I was very inspired by a recent editorial assignment from The Globe and Mail, which provided a perfect outlet for my new explorations in incorporating digital collage into my work. This particular story was about an Italian immigrant to Canada who carved out a life for himself through years of hard work and dedication. The article was written by his grandson, and what struck me about it was the portrayal of the man as a sort of giant among men, who lived an epic life and helped hundreds of others, directly and indirectly, to make the same migration to Canada. So, I decided to depict the immigrant as an actual giant in a mythic scene reminiscent of Paul Bunyan and other fables, literally helping others across “on the back” of his hard work.

The digital part of this piece involved painstakingly assembling the pier, ocean, beach scene, and smaller figures from bits and pieces of photographs and drawings, along with the grafting of fabrics and textures to tie it all together.

I recently completed the above illustration for McSweeney’s Grantland Quarterly publication based on the recent disgrace of Joe Paterno, legendary football coach of Penn State. Over several revisions with the Art Director, this concept was killed and the final that will be published is quite different, but this version (which I prefer) seems very fitting to share upon today’s announcement of Paterno’s death.

Here’s a new editorial illustration for The Capitol, based on the recent failure of the state government players in New York to follow through on their promises of reform. For this piece, the Art Director asked that I focus on the idea of government as a facade, and we agreed on the literal approach of depicting the state capitol building as a false front. This project also gave me a great opportunity to continue my recent experiments in blending line drawings, digital painting, and digital collage.

I love illustrating magazine covers, I love repeat clients, and I love working with Art Director Diane Sullivan of Seven Days Magazine. She’s a great collaborator for an artist like me who thrives on the conceptual side of the creative process, throwing ideas back and forth, and developing a theme until it’s just right.

For their Winter Reading issue, Diane wanted an image that played off the idea of cutting snowflakes out of book pages. I thought it was a great start, but I kept getting hung up on the fact that it seemed to highlight the crafting of the snowflakes, rather than the reading part. So, after kneading and turning the idea, I proposed pushing the concept further by making it actually snow book pages. This would hopefully result in a more iconic image that triggered the emotional excitement of seeing the first snow falling outside the window and parallel the excitement of the special issue (It’s snowing outside! / It’s the Winter Reading Issue!) I also like the fact that it lends itself to a multi-layered “read” of the image for the viewer.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Not too long ago, I created an Illustration (see below) for New York Spirit for an article called “Life and Death and Food”. It was a very personal piece by an author whose husband had recently passed away, and who was now reflecting on the cycle of life and death, and how it applied to her main passion: food.

Because of the intense personal angle of the article, and because I had been given full creative freedom on the Illustration, I decided to create sort of a tribute to the author in her difficult time, while trying to depict the reverent tone of the article. Unfortunately, the author ended up feeling less than comfortable with her appearance in the Illustration, so the Art Director asked me to work up another idea. Rather than simply replace the author’s face with someone else and call it a day, I decided to start fresh and try to approach the piece from another angle.

It’s not easy to illustrate the same article twice, but I eventually settled on the concept of a personal altar of sorts to the concept of Life, Death, and Food. To do so, I included various visual cues to relate to all of these topics, some hinted at by the article, and some personal only to me.

(For those interested, the sculpture in the altar is Chicomecoatl, the Aztec goddess of agricultural fertility, nourishment, etc.)

All in all, I like the new altar piece more than the original portrait, and had more fun doing it, so I’m glad I went the extra mile on this one.

I was excited to get a call this week to do my first editorial Illustration related to the Occupy Wall Street movement, or more specifically, Occupy Portland. In this case, the brief was for an article about a splinter group within Occupy Portland that is supposedly giving information to the police in order to get on good terms with the city. That, combined with the public nature of the protestors’ general assembly meetings, means that Portland police have to exert very little effort to keep up with current developments.

Thanks to Art Director Suji Allen for the call on this one.

Recently got a call from Art Director Adam Lisberg from The Capitol to illustrate an article about a cottage industry that is growing in New York as a result of the passage of the same sex marriage law. It turns out there’s a new market for consultants who can help businesses navigate the complexities of state and federal law when providing benefits and such for their employees.

Because there were so many interacting parts of this still-developing story, I made the case for a simple, abstract, iconic approach to the overall concept, and Adam agreed that this was the way to go.

Here’s a new personal/promotional piece that pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy!

I am super-excited and honored that one of my recent Illustrations (shown above) was accepted into this year’s Society of Illustrators annual. This was an uncommissioned personal piece based on the overcrowding of California prisons, and it marks my first time being included in the SOI annual. Thanks very much to the judges and staff. Cheers.

This piece is for an article by whole food guru Anne-Marie Colbin, in which she examines the cycle of life and death and how it relates to our eating habits. Since the article was coming from a very personal, contemplative place I decided to actually do a portrait of the author doing something she makes a case for, which is saying grace over the plants and animals we must kill for our own survival.