Brian Cook Illustration

I've moved!

2012-01-28T21:53:00.000-08:00

Hello loyal followers! It's been a long time coming but I finally have built my own website with it's own blog! I hope you have enjoyed my postings here enough to go check it out (and subscribe!)

go to BRIANCOOK.NET!

( or scroll below to check out the archived posts here )

Thanks for all your support over the past 5 years!

-Brian

China Marker Sketches

2011-12-23T19:25:00.001-08:00

So recently I've become obsessed with sketching in blue ballpoint pen. However - I've been trying to think about how I can capture the same looseness on a larger scale. SO...

These are a few sketches I've done with Oil Crayons (Sharpie China Marker) on Dura-Lar. The Dura-Lar is a matte plastic sheet that us SUPER smooth. I'm kinda pumped and excited to experiment some more.

New Yorker (I wish!)

2011-12-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

I've been working a lot in digital media for freelance lately so I thought I'd try working traditionally. I figured a fun challenge would be to work up a New Yorker style cover...

I sketched out a handful of thumbnails - this one had the most promise I thought.

Here is the final line-art.

I finished it off with watercolor and colored pencil.

Geek Vase

2011-11-18T06:04:00.001-08:00

This one is for all the art history geeks (or star wars geeks) out there!

If you like it be sure to swing by Threadless and gimmie a vote! Y'all are the best!

Portland Pride - For SALE!

2011-11-07T20:56:00.001-08:00

Thanks to everyone who voted for my Portland shirt! It was one of 10 designs from around the world that was selected to be printed at Threadless for their Threadless Loves Your City competition! Portland represent!

Phobias

2011-10-25T20:09:00.001-07:00

Here's a set of illustrations I recently did that depict specific phobias.

Fear of food, fear of bathing, fear of flowers.

Ladies of the Night

2011-10-13T12:50:00.001-07:00

an illustration I just finished from an excerpt of Dracula. These are half of my initial thumbnails sketches.

Refined sketch.

Final pencil art.

Final with color.

Final Usher Art

2011-10-03T19:54:00.001-07:00

Here's the final art for my illustration based on The Fall of the House of Usher.

Fall of the House of Usher

2011-09-29T17:39:00.001-07:00

11x17 sketch - more soon!

Drawing on Vellum

2011-09-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

I recently picked up this thick (plastic?) vellum at the art store. I found it's super fun to draw on! I turned on my the light table under my drawing desk and started doodling!

More to come?

English Muffin

2011-08-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

By my desk I keep a small pocket-sized sketchbook where I can scribble out ideas for designs when they come to me. This was from a while ago - but I figured I might as well give it a go :)

I worked it up in a little more detail in my larger sketchbook. On the bottom you can see the re-sketched face).

Here's the final! Vote for it on Threadless!!!

Fruitbat!

2011-08-25T13:33:00.001-07:00

A weird, bat I drew that is hopped up on a juicebox!

VOTE BELOW!

That's BEAST!

2011-08-17T13:02:00.001-07:00

Just a funny idea that hit me a few days ago when I heard some kids using the newest slang term, "beast."

Birfday Card!

2011-08-12T19:27:00.001-07:00

Birthday card I drew out yesterday :)

New Business Cards

2011-08-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

I've recently been working on re-designing aspects of my website, and I thought a new business card might be appropriate as well. This is my mock-up - it could definitely change though.

Dragons!

2011-08-05T22:54:00.001-07:00

Before my busy season hits in a a few weeks, I'm cramming to refine my children's book manuscripts so they are ready to package and ship to potential publishers. This required a new dragon drawing - wish me luck!

Portland Pride!

2011-07-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Portlanders! I need help voting for this Portland-themed shirt design I made that is currently in a competition on Threadless.com! Each designer that was chosen was asked to represent a city around the world - I chose Portland (of course!).

Use the link above to vote - Checking the "as a tee" box on the right and giving it a 5 is the highest score! - you have to sign up to vote (but it's very painless) and Threadless is a great tee shirt website anyway, so you may be tempted to buy some stuff while you are there.

Anyway go vote and pass the word along! Help Portland bring home the win and get the design actually printed on a tee! PORTLAND PRIDE!

Black Animals

2011-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

This design is up for voting on Design By Humans! Please swing by and give it some love!

VOTE HERE!

Furious Fowl CAKE!?

2011-07-22T11:32:00.001-07:00

How crazy is this? The talented pastry artist, Jamie Masterson has chosen my tee shirt design to use as the design for a cake competition entry! So Cool!

Check out more pictures and the actual entry HERE!

Yummy!

The tee is also fully stocked if you are so inclined ;)

Napkin Ogre

2011-07-20T09:58:00.001-07:00

Rarely do I save a napkin doodle, but I drew this guy last night at a coffee shop and thought he'd be fun to post.

Hungry Hippos FOR SALE!

2011-06-24T06:35:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks! This week ONLY my Hungry Hippos design is up for sale at Shirt.Woot!
It is only $15 (that INCLUDES shipping!) Click the picture above to make your purchase!

Get one, before they get YOU!

Be Nice to Everyone!

2011-06-21T17:32:00.001-07:00

Help me get this positive message out there! Vote for this design on Threadless!

Civilized Beast

2011-06-04T17:23:00.001-07:00

A fun little ink/watercolor painting I did for a friend of mine :)

Two-headed Thingie

2011-05-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

A give-away drawing a did for someone...

My shirt mentioned in stand-up act!

2011-05-08T11:37:00.001-07:00

Some of you may remember my first EVER shirt design that was printed on Threadless that glowed in the dark.

Well, an artist friend of mine from the UK recently sent me a video of comedian James Acaster who talks about the shirt in his set! The clip is only 15 minutes long and is hilarious, but if you want to skip to the shirt bits they are 6:45 and then again starting at 12:05.

Green Thumb-erjack

2011-05-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

Brand new - eco-friendly lumberjack design. Portlanders should go crazy!

Thanks for the votes everyone! VOTING HAS ENDED

Cthulhu

2011-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest Threadless tee submission! Click the link below to give me your vote!

Rainn Wilson

2011-04-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

I recently did a caricature of Rainn Wilson (Dwight in The Office, among other hilarious roles). I thought it would be fitting to do it on a notepad using only ballpoint pen and white-out! The final is basically a photo - the only Photoshopped bits are the details on the top of the pad. Fun Stuff!

Cthulthu

2011-03-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

A half finished sketch yanked out of my sketchbook - maybe one day it will become a finished sketch...who knows.

2 New Tees! (in case you missed them!)

2011-03-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Over the past month I've had two new Threadless shirts released! I realized recently there was no official blog about it UNTIL NOW! Click the pics to view more!

Weird that they are both bird and internet related...plenty of sizes still available of each!

Design for a cause!

2011-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

Threadless just started up a new branch of their website called "causes." The tee designs submitted there have potential to be printed and all profits will be donated to charity! And if mine wins I will be donating all of the prize money as well! If you want to give me a boost please swing by and give it a vote! It is for the Oceanic Preservation Society.

You can vote by log in in with your Threadless account! Don't waste time! According to OPS, "Scientists predict that we may lose half of ALL species by the end of the century"

CLICK TO VOTE!!!

My Desktop!

2011-02-26T08:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a peek into what my desktop currently looks like! Too many projects going on simultaneously! :)

Furious Fowl

2011-02-01T21:31:00.001-08:00

Recently I've been addicted to a certain VERY popular iPhone app. It has inspired me to do a just-for-fun illustration/shirt design.

Furious Fowl - Full Photoshop Painting from Brian Cook on Vimeo.

BUY STUFF!

Now Available on a tee from Threadless!

PRINTS of "Furious Fowl" NOW AVAILABLE!

Also available as an iPhone/iPod case, iPhone/iPod skin and Laptop skin!

Self Portrait Sketch

2011-01-30T12:08:00.001-08:00

REALLY Hungry Hippos

2011-01-18T19:21:00.001-08:00

My latest Threadless design is up for scoring now!

Ms. Hook

2010-12-31T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a rough sketch and final pencil drawing I did for a drawing contest with a "fairytale pinup" theme.

2010-12-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

So I thought it would be fun to take you through my design process from start to finish! Here is how I created my shirt illustration "Tweet"

This is my initial sketch I scribbled out on my sketchbook quickly so I wouldn't forget it.

After looking at my initial sketch I tried playing around with what the birds could be saying that was funny. ultimately I decided to keep it short and sweet.

Next I sketched out how I wanted the birds to look - this was my pre-final drawing. Because the final would be in pencil I worked everything out in this drawing before I did the final rendering.

Here is a photo of the final rendering - I used my lightbox to trace the basic outlines of my original drawing and then rendered the values.

Here is final bird drawing scanned, but unaltered.

Here is my final t-shirt design submission to Threadless. The color work was done in Illustrator, the speech bubble section in Illustrator.

Hey everyone! Hope you're a fan of my design. Vote $5 if you want to see it printed!

If you want to help me promote it you can tweet it with #tweettee

Also check in with my twitter account for special promotions this week!
If you're curious, you can also see what @Sparr0w82 is up to!

If you are interested in seeing how this design evolved from a ten second sketch into a fully fledged submission you should swing by my Process Blog!

A special thanks to pheanix/Keith who gave me permission to use his wonderful sparrow picture for the avatar!

Tired

2010-11-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

I've got a brand new shirt design that celebrates the sleepy! Swing by and vote on it this holiday weekend! While's you're there check out the Black Friday SALE on Threadless!

Tree of Knowledge!

2010-11-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

I've got a new design up for voting on Threadless! Please check it out by clicking the link below!

Abe's Stove-Pipe Hat

2010-11-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sketch for a possible illustration I'm working on...

Wild Bill's New Hat

2010-10-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Another painting - this one will soon be up for sale in a show at the downtown Art Media in Portland. Hard to tell but the buttons and a few of the parts of the monster are gold leaf.

Sailor Bird

2010-10-17T18:07:00.001-07:00

Watercolor, gouache & crackling varnish. Experimenting....

The Interwebs is FOR SALE!

2010-10-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Now available for a LIMITED TIME at Shirt.Woot!

Hurry while it lasts!

Devil Went Down to Georgia (Final)

2010-10-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the final Illustration for the value student posted earlier. I found this real gold paint that is the closest I have found to gold leaf and I used it for the fiddle - The gold looks pretty sweet in person.

Devil Went Down to Georgia (value)

2010-09-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is a quick digital value rough for a painting I will be working on shortly.

Walkin'

2010-09-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

I was stuck in an airport a few weeks back and kept myself entertained by drawing this weirdo.
(brush pen & white marker)

Nightmares

2010-08-14T17:53:00.001-07:00

Working on this sketch for a competition with the theme of "Nightmares"

Another Tiki!

2010-08-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another Tiki drawing that is up this month at Elroy Art here in Portland!
(If you back away from your screen you can see the face even better)

I'm in a coloring book!

2010-08-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey people! Who doesn't like coloring books? Nobody, that's who.

I recently worked on an outer space themed coloring book with a few fellow Threadless Alumni. My page is the second on the left in the above video. The theme is OUT SPACE.

There are two ways you can buy it! Threadless is giving an abridged copy out with the purchase of ANY Kid's shirt (that is the version in the video).

OR...you can order the FULL 52 page book for only $10! In which I have a full 2 page spread.

What are you waiting for?! BUY IT HERE!

Dorothy's Revenge!

2010-08-03T16:27:00.001-07:00

My T-shirt tribute to ridiculous summer blockbusters! Swing by Threadless and give it some love if you'd like!

Tiki Kon!

2010-08-02T20:09:00.001-07:00

HEY PORTLANDERS! I have three original Tiki themed illustrations in this show! It opened up yesterday and it is AWESOME! The official opening is this Thursday if you're interested in checking it out - lots of great work.

This is a sneak peek at one of the pieces. I think the other two are even better though :)

2010-07-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

Stains Are the New Black," to help it get printed on Threadless!

New Threadless Design! UP FOR VOTING!

Afraid of the Dark

2010-07-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

My latest shirt design! I could use your votes on Threadless if you are so inclined:

Loony Bin

2010-06-30T17:14:00.001-07:00

Here is the tee design that was a result from my previous poster sketches!

It's up for voting at Threadless right now! Don't miss your chance to vote for me!

CLICK the link above to VOTE!

Sketch Tees

2010-06-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out some ways of bringing small sketches to life as large t-shirt designs. These are just mock-ups for now.

Surreal Toons

2010-06-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

I'm slowly working on a drawing for a new t-shirt design - this is the first sketch.

Because the final will only be penciled I threw it on my lightable to draw out the final.

Here is some of the final drawn out...

Society 6 Print Shop!!!

2010-05-30T23:33:00.001-07:00

I finally got my act together and opened a shop to sell prints of my artwork on a site called Society 6. The prints are museum quality and really nicely done! If you are interested you can click the banner above OR the new button on the top right of this blog!

Meeting Doodles

2010-05-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

I started this blog/website to display rough/loose sketches of projects I am working on. Recently my posts have focused on much more finished artwork and I'd like to post random sketches a little more often. This doodle came about this weekend during a long meeting. Sketching helps me focus.

I've slowly been replacing my Prismacolor markers for Copic markers. Today a bought a set of grays and decided to test them out on an older doodle of a barmaid in my sketchbook.

Fail Willy!

2010-05-04T21:12:00.001-07:00

New Shirt Design up for Voting on Threadless!

Shark Hands!

2010-04-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

After passing the 4th print mark at Threadless I was invited to design a shirt for their Select line of anything I wanted. What I settled on was this quirky sailor monster who has sharks for hands!

Here is the actual shirt as worn by a Threadless model.

After the shirt was released I received some mail from people who really liked the tee. My favorite was from Carla Zetina who snapped a few pictures of herself in the shirt for me!

Click on this picture to buy it!

Meeting Muse - Portland Tour Poster!

2010-04-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

I know I've already posted this image but yesterday I was fortunate enough to be able to meet Matt, Dom and Chris or Muse in person so I thought it was worthy of a repost!

The band apparently were big fans of my poster and gave me some really nice 3rd row seat tickets to their show last night. I guess it will be put up for voting on their website along with a half dozen other poster designs from around the US and their fans will pick a grand prize winner!

Special thanks to Muse and 94.7 KNRK for sponsoring the event!

Story Book Surrealism

2010-03-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've always been a big fan of classic cartoons and art history. Hence, this idea seemed like a good one. If you like it too, please swing by and give it a vote on Threadless!

Muse Tour Posters.

2010-03-16T21:28:00.001-07:00

I recently designed both of these posters to enter in a local contest. Top ten finalist meet the band. Let's see if I can make it.

Milton the Monkey

2010-03-02T20:01:00.001-08:00

I recently was commissioned to do a logo for Monkeysee, a company based in Australia. Above are my initial sketches that were sent for review. The selected sketch was completed below.

Check out the Monkeysee website for some gear featuring Milton!

Zark!

2010-02-21T12:03:00.001-08:00

I held a "Guess The Score" competition for one of my shirt designs. The winner had a few choices in terms of prizes - they chose an original 8x10 illustration and left it up to me what to draw. It's getting popped in the mail tomorrow!

The Rare Flamingo Horn

2010-02-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

A sketch done with watercolor and graphite. I'm thinking I may work up a final version of this little guy as I kinda like how he's turning out.

Clip Art Hunter

2010-02-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is a new Threadless design that I've made using only images from old clip art books! Something old into something new for their "New Trends" competition. Vote for it below!

New Fashion!

2010-01-25T20:28:00.000-08:00

I recently found some old pattern packages at a thrift store...these two came from them

2010-01-13T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hey GUYS! My Most recent design is up for the Threadless Bestee Award! If you vote for me HERE! And comment in this blog you could win one of the above posters!

The Interwebs

2010-01-02T22:18:00.001-08:00

I was going for a vintage 50's/60's illustration style with this one. Hope you like the irony in it! If you like it, help it get printed on Threadless!

Trilobite Patch Kid

2009-12-22T20:02:00.001-08:00

Not sure if this will go any further...but it's strangely interesting I think.

In Chicago!

2009-12-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Check out my latest T-shirt design on display at the Threadless store in Chicago!

*Note* the display art in the center was inspired by my design!

The Eraser! For Sale and ON SALE!

2009-12-05T11:08:00.001-08:00

My 4th print was just released on Threadless! and they are having a holiday sale so it's only $12!!!

Vegetable Invasion!

2009-11-28T22:38:00.001-08:00

This fun little idea popped into my head last night, not sure if it'll go anywhere.

muSEAum

2009-11-26T12:21:00.001-08:00

Initial sketch for my T-shirt design posted below.

Bear Hands!!!

2009-11-16T21:30:00.001-08:00

Threadless recently invited me to design one if their Typtees! It was released today. Check it out! It's only $15!!!

Twistyhorn McGruff

2009-11-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry! I haven't been posting new stuff in a while. I've been really busy lately and most of my projects are for private clients and the work can't be posted here. Anyway here's a series of sketches I've been working on off and on...

VOTE for me for the BESTEE award!

2009-10-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

Help my design WIN! I get $2,500 and I'll be one of 12 designs that has a shot at $20,000!!!! Click the image to VOTE!

I Won Threadless Loves Childhood Comp!

2009-10-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

You may remember this artwork from a post not too long ago. Well my 3rd Threadless shirt just went up for sale last Monday!

The shirt came out GREAT! An extra special thanks to Piper Kirkby who was the child artist whose artwork I included in the design.

Also printed on kid's sizes!

Original display artwork created for the Threadless store in Chicago.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
CLICK TO BUY!

The Eraser

2009-09-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Recent T-shirt illustration (I've been amping up for Halloween)

Brain Power!

2009-09-13T09:54:00.001-07:00

Shleep

2009-09-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this idea for a while now - finally I'm happy with how it turned out - I've been wanting to do kind o a retro/vintage style illustration for a while now.

Ghastly Guardian

2009-08-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

More little wizarding!

Shazaaaam!

2009-08-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

This little wizard is in over his head (Ink & Copic markers)

Percy Portrait

2009-08-15T16:33:00.001-07:00

every once in a while I need to step away from digital work and prove to myself that I can still paint if I need to. Painted in oil on a teeny tiny canvas.

Old Skool Vandalism

2009-08-11T11:33:00.001-07:00

From time to time I think it's fun to post my original rough sketches for designs. This was the first scribble of this illustration idea from my sketchbook. Below is the finished version.

This one is for you art history/graffiti fans out there.

Threadless Loves Childhood project

2009-08-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Threadless Loves Childhood process blog!

This whole idea started because I thought it would be fun to collab with a Threadless kid (a child of a Threadless user) for this specific T-shirt competition.

Step 1:

I decided that the general theme should be monsters (simply because kids' monster drawings are usually awesome) and I posted this blog in the forums asking users to submit their child's monster drawings to me.

Step 2:

I had to sort through all the kids drawings that were posted here or sent to my email and pick one that I wanted to use. Check out the other monsters that were posted here below in the first page of this blog.

It was really hard, but finally I chose Piper's drawing because I thought it had great potential not only as a character, but also for a design.

Piper's original submission.

Step 3:

I had to come up with a concept now based on Piper's monster. I also wanted to include her original drawing in the design and that is when I thought it would be fun to have a monster trying to draw a self portrait of himself.

This was one of my original rough sketches for the layout. At first I was going to have it be a front/back design, but decided later that the UV ink would be even more fun!

here is a small drawing of my version of the monster (about 1"x1")

After the small sketch I drew out my monster and scanned it. Then I messed around with some shading to use as a guide for my digital work.

Step 4:

The rest I did digitally. I scanned in both our drawings and live traced them (I used Piper's without any alterations). Please swing by and score it and leave us a comment! We'd love to hear what you all think of our little project!

Here we are both working on our drawings.

Dangerous Waters

2009-07-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

New Threadless design for the summer - Click to vote!!!

S'mores!

2009-07-22T10:12:00.001-07:00

FOR A LIMITED TIME! Guess what score the S'mor T-shirt design (below) will win by clicking on the image above and posting your guess on Threadless and you could win this piece of artwork!

Here is the final design - I think this might be my favorite t-shirt design to date - Help it get printed by following the link below!

Here's a photo of a T-shirt design as I started inking my sketch.

Coldplay T-shirt Design

2009-07-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

I recently designed a concert tee for a Coldplay concert. Here is the design.

Here I am wearing the shirt with the band at the concert. They also let me come sit on the stage for the show which was pretty darn cool.

Latest in Shirt designs!

2009-07-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Below are a few of my latest Threadless Designs! You can click the slide buttons on the bottom two subs to see placement pictures.

Click on the links on the banner to the right to vote :)

Score this design: Collateral Damage," to help it get printed on Threadless!

Score this design: "Pseudo Claw," to help it get printed on Threadless!

Coldplay Shirt

2009-06-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

A local radiostation recently held a design competition for a Coldplay concert this summer.

Lil' Jonah

2009-05-21T22:02:00.001-07:00

Snail Mail Fights Back!

2009-05-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

Cause and Effect

2009-05-04T21:31:00.001-07:00

The physical changes as attributed to various modes of transportation

New Shirt Released in China!

2009-04-29T19:46:00.001-07:00

I just had a shirt released in China. In case anybody is interested the links to buy them are below! Good luck navigating the site though (unless you speak Chinese!)

Earth Day Treason!

2009-04-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day.

Puzzle time!

2009-04-20T19:51:00.001-07:00

I recently did two sets of illustrations that are meant to be part of an interchangeable T-shirt design featuring 35 artists total. I had so much fun piecing my two together though that I thought I'd share. Pretty soon I'll be doing macabre wrapping paper.

Big Fish in the City

2009-04-10T20:59:00.001-07:00

This is what comes after a long day at work.

Coloring Book!

2009-03-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

42 Threadless.com tee designers (including yours truly) stuck their heads together to create this awesome adventure themed coloring book. It has it all, action, adventure, weirdness, puzzles - you name it.

56 pages of high quality coloring goodness all for the cheap cheap price of 10 dollars so you should probably buy a few!

Available exclusively through lulu.com