Mauitime Cover

Cover Art // Art Director: Justin "Scrappers" Morrison

This is a cover piece I did a few weeks ago. It was for the former Art Director of The Portland Mercury, who recently moved to Maui. I had a good amount of creative freedom on this one, which is always fun! Click here for the online story. Below are a few images from the process.

Concept Sketches:

Pencil Art: 

Portland Mercury Editorial Illustrations

Here are a few recent editorial illustrations I did for the Portland Mercury. There is a section on their website that has all the images I've done for them, kinda neat: http://www.portlandmercury.com/gyrobase/ImageArchives?by=2431044&section=22100 . Also the Art Director over there, Scrappers, recently did an interview on Escape from Illustration Island, IT'S GREAT STUFF!: http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/2011/03/02/efii-podcast-episode-73-art-director-justin-scrappers-morrison/

Bikes, Brews, Banks, Oh My! - Portland Mercury

Here are a few spot illustrations I did for the current issue of The Portland Mercury. I like the black and white versions a little more than the color versions.


READ THE FULL ARTICLE WITH COLOR IMAGES ONLINE HERE.

Cycle of Violence - Portland Mercury

New editorial illustration for the Portland Mercury! Check out the article here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/cycle-of-violence/Content?oid=2940638

Kicking Our Own Ass - Portland Mercury

Here's an illustration for the latest Portland Mercury. Full article here. I did this character a few months ago, and they had an update on the story that the character worked for - so there ya go!

Checkered Past - Willamette Week

New Illustration in this week's Willamette Week. You can read the story here.

Trickster Update

I just got word that the book I contributed to, TRICKSTER, just went into it's second printing.

Also, recently NPR posted this great video of the artwork I did with the author narrating it.

It's a great book with a strong variety of stories and artwork.

Crisis Comes Home - Portland Mercury

Here's a new illustration I did for this week's Portland Mercury. The article is online here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/crisis-comes-home/Content?oid=2625752

Fixing the Future - Portland Mercury

Here's another one I did for the Portland Mercury regarding Oregon's current brokeness. I had a bit of extra time on this one, which was nice. I took some reference shots for the 'pose' and had a little more time to think about the composition. You can read the full article here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/fixing-the-future/Content?oid=2574437

State of Disaster - Willamette Week

Here is the first of two editorial illustrations I did last week on the subject of Oregon being broke. I love drawing water, so this one came easy. Read the article online here: http://wweek.com/editorial/3630/14097/

RipshaW Band Poster

One in Two Million - Willamette Week

Here is a news feature illustration that I did for this week's Willamette Week. It's about a weird case of double road rage. Check it out online here.
This was a same day turnaround job, so I didn't have much time to play with the concept. But I like how it came together, and I think it illustrates the story well.

Justice Delayed for Willamette Week

Here is a new black and white editorial illustration that appears in this week's Willamette Week. I pitched this as a sketch along with a few other sketches to the Art Director after reading the article. The AD liked this one the best and I agreed that it worked the best with the story. The inks were done with sumi ink and brush. I played with putting some gray into it, but it was working best as a stark black and white final.

Hi, I'm Jon

Made this little self-portrait illustration. I made it to fit on a business card, I'll probably print up a few. It'd be a fun little card to hand out to other artists at conventions or wherever.. It also works nicely as my current Facebook icon.

Smoke and Fire - Portland Mercury

I did a new editorial illustration for this week's Portland Mercury. You can read the full article here. The color version is online and the gray version is in print the printed article this week.

I used a few different tools for inking this. It's been a while since I used a nib, but I used a HUNT 99 for most of the line work on the city image. I filled in the blacks and did the line work on the rest of the image with a size 0 sable brush from Rosemary & Co. Also, I added a bit of spray effect for the flame using a toothbrush. Coloring was done in Photoshop.

House Poor - Portland Mercury

Here is another illustration I did for this week's Portland Mercury. You can read the full article here.

Portland Mercury - Red Light

Another editorial illustration for the merc. Apparently there's a prostitution problem down on 82nd. It was a black and white assignment so I wanted to play with the shadows a bit. It started off as more of a straight forward shot, but I thought a bit of a dramatic angle would help the whole thing, plus it makes it allow the street sign easier. Read the full article here.

Calling Doctor Cheap-o! - Portland Mercury

This was a quick fun project for THE PORTLAND MERCURY. It's a feature about finding cheap to free healthcare in the Portland area, when you don't have insurance. I had done a little work for the Merc before, but this was my first opportunity to work with the new AD there, Mark Searcy, which went really well.

The issue came out today so run to your nearest Portland, Oregon newsstand and pick one up! (Or just browse the paper on their website...)

An Effing Foodie

I have posted about this project before, but hadn't put up the final web banner. The first draft was more of an illustrated cartoony style, but the client was thinking of something a little more elegant. This style works a lot better with the layout of the site. See for yourself at http://www.aneffingfoodie.com/.

Mangia Mix

I was browsing through my past work folders and realized I never posted this project online. Theres a few that slip through the cracks now and then, but this is one I especially enjoyed. Rich has made a business combining two of my favorite things: food and music. He does great music mixes for restaurants in the NYC area. I designed his logo, business card and some miscellaneous stationary.

This is the front and back layout of the business card. I had them printed at overnightprints.com because they're good, cheap and can do those nice rounded corners that I wanted.