Portland Monthly Illustration!

TOM - I forgot to mention in my last post, but I am back in NYC! It was great living in Portland this winter, but it feels great to be back in my city. While still in Portland last month, I got an opportunity to work on an illustration for Portland Monthly. I had a great time working very closely with the art director, Michael Novak on this illustration. I went through a couple rounds of sketches for this one and there was quite a bit that went into solidifying this idea, but after all was said and done, it was totally worth it because both Michael and I were really happy with the way it turned out.

The article was about the contridiction between Portlands 'green image' and the undeniable truth that the Columbia river, with all it's trade between Portland and the Pacific has the potential to lead the world in the transportation of dirty energy.

Whoa.

We wanted to show the juxtaposition between the classic portlander/enviro and the pollution that the large amount of cargo ships are causing. Above is some of my thought process. I was trying to incorporate ideas of smog, carbon footprint, the 'portland rose', bike riding and of course, the ships.

After that first round, the dimensions of the layout changed, so I went ahead and did another round of tighter sketches in the new vertical shape. As it turned out, we decided to go with a variation of a sketch I did from the first round, incorporating the prefered mode of transportation in Portland, biking, vs. the pollution causing cargo ships in the background.

I worked out the idea and composition a bit and this is the sketch that finally got the go ahead.


Like I said earlier, I'm super happy with the way the whole thing turned out and Michael did a great job with the final layout.

Thanks for reading and Happy Monday everybody!

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Nerve No More...

TOM - After two years of illustrating a weekly sex column for Nerve.com entitled, 'My First Time', my run has come to an end. I had quite a bit of fun illustrating the section over the years and decided to put together some of my favorites of the series. There was over 90 of these to choose from, so I had to narrow it down quite a bit, I hope you enjoy the look back as much as I did! More new stuff on the way!

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Lover or a Fighter?

TOM- A couple months ago I did a quick illustration for Seattle Met Magazine. Apparenly the UFC was coming to Seattle for the first time ever and the aticle was wondering why UFC organizers have taken a sudden interest in peace-loving, ultra-liberal Seattle. The AD, Benjamen Purvis wanted to sort of mimic an old boxing/wresting poster, but adding a bit of a twist to stress the peacefulness and liberal leanings of Seattle. It was fun and here's a quick look into the process...

The Sketch.

The inks.

The final layout.

Thanks for checking in. Happy first day of spring!

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Sketch Video!

TOM - Here's a recent video I took of myself sketching the drawing above. I recorded this on my phone, so the quality isn't the greatest...I had fun though, I love being able to speed up the video and pretend I can draw that fast! I'm hoping to do more of these in my spare time and I'll be sure to share them when I do. Hope you like it!

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Moving right along...

TOM - It sure has been some time since I've lasted posted here! I assure you, it has been a very busy and exciting month working on some really cool projects that I can't wait to share!

Until then, be sure to check out my Facebook Page and follow me on Twitter for all the latest updates!

Have a great rest of the week, I hope it's spring-like near you!

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