A Visit with a snowman

  • “A Visit with a Snowman'' is a book made in the children's book style although the writing and message is meant to be appreciated by adults as well. The story is about a boy named Wyatt and how he has his perspective on life changed by a talking snowman who teaches him to appreciate the wonder in life.

    This book is written by Matt Carcieri. He is a brand strategist who wrote “Prince: A Life in Music,” a biography of the famous musician that is presented in the unique structure of tracking the course of Prince’s life through the music that he released at each stage of his life. Matt Carcieri also wrote “Bleed a Creed” which is a powerful guide to brand management specifically in regards to how to imbue your brand with a sense of purpose. I was hired as a freelance illustrator to do the page and cover illustrations for his latest book “A Visit with a Snowman.”

  • I was given more responsibility and artistic freedom on this project than on the previous children’s book I illustrated. My first task when I was given the text was to divide the script into pages and decide what text should go on each page. Because the author trusted my creative vision and artistic skill so completely, he said that he wanted the illustrations to be entirely my own unfiltered creation. The images that I create would be dependent on the text of the page, so in order to give me as much artistic freedom as possible, the author also assigned me the duty of deciding how the text should be divided amongst the pages.

    The concept art for this book included one location and two characters. In my previous projects, the publishing and printing requirements were decided after the project was completed, and they were made to fit the illustrations that I had already done. However, when drawing for this project, I was given the page dimensions and resolution requirements for printing beforehand, and I had to make my illustrations in a way that fit within those constraints.

    The illustrations were sketched in pencil and then inked. For coloring, I scanned the inked illustrations into photoshop where I colored them digitally.

  • With this project I decided to attempt to imitate a traditional illustration style, but recreate that style digitally. Previously I had always colored in adobe photoshop using the simplest tools available, but this gave my illustrations a distinctly digital look. I wanted to branch out and expand my style with this project, so for the first time, I experimented with using different brushes in photoshop.

    I specifically went for a watercolor look. To replicate this style, I had to experiment using a combination of many different digital brushes in photoshop as well as artificially adding texture and surface imperfections to create the illusion that the drawings were painted on real paper with real watercolor paints. Throughout this experimentation process I deepened my understanding of digital illustration tools and software.

little lamont

  • "Little Lamont" is a motivational children’s book about a boy named Lamont overcoming his fear of basketball tryouts. It was published in 2020.

    The book is written by Lamonte Thomas, a basketball player from Providence, Rhode Island, who is currently playing for the Spain LEB league. I was hired as a freelance illustrator to do the concept art and final page illustrations for this book.

  • I was given the text of the book along with a brief description from the author of his vision for the page illustration. Based on these descriptions, I would make several thumbnail sketches of possible compositions for a page. Once a design was agreed upon by both the author and myself, I would move ahead with the full sized final illustration.

    I sketched each page in pencil, then I inked it traditionally and scanned the inked illustration into Adobe Photoshop where I colored the page digitally.

    In the character design concept art, the process involved many iterations. The author originally gave me an image that demonstrated a rough idea of the style he wanted for the character. From this inspiration I created multiple versions of the same character, which were then sent to the author for his feedback. He would indicate aspects that he liked or disliked in each of the different versions of the character. From this feedback, I would create new variations of that character and send them to the author for his input, repeating this process until we arrived on a design that we were both happy with.

  • This project was my first experience collaborating on an artistic project under the direction of a non-artist. The author is a basketball player and not an artist, so he was unfamiliar with how to express his creativity. As the artist, I had to learn how to interpret his artistic vision.

    Previously I had only drawn my own ideas, which is very easy for me to understand and convey through my illustrations. On this project, I had to learn to be the filter through which someone else can bring their own ideas to life. I was the middle-man, translating the author’s creative vision to the audience. I began to view myself as a tool through which the author’s imagination could be transferred to the physical world for others to see.

escape from planet osiris

  • "Escape From Planet Osiris" is a science-fiction graphic novel about a rescue mission to a mysterious planet, and how the mission goes horribly wrong. It was published in 2019.

    This graphic novel is both written and illustrated entirely by me. Throughout the process, I was mentored by newspaper cartoonist Will Henry. Will Henry is the creator of the very popular "Wallace the Brave" comic strip, which won “Best in Newspaper Comics” at the Reuben Awards as well as being nominated at the Eisner Awards for “Best Humor Publication” and “Best Publication for Kids” in 2018.

  • I wrote and illustrated my own original 40 page short story graphic novel. This process included much more than just drawing the images, there was a tremendous amount of work that had to be done before I even drew a single panel.

    The concept art that was need included: 8 diverse characters to make up the crew of the rescue mission, 2 separate exterior environments on the alien planet where the events of the story will take place, the design of the alien creatures who would serve as the antagonists in the story, three different science fiction spaceships, as well as science fiction weapons, props, and interior designs to all fit the aesthetic of the graphic novel.

    The planning of the storyline was an entirely new process to me. It began with a rough idea of the storyline that I wanted to write: beginning, middle and end, conflict, resolution, and key characters. From this outline I created a more detailed breakdown of the plot, deciding on the structure of the story, and the chronological order of the events. The last stage before final illustration was a complete storyboard of all 200 panels including the dialogue and framing of each panel.

    The process of illustration included pencil sketches that were then inked and scanned into photoshop where the speech bubbles and greyscale shading was completed.

  • After the graphic novel was completed I self published it and printed physical copies to be sold. I rented and shared a booth with my mentor Will Henry at Rhode Island Comic Con in November 2019.

    To promote my appearance at the Comic Con, I modeled some of the characters and vehicles from the graphic novel in a 3D design software and then 3D printed these models to be put on display at the booth to grab people’s attention and increase sales. I also promoted my appearance at the Comic Con on social media and hung posters and banners of the graphic novel around the booth.

    This whole process after the completion of the graphic novel was entirely new to me. Under the guidance of Will Henry I was able to, for the first time, generate public interest in my art and transform it from a personal passion project into an actual product in the real world.