Brian Cook Illustration

Little Inventor – Color Comps

Brian — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:24:33 +0000

I’m in the middle of working up some final illustrations for a children’s book that I wrote last summer. I’m hoping to shop it around to publishers soon, but first need a few sample finished illustrations. The finals will be done in watercolor, but one of the nice things about the digital era is that it’s relatively easy to do a mock-up of the colors in Photoshop. These four were all done relatively quickly, so they are admittedly sloppy.

I’ll post the finals here as I finished them.

Greglessness

Brian — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Some of you may remember the work I did for Coldplay and Muse through 94.7fm – well I’ve been in contact with Greg who runs their no-nonsense morning show and he asked me if I could help out with a promotional idea he had as a spoof on the Oregon Humane Society’s “End Petlessness” campaign. I decided to record the process in Photoshop (as some people have asked me how I work) Below is the video and the final!

If you like the video – check out my YouTube channel for another (and more to come!)

Steal Like An Artist!

Brian — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:47:39 +0000

I don’t usually do book reviews on here – but I read Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon a month or so ago and I’ve been thinking about it since. It’s a REALLY easy read – short blurby pages so you can pick it up and put it down easily. I think what I liked most about it is that I agreed with so much of what was in there that I felt like I could have written it! A great read for any contemporary creative.

It’s only $8.50 or something on Amazon – so there’s no excuse not to give it a go.

AND IF YOU’RE IN PORTLAND: Mr. Kleon himself is going to be speaking this coming Tuesday! Maybe I’ll see some of you there

Analog Value Comps

Brian — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:38:50 +0000

Most times when I have to do a value comp it means I open up Photoshop. But with my recent work on my children’s book illustrations I decided to go totally analog. Here are some pictures I snapped while working. They are done in charcoal, graphite and Ebony Pencil.
More to work on these to come.

P.S. if you have any great connections in the publishing world I’d LOVE to hear from you

Mini Painting Method Demo

Brian — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:38:29 +0000

Today I was working on another watercolor test and I decided to snap some pictures along the way. First I layed down a light yellow wash over the whole thing – to help unify the colors.

Then I start painting in local colors.

After that I add some shadows and value where needed.

Then it’s just a matter of fine-tuning,

To finish it all off I work with colored pencil.

Paper Tests

Brian — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:11:19 +0000

I’ve been testing out a ton of watercolor paper over the past two days. I thought I might as well post my little demo paintings. I’m really excited to start working on traditional stuff again!

Halitosis

Brian — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:32:56 +0000

Happy April Fools! This design may seem like a joke but it’s for real! Threadless hosted a goofy tongue depressor design challenge on April 1st. If you guys get a chuckle out of it, I’d love to have your votes

Sketch Trio

Brian — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 02:18:03 +0000

Lately I’ve been working on a lot of private freelance – hence I don’t have a ton of finished art to post. So I decided to at least post a few recent doodles form my sketchbook. The first is a rough for a bookmark I’m thinking about printing. The other two are just random.

Tweet – Reprinted!

Brian — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:05:32 +0000

Threadless just reprinted my “Tweet” shirt design! Thanks to everyone who requested a reprint! It’s in a new color too. Ooooooo….

Jungle Concept Art

Brian — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:16:43 +0000

Recently I completed this concept art to test out some new Photoshop brushes.