Michael Gibbs has been a freelance illustrator and designer since attending Pratt Institute as a photography and illustration major in the mid-70s. His award-winning artwork has appeared in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Worth Magazine, Consumer Reports, Harvard Business Review, and publications for United Airlines, Verizon, IBM, Sears, American Airlines, CitiGroup and Oracle. He has also illustrated the covers and features of dozens of alumni magazines including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, the University of Chicago and American University.
His illustrations have been recognized by prestigious art publications such as Communication Arts, 3×3 Magazine, Print, and Spectrum. His work has also been exhibited at a variety of museums and galleries including the Society of Illustrator’s Museum of American Illustration in New York City, the Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery in Los Angeles, and in Washington area at the Corcoran Museum of Art, the Sumner School Museum, Montgomery College Gallery and the University of Maryland Gallery.
View Michael’s portfolio at www.michaelgibbs.com.
Discover his award-winning alter ego M Glenwood at www.mglenwood.com.
Buy his stock illustration at www.stockillustration.com.
Congratulations to illustrator Michael Gibbs, whose artwork appeared today in The New York Times.
The article entitled, “Chasing Opportunity in an Age of Upheaval,” discusses the fact that while a series of extreme events in global financial markets this year have shaken investors’ confidence, some are maintaining his strategy of investing in undervalued companies.
May 29, 2010, Small Home Business magazine — Reporter Katelyn Thomas posted an article today about illustrator Michael Gibbs, that discussed how he earns a living as an artist.
“Technically, by doodling in school when I wasn’t supposed to. But my real interest in art began when I went to art school (Pratt Institute) as a photography major, got introduced to drawing, and gravitated toward it. I’d wanted to work for myself for as long as I grasped the concept of having to earn a living, so after art school and three years of working in a graphics department, I decided to jump into freelance illustration with both feet.”
Logo, illustration and design by Michael Gibbs
Client: Inkandescent Public Relations
Assignment: Create a logo that would be used on a website and other promotional materials.
Solution: The illustrated lightbulb worked as a focal point to illuminate the card, and also get across the message of being Inkandescent. The design was then translated into a website, which launched in September 2008 and a variation on the theme was integrated into a spin-off for the company, Be Inkandescent magazine.
Illustrated logo and design by Michael Gibbs
Concept and writing by Hope Katz Gibbs
Client: Hooks Book Events
Assignment: Create a promotional product to highlight the article about Hooks Book Events (HBE) that ran in The Washington Post magazine in January 2009, and also to feature the authors and high-profile corporations that hire HBE to bring those writers into their companies to inspire employees. Click here to view the back of the card.
Solution: By featuring the beautiful logo created by Michael Gibbs on the front of the card, and quotes from the authors and companies on the back, this card got people’s attention. Since it was designed as a postcard, it worked as a self-mailer, thank you note, and bookmark that the owners — Perry Pidgeon Hooks and Loretta Yenson — could tuck into all the books they sell.
Photo illustration and design by Michael Gibbs
Concept and writing by Hope Katz Gibbs, Inkandescent Public Relations
Client: The City of Fairfax School Board
Assignment: Create a postcard to mail to the 14,000 residents and business owners in the City of Fairfax, VA to inform them that the newsletter the School Board had been publishing since 2001 was going online.
Solution: By using an image of the homepage of the new website, and text that explained the reason for the shift from a printed newsletter to an online version, the School Board was able to inform its constituents of the change in an affordable, timely manner. In turn, the City residents responded by signing up to receive the electronic version of the newsletter. This enhanced the School Board’s reputation, and maintained the reach of Close-Up Online — a publication with important information about what is happening in the four City of Fairfax Schools. “Click here to read the back of the postcard”:
Illustration and design by Michael Gibbs
Website coding / database by Max Kukoy
Writing / Concept by Hope Katz Gibbs
About Be Inkandescent Magazine
In January 2010, the Inkandescent Group, LLC launched its new online magazine: Be Inkandescent: the ezine for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs: www.beinkandescent.com
Publisher Hope Katz Gibbs, president of Inkandescent Public Relations and a veteran journalist who has written for dozens of newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post and USA Today, created the publication as a way to share the expertise of her clients and other entrepreneurs who are making strides in their industries.
“At Inkandescent Public Relations, we focus on helping entrepreneurs get the visibility they need, frequent interviews by the nation’s top publications and also reach out with monthly newsletters to their own customers,” Gibbs notes. “Our goal for the magazine is to give a bigger voice to our clients and other entrepreneurs who have an important message for their fellow business owners.”
E-COMMERCE TIMES, MARCH 26, 2009 — “Apple wants a bigger chunk of the desktop computer market, but it’s unlikely to head downstream with stripped-down consumer offerings,” writes reporter Erika Morphy in a March 26 article for the E-Commerce Times and MacNewsWorld entitled Will Artists Still Love Macs Tomorrow?
“Artists and designers are loyal customers, but Apple already owns that segment. The enterprise is likely the most fertile ground for expansion,” she said. “Can Apple deliver a high-end product that meets both corporate and creative needs?” To find out, she interviewed illustrator Michael Gibbs, owner of Michael Gibbs Illustration & Design and art director of Inkandescent Public Relations.
Illustration by Michael Gibbs
Client: Vint Hill Craft Winery
Assignment: Create flyer to announce grand opening of Vint Hill Craft Winery
Opening for Harvest 2009
Orders taken beginning in March craft winery
Vint Hill Craft Winery will deliver a unique experience that focuses on winemaking; the skill, art and passion that surround it. Veteran Virginia winemaker Chris Pearmund is spearheading this new concept in personalized winemaking; ensuring quality, success and sustainability.
Illustration by Michael Gibbs
Client: Vint Hill Craft Winery
Assignment: Create rack card to promote Vint Hill Craft Winery
Client: Ray Summerell, CEO, and Chris Pearmund, winemaker
This rack card by Northern Virginia illustrator / designer Michael Gibbs was created for Vint Hill craft winery’s grand opening in the spring of 2009.
Clients: Ray Summerell, CEO, and Chris Pearmund, winemaker, approved the design and are distributing the rack cards at their other two wineries: Pearmund Cellars and The Winery La Grange.
Illustration and design by Michael Gibbs
Website coding / database by Max Kukoy
Writing / Concept by Hope Katz Gibbs
*About Hooks Book Events *
Hooks Book Events is a DC-based company that believes in the power of new ideas. This minority women-owned business specializes in providing low-cost book and author events for U.S. government agencies, corporations, non-profit organizations, trade associations, and corporations of all sizes.
“We know that by bringing the most important authors of our age into your organization, employees and constituents will be stimulated and inspired to develop new insights on important topics,” says Perry Pidgeon Hooks, who co-founded HooksBookEvents with Loretta Yenson in 2007, and since has arranged and organized hundreds of book events and given thousands of people the opportunity to listen to, talk with, question and applaud the world’s top thinkers — all in the comfort of their own offices.
In December 2008, Hooks Book Events hired Inkandescent Public Relations to update its website — just in time for a feature article to be published in The Washington Post Magazine.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the new site, and are so glad that Hope, Mike, and Max moved fast enough to get it launched before The Post article hit newsstands,” Hooks says. “We have gotten a ton of compliments.”
