The Pop-Up Book has arrived

Well...we are already pretty much sold out of the book...which is great news, but I realized I never updated my blog when the books came in! It's been such a crazy summer to say the least. We picked up the books in late July and we're down to our last 20 books! We couldn't be happier.

 Here is my brother Brian helping me pick up the shipment in Philadelphia. 

We loaded them up in our truck and drove them back to Rehoboth Delaware

The Book quality was pretty good...but we're definitely going to improve the quality on the second printing. We are sourcing new vendors at the moment.

Here it is at retail in the Sea Shell shop. Retail sales have been going great! The local bookstores have been hosting book signings, childrens readings and promotions for the book.

This was such a great experience, can't wait to do it all over again!

OPTIMUS PRIME PAPER TOY

I don't often post card work that I do for American Greetings on my personal blog, but there a bunch of cards that are available now at Target that I worked on that I'm quite proud of. This being one of those...

Pop out the 4 pieces to build your own OPTIMUS PRIME! He is covered in 3 Hot Stamp colors, Blue, Red and Silver...giving him a chrome finish.

Note: He doesn't stand quite as well as my original prototype, but if you fold up his toes it works pretty weel.

Pick up yours today at Target before they're gone!

Business Cards

I finally got some business cards printed up. It was about darn time! The die cut came out nice...but I added a spot UV gloss...unfortunately the company I printed them with only had 1 paper stock and it was coated 1 side. So the spot UV doesn't pop like I would have liked.

Tshirt designs

I designed these two T-shirt over a few lunch breaks for a possible Tshirt program, but unfortunately they weren't picked up. 

I put them up on Threadless.com for a vote...hopefully with some better luck.

Go to the links below and vote please! Thanks!

LAKE ERIE MONSTER

 

WEAPONS OF MASS DISTORTION

On July 4, 2011, my Grandmother, my brother, and myself decided to create and publish a pop-up book about our longtime favorite vacation spot, Rehoboth Beach DE. The book is complete and should hit shelves July 12th, 2012.

The story follows a family as they spend 'A Day in Rehoboth Beach'. Here they are at the beach off the boardwalk.

This is my favorite page, the horses on the merry-go-round actually move up and down as you open the book.

Here, the family is enjoying a rock concert at the bandstand on Rehoboth Avenue.

This is the first time I've really worked professionally with my brother and Grandmother, and I couldn't have been more impressed. It was really a wonderful experience.

My brother, Brian Allen did all the Illustrations. My Grandmother, Joanne Defiore wrote the story, did the Calligraphy, and handled all the marketing. I handled all the popups and production work.

Visit By the Bay Books for more info!!!

It has been a very VERY long time since I posted anything to the ol' blog.
I've been working on a lot of projects lately, so I'm going to post a lot of back logged stuff and hopefully get myself back in the habbit.
My wife's 30th birthday party was a few weeks ago. I threw her a party at a cool bar in downtown Cleveland, A.J. Rocco's
Here is a poster for the event...

I also made some small table tents with some fun facts about 1982, the year she was born.

I'M ONLY 1-YEAR LATE!...haha, I finally finished the paintings going into my daughters bedroom. They make a better '1-year birthday present anyway'. I hope she likes them! Its been a long time since I painted in Acrylics so it took me a little while to get my groove back.

If you haven't been to StrangeKidsClub yet....what are you waiting for? Quit what you're doing and check them out! I was honored to have been asked to design a paper monster mask for their 2nd annual 'Strange kid comix magazine'. Go to the site and pick one up! Just in time for Halloween!

Unfortunately Sketch Slackers is coming to a bit of an end...well, more like a hiatus. Hopefully I'll be relaunching the site at the beginning of next year. As a thank-you for all the hard work the 'slackers' did over the history of the site I made a quick paper toy for them all. Feel free to cut him out and display proudly!

About time I start posting to my blog again!

Here's a logo I did for a publishing company-

Here are the roughs that got us to the finished logo:

One of my Pop-up cards is now available at Target in the Halloween greeting card section. Go pick one up! (I did the popup mechanics, not the artwork on this one)

It's SketchSlacker time again, and last months theme was Zombie Superheroes. I chose to do Superman and created another paper toy. I'm a little addicted to creating them...they're a lot of fun. I think its because with each piece it gives me the opportunity to build the sculpture, Illustrate the graphics and photograph the end result. It's a lot of fun.

Here is my process:

1. Create the Die lines and color palette in Adobe Illustrator.

Mock it up and make sure it works.

2. Create the vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator.

3. Render the Graphics and add textures in Adobe Photoshop.

4. Mock it up and photograph it!

This is my post for SketchSlackers this month. Junes theme was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I geeked out a little because growing up I had every Ninja Turtle action figure known to man. When I was looking for inspiration on the internet the Turtle Van popped up on an image search. I forgot all about this amazing mode of transportation and thought, "Only the Ninja Turtles can pull off riding around town in a mini van....I must make this out of paper!"

I have another funny idea for a Tshirt and may try and submit that in a couple weeks as well...if time permits.

The SketchSlackers theme for May was Star Wars. May 4th was actually national Star Wars day... so there is a fun fact for you, so mark it on your calendar. I watched the original movies growing up and have always enjoyed them, but I can't say that I've ever been a super huge fan or anything. I really like Empire Strikes Back but I am definitely not a fan of any of the new movies. Sorry Jar Jar. I decided to do a vector Illustration of my favorite characters Han Solo and Chewey. It would have been fun to get Yoda in there as well, but I was already running behind on this one. Check out the blog to see more Star Wars submissions!

I work in the Licensing department at American Greetings making social expression product for some really great partners. Sesame Street happens to be one of those great partners and they invited us all down last month for a two day meeting in NYC. We were lucky enough to see a live taping of the show featuring the great Frank Oz bringing Grover to life. (unfortunately we couldn't take photos during the shows production )

Here I am on set...its a surreal feeling actually being there. I kept waiting for us all to break down in song.
Good ol' Mr. Hoopers store....

Bert and Ernie...my personal favorite!

Thanks so much to everyone at Sesame Street! I'm lucky to work with such a great group of people doing great work for kids!