Taylor Design

Mopping up the End of 2018

Hudson Valley, Taylor Design, Today Media

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December has been a quiet month, and thankfully so (I’ve been laid up with a bronchial infection for most of the month, so I’ve been on the couch a lot, and catching up on a lot of reading). Above is an illustration for Hudson Valley Magazine that I finished up this morning, and below is a holiday card illustration that I did for one of my design clients at the start of the month. I’m expecting a rather large project to hit my desk at the start of the year, so I’m getting mentally pumped up for that, plus some more ‘witch’ artwork for Llewellyn. Here’s to my official “30th year in the business” in 2019, and Happy Holidays everyone. Likely over the weekend, I’ll be compiling my annual “best of 2018” post, so stay tuned.

 

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Post Weekend Roundup

Dover, Hudson Valley, Taylor Design, Today Media

DazzlerCoverwbFinishing up a busy week & weekend, with the ‘Vietnam book’ getting completed on Friday, and two Dover covers for their ‘Evergreen Classics’ series on Saturday, Sunday and Today. Also had a double music gig on Saturday night up in Rockford for the Harvest festival, and have been working on a third round of sketches for the ‘holiday greeting card’ project, as well as fixing some ill advised color choices for a project that I completed last week for Today Media. Expecting to hear some news on a big upcoming project any day now, and have cleared most of the workload in anticipation.

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Finishes, Sneak Peeks and More Sketches

Hudson Valley, Penguin, Taylor Design, Today Media

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Above is how the illustration for Hudson Valley turned out, which I finished up this afternoon. I’ve also been working full tilt on the Vietnam book, trying to get it done early, in anticipation of our trip to Ireland in about a week’s time. Below is a sneak peek at one of the Vietnam illustrations (this has definitely been the “Year of Nixon”, with no less than 3 separate books so far this year with multiple Nixon illustrations).

Which also reminds me, it has been a while since I’ve shared work from these Penguin ‘who was’ books, so I may put together a post along those lines either next week, or when I return from our trip.

VietnamteaserBelow that, I have five more rough sketches for the Xmas card project that I talked about in the last post. After the client looked over the first batch, they had some suggestions and modifications to the prior group of sketches.

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And some more sketches, for a quick turnaround piece for the Chronicle on the suppression of a diversity of viewpoints on campus.

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Hitching on the Yoke

Taylor Design

After a couple weeks of relative quiet, the illustration machine has switched back into high gear. Working on finishes for another book project, and then another book project hot on its heels, and I’ll be starting on some book cover illustrations for another publisher (and I’m still anxiously awaiting a fourth project that has been hinted at for around this time). Looks like I’ll be very busy for the remainder of the year. The illustration above was a holiday greeting card design for a corporate client that got squeezed into the margins between other projects.
In other news, I’m expecting my copies of the Directory of Illustration very soon, and it should be reaching potential clients as soon as January or February of next year, so I’ll be weighing in on the effectiveness of that advertising investment soon. Still two and a half months to go in 2016, but it already feels like the new year is breathing down my neck. For the record, 2017 will be my 28th year in business as a full time free-lance illustrator.

Blinders

ChronicleHE, River Styx, Taylor Design

More work from this week. The above illustration was for the Chronicle of Higher Education which I finished up this morning. Below is an additional fiction piece for River Styx (to go with the previous two illustrations from last Friday), and below that, a sketch for an upcoming corporate holiday greeting card (for a design client that I’ve worked with in the past).