2008 was a strange year. While it was a better year than the previous two, there were still several dry patches in between rush periods, and the economic meltdown coming to a head near the end of the year portends worse things to come. I lost one of my longtime clients near the start of the year, and another warned that they would be using less illustration in the future (although, oddly enough, it ended up being my biggest volume year for them). Newspapers continue to struggle, and I worry quite a bit about it, considering how many of my eggs are in that particular basket.
New clients included a ‘game designer’ in Finland, and several regional magazines, but for the most part, the year was devoted to hanging on to my steady regular clients.
Personally, it was a year of big changes. My son graduated from high school and is now attending college at Columbia in Chicago (for the moment, a music major), and my wife and I recently celebrated our 25th anniversary by chartering a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands. Getting used to the empty nest, and after twenty years in this business, still striving to keep my illustration career alive and kicking into the next decade.
So below, I’ve selected what I consider my best work over the past year. (click on the thumbnails to see a larger version)
334 illustrations this year, bringing the grand career total to 11,532 since 1989.