Zimbabwe for TIME

For a regular Samantha Powers column I draw for TIME, this week it was about how the international community (read the West) shouldn't invade Zimbabwe to get rid of Mugabe.

the roughs

preliminary drawing

The Green Wall of China

For a cover article on China's increasing interest in green energy.

AD was Wai Lam.

I had to stack the turbines tighter than they would normally be, so they would read as a wall.

I really love the subject of green energy, so I had alot of fun concepting this one.

In the roughs I wanted some China specific ones and some more general ones, since this was for a chinese readership so it wasn't mandatory that it read China as well.

But I'm glad Wai picked the more china specific wall one, because it fit well.

Here's the piece on the cover.
I wish I could read Chinese.
(I'm trying to learn it)

TIME magazine

For this weeks TIME Samantha Powers article about the history of U.S. Presidents negotiating with dictators, communists, etc. etc.

AD was Patricia Hwang.

Interesting point from the article

"In an effort to scuttle the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty in Congress, the Conservative Caucus took out a newspaper advertisement likening Reagan's position to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's dealings with Hitler."

Apparently Reagan was a appeaser too for talking to the evil empire.

I wanted it to be somewhat general but I did use scrap of Ahmadinejad and Obama as reference




Sometimes, like in this case, the article isn't written and only have a line or two to go on.
So I usually try to give a ton of different ideas to cover the myriad of directions the article might end up taking.

Since I'm on the subject of TIME,
here's the piece that ran the week or 2 before for the Samantha Powers column, this time it was on a commencement speech she gave. Talking about how young (an old) people can customize their media so much, that one can never get surprised and led off in a different direction.

I was glad Patricia choose that idea, because although it wasn't my first choice, it ended up being a better piece with a much broader application.

It's funny whenever I go back and look at old sets of roughs after a some time being away from them, it's so obvious which one is the best and it was 9 times out of 10 it's the one the AD picked. That's why it's nice to have a good set of second eyes not so enmeshed in the problem.

Disney

For a Businessweek article about Disney forming a new venture capital fund.
Art director was Don Besom.

the roughs, my favorite was the acorn obviously, second favorite the pig.

Communication Arts and American Illustration

Found out a few weeks ago, that I got a piece into the upcoming CA Illustration Annual.
It was for the bimonthly Generations column I illustrate for the NY Times.
This piece was about a young girl, who just couldn't fit in to pop culture, despite trying.
Something I personally related too. Art director was Richard Weigand.

Here are the roughs, the article mentioned Hairspray, Harry Potter and High School Musical.
I'm glad Richard choose the broader more conceptual solution. Richard also asked if gum always needs to be pink? Which got me thinking of a more interesting color palette that would highlight the bubbles, thanks twice Richard!

tighter drawing, composition was a bit tricky, multiple figures aren't my strength...
...and neither is color, so it took more than a few color studies.





This piece below was chosen for the American Illustration site.
It was for a Los Angeles Times Book Review, of the novel "Sunflower" which has femme fatale of sorts as one of the main characters. The art director was Carol Kaufman.

Here's the roughs below, that Carol had to choose from. I like including the roughs for two reasons to show the process of course, but also highlight how important the art director is in the process, from picking the best idea (half of the time I can't decide myself) to defending/selling the idea to editors.

CFO China

This was a piece I did for CFO China, in Hong Kong on all the new chinese business regulations which are well crafted but companies never know how they will be enforced. Wai Lam, AD

Some roughs,
I always give some extra ones, when trying to communicate across cultures. It does help a bit, (but not much) having lived in China for a few months. I lived just outside Panyu near the huge city of Guangzhou, I was there teaching english towards my last year of college.

Layout in the magazine, design by Wai Lam.
Below is some covers I've done with him in the past.


So when I decided I needed an intro page in chinese for my website, I knew who exactly who I wanted to do it.

Design: Wai Lam
I love how he echoes the train tracks in the treatment of the characters, with my name small like a train on a track, brilliant!




And here is the uncropped version, originally for Businessweek, it was on the how the chinese economy keeps growing at a steady pace despite commodity swings, I stamped it with a little stamp of my name I got when I lived over there.

Unintended Consequences

Bio-Fuel mandates seemed like good idea, but like alot of legislation it came with unintended consequences, which was the subject for 3 different illustrations all in the same week!
Above was for Newsweek International, AD Leah Purcell, on the food crisis.

Article was on using veggie oil to fuel cars, and how no one even California's Governor complies with the regulations, for Los Angeles Times, AD Kelli Sullivan. This piece was supposed to go on the front page, which is rare for a conceptual illustration, I wish I knew if it made it.


For Businessweek, AD Don Besom, about how we need to get rid of the bad bio-fuels, and keep the good ones.

the roughs for all 3 pieces lumped together.