Elizabeth Whelan's wave logo

When I developed the wave as a symbol for my business I had no idea how popular this image would prove to be. Many new clients tell me that not only were they compelled to call me because of the artwork on my site, but also because they loved the wave! So here's a little info about how the wave came to be.


I've always loved living by the ocean so when I first began freelancing (quite a while ago!) I had a card with a mermaid on it, a pen and ink drawing in a vertical arrangement. At last I became a full-time freelancer using an interesting water-related name for my studio and created an early version of the wave as the visual on my card and site. I drew out a rough version in pencil, scanned it into the computer and then made the image out of overlapping shapes in Adobe Illustrator, a vector program that can be used much in the way one might develop a screenprint or woodcut print.

Later I changed the business name to that which I use now -- Elizabeth Whelan Illustrator -- which makes it a lot easier to find me on the internet than an obscure-if-creative studio name did! I kept the wave, brushing it up a bit, as the consistent image helped to bridge the name change. Even though it has far more colors than is usually suggested for a logo, I decided that a nicely printed business card would be worth the investment and created the website to coordinate.

Now that I'm living on an island the wave seems even more apropos. My new studio is a stone's throw from Vineyard Haven harbor, I still have the sailboat, and to get to the mainland I have to cross over water by boat or plane! Although many artists choose to show the tools of their trade (such as brushes or a palette) as a logo, I decided that this wave was a keeper.

The other influence on the choice of image is definitely the artist and printmaker of the Edo period, Katsushika Hokusai. For years my mother and I collected postcards and images of his 36 Views of Mount Fuji (although it seems we have a lot of copies of only a few of the views -- I'd love to see all 36 someday!), a series of woodblock prints that have been popular ever since he created them in the early 1800's. The first image in that series, The Great Wave off Kanagawa (shown below) not only influenced my wave symbol but his work in general compelled me to explore printmaking and illustration.