Hawaii Dreaming

Illustration ©2015 Steven Duncan, Lake House Studio

Today I'm feeling like I need a little tropical inspiration. February in Minnesota is the beginning of the "I gotta get out of here to defrost" mindset. Luckily, this winter hasn't been all that bad (or maybe I've finally acclimated?)...

I studied art at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, which is just mauka (Hawaiian for "toward the mountains") from Waikiki Beach. I worked at the Royal Hawaiian during my studies and was surrounded by some of the most beautiful and historic Vintage Hawaiiana in public display.

This is a poster that I illustrated and designed a few years ago celebrating all the fun of vintage Waikiki. Whenever I get cold or need a mind vacation I pull out artwork from "Aloha State", a line of Hawaiian stationery products, and I imagine being back home walking down Kalakaua Ave heading for Waikiki Beach.

"A Hui Ho, Waikiki" (Hawaiian for "Until next time, Waikiki").

It's Carnival Time

Illustrations © 2011 October Afternoon

These were some of my favorite illustrations to design just because of the challenges involved in rendering them.  They are part of a stationery program by October Afternoon called Midway. The top illustration is an alphabet paper consisting of 37 separate photorealistic illustrations of carnival signage.  All of the illustrations were rendered using Illustrator CS.