Illustration
Over the years, I’ve had a number of occasions to design various packaging for toys and promotional merchandise. I’ve also done some personal projects that involved either re-creating vintage packaging and card backs, reimagining them, or just doing something new altogether in that space.
Character Design
While by no means my primary focus, occasionally, I’ll design custom characters for toys or marketing clients. Below are some notable concepts, such as the Germ mascot for Medline (“Bacterry” – you can see the full animated spot in my media section), cartoon mascots for Pilot truck stops and Whataburger, an ill-fated attempt to own the Easter holiday for Walmart, and a concept pitch for a Mr. Peanut/Transformers tie-in. Plus more in-depth character pitches for 7-Eleven and Santa Claus design explorations for a holiday-based company.
Digital Paintings
Over the years, I’ve created the occasional digital painting just for fun and to keep my skills fresh, usually of licensed characters.
Acrylic Paintings
In the days before Photoshop and other digital tools, I would produce physical paintings for clients. Some of these were commissions, some for my various workplaces. In fact, my very first job in the toy industry was painting the illustrations for a Jack In The Box counter display in the mid-1990s!
Miscellaneous artwork
Here is a scattered assortment of different styles and mediums: hand-drawn artwork for a commemorative Pilsner Glass, some printed anima plush for Wendy’s, a couple of poster pitching Jack Black for a liquor company, a Hershey’s trade show display table, and a sampling of logos I’ve designed over the years.
storyboards
From time to time, I’ll be called upon to develop storyboards for our broadcast production clients. Here’s a commercial I helped develop for Takis and an animatic that I drew and animated for Oroweat.
NanoKids educational materials
From 2002-2004, I was heavily involved in the development of a project for Rice University in Houston, attempting to create a course for students from elementary school – high school, teaching the fundamentals of nanotechnology and chemistry through a CG-animated series. While ultimately only the pilot was made and tested, I designed all characters and environments, storyboarded the pilot, and worked closely with the animator in directing the execution. Let’s just say the technology wasn’t quite there yet for such an ambitious project and leave it at that.
