Boston Globe Work- Fattened by Pills

I had an illustration in yesterday's Boston Globe Magazine, for an essay about a hidden cause of obesity in the U.S. The article points out that one of the primary causes of obesity is psychiatric drugs, anti-depression medication in particular. Weight gain is listed as a side effect for many drugs, which is a nice way of saying "a harmful consequence." And as more and more people (including children) are given prescriptions for whatever kind of problem they have, it's only going to get worse.

I worked with Grant Staublin and Chin Wang on this one, which is always a pleasure. I also just finished a different piece for Grant the other day, that I'll be posting as soon as it runs.

LA Times Health Section Cover

Joey Santos from the LA Times called me after the New Year's weekend with an assignment for the cover of the Health Section. The article explained the two sides of a debate surrounding psychotherapy. On one side are the psychologists that prefer the use of cognitive behavioral therapy when treating patients. On the other are those that prefer a more personal, customized approach.


On the final day I was working on the piece, Joey had a proposition for me: if I could make the deadline, they had some extra room and he really wanted to use another illustration inside the section. He wanted to use another one of my sketches I had turned in, but it would be black and white. Luckily, I finished the final for the first illustration early, and had time to do the second. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the situation, and it was great working with Joey again.

Harvard Law Bulletin Work

Ronn Campisi contacted me after he received my Loteria cards, with a couple illustrations for the Harvard Law Bulletin, the alumni magazine for the school. Both were for the Book Review section. The first book, Negotiauctions by Guhan Subramanian, deals with some complicated stuff. You know, game-theoretic approaches to corporate mergers, the usual. So given the complex subject, Ronn wanted to keep the illustration fairly simple. The main theme of the book was deal-making, and finding the right offer out of many possible offers. Finding the best fit, in other words.


The second review was for Stubborn as a Mule, by Richard Fallon. The fictional story follows an overly ambitious, free-market obsessed college president, as he attempts to unseat a moderate Republican Senator. Judging by the review, the theme of the book seemed to be that over-reaching ambition and ego can lead to an inevitable fall from grace. This piece was a two-page spread, so I wanted to use the long format to convey the two stages: ambition, and the fall. Thanks, Ronn, for all your input.