All posts in Illustration

07Jun

Recent commission for the biodiversity alliance.

In Illustration by Leslie Dean Brown / June 7, 2016 / Comments are closed

Here is a recent series of illustrations commissioned by the biodiversity alliance. The four illustrated dragons depicted here represent “overpopulation”, “non-sustainability”, “global warming” & “the fragmented nature of conservation movement”.

30Mar

Commission for Sea Shepherd — krill campaign

In Illustration by Leslie Dean Brown / March 30, 2016 / Comments are closed

Here are a couple of thumbnail sketches for my Sea Shepherd krill campaign commission. We decided to go with the penguin protest, mainly because I thought it shows a more direct message (apart from that it is also slightly easier to draw).

I have attached my progress. I started illustrating the background first and have already rendered that in colour, overlaying it with some textures from my own photographs. I have not previously experimented with the application of textures and I am pleased at the result. I think the ice loogs quite realistic while still having a posterised cartoon-like effect.

31Dec

Hammerhead sharks and nightclubs don’t mix.

I started an online petition yesterday to prevent the atlantis “we don’t deserve capital letters” lounge bar in Adelaide from putting two hammerhead sharks into a small 3m tank in their nightclub. I (and several thousand other people) think this is a very silly idea because not only are hammerhead sharks an endangered species, well, I’m sure that they won’t be pleased with all those flashing lights and loud bass music. Once the petition reached about 800 signatures, I decided it was worth doing a quick illustration to boost it just that much more.

I’m pleased to report that the petition is fast gathering momentum and now has some 1600+ signatures in a little over 24 hours! In fact, this petition, and the other one that was started a week earlier on change.org has just crashed their server. Their rating on their facebook page went down to 1.9 stars practically overnight. Yippie there is some justice in the world after all…

30Dec

Pro bono charity illustrations until 31/01/2016.

Just a quick blog update as I’d like to get this message out to the world. I’ve got a bit of spare time on my hands all throughout January 2016 so I am offering pro bono illustrations for most charity environmental organisations! What does “pro bono” mean? What it means is that I charge very little for my time and essentially don’t make any profit. Something around $10/hour. However, if it’s a cause that I care strongly about, I’ll do it completely for free. I’m mainly interested in helping animal welfare and environmental conservation.  You can submit your requests here.

Why? This a great way for me to help the planet but it also gives me some kind of incentive to actually draw something for a purpose. Professional illustrations are a fantastic way to increase your campaign’s exposure, raise awareness and make a bigger overall impact! The good news is that it doesn’t have to bean Australian charity, it can be based anywhere in the world.

19Sep

Storyboard for 30 sec TV commercial

Here’s a few hand-rendered sketches I did for an Aeroflot television advertisement. This was done for the subject art direction and branding for my graphic design diploma at Martin college.

13Sep

Amani flatwing damselfly illustration in progress.

I don’t normally like to show works in progress. But this is a special case because there are only about 250 of these left in the world!

Anyway, here is an illustration that I am doing of the Amani flatwing damselfly. It is currently listed as critically endangered and is on the IUCN redlist, because it’s habitat is less than 10km². I haven’t been able to find much information about this species online, apart from the brief wikipedia article quoted below. You can read more about ongoing conservation efforts here.

Amani flatwing damselfly illustration.
Amani flatwing damselfly illustration.

The Amani flatwing has a long, extremely slender abdomen, which is darkly coloured with a conspicuous white tip. Its wings are distinctly narrower at their base than at their tip, and the males have a broad brown band close to their wing tips. It is endemic to the Amani Sigi Forest of the East Usambara Mountains from Tanzania. The Amani flatwing population appears to be largely confined to a 500 meter long stream in the Amani-Sigi Forest Reserve, although a single male has been found outside of this reserve.

Amanipodagrion gilliesi is now critically endangered due to destruction and degradation of its habitat. There has been almost a complete destruction of the low-altitude forest across East Africa, mainly for conversion to agricultural land. The few remaining forests of the East Usambara Mountains where the Amani flatwing is found are under considerable pressure.[2] The main, viable subpopulation of Amani flatwings is relatively safe within the Amani-Sigi Forest Reserve, any other subpopulations within the vicinity are either already extinct or maybe on the verge of extinction as a result of human encroachment, deforestation and water pollution. Also the protected population of Amani flatwings leads a relatively precarious existence, containing fewer than an estimated 250 mature individuals.

13Sep

WWF creative advertising campaign

I’d like to share with you a small part of the design process for the recent WWF creative advertising campaign. The final designs will be displayed on my main portfolio under a new “design” sub-menu.

leslie dean brown — illustrator | designer background image