Pat N. Lewis Illustration

Tin Woodsman

2012-02-14T13:26:00.000-05:00

Just a little sketch for Valentine's Day. He doesn't have a heart, but he wants to love you all the same.

Valentine for Cheap People

2012-02-13T11:39:00.000-05:00

Here's a popular post from last year: it's a free Valentine card that you can download and print out for your sweetie. Enjoy, and let me know if this gets you any action.

Dino Xmas

2012-01-23T11:27:00.000-05:00

This one's a little late, but still. Here's a custom Christmas card I designed for a couple of friends who are getting married later this year.

They had their engagement photos taken in front of the statue of Dippy in front of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The building in the background is the Cathedral of Learning, which is located just across the street, so I included it to lend a little more of that neighborhood flair.

Correspondence

2012-01-17T10:25:00.001-05:00

Here's something a little different. Way back when I was in junior high, my class was assigned to write a letter (this was pre-email, of course) to someone we admired, asking them to recommend a favorite book. I picked my favorite cartoonist, "Sam and Max" creator (now Pixar employee) Steve Purcell, who I wrote care of his comic-book publisher, Comico. I guess I also asked when his next book was coming out? Anyway, I was thrilled when he wrote back! Here's his letter, on the best Xeroxed stationery I've ever seen:

It says:

Dear Pat,

Thanks for choosing me as someone who's opinion you respect. As far as a book that has changed me, I'd have to say "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. Since reading it, Steinbeck has been my favorite writer. I appreciate his believable characters and beautiful descriptions of nature and real comfortable sense of humor (all the qualities completely absent from my work!) It was the first book that ever made me feel something emotionally and after I read it I sought out Steinbeck's other books. When I think back on when I was thirteen, I think I might have found Grapes of Wrath kind of thick and ominous but I probably would have appreciated some of his other totally swell books--Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, Of Mice And Men, and lots more. Anyway, have fun!

Steve Purcell

PS: Maybe a new Sam & Max book in 1990. Also three page story in Critters 50

That response meant a ton to me and it opened my eyes to the fact that you could actually communicate with a lot of big-time professionals if you just took the time to reach out. I spent the next few years writing a lot of letters to cartoonists and authors and saved all their responses in a little folder.

Also, I took his advice and read Steinbeck, who remains one of my favorite authors to this day. Thanks for everything, Steve!

Cowgirl

2012-01-10T14:04:00.000-05:00

Would you buy a print of this?

Label

2012-01-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

I created a little mailing label to use for my 2012 correspondence. If you buy something from me this year, or just merit a letter for any other reason, you may get to see it in person!

I've got lots more goodies and stuff planned for the next couple months, so be sure to stay tuned!

Sweetums

2011-12-27T22:58:00.000-05:00

Back! I've been so busy with freelance gigs (that I can't post here right now) that I haven't had time to draw much for fun in a while. Things are always slow during this magic week between Christmas and New Year's, so I decided to celebrate by taking a little time this afternoon to sketch a Muppet:

Animal Kingdom

2011-11-02T14:44:00.001-04:00

Hey guys! I made these little 1.25" buttons featuring some awesome North American animals on 'em.

These were a ton of fun to do, and I could see them becoming part of a larger series of little animal drawings like this. Let me know if it's something you'd like to see more of.

Halloween, part three

2011-10-25T10:59:00.000-04:00

Here's my final spooky drawing of the season. The good folks at Wide Awake Press are running a Tumblr all month featuring creeps, monsters, and other Halloween-y artwork by some great cartoonists. I was asked to contribute, and here's what I came up with:

Enjoy the holiday, and don't eat too much candy!

Halloween sales pitch

2011-10-17T11:12:00.000-04:00

Just an October reminder--if you like creepy/funny/bloody comics, my book "The Claws Come Out" is still available at Amazon as well as from my own website, now for just $15 + shipping. Order direct from me and I'll draw you something cool inside!

Halloween, part two

2011-10-12T09:11:00.000-04:00

Here's another spooky image. I call this one "Bad Night for Graverobbing."

I had this printed up as a postcard last year and I still have a million left over in my apartment. If you send me your address, I'll drop one in the mail for you (WARNING: postcard may be cursed and cause endless torment at the hands of restless and/or vengeful spirits). Let me know, okay?

Halloween, part one

2011-10-06T11:41:00.000-04:00

I apologize for another month-long lapse between posts here. Neglecting a blog is pretty much the same mindset as when you take out those weird leftovers from the back of your fridge and go "whoa! These are so old and kind of moldy and they smell terrible," and then you just put them back on the shelf instead of doing anything about it.

Anyway, it's October now and I've got a bunch of seasonally-appropriate stuff to show you, so here's the first one. It's an illustration I did for this month's issue of "Kids VT!" about getting children interested in the sciences from an early age. Since Halloween also occurs this month, it only made sense to tie the two things together.

Mystery

2011-09-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

Here's an image I did for Pittsburgh Magazine's article on "Pittsburgh Noir," a book of 'Burgh-set mystery stories that was recently released. I posted a few alternative sketches I submitted for this a while ago, but now that the article has been published (and I've been paid), I wanted to share the final piece with you:

Book Sale

2011-08-08T09:49:00.001-04:00

I occasionally donate my illustration services to friends or for certain non-profit causes I really care about. This one is for my local library's upcoming fall book sale:

Meet the World

2011-07-26T11:00:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine had a baby a couple months back, and I was happy to draw up this little announcement to help her share the news. Welcome to earth, kid!

Sorry, Charlie

2011-07-14T09:33:00.000-04:00

I don't usually get hired to draw licensed characters, but Starkist Tuna commissioned me to create this special print celebrating the 50th birthday of their mascot, Charlie Tuna.

I'm a sucker for 50s/60s animation in the first place, so I really wanted to bring that style to this piece. I watched a ton of their old ads for research, and the level of craftsmanship and personality that comes through in them is just amazing. Charlie is such a great character and I really tried to do him (and his pals) justice.

Taboo

2011-07-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

Just a little piece I did for fun. I was kind of experimenting with some slightly different techniques, sort of going for an exotica-inspired black-velvet painting/SHAG-style feel here.

Daycation

2011-06-22T10:34:00.004-04:00

Here's an illustration I did for "Kids VT!," a free newspaper located in (where else) Vermont. Their summer issue is all about one-day road trips and vacation spots within the state, so I came up with this image for the cover:

Missionary's Downfall

2011-06-16T15:47:00.000-04:00

Well, I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but I'm back! I've been crazy busy working on a ton of illustrations, and I'll start showing them as soon as I can.

First up is this, my entry for the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators' Mixed Drink Illustration Directory, "Drawing Under the Influence." Each artist picked a drink and illustrated it. I knew I wanted to do a tiki drink, but there are so many to choose from, all with really evocative, exotic names. "Missionary's Downfall," though, just suggested a little story to me, so I felt I had to run with it.

The directory will be out later this year, and judging from the level of talent in this thing, it's gonna look great. Special thanks to fellow illustrator Vince Dorse for looking over my piece and letting me know how to make it even better.

Breaking out

2011-04-27T09:40:00.009-04:00

It's always cool to do an illustration that'll appear someplace my friends and family might just stumble across naturally. I was excited, then, to be asked to draw the cover to this week's Pittsburgh City Paper.

Weekly publications like this always have ultra-tight deadlines, so there's not a lot of time to experiment with different ideas and sketches. Fortunately, the art director gave me a pretty good idea of what she wanted that I could use as a starting point, and this is how I saw it in my head:

Once I got approval on the sketch, I finished it up. Since this paper is given out free all over the city, it's important that the cover be really bright and eye-catching to encourage people to pick it up. I've been really interested in working with more intense color schemes lately so it was fun to come up with a palette that was surprising and appealing and would really get people's attention.

Here's the finished version that will appear on stands all over Pittsburgh starting today:

Roller Derby (again)

2011-04-14T09:56:00.002-04:00

And here's the final! After reviewing my original design, the SCDD merch team decided they wanted something they could print on a dark colored t-shirt, so here's the version that will be coming soon to a roller rink near you!

Roller Derby

2011-04-11T10:00:00.037-04:00

I was recently talking with some folks in the merchandise department for the Steel City Derby Demons, Pittsburgh's kick-ass roller derby team. They mentioned they'd like to have another children's shirt to sell, something more boy-friendly than what they have now (their only current kids' offering says "FUTURE DERBY GIRL" on it, so that automatically excludes half the audience).

So I thought it over for a bit, and I came up with a design that I hope will fill their need.

I kept it to two colors to keep printing costs down. The black-and-gold combo reflects the SCDD team colors, plus it's reminiscent of the late-70s/early-80s "City of Champions" Steelers/Pirates t-shirts I used to wear as a little kid.

Just for fun, though, I also worked up a more elaborate 4-color version with crazier colors, just because I thought it would look cool:

Party

2011-04-08T08:45:00.002-04:00

Here's another one from a few months back: a greeting card/party invitation. Maybe I should start my own line of these sometime. What do you think?

First Date with Danger

2011-03-29T08:12:00.000-04:00

I was asked to contribute a 10" x 10" piece for a charity art auction next month, and this is what I came up with. I've been looking through John Canemaker's beautiful book "The Art And Flair of Mary Blair" lately, and taking a lot of inspiration from her color schemes and techniques, so that's what was going through my head as I colored up this one.

If you're in Pittsburgh, please consider buying a ticket for Future Tenant's "Sugar Factory" fundraiser at Bakery Square. It's a great cause, and you can bid on my artwork and lots of other (I assume) great pieces as well.

In the works

2011-03-23T07:27:00.000-04:00

I don't usually post much process stuff, but I thought I'd change that today. Here are a couple rejected sketches I submitted for an illustration I'm currently working on. The article is about mystery authors here in Pittsburgh, and the client wanted a "film noir" feel.

I'm not exactly sure what the protocol is about posting works-in-progress, so I'll hold off on showing you the approved sketch until the final illustration runs. Personally, I'm still really sold on the bottom sketch--so much so that I might ink and color it up anyway, just for my own use. We'll see!

Giraffe

2011-03-21T09:24:00.000-04:00

This is barely a thing: just a silly little giraffe I drew in my sketchbook and decided to scan and color for fun. I'm always concerned that my color sense tends to be a little too conservative so I wanted to really push the colors here and shoot for something more whimsical. Not a bad effort, I guess!

Leprechaun

2011-03-14T21:34:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's day, everyone!

Illustration Ale

2011-03-02T22:36:00.000-05:00

Last year, local brewery East End Brewing teamed up with the Toonseum to create a new beer called "Illustration Ale," and six different artists were selected to design a label for it. I was one of them, and here's what my label looked like:

Mashed Potato

2011-02-24T23:22:00.000-05:00

Here's a little something. A while back, I had an idea to do a series of illustrations based on wacky 60's dances. This was as far as I got, but you never know--I might take another stab at some in the future. What's next--the monkey? The frug? What about the boogaloo?

Banjo Pigs

2011-02-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

Here's a drawing I did for the popular Dueling Banjo Pigs blog last year. I liked the image so much I used it for a promotional postcard a little later on.

Torture

2011-02-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

I love the online illustration community, but I also love that my hometown is home to such a great local illustration group as well: the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators.

The latest edition of the PSI newsletter (which you can download at the website above) has a little feature where members write in with an answer to the question "What keeps you going while working?" I was asked to submit a little cartoon to illustrate the feature, so I drew this:

Downloadable Love

2011-02-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

Now that it's closer to the big day, here's that Valentine I drew a couple weeks ago--in downloadable form! If you are too cheap or too snowed in to get out to the card store, just print this one on cardstock, fold in the middle, and you're good to go. You can even trim the edges if you want it to have a full bleed for that more professional look. Have a great holiday, everyone!

Basketball

2011-02-08T08:25:00.000-05:00

I've got basketball on the brain lately! Here is a finished spread for a picture book dummy I'm currently writing and illustrating in my down time.

Cragmore

2011-02-04T13:51:00.002-05:00

This blog is really mainly intended to show off my illustrations, but this week I was honored to receive a few nice awards for my comics work as well.

The comics review blog "File Under Other" named my comic CRAGMORE as one of their Favorite Mini-Comics of 2010. Same with the site "Midnight Fiction," which called CRAGMORE one of their Favorite Mini-Comics of 2010 too. Finally, I got the great news that the Small Press and Alternative Comics Convention (SPACE) in Columbus Ohio awarded me their annual SPACE Prize.

I'm really proud to be recognized in this way so I just wanted to say thanks! If you'd like to read the beginning of CRAGMORE and see what all the fuss is about, I put the first 20-some pages online starting right here. Thanks!

Below is a possible cover design for the collected volume, publisher TBD

Groundhog

2011-02-01T23:37:00.001-05:00

Well, when I wake up in the morning it'll be Groundhog Day. I went to Punxsutawney one time to watch Phil climb out of his hole and doom us all to another six weeks of winter. Every year it seems like he sees his shadow, and this is how I imagine it going down:

Slam Dunk

2011-01-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

Below is another card done in my "silkscreen" style (not actually silkscreen; the effect is created digitally). I wanted to come up with something that would be visually interesting but less detailed (and therefore less time-consuming) than my normal way of working. This comes in handy when working with clients that have smaller budgets: I can give them a quality illustration even if they can only afford to pay me for the equivalent of a few hours' work. I hope you like it!

Valentine

2011-01-26T08:57:00.002-05:00

Valentine's Day is just over two weeks away! Did you order your chocolates and flowers yet?

50-foot Woman

2011-01-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

Here's another older drawing from my portfolio that I re-colored in my current style. I'm not even going to post the original because the colors were so eye-searingly bright. Anyway, enjoy:

Illustration Friday: Chicken

2011-01-17T09:05:00.002-05:00

This piece was drawn for Illustration Friday, topic: "Chicken." I wanted to make it look like a spread from a picture book, and what better story to illustrate than the old joke about a chicken crossing the road?

Season's Greetings

2010-12-27T15:47:00.004-05:00

Whew! Christmas is finally over, so this will be the last holiday-related post for a while. Before the holidays, I was commissioned to create this card for a private client. I'm happy with the way it turned out!

Santa Is Watching, Part Four

2010-12-17T08:21:00.004-05:00

And here's the last one! Due to a mix-up at the printers, I didn't receive enough copies of this card, so not everyone on my list got one. At long last, here is the super-rare fourth Christmas card:

Santa Is Watching, Part Three

2010-12-16T11:55:00.003-05:00

And here's the third one:

Santa Is Watching, Part Two

2010-12-15T15:36:00.002-05:00

This is the second of the four Christmas cards I sent last year:

Santa Is Watching, Part One

2010-12-14T21:42:00.003-05:00

I'm not sending Christmas cards this year (although I should have a little something just after New Year's), so I thought instead I'd show the series that I sent out last year. Here's the first of four:

Cowpoke

2010-12-07T16:34:00.006-05:00

On a whim, I decided to take an older image from my portfolio and update it with my current coloring style. I think the colored outlines and various textures give the illustration more warmth and a "hand-made" quality that the old method lacked, while still retaining my trademark animation-influenced cartooniness.

See for yourself. Which do you prefer?

old version:

new version:

Birthday

2010-12-06T12:43:00.004-05:00

This is a new style I'm working in: fast, bright, and really kid-friendly. It's not an actual silkscreen, but just a regular line drawing colored in Photoshop to emulate the silkscreen look.

Ka-Blam!

2010-12-01T22:50:00.003-05:00

Here's the poster I designed for the Pittsburgh-based Toonseum's annual fundraiser, "Ka-Blam." This year's theme was "The Return of Saturday Mornings," so I wanted it to look like a cel setup from a 1960s/70s-era cartoon that exists only in my mind.