Tooth Fairy

This particular illustrated pun was a no-brainer.

The idea came to me at some point so I included it in my super secret mast file of ‘puns’.

Some live there longer than others, but I decided to bring this one to life, in part due to a competition that was brought to my attention by a friend.

A particular website (Pictofolio), was having a contest call 2Cute2Fail, in which they were asking participants to submit artwork of various mediums that fit within the framework of their ‘kawaii-esque’, theme.

I felt (as did my friend), that my pun based designs would be a good fit for this particular contest.

I set about making two new puns, and using another that was complete, but never utilized outside of an Instagram post.

For this specific image, I wanted to basically create a flying tooth, that also had features that were recognizably ‘fairy’.

I did this by giving the tooth, wings, a tutu like skirt, and a toothbrush for a ‘wand’ or ‘sceptre’.

I then went back at a later point and added the bag with the spilling coins.

I initially drew the image out on my iPad in Procreate, and then ported it over to another application called Graphic, which allowed me to vector or ‘outline’, the image cleanly.

I then took the vector file back into Procreate, and laid it out, then proceeded to coloring.

The image was completed, and then transferred to my make where I finalized the resolution, and size requirements for submission.

However, before I completed my submission, I decided to add the blue diamond-like sparkles around the tooth, to further give the illusion of it’s mystical nature.

Once I was completed, I uploaded it onto Pictofolio’s website here.

To purchase this image, please visit my Etsy store here:

Tooth Fairy

IG:stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns

French Kiss

I came up with this as a ‘promotional’ idea for Valentine’s Day to bring more attention to my site, and brand back in 2019.

This pun was also one of the first I completed on my iPad, using both Graphic, and Procreate.

I started out with a sketch that I may have imported from a picture, or sketch I did somewhere else.

I used the basis of a chocolate ‘Kiss’, and then gave it some stereotypical features that would make it easily identified as ‘French’.

I made a beret out of foil, with a ‘ribbon’ poking out the top.

I then gave it a heart-shaped box, and bouquet of roses to hold.

I also gave it a ‘moustache’, and designed it’s facial expression to be winking.

Upon completing it, I posted it to my Instagram account here.

I then however received a correspondence from a friend regarding an online competition, which seemed a good fit for this type of illustration.

I decided to rework this image a bit, and use it as a contribution to the contest, along with two new designs

I then submitted it to Pictofolio, as part of their contest 2Cute2Fail.

The image can be seen on their site here.

To purchase this image, please visit my Etsy store here:

French Kiss

IG: stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns

Brain Storm

The idea for this pun was long in the works, I used to joke with students of mine, that they’d, “better get out their umbrellas, because it was time for a brainstorm”.

Bad I know.

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted this guy to look like.

A brain, in professional attire, maybe something a stereotypical IT worker would wear.

I gave him several more details than a typical pun, including a pocket protector, with pencils, and markers, glasses, and of course an umbrella, duh.

The biggest challenge here was color selection.

I knew he himself would need to be a pink-ish hue in order to ‘read’ as a brain.

Once I was able to finally settle on using some contrasting colors, carving out the shadows was the next step.

This was most difficult in the umbrella, and his actual head.

I wanted to give the illusion that his head was a brain without putting too many details so as to not make him look grotesque.

This design was made initially on my iPad in procreate, and Graphic.

The image was then reorganized in Procreate, and ported over to my Mac, where I completed the coloring in Corel’s Painter.

Finally it was resized, and then submitted to to Pictofolio, as part of their contest 2Cute2Fail.

The image can be seen on their site here.

To purchase this image, please visit my Etsy store here:

Brain Storm

IG: stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns

Kyrin

This illustration was commissioned by author Catherine Cruzan, and depicts a character from two of her fantasy novels ‘Elfkind’, and ‘Chasing Brother Moon’.

I was given quite a bit of free reign in my designing process, and as this was the second commission I have done for this particular client.  I was provided with some context for ‘Kyrin’, which included excerpts from the afformentioend novels, as well as some physical appearance references dictated by the author’s vision.

I did a bit of research initially, and set about sketching out the principle design of the character.

From the descriptions I had read, ‘Kyrin’, was an elven warrior, mostly scout type, who had a fondness for climbing trees and eating apples.

His attire was detailed as being mostly leather, and a tunic typical of an elvish character in this type of literary realm.

He also had a penchant for using ornamental daggers, also depicted.

This particular image, as with the previous image done for this client (The Grahze), I wanted to keep it looking ‘sketchy’, and ‘loose’.

I enjoyed working on this piece, as I did with the previous one, and would like to look into exploring more work in this style.

The illustration is entirely digital, and was developed mostly in Procreate, with some manipulations done in Photoshop.

IG: stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns

Collective Arts Brewing (Winter 2020)

These images were created as a design submission for Collective Arts Brewing’s, Winter 2020 Call for Artists.

The company takes submissions for their labels, and awards the winning artist a $250 payment, along with using the artwork for an upcoming label on their line of brews.

I had two ideas in mind, neither of which I wanted to spend too much time on, seeing as it was another contest, and I also had deadlines for other projects.  Initially it was just supposed to be for fun, but my creative endeavors took over, and I became consumed with finishing at least two images to submit.

Honeycomb Circuit

The first image I designed came to me while I was sketching on my iPad, doing some exercises I had acquired from a friend via twitter.

The character I was drawing for said exercise was bee themed, and it sparked a great design concept for framing the image later with a honeycomb pattern.

I then decided that I could also use the same pattern for a beer label design.

I set to work, and decided that I wanted to cross nature with technology, creating a surreal aspect.

I decided to add circuitry to the darker portions of the honeycomb to contrast with the already pseudo scientific pattern of the honeycomb itself.

I made quite a few adjustments to this image, and after several revisions, I managed to finish it time to submit.

 

 

Space Drip

The second image actually only took me a few hours.

I had already done a similar illustration so I knew how to tackle this one immediately.

I wanted to create the illusion of dripping paint, and inside the paint itself to depict a celestial cosmos.

The trickiest part was including the shadows at the base of the paint that was dripping, in order to steal create the illusion, but offer a stronger depth perception to the overall image.

After playing with the colors a bit, I was satisfied with my choices, I submitted it along with the aforementioned image of the Honeycomb.

Both images are entirely digital, and both were created in Procreate.

The honeycomb image had it’s pattern, and layout developed in illustrator, manipulated in Photoshop, and then transferred over to Procreate to finish the detail work.

The Grahze

This illustration was commissioned by author Catherine Cruzan, and depicts a character from her fantasy novel ‘Elfkind’.

I was given literature by the author containing details on the description of this creature, and based the image itself primarily on that information along with my own expertise in this genre.

The description reminded me of a wraith-like being, or vampiric lich.

Stylistically, I wanted it to be reminiscent of the old Dungeons and Dragons illustrations from the manuals of yore..

I wanted to keep the image sketchy, and loose, as a lot of my sketches read well, and contain more movement, than when I clean them up.

I envisioned the creature as frail, and almost undead like, with a gaunt frame.  I clothed it in tattered robes that curled like tendrils at the bottom, that blended away into the misty ground, obscuring any trace of it’s form.

I also wanted to keep the image very limited in color, with the exception of the creature’s eyes and the gem that hangs from it’s neck.

The image is entirely digital done primarily in Procreate, with some adjustments made in Photoshop.

IG: stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns

The Great Outdoors

This piece was developed specifically for Gallery1988’s, upcoming ‘Memes’ show, which ran from January 10^th 2020, through January 25^th 2020.

Due to time constraints, and a rather short deadline, this particular image’s development was rather quick.

I initially did some research on the internet, and found a site called ‘Know Your Meme’, in order to get some ideas, on how I was going to create something original, given both the content, and the recognition factor of how Memes work in general.  I’m not going to lie, I got pretty lost on the site (which is a fantastic place to get lost by the way, if you have the free time), and wasn’t really sold on any one particular ‘type’ of meme in which to base my work off of.

I finally came across a Meme genre called ‘fuckscapes’.

I’d seen these before, and while they weren’t prevalent on the net as they used to be, I found them clever, and rather hilarious.

I then began to try to come up with some ideas that would work with this meme genre.

I also wanted to make sure that the image was relevant to the gallery’s over clientele, as a lot of the work on display there is generally geared towards pop culture.

I also wanted to make sure that the ‘language’ I was using in my piece wasn’t too strong, as most of this genre’s meme are down right foul.

Somehow, over a few days of contemplating what I was going to do, the idea came to me.

Most of this genre’s memes are picturesque, with a rather offensive statement or word being placed somewhere in the scenery, typically on the horizon.

I thought it would be a creative solution to marrying my two requirements (original yet also pop culture themed), to use something from a cult movie.

This is when I decided to base the meme piece off of the classic 1988 family movie ‘The Great Outdoors’, starring the late, great John Candy, and Dan Aykroyd.

In the film there are two sequences in which, the family’s trash outside their cabin, is raided by some rather opinionated Raccoons. During one of the exchanges between the trio of bandits, they come across some discarded hot dogs.  While one of the creatures is excited, and begins to consume the remains, another exclaims to his ravenous compatriot, that hot dogs are made from ‘lips and assholes’.

With that I set forth utilizing what iconic imagery from the film I could find, so as to make a connection with the piece and the film.

I decided to use the cabin the families stayed in during the film, and the adjacent lake as the ‘setting’ of the image, and then also added the raccoons in the foreground in order to have the image tie in with the words, theme, and subject.

I also took some time to include some ‘easter eggs’, highlighting some of the more impressionable moments from the film.

For the text, I attempted to recreate the font from the film, from screen captures, since I could not identify nor allocate the font used in the original feature.

I also had some difficulty in placing the font, as I wanted it to slightly blend in the placement in the background.

I managed to finish the image, with very little time to spare, and got it down to the gallery for the show.

The illustration is entirely digital, and was developed in Painter, and Illustrator, with some adjustments done in Photoshop.

The piece was originally on display at Gallery 1988 during their ‘Meme’ show, which ran from January 10^th 2020- to January 25^th, 2020.

The image is only currently available from Gallery 1988 (framed), and has not been replicated at this time.

IG: stiles1978

Tumblr: stiles1978

Twitter: paragonofpuns