Here is the 7th and final Bloomsday Finisher comic cover. This two-year series of ads has been a hoot!
Now I need to come up with a new concept for 2011 and beyond…
The Bloomsday Finisher is finished.
March 16th, 2010
The Official 2010 Bloomsday Poster
February 25th, 2010Printed last week. Concept, design and illustration by yours truly.
Bloomsday ad art #7
February 24th, 2010Here is the latest Bloomsday ad art. I finished this about two weeks ago, I just haven’t had time to blog. Anyway, here it is.
Runner sketch
February 6th, 2010It’s time to get moving on the next comic book Bloomsday ad, and today I’m working on the preliminary sketch. This is just one element of the piece, and there’s still plenty of stuff to add before moving on to final inking and colorization. Nevertheless, I’m excited about the direction the illustration is going, and I like the energy of this sketch. Just thought I’d share part of the process.
Incidentally, this was done on the computer using Corel Painter XI. I drew it just like I would on paper, instead using my Wacom Intuos 3 pressure sensitive pad.
Bloomsday 2010 ad: beating Old Man Winter
November 23rd, 2009Here is the latest Bloomsday ad promoting the 2010 event. I just finished this last week. Like last year’s ads, this is based on a comic character called “The Bloomsday Finisher” who must defeat certain villainous characters that seek to thwart our hero’s efforts to train for the race.
In this ad, The Finisher is pitted against the elements and must thaw the “icy grip of Old Man Winter” in order to prepare for the coming Bloomsday event.
Last year, I created the comic cover art in the traditional manner using pencils and ink on a 13″ x 19″ format. Once finished with the inking, I scanned the artwork and added color in Photoshop, then imported the cover art into Illustrator to finish the ad layout.
This year, the whole comic cover art and ad, from concept to completion, was 100% digital. Thanks to a newer, more powerful computer system purchased earlier this year, I was able to sketch the artwork on screen, ink it, then apply color, all in Painter X. The massive file size (13″ x 19″ at 300 resolution) and processing power necessary to quickly handle the input from my trusty Wacom pad would have choked my old system.
This ad should appear in the next issue of Racecenter Northwest as well as a future issue of Northwest Runner Magazine (not sure of the schedule). I have three more ads to develop, and they will all be done digitally this year.
Comic Art
November 12th, 2009
I’ve been working up some new Bloomsday ads based on The Finisher comic book art that I developed last year. I just sent the first ad off for proofing (I’d post it now, but it hasn’t been approved by the client yet – I’ll load it as soon as it’s signed off). It came as a big relief to get the proof out, and I was still having fun with the comic art style, so I sketched a quick zombie-like creature. Took about 30 minutes or so.
It’s easy creating monsters and assorted other villains with exaggerated features. Nothing has to resemble reality. The hard part comes when you have to execute a rendering of a relatively normal human. That’s when you can really tell if you have the basic anatomy figured out. Not that it matters with this sketch, but I’m still thinking about the ad just completed, and considering what I learned, and all the skills yet to be gained.
The results are in!
May 5th, 2009Over 51,000 people participated in Bloomsday 2009. That’s over 4,000 more than last year, and the most participants in nine years.
Usually, there is a boost in participation during anniversary years (20th, 25th, 30th running, etc.), but this was the 33rd running, not much of a “must be there” milestone.
Some might point to the very hard winter (a new record for snowfall was established) and people’s desire to finally get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Possibly. But winter last year was almost as bad (officially the third highest snowfall), and Bloomsday’s numbers weren’t up then.
This leaves lots of people scratching their heads and wondering what prompted the increase.
Well, the reason for the increase seems clear to me. It was because of the great ads we put out this year. With cool concepts like this, this, and this, increased excitement and participation is a no-brainer.
Hey, sometimes advertising actually works.
At any rate, today the official Bloomsday Results hit the newsstands. Published by the hip cats at the Inlander, the publication lists every participant and their time, and includes a lot of photos and interesting articles related to Bloomsday 2009.
Best of all (from my point of view) is the cover, which was designed and illustrated by yours truly.
Bloomsday weekend quarantine
May 1st, 2009Usually, on Bloomsday Sunday I make my way downtown loaded with camera equipment to take loads of photos of the event for use in our marketing work with Bloomsday. I enjoy wandering all over the course, taking candid photos and generally attempting to capture a sense of the energy and fun of the yearly Spokane tradition.
This year, however, we are all painfully aware of the threat posed by the swine flu, and many people (whether justifiably or not) are very concerned about the risks of contagion when large numbers of people gather from all over the world. In fact, Bloomsday organizers have asked that any participants and volunteers stay home if they are experiencing flu symptoms.
Well, dag-gumit! I have a cold. I’ve been sick for about three days now and it’s finally moved into my lungs. I’m coughing and blowing my nose constantly.
So in the interest of public safety (I don’t want to cause a panic stampede) I’m staying home.
But even though I won’t be there for the actual event, I can still do my part to promote it. In that spirit, here is the Bloomsday Poster I designed this year. I think it’s a real winner.
So if you do Bloomsday this year, remember, I’ll be sitting at home, knocking back orange juice, cough syrup, trying to focus my medicine head, and rooting you on. And don’t forget your face-mask.
Bloomsday Ad #3
February 25th, 2009Whether my skills are getting better is subject to debate, but it’s certain that these ads are getting more fun to do. I had a blast drawing the latest ad.
I’m finding that my inking skills, though improved, still need lots of work. There are essentially three steps to these comic-book covers:
- a 13 x 19 pencil sketch which serves as the basis for
- an ink rendering of the same size, which is scanned and opened in Photoshop in order to…
- add the color under/overlays
Of these steps, it seems the ink rendering is the most critical. If the lines lack confidence, or if the anatomy is unclear in the artist’s mind, it will show most prominently in the ink drawing. This is my greatest weakness currently. Part of the problem is that I’m doing inking on cheap onion skin tracing paper using some cheap pens. That’s the technical aspect of the problem. The other missing ingredient is a solid anatomical knowledge.
I might need to pick up a reference book on anatomy somewhere, because I’m winging it just a little too much sometimes. Any suggestions?
At any rate, here is the third ad in the 2009 Bloomsday series. One more remaining. Enjoy…
Bloomsday 2009 Ad #2
February 5th, 2009As you may remember, this year’s Bloomsday ads are taking a turn for the incredible. With the concept of Comic Book Art and a hero called “The Bloomsday Finisher©”, your humble blogger has been delving into the bombastic and adolescent fantasyland that is the modern comic book. As much as I detest the trend of superheroes that have taken over the movie theaters, I remain a huge admirer of the artists behind the pulpy printed pages. In the course of this project, struggling to execute pale imitations of comic art to promote this year’s race has taught me just how little I know about the skill involved in creating dynamic, dramatic, and believable (sort of) comic characters. It’s a skill I would love to have, in greater quantity than I currently possess.
Nevertheless, I feel I’ve learned a lot by plunging in with the first two ads. The first ad gave me a chance to dive into the concept and produce something reasonably reminiscent of the traditional comic book cover from years past.
In the second ad, I’ve upped the ante.
I wanted to portray something a bit more action-packed and colorful. I wanted to boost the drama significantly while maintaining a slightly humorous tone, in order to create a cover that one could actually imagine seeing on a shelf in a comic store right now. There’s still much to learn, but I’m quite pleased with this latest iteration.
What do you think?
