Penelope Illustration • Penelope Dullaghan

Things are slow and quiet here as we wait for the baby bean to arrive. I am really soaking in in this down time, almost literally — a lot of my activities include water. Taking lots of warm showers and using oils and lotions to hydrate my skin. Soaking (and kicking) in the warm water [...]

I’m just all about updating my News Section these days. (Thank you for your kind comments and feedback!) Five more projects have been added, including the one pictured above, which was from one of my fave assignments to date. Check them out if you have some spare time! :)

This is the February edition of the IPL Newsletter. A little grayed down from the holiday one, because that seemed appropriate for February. I couldn’t resist the punches of red though. :)
front:

back:

Closeups:

This was definitely one of my most fun assignments to date. I worked with art director Ryan Noel from Borshoff on this campaign for IPL to support community in Indianapolis. So it’s a wide range of topics, and media was placed in various pubs for events and happenings in the city.
Ryan came up with the [...]

This piece was done in collaboration with Thomas Printers, a letterpress company, for a writers speaking event series. It was challenging to create art separated out into color field for printing, but I think the end results are wonderful! They even managed to print some of that good texture that is in most of my [...]

Plum Productions, a visual production company based in Chicago, called to work with me on some animations for a life insurance company. They usually use stock imagery (boo!) and were going out on a limb to pitch illustration to their client. It was fun working with them and making frames for each stage of the [...]

The Washington Post recently hired me to do an illustration for the book review “Rules of the Game”. I came up with several concepts, and this is the one they chose. I also did a version in color for fun.

Below is another piece I did for Oprah Magazine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t used (they opted for a photograph in the final print). I think the specs changed at the last minute and the illustration didn’t fit the new size. That’s how it goes sometimes though!

I had the pleasure of working with Oprah Magazine on an illustrated piece about a woman who donated a favorite sweater only to discover it in Rwanda years later. The story is about how intertwined our lives on this planet have become.
Here’s the illo:

And the piece in context:

I just added five recently completed assignments to the News page. Check them out if you have a moment. :)
Cheers!

A cover and sequence of illustrations done for Vanderbilt University Magazine. The story was about a girl who lost her mother and was a bit lost herself…
Cover:

Interior Illo:

Spots:

Target came to me for a gift card for the Hanukkah holiday. They wanted a present made up of nine smaller presents in a blue color scheme. It was fun to create all the patterns for this assignment, even if they didn’t end up producing it. Dah well. :)

Nathaniel came to me for a logo and icons when he came up with an idea for a new website called Reading Trails. Reading Trails is a collaborative website where you can discover new books and new readers and keep track of what you’re reading. He wanted an illustrated logo, so this is what I [...]

This illustration was for a story about setting up trusts for you and your heirs to live off of in the future. I thought passing the money torch would be an easy, quick read… and fit nicely into the skinny illustration format.

I’ve been working on illustrating the newsletters that are sent out to Indianapolis Power & Light customers. They’re super fun to work on, as I have a lot of creative freedom and like to come up with a sort of visual look for each. The stories about how to save money and energy are fun [...]

Baby Bump – 37.5 weeks
I am not too keen on baby showers. I don’t like to play games of melting candy bars in diapers or who can guess the circumference of the belly with a strand of yarn. Not really my thing. And I feel really uncomfortable as the center of attention and asking guests [...]

(“Helicopter” illustration. Available for purchase here.)

A friend recently emailed me this article from Orion Magazine, which I really enjoyed… Thought I’d pass it along. A good reminder to unplug occasionally and live/be/see.

“Babe! My face exploded!”
This is how I woke Colin up this morning after I’d accidently scratched open the strawberry (the small red mole) on my cheek. I was sleeping somewhat soundly and suddenly felt wetness gush all over my face. I jumped out of bed (I still have no idea how I managed that with [...]

(image courtesy of Leonie Allan)
I mentioned a while back that Leonie Allan was leading a creative goddess e-course starting January 15th… and well, that’s right around the corner now! There is still time for you to sign up if you wish to infuse your year beginning with a creative punch. Leonie graciously did a quick [...]