Fantastic Freelance Illustration Job!

I'm lucky enough that my freelance career has kept me busy, while allowing me to grow as an artist.  Unfortunately, busy means no time to update my website, this blog, or look for my next project. ( I do post cool stuff on instagram, twitter, and my facebook page)  I'm a good guy to follow on any platform because I usually only post stuff that I find interesting, and don't just post to fill in space. 

So this year marks the 100th anniversary of the company that I freelance for, and, after a few years of me insisting that I need to be in on the anniversary book, they finally agreed, and so began a long, sometimes frustrating, always interesting learning experience.  Besides some spot illustrations and the occasional reprint of my early work, I got to work with top management and an outside publisher to create spreads for each of the book's chapters... a large illustration to represent a decade of the company's history.  As a history buff, and an artist, I loved this project, which involved a ton of research, and ended up with concept art style illustrations that I'm really proud of.

One of the biggest challenges of the job was working with, in spirit, six art directors, each with their own visions for the project, but each wanting the very best we can do.  Some of the art was designed by committee, and some were personal visions of myself or one of the others, and it is a true testament to the group's professionalism that we supported the individual's passion, and worked together to fulfill the idea. A good example is my client described the scene for the PQ Arctic Convoy of WWII seen below, which was a pleasure to bring together.  Another would be the Lloyd's of London building (at top) which was my own vision.  I scraped together a mock-up of the idea using a mix of stock photos and quick illustration, and I was honestly not sure that anyone would see it as I did until I got the (hurray!) go ahead to work it up.  My heart was in my throat until then because I soooooo wanted to draw that!

It was a long project with constantly tight deadlines, but in the end I'm proud of the work, and most importantly, the book looks fabulous.  Everyone did their part, and did it well, and no one can ask for more than that.

The entire set of work can be seen at my Carbonmade portfolio.

JOHN :0)