Albert Einstein Biography Series for National Geographic Publishing

This morning I turned in part of my illustrated series on a Biography about Albert Einstein for National Geographic Kids Publishing. Here are 4 samples from the small series. I really love doing illustrations for kids publishing and National Geographic is a dream client to have. Hope you all enjoy them!

Star Trek Sci-Fi Themed Series of Illustrations

I just finished a rough sketch for one of the pieces in my sic-fi series. This one's obviously about the original Star Trek and it follows the piece I did on Doctor Who. Blade Runner is the next in this series, but I have to do the finished color work on this one yet after I get all the kinks out in this rough. The next post will probably to showcase the finished piece for this.

Logo Designed for "Three Danes Baking Company" in Austin, Texas!

I'm in the final stages of completing a logo for a small bakery in Austin that is just starting up called "Three Danes Baking Company" and I'm really excited by the way they're coming out. Here are some examples of the logo in it's home stretch. There will be more on this as it comes to completion and a follow-up when the logo is used in all it's various ways for this company. Coming up with characters that felt a little vintage and cartoonish in that early 1960's mid-century approach was right up my alley and I couldn't more proud of the way these ladies turned out. The client is very happy with them and they were such a pleasure to work for. I cannot express what a dream client they are and I hope the Bakery is a huge success so I can help on other design projects for them in the future.

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.)