the TABLE pt. II

This is the group of illustrations that appeared as decals on the Table, in panel layout form. (The grey bits you see are placement for hinges, shelves, and other hardware to not intrude upon.) Panels were left with a generous amount of white space, as the original concept was that kids should be able to interact with the artwork via dry-erase. It was intended that the artwork should also be unified by a family of characters, which after a lot of ideas, were whittled down to seven, and later given names. (Otto, Pip, Blot, Daisy, Franklin, Slugadora, and Super Bear. Can you guess who is who? You will have to wait until I post the booklet, ha!) Since the decals are made by a laser cutting vinyl, all the negative space has to be picked out by hand. Yes, by hand. With the 27 or so art files we submitted, that is A LOT of picking. Thank you Amanda at Sign-It, you are the best.

(Does anyone remember Clark from the park in the dark? My less-night-terrors-inducing tribute....)

The illustration and character development took a really nice journey and landed in a place that was unexpected and kind of lovely. Something that started from a creepy-cool point of inspiration evolved into something a bit sweet and very familial. They turned out to be real creatures we know, and real things they say, and stuff they do. I became obsessed with this group of seven, and let them whisper in my ear even late into the night when I should have been sleeping. It is fair to say many details of this project took on lives of their own. After the drawings were complete, then words came to me, and then amazingly appeared assembled in booklet form (...thank you Steve and Abbey and the once-sharp needle on grandma's sewing machine.) More to come.