Illustration Friday: Urban

An old Blown Covers submission (for Easter) that seemed to fit with this week's IF topic (Urban). Hope you'll pardon the fact that I'm recycling older material, but it's in keeping with a fun project I've been involved with lately for Earth Day. See more at EarthDayCarol.org or look for the FREE Earth Day Carol app on any of the various app stores. Please feel free to share the links or app information with anyone who might be interested in finding some fun and educational Earth Day resources. Thanks for stopping by!

IF: Whisper (and Earth Day Carol information)

Plastic Bottle Scrooge meets the ghost, Plastic Past

An illustration from an all-volunteer project I've been working on called Earth Day Carol (click for more information) which seemed appropriate for this week's "Whisper" theme on Illustration Friday. The Earth Day Carol project is a retelling of  Dickens' classic Christmas Carol (but with an eco-friendly spin) and will supply free educational resources in multiple languages (including an app - coming soon) to promote the message of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" for Earth Day. A preview of the narrated and animated app is also available on YouTube (click here). Please check it out and feel free to spread the word ... after all, it's FREE!

IF: Tree / Blown Covers: Autumn

It has been a while since I've posted to Illustration Friday ... this is a submission made to the Blown Covers contest for their "Autumn" contest from a couple months back. Thought it fit with this week's IF "Tree" theme.

Blown Covers Submission: "Global Warming" (Runner Up #2)

My latest entry to the Blown Covers contest. This month's theme was "Global Warming". I was very pleasantly surprised that it was chosen as Runner Up #2 ... thought for sure it wasn't going to get noticed, especially given the number of awesome entries on this topic --- both visually and conceptually. Chris Greco kept working on this theme after the submission deadline and posted some subsequent stunning ideas on his blog ... check them out here. As always, many thanks to Françoise & Nadja for keeping this contest alive ... not to mention the much appreciated "nod"!

Blown Covers Submission: "Cats & Dogs"

My entry for this week's theme: Cats & Dogs. I was happy with this one, especially since the idea didn't hit me until the evening before the deadline. I may rework this as a more finalized piece if I get the chance.

Blown Covers Submission: "The Gays" ... picked as the winning entry!

I was extremely honored that Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman chose my image as the winner this week for their Blown Covers competition. The theme this week was "The Gays", reflecting Obama's recent statements about his evolving views regarding Gay Marriage. While I'm certainly not the first person to speculate about Bert & Ernie's more personal and private relationship, I thought they were well suited to represent how a lot of gay couples must have felt hearing Obama's comments ... after all, they've been together for almost 50 years ... as "just friends" or otherwise.

There were a lot of very strong submissions this week ... particularly the 1st Runner Up entry by Ella German ... a very timely and beautifully rendered tribute to Maurice Sendak.

Thanks again to Françoise and Nadja for putting so much time and effort into the weekly Blown Cover contests as well as the other inspiring content they post to their site!

Blown Covers Submission: Graduation

This week's Blown Covers theme was "Graduation". I titled this piece "Indebted-nest Egg" ... sort of a reverse nest-egg, if you will, since most graduates these days are sitting on a pile of debt by the time they get their diplomas. This one got mentioned in the Runners-Up category. Always nice to be noticed, even though I didn't quite agree with Françoise's comments this time. I had a fun time trying out a different style and process with this one.