The Skinny

Occasionally I make more work for myself under tight deadlines by providing one or more finished peices at the sketch phase. It's a gamble that works only sometimes.

In this NY Times week-in-review story - about the health contrasts between heavier and thinner people - I chose to follow through with 2 abstract directions (above) while the piece called for a more direct approach (below). I am happy with all though.

a couple MORE

Disaster Date

When The Big One Comes

I was contacted by MORE Magazine, the magazine for women in their 40's. I was a little worried that I'd be too far out of my demographic element to do a good job (ok, I'm just one year and one gender away), then I read the stories, which were really fun and funny, so the ideas came easy. They seemed to enjoy a little rawness to the art, as well. Thanks to Maxine Davidowitz.

Slight Family Resemblance

It must be the time of year, but every fall, I feel the need to do some extra-curricular drawing (maybe it’s a latent back-to-school feeling left over from childhood).

Anyway, this one was inspired by a family trip to PetSmart with our Boston. Watercolor is not something I know much about, but this sketch came together pretty well.

Soft Targets

Daniel Kiss (a great rockstar name), from the Chicago band Soft Targets, contacted me about doing a poster. He liked the Thempire comic I did for Nozone X. It's been a while since I've had any art silkscreened and I thought it would be fun. Plus their band name suggested lots of possibilities (this one selected from several concepts). The poster should be printing right now, and if your in Chicago next month-- check out their show. No Cover!

Emmy in a Box

When he is not design director of NYTimes.com, Khoi Vinh, runs a great design-related web site called Subtraction.com. He's also launched abriefmessage.com which features a short, weekly, 200 word essay on design/culture paired with an illustration or photo. He was kind enough to ask me to contribute to a story about SNL's Dick in a Box video winning it's well deserved Emmy.

On the Road– again

Getting the cover assignment for this week’s NYTimes Book Review was thrilling, especially since it’s subjects are Jack Kerouac and the 50th anniversary of ”On the Road.” I'd seen JK's original scrolled manuscript in a Beat artist exhibit - It helped inform the drawn type on the cover. We kept this one simple, although for added drama, we knocked the masthead out of his shock of black hair. The second illustration is from a related interior article about Kerouac’s continued relevance.

Unlocking the Code

This was for a great story in Business Week about DNA tests exonerating innocent convicts. It casts a pretty amazing and hopeful light on the modern world.

Marathon Drawing

The good folks at Runners World magazine have given me several great assignments recently, but this drawing may be the most complicated assignment I’ve ever tried to pull off!

For their magazine opener, Design Director Kory Kennedy and his editors envisioned a Where's Waldo-type dissection of a marathon race day. They had 40 specific scenarios for me to draw in the spread, everything from porta-potty etiquette to photo-finishes. After a few style explorations, we decided to go with a clear, almost European comic style (I even threw a grown-up Tin Tin into the race for fun)

Collapse

August 1st was a horrible day here in Minneapolis. The 35 W bridge was a main artery through town, driven by everyone. It's collapse was a shocking reminder of how fragile even the most massive structure can be. Sadly, news of the victims continues to emerge. As well, stories of the survivors and rescue workers make me proud to live in such a great city.

I attempted to put my feelings about that day into a graphic narrative.

* this has become a work in progress with color added 11/07, maybe a finished version will see the light of day sometime.

Good... Times

Aviva Michelov is someone I'd enjoyed working with when she’d freelance art direct at the Times. I was happy to hear she'd been given the Week in Review post permanently. These are a few drawings and Timeline illustrations I have done with her.

More Good... Times

A few more for Brian Rea and the Op Ed page: Mr. Oh (below) is the all-time greatest home run hitter in professional baseball, with or without steroids. He just happened to play in Japan, so he's not a household name stateside.


(Above) a mood peice about Antiqua for the Times's Summer Scapes series.

...and a bottle of Rum

A.D. Adam Levine from Prologue asked me for some loose sketch art to use in an animated opening sequence of Cane: the Sopranos meets Miami Vice television show starring Bail Organa-- I mean Jimmy Smitts!

Prologue is the motion graphics house founded by the amazing Kyle Cooper.

Outdoor Adventures

I gotten several assignments from outdoors magazines - which is great because they really let me play with kinetic action, such a great part of comic art.



Last winter, outside Magazine's John McCauley asked me to cover their Oscars angle (above). Along with Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, there were several outdoor documentaries up for awards.





5420 is Denver’s regional magazine. While not specifically an outdoors magazine, it’s about, well... Colorado! These are illustrations of white-water fly fishing and burro racing (above) - 2 extreme sports available in the area. Art director Mike Leister, put this one together.

I have also done a few series’ for Skiing magazine’s Dave Allen. We've had a lot of fun with the category, this series being a life list of things to do - on a mountain, like ski naked (below).

Flaming Death Rainbow

A New York Times Book Review piece for the new Chuck Palahniuk novel Rant. I had been working on a very cute, manga-style wedding present for a friend (see my comics blog) when I got this assignment. I wondered if I could do something anti-cute in the same style. After turning it in, I told my wife that Death Rainbow would be a great band name. She said “sure, for a bunch of thirteen year old girls.”

Note: this one unfortunately ran b/w at the last minute. This here's your color exclusive.

Gentlemen’s Quarterly

Christopher Buckley

Russell Simmons

50 Cent

Drue Wagner at GQ called for a portrait of satire novelist Christopher Buckley. I didn't know much about him at, but you'd hope he'd have a sense of humor with a dad like William F--! I used the pen to reference his well regarded book (and movie) Thank You For Smoking.

A month later Drue called and they wanted a portrait of Russell Simmons. He had just written a book about hip-hop and his Macchiavellian approach to power-building. I thought we should draw him as Macchiavelli and we finalized the above drawing. Soon afterwards Drue let me know the story was being held for the next issue and expanded. A few weeks later we got the story, a humor piece and it referenced 50 Cent and a lot more bling - so this is the one that ran.

Seasonal Concepts (not just a store at the mall)

Pilgrim’s Crossing

Leaf Lookers

Anywhere But...

Egg Coloring

Sometimes it is nice to just draw. These concepts are cover pitches and/or postcard promotions for an intended season - with bigger canvases, broader concepts and a self-imposed deadlines (amazing they got finished).

New Yorker - Goings on About Town

Kim Basinger, Danny Devito in Even Money

Jeremy Piven in Smoking Aces


Fritz Lang’s Fury

Pamela Sneed, Monologist

Merce Cunningham


District B-13

Wassup Rockers

Crank

Grant McLennan, Musician

On Deadly Ground

Over the last year or so, it’s been a blast working with Maximilian Bode, New Yorker art director and Illustrator (also - the least boring name in contemporary illustration). He's sent me lots of great action and noir movies to tackle as well as a French made Hong Kong style sci-fi thriller. Who knew?

Prior to working with Max, I created several illustrations (below) for Owen Phillips over the years. Owen’s distinguished art directing tenure at the New Yorker (and frequent restaurant reviews) led him to an editorship position at Men's Vogue.

Infernal Affairs - Tony Leung Film Festival

Downtown Show art opening

Edgar J. Ulmer, American Film Noir / Yiddish Cinema pioneer
Kiss Me Deadly
the band Afghan Whigs (second drawing ran)