Cleland Illustration » Cool Stuff

A Free Gift For All iPhone 4 Owners

Josh Cleland — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:19:33 +0000

Many of you know that the much anticipated and coveted iPhone 4 was released this week. Sadly, I cannot upgrade due to not being eligible. However, I’m hearing that the phone is amazing, except for one small flaw: you can’t touch the bottom left corner with your bare hand or you might lose signal.

So, as a free gift to you lucky iPhone 4 owners I have created a wallpaper to help remind you of this flaw. No need to thank me.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a shiny, new iPhone 5

This Post is “Highly Classified”

Josh Cleland — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:30:08 +0000

For the past year or so I’ve been working with a great client of mine, Gary Michaels, to create the artwork for a collaborative jazz CD by Saxophonist “Blue Lou” Marini (The Blues Brothers, Saturday Night Live), and pianist/composer, Misha Segal. The CD is called, The Blue Lou and Misha Project: Highly Classified. Below is an excerpt from the one-sheet:

Legendary Saturday Night Live and Blues Brothers Saxophonist, “Blue Lou” Marini and Emmy winning, LA film composer/pianist, Misha Segal have combined forces to create a very original and entertaining contemporary jazz album entitled, Highly Classified.

Wow, this was a fun project to work on! Not only did I get to create a custom marketing brand, but I got the privilege to create cartoon artwork as well! Hopefully I’ll be getting actual samples of the CD. When I do I’ll post pics.

There will be a CD release party in LA (if you’re in the neighborhood. I won’t be unfortunately.). The info is below:

Live at Spazio’s “LA’s Jazz Supper Club”
Wednesday May 26th One Night Only!
Shows @ 8:00 PM & 10:30 PM

Featuring:

Blue Lou Marini Sax, Misha Segal Piano,
Jeff Babko Keyboards, Dean Parks Guitar,
Abraham Laboriel Bass, John “JR” Robinson Drums,
Luis Conte Percussion, Gary Grant Trumpet,
Walt Fowler Trumpet, Bruce Fowler Trombone,
Dan Higgins Sax, Lon Price Sax

Promotional cartoon

You can get more info by visiting the CD promotional page here.

New Project Completed: Watch Out For the Credit Card Sharks

Josh Cleland — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:28:14 +0000

Don’t you hate when you’re taking a leisurely swim in your shirt, pants, and shoes, when suddenly you’re stalked by predatory sharks of the credit card variety? That’s the very scene I just got done illustrating and animating for Unitus Community Credit Union (a Portland, Oregon based credit union). This was a very fun project where I worked closely with Unitus’ head graphic designer, Bill Caddell, to create a quirky, yet ominous world of predatory credit card sharks. To view the animation click here. Be sure to turn the sound on (sound by Andrew Cecka).

I plan on doing a more in-depth post later on detailing the process (storyboarding, sketching, and so on). But for now, enjoy. And no, Unitus does not have a branded Coast Guard-style helicopter.

Songs for #Haiti Benefit Concert in Portland

Josh Cleland — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:22:47 +0000

I wanted to draw people’s attention to an important event happening in Portland this week (Thursday, January 21). It’s a concert called Songs for Haiti, held at the Aladdin Theater in SE Portland. The concert features some of Portland’s musicians Thomas Lauderdale (bandleader of Pink Martini), Cool Nutz, Portland Cello Project, Storm Large, Grammy-nominated pianist Janice Sroggins, and more.

I’ve had the pleasure of creating some newspaper and flash banner ads promoting the event. As you can see from the fancy graphic I designed, 100% of money raised goes to Mercy Corps. You get to have a great evening, and help out the relief effort in Haiti. How cool is that?

More info available at Aladdin Theater’s website here.

The Power of Effective Design

Josh Cleland — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:39:25 +0000

Sometimes people say to me, “Josh, you create awesome designs and fun illustrations. But why should I pay for custom work? Isn’t it just eye candy?” Here’s a simple response to that question: “See video below”. It’s an excellent example of the enormous influential power that effective “fun” design has on human behavior. Imagine the stairway traffic as a metaphor for increased business? Whether you’re a start-up company looking to grow your business, or a non-profit looking to spur social change, the importance of effective, thought-out, researched design cannot be overstated!

For some reason I just got the urge to go buy a Jetta.

Announcing the Updated ClelandDesign.com

Josh Cleland — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:34:14 +0000

In case you’ve been wondering why my site is “ClelandIllustration.com” instead of “ClelandDesign.com”, it’s because ClelandDesign.com has been taken. And whom, you may ask, has this domain? My wife. I’ve been trying to acquire it from her for several years now, and she won’t budge. I’ve offered her millions of dollars but she refuses (something about money not meaning anything because we have a joint bank account). I even made her hot chocolate last night—still won’t budge. Oh well.

Since she’s being a big meanie I’ve decided to be the nice one and update her portfolio website for her. She has really great work, and needs a good site to showcase it. The site has been updated a few weeks now, but we’ve added a blog over the weekend, so be sure to subscribe. Check it out at www.clelanddesign.com. Comment on her first blog post. Encourage her to update it regularly, because she has a lot of cool stuff in the works.

Theatre Program for Home School Students

Josh Cleland — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:21:20 +0000

Hello, everyone. I wanted to point you in the direction of a new program my dad, Donald Cleland, is creating. I should have posted this a couple weeks ago. He has created a theatre program for home school children. Actually, a better description is he’s extending his program that he established over 20 years ago. Back in 1986 he created a summer theatre camp for kids on summer break. The program is called Ya! Theatre (Young Actors Theatre), and to this day it continually sells out every summer. A brief description in his own words:

“In Ya! children will discover and nurture their creative and performing talents. They’ll find a place where they will be treated with respect, patience and dignity. It’s also a place where their imaginations can run wild amidst laughter and fun.”

Don has dedicated his life to sharing his passion for building character in our youth, and has used his love of drama as a vehicle to do so. Being an elementary and middle school drama teacher for over 30 years he is the perfect person to teach a program like this, and he has garnered respect from the education and art communities in Hillsboro and Forest Grove, Oregon. If you have children in the Washington County area I suggest you check out his website (www.yatheatreclass.com) for more info. He has programs for home school students beginning in later September, so I suggest you hurry.

My wife, Rayna, re-created the branding/logo for Don’s program, and I whipped up this site in WordPress. Enjoy!

Old-timey Photo Cards

Josh Cleland — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:17:47 +0000

My wife and I took a day trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon yesterday and stumbled upon these old photo cards. We thought they were very interesting so we picked up a few (at $2 a piece it wasn’t a bad deal). “What are you going to do with these?” the lady at the counter asked. “Don’t know,” we replied. I really like the vintage typography on the back. Perhaps I’ll use them as inspiration for a promo card someday. Who knows. If anyone has any background on what these cards are for, let me know.

The cards appear to be promotions for photograpy studios from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum

Josh Cleland — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:15:00 +0000

Recently my wife and I took a really fun vacation to California. We went to to my cousin’s graduation in San Luis Obispo, then made our way to Disneyland for a few days, and on up through the wine country and Redwoods. It was great. One of the highlights for both my wife and me was a quick, unexpected stop to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. If you ever find yourself driving through Santa Rosa and the wine country I highly recommend stopping here for a couple of hours (regrettably, we only had one hour to spend). One of my favorite pieces in this museum is a wall filled with thousands of Schulz’s strips. Below is the wall pictured from afar. The wall was designed by artist, Yoshiteru Otani. Luckily the piece is displayed in the “camera okay” section of the museum. Other highlights include multiple original sketches and strips inked by Sparky himself, as well as memorabilia from his life, and a nearly-exact replica of his studio (which, I believe, features his actual drawing table). You can find more information at the museum’s website: www.schulzmuseum.org.

Get Your May Desktop Calendar

Josh Cleland — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Yesterday, April 30th, I was featured in Smashing Magazine (along with many other talented illustrators/designers). Each month they hold an open call to submit desktop wallpaper calendars. At the last minute I thought I’d submit one for May. And I made it in!

Click here to visit Smashing Magazine’s website where you can download one of these great desktop wallpapers yourself. My treat.