Vector Illustration Wins the Vote!

Ben's Guide 

When the U.S. Government Printing Office decided to rebrand their "Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government" website, the project's design team called on Shawn Finley Studios to illustrate the site with vector art built in Adobe Illustrator. Vector art was a natural fit for the website, allowing the new Ben Franklin character and backgrounds to be easily scaled and employed in web games and animations.

If your next web or print project could use some highly versatile vector art or character designs, call Shawn Finley Studios to get your campaign rolling!

Ben Franklin Character Turnarounds

(TOP IMAGE: Ben's Guide splash page. MIDDLE IMAGE: Ben Franklin character design turnarounds. BOTTOM IMAGE: Screenshot from "Branch -O- Mania" web game.)

"Ben's Guide" is a website aimed at teaching kids about the various functions of the U.S. Government. Check it out here or view more art at shawnfinley.com.

"Villains" – New Works by Shawn Finley at Rotofugi Gallery, Chicago

I recently had the privilege to exhibit my first one man gallery show at Rotofugi Gallery on February 3. It was a snowy Chicago evening, but despite the wintry weather, I enjoyed a very warm reception celebrating with friends, fans and family – many of whom had travelled from out of state to see the show.

The title – and theme – is "Villains", inspired by the bad guys we love to hate from the movies and graphic novels. This show is a rogue's gallery of bad guys (and gals) including stoic gunslingers, smoking hot assassins, scowling pirates, creeping ninjas, desperate ronin and evil kings. Each work is acrylic on canvas, with 18 paintings in total.

Each "Villains" portrait features a graphic, flat character surrounded by a moody abstract expressionist background, combining Pop Art and Abstract Expressionist techniques. Other paintings are "abstract only", adding the feeling of wind, rain, fire and ice to the mix.

Rotofugi Gallery, located on the north side of Chicago, will continue to host the "Villains" exhibit from Feb. 3-25. You can also view the entire show online.

IKEA's LATTJO Activity Book

IKEA recently added another title by Shawn Finley to it's family books section. "LATTJO Activity Book", a coloring book for all ages, features 96 pages of intricate black and white imagery of imaginative creatures and botanical designs. Shawn worked closely with the producers at DreamWorks to illustrate and design this coloring book collection (inspired by the original designs of Maja Sten and Tyra von Zweigbergk.) The book is currently available on IKEA's website, along with "LATTJO Story Cards", illustrated by Shawn Finley and Denise Shimabukuro.

Interior spread from LATTJO Activity Book

Interior spread from LATTJO Activity Book

Interior spread from LATTJO Activity Book

Interior spread from LATTJO Activity Book

Phonics Monster

The New Year is off with a bang with this fun Monster project that made me smile! E-Public, an educational publisher from Korea, approached me about doing a series of book covers for beginning English students. 

Each cover features one of the four monsters (Plop, Turley, Moo, and Volt) who help make learning fun for Kindergarten through 2nd Grade readers. 

Every book also comes with an interactive multi-rom with educational computer games and other extras. Plop, Turley, Moo, and Volt can also be seen in the "Writing Monster" series, illustrated by Shawn Finley Studios in 2014.

IKEA Story Cards

Recently I teamed up fellow illustrator Denise Shimabukuro to create IKEA's "Lattjo Story Cards", a fun family product designed to encourage children and adults to invent creative and original stories.

The project, developed for IKEA by DreamWorks, features 20 wordless story cards with a variety of characters and settings as a fun way of engaging children in personal and unique story telling.

My role was to create a total of 27 detailed digital paintings in a traditional textured "acrylic" style, based on pencil drawings supplied by Denise. I'm very happy with the outcome! "Lattjo Story Cards" can be found on IKEA's site here!

DreamWorks and Dragons

Early in 2014, DreamWorks Animation approached me about illustrating some board books for their new publishing branch, DreamWorks Press. A few months after completing those, I was asked to work on a picture book adaptation of the original "How to Train Your Dragon" movie. It didn't take me long to say "Yes"! 

For those not familiar with the film, "How to Train Your Dragon" tells the story of a young Viking named Hiccup who befriends a rare and powerful dragon.

It was a pleasure to work with Art Director Mike Sund on this title, as well as co-illustrator Denise Shimabukuro. Denise provided the pencil drawings, and I created the final digital paintings. The direction was to create a hand-painted acrylic/gouache look, which I achieved with a variety of Photoshop brushes.

I'm very proud of the final product, a 32 page hardback book released in 2015. 

(Available on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/q9zmt6r).

Searching for Dinosaurs

I am pleased to announce the publication of my latest picture book, Search & Find Dinosaur Fun! by Kidsbooks LLC (2012).

Dinosaur Fun is a fully illustrated, high quality 16 page board book featuring a family of dinosaurs who visit a farm, a museum, the beach, and many other interesting places. 

 

Preschoolers are challenged to find the dinosaurs and other objects within the main images, enhancing their cognitive skills and introducing them to basic words along the way. 

For more information about "Dinosaur Fun" please visit:

 http://www.kidsbooks.com/young-readers/dinosaur-fun

Announcing BAD LIKE ME!

Shawn Finley Studios is pleased to announce the launch of Bad Like Me, an online graphic novel. Follow the story of Nicky and his gang as they arrive in 1930's Chicago, robbing banks and raising hell- much to the frustration of mob boss "Big Al" Calamari, the Mayor and the cops.

The first 3-page episode will post October 9 at badlikeme.net, with further episodes appearing every two weeks. No subscription required; the comic is free to all. Visit the site right now to join the email list and subscribe to Twitter and Facebook updates! It's gonna be a wild ride!

BEAR HUG!

Remember back in grade school when you'd celebrate Valentine's Day by giving away packets of tiny cards to all your friends and classmates? Well, I recently had the chance to create those very cards for Just Like Me magazine, produced by  Baxter International.  Just Like Me is a publication specially tailored for kids with PI (primary immunodeficiency disease).

This series of kiddie cards was printed as a special insert in the Spring 2011 issue of Just Like Me. They feature the magazine's resident mascot, a blue bear named Igi V.

Igi V. exists in the 3D world as a plush toy that is given to all the children who read the magazine. He is a comforting friend and companion on their regular trips to the doctor's office, where they receive immunoglobulin medicine that helps fight infection. 

It was my privilege to be commissioned to design the 2D cartoon version of Igi V. and his friends, as well as the world they inhabit. Every issue of Just Like Me includes an Igi V. coloring page, comic page and look & find puzzle. The stories and pictures often feature Igi V. going to the doctor's office, making new friends, and generally experiencing the fun of being a normal kid.

As we speak, JLM issue # 4 is going to press and the art for issue # 5 is now under way. In the future I look forward to sharing more illustrations and comics from this very special publication!

ROCK STAR!

   I should clarify. I'm not a rock star, but occasionally I collaborate with talented bands to solve some rock star-sized design problems. Such was the case in 2009 when Chicago band Lola Balatro asked me to create cover art for their soon to be released album.

   Lead singer Paul Thomas had this idea to feature Lola, the fabled grandmother-turned-namesake of the band, on the stage as an aging, over the hill burlesque dancer. Honestly I wasn't sure how I'd ever pull off this idea, so I did a bunch of quick sketches and focused on the motion of the dance. The big fans helped. I also wanted to give the granny character a cute face.

   I quickly blocked this idea out in Adobe Illustrator and showed the concept to Paul. I figured this was for the back cover and I envisioned the track list would form a column on the right. Paul's response was A) the colors look too feminine and B) the boobs need to be bigger.

   I knew he was right about the colors- nothing matched the band's existing look. Then I got the idea to pull shades of blue, aqua and black from the front cover photo to create some color consistency.

   Paul was excited about the new direction and, after consulting with bandmates Cork Kangas and Jeff Madden, decided Lola should dance on the front cover art. I exported my vector workup into Photoshop, finished painting the cover, then gave it a nice type treatment.

   The last touch was to make some disk art to match. I envisioned what it must look like backstage after a crazy show and went with that.

   And true to their legendary persona, Lola Balatro went on to have the craziest release party ever with clowns, comedians, and blue-painted burlesque dancers.

   I think you'll love their intro song "Rock Star" and another favorite track, "Questionable Beef." You should look them up on Facebook and iTunes. Like, right now!

Painting a Monster

Americhip Books contacted me in 2008 to illustrate a story about a boy named Cameron who uses various night lights to keep the "monsters" away. It was a fun-sounding concept so of course I said yes!
   One of the challenges was laying out the artwork to accommodate a light bulb and "press" button for each spread. The other challenge was keeping the scenery interesting, since the entire story takes place in the same darkened room. A mixture of "camera" angles and closeups helped keep the readers engaged as Cameron tried scaring the monsters with a lamp, a flashlight, and a firefly, among other things.
   The final art incorporated rich, dark colors built up in Adobe Photoshop. Below are the layers from scene 3, depicting Cameron's firefly leaving the room.

Base layer

General shading, PJ details

Light source, shadows, wall details, final text

Back from the Dead

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2.5 years since my last post. Gulp! Suffice it to say, I got a bit sidetracked. But this does not mean I've slacked off illustrating. No way! If anything, it has been my most prolific period yet. I simply didn't feel like writing about it. However, it simply won't do to ignore the need to write. And now that I'm up to the task, there are many cool projects I need to catch you up on. For now, please accept this humble illustration as a peace offering.

It feels good to be back from the dead.