Berlin Wall NYT OpEd Letters

Concept-History-Portraits.
Love to get assignments like this. Nathan Huang AD

The letters mentioned Jon Paul II, Reagan and Gorby, so I had to work them in one.

Some photo reference.

A quick value/composition study in photoshop before painting.

Battered NFL wives

For battered NFL wives, a message from the cops and the league: Keep quiet 
Washington Post, AD Emmet Smith

Emmet suggested at the outset a woman with football laced stitched lips. I knew that was going to be a great idea, but I still had to try to beat it. But I couldn't : )

Tighter drawing and color study in photoshop.

Farm to Table

For Tufts University Magazine, story about Dan Barber, a well-known chef, restaurant owner and farmer interested in sustainable farming and an idea he calls the Third Plate.

And here's a pitch for illustration. This was their possible photo option.
Enough said.

I love this subject (healthy food) so it was easy coming up with a bunch of ideas.
Margot Grisar was the smart AD on this one.

In the layout.

Comrade Xi's Choice

For the Wall St. Journal on Xi Jinping and the current Hong Kong protests. AD Keith Webb.

After seeing my roughs Keith suggested a totally new idea, a view from above with Xi Jinping's portrait on the umbrellas.

I thought it was a great idea, so I worked it up real quick.

Some color tests.

Of course the likeness of Xi Jinping needed some work.

Nice and big in the paper, thanks Keith!

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy spread from the Robb Report Health & Wellness.
Art direction and design by Lisa Lewis.

Immunotherapy tries to get your white blood cells to attack cancer cells.

 Interiors.

Fall Film Festivals

Apparently Oscar contending films are released in the fall, to build buzz at the fall film festivals like Toronto's.

For the LA Times, AD Paul Gonzales.

Some progressions.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Got to mess with the Royal Bank of Scotland for Bloomberg Markets magazine.
Designer was Tim Vienckowski, AD was Siung Tija.

Here's their logo.

Editors: Alligator too violent.

 Editors: Toliet too gross.

 Ahh just right.

"Native Son" theatre play

For the play "Native Son" for Chicago Magazine.

Alot of good illustration has already been done for it, so I felt challenged.

I thought an early scene with the metaphoric rat had some good visual potential.

Luckily the AD on this Jacqueline Cantu saw the potential in the first one, even though I had started favoring others.

 The play is set in 1930's Chicago so I did a bit of history research for the skyline.

Here's the piece in print.

However, if I was to do this for a play poster, I wouldn't need to reference the theatre curtain.
So I would have done it like this.

Volcker Rules!

This was supposed to be typical financial story for American Banker, abstract concept that is hard to illustrate. Which I'm very used to.

Subject was "Why SBICs Are Back in Vogue at Banks" So I explored a bunch of different options.
Paul Volcker was mentioned in the article so I was sure to include some options with him.

Then the art director tells me, that in the yet developing story there is this connection between Volcker and Sputnik,  and can I explore that?

Explore that? I couldn't wait to find some visual connection!

Thanks Scott and Kyung for the surprisingly fun job!

Treating ADHD in teens with for NY Times

Practicing cognitive control (meditation) is found to help teens with ADHD just as much as drugs, but without the side effects.

Peter Morance one of my favorite art directors was wise enough to see the graphic potential in the seal.

I started out with fleshy brain colors, but it didn't like teens and ADHD so kept playing with it...

Utah Promo Series

Got a rare local illustration job, last month. Every year the Governor of Utah does a promo magazine to get businesses to move to Utah. This one references the back of the State Quarter, with a conceptual spin.

They've always gone with photography, but this year they wanted to stand out and try illustration.

I had 12 illustrations, so I knew I be using exhausting all the State symbols, the honeybee being one of them.

This was on STEM technology. Which was helpful when the LA Times called for an OpEd the next day on the same subject, I had a big head start...

 I had been trying to sell this head/wrench/bolt/brain idea for a few years. It finally found a home.

This is Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. It's on the license plates here and during the 2002 Winter Olympics they ran the torch under it.

One of my backcountry ski partners is Kasey Jarvis an amazing industrial designer (he designed the Nike Free) He now works at Black Diamond in SLC, so of course I used a Black Diamond tent for this one.

Visually it's easy to give fossil fuels a negative spin, but here I had to think of something positive. This flower is the Sego Lily, the State flower. Early Utah pioneers survived by eating it's bulbous roots.

More honeybee imagery, this time a hive umbrella for innovations in healthcare coverage.

I really liked how Ryan Mansfield (the designer and AD) echoed the shape of the State of Utah in the typography, helps my final.

This is for the F-35's at Ogden's Hill Air Force base, where my Italian grandfather Gene Borgogno worked during WWII.

And finally one more beehive. Really liked Ryan's typography on this one as well. Of course I wished I had a bit more time on the finals, but it was a tight deadline.