Maybe you’d like to have a portrait of a loved one… …or perhaps you need a logo… …Archetypal Images will be there for you.
Does your band need an album cover, or to promote an event? That screenplay you’re developing… Archetypal Images has got your back.
Hit up the Portfolio page to see more of what A.I. can do—when you’re ready, contact me with a brief description of your project and we’ll get moving on it right away! |
I recently finished this design for a regular client (and prior sponsor), pain therapist Dr. John Jerome. One of John’s specialties is treating patients experiencing chronic pain by guiding them through methods of alleviating that pain…eventually allowing them to manage it, free of—or with minimal—pain medication.
John is part of a growing movement aimed at revealing to patients that much of the pain they experience grows out of psychosomatically reinforced experiences…and is something that can be healed through a well designed regiment of therapy…rather than simply dulling it with drugs.
Since much of the intent with my own work—long dormant, though it may be—is built on a very similar theme, John and I have a strong appreciation for one another and our mutual work, and I am eternally grateful for his confidence and support of my efforts, up-to-and-including his ongoing solicitation of my design services for his practice.
Above is a photo of the book itself. You may notice there’s a slight difference between the two images; the main graphic at-top is the most recent version—updated for a second printing—which will hit the presses soon.
This project has gone through numerous iterations; an earlier version of this graphic appeared on a pain therapy audio disk John was distributing to his clients…and before that we had an altogether different graphic design for the first incarnation of that audio disk, both of which you can find in the Product Packaging & Print Media portion of my portfolio.
I’m currently working on a new design for John which depicts the cycle of pain that’s perpetuated by various, manageable conditions…and will be sharing that with you all as soon as it’s complete!
As an added treat, here’s a recent NPR audio clip from a report about this very subject:
Sorry…the NPR code doesn’t appear to work in Internet Explorer…
…I highly recommend trying Chrome or Firefox.
|
|
Josh’s portrait began in the fall of 2011…shortly after his passing…and by Christmas of that year I got as far as what you see in the first image of this slideshow…in time to share it with his family. I had a collection of photographs documenting the progress I’d made up to that point, but sadly, those were lost. Following that, life got a little complicated…so—as I stated in last week’s post—the portrait got put on hold…but when I finally got back to it this last fall I made sure to keep good records of my process. This slideshow includes key stages of development, to help build a picture of the layers of work involved. Now, I’m not used to working with color pencils–graphite and ink are my usual thing…so this went slowly. From picking the project back up to completion of the artwork, I spent about 30 hours. I’m going to estimate that I spent at least half that much time in the first round of work, meaning it took about 45 hours of artistic labor just to complete the image. |
There were various other logistical time investments; at no point was I working under ideal studio conditions, and therefore had to cobble together a proper work environment. I won’t bore you with those details…
…though factoring that in, as well as tracking down and assembling the frame and matting, I easily spent another 5 hours or so. In the end, I feel comfortable saying that this project took me at least 50 hours of skilled labor.
With that in mind, I still could have used more time. The deer, for example, could have been vastly improved, but the fact that it wound up rather muted worked well to put the focus on Josh…
…who I also would have spent more time on…but, in the end, his spirit comes through, and that’s what this was all about to begin with.
Breakdown
I spent the first 12hrs mainly on the deer head, and some of Josh’s sweatshirt.
After that, about 5hrs between his pants and adding the second antler.
Next I moved to Josh’s left hand, which took about 4hrs.
Lastly, I finished up his right hand, and then moved on to focus on his face, which took another 7-8 hrs.
|
|
A dear friend of mine lost her younger brother, Josh, to an automobile accident in 2011…which moved me to produce this portrait for her and her family, who all mean a great deal to me. The portrait got put on hold for a while…but I completed it this last fall, in time to present it to them as they laid his ashes to rest on the family farm.
I barely met Josh before his passing…but working on his portrait, I feel I got to know him a bit more.
Make sure to give your loved ones a hug tonight…and remind them of how much they mean to you. We never know how much time we have…
———————————————————–
For anyone interested in viewing a slideshow of the process taken to produce this portrait and an outline of the work involved, please continue to the next post!
Hey, gang! Last week I posted a series of images I produced for the musical, stage show of Annie, and I have one more graphic from that project to share–a variant of the Statue of Liberty:
This was an experimental, first pass that didn’t quite match the tone that the show was going for…but, nonetheless, turned out pretty slick, if I do say so, myself!
For comparison, here’s the one we ultimately went with (click to enlarge):
I’d love to get people’s takes on these two images, so if you’re inclined, please leave a comment below!
©2000-2014 Archetypal Images Powered by WordPress with ComicPress