New piece...

...For my old pal Kerry Wakefeild over at Waitrose Kitchen in the UK. It was for a feature called "Food Fight" where two people in the know argue whether or not dinner parties are fun or indeed, lame. The Lady on the end, famous cook Rosemary Shrager say "Fun!", the fellow in the Pink shirt, Waitrose editor Will Sitwell say "bah-humbug!" Its was a full, double page spread, hence the funny empty area below the figures for the type.

She had seen the colored pencil drawing I did of my daughter and wanted to work some of that into the piece. It was a nice change from working solely with digital color although it did present some of its own challenges. Kinks that will need to be worked out for the next time...

Wax On

A quickie, pre-holiday spot for The Capitol, a political newspaper focusing on New York State politics. This was for an article focusing on NY's new Governor Andrew Cuomo and what he can learn from his neighborhood pal, NJ Governor Chris Christie. The AD asked for a student/teacher type of situation and we decided on the ultimate one... the Karate Kid. It was nice to pick up some work during the quiet weeks of Christmas and new years and as you might imagine, it was loads of fun to draw a big fat guy doing karate.

Old but cool

I found this clipping from last year featuring "This Green House" which I illustrated. Its from the What's Hot Now section of In Style magazine. Apparently, my drawings are as cool as a water bottle... awesome.

"History of the World" peice

For my upcoming show History of the World I'm doing a series of drawings based on my ideal/projected midlife crisis. (I figure its going to happen so I might as well put some planing into it) It basically involves me driving to Stewart's in a classic, Japanese car and eating some of their fine products. This particular zen moment involves a 1972 Nissan Hakosuka Skyline GT-R and some Ice Cream... probably Philly Vanilla or PB Pandemonium.

2010 A Tape Odyssey!

Another peice for Under The Radar magazine. As you may know, indie rock labels are apt to have special releases of their bands albums on vinyl. Well apparently, 2010 saw a resurgence of cassette tapes of all things! Now you kids may not know what to do with the retro items because they don't fit in your Iphone or whatever but some of us can still play them in our cars and are quite fond of them. Obviously, I was thrilled to get the assignment based on these little plastic gems. After toying with a few sketches, I made the obvious(?) connection between the return of records and tapes and the film 2001 A Space Odyssey. So I made the tape the monolith which in the film, makes a few grand returns when ever humanity needs a little push in the right direction. I also gave the record a "Hal 9000" eye because, lets face it, Hal is great. I would like to thank Wendy for letting me totally nerd out with this one, although I get the feeling I didn't have to twist her arm!


So anyway, I love tapes. In fact, tapes are responsible for one of my most awesome moves ever! I was at a friends house sometime during my high school days hanging out. We didn't say chillin' then. Naturally, I was drawing a picture of Spider-man or something when my pal says "Hey throw this radical tape in the boombox gnarly dude!" Before I can look up from what I was doing, I hear the tell-tale "clacka-clacka" of some punk-rock jams flying through the air. Did I panic? Oh no. My hand shot out like a cobra and I snatched that tape out of mid-air without even looking up! We both were like "Whoa Dude!!!" Like I said, it was one awesome move.

Another New Client... Bloomsberg Businessweek

New illo for a new client... Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine feature on Alloy Media and their grip on the teenage market. I have to admit, I was very pumped to get this as I am in fact a secret Gossip Girl fan. XOXO

Apparently, Alloy is moving into "webisodes" which you can watch on something called an "Ipad". Sounds a little new-fangled to me but the AD, Rob Vargas assures me these are real things that the kids are down with. At least he let me draw the text in instead of using one of them photo-chops. I also used to rough to get a shot in at Drew over at "this is you"... http://thisisyounothisisyou.blogspot.com

New Client, In These Times

Cover illustration for new client. "In These Times" is a political magazine for progressive folks and actually, one I check in on quite often. (If you're a lefty like me, I suggest you do the same) Anyway I was given the honor of the November issue cover based on a story on unenthusiastic democrats "saving their ass". Naturally we went with a donkey and after a few thoughts, settled on a straight ahead, unenthusiastic ass not putting on much of a political show. Thanks to Rachel Jefferson for supporting my ass... It's very fun to say ass a bunch of times and still be professional by the way.

This is you. No, this is you

Drew

Me

I am pleased to announce a ridiculous collaboration between myself and ancient foe/best pal, Andrew Degraff.

http://thisisyounothisisyou.blogspot.com/

Not only is he an stellar artist/illustrator but Drew is also a jerk like me. We have long been friendly rivals and like to beat each other up through drawin'. "This is you" was the most common insult our powerful minds could muster and is thus the title for our dumbness project. Please visit and enjoy. All of these works will eventually be shown at an exhibition in Spring 2011. The Asthmatic Gofer will not be for sale... I called dibbs like way long ago.

Duuuuuuhhhhhhh.......

Here's what happens when I try to write an artist statement for an exhibition I will be in...

Notice how I had to shoe-horn a letter into "procrastinate" because I can't even spell. Maybe I shouldn't try to write the smart-stuff in my sketchbook anymore.

Cover for Building Magazine (UK)

Brand new work just delivered this very morning... Cover image for Building Magazine in the UK. It relates to a story of a long established and famous English survey firm being bought up by American Giganti-corp (don't you hate how we always do that!) The wad of buildings they've worked on is representative of the legacy they'll leave behind. Thanks to AD Sam Jenkins for job and the request for bold color. I admit I got the scheme from one of my kid's toys but I think it looks good and really helps the image to pop. I'll have to reference My little Pony more often.

Its only after posting that I realise I'm repeating the pink halo from the image below... isn't that interesting? No, I'm not so sure it is.

Something's missing...

At the risk of turning this into some kind of sports/art blog (after all that soccer) I just have to say that listening to the Yanks on the radio is not the same without an occasional "Thilla from Godzilla"

VIVA LA VUVUZELA!!!!

Well, that's it. No more world cup to talk about with people that don't care what I'm talking about.

Oh Vuvuzela, how I shall miss your sound of a thousand bees operating palm-sanders.

There's something about big foreheads and baldness...

...that facilitates sweet goals! Think about it. Donovan and Bradley get a few for the US, Iniesta puts the whammy on the Dutch in super late extra time and in the last world-cup, Zidan headbutted that dude in the chest! While that last one was not technically a goal, it was still awesome.

As for the final itself, I thought for a moment that it would all end in penalties, which is always dumb. But thankfully we were sparred by a very pale, bald man. We watched the game at home and had an excellent Skype party with My wife's sister and Spanish brother-in-law back in London. Their house was full of Spanish pals, a few Dutch neighbors and of course my Niece and Nephew. It made for a rowdy good time even if our house was nearly empty and quiet for nap time. I wish we could have been there with them when they won but this was the next best thing.

What up, Slick!

New piece for Delaware Today magazine about a hypothetical oil spill off the coast of... well Delaware. Kelly Carter, super AD asked for less graphic imagery than the shock-horror of the oil-soaked birds and dead turtles we been seeing a lot of lately. So I went for a calm, natural-history type image of the State's famous Horseshoe Crab and the shine of the oil on the water.

Donde esta la Meta!?

So far, so bad for "El Nino". Spain's super foot/heart-throb Torres has yet to score in this Cup. Lets see how he does in the next match... just a few hours away. As I am now a Spanish fan by default I'm hoping he breaks the streak.

Those familiar with our Spanish friend here will remember his wacky, ultra Euro style, teenage superstar blond hair-do. I think his problem scoring is a direct result of his returning to his natural, un-dyed state and a relatively average cut. Yes it is still sticky-upy but sometimes, thats just not enough!