There once was a boy who ate cheese,
He believed it would protect him from bees,
Then one day he got stung
In the middle of the tongue,
And punted that cheese in the breeze.
– Marshall Birkey
Kick Cheese – a Limerick
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Category Archives: Cartoon Illustration
Bean Counter
Randal did the cartoon sketch line drawing of a proverbial “bean counter” for an Ameritech Mobile Communications piece back in the 1980′s. Randal can’t remember what the reason was for having his ink spilling onto the floor!
Bean Counter
Watercolor Clown Icon
Randal did this watercolor illustration as a part of the Memphis Arts Council Map project. This is a clown hand puppet that was used as an icon to designate comedy clubs and venues on the Memphis Arts Map. It was done in Fractal Painter software on a Mac, using a Wacom stylus and tablet.
Watercolor Clown Puppet Icon
Memphis Arts Council Map
Randal Birkey was contracted by the Memphis Arts Council in the 1980’s to create a fun map for use in a promotional poster. The map was intended to highlight a number of locations in the city where arts related activities and events were being promoted. Randal worked from maps, drawings and aerial photo references of the city to create this “rounded earth” forced perspective view. In each location, one single element was selected and exaggerated to communicate the basic art events: music, dance, theater, etc.
Randal used a cutting edge software product at the time called Fractal Painter, running on a Macintosh computer with a Wacom tablet. This image was produced entirely digitally with nothing scanned or hand drawn on traditional paper surfaces. The final image file was delivered to the customer via email, and the printer went directly to CMYK film separations and printing plates from the file. It was reproduced in 4-color offset printing as a fold out poster.
Memphis Arts Council - Aerial Perspective Map
Ameritech Cellular Plan Options
This cartoon style illustration was done for Ameritech Mobile Communications during the 1980′s. It was used in printed brochures that explained the various options and plans available back then for “cellular” communications. The target audience was business and commercial use. Notice how big the cell phones were back then and the clunky design compared to today. Even the one guys glasses are an “80′s” giveaway! It’s pretty funny how things change and even a cartoon can look outdated!
Cartoon illustration of 2 men viewing cellular plan options
Cartoon Car
Randal sketched this cartoon car in his sketchbook during an airplane ride from Chicago to Denver. It was done analog… pencil on sketchbook paper… then scanned and imported on a Mac and saved with Adobe Photoshop.
Interestingly, a young man named Ani recently contacted him from California and asked if he could use this sketch on the website he is building. He said, “Yes!”
Belhaven College
Aerial Map Illustration
Based upon a web search and other aerial map samples posted online, Belhaven College contacted Randal Birkey to create a custom map featuring their various campus locations in: Memphis, Tennessee, Orlando, Florida, Houston, Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi. To help give the map a sense of orientation and scale, stylized skylines of Seattle, Washington, Chicago, Illinois and New York City were placed in the background.
This illustration was done on a Mac using Painter and Adobe Photoshop software, and a Wacom Tablet. The final digital file was delivered via email to the customer.
Belhaven College - Aerial Perspective Map
It’s really very basic
A Parable
A long time ago, when wanting meant having, the world of business knew prosperity. Everyone was busy-buying, selling, trading. The work never stopped and many people reaped great rewards.
Young and old. Women and men. Success swept through their workplaces. They developed new habits and expectations. This was an enchanted world and everyone believed the prosperity would last forever.
Then the unthinkable happened.
As if a clock had struck midnight, the decade of excesses ended. Reality arrived and the prosperity vanished. The people looked around in shock and amazement.
They saw what was left. They longed for what was gone. And each of them–slowly, one by one–began to understand that their success had caused them to lose sight of the most fundamental of human principles.
The people began the challenging process of forming new beliefs. these lead to new values (which they discovered, were not new at all but as old as humankind itself). And these values led to new behaviors. Throughout the world, searching conversations started to take place.
“if you’re my customer,” someone said, “I should first ask you what you want and then work as hard as I can to meet your needs.”
Another person said, “If I tell you that I’m going to do something, then you can trust completely that I will do it–just as I’ve promised.”
“It usually takes just as long,” Observed another, “to plan, design and deliver a faulty product as it does a quality product. Why not find it inside ourselves,” she asked, “to make our work the very best it can be?”
And they came to a tranforming realization. They discovered that the way to make all of this become reality was through one powerful process.
Communication.
Straight and clear, honest-to-goodness communication. The kind that leads to the only thing that matters in business–performance.
They learned this kind of communication comes through listening to customers and colleagues. It comes by first exploring how a new idea might work before listing all the reasons it can’t. And it comes through realizing that no one person has all the answers–ever.
The world of business began to thrive again. Only this time it wasn’t prosperous conditions that made it happen–it was a more powerful force. Communication.
There was something very real about it. Sound. Substantial. And human. The products they made were better products. The decisions they made were better decisions. And the money they made was good money–real profits that were worth something and that had a solid, long-term foundation beneath them.
And so they continued to communicate. Because it worked.
Adapted and updated from ComCorp, Inc. brochure called “It’s really very basic” © 1992 – Illustrations by Randal Birkey
Branch Banking Conference
Randal also enjoys doing cartoon style illustrations that introduce a bit of humor, fun or whimsy into what would otherwise be somewhat boring and dry content or communication. Here is a banker on a road to greater profits helping to illustrate a banking conference entitled “Pathways to Profitability.”
Banker on Road to Greater Profits
This illustration was created by Randal in Fractal Painter software on an Apple Macintosh using a Wacom Tablet.
Map Icon
Map Icon Illustration - Puppet
CLIENT
Archer Malmo, Inc.
Memphis, Tennesee
OBJECTIVE
The agency, Archer Malmo required some small “fun” cartoon images to use as spots relating to the poster size map illustration for the Memphis Arts Council (See Map Illustration section).
SOLUTION
Randal Birkey created several cartoon images to stand alone and separate from the illustrated map. These were used to highlight other areas of copy and information on the fold out map poster.
Contact BIRKEY.COM for all your digital icons and illustration needs.