Reflections: Family Portrait

In October of 2024, I was thoroughly blessed to be able to attend the annual Adobe MAX in person and take classes with some absolutely incredible artists and designers. These classes grew my skills as a illustrator, animator, and creative. One of my favorite classes was taught by Erikas Chesonis, a designer and illustrator with a unique geometric style he uses to create the most stunning portraits of all kinds of flora and fauna. His Oregon State Parks Illustration Library project is exactly the kind of work that inspired me to get into graphic design! His illustration tips and tricks for that particular style inspired my design direction for the firework label for “FIRETIGER”, featured in my Spirit of ‘76 portfolio work. My partner absolutely loved that label, which gave me an idea.

Enter: our family portrait! You’ll notice it’s all cats. We have five cats in our home, and it’s nearly impossible to get all of them together for a family photo. I’ve commissioned family portraits before, featuring other artists’ renditions of our little horde, but I’d never taken a crack at it myself. I think (and my partner agrees) that this is the best portrait of them all, perfectly showcasing our little gremlins and their idiosyncrasies. Our grey tabby is a terror, our siamese is just a little cross eyed, and our tortie sports her signature one-eyed glare. I included a few other sentimental details, including our last initial making up the lattice in the background, and gifted this piece to my partner for Christmas. It’s now one of our favorite art pieces.