First Greeting Birthday Card

It is believed that the first birthday greeting cards ever recorded were not done on paper at all, but actually on stone--done thousands of years ago in caves. Here is a scene depicting the creating of such card.

Maybe I'll post some process screenshots of this one a little later. Right now I'm going to go have some ice cream and brownies covered in chocolate sauce!

EDIT: Because this is a theory I'm submitting it to this week's "Illustration Friday".

Happy (un)Valentine's Day

Here is a little drawing I did for my Sweetie for Valentine's Day. She liked it. (NO, IT'S NOT A REPRESENTATION OF ME!!!). Happy Late Valentine's Day, and have a great weekend!

No Inspiration

I'm not going to lie to you all--I've been pretty uninspired lately. It's almost as if I've temporarily forgotten how to draw. For instance, below is the latest sketch from my sketchbook.
Now, I'm probably being a little hard on myself, but I just don't think that this drawing has the same life that my previous work has. What do you think? Maybe I need to add a little color to this drawing--that may liven it up a bit. Or perhaps I'll add a grunge background. I'll try it.

Dang it, I forgot to add my signature! What if someone steals it?! Oh, well, I'm not doing it now.

Our New Baby!!

Well, my wife, Rayna, and I have an announcement to make: We are now proud parents of a 24" 2.8ghz iMac! (I'm sorry, Mom and Dad for not telling you first) We plan on holding an iMac shower in the near future--invites are forthcoming. Feel free to be generous on the gifts--new Epson scanners, printers, external HDs, iPods, iPhones are welcome gifts (anything with an Apple logo is great--if it doesn't have an Apple logo I can put one on it--the computer came with two Apple stickers). Even OpenType fonts are a desired. Maybe a new Wacom Tablet?!! Don't be stingy.

Okay, Rayna, you've had your turn on the computer, now it's my turn. C'mon, you've been hogging it all night!! I can see this is going to be a problem. That's it, I'm off to buy another one…

Spaghetti Rex

Nothing says Italian food more than Tyranosaurus Rex! Am I right?

I have been working on a personal portfolio project for the last few weeks and decided to post some updates. This is a concept branding scheme for an italian restaurant. This is a fun one. Maybe I can sell this brand some day for a lot of money. I'll probably work on more illustrations following this theme--maybe of other dinosaurs doing italian food activities. I'll also do some business cards, stationary, and letterhead,--and maybe a website mock-up.

Here are some sample menu pages. The menu was stol--BORROWED-- from "The Olive Garden".

Spaghetti Rex Chef Sketch

Spaghetti Rex!! Concept sketch.

Official 2007 Cleland Christmas Card

Here is our official Christmas card for 2007. This one is easier to print than the elf-Santa's butt one.

Merry Christmas!