2 New Illustrations for Scholastic

I've been busy for the past few weeks on several projects and will write more about them as I get some actual free time. But, in the meantime, here are 2 illustrations I did for Albert Amigo at Scholastic. They initially wanted the boy to be cracking his knuckles and I tried about 6 different sketches and variations. Then they wanted a more frantic expression and attitude. In the end they asked for 2 of my sketches to be used in full color. Here's how they came out.

Seasons Greetings from Joe Rocco at Secret Sauce Studio

Cheers Everyone! As you can see my Santa brings his own "Holiday Spirits".

Sacagawea Biography Series for National Geographic Kids Publishing

I just completed this series for Nat Geo before the holidays. There might be a second pass on them for editorial reasons but this is most likely the final set they will use to print from. It was fun learning about Sacagawea and although I knew the basics about her as a historical figure I have really gained an appreciation for her through working on this project. Hope I get more from Nat Geo on this. FUN FUN!!

Play Town Video Commercial (Check out my work in this!)

Hey there you guys! I just saw this promotional video that came out from the people at SK Planet and it showcases the work I did on their new App "Play Town". It was my pleasure to work on this app and I loved every second of it. I think it came out pretty cute. Hope you do too.

Big City in the Enchanted Forest Illustration

Uploaded with Secretsaucestudio It's time for more Summer Promotion. I'll be sending out a ton of E-blasts to promote this illustration and a follow-up postcard mailer to thousands of art and creative directors. It was a ton of fun to do. I kept thinking about making the forest and all the critters in the forest resemble a type of "Enchanted Brooklyn". I hope it's a hit with people and I get in return assignments that are similar to this in tone. The bicycle that the gator is riding is what my new folding bike looks like, by the way. WAHOO!!!!
Uploaded with SecretSauceStudio

Solar System Game/Rough Sketch for National Geographic Kids (The First Thing I Do)

Uploaded with SecretSauceStudio I was just assigned this new Funstuff Page to illustrate for Nat Geo Kids again. This time it's a game about a trip through the solar system. So, I thought it might be interesting to show the process I go through to get to my finished work. This is a good example of the type of sketch I turn in to a client right off the bat. Now, I'm waiting for not only the art director to respond, but the sketch has to be circulated and scrutinized by an editorial team for comments to get my second pass before I would ever go to a color stage. I'm absolutely certain that they will have me tweak a bunch of things on this to make it clear as a game, plus there are design elements that clear things up even more. Once I am in the color phase it really comes to life...but that's another post. Coming soon!

Aunt Bertha to The Rescue! (For Nat Geo Kids!)

Aunt Bertha has been resurrected! Yes, my old character is back and driving across the country in a series of games and puzzles for National Geographic Kids and their book division. I missed ole' Bertie. The second image is a mock-up of the cover, but it's gonna have the finished illustration streaking across that cover. A Big Thanks to art director Eva Absher for making the executive decision to use me on this.

I promised to post this new postcard mailer image, so here's how it came out. Nice and colorful. Now, I just have to get this image out to a billion people and spread the word. BOO!!!!!

Halloween Mailer Rough Sketch Before Finish

I always enjoy seeing people's rough sketches before the final art is done, so maybe some of you will be interested in seeing this. I'm currently halfway through this color finish, which I'll post by the end of the week, but I thought I'd blog about the process. My initial concept was of a Drive-in Movie theatre with nothing but monsters watching the scary movie, which was "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers", but then I worried that since this is for a normal-sized postcard, the image was too complex to be appreciated unless it was a larger size and that's too costly for my current budget. So, I did this compartmental layout to showcase images of Halloween. The finish is coming along great so far and I hope it really grabs the people I'm sending it to in this mass mailer and e-blast. Halloween is just a fun holiday and it's probably one of the most effective holidays to take advantage of in my business. Most people think that Christmas is a good time to promote, but I think that right after Thanksgiving art directors, editors, designers, and creative directors are all too distracted as they get ready for their Christmas/Winter break to care about a postcard coming at them and begging for their attention.

Come back by the end of the week and I will have a lush color finish to showcase. It'll be interesting to see them side-by-side and compare how much may have changed.