It's Mardi Gras, Y'all!

Check out my first Mardi Gras cover and inside spread of the year that art director Tom Carlson assigned me for The Riverfront Times out of St. Louis. The inside spread is modeled on a board game like "Mystery Date" or "Candyland". This comes complete with flashing lady parts and hurricane drink vomit. What could go wrong?

A Portfolio Teaser for 2015

Right on schedule I'd planned on making some video portfolio teasers, so here's my first one for my work in children's publishing. I'm no Marty Scorcese, but I think it's a cute little teaser. Enjoy!

40 x 400 Show at The Flower Pepper Gallery in Pasadena

I'm one of the artists in this show that opens this weekend in Pasadena's Old Town at the Flower Pepper Gallery. All of the art looks incredible. Hope you can make it if you're in the Los Angeles area!

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!!

Halloween Scaries of 2014 in an Animated Gif!

Since I'm working on samples of my work in motion I thought it would be the perfect time to create an animated gif for Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday and this year we've had some news items that only add to our list of things to be afraid of, so I worked one of those items into my gif. See if you can find the new reference.

Happy Halloween, y'all!

"Robots Taking Our Jobs" Illustration

Hooray! I completed my illustration about the threat of robots taking all our jobs away. I tried to get a subtle "WPA" quality coming through on the finish, although it's just enough of it that I hope it makes sense. Adding smokestacks and gears to any background make it feel industrial and WPA-like, I guess.

Resource Links and Info For Building Apps

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the workshop about building apps from an Illustrator's POV. Here are some reference links that I think you'll find very useful when planning an app if you don't have a coder helping you.


Quick References for Creating an App

1. Be sure to create your work in RGB. Anything made for a screen is in this palette and you would use pixels to describe the size of anything you create. If you’re using a plugin like Kwik (from Kwiksher) then they already have the formats and dpi ready for you.

2. Most of the work you will make will be in a series of layered psd’s in photoshop or as a png with a transparent background. You can use jpg’s, but png’s don’t have the kind of compression that a jpg has and the quality is so much higher with a png because it is lossless compression.

3. To produce an app that you will want to upload to the app marketplace you’ll need to have an App Development license. It costs $99 for 1 year. https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/

4. Here is the link for the company Kwiksher that has the software downloads for Kwik, Kutt and Kaboom. The free version allows you up to 4 pages/screens of your app and is a good way to just learn how to use the software. http://kwiksher.com

5. For the Publishing Software Kwiksher recommends Corona. http://coronalabs.com

6. If you choose to learn “X Code”, you can download the software and tools from here for free: https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

7. Here is a great step-by-step tutorial for using Kwik to create an app from complete scrap. http://www.raywenderlich.com/19415/how-to-make-an-interactive-ebook-without-any-code

8. Here is an article about building apps without having to learn code from USA today that has links to other software companies that provide different services than Kwiksher. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/products/2011-08-16-apps-how-to-make_n.htm

9. Will Terry has a great online course for learning Kwik to create story apps with interactivity. http://schoolofvisualstorytelling.bigcartel.com/product/learn-kwiksher-class-lite

10. The channel for Kwiksher offers some free tutorials for learning Kwik and some of the other software that Kwiksher produces to design and create apps. https://www.youtube.com/user/kwiksher

11. This link has some standard downloadable templates for creating apps that are in photoshop PSD formats. http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/iphone-and-ipad-design-templates-and-how-to-use-them--mobile-3418

Mozart Biography Series for National Geographic Publishing

While I'm waiting for the final round of approvals on these, here are all the spot illustrations I turned in for the job series about Mozart. Kathryn Robbins is the art director. Hope I get to work with her again.

Chico News & Review Valentines Cover

I did a few illustrations for Valentine's Day last month and this is one complete layout I received back from one of those clients. The art director was very specific about the couples and all the types of trees, even the birds and the bees reference. It was a lot to get in there but I think it came out ok.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, ...It's SuperJew!

I just completed a large spot cover piece about the Judaic origins of the comic book superhero, Superman.

A Halloween Message from Joe Rocco at Secret Sauce Studio

And now a word from the Halloween Committee...

SSS Halloween7 from Joe Rocco on Vimeo.

Squirrels On The Bus! Going "Back-to-School" with Some Fun Critters

Uploaded with secretsaucestudio.com/ WAHOOOOOOO!!! I finally got my new Semi-Fall/ Back-to-School" mailer image completed and produced, so it's circulating across this great big land of ours as we speak. E-blasts are also a comin'! This is basically going to a lot of Children's book publishers and magazines...also some newspapers and Entertainment publications. I like to imagine that the girl student in the front of the bus has a large acorn inside her lunchbox. Hope you all like the piece.

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.

I just completed these spots illustrations for Albert Amigo at Scholastic Scope Online. The deadline was a bit tight, but I'd jump through hoops to work for Scholastic any time. The spots were there to highlight the subjects of Vocabulary, Grammar, Close-Reading and Differentiation.

The Aging Weather Satellite (New York Newsday)

Uploaded with secretsaucestudio.com/ I did a super rush illustration spot for Alleen Barber at New York Newsday today. I get a rush out of deadlines this tight sometimes. I got the job notice late yesterday and did the sketch early this morning, and the finish had to be in by 2pm to align with the East Coast time zone. It came out pretty well, considering I had about 3 hours to do the finished work, but it's amazing how you can edit yourself to meet a deadline. This piece was about how aging weather satellites are not being repaired or replaced because of an ailing infrastructure budget. The solution just came to me in a couple of minutes. Super fun to do.

The Monsters of Doctor Who (Final Color Piece)

Uploaded with secretsaucestudio.com If you're a Doctor Who fan, you'll know who all these critters are right off the bat. The more I worked on this the more I wanted to do like really classic Doctor Who Monsters. The piece would have grown 100 times it's size. Anyway, hope you all think this came out ok. I had a blast illustrating them. (Listening to "The Nerdist" Podcast in the background for hours. My latest guilty pleasure.)

The Monsters of Doctor Who (Rough Sketch Version)

Uploaded with secretsaucestudio.com Here is my very rough sketch for the illustration about some of the "Monsters of Doctor Who". In the color finished version, I'll really tinker with the details, but at least I know where everything is going now for placement and I can get right into the finish next. These critters are so much fun to draw that I could have done many pages of them for days and days. Doctor Who has hundreds of monsters to choose from after such a long and continued run. I need to take a break for some "fish fingers and custard". I'll be sure to post the finish as soon as I can.

Kathy Griffin "F-Bomb" Spot Illustration Finish

Uploaded with secretsaucestudio.com Here's my follow-up to the rough sketch I showed the other day for this spot illustration about Kathy Griffin. It is a positive piece, so the likeness is a little more idealized, but still hopefully looks like her as she drops her classic "F-Bomb". I tried out the "Torn Edges" filter in Photoshop to make the background feel a little more organic and artful. This whole piece was so much fun to do.

Kathy Griffin and The "F-Bomb" (Rough Sketch State)

I rarely get a caricature assignment that is of a person who I would really sink my teeth into, but Kathy Griffin is definitely up there as high on my list to draw. This is just the rough sketch that I send to clients. Had to stop on it to finish some bread and butter assignments, but I'll fix some issues tonight and start the finish, which I'll post in a day or 2. I may distort her face a little more and correct some of the arm issues, but I think it's starting to look ok. It could also use a little more stratosphere and maybe some curvature of the Earth as the bomb is dropping. I want to feel a little more gravity in the vignette.