Mdith Design & Illustration

This is my first illustration for The UB Post, University of Baltimore’s student newspaper. Click the image for the full piece – it will run the entire length of a page and it’s pretty tall. It will accompany a piece about malfunctioning elevators on campus. The man in the middle is UB’s President, Robert Bogolmony – the production manager asked me to include him, since he too was stuck in an elevator last year!

Just last week, I joined the staff as a page designer and I will be contributing illustrations as well, plus whatever else I can take on. It’s funny to start working on the paper before I’ve even started classes, but I’m happy! I sort of missed working on the newspaper over the summer, so I’m looking forward to working on the UB Post!

The process was interesting to me – I started pencils in Sketchbook Pro as usual. However, instead of my usual method of inking in Sketchbook Pro as well, I did most of the inking in Illustrator with the Brush tool. Then I used Live Paint to add the basic colors. (I was inspired to try this after reading about Rene Engström’s process. She’s the creator of one of my favorite webcomics, Anders Loves Maria) Then I added texture, highlights and shadow in Photoshop, using some of the brushes created by my former instructor, David Zobel. It was fun! And important, since I’m still trying to figure out the best way to work completely digitally and maintain my style at the same time.

p.s. That guy with the laptop? May or may not be based on a certain comics-creating web-developing guy I know, who is not actually a UB student, but is pretty awesome all the same.

This is a flyer I created for the Baltimore branch of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. I went to my first session in August and it was a lot of fun – I even won a Moleskine notebook! (I must post the winning drawing soon.) An explanation from Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore’s website :

Dr. Sketchy’s is a chain of cabaret life-drawing sessions that circles the globe from Hollywood to New Zealand. Started by Molly Crabapple in 2005, Dr. Sketchy’s is based on Molly’s harebrained dream of a “decadent” art class with fair pay and respect for the models and boozy fun for all.

So if you like drawing, drinking and sexy ladies in fun outfits, check it out! See the flyer for details (No skeeves, please!)

This piece was penciled in Sketchbook Pro, inked in Illustrator, and colored in Photoshop…an interesting hybrid. It’s a bit of a departure from my “normal” process – I’m experimenting with different methods of working digitally. I have to give a shout-out to my former instructor at CCBC, David Zobel. He created the Photoshop brushes that I used to give this piece an appropriately old-timey, worn texture.

The people at NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland really liked my design for the Choice Avengers postcard, so they asked me to adapt it for a tee shirt. The information about the event was not necessary, so some tweaking was needed to make it more suitable for a shirt. I can’t wait to see how it comes out!

This illustration and design was created for a postcard promoting NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland Fund‘s upcoming variety show. (One of my friends is an intern for NPCMD and referred them to me.) The event is superhero-themed and the client asked me to design the card accordingly.

Due to print budget constraints, I was asked to work with only two spot colors. I chose gold and red because they are part of Maryland’s flag and recall the bright primary colors of old superhero comics. The limited amount of color proved to be an interesting challenge, but I must have succeeded because at first the client didn’t believe that it was only two colors! Definitely a fun project.