Little Loggers Play Area Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

In 2018 I was asked by my talented friend Lili Payne Lennox if I could help with a sketch for a mural for her client at Rosedale Center. A newly designed food court was being created and she needed art of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox eating some ramen noodles. I created a sketch and she painted it and, in my opinion, made it even better!

Unfortunately, Revolution Hall in Rosedale Center did not last although it was a good concept. It had a variety of restaurants you would not normally see in an interesting and well designed space. It may be opening again in the future but only time will tell with the pandemic of COVID-19.

The mall liked the art and wanted to theme a children’s play area using local tall tale characters, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox! Lili connected with me once again to create more artwork! She worked with other talented artists (like local muralist, Tina Yager) to create a fun place at the mall for parents and children to play and engage in Paul and Babe’s story! They created oversized props to accompany panels that had my illustrations and a story. I used a limited color palette because Lili and her team were using wood panels with colored stain to obtain the look they wanted.

Paul Bunyan and Babe Art for Little Loggers Play Area
1 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
2 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
3 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
4 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
5 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
6 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
7 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
8 Paul and Babe ©RPM Illustraion – Robb Miller
Photos of the Play Area

It was fun to collaborate with other artists to create a fun unique place for family’s to hang out! 🙂

For more information on the Little Loggers Play Area, click HERE!

For more information about Rosedale Center, Click HERE!

Check out Lili Payne Lennox’s work! She is a very highly skilled painter! 

Check out Tina Yager’s fantastic work!

A CORPORATE REFUGEE BARES ALL: CHALLENGES FACED … LESSONS LEARNED by FRANK FREEMAN

In 2017-18 I illustrated a book called A CORPORATE REFUGEE BARES ALL: CHALLENGES FACED … LESSONS LEARNED by FRANK FREEDMAN. What I think is cool about that is Frank asked me to do the book because I had done some illustration work for him years ago. The truth is, he was my first freelance client back in 1998/99. He wanted the artwork to be like I did all those years ago. I have grown quite a bit as an artist and didn’t want to match my amateur style. I tried to emulate and update it for the book.

The book is about when Frank worked as a medical device consultant and all the interactions and experiences that went along with his long career. Each story offers up incites and humor. Frank is a great guy! I actually met him and his wife Marsha and their daughter doing improv classes at Stevie Ray’s Improv Company.

Check out some of my favorite illustrations from the book below.

A CORPORATE REFUGEE BARES ALL BOOK
A CORPORATE REFUGEE BARES ALL BOOK
A CORPORATE REFUGEE BARES ALL BOOK
Frank and Marsha and their pups!

I also made a promo video for Frank’s book to help him promote it.

HALLOWEEN Projection Artwork

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year! It’s great seeing the joy kids have when dressing up and going trick-or-treating! Well, not so much this year… Halloween is fun for people of all ages to wear fun costumes and hanging out! Again, maybe not this year. 2020 may not be good all around for “get-togethers” but adapting to find ways to enjoy the holidays in this new normal is possible. People can enjoy decorations while social distancing and wearing a mask is normal at Halloween!

I worked at a company from 2015-2017 where I designed holiday decorations and various products. I still sometimes do work for them as a freelancer. Seasonal Specialties is located in Eden Prairie and you will see a lot of their products in stores like Target, Menards and CostCo. 

I saw that Target has some products I help develop in stores for Halloween and Christmas! For Halloween I made an illustration of a scary skeleton ghost that is used in a projection decoration. (Click here to see other Halloween Projection art I created for them!)

This cool plasma skull was another one that is still being sold!
I definitely have one in my studio!

This cat decoration is fun for Christmas!
I don’t  know if you figured it out but I love cats!

I can share other products I have worked on in the future. It makes me happy to see my art and designs in stores but even more to see them projected on people’s garage doors or sitting on their front steps!

CBS Big Brother Season 22 – Episode 30

2020 has brought some good things! I was contracted by Our House Productions to work on artwork for Big Brother on CBS. I feel very fortunate because it is my four season in a row working with them! In addition to creating some of the art for the BB Comics challenge I also do concept art for other challenges on the show when needed.  

For BB Comics, I get briefing for each person I am to do a cover for along with some reference material, such as house guest photos. I have become a fan over the years and I TiVo each episode! I get additional reference of house guests from my TiVo recordings. I work off of my Wacom Cintiq connected to my iMac Pro. On the screen for the iMac Pro I put up all the reference and I sketch in Photoshop on the Cintiq.

First I like to start with a head sketch of the house guest because to me, the likeness is the most important part. After I get a likeness, I do a super quick sketch of the body situation and theme. I start refining it by adding a new layer and drawing on top. I may do this phase a few times.

After the sketch is mostly there I email to the producers to take a look at it. I then wait for their feedback and address any notes they have.

Once I have the approval I will start inking. I have been enjoying inking in Clip Studio Paint. I like the options of variations in the brushes they have. The action is good to as far as tapering and leaving a clean edge.

I bring the cleaned up art back into Photoshop and lay in flat colors. After flat colors are done the real fun starts! Rendering the highlights and shadows and adding textures!

After putting on the BB Comics seal, the title and tagline, it is time to send to the producers to get any final adjustments. Once approved, I email the PSD file and any/or other file types they might like. ALSO, if they need me to make a “B” version of the comic (the variant cover to throw off house guests) I will make tweaks or additional at this point generally.

If you haven’t seen Big Brother and are curious about it, Season 22 has two weeks left but you can see episodes on CBS.com

https://www.cbs.com/shows/big_brother/

Big Brother S22 Episode 30 – BB COMICS HERE!

I have all the cover I have done HERE!

Let me know if you have any comments or questions! Thanks for checking out my blog!

-Robb

Head sketch!
Quick body sketch.
Refine that sketch.
Refine the body more!
Submitted rough art.
Inked art.
Lay flats in.
Paint more!
Finish painting, revisions. Add BB seal, title and final touches.

All artwork on this website is the property of the artist and stated clients. Unauthorized use or reproduction without expressed written permission is strictly prohibited.