While I provide a range of graphic design services, freelance illustration has been my primary business and the reason for this web site. Most of the other pages and portfolios found here are examples of illustration, grouped by category and style. My competitive advantage is that my customers can get many different styles and media — all from one artist. The styles range from fully digital to hand-painted art, cartoon art to photo-realism. My favorite illustration technique is pen and ink, with color added by either watercolors or digital overlays on the computer.

Freelance Illustration Is My Passion

For me, the highest compliment is when a customer says,

“You drew what I was thinking!”

To succeed as a freelance illustration business, my work must be focused on meeting the customer’s needs and deadlines. The results must be commercially useful and meet the technical specs that keep it looking good across any number of electronic or print media. As an experienced illustrator I am also available to help resolve production issues. I am often hired by other Graphic Designers to supply illustrations for their customers’ projects. This allows me to put my strongest skills forward, collaborating with other graphics pros to ensure great-looking results.

Reason number one for using an illustration rather than a photo: artwork grabs attention. A good illustration visually expresses your message before your words are read. In the end, it is about whether or not readers notice your message. And custom artwork overcomes demographic “barriers,” because a jazz sax-playing fox or a friendly bikini-clad frog can communicate across all gender and nationality distinctions. Mascots and custom character designs are a big part of what we do in helping businesses brand themselves, presenting their message to the world in the most appealing way.

An illustration can go a step further than a photo, and explain the message. There are things you simply cannot take a photo of. And those are the kinds of ideas that creative, entrepreneurial minds dream up (and ask me to draw). A creative illustration is much more interesting to look at than a photo, and it invites the viewer to stay around and hear what you are saying.