(with YouTube Video Radio Interview with Mascot Designer Ian Marsden)
I had the distinct pleasure back in 2002 of being contacted by the organization for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in the renowned pristine alpine resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. I had been chosen to design the official mascot for the event.
This character design was my first foray into the world of mascot designs and logo character design and opened the door for many subsequent projects I was invited to participate in.
As an experienced character designer for over 20 years, I have had the great pleasure of accompanying my clients in their search for a dynamic ambassador for their brand or event and creating a design that fit like a glove.
Character Design, Mascot Design, Avatars, Layered People Illustrations for Animation
As the chief creative lead for a new startup company called iShepherd, Inc. based in Sunnyvale, California and in Zürich, Switzerland I just had the wonderful opportunity to be creative on a wide range of design elements.
Starting with the Corporate Identity and Logo Design, Branding and Brand Manual, GUI graphic user interface and UX user experience of the software, over 60 original icons for the iconography and unique visual language of the product as well as many business illustrations, marketing print materials and the homepage design in WordPress. We also created stickers, embroidered patches, flyers, sell sheets as PDF and print documents and Power Point pitch deck presentations.
iShepherd TRM360 – GUI Login Screen
More about the amazing iShepherd, Inc. TRM360 application, the most useful IAM Analytics tool on the planet: Useful, usable and accessible, can be found on the iShepherd, Inc. homepage here: www.ishepherd.ai
High quality, professional business illustration and advertising illustration for sales communication, presentations, pitch decks, powerpoint presentations and more. Design of marketing and merchandising articles. Ian David Marsden. www.marsdenillustration.com
Character Design, Backround Design, Asset Design and Illustrations for “Knowledge Nuggets” micro-learning videos for the United States Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI).
Artist: Ian David Marsden Media: Vector Artwork in Adobe Illustrator CC
More examples of explainer videos and whiteboard videos with my artwork and a description of the production process can be found HERE
Avatars and character designs to be used in print, motion graphics, whiteboard videos, or explainer videos. Detailed and shaded in different styles or flat line art and vector graphics. Delivered on layers ready for import into your layout software or Premiere or After Effects.
Various different vector character avatarsRead more →
Custom-made white board videos, by internationally published experienced illustrator and cartoonist Ian David Marsden. Cartoons sold to MAD Magazine, The New Yorker and many more. Illustrations for international business clients and advertising campaigns. Logos and Mascot Designs for large scale events like the Ski World Championship 2003 in St. Moritz, Switzerland and designer of the very first Google Doodles.
Friar’s Club – Monk Character Design and Animated GIFs Champagne Juggling Monk
In 2012 I had the distinct honor of being asked by the legendary New York Friar’s Club, to create a cartoon character version of the club’s signature monk and a series of cartoons and animations for the official Friar’s Club website.
The briefing required animations and graphics featuring the monk in all kinds of different situations and poses to be placed on the homepage and also some special custom monks featuring caricatured faces of recognizable “brothers”.
The animations were to play as animated GIFs with a transparent background that could be placed throughout the Friar’s Club website.
Even the furniture such as the wooden bar and the pool table at which the Jackie Gleason monk is playing had to be recognizable.
As a previous member of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS), I had the pleasure of attending several Christmas brunches at the Los Angeles branch of the club, so it was a particular pleasure to be able to contribute to the Friar’s cause.
I created several more animations, not all are shown here.
Please visit my portfolio for many more samples of my artwork and don’t hestitate to contact me if I can design some custom made illustrations or animations for you.
It was on December 2nd, 1998 (almost 20 years ago!) that I started my first website “Marsdencartoons.com”.
It evolved over many iterations, and later for several years it also hosted the Marsdencartoons Cartoonist’s Directory which was a popular resource to find links to illustrators and cartoonists all over the world.
Since I don’t only draw cartoons but also create more “serious” illustrations and logos and character designs for various clients all over the world, I decided in 2014 to create my new homepage MARSDEN ILLUSTRATION, which you see before you and which embodies all the various facets of my work in my PORTFOLIO
For a few years it autoforwarded to my new domain, but a few months ago I let the old marsdencartoons.com domain name expire. A fresh new start.
It appears that another company has purchased the domain name marsdencartoons.com and is now putting up a website for Illustration and Graphics.
This is of course perfectly fine and quite normal I guess by Internet standards, although it would be interesting to know who the “Marsden” is who is featured in their domain name. Because one thing I can tell you is that it is NOT me.
For the record, I wanted to state categorically: that I, Ian David Marsden, am no longer the owner of the domain marsdencartoons.com, I am in no way involved in their enterprise, and am not affiliated anymore in any way with marsdencartoons.com. Any transactions with this domain will not include any involvement with me and you will not be purchasing artwork created by me.
If you wish to contact me (Ian David Marsden) regarding graphic design, illustrations or cartoons, then the only official website is this one: www.marsdenillustration.com
Thank you for your continued interest in my artwork and more from my studio very soon.
All the best,
Ian
PS: If you haven’t signed up yet for my personal newsletter, now is a good time because I am preparing the next one. (I send them out about 4 or 5 times a year with news and behind the scenes looks at some of the artwork I am currently working on)
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Feel free to ask questions in the comment section under the video, I will try and answer them as quickly and as well as I can.
Exciting News and Updates from Illustrator Ian David Marsden
I am a freelance illustrator, designer, cartoonist and I also produce and animate whiteboard and explainer videos.
You can sign up for my newsletter in the box on the right. I send a newsletter roughly four times a year.
My artist portfolio, biography, client list and referrals/testimonials can be found on my homepage at: http://marsdenillustration.com
I hope you enjoy these latest updates including some exiting news about my graphic novel project, new clients, new YouTube drawing video tutorial and more.
Dear visitor to my blog,
2016 started off in a very active, busy and fun way for me.
Publishing
Some very exciting news for me personally, is that a graphic novel project I have been developing has been accepted and is now being represented by a New York literary agency. I look forward to telling you more about this very soon. Below is a little teaser sample:
Object Design / Licensing
RITZENHOFF
will be unveiling two new cappuccino cups with saucers, which I designed, at the Ambiente trade show in Frankfurt (12th to16th February 2016).
Ambiente is the world’s most important consumer goods trade fair, which boasts a globally unrivalled range of products in the Dining, Giving and Living areas.
The cups will be available in retail stores world-wide and also in the Ritzenhoff online shop here: LINK
New Projects
I regularly consult as an artist and designer on projects where I am bound to contractual discretion. This means that I am not at liberty to display or reference my work in my portfolio, blog or newsletter even for self-promotional purposes. Nevertheless, without divulging any further information or details, I am thrilled to have worked on projects for the following new clients.
Logos
Mensa
, the international High IQ Society has awarded their 2017 International Board of Director’s meeting (IBD) to the town of Nice, France. Out of a selection of proposed graphic solutions, I am delighted that my design was chosen as the official logo and CI for the event. (Logo horizontal landscape version below)
Design for the new logo for WO magnetic water purification devices.
Character Design
One of the departments of the University of Bern in Switzerland commissioned me a while ago, to design a series of likeable bear characters that should also be appealing to children. I added some new bears to the ever-growing family in January.
Another fun character design project I have been involved in for a few years is this one for the company Si. I was originally tasked to take their existing “Pfiffikus” mascot and give him a more dynamic and modern appearance, all the while retaining his work clothes and color scheme.
Over the years, several poses and applications of the character have been created. All versions are created as fully-scalable 100% vector artwork in Adobe Illustrator.
Labels / Packaging
I am currently designing a series of labels for exclusive, high quality oils and vinegars.
Leisure Projects
In-between projects or just to take a break (yes, I take breaks 😀), I like to relax doodling in my sketchbooks or on loose scraps of paper around my studio (or tablecloths or whatever I can get my hands on). Some of these scribbles end up on my Facebook and other social media. (Another favorite source of distraction) Links at the bottom of this e-mail. in case you feel like joining me.
Here is another personal, non-commissioned art project. A modern interpretation of a moon symbol. (digital print on canvas 80 cm x 60 cm)
Printed media
I recently received a package with my copies of the printed Digades Dfreeeze app brochure featuring a multi-page comic I drew. I am very pleased with the result. You can read the whole booklet here: LINK
I designed and implemented several catalogs and price lists for my very good customer Sanafort, a producer of high quality vital mushrooms, teas and health supplements. http://www.sanafort.ch
Video / YouTube
My latest video on my YouTube channel is of me drawing the little bird for the header of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy it. LINK
Well, that’s all for now. I hope one or the other item might have been of interest.
Can you believe that it’s November again? It seems like the months have just flown by since I last sat down to write you a few lines from my illustration studio.
I’ve been having a lot of fun doing freehand sketches between projects. Here are some glimpses into my sketchbooks and Moleskines.
I’ve been posting some of my doodles to my Facebook page and sometimes I also upload short videos of my sketching to my YouTube channel.
This year we created a 12 page comic which continues the adventures of the main protagonists, Michael, Anne, Stefan and Julia and their Dfreeeze car heater remote control application.
Regular client Sanafort AG (a renowned Swiss producer of natural Reishi mushroom and other tonic herbs and food supplements) needed website and newsletter graphics for Christmas and the New Year and to advertise upcoming product launches and promotions.
As always they allowed me a lot of creative freedom and I think the results are quite elegant.
My very good personal friend Helmi Sigg, Swiss actor, comedian, writer and renaissance man has partnered with STEINER Meats to create their own delicious Swiss-made twist on New York Style pastrami.
He entrusted me to create the logo for this culinary delight which is aptly named ‘Pastrelmi’ after it’s creator.
The last few weeks have been very exciting on a personal level, as we have been preparing for my first exhibition of original drawings in quite a while.
Over 60 pieces of artwork are on display in the exhibition, organized by the Association Artistique Monet at the Espace George Brassens in St Gely du Fesc (Montpellier).
I am exhibiting together with famous French cartoonist Ptiluc and two German artists, Heike Negenborn and Carmen Stahlschmidt.
It would be my pleasure to talk to you about any new projects you might have.
Please call me at +33 6 42 49 82 11 or e-mail me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
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