WILL RETURN BONUS -recession drawings

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The saying goes: A picture is worth a 1000 words.... but in these difficult financial times, the artist is forced to give back at least half of those words, so, currently a picture is only worth, at best, 500 words.

Posted above are a few of my quick, doodle-ish "recession" drawings from a sketch book. At the top Uncle Sam is looking bewildered sitting in one of his sweet bail-out cars. Next is a man hanging from a cliff burdened down with the weight of 2008, 2009, and 2010. Next is a drawing depicting an out-of-work Wall Street exec with a sign stating he'll give back any bonus money given to him... and at the bottom is the screen shot detail of the inxart.com homepage.

INX is a weekly collection of editorial illustrations satirizing current happenings in politics and society, which are leased to newspapers and other publications around the country and abroad for use on their Op/Ed commentary pages. The Creative Director is Martin "KOZ" Kozlowski. I showed my "Will Return Any Bonuses" drawing to Martin, and he selected it for inclusion into the collection of INX images for this week.

Fat Legs? Hairy Back?? -no problem!

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I illustrated the book The Style Guy (Ballantine), written by Glenn O'Brian (columnist for the men's magazine GQ), and I am just now getting around to showing a couple of the images here in my blog...

It is a fun, witty, lifestyle guide for men, giving advice on dress, manners, sex, grooming, dating, etc... and I was asked to contribute about a dozen illustrations, though I did not illustrate the cover. Posted here are just a couple of the images... the first image is about ways to dress to slim down your large legs, and the next concerns what to do about an excessively hairy back!

The Naked Truth...

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Every month I create a series of spot illustrations for Westways, Orange County Westways, and San Diego Westways magazines, which are the publications of the Automobile Club of Southern California, art directed by Creative Director Eric Van Eyke. Actually the illustrations are contracted to also appear in a number of their other car/travel publications as well each month. (Hawaii Westways, Texas Journey, New Mexico Journey, Alabama Journey, and Northern New England Journey magazines)

They are always on a variety of subject matter all revolving around your car, travel destinations, etc... and a recent spot image was for an article on the possibility of having to sell your car in the face of repossession during these very difficult financial times.

Posted above are a few of the illustrations... the top image is of an unemployed man, his last worldly possession being his car, and he's forced to sell it. (actually this is a rejected image. At the last minute editors decided showing a half-naked man was inappropriate, so I ended up doing a different image) The middle image (SALE tag) was about cheap travels rates to well known destinations, and the bottom image (two gas pumps) was for an article about how to choose the correct gas octane rated gas for your car.

PARK LANE -an ad project through latitude TRG/Dallas

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

Usually, magazine and newspaper assignments have the quickest illustration deadlines due mostly to the simple fact that they need to ship the page designs out to the printers every week or every day. Advertising projects have more time, because the ad agency works in advance, and they require more rounds of sketch (comp) revisions and their client also take longer to approve final sketches and give the green light to proceed to final. Of course, my children's book projects have the longest deadlines...a couple months for sketches and a few months for completion of final art, but, all these various illustration assignment deadlines all overlap, so it seems I have deadlines all the time.

Last Thursday, late in the afternoon I received a call from Tammy Lucas, the art director at latitude (a division of The Richards Group) in Dallas, Texas. Her client, Harvest Partners, are the developers of a new retail/residential complex in downtown Dallas named Park Lane, opening next month.

Tammy had found her way to my work samples on the web, and felt I was a good style match for a series of advertisements they were designing for Park Lane... the first one being a depiction of the fountains that are a feature within the retail complex. The catch was that the final art would be due on Monday...

Most of Friday was spent back and forth negotiating and confirming the contract, signing forms, and receiving the art directors ad page "comp" (that had already been shown and approved by the client) which indicated the position of the ad copy, and that the image must be of of a bold, playful vertical spire of water from a fountain and use a specific green color, in my style. The ad image will be appearing in print ads (newspaper & magazines), direct mail, large format outdoor advertising, and web advertising.

Thursday night and part of Friday, I spent time creating numerous black gouache brush paintings of various decorative squiggles, swirls and curls of suggested fountain sprays of water, and scanned them all at 600dpi CMYK into Photoshop. (because I needed to create a high-resolution file, due to the fact that the design firm would also be formatting large size versions of this ad)

Friday night and half of Saturday I then created (in Photoshop at low-resolution 100dpi) about seven various comp versions of the ad image, dropped into the ad page template, and sent them off to Tammy in Dallas. These initial early comps used the different "brush strokes" I had created, all with added different simple background shapes. My intention was to keep the image simple, light, elegant, and with a playful feeling. And simple was the only graphic approach to take considering that final art was due on Monday!

Tammy then focused in on two of the initial comps, and I then developed those particular images further... but eventually just one approach was selected and even that one went through various mutations. The plan was to have the client review the "final comp" first thing Monday morning, approve it quickly, then allowing me most of Monday to complete the actual high-resolution final image. But the client ended up liking one of the earlier comps... so I went down that avenue on Monday, but that image was eventually rejected for the "final comp" Tammy and I had originally presented.

Now the deadline for final art was shifted from Monday to Wednesday morning! Part of Tuesday was spent fine tuning the final comps several times. Because this image was graphically very simple, the comps were allowing the AD and client to essentially see almost exactly what the final art would look like. A more graphically complex final image cannot have equally detailed sketches or comps. By late afternoon the "final(revised4x)comp" was finally approved, and I then spent until about midnight completing the final art and uploading it to latitude's ftp site. Whew! I was a hermit for five straight days, but it was a job that ended well, and the client was happy with the result.

Initially, my goal was for the image to be simple, elegant and a bit funky. The image ended up being much more funky, but it works. Viewers will love it's fun and energy... and a few may even hate it, but the image is definitely striking and will certainly stand out in the crowd. I applaud the client for going forward with this stylish approach, when they could have just as easily gone with a conservative one. I look forward to others in the series and working with Tammy Lucas again.

HARRY HUNGRY! -my latest children's picture book is released

Steven Salerno, Harry Hungry!; illus. by the author

40 pp. Harcourt 2/09 isbn 978-0-15-206257-6 $16.00(Preschool)
No measly Cheerios for this insatiable infant. Harry needs a more substantial snack, such as a mailbox, his father’s car, the neighbor’s house—and that’s just for starters. This sly caricature of the havoc a demanding baby can cause features an oversized, oval-headed cartoon tot whose disposition is ruled by the “GRRRRRR” of his rumbling tummy. At first, Momma tries to feed him, but after he hefts the refrigerator over his head and dumps its contents into his gaping mouth, she panics and calls for reinforcements. Yet what Momma, Papa, the army, and the navy can’t control, sleepiness can. Shrunk back to size, snuggled in his crib next to his teddy, the beast is tamed—at least until breakfast. To the retro-sixties line and colors popularized by such artists as Mo Willems and Bob Shea, Salerno adds an anarchic, very contemporary energy that’s all his own. (c.m.h) -HORN BOOK

Steven Salerno, Harry Hungry!; illus. by the author

40 pp. Harcourt 2/09 isbn 978-0-15-206257-6 $16.00 (ages 3-6)
Harry is hungry! And with his mouth open wide, he makes sure that everybody knows. Momma rushes in with a snack, but is not enough. Blueberries, cookies, the entire contents of the refrigerator- plus cars, a mountain, even the sky- nothing can satisfy Harry's voracious appetite. Will there be anything left for Harry to eat? More importantly, will there be anything left at all? Done in his trademark retro style, Salerno's bright, sweeping illustrations and offbeat perspectives instantly capture this tiny tot's insatiable energy, which is made all the funnier by his incongruously innocent-looking kewpie 'do. The chomp of Harry's mouth reverberates across the page, as does the grrrrrrgrrrrrr of his prodigiously rumbling belly. Luckily, just as Harry is about to reach up and munch on the moon, another familiar feeling comes over him. Harry is... sleepy. Children will delight in growling loudly along with Harry's tummy, turning story time into a rumbling, tumbling feast. (Picture book. 3-6) -KIRKUS


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

My newest children's picture book Harry Hungry! (as both author & illustrator) is released in bookstores this week, and is already gaining positive industry reviews. Top image is the actual book cover... and below it is the first initial concept doodle I had for the cover image. The industry review posted at the top is from the upcoming March/April 2009 Horn Book publication... the next review is from the December 2008 Kirkus publication. You can see more samples from the book, as well as sketches by visiting the Children's Book section of my web site. 


Buy a copy now before they are gobbled up!

AXA Financial -images go from print to the web

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For a few years now, I have been doing near-monthly illustrations for the AXA Financial company magazine named Enterprise... an internal publication for their thousands of employees.

All the illustrations I did were done in black and one color. Posted above are a couple of the past illustrations for their magazine.

This month though, their magazine ceased to be printed (on paper)... instead, Enterprise is now an on-line publication, but viewed only on an internal company web site. The editor, Bennett Cooperman has kept me on as the illustrator, and I am no longer limited to “black & one color” images. Now, I can create the images in full color. Also posted here is the recent full color illustration I created (and the companion sketch). Like many business related images these days, the concept for this illustration revolves around navigating current stormy financial times, all while keeping an eye on the future, hence the sea captain and rough seas metaphor .

VaZing... a recent web commercial project

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

Just before the Christmas holidaze in 2008, I was contacted by Mark Kushinsky, the CEO of Insight Direct and was asked to be on board with a web commercial project featuring their new web service product named VaZing. He had seen some illustration samples of mine on the web and felt my imaging style was a good match. 

The web commercial was to be produced by Voicewalk (creators of web-based Flash demos... the team I worked with was Saul Ives, Darren Ursino and Martin Guitar). Once the contract with Insight Direct was confirmed, I jumped right in because it was a quick deadline. 

Insight Direct already had the basic voiceover script for me to interpret and develop the rough storyboard from. A first draft full story board (b&w) was presented to Voicewalk for their comments and suggestions to help edit down the visuals to better match the timing of the voiceover narrative. A second, more refined full story board (color) was then submitted for comments and approval by Voicewalk and the client. Once approval was given, next I did a couple of the final vector Adobe Illustrator images and sent them to Voicewalk, so they could review the images and determine if there were going to be any problems implementing them into Flash. (I guess too many anchor points within a vector image is an issue, so I had to keep the images simple. I used brush lines, fills and some basic gradations... but no filter effects, etc...)

Then it was just a matter of doing and submitting all the final vector images to Voicewalk for them to do their thing and implement the images into the “limited-animation” VaZing web commercial. My animated portion is the first 60 seconds of the 4 minute product demo. 

Posted here are a few of the first round story board sketches in black & white, and the corresponding final vector Adobe Illustrator color images (cropped a little bit). 

watch animation portion of client's web commercial for VaZing 

Click on the above link to view just the animation portion of the VaZing demo I worked on. If that does not work go to http://www.vazing.com and on their homepage click the “watch demo” button. After the 60 second animation portion is finished, just bail out from the site. 

Once the web commercial was completed, Mark Kushinsky really liked the “office manager” character I created, so he then wanted me to also illustrate three simple web ads on the VaZing web site featuring this same office manager character. 

It was a fast and fun project... and it looks like there is a possibility I may be doing a second web commercial project for another division of Insight Direct named MaidPro.