Morgan Schweitzer ~ Art and Illustration

10/8/11 ~ Bunraku

morgan — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Directed by the talented Guilherme Marcondes, Hornet made this great title sequence for the new movie, Bunraku. I designed all the backgrounds, buildings and vehicles. Glad I can finally share this. It was over a year ago that I worked on this project.

Below is a sample of some of my background designs as flat images.

Check out the movie trailer and a couple more backgrounds after the jump…

10/8/11 ~ Rescue Bots for Transistor Studios

morgan — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Ever wonder who makes those toy commercials that air during Saturday morning cartoons? Turns out it’s me! I designed the characters for this Hasbro Transformers ad, and Transistor Studios did the rest.

Chase character concept

Some orthographic designs for the rest of the characters after the jump…

9/6/2011 ~ Aunt Martha

morgan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:11:00 +0000

Aunt Martha just released a new album of recordings from Norway, ME. As a thank-you to all their fans they’re giving away the album for free! Get your copy at auntmarthaband.com. In other exciting Aunt Martha news, they’re performing at Mercury Lounge next week on September 14th. Get your Mercury Lounge tickets at mercuryloungenyc.com. You won’t be disappointed.

Norway, ME cover art ~ Graphite on Bristol and digital

9/6/2011 ~ Uncle Dave turns 70

morgan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:46:00 +0000

So I made a little portrait of him.

Digital

8/30/11 ~ TimeOut Chicago

morgan — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Many thanks to art director, Stephanie Gladney, for entrusting me with a full spread in TimeOut Chicago this week for their Casinos issue. Together we hatched the plan of illustrating a craps table casino scene from above, but repurposing the craps board to hold all the information about local casinos. For me this was a challenging exercise in forshortening. There is perhaps no more difficult angle to draw a person than from directly above, so I completed this whole illustration digitally to save time, because of a quick deadline and a crunched schedule, and also to give myself a bit of a safety net with the figures themselves. I always have fun with illustrated type, the neon header turned out a bit better than I expected.

I added a little extra to the scene so TimeOut would have a little freedom with cropping, so they could make sure they included all the type. Below is my uncropped version, and beneath that is the spread as it printed (more process work after the jump).

Full uncropped version ~ Digital

Print version (cropped)

Digital line drawing

Photoshop color flats

Issue Cover

Magazine spread

8/4/11 ~ Businessweek

morgan — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Chandra Illick, the art director of Businessweek Magazine called me to illustrate an article about businesses that are cropping up to capitalize on the Rapture as a result of the debt ceiling crisis. This was the first time an art director has asked me to illustrate a specific idea that was already decided. Luckily, it was an exciting one to illustrate! I haven’t done likenesses in a little while, so this was a nice refresher (from left to right: Mitch McConnell, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and John Boehner). You can read the article online on the Businessweek website.

Is the debt ceiling crisis resurrecting the Apocalypse Industry? ~ Ink on Bristol and digital
More after the jump…

some little Rapture spots for the spread of the article: a man being saved, a man being damned, and a shopper stocking up on Rapture merchandise

19″x24″ ~ Ink on Bristol

Composite drawing ~ Ink on Bristol

in print

8/3/11 ~ 914INC. Magazine

morgan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Art director Halina Sabath from another Westchester magazine, 914INC., asked me to illustrate an article discussing the importance of an MBA in the world of business. The article considers that many people can reach the same levels of success without master’s degrees.

Ink and charcoal on Bristol and digital

Process work after the jump…

16″x11″ ~ Ink and charcoal on Bristol

8/2/11 ~ Westchester Magazine: Revolutionary War Sites to Visit

morgan — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:17:00 +0000

This illustration was for Westchester Magazine, for an article about local revolutionary war sites to visit in July. It’s my humble (and silly) homage to the great Emanuel Leutze‘s painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware (below after the jump). Many thanks to art director, Aiko Masazumi for the fun job!

Ink on Bristol and digital

process work after the jump…

Concept sketches (digital)

14″x20″ ~ Ink on Bristol

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze 1851.

7/2/11 ~ Maxim Magazine: Zombies

morgan — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:02:00 +0000

In a Zombie apocalypse why don’t the zombies eat each other? ~ Ink on Bristol and Digital

Some small spots after the jump…

Spots ~ Ink on Bristol and digital

My favorite is the second one of the gnome peeing. That spot illustrates the question “Why are the worlds oceans different colors?”

6/16/11 ~ New Sketchbook Pages

morgan — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Take a look at my 2011 Sketchbook for some recent additions.