Emotion on the brain

Full page illustration for a Newsweek article on emotion and the brain.
AD was Patty Alvarez.

Here are the rough, Patty liked the smiley face ones, but I need a better composition for a full page.

In print

This one ran inside the article.





Also included in the package were 3 other articles about the brain.
Here's one on music.

And the roughs.

In print.

Ryder Cup ESPN

This was for a full page in ESPN the magazine. It was about how the European team usually beats the American team despite it's star power. According to the writer it is because the european team travels and parties and plays together, while the american team are lone wolves, albeit chauffeured ones. Art director was Lou Vega.

My first set ideas were too much about the concept of team golf. ESPN wanted to highlight the fact that the team travels together, so below is round 2.

Lou picked the carts, but I needed a much more interesting composition to hold a full page, especially a page in ESPN which is 10x12! Made me anxious, because usually I count on a memorable idea to do the heavy lifting.

Here's the preliminary drawing, I must have done atleast a dozen rougher ones trying to get an good composition. Orchestrating multiple figures isn't my specialty so this took longer than usual, but it was fun - it's sports.

I decided to keep the final more sparse and graphic to try to hint at the european union flag and american flag.

Ironically a week later the Americans won the Ryder Cup! So I don't know if this ran or not.
If it did I'll update this post with the accompanying design in print, which in that magazine is always amazing.

$4 a gallon gas... Yes!

This was for a BusinessWeek package on why cheap oil is bad for America.

Art direction by Ronald Plyman.

If only we could have had sustained $4 dollar gas awhile ago, we could be so much farther along the path of getting off oil and instead of being second place in the boom of green tech, America would be leading it.

But then we might have not "won" the cold war, since the huge and sustained drop in oil prices in the 80's and 90's had alot more to do with the demise of the Soviet Union than is realized.

Anyway here's to dreaming we can do it!

partial spread

quarter page


the roughs.

Georgia On My Mind

I got to draw for Mikhail Gorbachev's OpEd on Georgia in the NYTimes last week, titled "Russia Never Wanted a War", which was a real treat and for the first time work for the new OpEd AD Leanne Shapton.

Mr. Gorbachev's piece was a good non-western point of view, if you can ingnore his brief kiss-up to Medvedev, but hey if I was living in Moscow surrounded by the FSB, well you can bet I would too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/opinion/20gorbachev.html?ref=opinion

the preliminary drawing

the roughs.


A few days before TIME had warmed me up on the subject of Georgia, which helped. For a Power's article on Putin's Pride a key reason to the invasion.
Art director was Patricia Hwang.

Progressive Cover

Got the opportunity to illustrate the cover of this months Progressive.
Subject was about teaching to the test aspect of No Child Left Behind an educational reform here in the States.
the rough ideas
It doesn't get much better that getting to spoof a government logo...


The cover, design and art direction by Nick Jehlen.

Here's some other covers I've done for them over the years,
the tank with coffin tracks got into PRINT's regional design annual.

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)