Bloggin' the Blues

The annual Granville Hot Licks Bluesfest recently rolled through town. I had the opportunity to contribute some artwork for the posters and t-shirts until this year. My schedule was so tight, I had to hand off to another blues fan artist.  This is a project that I really look forward to. I love music... especially the blues. I discovered the annual event and jumped at the chance to make some blues art.  I'm primarily a children's book artist and have been for years but I snag a project every once in a while that is outside the book.

Taking an assignment that is very different from your usual work load creates a chance to think a little differently, shift into another design and technique direction and just have fun creating something new that may end up in your portfolio. It may also lead to an exciting assignment in the future. I've done several other music related illustrations which I'll cover in a future blog entry.

The image below is a detail from the '08 poster. I am usually creating animal characters for my picture books so a chance to paint people is kinda' fun.

So, keep an eye on potential job opportunities outside of your usual stream of work. They may lead to other exciting assignments, add variety to your portfolio and create some additional self promotional venues. One of my blues poster images was accepted into the L.A. Society of Illustrator's annual exhibition. The painting was later displayed in a show at the Gallery Nucleus in California...the extra exposure was totally unexpected but extremely welcome.

Well, back to the drawing board.