Illustration for Great River Energy Kid’s Club

A few weeks ago I was hired by a local agency to create some artwork for a new interactive website for Great River Energy, a Minnesota company that provides electricity to a large part of the state. The site is promoting their “Brighter Kid’s Club” campaign designed to help kids learn about saving energy.
I was [...]

Parasites! (Advertising Illustration)

(Copyright © 2009 by Cedric Hohnstadt. All rights reserved.)
Earlier this summer I was hired by PreFurred Pet Care, a small business on the west coast, to help out with an ad campaign. They had seen an old piece from my portfolio depicting a cartoon flea and tick having a picnic on top of a dog’s [...]

“Trifecta” Packaging Illustration

Recently I was hired by a client to develop a packaging illustration for a new brand of barbeque sauce called “Trifecta”. The illustration will be used on the label of the bottles as well as on t-shirts, posters, and other marketing materials.
In horse racing a “trifecta” is the first, second, and third place finish in [...]

Download My Updated PDF Portfolios

Along with posting new work on my website and on this here blog, I also make samples of my work available as a free PDF download for clients to print and keep on file. The last time I updated the PDF was in January 2008. A lot has changed since then and an update was [...]

Bob Ostrom’s Illustration Tutorial

(Artwork by Bob Ostrom. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.)
Long-time illustrator Bob Ostrom has recently posted an excellent tutorial describing how he does his work. While you’re at it, don’t forget to browse his portfolio and blog as well. Great stuff!

Toy Design: Jungle Animals

Here’s one more project I did for DecoPac. It’s part of a series of jungle animal cake toys that were ultimately never produced.
The lion’s tail was meant to act like a lever which, when pushed, would cause his mouth to open and emit a “roar” noise from a tiny speaker.
I was asked to make the [...]

Toy Design: Monsters Vs. Aliens

Here’s yet another toy design I worked on for novelty cake supplier DecoPac. It’s a cake tie-in for the DreamWorks movie Monsters vs. Aliens. It’s a little hard to tell from the photo but it’s a figurine of the Insecto character and two plastic finger rings featuring the characters B.O.B and Missing Link. The background is a [...]

Good Friday Cartoon

Today is Good Friday, the day Christians celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus. A crucifixion seems like an odd thing to celebrate, but it is in fact good news. How’s that, you ask? A couple of years ago I partnered with the ministry of Living Waters to illustrate a short cartoon gospel tract that explains what [...]

Toy Design: Surfs Up Mickey Mouse!

For over a year now I’ve been designing toys for a company called DecoPac. They create many of the fancy birthday cakes you see in the grocery store bakeries, the ones with little plastic licensed characters on them. They offer a wide variety of quality cake designs for all occasions, and often develop fun themes [...]

The Purple Cow

Recently I was hired by Benchmark Education to illustrate a short children’s book called The Purple Cow. Not to be confused with the best seller by Seth Godin, this story is an epic saga about a cow that gives grape juice instead of milk.
The client gave me a great deal of editorial freedom so I [...]