Hello, my name is David Terrill,
and I'm a doodle addict. Kansas City Plus

David Terrill has been creating compelling illustration for 30 years. His journey from laboring in an Ohio steel mill, working as a freelance illustrator, to wearing many creative hats in design agencies. David's storied path led to his ultimate destination as Associate Professor of Illustration, Kansas City Art Institute, and part-time Creative Director/Director of Talent at C3, a leading family design agency. David enjoys family travels while recording adventures in his sketchbook. On their recent experience in China, they swam in the South China Sea, hiked Great Wall of China (slept in an ancient watchtower), traveled 1,400 miles by train, and resided in a Beijing Hutong. David has been recognized by American Illustration 39, Communication Arts, The Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles, and 3X3, The Magazine for Contemporary Illustration. David has lectured at ICON9, The Illustration Conference's Educational Symposium: Radical Teaching; New Approaches in Pedagogy in Austin, Texas, and at ICON10's Educational Symposium on The Sketchbook, in Detroit, Michigan.

HIRE ME

I specialize in drawing, illustration, painting, pen and ink, sketchbook, sketching.

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David Terrill's Uploads

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Nerded out at the Kennedy Space Center last summer. Here are a few of the sketches.

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A few of my favorite pages from my sketchbook documenting my trip to China in the summer of 2017. An amazing and life changing experience.

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Experimenting with Procreate on the iPad

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Every spring I visit this magnificent pin oak when taking my class out to draw.

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Wow, I just discovered Claybord, what an amazing substrate to create on! Here are a few images I have been experimenting with.

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Sketchbook drawings and collage I made of a recent model session.

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Portraits of authors, actors, and directors connected to the theme of horror/suspense. A few from the series made during a past Inktober event.

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From the soundtrack of my youth. RIP. 10” x 15” Original ink and watercolor illustration on Strathmore 500 Series 4-ply Bristol illustration paper. Signed by the artist. Unframed.

The Sketchbook: Lets Connect, ICON10 The Illustration Conference Book

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This is the book I made which contains the educational paper I wrote and illustrated about my trip to China in the summer of 2017. I gave a lecture entitled, The Sketchbook: Let's Connect at ICON10, The Illustration Conference in Detroit, MI this past July. I gave a few of these books out along with pocket sketchbooks to the audience. Below are a few spreads from the 40-page book.

Four legs good, two legs bad.

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Experimenting today with an oil transfer drawing technique. The red and purple lines are oil drawn/transferred to hot press 140 pound watercolor paper with watercolor applied. The oil resists the watercolor.

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So thankful for this experience that I shared with my class today. For the last 3 spring semesters, I’ve had the opportunity to take my KCAI Cultural Safari senior sketchbook class to draw from donor cadavers. Every year I am reminded of how amazing and intricate the human body is. I am also humbled by the generosity of the donors giving their remains to train young physicians. The conversations that result from these encounters always prove to be enlightening and inspirational. These are a few of my drawings I made.

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Sketching in Procreate on the iPad.

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Details of the stand up bass player and the pianist.

Reportage Drawings of the Recording of a Jazz Album

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Wow! I was invited to spend the day in the recording studio drawing the creation of a jazz album. I will be going back to my studio to create the album cover art for the project. Included are few photos of my process drawings from the session. It was an amazing experience to spend time with these incredible musicians. I will share the final results at a later date.

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A couple of winter tree drawings.

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I was fortunate enough to to take my sketchbook class to observe medical students dissect donor cadavers. These donors gave there bodies to science to further our knowledge of the human anatomy and to train our future doctors. We worked alongside the med students and anatomy fellows. It was a humbling and fascinating experience.

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My drawings today from my sketchbook class, we were drawing cadavers. These are from the head and neck dissections of the donors. This is one of my favorite locations I take my students. It is humbling.

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Playing with some experimental media while drawing from life with my students last spring. Gearing up for new sessions in a couple weeks.

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David Terrill's Uploads