Mutants and Prisoners
A new project that I've been working on for a little while. I haven't really been able to show anything but here's a peek. I'm working on a series of 6 books for kids by Sterling Publishing. These are a little bit of a change of pace for me which has been fun. I did a few innapropriately scary sketches before finding the balance for a younger crowd.
So the guy being blugeoned in the upper left sketch was vetoed. I tried to channel Hergé's Tintin a little bit. I grew up reading all of his books and I'm sure he was one of the reasons why I wanted to become an artist. I've been rereading everything recently, and Tintin in Tibet is still my favorite.
These books are non-fiction and reveal interesting facts about different mysterioius topics like Alcatraz prison and mythological creatures.
I had the most fun drawing the second book on Mutants and Monsters. I went with sort of a King Kong influenced take on Bigfoot.
One cool aspect of these covers are that they will have a plain die cut "cover" that will reveal a little cross section. So for instance, a little square to show the cowboys roasting marshmallows....then there will be a bigger surprise when the page is turned...for....bigfoot? King Kong?
Some reference I've accumulated...
P.S. The best movie ever, and a link to Aaron Stewart-Ahn's blog, who makes great music videos.
So the guy being blugeoned in the upper left sketch was vetoed. I tried to channel Hergé's Tintin a little bit. I grew up reading all of his books and I'm sure he was one of the reasons why I wanted to become an artist. I've been rereading everything recently, and Tintin in Tibet is still my favorite.
These books are non-fiction and reveal interesting facts about different mysterioius topics like Alcatraz prison and mythological creatures.
I had the most fun drawing the second book on Mutants and Monsters. I went with sort of a King Kong influenced take on Bigfoot.
One cool aspect of these covers are that they will have a plain die cut "cover" that will reveal a little cross section. So for instance, a little square to show the cowboys roasting marshmallows....then there will be a bigger surprise when the page is turned...for....bigfoot? King Kong?
Some reference I've accumulated...
P.S. The best movie ever, and a link to Aaron Stewart-Ahn's blog, who makes great music videos.
Another Baaad Creation
Recently, I got asked to create custom type for Pepsi. I called this "Plywood" because it reminds me of compressed pieces of wood smashed together for some reason. There isn't much process to post, they gave me a wide open brief to do whatever I wanted to do. This is definitely my first go at creating an entire alphabet, and ended up being pretty fun and weird. I tried to use graph paper but threw it all away in the end. I Love Dust did a way better one that looked like an oil spill for the same project.
I always noticed when I was in school everyone would have maybe 3 different ways of incorporating type with their artwork. I had to fight really hard not to end up drawing the same old thing over and over. Type was always VERY secondary to everyone, myself included....and I never started paying attention to it until I started to share a studio with graphic designers who gave me (often unsolicited) advice on my font choices.
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Another project where I had to incorporate type was with these large format posters for Kiehl's. The posters are part of the window displays Kiehl's is doing worldwide for Father's Day. Stunt driving, adventurous, outdoorsy, motorcycling type of poster. I hand drew all the type on the products shown in the poster which wasn't that much fun. But in the end I think it was worth the added effort. This assignment took years off my life!
I'm not going to put all of the posters but you can find them in the "print" section of my site. My friend Jon Han took these photos of the displays last week in New York
I should also mention that I've recently started using the Kiehl's lotion...and um...my skin is starting to feel silky. Free samples, what can I say?!
I always noticed when I was in school everyone would have maybe 3 different ways of incorporating type with their artwork. I had to fight really hard not to end up drawing the same old thing over and over. Type was always VERY secondary to everyone, myself included....and I never started paying attention to it until I started to share a studio with graphic designers who gave me (often unsolicited) advice on my font choices.
* * *
Another project where I had to incorporate type was with these large format posters for Kiehl's. The posters are part of the window displays Kiehl's is doing worldwide for Father's Day. Stunt driving, adventurous, outdoorsy, motorcycling type of poster. I hand drew all the type on the products shown in the poster which wasn't that much fun. But in the end I think it was worth the added effort. This assignment took years off my life!
I'm not going to put all of the posters but you can find them in the "print" section of my site. My friend Jon Han took these photos of the displays last week in New York
I should also mention that I've recently started using the Kiehl's lotion...and um...my skin is starting to feel silky. Free samples, what can I say?!
Don't Overuse Helvetica and other topics
Welcome to the new blog, portfolio and store. Hopefully this new format will be easier to use. Anyways, take a look around. I've tried to update new work in all the categories as well as a new store. You might have to look through the pages to see everything. Try out the search field, though it might only be cool for art directors or art buyers. Check out the rss feed and mailing list signup. I recently discovered how to actually use blog feeds and I'm all about that now! Hopefully I'll update this sucker more frequently with different types of posts. oh, mailing list. In the "about" section.
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So...this is a new piece I did for Mother Jones on the private security force in Iraq.
To be honest I wasn't entirely familiar with what was happening with the security force there but it was interesting to learn that a HUGE number of armed forces in Iraq are from the private sector (some are owned by the US but the majority are foreign). Mainly there to escort personnel, including journalists with funding from large government grants. I guess they're getting more attention now because of reports that the funds have been misused, or unaccounted for. This particular article was also talking about how the security forces would train the Kurdish peshmerga to help out.
I had a lot of fun drawing this and researching different locations in Iraq. It felt nice to do more of a scene recreation. The art director wanted a narrative feel to the piece so I came up with this three panel spread for them.
P.S.
I recieved a few books from Plugzine in China the other day. It's a really awesome limited edition (2000) book as a "visual dialogue" of 31 artists and designers from different cities and focusing on drawing. The first book is primarily hand drawn and the second half is digital drawing. I'm debating about putting the extra copies on my store. A lot of new artists I have never seen. Some pics..
Yan Cong, Yuko Shimizu and Toby Yeung
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So...this is a new piece I did for Mother Jones on the private security force in Iraq.
To be honest I wasn't entirely familiar with what was happening with the security force there but it was interesting to learn that a HUGE number of armed forces in Iraq are from the private sector (some are owned by the US but the majority are foreign). Mainly there to escort personnel, including journalists with funding from large government grants. I guess they're getting more attention now because of reports that the funds have been misused, or unaccounted for. This particular article was also talking about how the security forces would train the Kurdish peshmerga to help out.
I had a lot of fun drawing this and researching different locations in Iraq. It felt nice to do more of a scene recreation. The art director wanted a narrative feel to the piece so I came up with this three panel spread for them.
P.S.
I recieved a few books from Plugzine in China the other day. It's a really awesome limited edition (2000) book as a "visual dialogue" of 31 artists and designers from different cities and focusing on drawing. The first book is primarily hand drawn and the second half is digital drawing. I'm debating about putting the extra copies on my store. A lot of new artists I have never seen. Some pics..
Yan Cong, Yuko Shimizu and Toby Yeung