This Blog Has Moved

That's right. This blog has moved to its new location: www.joshcleland.com. There won't be any more updates here. Go to my new blog. Go, now! That's where all the cool people are.

Moving Day!!

Today I launch my redesigned website: www.clelandillustration.com! With it comes a new WordPress blog. It's time to say goodbye to Blogger.com. Blogger has been very good to me over the last couple of years, but it's time to move on to a more advanced blogging system, such as WordPress.

What do I do if I'm subscribing to this blog?!!!!
Don't worry. Tomorrow (Saturday, July 25, 2009) I will be transferring the feeds to my new blog, so hopefully you won't have to do anything. The feed should automatically transfer. If you are still worried, simply unsubscribe to this blog, and subscribe to the new blog after tomorrow. We'll get through this together if we stay together. I have faith in you.

Preview my new website!!

Hello, everyone. I've been hard at work developing my new website and blog. You can get a sneak peak at www.clelandillustration.com/test. There you can visit my new WordPress blog as well. I know what you're thinking: "But Josh, I'm subscribed to this blog. What do I do when you move???" Settle down. When the time comes I will provide with a 34-step instruction list that must be followed EXACTLY! Until then, sit back and relax. Worry about something less severe, like the economy.

UPDATE 7/25/09: My website is now updated and can be viewed at www.clelandillustration.com.

I'm also interested in your constructive feedback. This is your chance to tear me down (but please do it constructively). Comments welcome are:

"Love the site, but this is confusing to me…",

or

"The navigation is hard, and this is why."

Comments NOT welcome are:

"It looks weird on my browser. I'm using Internet Explorer 6.0".

Simply leave your comments on this post, or email me at Josh@clelandillustration.com. I thank you in advance.

New website development updates

I've been pretty silent lately when it comes to updating this blog. Mainly because I've been hard at work redesigning my website (initially posted about it here). I wanted to post a quick update to my progress. It's coming along great. I'm very excited about this new look and functionality, and I'm thrilled that I'll be completely dumping Flash!! Also in the works is an iPhone-friendly version.

Here are some tease shots. Hopefully I'll be able to post a link to the complete "beta" site version sometime next week.

I will also be redesigning this blog. This presents some dilemmas. I get a lot of compliments on my current design, which I like. However, I need to have my blog fit the identity of the new site. So, I'll have to work that out. I'm also debating switching the blog over to Wordpress, although figuring out how to transfer all the feed info and stuff sounds like a headache. We'll see. I'll also have to figure out how to design a custom blog with WP (something I need to know anyways).

So, stay tuned. As always you can keep up with the blog by subscribing via RSS, or signing up to receive updates via email. How fun is that!

Visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum

Recently my wife and I took a really fun vacation to California. We went to to my cousin's graduation in San Luis Obispo, then made our way to Disneyland for a few days, and on up through the wine country and Redwoods. It was great. One of the highlights for both my wife and me was a quick, unexpected stop to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. If you ever find yourself driving through Santa Rosa and the wine country I highly recommend stopping here for a couple of hours (regrettably, we only had one hour to spend).

One of my favorite pieces in this museum is a wall filled with thousands of Schulz's strips. Below is the wall pictured from afar. The wall was designed by artist, Yoshiteru Otani. Luckily the piece is displayed in the "camera okay" section of the museum.

Other highlights include multiple original sketches and strips inked by Sparky himself, as well as memorabilia from his life, and a nearly-exact replica of his studio (which, I believe, features his actual drawing table). You can find more information at the museum's website: www.schulzmuseum.org.

New website coming!!

Yes, that's right, a new portfolio website. I'm in the very beginning stages right now, and I plan on taking my time to make sure the concept is fully discovered and development is top notch. So, currently I'm only working with pencil on paper (and occasionally the scanner and Photoshop to resize/place images). I found some great website sketch comps at www.960.gs.

Below are initial sketches in my discovery process. I haven't nailed down a look quite yet, but the one I'm developing here looks quite promising. There's going to be much greater emphasis on call to action, and highlighting/showcasing my capabilities. I hope to have progress updates here in the near future. This is going to be fun!

Happy Chef sketch

Here's a quick sketch. I like the style that's progressing here, but the line quality isn't good enough to spend more time on. I'll probably tighten up the sketch and continue some other time. I really like the character.

Get Your May Desktop Calendar

Yesterday, April 30th, I was featured in Smashing Magazine (along with many other talented illustrators/designers). Each month they hold an open call to submit desktop wallpaper calendars. At the last minute I thought I'd submit one for May. And I made it in!

Click here to visit Smashing Magazine's website where you can download one of these great desktop wallpapers yourself. My treat.

Muddy football

Looks like I skipped Spring and Summer, and went straight to Fall. Not sure why. I found the sketch in my sketchbook from last fall and decided to vector it up.

The mud was really fun to do. Almost as fun as playing in it.

Teacher's pet

Lately I've been working on doing quick vectors and building my stock illustration library. So far I have 7 pieces available. Here is one I uploaded today, and will hopefully be available next monday or tuesday (takes about a week to be approved, especially for us newbies).

I like doing these illustrations because it's really expanding my vector illustration skills, as well as helping me to define my style. I'll be publishing more of these in the coming weeks.

Shampoo dilema

Vectored this guy up over the weekend. I was really focusing on getting a rugged hand-drawn look.

Edit: I'm submitting this illustration to this week's Illustration Friday topic "Fleeting". I think it's safe to say this gentleman can't face the fact that his precious hair is "fleeting".

Shampoo for Lush Hair

Just a quick sketch. Taking a break from serious work. I'll probably vector this one up when I get a chance.

Lady night life

This probably turned out a little more sexy than I intended, but that's alright. I liked how it turned out. Mostly playing with purple and lighting here. I'm going to start contributing to iStockphoto, so this is a piece I'm using for submission.

UPDATE: This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Poise". I looked up "poise" in the dictionary and this is what it read: "Graceful and elegant bearing in a person". I guess that sorta' fits, so I'm submitting it.

Sketches and such (and I'm on Twitter)

I haven't posted anything in a little while, so I've decided to throw up some random sketches from my sketchbook to let you know I'm still alive and drawing. My wife was using the computer with the scanner, so I decided to take a bunch of pictures of my sketchbook. I kinda' like the look.

I recently signed up for Twitter. You can follow me @CIllustration. I'm working on a birdie drawing for a Twitter badge, and some of the sketches are below.

I've also been doing some client work recently, and I hope to post some of that soon. Until then, feast your eyes on these awesome drawings.

Parting of the Red Sea colored

Well, I've been working on this one all week, and I'm not sure if it's done. I thought I'd post it anyways.

Speaking of nature acting in unnatural ways, LOST is on!!



UPDATE: I'm submitting this to this week's Illustration Friday topic: "Breezy". A while back I watched a Discovery Channel show that gave a scientific explanation to some of the miracles in the Old Testament. I've always found this stuff very interesting. To me, a scientific explanation to a miracle doesn't make it any less of a miracle. In fact, it only reinforces the miraculousness of God using natural events for His purpose.

However, the particular episode I watched talked about the parting of the Red Sea, and gave an explanation as to how this could have happened naturally. They hypothesized that a large wind (or "breeze") came down and blew the sea down, revealing an underwater ridge, which the Israelites used to cross. I saw a problem when they said that the "breeze" had to be over 100 mph sustained. Wouldn't this blow people into the water (especially children and the elderly)?

I'm not trying to start a debate—only providing an explanation as to why this illustration fits with this week's Illustration Friday topic: "Breezy".

Parting of the Red Sea

Here's a sketch I did yesterday depicting the famous Bible story from Exodus: The Parting of the Red Sea. I'd like to continue with this one so stay tuned.

Well, off to church to learn more Bible stories.

Illustration Friday "Time"

As the week drew to a close, Jeffrey thought he had all the time that the weekend could give. Unfortunately, Mrs. No-fun has different ideas on how Jeffrey should spend his beautiful Saturdays. No exercise for you, little Jeffrey.

Promos and such

Here is a near-finished version of an illustration promo postcard I'm working on. Not much to say. I hope to start sending it out next week.

Promo workings and New Year

Hello, all. With this new year I am making the move to full-time freelance. It's a pretty scary move, but the right one. I am taking this opportunity to focus my marketing on gaining more professional illustration accounts (most of my clients are design-related). Below is a sketch of a promo-postcard that I will be sending out in February. It's going to be fun.

Bigfoot Knitting

Here is a shirt I did as a Christmas present for my brother. You can have one too, and be really cool, like he is. Or, you can keep your normal, boring clothes you always wear. It's up to you.

Bigfoot knitting by ClelandIllustration
Design Custom Tshirts At zazzle.com