A Randy in Time

When I was a boy, my mother would take us to the library. Before I was old enough to read it, I used to pass by this one book every time we went that caught my eye. It had this amazing looking centaur- (where were his arms?!?) flying over this menacing, powerful face. It was, quite simply- the coolest book cover ever...no exaggeration. The book was "A Wrinkle in Time" By Madeline L'engle. And while we're at it- how about the title? Awesome, right? Eventually I was old enough to read the book, and the ones that followed in the series. I loved these books. Even more than those books, I loved that first cover and it (obviously) left quite an impression on me.

Cut to: Years later and an old friend contacts me asking me to do his album art based on...you guessed it: Dumbo. OK, so it was based on "A Wrinkle in Time". How could I resist? We ended up with something quite different from this but this was my homage to that amazing original cover - if anyone knows the original artist I would love to give him/her credit for their brilliant work. (which I have below as well) 

Influence Map

This is a fun little meme started by "fox-orian" at deviantart.com. A little something to keep ourselves inspired and remember why we make art. Those early influences for me, still resonate. What inspires you?

I know I didn't follow the directions 100%- so sue me.

I know I didn't follow the directions 100%- so sue me. 

Judge John Roberts

This series was used on the cover of the Village Voice years ago when President Bush appointed John Roberts Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Got me a few minutes on "Hard Copy"- would love to dig up that footage one day! The idea being that Judge Roberts, as with all the Supreme Court Justices, was here for life. Thought now would be a good time to show it again.

Summertime in NYC

This is the cover for the Village Voice's Summer Arts preview which hit stands yesterday.

The Coolest Man in the World

When I was a kid, my Unlce Sandy was the coolest man in the world. He was Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies. He was Billy Joel from Glass Houses. He was tall, he played guitar and damn was he funny. He was who I wanted to be when I grew up. I do play guitar, very infrequently and not very well. I have been known to rattle off a quip or two and I am a remarkable 6 feet seven inches tall... OK, but I am funny! Love you Uncle Sandy! This is him circa 1971ish or  1972ish.

Best of New York

I am FINALLY getting around to posting this! I was honored to do a series for the Village Voice's annual "Best of New York" issue. Brian T. Silak, my frequent collaborator and friend did some great landscape photography for me to use on this one. The concept was basically that here in New York we have a little something from every where! A little bit of Paris here, a dash of Italy there, you get the idea. So we inserted some of the great landmarks of the world into our fair city (Also, being a Knicks fan, I couldn't resist the temptation to  take a little shot at the Heat)!

Yes, that is Hipster Jesus.

Yes, that is Hipster Jesus.

Long time no see!

I realize it's been a while since I've posted here. I have been busy! I've just completed work on a series of 7 pieces that will take you through a very unusual day in New York. So excited to show this new work. Look for it in the Village Voice (if you are here in NY) in the next week or two. Afterwards, I'll post them here on the blog. See you soon!

Who Left the Window Open?

This is an older job and one I was always sort of torn about. It never really got me excited like some of my other images do but there was...something I liked about it. See, I like including people wherever I can to my work. I like people. So it is as much to my surprise as anyone's that I submitted the sketch for this job to begin with. But it got accepted to go to finish and here it is. It's not a perfect work by any means and I would have liked to have had someone in the piece. BUT I thought it kind of a ballsy move to make the city green. My palette, while not usually what anyone would consider "natural", doesn't usualy go as "out there" as to make a green cityscape. But here it is. There's kind of a strange lit-from-below thing happening with the chair in the corner. The creepy lighting and the weird cityscape color goes towards making the whole thing feel a little foreboding, a little "off".  We have a NOIR-thing going on. THe GREENS, REDS and YELLOWS make me think of those great pulp novel covers. Some of the light and dark work- specifically the unnatural hilight on the panes of glass in the windows, and those shapes of the open window frames themselves  remind me of the amazing Tamara De Lempicka. Maybe my human element was JUST HERE and left in a hurry, without closing the window, letting the papers are fly out the window. Que noir music!

Unions

Now seems like a good time to post this illustration I recently completed for American School Board Magazine concerning the attempts to decertify teachers unions and how this time, attempts may prove to be successful. The paper doll metaphor was initially thought of by my wonderful wife while the other inspirations were the great Saul Bass' poster for EXODUS and the 1980's movie poster for TEACHERS. 

 


The Future of Financial Advice

Here's a bit of a progression of one of the last jobs I did for the cover of RESEARCH magazine. The article concerned the future of financial advisors and how they would communicate with their clients. The Art Director wanted to show our Advisor talking to holographic projections of his clients. I've enclosed the final approved sketch along with the first iteration which showed the outer space background and the younger (and devilishly handsome) advisor. The final featured the older and more appropriate advisor along with the leafy neighborhood outside the window. As another little note: I got to use a TEENY TINY bit of ZBRUSH on this one for the holographic projectors!

 

I'm a Loser

Well, not really but I certainly didn't win the Tekserve Mac FAQ cover contest. Here's my entries though...

Investment Advisor and CS5

New work for Investment Advisor magazine featuring the new painting tools in Photoshop CS5. The article was about having a succession plan in your business. I've included the photo used to create the man riding the giant eagle and the result of the new painting features. Might be a new trend for me in my work moving forward...

Moneybag

This was a cover I recently completed for HR magazine concerning our retirement funds and what we can do about shoring them up!

Do the Devolution!

A little progress video I made a few years ago wherein you get to watch as I transform into a caveman!

 

The Sprewell Principle and Mel Gibson.

I am a huge fan of the New York Knicks. Years ago, the Knicks brought in a player named Latrell Sprewell. Now, Sprewell was a terrific player. The guy had speed, power, could shoot,  and most importantly, the nastiness you need to play in New York. Great signing, right? Well, not so fast. Before coming to New York, Latrell played for the Golden State Warriors and was involved in an incident with his coach. I say "involved in an incident" when what actually happened was Sprewell choked the living hell out of the guy. As a result, he was fined, suspended and no team wanted to touch the guy. Except the Knicks. He ended up coming here and being a part of a winning club, going to the finals, the all star game- generally being a great part of a winning team.


When I first heard about the choking incident my first reaction was: "What a thug, awful thing to do, how could you do that in a professional setting, what a jackass, terrible guy, etc." Then I heard the Knicks were going to sign him and I had to realign my position a bit. You see, for as much as I hated what he did, I really wanted to see my Knicks be successful. So I decided that just because we know what Latrell did, doesn't mean other guys in the league aren't doing as bad or worse things that we DON'T know about. I knew that if a player was great and on my team, I am going to root like hell for him, damn the off the court stuff. That line of thinking led me to think about other areas where performers, or better yet, where ARTISTS are involved. After all, athletes are artists as much as anyone. So what does this "Sprewell Principle" mean for all artists?

As an artist myself, I have people whose work I truly admire and follow and kind of put up on a pedestal. I had heard story after story of people meeting some of my artistic heroes and them turning out to be major league jerks. It got to a point where I decided that, not only do I never want to meet some of my heroes, but that wether or not they were jerks was kind of irrelevant. After all, Michelangelo could have been a world class asshole and how would we know? For all we know, Leonardo Da Vinci was a prick! Does it change their art, or my appreciation for it? Not at all.

Basically it comes down to the idea that I believe we have to have a bit of a disconnect in order for us to truly appreciate an artists work. And by that I mean all artists, athletes, actors, singers- the whole lot of 'em. Do you know about that famous singer's penchant for dressing up like Musolini and wearing a watermelon on his head? No? but his album is #1 on the chart! What about the bisexual necrophiliac baseball player? No? But he's in the hall of fame! My point is- what we don't know is probably a good thing- at least when it comes to the appreciation of art.

Which brings me to Mel Gibson (good segue, eh?). I used to be a Mel gibson fan, who doesn't love the first 2 Lethal Weapon movies? Mad Max? The guy was cool and funny. Then the whole anti-simetic, drunken rant happened. Kinda made me look twice at the guy. That rant offended me, not because of the jewish blood in me, but more because of the hate involved. The guy just was a bigot. Bigotry in any form is deplorable and here was this guy just spewing hate. Not good. But then I found myself thinking of good ole Latrell Sprewell. Loved that guy. Hated what he did. Hard to reconcile still but what are we to do when it comes to appreciating art? Will I see the new Mel Gibson movie? Probably not. That may have more to do with my having kids and never leaving the house but to go to work. But wether or not to EVER see a Mel Gibson movie is an issue I have yet to work out. After all, Leni Riefenstahl was basically a nazi...but DAMN her photos are beautiful.

Minority Report-y

Sometimes, like all illustrators, I get assignments where a design has already been approved. This was one of those cases. I was gives a sketch done by John Anderson at HR Magazine for their cover. I am enclosing his sketch here along with my final-using my favorite model, my lovely wife Laura! 

And the Winner is...

Well, the client's original idea won out in this one. The image of the businessman (modeled in this,  as in most other pieces by a devilishly handsome guy) sharpening his blade with sparks flying was the one selected. Hope you got it right! As a bit of a sidebar, I did this image as an homage to the great poster for the original LORD OF THE RINGS animated movie. Loved the film and the poster when I was but a wee lad.

Play Art Director!

Here's your chance to play art director! Included in this entry are the four sketches I gave to my last client based on their outline for an article about businesses who are stronger after the recession than before! Here's the sketches along with my descriptions- check back for the final that was chosen- see if you were right! 

1-As per client's suggestion, a businessman is sharpening his blade- sparks fly everywhere. 

2-Very "Raging Bull"-esque. We see a battered and bloody businessman who looks as if he has been through the fight of his life. However, his gloves are raised, he has a smirk on his face that says "Bring it on!" 

3-A little bit of comedy here. The punching bag here represents our businesses. The bag, it seems, has had enough. It has grown an arm and punches out the guy who had been beating on it. The guy it has laid out on the floor could be decked out in boxing gear or a suit as pictured. We can discuss. 

4-A confident businessman with a knowing smile has been slashed dramatically across the face. The slashes, however, reveal a shiny, metallic and powerful man underneath.