration I'm really proud of!

Song 10: Make You Happy

When I heard this song for the competition I immediately thought . . . robot! And that's not just because I love robots and think about them 56% of the time I had a valid reason. The line, "all I want to do is make you happy," is constantly repeated throughout the song in mechanical sounding-auto tuned voice. Much like a robot. But this isn't just any robot, this is a MIKABOT. He comes equipped with a bolted-on suspenders, a fancy top hat and a mop of curly locks underneath it. Beep boop beep!

Song 11: Underwater

The competition wrapped up with a song called, "Underwater." I thought about what could be underwater and came up with an oyster. The oyster is open to reveal a precious pearl, shaped like a heart to symbolize love. I hand-lettered the lyrics, "put your lips on me and I can live underwater," above the piece and added some bubbles to surround the piece.

I love challenging myself artistically by entering contests and competitions. And it was fun to see everyone's different interpretations of the songs off the album. Not only that I made some new artist friends along the way!! Hope everyone has a good week!! 

Mika Doodle Contest 2013 - Part I

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update the blog with a contest I participated in during the beginning of the year. If you caught my previous post about musical artist "MIKA" you remember me mentioning how fun it is to illustrate to his tunes. So boy was I psyched when I stumbled across a "Doodle Competition" posted on his official Facebook fan page.

The tournament worked like this: nearly every week from January through mid-February a song title off the album "The Origin of Love," was announced giving fans the chance to submit artistic interpretations of the featured song and its lyrics. A doodle could be any sort illustration of the song's message whether it be digital, painted or just scribbled. I made it my mission to submit an entry for EVERY one of the songs posted. Scroll down to check out a set of the entries I submitted!

Song 1: The Origin of Love

This was the title track off of the album and the first revealed in the competition. I wanted to render all my doodles by hand while keeping consistent with my normal artistic style. I chose crayons and marker as my medium to create fun pieces reminiscent of coloring book pages. After listening to the song I created this sugary candy and pill coated heart encompassing some of the most vivid lyrics such as "some love is a candy cane it tastes so sweet but leaves you feeling sick with pain."

Song 2: Lola

This is one of my favorite doodles I created for the competition. I went for simplicity and tried not to get too literal. The particular lyrics I based it on were, "when you find your love's for real you'll beg and borrow, cheat or steal, trying to get the money just to call her." The red phone's cord twists and knots to form a little hidden heart at the end. The word's "Lola" coming out of the phone were also something I hand-lettered which I've been challenging myself with more often instead of relying on fonts to keep my work unique.

Song 3: Three Steps

"3 Steps," was appropriately chosen as song #3 (COINCIDENCE?!). This track was extremely light and airy similar to a day-dream. My main focus was the line, "this love's delicious like home-cooked dishes." I included the text in my doodle since I'm not one to turn down a warm home-made meal and it was SUCH a super simile. I drew a little cartoon MIKA up in the clouds surrounded by hearts and comfort food swirling around along with the "3 Steps."

Song 4: Heroes

"Hereos" was a bit tougher to translate into a crayon doodle since it was more serious and I like to focus on fun and happy things. The song addresses war and inner conflict among other hard topics. Since it was so sad and meant to honor our heroes what personally came to mind for me was a cracking war medal. On the inscription are the cold lyrics, "you don't have to die in your glory to never grow old." I'm pretty proud of how this turned out.

 Song 5: Celebrate

The next song revealed was an almost an exact opposite of the previous track. It's extremely upbeat and cheery titled, "Celebrate." So whee, fun! Celebrate! Balloons! Party! I hand lettered another set of lyrics on this doodle, "I want the whole world to celebrate." Little cartoon MIKA floats off into the sky to spread joy to the whole planet.

I decided to split this post up and save the other half of my entries for another date. If you are ever game for spontaneous contests that flex your creative muscle I suggest "like"ing the MIKA fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/mikasounds. Hope everyone is having a super week and keep your eyes for Part II coming soon!!

Corey Eps - Drawing Contest Entry!!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to make a quick post about a hand drawing I did for a Facebook contest! Anther drawing contest that involves Tracy DiMarco of course; except this time all you had to do was draw her boyfriend, Corey Eps!

It is a hand drawing contest and there are some REALLY great entries in it. Contestants really took their time to create some true masterpieces with all sorts of mediums! Here's my entry:

I created it with Sharpie markers, the colored markers were Prismacolor and then just some regular ole Crayola crayons :)

It turned out really cute and although I doubt I will win, but you can definitely tell I brought a bit of my own style to the competition. If you want to check out all the entries check out Corey Ep's Facebook community in the "Drawing Contest" folder.

If you haven't heard of Tracy's prince charming or how they plan to live "Jersey Ever After" they now have their own website at http://www.05-15-11.com. AND be sure to look out for him on the NEW Season of Jerseylicious :)