I do occasional commissioned work for clients who want a comic or illustration for a very specific person or group. My process for creating commissioned comics, logos, and illustrations usually starts with a conversation in person or over the phone to brainstorm and collect information about the subject at hand. The end result can take a number of different forms – original art, prints, and/or a digital file.
Logo for Smoke Specs literary press, 2018.
Above: In 2008, the nonprofit organization Arts Corps asked me to draw the above invitation for Festa, Arts Corps’ annual fundraising event. The comic strip aspect was my suggestion – the only directions given to me were to include the information that appears in the captions and word balloons.
Above is my comic-strip interpretation of a talk by novelist Geraldine Brooks, commissioned by Seattle Arts & Lectures in 2016. This nonprofit organization occasionally hires me to attend one of their events and record my impressions in graphic form. Below is another example, of SAL’s Helen Macdonald lecture in 2017.
Above: “Ezzie and Pru,” commissioned by Wendy and Patrick Nazarro in 2015. Wendy and Patrick won a commissioned comic from me in 2015 via Seattle Arts & Lectures’ annual fundraising auction. We brainstormed over coffee and came up with the above concept: their two cats discussing their owners’ art collection. All of the examples in the comic are based on photos I took in the Nazarro’s home.
Above: in 2006, Buster Benson, the proprietor of Seattle’s McLeod Residence bar and gallery, commissioned the above drawings for an imaginary astrological system on McLeod’s website. Patrons of the bar signed up for year-long memberships and were assigned one of the 12 categories above (“sensual golden octopus,” “creative blue fox,” etc.) for the site’s social media feature.
Above: the logo for “Love is Queer,” the title of an album by Seattle band The Glasses.
Above: a (partial) view of a comics commissioned by Gary Glant in honor of his son Adam’s 30th birthday.
Greg Stump 