Toast Post...

Between a sudden burst of work and the usual holiday chaos I haven't uploaded anything to the blog in awhile, but I wanted to close out '08 with a post. This art was for a story on Virginia wines and being that I don't have any recent champagne illo's I figured I'd substitute a glass of chardonnay to say cheers and wish everyone a Happy 2009!

Sketches...

Collage made from preliminary sketches for 'Lucha de Gato!'.   I started working out different parts of the Bad Vamp #5  illustration this week. 

Planning on spending some time this weekend experimenting with Photoshop filter tricks.

Showing Some Ink

An 'other stuff ' post. A friend recently sent me some samples of work by Mexican artist/tattooist Dr Lakra who reworks vintage magazine covers and photos from the 50's with tattoo designs and other graphic icons.

Waters Edge

 I did this illustration over the weekend for my portfolio. The figure (and inspiration for this piece) was reworked from artwork I had done a few years ago for a story about spray on tanning that ended up not being printed.

Pulp Fiction

One of my hobbies is collecting "Good Girl Art" paperbacks. Above are a couple of new additions to that collection that I snatched up on a recent book excursion to Charlottesville VA.

The term Good Girl Art (G.G.A. for short) is collector's lingo referring to the art rather than the seductive and often 'bad' girls illustrated on the covers of these pocket sized pulps, which were churned out by publishers during the 40's - late 60's.

Also attached is a video I made with some of my covers showing the variety of great illustrations and varied genres of these covers. Enjoy.
( I'd never tried iMovie before, but had fun learning the basics while creating this)

MIA

Portrait of  Sri Lankan born singer/rapper  MIA. 

There were lots of good pictures of her to use as reference, but I liked the 'dynamic' of the few I found where she was mugging for the camera. It was a little more challenging, but I like the way it turned out.

New Avenues

Here's a Amy Winehouse portrait I finished late last week.

"Cocktails and Laughter...

but What Comes After?" It looks like a tab of around 700 billion by the government to bail-out the crumbling and carelessly deregulated mortgage industry.

Watching the news last week reminded me of an earlier financial shakedown and one of my first 'big'covers which was for Business Week back in '87. I was still new to the biz and got a call on Friday, after the market had plunged, to do a cover for the following weeks issue. "A weekend deadline? No problem!" Because no one knew what was going to happen when the market opened on Monday they commissioned 2 versions, one with a bear and the other with a bull(that sketch had a bull that was trying to keep it's balance on the roof). I had the sketches approved Saturday, then had the finished art in their hands late Sunday night. The bear won out.

College Bound...

Finished up a few jobs this past week, above is a piece I did for the New York Times. The story was by a dad who was sending his 'socially inclined' twin sons (who'd never been apart before) off to 2 different colleges.

Framed or Unframed

I added the 'Bad Vamp' Saboteur Pinot Noir poster to my  Imagekind page. I haven't used this site before, but thought I'd give it a try. 

The Motel Files

I still have a 2 drawer file cabinet in my studio full of reference photos ( sometimes referred to as a morgue file) which has everything from pictures of retro mopeds, to architecture photos(including motels), to restaurant/diner images, all ready to be plucked for quick reference. The infinite jpg file that is Google Images now takes its place. I still use it occasionally, but the file cabinets main purpose now is as a place to put my printer on.

Anyway, I was searching online for some neon reference, and came across a YouTube link to the motel signs above. Videos of flickering neon may seem a little odd, but I'm a sucker for motel images and liked the idea of some weary travelers filming these digital postcards after checking in for the night. Enjoy.

Postcard from Bel-Air Palms Motel ( El Monte, CA)

Fetch

The past few days I've been working on a new promo mailer and a few other personal projects, including a new 'Bad Vamp' poster and another portrait( hint: she's a recent addition to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum). Also started sending out the remainder of my 'jumping dog' promos.

Got a Light

Back and rested from a week at the beach.

After unpacking I have a few jobs waiting for me, which is always nice- they include a series of illustrations for Smart Money Dimensions and a couple of web projects that I started before I left.

In between lounging in the sun, some rough swims in the Atlantic (courtesy of Hurricane Bertha, which was blowing by somewhere far off the coast)  and bocce ball games on the beach, I managed to squeeze in a few volumes of 'Mad Men' while on vacation. I'd only seen part of the first episode, but kept hearing how good it was and decided to check out the DVDs. I'm looking forward to catching up with the rest of the first season this summer. 

I'm not a smoker, but I do collect vintage ashtrays, everything from ceramic Sasha B. igloo ashtrays to the illustrated metal ones once found in motel rooms across the country. In a TV series like Mad Men, set in the ad world of the 1960's(where anyone that matters smokes) they obviously use some good period ashtrays as props, and that inspired me to post a few ashtrays from my collection.

Now Showing

A few deco theater images I found when researching a cover illustration for IBM that I did earlier this year. I also stumbled on the funky Raj Mandir theater (below) located in Jaipur, India.

Under the Knife

Sliced up paperbacks take on a new life in these Thomas Allen photos. I picked up Uncovered on a recent trip to Baltimore at the American Museum of Visionary Art. I really like his work, and being a collector of vintage paperbacks (more on that later) it was hard to pass up.

Cool Pool

I like dipping my toe into the design 'pool 'whenever possible. Below is a poster I did for a weekly summer concert series at a pool. (Above illus. was for an article on data storage)