Case study: PMAC custom gala illustration

Client: Portsmouth Music and Arts Center

Project: Custom floral illustrations for gala event assets

Design Focus: Surface design and signature motif for a jazz-inspired spring celebration

Congratulations to PMAC on a successful gala! Don't you wish you’d been on the invite list for this soiree? With live jazz, vibrant energy, and an arts-forward mission, PMAC’s Spring Fever for the Arts gala was a standout evening — and it needed a visual identity to match.

Photo courtesy of Portsmouth Music and Arts Center

The Challenge

PMAC’s small but mighty in-house team chose to create their gala materials in Canva. It's a smart, flexible solution for quick design turnarounds. But to elevate the look and feel, they commissioned a set of custom illustrations that could add polish, depth, and cohesion to every visual touchpoint.

The Design

We developed a bold, stylized floral design infused with the spirit of jazz and spring. The arrangement features an all-over rainbow colorway paired with elegant peacock motifs as a nod to the gala’s New Orleans-inspired musical theme. The result is a vibrant, movement-rich design that practically dances on the page.

Rectangle floral design featuring peacock feathers, beads and flowers

Straight line floral design featuring peacock feathers, beads and flowers

We delivered the artwork in four flexible formats: a square, a rectangle, a single motif, and a seamless surface design. These elements gave PMAC's team the ability to mix and match across various applications. From print invitations to slideshows and social media graphics — everything had a consistent, elevated look.

Why It Worked

The combination of brand-aligned colors, stylized florals, and thematic icons helped PMAC’s assets feel fresh, festive, and on-mission.

And here's a tip for planners: Have you considered a surface design for your next event? Branded surface designs are a versatile, underused asset — perfect for endpapers, backgrounds, signage, step-and-repeats, and more. A well-executed surface pattern brings instant cohesion to an event’s visual identity.

Program cover for Spring Fever for the Arts

Let’s Make Your Event Look This Good

Looking to elevate your next event with custom illustrations? I’d love to help. Get in touch to commission a set of illustrations tailored to your brand, theme, and goals. Let’s bring your vision to life.

In defense of Jell-o salads

The showdown of the season is about to begin.

Two teams face off for the top spot. With winning records going into the season, both teams are ready to put it all on the table for a chance at a win.

Will it be strawberry?

Will it be lime?

What about this new rookie, rainbow cake?

Stay tuned for the results of this matchup of epic proportions. — which Jell-O salad earns the spot on this year’s Thanksgiving table.

Oh, you thought I was talking about football. No, no, no. At my midwestern home we draw strict lines of allegiance to different Jell-O salads. Some of us work hard to ensure strawberry salad gets the win. Others are die-hard lime Jell-o salad fans.

Those who married into the family think they’re all gross and weird. Fine. More for the rest of us, I say.

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

Vintage recipes, including Jell-o salads are experiencing a renaissance. If you’ve followed the popularity of That Midwestern Mom (@ThatMidwesternMom), you know what I mean. While these concoctions are certainly Jell-o, they’re decidedly not salad. Featuring ingredients such as cloyingly sweet maraschino cherries, flaked coconut, pistachios, crushed pineapple — they’re a clean-out-your-pantry Godsend.

I grew up in Iowa where school potlucks and church cookbooks were chock-full of every Jell-o salad imaginable.

And they’re pretty neat to look at. Molded into elaborate geometric forms or striped to perfection, they’re a graphic designers dream dessert. Google “vintage Jell-o salad” for a visual treat of form and color. Just look at all those pastel perfections!

GET READY FOR KICKOFF

We’re a few days out from Thanksgiving — so which salad will grace my mom’s table? Good question — this year I’m bringing the Jell-o salad. Oh, the power.

Do you have a great vintage Jell-o salad recipe? Send it my way. I’d love to read it.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

May your Jell-o be extra jiggly.

CanvasRebel Article

The very kind people at CanvasRebel interviewed me. They wanted to know about what it takes to develop your craft. Wow, that’s such a great topic. You can read the full article on CanvasRebel. Thanks, Jenny Eickbush, for nominating me.

Character design class with Kelly Light

I just finished another Illustration Department class, this time with the esteemed Kelly Light. Highly recommend. Kelly Light is lovely as an instructor and beyond generous with her time and expertise. I learned so much about how to think about a character from start to finish. Seeking out their core and building it into every part of the story. Wonderful stuff.

Draw the verb.
No boring poses.

And Saturday Morning Cartoons (IYKYK).

July 2021 Little Red Riding Hoods

July 2021 marks one year of drawing Little Red Riding Hood. Here’s a look back at the first #LRRH.

…and where I am now. What a difference a year makes, huh? 

During the pandemic, I bought Procreate and really honed my digital skills. I drew Little Red Riding Hood over and over again for an entire year. They were all learning experiences. I always knew I needed a long term, low stakes, self-directed project but it took me years to come up with the right thing to hold my attention day after day. I found it in drawing Little Red Riding Hood — there’s a lot of room for interpretation and the more I think about how illustrator’s approach LRRH, the more I learn.

I learned a lot about the nature of storytelling. The structure of familiar stories just allow for such deep exploration. I have a much deeper connection to this story now. LRRH was a really fitting way to cope with life during the pandemic. Whenever I see another LRRH I think “Yes! It’s perfect!” Because the beauty of the Little Red Riding Hood is how she’s endlessly malleable for each and every age.

So much gratitude for what I learned in the last year.

March 2021 Little Red Riding Hood

Some spring-is-on-the-way March LRRH drawings.

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? You can view my full portfolio or follow along on my Instagram.

February 2021 Little Red Riding Hood Drawings

A few chilly-day February drawings.

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? You can view my full portfolio or follow along on my Instagram.

January 2021 Little Red Riding Hood Drawings

Well, I managed to sneak exactly one Little Red Riding Hood entry into the blog. Longest winter break ever…
But, here they are. Three LRRH’s — two are previous drawings revisited and one is a brand new contribution. Enjoy!

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? You can view my full portfolio or follow along on my Instagram.

New book release! Sticky Faith Innovation from Fuller Youth Institute

Sticky Faith Innovation book release

On January 11, Fuller Youth Institute released Sticky Faith Innovation, by authors Steven Argue and Caleb Roose. FYI invited me to design the cover and interior and I am happy to share the final result!

Sticky Faith Innovation is guide for youth ministry leaders and teams. The book provides research, evidence, and skills to innovate in the area of youth ministry.

The book’s tagline “Compassion, creativity, and courage” speaks to the author’s process for collaborating on the book design.

So much compassion, creativity, and courage went into all of the details of the book. Steven and Caleb set forth the challenge to make this book feel like not only a book to read, but also a resource with which to really engage. To achieve that invitation to the reader, we focused on hand drawn elements: stars, mind maps, circles, and scribbles. We wanted to focus on the messy nature of forging a new path. The front cover features a mind map in white chalk over brown paper — the sort of paper you find in big rolls in art studios and workshops. It’s meant to cover tables and work surface as protection against spilled ink or dropped paint, but in my experience, it always serves as the spot where you sketch out an idea to discuss with a colleague. When solving a tough problem, that brown paper is usually where the solution emerges. The mind map motif continues inside on the front and back matter pages, as well as in the “how-to” sections of the book.

It was an honor to work on this book. I’m so happy for Steven, Caleb, and the whole FYI team involved in the success of this book. If you are a person who routinely works with young people, I can’t recommend it enough. FYI knows what they are talking about.

You can purchase Sticky Faith Innovation from FYI.

December 2020 Little Red Riding Hood Daily Drawings

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? You can view my full portfolio or follow along on my Instagram.

December 2020 Little Red Riding Hood Daily Drawings

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? You can view my full portfolio or follow along on my Instagram.

November 2020 Little Red Riding Hood Daily Drawing

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? Follow along on my Instagram.

November 2020 Little Red Riding Hood Daily Drawings

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? Follow along on my Instagram.

There’s only one drawing this week, an account of some big things happening! Which is exciting, but it means my time has been reallocated of late. I didn’t do a drawing every day, but I did draw, every day, just a little bit on this drawing. Then I posted it for a critique group’s feedback and made some major changes! Here’s the more close to final (but not quite finished) drawing from this week:

November 2020 Little Red Riding Hood Daily Drawings

Daily Drawings: Little Red Riding Hood

This project serves as a way for me to practice good habits. My parameters are pretty simple. Draw LRRH every day. Post them once a week.

Why Little Red Riding Hood? In many ways, LRRH is the Lorem Ipsum of illustrations. Her tale is timeless, but endlessly reinvented. Plenty to explore. So, she's rife with possibilities for experimenting with styles and techniques.

Interested in seeing more? Follow along on my Instagram.