Starbucks training manual

I just finished doing a series of 35 or so spot illustrations for Starbucks. They'll be part of a new barista training manual due out later this year. I was provided with reference snapshots of each of the objects, which I used for color sampling, etc. I was asked at one point whether I was using Photoshop filters to achieve the paint effects (I wasn't). The illustrations were authored in Corel Painter X using the charcoal and blender tools on a rough french watercolor paper surface. 

On a few of the images I patched photo elements into the drawings and used a grainy blender to 'painterize' and marry the patch to the drawing. On the warming oven illustration below, for instance, the control panel was originally a photo element that was added and blended to match the rest of the drawing. 

Ella website

In 2005 I collaborated with Smashing Ideas to produce a companion site for the Ella books. To visit the site, click here.

I created original artwork for the site environments and some of the non-animated props. Animated objects were re-drawn in Flash by studio animators Laura Tulio (intro sequence), Jason Medisky (Ella) and Doug Gordon (props, rollovers). I was concerned at first that the charcoal renderings wouldn't mesh well with the flatter vector artwork, but in the end it felt like everything hung together pretty well. A huge shout-out to Smashing Ideas and Steve Jackson for investing so much time and energy to the site!

Ella is currently in development for television by The Cookie Jar Group. Which is very cool, but since a lot of properties are developed but never actually make it to the screen Carmela and I are keeping our optimism on the cautious side. We've been encouraged by the episode synopses, which seem very clever and cute, and we've been told we should see concept artwork soon!