Spring Awakening!

Despite the snow and cold just outside my window, the calendar says (as of yesterday) Spring is officially upon us! Keep your fingers crossed- warmer weather is on the way. Wishing you Peace on this Good Friday, and a Happy Spring to all.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you and your loved ones a super sweet Valentine's Day!

Ice Cold Illustration!

Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved those crazy, kitschy ice machines seen outside of gas stations in the summer time, hawking big bags of ice with igloos or polar bear illustrations on the front. The machines I remember also had giant block letters spelling I C E with piled-up snow caps on each one.

So lately I've been thinking, why not make my own version of the classic ice machine art? Maybe I've been inspired by all this recent Chicago winter weather. Or maybe I just think it would be cool to see a penguin delivering a block of ice the old fashioned way. Whatever the reason, I hope you enjoy this icy treat.

The Joy of Line Art

It's not too often I get to work in simple, good ol' fashioned black and white line art. These days,it's mostly all about saturated color and richly detailed artwork. But what about when you are asked to create minimalistic imagery – in one color? How do you keep it interesting and dynamic?
If it's still in the realm of line art, for me the answer is 1) composition and 2) line weight. And when I say line weight, I mean effective, thick to thin line strokes, that get fatter where indicating more volume, or curvature, or weight. I just love the results you get when you let the lines get expressive.
These pieces are from a batch of German kid's books I illustrated last summer for Hooked on Phonics. Lots of pictures of fish, cats, and crazy dogs. Seems these would also be pretty fun if they were coloring book art. Hope you enjoy these.

New Illustrations for 2008

Now that it's 2008, I'd say it's high time I jumped in on this new-fangled blog craze that's been sweeping the nation.

But first, I should introduce myself. I'm an illustrator, which means I draw the artwork you see in books, magazines, packaging, toys, etc. I create original work that has a cartoonish look. Often I'm influenced by old cartoons, comics, toys, and Japanese pop art.

There is plenty of artwork to see on my main site, shawnfinley.com, but I'll also be posting my newest work here so ya'll can get a peek at the latest stuff. This piece was from my Holiday card in December...

I like to add a sense of motion, right down to the jingling sleigh bells and kicked up snow. And of course, the people need to be cute! Someone told me the girl in the sled reminded her of Betty Rubble. I guess that's good, since Betty was quite the looker! But it seems Barney wasn't invited on this sleigh ride.

Anyway, enough tomfoolery. More art's on the way. Please check back in!

Best wishes–
Shawn Finley