Yeah, I know - it looks kinda weird. And what is the SmudgeGuard exactly? As you can see from the product shot, it’s kind of a glove - one that only covers the pinky finger and the meaty area of the palm below.
Originally designed for artist lefties who were always smudging their work when drawing their palms across their artwork, it’s also useful for any artist working in pencil, charcoal or related media where a hand-drag can smudge the artwork. And, interestingly enough, it’s also quite useful for Wacom graphics tablet users.
Continue reading 'SmudgeGuard - Handy Accessory For Wacom Users & Graphic Artists'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Sometimes (and probably most of the time) merely seeing how an effect is achieved will offer no clues as to what it’s like to create that effect for yourself. Copying or mimicking the effect can help, but those moments where it works within your own artwork should be explored the moment they happen.
When these chance moments appear, when you have that ‘a ha!’ moment, be sure to dig deeper. I’ll share with you a recent ‘eureka’ moment I had while working on a t-shirt illustration project for a client.
Continue reading 'High-Contrast Line Art Illustration Style: Self-Inspiration'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Cartoonist Mike Foran has a couple of cool number 2 pencil Photoshop brushes - free to download - that I stumbled across the other day. For some time now I have been on the casual lookout for a Photoshop brush that mimicked a regular-ol’ number 2 pencil. Seems Foran was on that line of thought as well.
Foran’s brush has a nice line quality, varied from thick to thin based on your Wacom tablet pressure, and has a slight angle similar to a flat-worn pencil tip.
The brush also has a nice light feel at light pressure, and darkens quickly with pressure added. The texture and look of the brush marks/pencil lines is perfect.
Continue reading 'Free Photoshop Brush: Stumpy Pencil'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
This Animator’s Survival Kit DVD set from Oscar-winning animator Richard Willams looks like a great resource for those animators out there. Personally, I do not have the patience for animation, but it’s fascinating to me.
This DVD set is a companion to Williams’ highly-rated Animator’s Survival Kit book. The site doesn’t seem to indicate if the book is included with the DVD set, but it seems not to be.
Richard Williams was awarded two Oscars for the animation on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit“. He directed and designed Roger Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit, Baby Herman and all the new characters for the Walt Disney/Steven Spielberg production.
The set isn’t cheap at £634.04 (or about $1,252.42 for us U.S. folks as of the date of this post).
Continue reading 'The Animator’s Survival Kit'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
A rough sketch of a cartoon pinup girl with American flag & mobile phone. This was drawn for a project I am currently working on for a client, updating their existing mascot character art to be used with the company logo and other branding. It was rejected due to not being the kind of pose the client wanted for the woman.
She has potential, but there are a few things proportion-wise that I think need to be reworked, particularly with her face — the lips are a bit low on the head, and the eyes are a bit off. These are all things that would have been tweaked in the revision stage.
At this point I wanted to get the general idea over to the client for feedback before I went too far, and in this case it was the smart thing to do since I will need to start from scratch with her.
Continue reading 'Cartoon Pinup Girl With American Flag Sketch'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
“Average Joe” is a recent cartoon character mascot I created for a client. The project specs were pretty straightforward - two cartoon characters, one being “Average Joe” who would become the company mascot, and for this particular illustration he would need a sexy cartoon woman wrapped around him.
This project had a very tight deadline, so I got to work immediately on the sketches. The initial rough sketch was created to get the general idea down and to start the conversation. Being a tight deadline, I sent out a sketch that normally I would have refined a bit before sending. In this case, I needed immediate feedback on the direction so I sent this rough concept to get the client’s OK on the overall posing of the characters and the general look.
Continue reading '“Average Joe” Cartoon Mascot Guy & Sexy Woman Illustration'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
This cartoon character drawing was created for a friend’s upcoming party, which will also be doubling as a U.S. wedding reception for our friend Setty, who just got married over in India.
Setty is obsessed with the drinking dice game “Left, Right, Center”. He’s also notorious for exclaiming “Shots!” when out drinking, therefore the shot glass.
The friend who requested the art suggested creating it in the Odd Rods/”Big Daddy” Roth style which I am known to emulate from time to time.
Continue reading '“Left, Right, Setty!” cartoon character drawing'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
I recently created this cartoon gorilla holding a video camera as a logo/mascot character for a client. I went through several rounds of sketches on this illustration, some sent to the client, some not. For some reason, I was really struggling with getting the ape to look like an ape. Initial sketches had him looking too “monster-ish”, which of course is not desired. It was odd because monkeys, gorillas and apes are probably some of the most fun types of characters to draw, and I just assumed it would come naturally.
Continue reading 'Gorilla With Video Camera - Cartoon Mascot Illustration for Logo'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
This cartoon sketch of a trendy ‘cool guy’ rocker type was created for a current project. He was to the the male ‘companion’ character for the cute cartoon indie rock/alternative rock girl created for the same project. While I love how the head and face came out, I am not so pleased with the body - could use a bit more flair. This is an initial working sketch, so had the client approved that would have been edited. The client wanted to go in a different direction with him, so he’s on the reserve list for perhaps another project.
Continue reading 'Cool Guy/Rocker Dude Cartoon Character Sketch'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
This cartoon sketch of a cute indie rock/alternative rocker girl is one of a series of cartoon characters I am working on for a current project. She went through quite a bit of revisions in look, dress and age - but the final came out perfect.
Earlier version had her a little too old and road-weary - I thought we were going for a more ‘edgy’ character but the client wanted a younger, cuter version. The iPod, chain wallet and Chuck Taylor sneakers were a must.
Continue reading 'Cute Cartoon Indie Rock/Alternative Rock Girl Sketch'
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
