Steven Salerno Blog

"less is more" (but "way more" is fun!)

2012-01-25T14:40:00.009-05:00

visit stevensalerno.co

I do my best doodling when I am on the phone, or watching TV. Relative to drawing, I think sometimes the mind is less inhibited to conjure up fresh and unique visions when it is being distracted. By being on the phone or watching TV as your pen moves across the paper, you kind of fall into a "drawing auto-pilot" mode, wherein you begin spontaneously creating an image that you are not actually consciously aware of making... it just kind of appears. (case in point: visit the "other world sketches" portfolio section on my web site, to see all the "alien" doodles I created in this same manner.)

The other day I quickly made a little ball point pen doodle of a man smoking a pipe, riding atop a curly, fantastical bicycle contraption. And like most of the doodles I make, they are done on scraps of paper and on the backs of envelopes, so inevitably they get thrown in the trash... But I remembered making the "bicycle" doodle, and liked it, so a couple days later I then used a red crayon and a ball point pen to quickly recreate the original doodle, and again drew a man with the pipe riding the fantastical bicycle. I was careful to keep it as crude and "un-rendered" as possible, to imbue this new image with a doodle-like sensibility. I then scanned the drawing into Photoshop, and added in the texture of the ground beneath the bicycle by grabbing a section from a previous illustration of mine which consisted of greenish-brown brush strokes with gouache, plus I also digitally drew in the thin looping line of the pipe smoke. Viola! (click on the image above to see the full view of it)

Visit my web site to view all my illustration samples, and make sure to see my recent works in the new stuff portfolio section.

What's Old is New Again... (with a twist)

2012-01-04T11:44:00.008-05:00

Q: How many years have I been an illustrator?

Hint: A lot! I started my career as an illustrator before there were cell phones, the internet, fax machines, and personal computers... and it also was slightly before Ronald Reagan first became President!

A: 2012 will be my 30th year in the illustration biz! Actually I first started my illustration career 33 years ago, but I dropped out for a few years when I was in my late twenties to work in the golf business. (It's a long story... but it ultimately resulted in my other web site, which was launched in 2010, SASgolf.com. Take a look!)

Very early in my illustration career, the images I created were psychologically darker and more reality-based in execution compared to the lighter and more whimsical illustration style I am known for today, especially with all the children's picture books I do. (visit my web site and click on the "old is new" tab in the bottom menu bar, to see a few samples of work from very early in my career)

Just recently I started creating some new illustration imagery that stylistically looks much more like the works I created very early in my career... meaning that these new images are also darker in mood and more reality-based in execution. Posted here are some of these new images of mine... from the new portfolio section on my web site named: new stuff, highlighted by one image which is for the February 2012 cover of Harper's magazine, done through famed industry designer Roger Black. (see previous post on the creation of this cover assignment project.) It's the image of the corporate giant devouring his competition.

So, what's old can be new again, in the sense that I am beginning to develop new horizons with my illustration work by using similar style techniques I first used many years ago. The difference? These new illustrations are better looking, smarter and more colorful! The great thing about being an artist, is that you actually do get better with age... Thank goodness I was not a professional basketball player making millions upon millions of dollars whose career ended at age 35! (I wish!)

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolios, and see a sneak peek at my latest illustrated children's picture book, Brothers At Bat (to be released in spring 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by clicking on the featured book section within the kids' books portfolio.

The Airship Designer visit stevensalerno.com

The Monopoly visit stevensalerno.com

The Match visit stevensalerno.com

Abe Lincoln was a Biker visit stevensalerno.com

Sherlock Holmes using an iPad visit stevensalerno.com

Mr. Tommy Gun visit stevensalerno.com

The Setback visit stevensalerno.com

Left Brain, Right Brain visit stevensalerno.com

Latest illustration assignment: cover of Harper's magazine (AKA: Monopoly Mouth!)

2011-12-20T17:31:00.028-05:00

Way back in the olden days of illustration, when I first started my career (before there were cell phones, or the internet, or desk top computers, or fax machines!) when illustrators actually had to messenger or physically bring their sketches to show the art directors, is when I first met Roger Black, then the design director of New York Magazine here in Manhattan.

I worked on a number of illustration projects for him over a period of years in the 1980's at New York Magazine, and then at The NY Times Sunday Magazine when he was the design director there, and then also again when he started his own design firm. My illustration style way back in those days was darker in mood, with muted colors, and much more "realism" based. I had not worked for Roger for many, many years, during which time my entire illustration style became much lighter, whimsical and more colorful. See my illustration portfolios at stevensalerno.com.

Then about a month and a half ago, from out of the blue, Roger contacted me and wanted to know if I would be interested in creating a cover illustration for Harper's magazine (his firm handles the cover design each month). Of course I did! It was for a feature article about the riots in Britain this past summer, and obviously needed a serious visual approach for the cover art. I think maybe Roger was expecting my illustration style from many years ago (because he referred to my "Daumier" style being right for the project). Why not? I was up for "going retro" and executing this cover assignment in my own previous style, with a contemporary twist, of course. However, to make it brief, my sketches for this "British Riots" cover project unfortunately never got past the sketch stage, as the editors at Harper's didn't like what I presented. Oh well... you win some and you lose some. I collected my kill fee for having completed the sketch stage work, but felt really bad that I had not completed the project all the way through with Roger.

Then a couple weeks ago I was contacted by Roger yet again... with another Harper's cover assignment. Great! I was being given another opportunity, and hopefully with this one I would get over the sketch stage hurdle with the Harper's editors. (note to illustrator novices: magazine covers, whether using art or photography, bear much more responsibility financially for a publication because of sales concerns, and also stylistically it has to function within the publication's perceived brand identity... so therefore the editors and marketing people really scrutinize and obsess over the cover sketch process, far more so than with sketches for images being used inside the pages of the publication.)

This new cover art assignment was for a feature article on how large monopolies in certain industries are making it very difficult for smaller companies to operate, by shrinking the free market arena. The images posted below are the preliminary sketches, as well as some photos of the illustration during the creation process...

This first rough sketch (above) was created before I even had the article manuscript to read, and it was simply based on Roger's emailed synopsis of the story. It depicts a large corporate character basically pushing and elbowing the smaller businesses literally off of the cover...

This second rough sketch (above), based on my having read the manuscript and having a better grasp on the details involved, used the "walk softly and carry a big stick" concept literally, with the added visual of showing how the huge monopoly character controlled much of the free market landscape and at the same time also corralled the smaller businesses into restricted positions.

From the feedback I was getting, the editors understood the thrust of my sketch approach, but I guess they felt it was a bit too static or tame, because one the editors offered the comment, "What if the large corporate guy was eating the smaller ones?" Roger thought this was a cool idea, that if handled well could be dynamic, and I agreed. I loved the surreal nature of the "eating" notion. I came up with this new rough sketch (above) which depicts a huge, bloated corporate character holding an armful of "little corporate guys" and stuffing one of them into his gigantic, terrifying mouth. I was inspired by Goya's painting entitled, "Saturn Devouring One of His Sons." I purposely tilted the large character to one side to suggest his gluttony was making him unbalanced, and from the start was also planning for the background to be handled in a rough, crude texture of hatching marks.

This next stage color sketch (above) indicated my plans for keeping the use of color very simple. In fact prior to the color sketch shown here, I did another version which showed blood staining the front of the large character's face and suit. However the editors thought it was too graphic. But what I did instead was make the sky a very saturated red, and also made sure to use this same intense red color inside the mouth area, with the net effect heightening the gross and terrifying action of devouring the competition. It seemed bloody without showing any blood!

This alternate sketch version (above) was to explore what the image would look like if I pushed the direction of the huge corporate character to look like a kind of "Mr. Monopoly." (from the board game MONOPOLY) Sort of like a Mr. Monopoly on steroids! This sketch was rejected, but I was fine with it because I also felt that it just was not necessary to hit the reader's over the head with a "monopoly" concept anyway. The cover would be stronger, more surreal and unsettling looking if it did not have such a "cartoony" reference.

This layout comp (above) provided by Roger Black inserted my approved color sketch to show how the final cover would look...

This is a photo (above) of my drawing desk, with a number of the pencil and crayon sketches for the cover art.

This is a photo (above) of a quick tracing done on top of a rough sketch, for better defining the facial features of the main character.

This is a photo (above) of my light table, with a sketch of the smaller corporate figures. Here I have placed my quality paper (Arches 260lb hot press) on top of the sketch, and begin to draw the final version.

This is a photo (above) of the completed final drawing of the smaller corporate characters done in pencil, black crayon, black gouache, and black pastel. This drawing element is then scanned into Photoshop and combined (layered) with the final drawing of the large corporate character.

This is a photo (above) of a detail of the completed smaller corporate figures. Here you can better see how the black pastel was used to create a medium shadow effect on the characters.

This is a photo (above) of my light table, with a sketch of the large corporate figure. Here I have placed my quality paper (Arches 260lb hot press) on top of the sketch, and begin to draw the final version.

This is a photo (above) of the final drawing of the large corporate character, that when fully completed would be executed with pencil, black crayon, black gouache, and black pastel. The simplistic landscape is indicated as well. Notice that the smaller corporate characters are not there, because I created them as a separate element. This drawing is then scanned into Photoshop and combined (layered) with the final drawing of the smaller corporate characters.

This is a photo (above) of a detail of the large corporate figure drawing. Here you can better see how the black crayon was used, which gave a slight "rough" quality to the line work.

This is the completed final art image (above) for the cover. The stages you do not see are the various layers in Photoshop which combined the drawing of the large corporate character and the background landscape, with the smaller corporate characters, which consisted of a lot of jockeying back and forth until all the elements were lined up properly. Also not seen are the handful of layers of digital color effects for the sky, the ground, and in the character's suits, which even though the colors for this particular illustration were minimal, it still took nearly as long to finalize all the color as it did to execute all the drawings.

This is a detail (above) of the completed final art image for the cover, which better shows the smaller corporate characters being held. You can see a bit of the rough hatching that was used to suggest the stormy red sky.

This final cover layout (above) provided by Roger Black shows how the art will look on the "subscriber's issue" when it is printed in February 2012.

This final cover layout (above) provided by Roger Black shows how the art will look on the "news stand issue" when it is printed in February 2012. This version merely entailed using a close-up detail of the final art image for this additional cover "flap." It's really great because this "flap" format showcases the textural element of the drawing quality which is not quite as visually apparent in the smaller format "subscriber's issue" version.

It was a fun project... and the fact that Roger Black had wanted me to do my "earlier" illustration style for this cover art, actually prompted me to create a new portfolio section on my web site called "new stuff" wherein I posted some recently created illustrations that indeed purposely feel a lot like my illustrations from much earlier in my career, but with a bit of contemporary zip! Take a look!

You can see all my portfolio samples on stevensalerno.com And make sure to also see my "featured book" section which highlights my next children's picture book, Brothers At Bat, due out in April 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

BROTHERS AT BAT -my next illustrated picture book

2011-11-28T23:10:00.029-05:00

a scene from Brothers At Bat illustrated by Steven Salerno

publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Clarion Books)

editor: Jennifer Greene

designer: Sharismar Rodriguez

author: Audrey Vernick

illustrator: Steven Salerno

release date: spring 2012

A well known children's joke riddle goes like this:
Q: "What has 18 legs and catches flies?"
A: a baseball team!

Well, in the case of my latest illustrated children's picture book, entitled "Brothers At Bat" (slated for a publication release date of spring 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Clarion Books) there is an added twist to that riddle:

Q: "What has 18 legs, catches flies, and is from New Jersey?"

A: The all-brother baseball team named ACERRAS.

The ACERRAS was a real life all-brother baseball team from New Jersey that played semi-pro ball in the late 1930's, '40's, and into the early 1950's... and were subsequently honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown with a special ceremony in 1996 -for being the longest playing all-brother team in baseball history! In fact, the Acerra family had sixteen children in total: 12 boys and 4 girls. Wow! All twelve boys played on the ACERRAS semi-pro baseball team, which was coached and managed by their father, "Pop." They also had a dog named, what else? "Pitch." The story covers a span of about 70 years, from when the brothers were very young playing backyard ball, through their semi-pro baseball team days, going off to war, returning home safely, back to playing baseball again, starting their own families... and up to their ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. The book is indeed about baseball, but at the same time it is also an intimate and heartfelt slice of American history experienced through the lives of one (very large!) family.

glove illustration from title page

This true story is wonderfully written by author Audrey Vernick , based on her extensive research and interviews with the extended Acerra family members, including several of the surviving brothers who played on the baseball team. I took on the project of illustrating this story not only based on the exceptional quality of the writing, but also because it was my first time illustrating a non-fiction children's picture book which involved depicting real people and real events in history. I also wanted to be involved with this book because my own father and his brothers (my uncles) had somewhat similar life experiences as did the Acerra brothers: My father and uncles as young men all played high school baseball, had their lives disrupted by service in WWII and the Korean War, and a couple of them went on to play professional minor league baseball...one for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It just seemed a very comfortable fit for me to create the art for this unique story about the Acerras, because doing so, in a way, would also be a tribute to a part of my own family's history. In fact, I dedicated the book to my father, and in the back of the book (on the author's and illustrator's comment page) I described the baseball playing history of my uncles.

detail from half-title page (team bus)

Jennifer Greene, the editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, sought me out to work on this picture book, and I am so glad she did. Up until doing the art for Brothers At Bat, the artwork for all my other previous picture books to date have been executed in a very whimsically stylized manner... so how Jennifer determined that I should be the illustrator to illustrate this book is still a mystery to me. She had no inkling from any of my previous picture books as to how I was going to handle creating the images for this true life story, which certainly called for more "realistic" based imagery in order to capture the feeling of period scenes from the 1930's, '40's and '50's. Anyway, however Jennifer came to the determination of wanting me to illustrate this book, she surely chose the right illustrator. I think it was fate to illustrate Audrey's story! The strength of the writing and illustrations in this book have combined for a very strong picture book indeed. Most baseball books are clearly intended for boys, but Brothers At Bat is for everyone in the family to enjoy. This assessment has already been reflected in pre-publication sales: I think to date, Brothers At Bat has sold about 40,000 copies and the book won't even be released until spring 2012! (Coinciding with the opening of the baseball season, of course!)

Posted below are some of my sketches from Brothers At Bat, including photos depicting stages of drawings in progress...

1 initial rough sketch stage of a double-page spread scene

2 more advanced refined sketch stage also showing general text placement

3 approved final sketch stage also showing precise text placement

4 completed final artwork of the double page spread

The sketches sequence above shows a preliminary rough sketch of a spread scene, through to the completed final art. Not only must I choose exactly which actions within the text to illustrate, and how to physically depict the imagery, but the illustrator must also decided how the text will fall based on the images (page turns), and must also pre-plan allowing logical sufficient areas within (or around) the art for which the designer then creates the final layout of the type. I generally do all my preliminary sketches in black & white and then work out the color during execution of the final art...though, all during the sketch stage I am already formulating plans as to what the color palette will be in the final images.

preliminary rough sketch stage showing all the brothers as boys

pasting lines of text onto sketch, experimenting where text associates with art

photo of the entire ACERRAS team (about 1950)

The above straight-on team photo above (provided by the Acerra family) was basically the only working reference photo I had to use for the entire project. (I also had one photo of the father standing with two of the brothers, and a photo of the family house in New Jersey.) Therefore, to create the many different scenes required in the book essentially I had to speculate what the boys looked like from different angles, what they looked like at different ages, etc... This lack of sufficient photo reference meant that for most of the scenes, what I was really doing was basically creating images of the brothers as kind of generic visions of what the boy or man might have actually looked like. I feel I handled this problem quite well... and the final art essentially has the correct feel of their physical looks.

1 preliminary sketch study of faces based on team photo reference

2 advanced sketch stage showing brothers in double page spread layout

3 refined sketch stage showing brothers at different ages and team on field


4 close-up of refined sketch stage showing brothers at different ages

5 completed final art of brothers at different ages (gouache, crayon, & digital color)

The above sequence of images shows my initial sketch study of the brothers based on the team photo reference, which then evolved into a spread scene final sketch of the brothers at the ages they were in 1938 (then ranging from 7 years old up to 32 years old). Since that team photo of the boys as adults was my only working reference, I needed to speculate on what some of the individual boys looked like at much younger ages. At the bottom of the sequence is the final art. It was created with crayon and gouache, and then scanned into Photoshop for added digital color layers.

1 my drawing board with a "brother" illustration in progress

2 close-up view. Here I am brushing in a line with black gouache

1 my sketch on lightbox, with watercolor paper on top and penciling in final art

2 drawing completed, ready to scan and add digital color in Photoshop

3 close-up view of preceding image

The above sequence of images shows a couple illustrations from the book: one of a brother running the bases and the other depicting many of the brothers walking out onto the playing field. My process is to take my final sketch and then place it onto a lightbox, with my watercolor* paper on top of the sketch. Using the sketch showing from underneath as a guide, I then redraw the image using light pencil onto the watercolor paper, making on-the-fly refinements and modifications. The next stage is to then finally render the image using black crayon and black gouache. Once that stage is completed the drawing is then scanned into Photoshop (as well as other painted elements that will comprise the final scene) to position the image into the page layout and add digital color in numerous layers.
*I use the term watercolor paper, but actually it is Arches 260 lb hot press printing paper that I work on.

1 preliminary rough concept sketch of stadium scene

2 slightly more refined rough sketch

3 advanced sketch showing complete scene and general type positioning

4 final sketch on lightbox, and redrawing image onto watercolor paper

5 close-up of preceding image

6 final drawing of the fans in baseball stadium stands

7 close-up view of preceding image

8 completed drawing of fans, with touches of black added in

9 background painting of stands and stadium (crayon and gouache)

10 close-up view of preceding image

11 stadium background and drawing of fans layered into Photoshop

12 final art "stadium scene" (digital color completed) approx: 20" x 11"

13 close-up of preceding image

The above sequence of 13 images shows the "stadium scene," from initial rough sketch, all the way through to the final completed art. What this sequence does not show is the intense layering in Photoshop during the stage where I add the digital color effects and combine all the various elements which comprise the full scene. Typically when I work in this method, there are usually about 15 to 20 different element and color layers within the Photoshop image file that are then all "flattened" to arrive at the final completed image -which is then delivered to the designer at the publisher. With this particular book project, I created all the final art at "same size" as the printed book size... so this "stadium scene" art is approximately about 20 inches wide x 11 inches tall. (With some book projects I work larger than the printed book size, and the art images are then reduced.) This step-by-step process described above was the same for the creation of all the inside illustrations and cover art created for the entire book.

1 final art: opening spread of book: boys playing backyard ball in springtime

2 close-up view of preceding image

The above two images are of the opening scene spread in the book... where it describes the kids of the neighborhood all running outside in the springtime to play baseball after school. It takes place in an ocean side town in New Jersey in the late 1920's. I particularly like how I created the houses throughout the book, which was by painting a rough, wide, swatch of blue and cream colored brush strokes, scanning it into Photoshop, and then digitally "cutting out" the needed shapes of all the various house "vignettes" for the different scenes throughout the book, and then adding the minimal architectural line details and windows on another layer to complete the look. The rough texture of the houses give the scenes an appropriate period feel and character.

1 preliminary rough cover concept sketch

This sketch seen above was my initial rough cover concept. (With all my cover sketches, I dummy in the title and names, simply for me to see that I am generally allowing enough area for this text information to be generated by the designer. In other words, any type treatment you see in these early stage cover sketches are just generic... The book was superbly designed by Sharismar Rodriquez at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.) My perspective is that a cover should always be bold, minimal, and only needs to visually suggest what is inside the book... in other words a cover does not need to spell out or reveal everything that the story is about in an obvious manner. Less is more, and also creates curiosity for someone to want to open the book.

I felt my challenge for this cover was to discover a way to create an image that was about 12 brothers on a baseball team without actually showing 12 brothers, so as to keep the cover image very simple and bold! No easy task. My above cover sketch concept was to show just ONE brother at bat, but the bat has all the brothers names etched into the bat. I felt this was a great resolve. However, this concept ended up not being the cover, unfortunately. I fought for this version, and still think it would have made the superior cover. (Though, had this sketch concept version actually been selected, in the final art I would have depicted the batter with a more determined and aggressive expression on his face.)

Below are other subsequent cover sketch concepts I provided, and well as the final cover art which was eventually arrived at.

1 another cover concept sketch: the brothers wearing numbers 1 to 12

2 another cover concept sketch: brothers looking directly back at viewer

The above two sketches were amongst a variety of other cover sketch concepts I provided, which also were rejected. I particularly liked the bottom one... as it suggested the closeness and unity the brothers all had with each other. Their toughness kind of taunts the viewer... which I think also reflects the toughness of the time period the story is about.

1 revised cover concept sketch

2 further revised cover concept sketch

3 final completed cover art

Above: two revised final cover sketches and the final cover art. I expressed the preference for my initial minimal cover sketch image of just the one batter only with all the brothers names etched into the bat, but apparently the marketing department wanted to see all the brothers on the cover... So, the final cover eventually became a compromised version which showed the batter (with the names etched onto the bat) but also included depicting all the other brothers in the background, plus seeing the catcher and umpire as well. (at that point I even added in the father "Pop" who was their coach) The resulting final cover art is quite attractive... but from my perspective, it is still not a particularly strong cover due to it being visually overly busy. As I stated earlier, I think a book cover is always more successful when it is minimal in its elements. Had I been able to go with the initial concept of just depicting the one batter only, I feel the cover would have been a simpler, more elegant and bolder cover. That being said, I think designer Sharismar Rodriguez created a very smart and tasteful resolve in dealing with such busy art by arcing the type design of the title to better unify all the elements. And her design of the title page is one of the best parts of the book! (I think my art for the cover is a solid stand-up double, rather than a home run...)

You will see Brothers At Bat in the bookstores early in 2012... and probably available sooner on-line.

Sometime soon I will be showing more of the final art from Brothers At Bat on my illustration web site. You can see samples of all my illustration portfolios, including my many other children's picture books on stevensalerno.com.

Keeping Pace

2011-11-19T15:11:00.004-05:00

"city walkers" visit stevensalerno.com

Even though I have lived in Manhattan for so many years now I've lost count, I am still always impressed with seeing and experiencing the energy and rhythm of all the people walking through the city.

Posted here is a simple graphic image I had created a while ago as part of a series of advertising images for the sock company GoldToe, for their "All Walks of Life" print ad campaign featuring my various silhouetted characters bustling about the streets heading to their unknown destinations, seen against a deep peach colored skyline. (Though, this particular image posted here never made it past the comp stage and therefore did not end up being one of the actual final printed ads.) The characters were executed with black gouache, then embellished in Photoshop. The background consists of a photo I shot of a custom hand-made paper with embedded leaves that I had bought, melded with another photo I shot of wood paneling from a construction site.

I enjoy making images of silhouetted characters, and have done so in many of my illustration assignments in the past. I can actually remember being 8 years old and making similar such silhouetted drawings and thinking to myself what a great method it was of supplying very specific visual information about a figure's character, but without having to actually show any detail.... I thought then that it was a fun, cool way to make images, and now here I am 40-something(!) years later still using the same technique.

See all my illustration samples at stevensalerno.com

Alien Dating: "...but he has such a great personality!"

2011-11-16T14:26:00.004-05:00

visit stevensalerno.com

What do I do when I am not working on illustration projects, or children's picture books, or my personal golf art images? -generally I am also incessantly doodling on any scraps of paper at hand. I think the best time to doodle is when on the phone or watching TV, so that you are distracted from actually thinking about what you are drawing... it allows the imagination more freedom. And for some unknown reason, I like to doodle images of fantasy alien creatures that I conjure up from my imagination. I have a portfolio section on my illustration web site called "other world sketches" where you can see a number of these alien doodles. Posted here are a handful of them.

These images, generally created with pen or crayon, are executed directly on paper without any pre-planning, under-drawing, or concept of what I am about to draw. I just start with a single gestural line or odd shape, and then build from there, allowing the image to grow and take itself to a logical conclusion. Sometimes I add a simple tone of color or wash. I am actually thinking of presenting them to the film or game industry, with an eye on setting myself up as a designer of other world creatures! I know I could do a terrific job of creating very memorable creatures with soul!

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my illustration portfolios, or visit SASgolf.com to see my limited edition golf art prints available for purchase.

Hallo Happyween!

2011-10-31T15:31:00.004-04:00

skull doodle (pen) stevensalerno.com

It seems that nearly every channel I flipped to on the TV this month has been showing horror flicks, in honor of Halloween. (I think I saw a psychotic Michael Meyers slash a young Jamie Lee Curtis about ten times on ten different channels.) My personal favorite was seeing George Romero's cult classic film (1968) "Night of the Living Dead" again.

Inevitably I always doodle on scraps of paper and envelopes while watching TV... posted here is a detail of one such doodle made recently, most likely influenced by all the campy, scary movies on the tube.

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my illustration portfolio samples... and most relevant to Halloween, click on the "Other World Sketches" portfolio section.

Sherlock Holmes used an iPad and Abraham Lincoln was a Biker

2011-10-19T13:09:00.008-04:00

sketch for "Sherlock with an iPad" visit stevensalerno.com

"Sherlock with an iPad" visit stevensalerno.com

"Honest Abe Motoring" visit stevensalerno.com

"Brothers At Bat" illustrated by Steven Salerno pub date: April 2012

final illustration from "Brothers At Bat" illustrated by Steven Salerno Visit stevensalerno.com

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolio samples.

Every year since about 1992 I have advertised my illustration work in all the various illustration directories via self-promotional ads, with WORKBOOK being one of them (and it being the directory that has consistently yielded the best results for me). This year WORKBOOK altered their longtime usual book format, from being one 8x10" sized book released in February, to two smaller 7x9" sized books with one released in March and the other in September. (distributed for free to about 18,000 art directors across the country and abroad)

In the current 2011 September Workbook#33 that is out now, my ad page (shown above) is of a nostalgic 1940's scene with two golfers engaged in a match and a small gallery following their play. It's my charcoal drawing blended, via Photoshop, with a gouache painted background then with some added digital color. This golf image is actually one of my personal golf images found on my golf art site, SASgolf.com, but I liked it so much I decided to use it to also advertise my illustration site, stevensalerno.com.

Having elected to also advertise in next year's 2012 WORKBOOK#34 illustration books as well, I had to prepare the new artwork for the March 2012 book last month and get it out to the WORKBOOK production department in Los Angeles. And since I really liked the look and feel of the "golf image ad" seen in the current WORKBOOK illustration directory I decided to create another "retro" topic image again. I doodled out a rough preliminary concept (shown above) of the legendary fictional character Sherlock Holmes hunting a trail of footprints with a magnifying glass (his cliche pose) but gave this cliche scene a modern twist by supplying Sherlock with an iPad 2 and his "magnifying glass" being an app on the iPad's screen. Solving crimes just became a bit easier in foggy old London town!

The final illustration of Sherlock Holmes to be used as the 2012 WORKBOOK illustration directory ad (shown above) was created by blending a charcoal and wax pencil drawing, via Photoshop, onto a painted gouache background (the texture created by flicks of paint from a toothbrush) and then adding digital color and effects. Originally I made the scene with a bluish-gray foggy background, but then decided to make the background clearer and employed a red-lavender color theme to make the whole image feel much more contemporary.

I enjoyed creating the "Sherlock" image so much, having to faithfully depict this character from the past, yet also giving it some modern interest, that I then created the next image shown above... President Abraham Lincoln as a biker... kind of like Marlon Brando in the 1953 rebel biker film, "The Wild One." I was wondering what Honest Abe did to get away from all the pressures of the Oval Office and came up with the fantasy that he was a rugged biker type who toured the countryside on his Harley to clear his head. I gave him a caricature extra lean look, leather jacket (no helmet law back in 1864!) and a blank gaze from extreme political fatigue. The motorcycle he is riding is a rough blend of 1930's and '40's bikes... and admittedly without bothering much with actual engineering details to the bike. The illustration was created by blending, via Photoshop, my crayon and gouache drawing of Abe and the bike with a Civil War era newspaper article as the background. The colors were then all done digitally in Photoshop.

How did I get caught up in this "retro" kick I wondered? I did not have to fathom this mystery very long, realizing it was because I had recently done all the illustrations for the picture book "Brothers At Bat" written by Audrey Vernick. It's the new children's book being published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (to be released in spring 2012) and is the true life story of 12 brothers who formed their own semi-pro baseball team and played in the 1930's, '40's and '50's and were honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. I had such fun drawing the period clothing, uniforms, cars, etc... for this baseball book that I guess the feeling of it spilled over and became the spark which lead me to create the Sherlock Holmes and Abe Lincoln "retro" images. The final images shown above are a sneak peek at a couple of the illustrations from "Brothers At Bat." Look for it in book stores, and on the Amazon and Barnes & Nobles web sites next spring!

Baltimore Sun fall ARTS guide (cover art)

2011-09-19T13:22:00.004-04:00

BaltimoreSun.com ARTS cover visit stevensalerno.com

caricature of Susan Boyle visit stevensalerno.com

caricature of Bill Clinton visit stevensalermo.com

Even though my illustration web site doesn't have any samples at all of portraits or caricatures of real people anywhere in my various portfolios... I still get art directors who contact me with assignments to do just that. I 'm not sure why I don't post any samples of caricatures or portraits of real people, because I have certainly done many such assignments in the past. I guess it is just not an angle within illustration that I wish to pursue. I'll leave it up to the Robert Risko's of the illustration world to carry that load!

Recently I was contacted by Jay Judge, creative director at The Baltimore Sun and was asked to create an illustration for the cover of their fall ARTS guide publication...and it had to include Jay Z, Kanye West, the logo icon from The Lion King, and film director John Waters! Quite a strange collection of bedfellows to all compose into one cohesive image to say the least. But I gave it a shot. Posted here is the final cover image. In this instance, with the portrayals of the Jay Z, Kanye, and Waters I did not really push it into the realm of caricature...but elected to rendered them in fairly natural proportions.

Also posted though, are a couple other samples of more "caricature" driven depictions I have done in the past.... of singer Susan Boyle and ex-president Bill (Bubba) Clinton.

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolio samples.

Limited Edition Prints available from illustrator Steven Salerno

2011-07-18T17:52:00.002-04:00

I finally stopped procrastinating and completed the section on my illustration web site, stevensalerno.com, where viewers can now purchase limited edition prints of some of the illustrations and drawings I have done over the years.

(navigation: Use the pop-down illustration portfolio menu at the top of the homepage and click on the LIMITED EDITION PRINTS section to view the available art prints. And the site's bottom menu bar will have the "image info," the "pricing," and the "add to cart" scroll-overs and link...)

Currently there are 14 various art images available as a limited edition print, ranging from whimsical illustrations I created for children's picture books, to food art, and all the way across the content spectrum to much earlier drawings I did of the punk scene in NYC in the early 1980's... with more of my art images becoming available as prints soon.

To create these art prints, my original artwork is digitally scanned then superbly printed on acid-free 100% cotton rag fine art paper with brilliant permanent pigment inks. Using advanced inkjet printing technology which sprays millions of continuous microscopic ink droplets with unsurpassed precision, the quality of these high resolution Giclee art prints is exquisite, resulting in rich, vibrant images that accurately capture the colors and tones of the original art. This is the same ultra-fine inkjet reproduction process museums use to make precision replicas of art in their collections. I hand number & sign each print within the limited edition. Most of the editions are a total of just 100 prints. You receive the unframed print and a Certificate of Authenticty registered to the buyer. (gift wrapping is not available)

These prints are truly of terrific quality, and are rated (in terms of retaining their color pigmentation level) to last up to 200 years without any significant fading... but this is contingent upon the print being properly framed and sealed behind 98% UV protected glass or acryic (plexi-glass) as well as not being displayed on a wall receiving any strong direct sunlight or in an area of high humidity.

The secure on-line purchase transaction is conducted through PayPal -but if there is anyone still adverse to making purchases through the web... contact me at steven@stevensalerno.com and we can certainly do it the old school way and work out a payment via check through the mail.

I am thrilled and honored that there are people out there who want to own one of my prints for their personal home collections!

Are You Lost?

2011-07-07T15:35:00.006-04:00

It seems that even if I include samples of map illustrations I have done for clients in the past, I still get art directors who will call and ask, "Do you do maps?" "Of course," I reply. "Are you lost?"

visit stevensalerno.com to see more maps!

I have done so many map illustrations through the years, I've lost count! They are fun to do... and I prefer the kind if map assignments where the AD is just looking for a simple map visual with a mere visual suggestion of the geographic area in question, rather than a heavily detailed map with lots of icons within it... but inevitably most map assignments tend to be of the more detailed variety. It is through these kind of map assignments over the years that I first began developing my own way of creating hand lettering...

Posted here are just a few of my favorites. Above is a minimal-color map of Italy I did for a travel magazine assignment. It was created with gouache and a few splashes of watercolor and pastel.

visit stevensalerno.com to see more maps!

Keeping with the Italy theme, the map above depicts a shopping district in Milano. The map was one of several illustrations in a series for an advertorial for the Italian airline Alitalia. It was created with ink, pastel, crayon, and compiled in layers in Photoshop. The next sample of one of my map illustrations (below) is one I did for CRAIN'S Business NY, and depicts the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, NYC. I created this one with textures painted in gouache, scanned into Photoshop, and then I "cut-out" the shapes I needed digitally, additionally adding in my little paintings of boats, waves, the bridge, a bus, etc... as well as my hand-lettering.

visit stevensalerno.com to see more maps!

The last map illustration sample is of a small upscale shopping area in Paris wedged between the Rue de la Roquette and the Rue de Charonne, with the charming "O Petit Bar" just around the corner. My favorite touch is the silhouette I made of the boy and dog in the foreground. This is an older illustration of mine, created well before I even began adding vector and other digital effect images to my ways of creating graphics. This map was created just with ink, pastel and watercolor, with the lettering done directly within the art image too. If I were to create this type image again today, I would definitely make it by scanning the various drawn and painted elements into Photoshop and then designing it in separate layers, which would all be SO much easier and a far more flexible way than the "traditional" way it was originally created!

visit stevensalerno.com to see more maps!

Visit my illustration web site, stevensalerno.com to see more samples of maps! As well as packaging, children's books, advertising, etc...

And I look forward to hearing from the next art director who calls and asks, "Do you do maps?"

That's Mr. Hogan to you...

2011-05-18T15:53:00.001-04:00

painting study of Ben Hogan by artist Steven Anthony Salerno -visit SASgolf.com

limited edition print entitled "9/64" by artist Steven Anthony Salerno -visit SASgolf.com

Usually, I keep entries to my illustration blog separate from my golf art blog, (see www.sasgolf.blogspot.com -the blog for my golf art gallery site, SASgolf.com) but sometimes I do decide to enter a post pertaining to my golf art on my illustration blog anyway...as a way to inform people who only know of me by my whimsical illustrations that I also have a whole other artistic endeavor with my golf art images.

Posted here is my painting study (gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper) of past PGA Tour iconic superstar, Ben Hogan, one of my favorite players and subjects. This painting was then merged with one of my photos of wood textures to create a final art image for my edition of prints entitled "9/64" -which refers to Mr. Hogan having won 9 major championships and 64 PGA Tour victories in his career, and is available on my site SASgolf.com in the "exclusive edition" category.

Rainy Day in Manhattan

2011-05-16T20:07:00.003-04:00

sketch by Steven Salerno -visit stevensalerno.com

It was a rainy day in Manhattan today... good for staying inside and working. Walking to the studio this morning, I observed the drizzle, rain and gray backdrop of concrete being punctuated brilliantly by little kids wearing rain gear of intense gloom-busting bright pinks, yellows, lavenders, blues, and greens... under equally color-saturated umbrellas, some so large that all I could see were a pair of rubber boots sticking out from under the umbrella bobbing up and down the sidewalk, moving forward (with an occasional directional adjustment given by mom's guiding hand) through the morning rush-hour throng scurrying off to work and school. Once in my studio, I did this quick sketch, posted here, from memory of one these brave inclement weather tots. My favorite though, was one fashion forward 4 year old wearing green boots in the shape of frogs, a raincoat with a monkey pattern (and the monkeys were wearing raincoats and rain hats!) and an umbrella in the shape of a giant duck. A future zoologist, no doubt.

After completing this little rainy-day sketch and contemplating it a bit, it reminded be of an Ernest H. Shepard illustration from Winnie the Pooh, written by A.A. Milne. I have also posted a scan of this particular drawing from my 1949 edition of the book. You can see the similarities... I guess an artist being amused at the sight of a little child wearing big boots and wielding an umbrella is an ageless charming vision.

Visit stevensalerno.com and click on the kids' books section to view my many children's picture books.

Smaller is Better!

2011-03-12T20:46:00.005-05:00

front page illustration of the Sunday, March 13th NYTimes Real Estate section

Steven Salerno's illustration/NYTimes March 13th, Real Estate section

(detail view) b&w line drawing with crayon, of the little train engine

(detail view) of final illustration/little train engine

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my illustration portfolios.

I recently was contacted by the NYTimes real estate section art director Carol Dietz, to illustrate an upcoming article about how over the past handful of years smaller boutique real estate firms in NYC have been rivaling the larger, more established firms, giving clients a choice. She (and the editors) were open to whatever approach I might take, however did not want the illustration concept to be a comparison of the little firm vs the large firm... but rather focus on how the little firms can offer more attention to clients, etc... and also wanted the illustration to somehow show three categories of building types: the townhouse, the prewar apartment building, and the modern high-rise. I came up with a couple different idea approaches, but Carol liked best the one of a little train engine (suggestive of the children's book,"The Little Train That Could") pulling a load consisting of the three type apartment buildings. I came up with this idea based on a couple lines in the article text which commented on how smaller firms are nimbler and have more energy to focus personal attention on their client. It seemed like such a nice fit to depict a little engine, determined as it chugs up the steep tracks, successfully delivering its products to the clients.

I created the illustration by separately drawing the train engine, the flatbed cars, and the three buildings with black crayon and black gouache, scanning them all into Photoshop as one layer on top of the background image layer that I had created digitally in Photoshop of the NYC skyline. The color of the train engine and the apartment buildings was also done digitally. You can see this illustration in the March 13th Sunday NY Times Real Estate section. (click here to see a previous post on another assignment I did for the NY Times Sunday real estate section with art director Carol Dietz.)

WORKBOOK illustration directory #33 for 2011 (new smaller size format)

2011-03-11T11:44:00.004-05:00

Steven Salerno's latest ad page in the WORKBOOK illustration director

I have been advertising my illustration work in the WORKBOOK illustration directory every year since about 1992 (I missed just one year in 2010). WB had always been a full sized directory book... I think in earlier years it was a 9"x12" format... then eventually went down to 8.5"x11", then more recently down in size again to 8"x10". For 2011 the new page size is a compact 7"x9"!

Posted here is a view of my ad page in the new directory. Originally this image was created for an ad agency in Dallas, and the image contained just the fountains. I modified the image for use as my promo in WB#33 by adding the characters walking about. You can see an earlier post on that ad agency assignment by clicking here.

I was skeptical at first when I first heard from long time sales rep Robert Pastore of this proposed new compact size slated for 2011. Despite my concerns, I committed to advertise with WB again in 2011 because I liked their other new change too -that this smaller directory book will come out 2 times: a spring release book and then another book again in the fall. In the past I would pay about $2,600 and have one ad page in their one large format book which came out every February distributed to about 18,000 art directors, art buyers, etc.. across the country. With this 2011 book, for the same cost of $2,600, I will have an ad image in their spring book, then another different ad image in their fall book. A double punch for the same price. Plus this smaller size book is so much easier to handle... their previous books weighed about 5 pounds! Maybe WB found that two smaller books were more profitable for them due to less paper costs, or maybe because of rising paper costs they needed to reduce the books format size just to stay in the black. And possibly shipping two smaller, lighter books is less costly compared to shipping one very heavy book.

I just received my copy in the mail of the 2011 WORKBOOK #33 directory, and feel it does indeed work well at this new "7x9" size. It is still large enough to present an image with a big graphic impact and now an art director does not need to be a body builder to carry it with them across the room, or take it home one weekend! Sure, it would be great to still have a large size ad page... but if compromises needed to be made from a business standpoint by WB, this new format works well and the added second book bonus is terrific. So now it is up to the art directors to respond well to the book, too!

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolio samples.

Illustration Safety Lesson

2011-03-02T17:39:00.008-05:00

visit stevensalerno.com to view all illustration portfolio samples

Don't worry, the baby depicted in this illustration was a paid actor, and the "poisons" in the bottles under the sink were all fake props. In other words, no one was harmed during the making of this illustration. It was created for a magazine article which emphasized the very important point of child-proofing the home.

Each month I create a spot illustration, or two, for Metro Creative Graphics (in NYC)... a supplier to newspaper clients of editorial images of all sorts. Metro's service is to have commissioned artists create relevant topic images which their subscriber clients can then obtain in a monthly package for reproduction use in their newspaper publications. This particular illustration posted here was indeed to illuminate the issue of dangers in the home for a small child. It was created simply... a gouache brush drawing with added color wash effects in Photoshop.

Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my various illustration samples.

Character Design... preliminary pencil sketch

2011-02-15T12:37:00.006-05:00

to see more samples, visit stevensalerno.com and click on "character design/vector"

I am currently working on a personal project, which at this stage is involving designing a handful of simple, comical characters... posted here is one of a doorman. It is a very small pen sketch, then scanned into Photoshop with some bold color added on a separate layer, then flattened. More to come...
See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

The Setback ...everything doesn't always come up roses

2011-02-10T14:57:00.007-05:00

One of my preliminary sketches for a project hit the mark so well, that the AD felt it was fine "as is" to be used as the final art for the poster project. All I had to do was add in some color effects digitally and the brush drawing was ready for the designer. Hey! Why spend excessive time working on the final art stage? (This is a rare occurrence for sure.) My original intention was for the final image to be more "rendered" but the simple, rough and irregular line quality in the sketch seemed to reflect the raw quality of the play's content quite well, so we went with it.
This drawing was created with black gouache and brush on paper, scanned into Photoshop with simple washes of digital color applied on a separate layer. I also created the hand lettering for the title "the setback" in Adobe Illustrator, which was then imported into the Photoshop file. Posted here is one of early poster design comps.

Nine Lives? (not this time)

2011-01-31T22:30:00.008-05:00

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my various illustration samples...

Many advertising assignments sometimes require the illustrator to jump through a couple preliminary hoops before actually attaining the final portion of the project... A large budget project usually entails the client needing to see several different kinds of visual approaches before they can decide on which one is best for their company or product. So, if the agency handling the account decides upon an illustration approach for the project, they may engage a few different illustrators with very different styles to create preliminary sketch or test stage images to present to their client. These preliminary test stage images may also even be evaluated by focus groups, in order for the client to get real consumer feedback as part of the total data in making the final decision.

It is best to initially get ballpark approval on a fee for the total project, in case you are indeed chosen to be the illustrator to create the final images used by the company or product... then just backtrack and determine the smaller fee for the test stage preliminary images only. There is no point in only negotiating the test stage images without also knowing what your total fee will be, should you get the full project. In this instance I had gotten tentative approval for $X amount for the full project, and approximately 11% of $X just to do the preliminary test stage images.

I recently did just this... created many preliminary "test" stage images for a preliminary client presentation, and in this case it was images of cats. I am definitely a "dog" person, but drawing cats are fun, too. (see the cat character I created for the children's picture book, "Mathematickles.")

Posted here are a handful of my whimsical cat graphics from about thirty "test" images I had created specifically for the perimeters set forth by this particular advertising assignment. Unfortunately though, I was not chosen to proceed to do the full final project. It would have been fun... but as every illustrator knows, you don't get every big project that comes your way. I was hired specifically to create my whimsical, light, images... but apparently the client ultimately determined this was not the right approach they needed. I cannot say who the client is though, because that project is still ongoing for them, and I signed a confidentiality agreement...

These images were all created in Adobe Illustrator, then brought into Photoshop for a bit of additional color embellishments.

The Joy of Sax

2011-01-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

Posted is a doodle from my sketch book of a saxophone player... created with a black litho crayon and added watercolor washes. I had seen a street musician that day playing in one of the subway stations, and made this quick doodle from memory once I got back to my studio. I liked the way it came out. Sketches and doodles have an energy and life in their expression, mostly because of the speed of execution and raw image quality. And generally sketches are usually not for others to view, which eliminates self-consciousness and allows the artist to fall more quickly into an intuitive mode of making the lines and marks.

Visit stevensalerno.com to see all my various portfolios.

Happy Holidays from illustrator Steven Salerno

2010-12-24T13:55:00.002-05:00

visit stevensalerno.com to view portfolios

Especially to all my clients, and anyone else who happens to stumble upon my illustration blog... have a terrific holiday season! Let's all make 2011 a healthy and happy and prosperous new year. -Steve

Planes, Trains, and Especially Automobiles

2010-12-06T13:27:00.016-05:00

visit stevensalerno.com to view all his illustration portfolios

Who loves their cars and car culture more than southern Californians? No one... and Westways (the magazine of the Automobile Club of Southern California) has been around for over 100 years to prove it. In 1928 the magazine first began commissioning California artists to create striking paintings for their magazine covers. -click this link to read about the unique history of their art covers.

And in my particular case today, as an illustrator working on the opposite coast, the next best thing to getting a cover art commission from Westways, is working with the magazine's art director Eric Van Eyke on the their Drive Smart and Travel Smart columns nearly every month, creating fun little spot illustrations covering a wide range of topics involving cars and travel. From tips on buying a new car to finding the best weekend getaway, to traveling abroad, and everything inbetween.

Eric has been working in the design/publishing industry for over 16 years. The last 11 of those years have been at the Auto Club of Southern California as Art Director and Creative Director for Westways, the member publication.

"Steven's artwork is always first class. I can provide only a manuscript and get back quality concepts time after time. When I do provide concepts, he is able to take those ideas to the next level and put his own spin on it. It's always a pleasure collaborating with Steven, his sensitivity to deadlines and quality of work are always of the highest caliber." -Eric Van Eyke

-and I didn't even have to pay Eric a penny to say such nice things about my illustration work!

I have been working with art directors for nearly thirty years, and the indicators that you are working with a very good one is that they are organized, succinct in their communications, and they trust you to do your thing, but also understand your style and point of view so well that if you might sometimes struggle a bit to get a handle during the sketch stage, they can suggest an idea or angle, and it fits well with your thinking anyway. In other words they help get the best out of you because they understand your approach. Eric easily has all these qualities so working with him always feels seamless.

Gee, maybe with all these assignments involving cars it will finally prompt me to actually buy a car for my life here in Manhattan! (don't anyone hold their breath!)

Posted here are just a handful of the spot illustrations I have created for Westways over the past couple years...

visit stevensalerno.com to view all his illustration portfolios

Pequot Library Children's Picture Book Festival

2010-11-23T11:49:00.031-05:00

This weekend I attended the Pequot Library's first Picture Book Festival (in Southport, Connecticut) as one of the 14 invited children's picture book authors and illustrators, there to autograph books, and entertain the parents and children with readings and presentations.


Steven Salerno signs his latest book, Pantaloon. It's the remake of the 1951 Golden Books classic, this version with all new illustrations by Steven. (Publisher: Random House Children's Books 2010)

Steven Salerno talking about his book Harry Hungry! (Publisher: Harcourt 2009)

author/illustrator Tad Hills signing his book

author Jennifer Berne signing her book

author/illustrator Brian Floca signs his book Moonshot

author/illustrator Tad Hills signing his books

author/illustrator Melissa Sweet

14 Award-winning Authors & Illustrators including the U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, Winners of the National Book Award, the Caldecott Honor Medal, the E.B. White Award, and more!

The participating authors and illustrators were:
Keith Bendis
Peter Brown
Brian Floca
Calef Brown
Tad Hills
Jennifer Berne
Mary Ann Hoberman
Patricia Hubbell
David Johnson
Barbara McClintock
Marc Tyler Nobleman
Bob Shea
Steven Salerno
Melissa Sweet

Susan Hood, the event organizer, had invited me to participate. We first worked together a handful of years ago when she was an editor at Nickelodeon's NICK JR magazine. As you can see from the above feature title pulled from the event program, there were some prominent artists and writers highlighting the roster of talent. I personally like the picture books of Calef Brown, so it was nice to be able to finally meet him and talk a bit. The sale of the autographed books, as well as some original picture book artworks, were to benefit the Pequot Library.

From the Fairfield Patch:

Pequot Library's Children's Picture Book Festival on Sunday was a meeting of a mutual admiration society, as celebrated authors and illustrators met some of their most devoted fans in person. Fourteen bright stars in the firmament of children's contemporary picture books descended on the library about 11 a.m. They came to read their stories, draw, autograph their books, share their poetry, answer questions and stimulate the imaginations of dozens of young readers and soon-to-be-readers.To the 4- and 5-year old set, they might have been rock stars.
You can read the full article from the Fairfield Patch here... http://fairfield.patch.com/articles/stars-of-childrens-literature-descend-on-pequot-library

Character designs for animation project... (maybe)

2010-11-08T12:41:00.013-05:00

visit stevensalerno.com to view more character samples

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com
This project is currently being pitched to an animation company's corporate client. So, for the moment I will hold off on naming names...

An NYC animation company recently stumbled across my illustration web site and one of the directors really liked my samples shown in the "simply done" section of my site... He called to explain they were creating a presentation to a client for the possibility of obtaining the project of several short animated segments involving the client's product/services promotions, and they needed a specific "look." The director thought my illustration style fit the look they needed. Based on his direction, and on a very short deadline, I provided several "key frame" illustration scenes involving a main character and many peripheral characters.... Posted here are a handful of the specific character types I created. These are considered sketches, though the final images will also be just simple black line and one wash of color as well... so these sketches look quite close to what the "final" art will look like. These sketches were created using just a black marker and black gouache with brush, then scanned and the color added digitally in Photoshop.

So, now it is just wait and see if the client hires the animation company to produce the animated segments, and in turn I will be additionally engaged by the animation company to fine tune the character designs, involvement in the story boarding phase, and to create key action scene images etc... I am busy with other children's book projects, but this potential animation character design project seems like a fun one, so if it becomes a reality, it would be fun to take some time to away from my current projects to work on it with the producer and the animation company.

The New Tinker Bell (sort of...)

2010-11-02T13:28:00.011-04:00

If you have read any of my earlier posts, you know that I enjoy doodling in general, but sometimes I get on tangents where I doodle characters as if I'm designing new creatures for a sci-fi film project, all just for my own entertainment. Click here to visit the new portfolio section on my illustration web site named other world sketches... which is a showcase for some of the "alien'" characters I have created.

Usually I doodle while on the phone or watching TV. (I think doing something else at the same time you doodle helps to make the images freer and less inhibited, therefore more imaginative... a kind of brain auto-pilot mode.) Using a ball point pen (so no erasing or correcting can slow you down or halt the momentum) I just make a line, usually of some aspect of a face, like the ridge of a nose, or the profile line suggesting a head, and then just wing it, allowing each progressive mark suggesting the next move. But within the first handful of lines, one cannot help to have an opinion about what just materialized on the paper, so then you begin consciously directing and shaping the image with a loose goal in mind.

In the case of this image I drew her face, and few long stands flowing back from the side of her head, and it suggested a "fairy" to me.... so I purposely pushed the image, making her a kind of fairy-nymph, part woman, part insect... maybe the counterpart to Tinker Bell, but on another planet. I placed the character on a leaf for scale, suggesting she is just a handful of inches tall, and made her appear as if she is mysteriously levitating a small egg-like orb in front of her.

What Do Witches Wear?

2010-10-08T11:12:00.011-04:00

see portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

Well... one must assume witches also want to look their very best when attending a Halloween Ball. So, a witch will fork over the big bucks and wear something special, no doubt from her favorite Halloween designer: Diane von Frankenberg, Alexander McScream, Calvin Crime, or maybe Jean Paul Guillotine.

This little painting of a witch I did a while ago was a sample image for a children's book project that never saw the light of day. It was done in inks, gouache and pastel.

Even Clowns Get Depressed... who knew?

2010-09-18T21:53:00.004-04:00

I recently launched my updated web site look, and in so doing dropped some older sample images out and added in some never seen before samples.

The image posted above is of a book cover design employing my simple ink drawing of a depressed circus clown sitting on the edge of the Big Top circus ring. It really is nothing more than a minimal pen doodle with a couple dots of pink watercolor on the cheeks. (I cannot find the info on which publishing client it was originally created for) I remember it was a final stage comp using my art, but the project was terminated because it was decided in the final hour that the title was not going to be published... So, I am sure the author of circus blues became quite blue, too.

Recession Drawings #34 & #35 (...And the Beating Goes On)

2010-09-16T14:18:00.011-04:00

Hmmmm...Did VP Joe Biden say: "The Summer of Recovery" a short while back? Was he talking about this summer? Maybe he meant to say: "The Summer of Drudgery?" or possibly, "A Bummer of a Recovery?"

I was just wondering, because things are slow all over and getting slower... housing sales and prices continue to drop. Construction is down. New jobs are not materializing, salaries are stagnant, etc... Some summer. Gee, maybe the "Fall of Fabulousness" is next!

So, I came up with the doodle of the globe as a snail, barely chugging along through the summer of recovery. Also an image of a red chair with a shadow of four legs, but the chair has one leg missing. -a loose concept suggesting stability is not what it used to be, and we are trying to perceive that things are as they used to be before. In other words, 4 is the new 3. Click here to see some previous "recession" doodles. And here...

My Web Site Has a New Look -check out stevensalerno.com

2010-09-15T19:47:00.004-04:00

from "vector/characters" portfolio

from "the good life" portfolio section

view of the home page

detail from site background and logo

If you have not been to my main illustration web site, stevensalerno.com in a while, take a look... you'll notice a big change. It seems every four years I really want to make a significant renovation to my sites, and I usually do, developing the design myself and hiring a designer/programmer to implement the site. This time it took about six years though before I got around to it!

And it was not a renovation but a complete change: I switched over to a design/hosting company, livebooks.com, and this time I did not create a new site design per se, but worked within a customization of one of their multitude of template variations.This site conveniently has an internal editing administration feature so I can simple drag & drop in new items, take old images out, rename portfolios, modify image descriptions and menu words, etc... all in a blink. Very convenient for a non-code writing guy who is simply too busy making images all the time. (I had used livebooks.com to develop my golf art prints web site, sasgolf.com -which is how I came to decide to also use them for my illustration web site as well.

This new site design is very simple, less bells & whistles compared to my previous all-flash site... but it gets the job done of simply displaying my illustration samples quite nicely.

Quick, What Color is the Elephant? (answer below)

2010-09-15T18:57:00.004-04:00

A: The elephant is blue.

A while ago I had completed another project for Mudpuppy, the terrific-stuff-for-kids web site, for everything from books to puzzles, games, and more. The project I worked with them on was a First Puzzle item, and then this most recent project was Flash Cards for helping tots learn colors and shapes.

I finally received my complimentary shipment of the designed, boxed product... and as usual with Mudpuppy, it looks great. See an earlier post about this same project here.

Mathlete or Maestro? Pick Your (Brain) Side!

2010-08-20T14:44:00.037-04:00

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

Recently I worked with art director Chuck Beard of Pittsburgh Magazine on a spread image for an article about which side a person's core personality is wired, the right-side or left-side of the brain. This specific article is a guide to the various majors offered by colleges and universities ...and where these areas of study fall within the brain-side spectrum.

With this illustration I moved a bit away from my usual whimsy-based style... mostly because of the manner I rendered the large head in the image, which is more traditionally structured in an academic sense, plus because of the photographic-based little icons seen within the brain halves. Mixing photographic elements within my illustration is a tact I never use, but it seemed called for here because of the quasi-serious nature of the article, so I just went with it. I posted the basic image without the icons (bottom) and the full version with the icons and other graphic elements I created in position, which is how the art director used it in his page design (top).

The image was created with black (and white) gouache and brush on a gray paper, then all the color and various little graphic elements were created in Photoshop in layers. All the icons with the brain are object photo vignettes also enhanced within Photoshop.

I guess for all those who are left AND right brained equally combined in one personality, they would have to enter through the mouth in this illustration!

Move Over Mr. Clean

2010-08-20T14:19:00.025-04:00

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com
I have completed a couple of projects for a certain client, who was also testing out the possibility of a new business venture, and hired me to play around with a new logo concept for it.

The character I created was, of course, derived from the name of the animal in the company name, OX... so it was just a matter of executing it in a graphic manner that seemed to match the tone that was expressed to me by the client. I was looking to be very simple yet provide enough detail in the line expression to give the character some life and animation. In fact, the logo will animate if the project sees the light of day... shaking his horns, stomping the ground with his hooves and snorting steam!

Since there is not yet any font treatment associated with the new business logo, for the purposes of placing my art, I also created the dummy type treatment seen here, so the art could begin to mesh with the logo in total... though my vision of the font's look is just temporary.

This image was created in Adobe Illustrator (vector-based) and just a matter of drawing the black line defining the ox character, then filling in a simple color wash. It seems the client liked the red version, but I prefer the blue version as I feel it better relates to the "steam" aspect within the service.
Who knows, maybe someday we'll all see this tough little ox being promoted on TV.

Want a BIG apartment in Manhattan? (bring your Brinks truck)

2010-06-30T12:35:00.023-04:00

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

I created a large 1/2 page illustration for the cover page of the New York Times Sunday Real Estate section (6/27/10 issue date) ... depicting a baby in a buggy, and along the side of the buggy is a blueprint floor plan of a large 4 bedroom apartment.

(see top image of the printed newspaper page. Below that is the final illustration art as submitted to the art director.... and the bottom image is a shot of the piece in progress on my drawing table. The line drawing of the baby and the buggy and the little characters at the bottom were done with brush and black gouache on watercolor paper. The interior blue color of the buggy was also gouache and painted separately, then layered in with Photoshop. The background light blue building shapes were also created in Photoshop, as well and the white lines of the apartment diagram on the side of the buggy.)

The article comments on the fact that in recent years there's been a surge of 3 to 7 bedroom apartments making their way into the domain marketplace, to keep up with the growing demand for large apartments from the people with children and who no longer want to relocate to the suburbs once their family size calls for more space. I gave the baby a pleased countenance, no doubt from having a very big apartment to romp around in... Maybe I should have also placed a silver spoon in the baby's mouth, as 3 to 7 bedroom apartments range from $2.5 million to $7 million (and up!) Can you say, "Holy Foyer, Batman!?"

I had worked with the Real Estate section art director, Carol Dietz, years ago, but in a different section of the newspaper... I am so glad she called me for this fun assignment. I had not worked for the NYTimes in quite awhile, so it's "good to be back"...

I first began creating drawings for The New York Times back in 1980 (yes, before fax machines, before personal computers, before e-mail...) back in the days when the art director paraphrased the assignment's article to you over the phone so you could get started on the sketch stage. Then you actually went to their office at the (old) Times Building in Times Square on West 45th Street, was screened through security, and first showed your sketch to the art director who then disappeared for a while to show the sketch to the editors... Then the same process was repeated again when you came back a day or two later delivering the completed final art, and handing it over so they could make a photostat of it and paste a B&W print of the art onto the layout mechanical... yes, with glue! When I look back on it, I now realize why I could eat countless cheeseburgers and pizza and never gain an ounce over 135 lbs.... because I was running all over the city delivering sketches and final art every day of the week!

In 1980 I was a skinny kid just out of art school one year, a graduate of Parsons School of Design in NYC, where I had studied under J.C. Suares. J.C. (who had previously been the NYTimes Op Ed page art director and was currently the AD at New York Magazine) gave me my first illustration assignments at New York Magazine the week after I graduated from design school. He then also introduced me to Jerelle Kraus who was the reigning AD of the Op Ed page. She liked my work and I somehow managed to regularly contribute drawings to the Op Ed page and Letters to the Editor page from 1980 through about 1985. A couple years ago in 2008, Jerelle released her book, "All the Art That's Fit to Print, And Some That Wasn't" recounting her many years as the Op Ed page art director, including all the run-ins with the editors, as well as showcasing many of the artists who contributed to the page... including the likes of Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Brad Holland, etc... and me! (see my previous post on Jerelle's book)

During those early years and in subsequent years I created drawings for the Op Ed page, but also created illustrations appearing in many of the NY Times other sections, too. The Book Review, Business page, Sunday Magazine, etc... but by the end of the 1990's I was only doing maybe one illustration a year for the NYTimes. From about 2000 through 2007 my major newspaper client was The Wall Street Journal, as I was the regular illustrator for their Finicky Traveler column.

For the past few years I have been busy with my usual projects in advertising, children's books, magazines, packaging, and some animation character imaging for the web, etc... but have not really had a consistent gig with a major newspaper... so this recent New York Times Sunday Real Estate project hopefully will begin a renewed contact with the newspaper again! I am looking forward to the possibility.

Eccentric is the New Normal -PANTALOON is back!

2010-06-18T10:45:00.018-04:00

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

Posted above is one of the illustrated scenes from my latest children's book, PANTALOON, just released by Random publishing house in April of this year. (see earlier posts about this picture book by clicking here and here)

This is the full view of the actual gouache painting (Winsor & Newton designer gouache on Arches 260 lb hot press paper)... in the final printed book the image is cropped slightly as the image bleeds off the page spread on all sides. Pantaloon, the main character of the story, is an obsessed, antsy, quirky, poodle bent on becoming a baker's assistant just so he can get close to all the pastries and sweets he adores. In this scene he's in the tub, wearing all his favorite hats, lamenting on his failed attempts at becoming the baker's new assistant. Pantaloon is a Kathryn Jackson story, and first published in 1951 as a Simon & Schuster Little Golden Book classic, with wonderful illustrations by Leonard Weisgard.

The remake of the 2010 book called for all new illustrations, and I had the terrific honor of being able to give my stylistic visual spin on the story ... Look for it in the bookstores!

Product Packaging Portraits

2010-06-09T15:18:00.019-04:00

See all my portfolio samples at stevensalerno.com

A while ago (last year?) I worked on a fun annual report project with BCN Communications in Chicago, with art director Rob Mileham. It was a preliminary test stage for their client Pepsico's Annual Report. The agency was exploring different options for the visual images to be used... and I was chosen for the illustrative approach.

My task was creating still life graphics of some of the well known consumer products under the Pepsico umbrella of companies. The art images were taking the tact of a "hand-drawn" look with a bit of a purposeful naive feel to them (compared to the usual photographic approach). I created still life vignettes of Quaker Oats Oatmeal, Gatorade, Tropicana Orange Juice, Lays Potato Chips, and Pepsi Zero. Each image was created in Adobe Illustrator. The essence was to capture the recognizable container shape and product colors with a bit of flair...

I had fun with these images...I always do when drawing food images, but it's too bad that my illustration approach was ultimately not selected for the final stage use for the client's annual report. This happens many times in advertising... wherein the agency will present the client a photographic approach, and a couple different illustrative approaches before deciding on the final "look" to go with. Sure, you get paid for the preliminary stage work, but it's an empty exercise, because the satisfaction is having the work seen in print, which also brings new assignments your way. Hey, you can't win them all!

My favorite one?... the Gatorade bottle!

How Sweet it Is -The Bakery Square project

2010-06-07T11:10:00.007-04:00

See full portfolio of illustration samples on my web site at stevensalerno.com

I recently completed a project with Larry Fredette, Creative Director of Fredette & Associates in Pittsburgh on the advertising and other print promotions for a new commercial real estate development project named BAKERY SQUARE, near the corner of Fifth and Penn Avenues, transforming the former Nabisco factory into a mixed-use center that is quickly filling up with retailers and big-name corporations and institutions. The developer is Walnut Capital of Pittsburgh.

Posted here is the magazine print ad I recently completed employing the character of a baker as the visual anchor and tie-in with the site name. The baker is mixing the four catchy theme words of the ad copy, WORK, SHOP, PLAY, STAY.

I also created a long horizontal graphic which was installed as a temporary "barrier art mural" at the site location... in fact this image was enlarged to a size of approximately 150 feet long by 20 feet high, the equivalent of about 2 stories high and nearly a city block long! See the architectural drawing depicting the side view of the massive renovated Nabisco factory and how my long outdoor graphic is positioned along the street level. The other images posted are details of this giant graphic image which has four themed panels engaging the four theme words: work, shop, play, stay.

I created the magazine ad image in Photoshop, but the long horizontal image was created in Adobe Illustrator (vector based imaging) at a proportional 20" tall x 150" wide, - which enabled it to then be scaled up by the design team to its final giant size without any loss of crisp edges and detail. At the bottom are the lamp post banners which were created pulling elements from the barrier mural art, and re-formatting them to fit the vertical composition.

If you are in Pittsburgh, visit the site and send me some pix!

Other World Doodles (AKA: aliens at large)

2010-04-02T10:23:00.027-04:00

What does an artist do at the end of the day, after having already spent many hours creating images for assignments and projects? Pick up a pen and start drawing some more, of course.

Sure, I do other things besides draw: exercise, cook, maybe watch a film, etc... but at the end of the day I still find myself picking up a pen again, especially when on the phone or watching some TV. Inevitably I start doodling and sketching -anything that comes to mind. In fact, in my experience, I think doodling and watching TV at the same time makes your doodles less of a conscious activity and your creative instincts seep through onto the paper more readily. Sometimes I hit a streak of doodling one particular subject or theme for a while...

Posted here are some doodles of alien beings I created. The joy in being able to draw, is not only being able to depict what you see in front of you, but also to give life to whatever forms you imagine in your mind. It's fun to imagine what another kind of being might look like and realize it on paper. I created these images as if they were character thumbnails for a science fiction film project... I think they were all created with ball-point pen, or markers, on paper scraps. See another posting of my doodles here.

You can see all my illustration portfolio samples on stevensalerno.com

New on-line golf art gallery at sasgolf.com... (my new [other] site!)

2010-03-26T12:06:00.022-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I have been involved with and keenly interested in the great game of golf nearly all my life...

Just recently I (finally) launched a new web site named sasgolf.com (based on the initials of my full name, Steven Anthony Salerno) It is a showcase for my personal golf related art images and graphics... available on this new site as limited edition giclee prints. (on the site you can also read a brief bio/info of my involvement with golf and how my golf art has been used by the PGA Tour.)

During my rather lengthy professional illustration career I've developed a recognizable whimsical style, which has appeared in literally thousands of illustrations for advertising, magazines, product packaging and children's books.... but my golf art images on my new golf art site are a complete departure from my regular illustration career style. These golf images are more painterly and/or "reality" based in concept and execution... Posted above are a handful of my original golf images and graphics.

I love creating illustrations, but as anyone in the biz knows, many times there are compromises to be made (some big, some small) due to client needs and especially due to time & budget constraints. And many times you are having to align your illustration style with topics that do not necessarily line up with your style nor your own personal interests. Of course as a professional, the trick is to create a wonderful illustration despite any of these various obstacles... and for the most part I feel I have done it well. But after nearly thirty years of tight illustration deadlines and commercial demands, it is refreshing when doing these golf art images to not have client factors in the mix ... and to take as much time as I want. Compared to the all-too-often feeling of being pressed for time to complete my illustration projects, in contrast, when creating these golf art images I can relax and feel more in sync with what I am creating.

My motivation is to create the best golf images I can -to express in the images the thoughts and feelings I have about the game and its top players who become incons. I'm selling these images as fine reproductions prints... so, of course it will be terrific if the prints sell well, but ultimately my goal, as an artist, is to leave some lasting images on the subject. Hopefully the golfing world will enjoy them.

Visit my new site at sasgolf.com

The New Emerald City

2010-02-23T15:42:00.016-05:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

I guess the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz was the first city to officially go "green." What most people don't know is that the giant flaming vision of the Wizard's face that scared the Lion enough to jump out the window, was actually solar powered. Glinda,The Good Witch of the North's flying bubble and The Wicked Witch of West's flying broom? ...yup, both were zero-emission transportation. (well, except when the Wicked Witch wrote Dorothy's name in the sky!) And not to mention all the walking, hot air ballooning, and horse-carriage riding everyone did to get where they wanted to go.

Posted here is an illustration I recently completed for Pittsburgh Magazine, to appear on the cover and also with the feature article inside their next issue about the city going "green"... The illustration depicts a stylized skyline of Pittsburgh as the Emerald City (taken from the article's title). The illustration to be used with the inside article will also contain some additional icons and a rolling green carpet. The illustration was created by using some of my painted textures that I scanned into Photoshop, then merely made specific shapes of them with the lasso tool. I also used the airbrush tool and erase tool to complete the final image... oh, and certain shapes had their opacity levels altered and the "noise" filter effect was used as well.

Now get out there and follow the green brick road to work tomorrow!

"OCC" (Orange County Choppers?) -nope, The Options Clearing Corporation!

2010-01-29T18:20:00.018-05:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

I had the opportunity to work with O'Connor Design in the Chicago area (James O'Connor/Creative Director), on a project for The Options Clearing Corporation 2009 Annual Report. (The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), founded in 1973, is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization)

The images were to reflect a handful of themes used to create the thrust of the report: Strength, Growth, Development, and "Behind the Scenes." Since the process of clearing options is very detailed and high-tech driven, I chose to go low-tech and monolithic with the nature of my images allowing the readers to immediately understand what the core themes were, at a glance. I came up with the idea of using a monolithic financial-esque building as the visual handle throughout all the images, and a repeating the same male character who adds the action and human value.

Several variations ensued in the sketch stages... first a simple approach, then exploring a more textural background and even trying composing the building shapes out of just financial data, but ultimately we went back to the basic approach as I initially envisioned.

Usually, most of the illustrations I do these days all have layered digital Photoshop enhancements, but all these final illustrations for OCC were done the "old fashioned" way, with just brush and paints, without benefit of the computer, in part because the client also wanted to purchase the originals to display in their Chicago offices. The final artwork was created with gouache, watercolor, and pastels on Arches 260 lb hot press watercolor paper.

The sketches posted here show one image from sketch through to the finished art (man lifting building over his head) -and I also have shown one of the other final images, too. (building as hot air balloon)

The Sweetest Book (aka: too many calories to count)

2009-12-15T16:52:00.020-05:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

In 1951, the Little Golden Book classic, Pantaloon, was first printed by Simon & Schuster... In 2010 the new version of that children's picture book classic will be released by Random House, the present day owners of all the Golden Book titles.

I had the very fortunate opportunity to be selected to re-illustrate this new version of the book, and yesterday received an advance copy of the completed book. The reproduction of the art looks terrific. It is such a satisfying feeling to finally have the actual printed book in your hands, after the many months of doing all the preliminary sketches and the numerous finished illustrations! All these illustrations were finished in the late winter of 2009... and the book will be released nationwide sometime in the spring of 2010...

The story is about an energetic poodle who is determined to become the Baker's new assistant, and will stop at nothing to to so... People who have seen the illustrations already, have all commented on how delicious and tempting all the pies, cakes, breads, cookies and pastries seen throughout look. Out of curiosity, I just did a quick count of how many tasty items I actually illustrated... counting everything seen on the cover, endpapers, inside illustrations, etc... I think there are about 490 food items! After reading this book, one will definitely head straight for the nearest bakery to pick up a chocolate eclair (or three). How many pounds did I gain while working on the visual research for the book you ask? I'm not telling... but let's just say that I hope my next children's book project is about a kid who spends a lot of time in the gym.

All the illustrations were painted with Winsor & Newton gouaches on Arches hot press watercolor papers...then scanned into Photoshop, where I did some additional digital enhancements, especially with much of the "pastry" work.

Posted here is the half-title page art (box of pastries), and an illustration from one the the opening pages where Pantaloon and the Baker first meet...

(see previous post)

...Socks Are SO Sexy! (aka: the GoldToe ad project)

2009-12-02T11:00:00.046-05:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

A while ago I created a series of prints ads for the international sock company, GoldToe. The new campaign, was conceived and motivated by their VP and Creative Director, Charles Moretz... as a push to direct a younger consumer toward their quality line of footwear products. (...kind of a "it's not your dad's Oldsmobile anymore" campaign) A renewal process which all large established companies must go through at some point or another to capture a younger generation who may not be as fully aware of the brand as could be. Charles defined the simple tactic: to use illustration for the new ad campaign "For All Walks of Life," to stand out from the competition and in contrast to the sea of photography omnipresent with everything fashion.

It was a wonderful experience to be in the series of meetings with Charles, to learn about the company, where they are heading, etc... and together direct my imaging, relative to their target audience, to be memorable print ads. There was also talk of possibly using my illustrations for their in-store wall graphics, signs, displays, kiosks, etc... to extend the impact of the ad campaign to the maximum in terms of capturing the attention of the younger audience. (see posted mock-photo of my images used in a store/boutique setting)

Posted here are three of the ads from the series... the man and woman are kind of visual companions, to give a bit of a romantic story or spin the the ads... Just their legs and feet are seen in the third ad with all the walkers. I also created the hand-lettering for the ad title, “For All Walks of Life.” The ad copy text is positioned in the white space at the bottom. These posted images are too small for you to see, but in the female scene, she has financial data on her hand held device, and in the male scene, there are flowers on his hand held device (the same flowers as in the female scene) to suggest that the two are connected. Also posted at the bottom are a few samples of preliminary "test textures" I created, representing different characteristics of product categories, which may be incorporated into their "in-store" graphics look.

There has been a delay in the release of theses ads nationwide, obviously due to the economy. GoldToe is evaluating when the correct timing to do so will be best, but hopefully it will not be a long delay. So, in the meanwhile, if you are looking for terrific socks, think "gold toe."

Travel on Sale?

2009-10-28T18:17:00.010-04:00

See all my portfolio samples on my web site.

Every couple months I create a handful of spot illustrations for Westways group of magazines, all centered on topics related to your car, car travel, etc... (including flying to other places and then renting a car), Eric Van Eyke, art director.

The illustration posted here was for an article on travel discounts, both by air and sea, to popular tourist destinations... so I came up with a price tag concept, with an eddy and jet stream of a ship and a plane making the "S" in SALE, and icons of the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and the Great Wall of China forming the A, L and E. They were created simply, with black gouache and brush on textured paper, scanned, and the color added in Photoshop. (The "tag," string, and shadow were all done in Photoshop as well.) I like this piece because it is so simple, but still has some rich detail to make it interesting.

More Recession Drawings... (unfortunately)

2009-10-20T12:12:00.025-04:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

The Dow is up, but jobs are still way down.... it seems the all mighty dollar is a more elusive creature than ever before, certainly than compared to the 1990's when the dollar was practically leaping into one's pockets!

Posted here are a few more of my "recession drawings" which are quick sketchbook brush drawings done directly onto paper without any pre planning... like glorified doodles, which I then scan into Photoshop and add simple, broad color. (see previous recession drawing posting)

What goes down must come up again... right? Looking for signs every day of the "recovery" seems like the old adage, “...a watched pot never boils.” In this case, the water may even still be cooling off, forget about it boiling!

Another web commercial project with Voicewalk in LA

2009-09-28T10:45:00.027-04:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

Last year I worked with the web animation production studio in Los Angeles named Voicewalk, on a web commercial for client InSight Direct's launch of their new product: VaZing. (see previous post on this project)

These past few weeks I teamed up with Voicewalk again on another animatic web commercial, this time for client PureSafety. Working with Voicewalk's team of creative director Saul Ives, writer Monica Bowers and animation director Martin Guitar. We moved through the storyboard stages quickly, in part due to now all having worked together before it allowed me to execute a bit more efficiently by having a better understanding how Voicewalk will manipulate my images in the animation process.

With my "regular" work for print illustration: magazines, advertising, children's books... I usually work with inks, paints etc... and (most of the time) then scan it all into Adobe Photoshop wherein I add digital effects in layers to come up with the final image result. But with these web commercial projects, it requires that I create all the final images as digital vector images, so I create them entirely in Adobe Illustrator.

My process is this: I take the final storyboard sketch of a scene (in an Adobe Photoshop jpeg format) and open it in Adobe Illustrator, making it a bottom layer named "sketch." Then I stack new layers on top of the locked sketch layer and begin drawing the final image directly on my Wacom 12 x 12 digital drawing tablet. Usually the layers are set up knowing ahead what elements within the image scene that are to be animated, and therefore need to be on a separate layer. The final image is closely based on the sketch layer underneath... and is executed very simply, using various brush tools, shape fills, shape merges, and the only effect I use are gradations between two or three colors.

Posted above are a few examples of some of the very rough thumbnail storyboards, revised storyboards, and their corresponding final vector images. You can view the final animated web commercial by clicking here.

Ring Flash Cards... Mudpuppy project completed!

2009-09-01T17:05:00.014-04:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit my web site.

My recent project with the on-line gift store for young kids, Mudpuppy.com was completed recently and all went smoothly working with art director Cynthia Matthews. It consisted of 26 images for flash cards divided between colors and shapes (called "ring" flash cards because they are all held together by a ring). The child must identify the specific color or specific shape depicted in the image. Posted here are four of the final cards: TRIANGLE (mountain), PINK (pig), BLUE (elephant), OCTAGON (spider web)

The images were all done with black gouache and brush, scanned into Photoshop, then all the color was applied digitally with various brush and erase tools. It's refreshing to do simple images like this, though they take far more time than what it may look! (See the post below showing some of the sketches from this same project.)

Q: What color is this recession?

...another Mudpuppy project... Color Flash Cards for kids

2009-08-06T15:18:00.020-04:00

To see all my illustration portfolio samples, visit stevensalerno.com

Last year I worked with art director Cynthia Matthews at the company Galison (the parent company of mudpuppy.com, the terrific online store for books, games, toys, etc for young kids) on a project called FIRST PUZZLES... a series of three simple puzzles I illustrated that come in one box with a handle. (click here to see earlier post)

Recently Cynthia hired me for a new project, to illustrate 26 Flash Cards... identifying colors and shapes for young kids.

Just today Cynthia approved most of the sketches... just a few need a bit of adjusting before I can proceed to starting the final artwork. Posted above are just a couple of the approved sketches, PINK (pig) and the GREY (mouse). The text for the cards will either ask what shape? or what color? eg: "What color is this mouse?" ... on the back of each card is the answer.

These images are just scans of pencil line sketches, that were then darkened in Photoshop to approximate the black look of ink line. Next, simple washes of color were indicated using digital color. The final art will be created in gouache paintings which will be scanned and then additional embellishments finalized in Photoshop.