Drawing things was one of my very first pastimes. From the first moment I could wield a writing utensil, I’ve brandished it with varying degrees of success. Often when inappropriate. I’ve mentioned before on this site that my incessant art-ing caused issues in my early school years, but it was also a positive and productive outlet. I can remember spending hours on end for a number of days working on drawings over the years. I still have a few binders containing my favorite class doodles, worksheet scribblings, and moments of motivation and inspiration from kid-dom and young-adulthood.
Even as an adult, old habits surface. A few years back, I was sitting in my daughter’s elementary school classroom on Curriculum Night. As soon as the room got quiet and the teacher starting speaking… BOOM: Robot fighting an octopus on the back of the night’s agenda printout.
I’m not a career illustrator. I don’t do photorealistic drawing of animals or dead celebrities. I can’t hang with people who specialize in modern comic book or anime artwork. But, as a graphic designer, I sometimes get hired to do outright illustrations, or projects that require some sort of illustrative element (like t-shirts). I always enjoy it. It takes me back to the being a kid and drawing Transformers or Ninja Turtles or whatever I happened to be into at the moment. And really, all of those class doodles and late-night moments of inspiration were stepping stones to becoming a career graphic designer. Good times.
Here are a few original illustrations I’ve done on past projects.
