Budget Business Card Design: Two Toned Automobile

The sporty retro look of this double-sided retro business card design was inspired by the two tone automobiles of the Mid-century era, such as: the Clipper, the Fairlane, the Roadmaster, and the Metropolitan et al. Since you only buy the electronic file one time, and can have as many or as few printed as you need, it’s an economical choice, too. It’s a little something I like to call affordable elegance. You can see more details here.

Automobile themed "budget" business card.

Bowling Themed Business Card Design

I've recently started a line of "budget" business card designs for my Etsy shop, and this is the first one. This striking double-sided retro business card design was inspired by the bowling alley culture of Mid-century America. It's an eye-catching design at an affordable price, and is perfect for the retro loving small business owner, or even as just a profile card. Visit here for details.

Now available in the Vintage 66 shop on Etsy.

The Birthday Chicken

My dad had a birthday last week and I made this card for him. I didn't have any particular bird in mind, just a nondescript blue bird with red tail-feathers in a party hat. Well, when Dad saw it, he decided it should be a chicken, and I'm just fine with that. One of my favorite children's books is The Birthday Bird, by Dr. Seuss, which Dad read to me no less than a million times, even when it wasn't my birthday. So now I proudly present The Birthday Chicken. This one was done in ink and markers for those of you keeping score at home. Thanks for stopping by.

-Cheers!

Inking Practice

This is just a couple of doodles I did while practicing my inking. I think I did these a while back in preparation for a project that fell through. I had forgotten about it until I stumbled across it tonight while searching through one of my infamous piles for something else. Oh, if you're wondering, I used a brush pen on tracing paper.
Cheers!

Parking Lot Characters: The Magnificent Beard

The Parking Lot Characters Series is a collection of semi-finished drawings of people I observe while sketching and drinking coffee in a local parking lot, which is shared by super market, a liquor store, a big corporate coffee shop and a handful of other small businesses. I then take the rough sketches back to the studio and rework them in ink and color before posting them here.

Howdy Kids! Earlier this afternoon I was out getting coffee and running some errands, which means that I was out in my car sketching and drinking my coffee (so that I wouldn't have to listen to Starbucks' crappy music selection). If you're a people-watcher like me, a busy parking lot can be a treasure trove of interesting characters and assorted goof-balls. Today's lucky winner is this gentleman  who was sporting a truly magnificent beard. Incidentally, the real background was  more a suburban setting, but this is what came out of my pencil, so it looks like he's strolling around downtown, when he was actually in more of a strip-mall type place.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!

This gent was sporting a truly magnificent beard.

Lighthouse Drawing

This is just a quick little sketch-drawing of a non-existent light house. I didn't do it consciously, but I think it was inspired by one of my favorite lighthouses on the Oregon coast, at Yaquina Bay in Newport.

Cheers!

Sketch Dump!

After my last post, I feel like I'm getting too uptight, I mean they are sketches after all, and they do call them that for a reason. Anyway, I haven't done this in a while, but I was going through one of my newsprint sketch pads and found some colored pencil doodles and such that I'm happy with, so here they are for your consideration. Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers!
~Robert

Expressions: Perplexed & Grouchy

Laughing Guy

The Mr. & The Mrs. Getting Ready to Go Out

 

Mr. Hoity-Toity

Landmark Lodge Motel Sign

Vintage Radio

Another Vintage Radio

Vintage Clock

Cartoon Guy Heads!

These sets of cartoon heads are not finished drawings, but what I would call "cleaned up sketches". One of the reasons I don't put up raw sketches all that often is that they get so messy that a lot of them don't translate very well after they've been scanned, so they don't look too good on screen. As a workaround I have gone over some sketches with a brush pen on tracing paper. This way they retain much of their original spontaneity yet still look decent on screen. I just have a couple of offerings today, Guy Heads 1 and Guy Heads 2—now how's that for some imaginative titles? I've also got a third set called Nakey Gals if you're interested, but that one will have to go somewhere else where I can better control who can see it, in other words so that nobody inadvertently stumbles upon some cartoon nipples while at work (maybe I'll add a link to that later).

Thanks for stopping by.
-Cheers!