Illustration — Thomas Rodgers II

Taco Bell / Icons

As part of redeveloping the delivery and pickup portion of the Taco Bell app, I had the opportunity to illustrate various icons that appeared throughout the order process.

Client: Taco Bell

Medium: Illustrator

In their current state the “Order Status” icons are static, but originally they were designed to be animated. For the “Driver Assigned” status animation, the intent was for it to cycle through various possible drivers before landing on the assigned driver.

Landing on an illustration style, and then creating a finished illustration that feels right for both the brand and intended need takes work. And often that work doesn’t make the cut even though it was a vital part of getting to the finished product.

7-Eleven / Various

I’ve been lucky enough to work on a few sets of animated spots for 7 Eleven. They wanted to test out some new programs in local markets before rolling them out nationwide. And while these programs needed to be promoted, the budgets were quite tight, so we turned to animation. Which I was all for.

Check out the advertising section to view the animated spots.

For the re-launch of the 7Rewards program from 7-Eleven, we created a series of fun promotional animations. I helped set the style and tone for the animations by creating various characters, objects, and background pieces. The main character themselves were supposed to be semi anonymous archetypes, but I tried to design personality into their details.

The animations themselves unfortunately never ran because of app delays due to bugs, which by the time they were resolved required a change of direction for the promotional materials.

We created a series of animated shorts for the launch of 7-Eleven’s new delivery program, 7Now. For the project, I worked on setting the style for characters and backgrounds that other illustrators would follow. Since these would be only be viewed online, the design style needed to be bold and easily readable at small sizes, while fun enough for viewers to stay away from clicking the dreaded “skip” button.

Boost Mobile / Rejected Emojis

Like most clients, Boost Mobile didn’t have a giant budget for social content. So we had to come up with creative ways to make fun and engaging content that didn’t need a boatload of money to execute. This content series was based around the idea that there’s a vast amount of emoji’s that got approved, because they have a use. Well there’s got to be emoji’s that got rejected because they’re essentially useless.

Minus One

“My war isn’t over yet.”

- Koichi Shikishima

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to catch Godzilla Minus One / Minus Color in theaters. It. Was. Awesome. Genuinely it was probably the most pure fun I’ve had in theaters since Mad Max Fury Road.

This is another personal piece, created so I could work on more complex rendering. Also, I just felt like drawing Godzilla. This literal behemoth of an illustration took seemingly forever to finish, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Catwoman

Selina Kyle: “Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.”

Bruce Wayne: “But a kiss can be even deadlier… if you mean it.”

Batman Returns is one of my favorite non holiday holiday movies. And Michelle Pfeiffer is easily my favorite Catwoman of all time. She definitely left a lasting impression on my highly impressionable teenaged self.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Mandalorian

“This is the way.”

– Pretty much everyone on The Mandalorian

It’s Season 3, so I figured I’d draw my favorite bounty hunter / space dad / fanatic. Creating all the various textures was a nice challenge. And in a small coincidence, I’ve discovered that I don’t really like drawing overly detailed leather straps all that much.

Bonus color test at the end.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Dull Boy

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

The Shining isn’t classically considered a Christmas movie, but it’s got a lot of the holiday tropes – freshly fallen snow, fireplaces, isolation, excessive drinking, family discord, psychic abilities, psychotic meltdowns, and axe murders. So maybe it’s time to give it the Die Hard treatment and recategorize it as a holiday classic.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Wonka

“There’s no earthly way of knowing… which direction we are going…”

– Willy Wonka

I originally started this piece to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original film. What started out as a quick gestural painting quickly devolved into an ever increasing exercise into seeing how much detail I could add. I’m pretty damn happy with how it turned out, but it took forever and a day.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Brody

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

- Chief Brody

Jaws is one of the first movies I actually remember seeing as a kid. Probably because 6 or 7 year old me had no business watching it. One summer at the beach, I made the poor decision to fire up a movie about a giant shark eating people. And for the next few months whenever I was in a friends pool (or at home in the tub), I imagined Jaws finding their way through the water pipes to get me. I was not a smart child.

I’ve been meaning to try making more painterly stuff in Procreate. Thought this might be a good piece to mess around with it. I always seem to be chasing that dragon of creating digital art that looks “like” natural mediums.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

The Princess

“Would it help if I got out and pushed?”

- Leia Organa

For May the 4th, I decided to draw a quick study of my favorite impatient, brash, hard-headed, smart-mouthed space princess from a galaxy far far away. No matter how dire the situation, she always had a pithy line ready to antagonize her enemies… but more often her friends.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Ahsoka

To be perfectly honest I don’t know much about Ahsoka, I’ve never spent the time needed to dive into the cartoons. But she seems dope and the internet sounds super psyched that she’s got her own show, so I’m gonna give it a go. Outside of Andor (which was phenomenal), most of the recent Star Wars shows / seasons have unfortunately been mediocre at best. Fingers crossed that the Ahsoka show turns out awesome.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Kenobi

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

- Old Ben Kenobi

Sometimes working through a drawing is a pretty quick and easy endeavor. And sometimes it is not. This is one of the “nots.” I originally started this piece for Star Wars day, which was way back in May. So once I missed my self imposed deadline, I kind of put it to the side for a bit. But lately I’ve been on a big kick, focusing on wrapping up long abandoned projects. So thankfully Obi-Wan is finally finished, wisdom wrinkles and all.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Bad Reputation

“I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation.”

- Joan Jett

I just felt like drawing a badass, and there are few who are more badass than Joan Jett.

I have very clear memories of driving around with my dad as a kid. I was young enough that I could barely see out of the rolled down windows, but I knew enough to nod my head as Joan put the speakers to work. Those were the good days, and her music provided a large portion of the soundtrack for those “good days.”

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate / Photoshop

Strange & Unusual

“Live people ignore the strange and unusual. I myself am strange and unusual.”

- Lydia Deetz

Beetlejuice is an amazingly odd creative stream of consciousness captured on film, and honestly I have no idea how it actually got made. I recently caught if for the first time in a long time, and it’s only gotten better and weirder with age.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate / Photoshop

Eddie Munson

“This year’s different. This year is my year. I can feel it.”

- Eddie Munson

Just felt like drawing everyone’s favorite drug dealing, metal slaying, DnD dungeon master. It’s always a bummer whenever Stranger Things introduces a new fan favorite side character, cause there’s only one way it can end.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate / Photoshop

The Obsolete Man

“This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace.”

- Rod Serling

For better or worse the themes surrounding many Twilight Zone episodes will always ring true. Rod Serling’s opening and closing monologues for “The Obsolete Man” are sadly as relevant now, if not moreso as they were when they were first spoken in 1961. It reminds me of that great Mark Twain quote “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Mostly

“I say we take off. Nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

- Ellen Ripley

Both the original Alien and it’s followup are two of my favorite films. One is a straight up horror film, the other is a tense action film. Both are some of the best examples of their respective genres.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Time Enough at Last

“That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. All the time I needed.”

- Henry Bemis

The Twilight Zone is probably my favorite TV show of all time, and Time Enough at Last is easily my favorite episode. It’s got that great classic story trope of a character getting everything they want, only for things to go immediately south.

This illustration took me damn near forever to finish. I kept picking it up to try and make some headway, only to keep immediately abandoning it. I originally planned to finish in time to post for the yearly Twilight Zone New Years marathon. Only missed it by a month.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Joey

“Play before you get good, because by the time you get good, you’re too old to play.”

– Joey Ramone

No matter what I listen too, I’ll always come back to the Ramones. Their music helps remind me to not get too caught up in the details and just have fun. Sometimes I actually listen.

Client: Personal

Medium: ProCreate

The Monster

“It’s alive! It’s alive!”

– Victor Frankenstein

One of the original, if not the original science fiction novel. Originally published in 1818, it’s only grown more and more relevant with age.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Dr. Jones

“I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go.”

- Dr. Henry Jones Jr.

Indiana Jones was a huge part of growing up in the 80s. I’ve seen the first three enough times that I could probably recite them start to finish from memory. And I don’t care if he’s older than dirt, I’m looking forward to one last cinematic ride with my childhood hero. Bring on the fortune and glory.

I’m pretty happy with how this illustration came together, did the base black & white illustration in Procreate, then painted the color overlay and finishing textures in Photoshop.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate / Photoshop

Local Characters

“Local Characters” is an ongoing personal project I created to have a bit of fun with all of the random ass people and situations I’ve wandered across.

Client: Personal

Medium: Illustrator

Sweet Demon

Endless Summer

Oldish Man and the Sea

Rock N’ Rollers

Slap-Out

“Will Smith’s Slap-Out”

I had an incredibly stupid idea in response to an incredibly stupid act at the Oscars. I don’t always take the time to make pixel art, but I love how versatile the janky quality can be.

Client: Personal

Medium: Photoshop

Car Toons

I’ve been wanting to get back to messing around with both animation and car illustrations, so I’ve decided to combine them into a simple, sporadic, one panel animated automotive comic series. I’m not sure how often I’ll get around to making these, but I intend to use them as a bit of a palate cleanser between larger, more time consuming projects.

Client: Personal

Medium: After Effects / Illustrator / Photoshop

Flying Pigs

Anyone that knows me knows I’m a sucker for Subarus. Growing up I used to watch a good amount of rally racing. And I’m not entirely sure exactly when it happened, but at some point either in the late 90s or early 00s Subarus became “lovingly” associated with pigs. The company and community embraced it. They even adorned their rally cars with pig stickers.

While history says that the “Rally Pig” was a mascot for a Japanese magazine that sponsored the Subaru rally team, I choose to believe in a more natural fairy tale approach where they lovingly took on the mascot because the cars were charmingly ugly and hard to catch.

Vader

“Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director.”

Is “Darth” the Star Wars equivalent of saying “Assistant to the Regional Manager?”

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Pink Nightmare

“You look like a deranged Easter Bunny.”

– Old Man Parker

Every Dec. 25th it’s mandatory that A Christmas Story runs for at least 24 hours at my Mom’s house. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen it, but I’m pretty sure I could probably put on a one man play simply from memory.

Also, I was a dead ringer for Ralphie when I was a kid.

Client: Holiday Cheer

Medium: Procreate

Unseen

On occasion I help out with a friends comic. Mainly I help with concept art to visualize what the characters and world could look like. It’s an ongoing project that evolves as we go.

The concept cover and logo was for an exhibit at the Exploratorium Museum. Created by Chad Allen, the comic tells the story of a blind assassin navigating her way through a near future. The comic itself is designed to be enjoyed by both sighted and visually impaired audiences.

The exhibit includes a recorded audio dramatization of the comic, and the intent is to eventually make an illustrated version that includes tactile elements that will make the book easily accessible.

Client: Unseen

Medium: Photoshop / ProCreate

Large Marge

“Be sure and tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya!”

- Large Marge

For Halloween this year I wanted to draw someone super scary, and there’s probably nobody in cinematic history scarier than Large Marge.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

The Crow

“It can’t rain all the time.”

- Eric Draven

Just felt like drawing a quick Crow portrait study to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite 90s movies. As a dark and dirty revenge film it features memorable villains, well crafted dialogue (for a comic movie), grounded action and violence (for a comic movie), a grime filled world where even the dirt is covered in a layer of filth, and an undead hero who can shred the guitar. It was everything teenage me could want in a movie.

On top of all that The Crow gives us what might be the greatest movie soundtrack of all time. Every song on there has purpose and nothing feels out of place. Plus, it’s just straight up 90’s grunge awesomeness.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Judge Doom

“You lack vision, but I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on all day, all night. Soon, where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.”

- Judge Doom

I was thinking of something or someone truly terrifying to sketch for Halloween, and thought why not Judge Doom from Roger Rabbit. When I was a kid, he was probably one of the first truly horrifying movie villains I’d ever seen. That man was way too cruel to be in a kids film.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Shitter Was Full

“What’re you looking at?”

“Oh, the silent majesty of a winter’s morn. The clean, cool chill of the holiday air. And an assh*le in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer.”

– Ellen and Clark Griswold

Like most people I over index on watching holiday movies during the holidays. And while I was parked in front of Christmas Vacation I started sketching Cousin Eddie. For whatever reason this stupid scene spoke to me.

Also, I generally drop my logo into the bottom right corner of every piece I “finish”. This time it’s locked up in a pile of curbside trash, which somehow feels very appropriate.

Client: Holiday Cheer

Medium: Procreate

Janelle

“You will lie for a lie, but you won’t lie for the truth.”

– Helen

Felt like drawing Janelle Monáe from Glass Onion. The movie was okay, but I enjoyed Knives Out a good bit more, probably because it was set in a spooky old house that made it feel more like Clue.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Batmobiles

“Where does he get those wonderful toys?”

– The Joker

I love sketching, doodling, drawing, and painting any and all kinds of vehicles – especially the 1989 Batmobile.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Cash

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”

Sometimes you’re just in the mood to draw the man in black.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Kang

“Have I killed you before?”

– Kang

I just really felt like sketching Kang trying to squish Ant-Man like a bug.

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

RBG

“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.”

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Client: Personal

Medium: Procreate

Matt

This is my friend Matt. This is an ongoing illustration project for Matt, showcasing the many facets that make Matt, Matt.

Client: Matt

Medium: Illustrator

Washington

“The people’s team.”

The Washington Football Team decided to change their name to the Commanders, and the internet being the internet immediately nicknamed them the “Commies.” Sheer boredom led me to create this dumb abomination of a logo in response. I never thought I’d spend my free time drawing a cold blooded despot simply to make fun of an NFC East team, but here we are.

Artist Note: Just to make it overtly clear, I do not support the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, or Daniel Snyder.

Client: Personal

Medium: Illustrator

Logos

I don’t often get a chance to help design (or re-design) a brand from the ground up, but I love to tackle logo and identity design whenever I get the opportunity. Distilling a business down into a simple and understandable logo-mark and type system, is both a hard and rewarding process. Also, I’m a big believer that no matter where the logo design direction ends up, it should look cool on a t-shirt.

Automaton focuses on media agnostic production, whether it’s motion based content, a program initiative, interactive project, or an experiential experience. They exist to help make it a reality.

This logo is meant to hit pretty heavy on the idea that a business/agency is essentially unlocking the minds of Automaton to bring their project to life. An added does of retro-futurism within the logo-mark and type help make it fun to look at.

Pilatesmith is pilates studio focusing on combining the traditional pilates principals with the added challenge of heat. Forging healthy bodies in the process.

ClearPath Renewables is a green energy company built to support geothermal and solar energy customers navigate the waters of Renewable Energy Credits.

Form & Pixels is a small and versatile interactive shop that sometimes exists. Whether helping another agency/businesses to conjure their projects into existence, or working on their own digital projects, this talented crew is always making something interesting.

Given relative free reign to make something “cool”, this logo is based around the idea of meteors crashing into a planetary body, creating something new in the process. Playing with the idea that they often work with larger institutions for a brief period of time, while still leaving their mark.

Gator University is an after school program for kids who want to learn more about subjects that may not be offered in their current grade or school curriculum.

I don’t always get to work on design projects geared towards kids, so I had a lot of fun being able to make something non minimal and monochromatic. Also, the type is a custom creation. I should probably finish out the character set(s) and release a proper font.

Designed for a talented friend’s burgeoning photography side business, I just wanted to create something clever and simple. Also, I was selfishly interested in making something that would look awesome on a hat. I’m still waiting on that free hat.

Clear Green is a environmentally focused startup, created to help other businesses and industries rework their energy usage. The goal is to get businesses to lower both their carbon footprint, as well as their energy costs.

I have family working for the justice department near where I grew up. So when I was asked if I could create a new logo for them, I of course said yes. And like every other thing ever associated with Maryland, it needed to include the flag.

StudyMark is a healthcare focused startup created to help pharmaceutical companies find people to partner with for medical trials.

I’m a big believer that even small local business deserve good design. Created for an old friend, this logo was designed to be easily readable on the side of a work truck. So every piece of it had to be super simple, clean, and bold. Because there’s no room for design subtlety when trying to read/understand from a moving vehicle.

Various

Whenever a project comes along that allows me to do a bit of finished (or unfinished) illustration, I make whatever time I can to create something hopefully rad.

Sprite / Sprite Boy / Test illustration for a re-imagining of the classic character for a modern campaign.

Sphynx Cat

Style test illustration for a series of aquatic themed pieces for a crypto currency exchange.

Game of Thrones / Compendium / Navigational Icons

Eye of the Sandman / Movie Poster

Hero Factory / Various

Pre-vis work for a Mike Tyson pillow fight game

Little Me / Base Animation Illustrations

Keyframes and Roughs

Illustration
When the project calls for it, I try and take a little bit of time and sketch out a nice keyframe or mockup. A lot of times it’s really helpful to get across a concept internally, to the client, or vendor. Photographic comps are great, but what happens when you just can’t find the photo you need, or the photo sources have perfect framing, but the mood of the lighting is way off. A bad comp can help kill a project, a good sketch can help save it.

Expedia / Expedia Interns / Various

Toyota / Camry Effect

Expedia / Various Keyframes

Toyota / Prius Hum / Print Sketch

Comic Colors

Colorist
For a period of time I got to live out my childhood dream of working in comics. I was the main colorist on Deadpool for a couple issues, got to briefly mess around with some X-men, and did some pick up colors for a couple other books. My time didn’t last too long though, because I quickly realized that something that I’d always done for fun, was quickly becoming work. I still work on comics every now and again, but I make sure that it’s only for fun.

Deadpool / Various Issues

Agent X

Xmen One-Shot

Cannonbusters

Dork Horse

Idiotic Ideas / Retouching
I tend to carry a sketchbook around with me wherever I go. For the most part, this sketchbook is generally filled with exceptionally stupid visual puns that have no useful place in the real world. For my own amusement, I’ve decided that a lot of them are so dumb that they need to be shared. So with the help of Instagram, Google image search, and a whole lot of Photoshop, I’ve started to take some of them out my sketchbook.

instagram.com/dorkhorse

Dandy Lion

Birds Nest

Dork Horse