All posts by TS

The Sketchbook Project

chicken

 

When The Sketchbook Project came through San Francisco, I was awed by the work of the hundreds of  gonzo talented artists who had contributed.  I knew I had to do it.  So, I challenged my friend Maggie to complete it with me and we signed-up for our own books.

I created a book in a variety of styles, kind of like the needlework samplers our grandmothers once made. I framed the book around a kid’s crazy sandwich order at one of my favorite po’boy restaurants in New Orleans, Guys.  I then based each page on an ingredient of his order and drew it in a different style.  Some drawings are better successes than others, but it was a fun experiment.

It’s travelled over 25,000 miles internationally and is currently waiting for you in the Brooklyn NY. You can view the whole thing here.

Widget Customizer

OpenTable needed to create a quick way for restaurants in their network to browse, customize, and embed the reservation widget into their sites. I designed this wizard that guided the users through the process.

Nick Rialto Adventures

The client needed to promote a new sales concept to their sales force, yet were finding that the team was paying increasingly less attention to the pieces coming their way. Mixing a humorous script with exotic environments, we designed a compelling and memorable game to teach the material.

Attach Rate Carnival

The client had a new initiative but users jaded on eLearning. They wanted something new and fun, something that would be memorable. Why not a carnival? I illustrated and animated a trapeze act, an interactive automaton and a fortune teller. Each scenario taught users the value of attaching services at the point of sale.

2008 Silver Medal Award. Brandon Hall Awards.

History of Learning

History of Learning from Furnaceboy on Vimeo.

Cisco was hosting an eLearning conference. To launch it, they wanted to remind the audience how far learning had come and how quickly things were changing. This piece spans over 5000 years of learning in less than three minutes. With less than ten days from kick-off to delivery, we decided on an animated storyboard approach.

Milton Glaser Draws & Lectures

MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES from TEAMVVORK on Vimeo.

I love watching people draw, and Mr. Glaser has some good insights on the importance of drawing.  This video made me think of the quote by Leo Burnett: “Big ideas come out of big pencils.”  And he loved his big black pencil, the Alpha 245. (His agency played around with this idea pretty well in their old site. The new site’s attractive, but a bit of a mess. New for new, it lost the warmth and message of the original concept.)

I almost always use Col Erase Blue or some other nonrepro-blue, a holdover from comic drawing days.  They’re hard and clean and light. They allow me to build up lines and shapes and see the drawing before I commit it to final inks.  I can develop the drawing just enough, so that I can ink without thinking, from spontaneous to highly technical.

However, in kick-off and brainstorm meetings with clients, you don’t have the luxury of building-up and finding the drawing.  The sketch is all you have,  it’s both the tool for communication and the final delivery. It’s moments like these the big pencil was made for.  The lines are imprecise and sloppy, but they can carry a gesture.  Their very crudeness allows participants to use their own imagination to fill in the gaps and engage in the process.

A good sketch isn’t always the best drawing.  It’s part artistic execution, part storytelling, part listening, and part showmanship.  After a good session, people won’t walk away from the table remembering the sketch, but they will walk away remembering the idea. That’s what’s important.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to learn to draw.