Polar Bears Love 3D

Any time I get the chance to draw an animal, I am thrilled, and a polar bear with 3D glasses? Well, you can imagine how much fun I had with this job. This little character was used for a holiday e-card for the magazine AV Technology. Thanks, AVT!

Instruction to Go

This illustration is on the cover of the December issue of AV Technology and inside the issue as well. The article deals with portable webcasting, specifically webcasting to smart phones and tablets for teaching and training. AVT is always a pleasure to work with. Thanks again, Margot and Nicole!

Telepresence & Videoconferencing

This is an illustration for an article about telepresence and videoconferencing in the November issue of AV Technology. It was a fun challenge to come up with a way of illustrating this subject in an interesting way. Thanks, Margot and Nicole!




For this same issue, I also did a portrait of one of the magazine's contributors.

Got Bandwidth?

This illustration is inside and outside of the October issue of AV Technology. It started as a full page interior illustration, and then, during the sketch process, they decided they wanted to use it for the cover as well. I had a lot of fun with this piece, and I also liked the way the Art Director incorporated the Wifi balloons into the page layout. I just finished up two illustrations for the November issue, and I will be posting those soon. Thanks, Margot and Nicole!

Back to the Society

I went to Sketch Night at the Society of Illustrators last night. It was a fun night as always (these are some 2 minute poses) but also a little bittersweet. Matt Black, the best bartender ever, had his last night behind that historic bar last night. I am going to miss him at the Society, but I am glad he'll be slinging drinks in Union Square. Cheers, Matt. You will always be my favorite bartender, and I feel lucky to count you as a friend.

Dog Park

This is a series of dog scratchboards that I exhibited at the FIT Museum to mark the culmination of my MFA in Illustration. I received an MA from FIT in 2007, and went back to grad school for one year as they expanded the program to an MFA. That added "F" marks the terminal degree in Illustration. Thanks to everyone at the museum, my incredible classmates, and the amazing program chair Melanie Reim for a great show.








From my statement:
Dog Park is a visual exploration of the canine companions who fill the negative space in our urban environment.  In a place where both private and public space are coveted, many New Yorkers find ways to fit dogs of various sizes into their tiny apartments, jam-packed daily routines, and the densely woven fabric of the city itself.  In the midst of tall buildings crammed together tightly, sections of outdoor space are preserved and left empty for dogs to run, play, and engage each other while embracing their intrinsic dog-ness.

On seven kaolin clay panels of various sizes, life-size illustrations of dogs twist, skitter, leap, and crouch, as they individually inhabit a portion of empty space in their own unique way while interacting with each other across the wall. Executed using a self-generated approach to scratchboard, ink is splashed with a brush into black silhouettes on the clay surface. After the ink dries, white lines are carved into these flat, dark shapes to build dimension. The two sides of the process come together to create dogs that move organically in ways that both defy and follow their form, dripping, splattering, and shattering to life.

Todd Rundgren for Guitar World

This portrait of Todd Rundgren ran in the August issue of Guitar World. The article was about Rundgren's new album of Robert Johnson covers. The AD wanted to play with the idea of putting Rundgren in Johnson's shoes at the Crossroads, an idea I instantly loved. I had a great time working on this. Thanks, Alexis!

Black Badger Book Club

This is a project I did for the Black Badger Book Club. They needed an illustration of an angry badger reading that they could incorporate into a logo, and I was thrilled to oblige. I designed the character, and created three versions, one with a book, one listening to an audiobook, and one on an e-reader, while maintaining the same basic character. This was a very fun job -- thanks, Aaron and Marlee!

Anti-Muslim Inner Circle

These 10 scratchboard portraits of the men and women who put gasoline in the fire of the uprising of anti-Muslim sentiment were commissioned by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their magazine Intelligence Report.

You can read the article online here. Thanks, Sunny and Russell!

Bascom Lodge

This is an illustration of Bascom Lodge at the summit of Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts near North Adams, MA. This was printed on the programs for the best Hurricane Wedding you could ever imagine. Congratulations, Christa & Sienna!

Bark for Life

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Stephen Gardner, Alison Stephen, and Joan Chiverton drawing dog portraits at the Society of Illustrators volunteer table at the "Bark for Life" fundraising walk for the American Cancer Society. For whatever reason, I decided I would try doing scratchboards on the spot. I've never scratched from life before, but It was a blast. Here's some photos from the event, thanks to Alison for sending some of the photos she took!






Big thanks to Sigmund, Bruce, Woody, Dori, Lola, Amber, Lucy, and Oscar for all being such great models.

Ponca Playhouse

These are some illustrations I did recently for the upcoming 2011-2012 season of plays at the community theatre in my hometown of Ponca City, Oklahoma.


Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

"Doubt is a brilliant and powerful drama. The plot involves Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, who suspecting the young priest Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students, takes matters into her own hands. The play is less about scandal than about the fascinatingly nuanced questions of moral certainty."


I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts

"A Musical/Comedy, The play is a series of vignettes connected by the central theme of love and relationships. Despite a large number of characters, the show is typically done with a comparatively small cast."


All My Sons by Arthur Miller

"The Post WWII story of the Keller's, a seemingly All-American family that is hiding a dark secret. There are two sons -- Chris comes home from the war, and Larry does not. Their mother, Kate, believes Larry still to be alive. It is this belief which has enabled her, for three and a half years, to support her husband Joe by concealing her knowledge of a dreadful crime he has committed."


How the Other Half Loves by Alan Ayckbourn

"The action takes place at two dinner parties given on different nights that happen simultaneously on stage. It begins with one couple having an affair and having to invent a quick alibi for a late-night out together. The alibi goes wrong, somehow another couple is involved and finally a third, probably the most innocent of the lot, and the well meaning efforts of one of the party to straighten matters out causes chaos, misunderstandings, a fight and a black eye."

Last Week at the Society

These are some sketches from last Thursday at the Society. It was a great time, and it was so great to draw while hanging out with Alison Stephen and Daniel Hertzberg. Dan did his sketches digitally (you can see them here), and Alison and I kept it old school with ink. I hope we all do it again soon.

Genus Cool Guy

These illustrations are in the April-May issue of Complex magazine. They wanted the illos to have a text book sort of feel since this section is a field guide to the different species of cool guys and includes lots of style and lifestyle ideas for guys who relate. This was a lot of fun, and I love how they incorporated the illos into the page -- thanks, Brent and Ryan!

ILLABORATE

Well, somehow I completely neglected to make a blog post about a project that is very near and dear to my heart. How did this even happen? I'm going to fix it right now.


ILLABORATE is a collaborative illustration site that Kim Rosen and I created together. Illustrators collaborating to create a place for illustrators to collaborate made sense to us, and I feel so lucky to know someone like Kim who could make tackling a project like this not only possible but a total blast to make. Kim did a bang up job designing the site (including the fantastic logo) and I did the programing. The site has been live for several months, and it has been so cool to see the amazing collaborative pieces that have already been posted. Be sure to check out the site.


My first illaboration with Kim. The topic was Birth, a very appropriate way to get the ball rolling. Kim started the illustration, and I finished it.


My latest illaboration with the always awesome Daniel Hertzberg on the topic of Addiction. Again, Daniel started and I finished.