ESPN cover process

After a super busy 3 months (where were you last october?) I finally took off a whole day off to go skiing last week and nearly missed a call from ESPN to take a shot at their Fiction Issue cover. I say "take a shot", because they commission 6 artists/photographers for their covers. Which I like, since there's less pressure knowing if you air-ball your shot, there's 5 other balls in the air and somebody is going to make it.

I had tried before about a year ago and didn't make it. Honestly I didn't think I had much of a chance because their covers by nature are rarely illustrated and when they are, it's vector or 3D. But since this cover was so conceptual and needed a different feel, I felt my chances were better.
When I first heard the subject "Sports Fiction" I thought what in the heck am I going to do for this! Seemed impossible, cause it's not about a specific sport, has to be general, and general is pretty hard to illustrate. But I came up with few ideas I felt could work.


Apparently one of the other artists was Edel, who I'm sure won't mind me posting his piece, since the dang thing is funnier and more memorable than mine! I'm guessing the only reason it didn't get picked was maybe the editors thought the mag's demographic (18-30 year old males, sorry guys), wouldn't identify Shakespeare or maybe only associate him with plays. That's my guess anyway. I wish I would have thought of drawing famous writers.... maybe something with Mark Twain's likeness..... hmmm next time.

But this is another example of why illustration rocks, the solutions are so original and varied.

Anyway Siung Tjia, who art directed this, thought the stadium vendor guy was worth going to finish on, and he came up with the brilliant idea of putting the cover lines on the books.Only tricky part was he wanted me to do the type! I knew he was right and it would look better that way, but man! Me doing typography for some of the BEST typographers in the business,
freaked me out! I appreciate great typography, in fact I've actually commissioned multiple art directors to do custom type for the 10 or so random splash pages on my website, but I never really studied the art myself.
And I didn't have much time, so I just stayed up hand lettering it over and over until I got something tolerable.


This is issue is chock full of illustrations by Jeffery Smith, Heads of State, Eddie Guy, Andy Rementer, Mike Bertino, Matt Owens and Shonagh Ray.

Evolution of China

Here's a experimental piece I just did.
I've had the idea for awhile and hoped to use it for an article but the right fit never came up, so I decided just to paint it.

Here's some of the studies.

Fight Pollution

Here's a piece I really enjoyed doing for Nick Jehlen at the Progressive.
It was about how powerful the fossil fuel industries are and how it would take a grassroots effort to fight their influence. The article was specifically focused on the aftermath of the BP oil spill and the government, so I covered that in my roughs that I submitted, by I always like to include ideas that have a universal appeal to them, and Nick often seems to pick those.

Of course it would need a much better composition.

Getting the white clouds to work together and read separately at the same time took a couple of failed attempts. Getting closer here.

Work selected for American Illustration 29 book now out

2 pieces of mine are in the American Illustration 29 book, just out last week.

If you didn't get one at the party go here to order:
https://www.ai-ap.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=BookOrderForm

WIRED etc.

Here's my first piece done specifically for the iPad.
Art director was Rina Kushnir at WIRED.
It was about de-mystifying the writing of software code.

And along the tech theme, was this piece for the Washington Post Book Review of the new book "What Technology Wants" also by a WIRED editor comparing the evolution of technology to biological evolution.

Some of the roughs I sent. There were more, but these were my favorites.
And the layout, just sent to me by the wonderful Carrie Lyle, who smartly art directed this piece.

Memphis to Boston

This was for the Boston Globe Magazine about a woman, who when a girl moves from Memphis to Boston for a scholarship. She ends up staying for career and marriage, but never quite feels at home in the North.

She ponders this, from the article -

"Now, though, I wonder. The prompt is Isabel Wilkerson’s magnificent new
book, “The Warmth Of Other Suns,” a dense and moving exploration of the
Great Migration. Wilkerson chronicles both the highs and lows of that
fifty-year, nation-altering event but mainly suggests it was ultimately for
the good. Was it?"


For some reason I really responded to this piece. Perhaps because Jacob Lawrence, the great artist of the great migration, was one of my favorite artists as a high schooler. Or perhaps because I have never really felt at home no matter where I live.

One thing I do know is, I wish I didn't have to do so many color studies to be happy!

Update March 2011: This piece just won a Silver at the Society of News Design.
Thanks for submitting it Grant!

Curse/Bless Photoshop

On friday I did a quick piece for the NY Times Week in Review, on the tricky relationship between the U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban. At the last minute it needed a quick color change because of a color clash with something else on the cover. It happens and it's totally unforeseen and because of Photoshop this is so easy and routine I don't even think about it anymore, in a few minutes it was done. Bless Photoshop.


It reminded me I forgot to post this piece I did for Columbia a little bit ago.
The article was on over-population, mainly in Africa.

This was the rough they liked. Only direction was "make sure the nest looks like Africa"
Which I did and the editors were happy. Sent off, done and invoiced.

A week later, just hours before they go to press, the slightly stressed AD calls and says the editors just decided they want the nest NOT to look like Africa, they want it general.

I was pretty worried at first I would have to repaint the whole thing, since my work is mainly non-digital. (Of course they offered to pay for the repaint)

But in about 30min I had it done, all thanks to Photoshop.

Bless Photoshop.



Or was it because of Photoshop?
Since everyone is so used to being able to make such last minute changes, perhaps this allowance for more indecisiveness is sometimes a curse.

Curse Photoshop.