Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Illustration Friday - SPEED


This one was done for sentimental reasons more than anything. I did the line art back in 1999, when I was the creative services manager for a newspaper. There was a local video/pizza outlet called "Sounds Easy", and this was drawn for an ad they ran in our newspaper to promote their "speedy delivery service". The sales rep that I drew this for was a very nice lady by the name of Elaine Fairbanks. Elaine was a licensed massage therapist, and on many occassions she would walk up behind employees at the newspaper and give them a quick back and shoulder massage... after sitting at your desk staring at a computer for 6 hours staight, those back massages were a welcome treat. Sadly, Elaine and her husband as well as 2 of her sons were killed about 4 years ago when a drunk driver hit them head on in their car. While I don't really think this drawing does a great job of conveying speed, I thought it would be fun to color it up in photoshop and post it as a little tribute to Elaine... By the way, thats the company "cougar mascot" behind the wheel...

9 comments:

Tony LaRocca said...

Such a touching story- and groovie picture! I could go for a pizza right now...

Lou said...

Thanks for sharing the drawing and the story behind it. Great job!

Unknown said...

AHHH!! Nice toasty pizza!! Yum!! U make me hungry! LOL NIce illo!

Ellen said...

So sad! Amazing how quickly life can be extinguished. I have zero tolerance for drunk drivers!
Nice piece.

Rectite23 said...

It's really a sad thing to lose people, what a tragedy. It's cool that you put this picture on here to remember her by though. I really like your illo, and I think it shows speed well. The story along with the illo shows the speed at which loved family and friends can be taken from us. Beleive me I've lost alot of good people in my life and we are never prepared for the speed at which that can happen. Look forward to hearing more from you and again thanks for the kind words!

Unknown said...

nice that you are so mindful of the people who have impacted you. Great job on this piece! Man you have been busy ass! Great stuff Patrick and thanks for the George Trosley's heds up. Great link.

keep em comin!--mel

trowbridge chronicles said...

Very funny illustration...I like it!

Teemu Jäppinen said...

Thank you for sharing the story... or maybe story is a wrong word for it. Thoughts would be better, in my opinion.

It's posts like these that make blogging really wonderful.

I like the style of the illo a lot. Noticed your Star Wars-pun there too. Were you thinking what you would want speed delivered while making this? :) I'd take that set of things. :) Cool.

Patrick said...

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! This was a fun piece to post, and Elaine's memory lives on because of it!