ATTENTION! THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!

After several years, I have decided to move this blog to:
http://www.chriswhetzelprocess.tumblr.com.

Please update your bookmarks or links.

I apologize for any inconvenience; as part of chris-whetzel.com's redesign, a move was made as the tumblr platform is simply much easier to use than blogger. And easier use will mean less frustration and more posts!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Sketchbook Excerpts #13

I realized I haven't posted any sketch material on this blog in a while. Here are some from the sketch tumblr and some recent experiments:

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

Enjoy the Day,

Chris

NCAA Preview for LA Times

I was very excited to created this year's NCAA Preview cover for  The Los Angeles Times! This was a large scale project for me, and I enjoyed putting a lot of hours into it. My wife? Not so much :)

The premise of the image is about how LA's "local" teams of Arizona and Gonzaga will have to face powerful teams from the Big East conference during March Madness. The big teams this year are Kentucky, Virginia, Duke, Wisconsin, and Villanova.

(click to enlarge)

Roughs (the AD actually considered these as sketches and sent back a layout with his favorite)

(click to enlarge)

Final sketch from selected rough (went a little nuts with this one)

I'm SO happy they liked the idea of using the mascots (Kentucky Wildcats, Virginia Cavaliers, Duke Blue Devils, Villanova Wildcats, Wisconsin Badgers). A requested alternate version with the smaller teams as mascots (Arizona's Wildcat wears a hat and that bulldog just looks so silly):

You may notice that the small figures changed in the final art; it was a requested revision that the reader be able to see the team names on the players' backs. I much prefer the twisting figures in the sketch, but I totally understand and was happy to do the revision. Also both team numbers are "2" as a way to reflect the teams' seeds (college basketball jargon :)

(detail)

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Marijuana = Money?

I'm sure that title has just gotten me flagged by some government enforcement agency.

But governments seem to like the ganja these days, right? Apparently so as more and more states are legalizing the drug; Arizona is entertaining the notion as a way to increase state revenue. This was a fun cover where the AD had this particular idea in mind, and I went with it knowing that I also would have thought this up if left to my own devices :)

Sketch (looking a bit shoddy/ too "dirty hippie")

Final image (click to enlarge)

Details (click to enlarge)

Design sample, banner off of  The New Times Facebook page

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy the Day,
Chris

Effective leadership

Here is a recent piece about ineffective leadership in schools. The article made several mentions of "misaligned goals" and "lining up" the right leaders for a given area of education.

Sketches (my first "all-digital" job):

Final: 

Enjoy the Day,
Chris