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

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

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.

Royal Bank of Canada

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

A handful of years ago, through SPUR Communications (in Kansas City) David Svet, Creative Director, I worked on a CD-ROM project for the Royal Bank of Canada's insurance and annuity division. It was an advertisement/tutorial using the story line of a couple making decisions regarding their retirement plans.

I created many vector images of the characters and backgrounds in Adobe Illustrator... then the production designers implemented them into a flash program to minimally animate the images for the CD-ROM. I thought I'd post them here now, just to show examples of images created digitally on my Wacom Tablet in Adobe Illustrator, because my web site portfolios does not show any image samples created in this manner. (Most images I create are drawn & painted, scanned, then compiled in layers in Photoshop with additional digital modifications.)

My Secret Golf Graphics (Shhhh!)

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

Anyone who knows me, is aware that I love to play golf. (Not today, of course: it's 37 degrees and raining!) I grew up playing golf as a kid in New England... and even won my State Golf Association Junior Amateur Championship when I was18 years old at the Equinox CC in Vermont. I then went off to design school in NYC, graduated from Parsons School of Design, and worked as an illustrator for a handful of years in NYC. Then, burnt out from everything, and the city... I ended up living in Connecticut and became an assistant golf professional at The Yale Golf Club (Yale University's golf course in New Haven, CT) and an apprentice in the PGA (Professional Golfers Association of America)... passing their required PAT (playing ability test) and going through their first stage of business school. After a few years in the golf world... I then went back to being an illustrator for my career again. The “golf years” segment of my life seems like a million years ago now... but was so much fun.

A couple of my golf buddies here in NYC are also illustrators: James Yang, and Annette Vasilakis. Annette took a photo of me swinging a club and integrated it into one of her photo/illustration assignments for a sports publication (see first photo posted at the top, which is accompanied by a photo James took of me playing the 18th hole at Bethpage Black Course). Now, I usually play golf once a week... though not nearly as well as I did when I was in younger, but I still love it. When I'm not too busy with my illustration assignment work or children's book projects, sometimes I take a little time and experiment with creating golf related images, just for myself. 

The images posted here are not ones I ever show, because they are not consistent with my “career” illustration style. They are just for my own enjoyment as an expression of my interest in the game, and it's history. The 2nd and 3rd images from the top are details from a national golf architecture design competition I entered a couple years ago. The bottom two images are: a small painting I did of Ben Hogan practicing, and a drawing of Sam Snead entitled ‘Original Smooth.”

...here is a clip of me at the practice range, hitting a 3-metal draw.

Doodle Power

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

Doodling, like singing in the shower... is an uninhibited act, because there is no one around to try and impress. The best doodling, I feel, occurs when you are simultaneously talking on the telephone or watching television. Or in a classroom. (I remember my high school chemistry class. At the end of the year I gave my teacher 119 pages of doodles I had executed during his class. I think the gift raised my grade from a C to a B!) The distraction of listening to something while you doodle helps it to be an unselfconscious expression. 

Doodling is different than sketching. Most sketches are executed with forethought, or intention toward developing an idea or image to a more evolved stage either for yourself or for an art director. (eg: having an idea for a painting and conducting a series of sketches to fine tune your image toward the end result) But a doodle, in comparison, is like improvisational jazz...you just begin making a mark, without quite knowing or caring what it will become in the end, and the brain is so lightning fast that once the pen line starts moving you instantly form an evolving opinion of what you will “draw” and spontaneously direct the form accordingly. Suddenly you have made a face with an expression, or a character in a pose, etc... 

The doodles, shown above, were culled from pads and throw-away scraps of paper (on which I do the bulk of my daily doodling!). Numbers 2. and 5. above (the boy wrapped in green leaves and the other image of the weird looking fellow in pink) were probably done when I happened to be standing at my drawing table, had access to watercolors or colored inks, and this is why they look more “rendered”... but both started out as lines and marks that simply grew into an image without any pre-planning. (it's funny that the character at the top of number 4. kind of looks like a teenage George Bush!) I chose these images because they all depict “people,” just to give this posting a theme... but I should have also shown a pure classic doodle consisting of just odd shapes, objects, swirls, and abstract graphic marks!

Doodles help to clear your head, or expand your creative process... and actually, over time, help move an artist's style into new directions. One certainly cannot be bored while doodling. The doodles I have posted here are rather conservative images (edited for adult content!) ... because of the fact that I write and illustrate children's picture books (which have been translated into four languages). So, I have many young readers visiting my web site (to which my blog is linked), hence I must tone down anything appearing in my blog, too! 

Last word. Everyone should doodle. It's fun and therapeutic!