I didn’t submit that last image after all. Instead I asked my peers which images they liked best since it’s near impossible for me to not be biased. The problem with this method was… nobody picked the same pieces. How am I to whittle it down from 13 to 10 projects when nobody agrees which three suck the hardest? Yeah, it was a crap shoot in the end.

Anyway, I have been sorta slacking on the art / blogging thing. But I am trying to get better at Adobe Illustrator and vector graphics. Gotta diversify in this economy! Here is something I made for Rachel Ray’s website. Yes, Rachel Ray. Weird, huh?

Recently, Roanne Adams, asked me to whip up an illustration for an organic beauty line called Tata Harper. She’s an ex-classmate of mine from Parsons , now working as an art director and sharing a studio with Refinery29. Pretty cool.

I rarely use Adobe Illustrator, and when I do I just convert my hand drawn files into vector, but I like how this graphic flat color direction turned out.

INITIAL SKETCH MASKED OUT WITH COLORS

FINISHED PIECE

David recently created this poster for the Focus Feature documentary “Without A Home.”

One of his designs incorporated my drawings. Unfortunately, the client will likely go with a vector illustration version. Oh well. I like how his poster turned out, so I colored it in and am posting it anyway.

(MISSING IMAGE - BLAME FLICKR!!!)

This illustration is part of a series of storyboards I’m working on for a client. The theme is invention, and this panel depicts Thomas Edison’s big idea. The work was supposed to recall the patterning of Klimt, Japanese woodblock printing techniques, 2-d puppets, and take the historical references into a contempory language.

I recently wrapped up my very first pitch at Brand New School. The finished image we ended up submitting looks very different, so I think it’s ok to post my work in progress.

Sorry, didn’t find time to write the past few days.

I’ve been working in the art department on a commercial for Sony Ericsson. I’m working for Hush. A design, direction, and production studio based in Dumbo. I’d never been on commercial or music video set, never built models, painted 3-dimensional objects, done production, nor been part of a team (that wasn’t somehow virtual). It was a satisfying and eye opening experience with long days and lots of work.

The photos of the 13 hour shoot (6 am call time. ouch) that wrapped today look fucking awesome. But I can’t post them until after it comes out.* Sucks. I want to show how good what we made looks and how cool it came out… but I guess I’ll have to wait. Trust. It is rad.

I hope I can do more projects like this, we’ll see what’s next.

*I just found these photos on hush’s website so i assume it’s no longer a big deal. But whateves

The illustrations I did for Seventeen’s “Forbidden Love” feature are in the newest issue. I like how the art director incorporated my doodles throughout the story. It lends it a Virgin Suicides feel, which is appropriate given the subject. Less Anne Rice, more Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is okayyy by me.

This turned out so nice on the page! I have my work in two ads this month. A single pager in Snowboard magazine and this lil lady in Transworld Snowboarding. I can’t wait to see the whole Mountain High series.

I was enlisted to create all the artwork for my friend John’s website. The designer, Dorie, wanted simple icons that turn blue when rolled over. Here are two versions of the colored cityscape and then a version of the site she designed using my hand drawn type.

Here’s what I created for the third Mountain High Snowboard resort print ad. I was supposed to reference Disney and Alfred E Newman character from Mad magazine. But remix them.

That’s why the Mickey, Snow White, Pinocchio and even the Mouseketeer hat are tweaked and janky. If they were literal I think the Disney would sue, but this is ok for parody’s sake. If you look close there are also tea cups, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty’s castle (who cares), the Matterhorn, the Monorail and what might be called a “dwarf.”

With Logo and added figures

Without

Just whipped up this portrait of Dan Deacon for another Boost Mobile silk screened show poster.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by Astral Media, a Canadian television company. They asked for temporary rights to my “Psych Out” image for some VRAK.tv on-air spots. (VRAK is akin to MTV in Montreal / French speaking parts of Canada).

Low and behold, there are several spots and more to come showing teens (with braces!) break dancing in front of my graphic. Shame they altered the lemon yellow to this dull asparagus color. Hmph.

click to see one of the spots (this one is 15 seconds)

Here’s another illustration for Mountain High’s snowboard resort. The copy hasn’t been added, but I like it all simple for now.

To create the final, I took various scanned drawings and collaged them digitally. Because I shrank some of the assets I had to redraw it to maintain a consistent line weight. Then I colored it in.

I’m drawing some “ladies in love” and free-association romantic doodles for Seventeen Magazine. It’s a feature on “Forbidden Love” inspired by the Twilight book series. Vampires = so hot right now. Weird.

They want something art deco (not goth) and that is what I’m feeling. Found the most amazing collection of reference on flickr. Cute!!

Rhiannon Mars

Third illustration for Mountain High Snowboard resort in California. This one was Lucha Libre / Mexico themed.

Bryan Fisher created this double page ad using my Mountain High artwork. I think it’ll be appearing in Transworld Snowboarding or something. It was loosely based on my “Killing Moon” art but reworked to include LA’s “cityscape” and a freeway with wonky cars leading up to the snowboard covered mountain.

The whole campaign is about the resort being “fun” and “a party” plus, close to LA so you can save coin on gas. Works for me.

Very Blair-inspired illustration for my friend John’s website. Not sure which color combo is best. Drawing more assets and icons today.

After Andrew and I finished up the Men Women and Children record for “Hot Hot Volcano,” I am Sound suggested I pitch a music video for UK band The Black Ghosts. The single was “Repetition” and it featured Damon Albarn.

The budget was decent, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find anyone who knew motion graphics and was free to direct the project. So I asked a friend to show me a sample treatment. And then proceeded to write my own dark and psychedelic Alice in Wonderland inspired pitch where I played both illustrator and director.

Didn’t end up getting the gig, but I think my treatment was good. Now I can only hope that down the line I can take this idea and make it come to life for a different project.

click below to see the pitch

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After creating a ton of movable assets, I ran out of room in the landscape and needed to pair down the compositions. Then I tried to make my rural and suburban worlds seem more sketchy by adding grass marks, scribbles, and janky lines. It likely needs more collage and sketchbook elements and small details like a mailbox, girls having a picnic, or a dog taking a shit. Yes, I have work to do. But this is what I’ve drawn thus far.