Dolly Parton, 1946-2026. One of the very few people I've ever drawn who saw their own portrait. Here she is with it, built on her words: "If you see someone without a smile, give 'em yours." Rest easy, Dolly.

Happy birthday, Cal Ripken Jr.! In 1983 he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #CalRipken art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Korryn Gaines would be 33 today. In 2016, Baltimore County police shot and killed her in her own apartment. Her son was wounded in the gunfire. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #KorrynGaines #SayHerName art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Happy birthday, LoAnn Dellis! Her family's Michael's Café is known for its homemade crab cakes, made from a secret recipe. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #LoAnnDellis art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

A Leonard Cohen piece just found a new home in France. "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." From Anthem, 1992. Get one of your own: art.zerflin.com/product/leonard-norman-cohen/ #art #zerflin #LeonardCohen

A Bruce Lee print just found a new home in Catonsville, MD. "Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Be water, my friend." Get one of your own: art.zerflin.com/product/bruce-lee/ #art #zerflin #BruceLee

A Mildred and Richard Loving print just found a new home in Phoenixville, PA. Their 1967 case, Loving v. Virginia, struck down every U.S. law banning interracial marriage. Get one of your own: art.zerflin.com/product/mildred-and-richard-loving/ #art #zerflin #Loving

Happy birthday, Barack Obama! His first name means one who is blessed in Swahili. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #BarackObama art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

It's Blues Music Day. Horn up, eyes closed, pure feeling. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #blues art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Happy birthday, Yves Saint Laurent! Did you know he was the first living designer to receive a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? #art #design #zerflin #illustration #YvesSaintLaurent art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Happy birthday, Walter Sondheim Jr.! Thanks to his efforts, Baltimore became the first district below the Mason-Dixon line to desegregate its public schools. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #WalterSondheim art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

It's Moon Landing Day. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 put us on another world. This one dreams up three. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #moonlanding art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Happy birthday, Abdu Ali! The mind behind the podcast Drumbooty, where intellectuals and activists dig into gender politics and colorism. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #AbduAli art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Happy birthday, Nelson Mandela! His birth name, Rolihlahla, literally means to pull a branch off a tree, and colloquially, troublemaker. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #NelsonMandela art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Harambee means "all pull together" in Swahili, so we built a logo that does exactly that: three bands woven into one shield around a cross.

For Guider, "the consulting guide," the letterhead carried the compass down the full page.

For Guider, "the consulting guide," the business card took the compass from the logo and opened it right up.

For Guider, "the consulting guide," the envelope kept it spare.

Soak it in. We're in the sunniest stretch of the year, and this one is pure blue sky, green hills, and a star balloon catching the breeze. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #sunshine art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Guider, "the consulting guide," was Kathy "Kaye" Guider's consulting practice, so we made the logo literal.

Gowns by G makes wedding dresses one bride at a time, so we art-directed a card that feels like the gown, not the shop.

Back in 2011 we built Podium Multisport's first website, and treated it like a cycling magazine, not a storefront.

For God's Kitchen, a caterer whose whole idea is breaking bread together, we drew the logo as a single warm loaf.

Kathy runs God's Kitchen, catering the churches, graduations, weddings, and reunions where breaking bread is the point. Her business card puts a loaf at the center and wraps every occasion she caters around the border.

Go Outside was one of our earliest campaigns, with one message: turn off the TV and go outside. The punchline is go(outside).com, a website that on purpose doesn't work at all. zerflin.com/item/go-outs...

For Gallery 788's Sondheim Awards show in the Artscape Gallery Network: SONDHEIM AWARDS in big isometric 3D type over a faceted low-poly field. Featuring Randi Reiss-McCormack, Emily Campbell, David Ubias, Mia Weiner, and Sam Fein. zerflin.com/item/gallery...

It's Vintage Motorcycle Day. The whole creed spirals around the bike: I would rather be thinking about God on my motorcycle than in Church thinking about my Motorcycle. #art #design #zerflin #illustration #motorcycle art.zerflin.com/portfolio-it...

Sell Your Soul was a rock 'n' roll flea market at Gallery 788. Alex Fine drew Madonna cradling a giant flea, a literal flea market, and we built the poster around it in hot pink, red, and yellow. zerflin.com/item/gallery...

For Gallery 788's open-call Salon Show, we went punk-rock gig poster: SALON SHOW in heavy black capitals with an orange revolver and a row of stars, loud and DIY to match a salon that took all comers. zerflin.com/item/gallery...

Pretty Vacant was a street art silent auction at Gallery 788, raising money for Carol Ott's Housing Policy Watch. We lettered PRETTY VACANT over a gutted Baltimore rowhouse and a bright yellow sky, with work from Gaia, Nether, Pablo Machioli, and more. zerflin.com/item/gallery...