Robert Burch News

I just got featured on HOW Magazine’s Top Ten Sites for Designers. To see my listing and some of the other great sites click here.

My wife and I have just been accepted as mentors for Art All-State. We’ll be working with high school Jr.’s from all over Massachusetts at the Worcester Art Museum collaborating in groups and designing our own art projects. It promises to be an amazing time. We even get to spend the night in the museum. How cool is that!

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I just finished this illustration for an article in Delaware Today. The art director was fun to work with and the image was a lot of fun to and paint. I am especially happy with subtle background pattern.

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My new friend Mina at DejaArt recently asked me if she could post some of my work. DejaArt is a great new portal for illustration, fonts, book reviews, competitions and media buyers. There are a lot of good illustrators on the site. I highly recommend checking it out and while you’re at it check out my portfolio too .

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2007 (desktop wall paper  available, free, on farmidable.com)My wife pointed this out to me a few weeks ago when I started working on this astronaut pattern for Farmidable. She asked me why I do an astronaut illustration every Decemeber. To be honest I didn’t realize that I did, but sure enough I look back and the last three years I have astronaut images every December. Below are the two others.

2006/07 Christmas Card

2005

I can’t remember how many times you have to do something before it becomes a habit but I think I beat that with out even trying!

Technorati Tags: art, Christmas, color, concept, design, drawing, painting, pattern, astronaut, Red, screen-printed

I have been working out how I would like to portray bodies of water in my work because it seems to come up often and because I like how water creates different shapes, spaces and rhythm. I did some research and found this amazing watercolor painting by Anno Mitsumasa, one of my favorite illustrators. I’ve seen water done in the same way by other artists but this painting left me speechless.

Technorati Tags: art, drawing, illustration, Japan, painting, watercolor, Mitsumasa Anno

I drew this while watching Scrubs tonight. The worlds largest doctor episode. The drawing actually has nothing to do with it but is from my college days when Sufjan Stevens and Danielson came and played. It was a great show. Danielson wore a big foam tree.

I’ve been really busy and haven’t had time to post for a while, but here is a simple sketch I’ve been working on when I’ve gotten a free minute here and there.

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It’s always nice to work with people like Mark at POZ Magazine. They do a great job at POZ and have a lot of experience working with illustrators. Check out my illustration in the upcoming October issue.

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full image

close up

I’m really happy with how the final came out click here to view it in my portfolio. The colors worked out well and the suggestion that Simon, from “Who the Hell is God“, had of adding a temple like building to the others was a good one. It was fun to work with Simon and his brute honesty. I’m sure much of that will reflect in his blog. Thanks to everyone who’s been following this development. I’ll do a post about the Who the Hell is God blog as soon it is live. If you’re new to this piece check out all the posts. Please feel free to comment.

(1) Who the Hell is GOD
(2) Who the Hell is GOD: color studies round 1
(3) Who the Hill is GOD: color studies round 2

Technorati Tags: Christ, color, concept, drawing, editorial, God, illustration, Japan, pattern, Red

The thing I like most about Brick Weekly is that they use a lot of great illustrators. I was happy to have one of my favorite illustrators put on their cover. Check out other Brick covers on flicker.

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I used photoshop and messed around with the colors of the illustration a bit. Here are two alternative options to what I showed you before. The blue sky is nice and is a complementary color to the orange you’re using in the blog.

I think the benefit to having the more orange sky is that text will go on top with less fuss and probably stand out better. Like you said in your comment in the last post, I added the houses before to add the feel of people and civilization without really showing figures.

View my last “Who the Hell is GOD?” Posts
(1) Who the Hell is GOD
(2) Who the Hell is GOD: color studies round 1

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In my last “Who the Hell is God” post I posted a rough concept sketch. After reading the comments from Simon and others I sketched out a new image with a smaller fish (about 40% smaller) and more room for the title. I also wanted to do something more with the landscape so I added some houses. I think they ad a nice human element that the image was lacking before. Simon wasn’t sure about the bleed but I left it in for now figuring the image can always be cropped.

For color I tried a warm and cool version. After scanning them I found that on paper I like the warm version, but online I tend to lean towards the cooler image. The variations in the warm colors don’t seem to show up as well and the red sets a bit more intense than I’d like. That could change with the final and a bit of photoshop color correction magic if Simon prefers it. The thing for Simon to think about is can he really handle all that pink? It could look really amazing and would be pretty daring I think, but pink isn’t for everyone.

Thinking the layout was still a bit too tall vs. wide I widened the cooler image so there would be even more room for the title of the Blog.

I’m really happy with how this piece is going. Please comment and let me know which you prefer and why as well as any other ideas you may have.

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My friend Simon recently asked me if I would do an illustration for his blog “who the hell is god”. Because I’m a Christian I was a bit apprehensive at first, but when he explained to me that the blog was going to be a documented journey about his search for God, and reassured me that he would be respectful, I decided to do it. Though the title of the blog is deceiving I think it’ll bring readers. I also think that there isn’t anything more noble than searching to know the true God.I’ve been working on some sketches and concepts and so far have ended up pretty abstract. Making images of God or concepts about God that aren’t corny can be very difficult because God is so big. I ended up focusing on creation. Things that might make one think about God, who He is and what He is doing. The gray block is where the title would go and the small box in the lower right is space for navigation or a search bar.Please comment on the sketch. I’m going to try and use my blog to communicate with Simon in the comments section also. It should be cool to see what ends up happening with the piece. Weather it will change much or not. Check out Simon’s current blog beforeifoget.co.uk.

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Just about every time I get a nice illustration job I buy a new album to listen to while I work. Two of my recent favorites are from comments on my last post about work and music.I’ve listened to these albums a lot. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of them. Click on comments and let me know what you think and if there’s anything I might like that I haven’t heard of.Panda Bear, Person Pitch and Midlake, The Trails of Van Occupanther

Technorati Tags: art, music, indie music