Packaging Illustration by the Illustrator Ken Jacobsen

Hello designers, creative directors and art buyers, I'm Ken Jacobsen. I've been a freelance pen-and-ink illustrator full-time for over 25 years, creating classically-styled, hand-drawn illustrations for people like you all over the world.

This site shows a selection of llustrations that I’ve done for packaging. To see my other work, just click my logo at the upper right.

Style: My illustration style is influenced by the classic pen and ink illustrations of the
19th and early 20th centuries –themselves influenced by the woodcuts and engravings that preceded them.

Technique: I draw everything on a digitizing tablet, which I’ve been using since 1995, and all my work is created in digital format, unless requested otherwise.

Finished illustration: Whatever the client requires, whether vector or pixel format, including multiple layers, if desired.

If you're looking for illustration work like mine, please feel free to contact me any time.

A woodcut style pen and ink illustration that was created for wild rice packaging.

Usage: Organic Wild Rice label illustration
- I drew this illustration for the design firm of a North Dakota Sioux tribe.

Client: Flint Communications

A woodcut style illustration of a farm field background illustration and a character, created for packaging.

Usage: Packaging illustrations for Green Giant
– This background illustration appeared on all of Green Giant's canned and frozen packaging for over ten years.
I drew the Green Giant character separately.

Client: Pederson Gesk

Usage: Proposed logo redesign for Levis jeans
- I drew this as part of a rebranding proposal for Levis. The illustration is an update of their historic logo.
For a look at my process of sending sketches to the client for approval, click here.
Client: Cronan Design

Pen and ink animal character illustrations drawn in an engraving style for product packaging.

Usage: Packaging illustration
- As usual I drew these illustrations as pixel art and sent them to the client as vector art.
And as usual each illustration began as a sketch for the client's approval.
Client: Dollar Shave Club

A retro engraving style pen and ink wine label illustration drawn by the illustrator. The image shows both the art and the bottle.
Usage: Wine Label
- The client had a very clear idea of what they wanted and this is what I drew base on that.

Client: Paragraph Inc.

A classic, vintage woodcut style pen and ink illustration which the illustrator drew for flour packaging.
Usage: Packaging illustration, Gold Medal Oat Flour Blend
-This project started with a list of objects the client wanted included and I drew this based on that.

Client: Kroese Design

Vintage woodcut style wheat shock illustration, drawn by the illustrator for a bread company's logo.

Usage: Logo, Earthgrains Baking Co
- Earthgrain's liked my initial sketch so much they used it in their logo for over a decade.

Client: Murray Lienhart

Engraving style, color, vector art illustration created for the bottle of a brewery showing the package and the bottle.

Usage: Yards Cicada Ale label illustration
-After I drew this illustration I colored it and added texture after converting it to vector art.

Client: Paragraph Design

Classic style illustration of vegetables for packaging using pen and ink and watercolor.

Usage: Packaging, Corningware
-Here I added watercolor and pastels to my drawing. Only watercolor can give these natural colors.

Client: Dunn & Rice

Classic vintage style pen and ink logo illustration drawn by the illustrator and used for chocolates packaging.

Usage: B T McElrath Chocolates label
-This design firm did a wonderful job making a new chocolatier into an instant classic with
their type treatment and my illustration.

Client: This is Folly, Minneapolis

A color vector ilustration of a dog drawn by the illustrator for a dog food company's package label.
Usage: Dr Harvey's Specialty Diets package
-My drawing of a retriever, converted to vector art and colored.
The trickiest bit was getting the expression exactly right.

Client: Hampton Hargreaves, Pittsburgh

Color vector art for dog food package label drawn by the illustrator.
Usage: Dr Harvey's Specialty Diets package
- Another illustration I drew in several layers and converted to vectors, like the one above.
And like the illustration above the expression had to be just right.

Client: Hampton Hargreaves, Pittsburgh

Classic style pen and ink and watercolor label illustration for organic herb packaging.
Usage: Greenwise organic herb labels
- These are a few of many similar illustrations I drew and painted for Publix Foods organic products.
It's pen and ink with watercolor. For a closer view on my main website, click here.

Client: Publix Foods

Vintage engraving style pen and ink illustration, drawn by the artist for chocolate product packaging.

Usage: Debeukalaer labelling illustration
Client: Compass Design

Pen and ink

Vector art illustration of a farm field, flowers and vegetables for an organic product packaging

Usage: Plant Success Organic Mychorrhizae packaging
Client: Plant Revolution

Pixel art, converted to vectors

Classic woodcut style character illustration of a monk, drawn by the illlustrator for a whiskey bottle.

Usage: Whiskey label illustration
Client: Chris Gorney Design

Sketch only –client "went in a different direction"

An illustration of a farm scene drawn and painted for butter packaging in pen and ink with watercolor.

Usage: Publix Greenwise Organic Butter package art
Client: Publix Foods

Pen and ink with watercolor, each on a separate layer

A woodcut style illustration of a character drawn by the illustrator for a beer bottle label.

Usage: Pig's Eye Beer label
Client: M R Bolin

Pen & Ink

Woodcut style pen and ink with watercolor illustration for food packaging

Usage: Publix Greenwise Blue and Yellow Corn Chips
Client: Publix Foods

Pen and ink with watercolor

A classic style pen and ink portrait illustration drawn by the illustrator Ken Jacobsen for food packaging.
Usage: Maple Syrup Packaging
Client: Happy Monday

Pen and ink

Classic style Pen & ink & watercolor illustrations for fruit juice bottles.
Usage: Publix Greenwise Organic Fruit Juice
Client: Publix

Pen and ink with watercolor

This shows a whimsical classic style pen and ink illustration by Ken Jacobsen of an octopus for toiletry packaging.
Usage: Wanderer Face and Body Wash
Client: Dollar Shave Club

Pixel art, converted to vectors

A pen and ink woodcut style illustration of an outdoor scene drawn by the artist for dog food packaging.
Usage: 4life Packaging illustration
Client: Woodruff Sweitzer

Pen and ink, converted to vectors

Classic style pen & ink illustration with watercolor by the illustrator Ken Jacobsefor, created by the artist for food packaging.

Usage: Hellmann's Aioli labels
Client: Anthem Worldwide

Pen and ink with watercolor

This shows a woodcut style vector art illustration by Ken Jacobsen, drawn for organic coffee packaging. It also shows the packaging it was used on.

Usage: Greenwise Organic Colombian Coffee
Client: Publix Foods

Pen and ink, converted to vectors

Showing a woodcut style illustration by Ken Jacobsen of a winged horse along with the product packages it was created for.

Usage: Shifted Pre Workout Packaging
Client: We Are Parliament

Pixel art, converted to vectors

Pen and ink illustrations by the artist Ken Jacobsen for a beer label and photos of the label on the bottles.

Usage: Miloslaw Beer re-branding
Client: Ostecx Créative, Warsaw Poland

Vector art

A pen and ink illustration by Ken Jacobsen for the logo of a farm showing its produce and the company van with the logo on it.

Usage: Opfelfarm organic products
Client: Obrist und Partner, Zurich Switzerland

Vector art

A woodcut style illustration of pegasus, the winged horse, drawn by the illustrator Ken Jacobsen for packaging.

Usage: Wine label based on an original 16th century woodcut
Client: Obrist und Partner, Zurich Switzerland

Vector art

Packaging illustration by the illustrator Ken Jacobsen

Hello designers, creative directors and art buyers, I'm Ken Jacobsen. I've been a freelance pen-and-ink illustrator full-time for over 25 years, creating classically-styled, hand-drawn illustrations for people like you all over the world.