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Sketchbooks are something I consistently carry and draw in, almost daily. I have many. Over the years I have tried all kinds of sketch book. Small, large, bound, lined, textured the list goes on and on. However a few years back my wife got me some mini sketchbooks from Ugmonk. If you don’t know Ugmonk, you should. It is owned and run by Jeff Sheldon, a designer with a love for the simple elevated aesthetic. I’ve been buying tees and other stuff from Ugmonk since their launch in 2008. I was the Creative Director at Design By Humans and we featured some of Jeff’s art on a few tees. When he launched his own label I was instantly hooked.

Anyway, history a side the three pack of sketchbook my wife gifted me became part of my daily doodling. They are the perfect size and I can fill a page relatively quickly. I’ve doodled a double page over a lunch break before! That’s how handy they are. They are small, lightweight and easy to store or travel with. The quality is great and although they are scattered around my work space they never fall apart or tear up. The sketchbooks are on their 4th version now, I had 1-3 and I am almost done with them. The interior pages have a dotted grid on the 4th version, which i like the idea of.

I doodle constantly so these are very much a part of my process. Why? Why doodle so much? Well many of my doodles make up final designs for clients. If I ever hit a creative block on a project, I can leaf through these mini sketchbooks and remember a little character or piece of line art. That find might end up being relevant to my current project. It also provides a way to de-clutter my brain creatively. I find there is something cathartic about drawing without purpose or paycheck. Just raw ideas spilling onto a page. Try it, in a mini sketch book. Finally, I get asked a lot about the markers/pens that I use. I like the Zig writer pen and Marvy Le Plume markers.I also use random pens I find around my house or my kids pens.

To see my daily doodles and sketchbook art you can follow my instagram account here.

Creator Toronto has developed a modular denim jacket that allows wearers to change the back panel of their jacket to feature artists designs. This jacket was two years in the making and I was pleased to be invited to help last year. Creator sourced artists from around the globe to create the bespoke panels for the back of the jacket. I have five designs available and I hope to add more soon. Panels can be switched to match outfits, reflect moods or just to support an artist.

Creator launched this project recently via kickstarter and quickly raised their target amount. As I type this they have surpassed their target 3 times over and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping! Hopefully the popularity of the jacket means artists will be supported by this brand for many years to come. You can see all of my design here at my personalized profile on their store website. Right now you can support their kickstarter and get a jacket at a reduced price!

Building on the success of my work with Ballsy for a limited edition line and a holiday line, I was asked to design some branding for the valentine’s collection. The collection consisted of a new Valentine’s body wash, a gift box set, boxer shorts, and socks. A pattern was created in keeping with my past branding, as well as a new cupid character. As always, Ballsy was an awesome brand to work with. They also took great photography and marketed the product really well. It’s always great to see my art on product but when brands present it so well it makes it all the better.

Land O’ Lakes approached me in early 2019 to work on a project for their Food Service division. Land O’ Lakes supplies dairy products to retail, kitchens and schools. I was asked to create a set of characters to encourage young people to make healthier choices when eating at school. I created 5 characters based on popular products that are made available to schools from Land O’ Lakes. Cheese, vegetables, fruit milk and mac n’ cheese were the products I was given to create characters.

The final characters were a broccoli Lucha Libre, a mac n’ cheese super hero, a cow professor , a family of cubed cheese and a dashing strawberry hero. These characters needed to be bright, bold and full of movement. Using the brand’s existing color palette I tried to make each character have an individual story. Launching in 2020, these characters were used to create posters, stickers, trading cards and other promotional items. Schools across America will have these characters adorning their cafeteria walls and kids will trade these cards. Hopefully it will encourage kids to eat better and add a splash of color to their dining experience.

Brew Link Brewing Company is an established brewery in the Indianapolis area. Back in 2013, I worked with Brew Link to establish their core branding (here) and ever since I have been designing their product packaging. This year Brew Link grew into two locations. They also ramped up their merchandise and I designed 6 new t-shirts for their tap rooms. Over the past 12 months they have released many new beers and I have designed cans for five new ones. Here are the details:

1. Lil Lucid Session IPA – a special India pale ale with heavy Citra and Mosaic hops.
2. How Now Brown Cow – a salted caramel brown ale, sweet and salty.
3. Stone Cold Hazy – a New England style I.P.A brewed with tropical blend of hops.
4. Peelin’ Alright – a classic America Wheat beer with a bunch of orange added.
5. Hole In One Blueberry Edition – a sour ale brewed with jelly donuts, blueberries and lactose.

With two venues and expanding into merchandise more heavily, we made a few less beers this year but the brews remained unique and fun. Designing for Brew Link Brewing is always awesome. The freedom they afford me as a designer is refreshing. Cheers to 2020 and here’s to looking forward to 2021 and new design opportunities.

Bananagrams are small family-run board games company based in Rhode Island, USA. They aspire to help people everywhere rediscover a love for tabletop games. They strive to produce games with super simple rules, extraordinary packaging, and high quality, tactile components that you won’t want to put down. In 2018 they approached me to help with a tabletop game centered around monsters! I was obviously super interested.

What followed was 2 years of illustration work for the game. Illustrations for monsters, packaging, game cards and other game elements. I can’t say much about the game itself because the project was put on hold. I am hoping the game will be developed and released in the future. Needless to say this was a dream project and a lot of fun to work on. The team at Bananagrams were very friendly, professional and as excited for the game as I was. Hopefully one day we can go buy and play it. See the full art here.