A brush with American consumerism

I did this piece, which was in yesterday's edition, for Josue from Boston Globe Magazine a couple weeks ago. The author describes his stint as a door-to-door vacuum salesman, in a very tongue-in-cheek assessment of American consumerism.



I really enjoyed working on this piece, not just because I thought the essay was great, but also because I got to incorporate a little photo-collage into it. I usually reserve the photo-montage for my personal work, but this assignment just seemed to beg for it. Luckily, Josue agreed. Read the story here.

LA Times Health Cover

This illustration of mine graced the cover of the LA Times Health Section yesterday. The article discusses the link many researchers are finding between heart disease and depression. Read it here.



Joey Santos art directed this one. Joey, always a pleasure!

Also, the current issue of Juxtapoz has an awesome interview with Emory Douglas, the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. I discovered Mr. Douglas' classic work for the Black Panther newspaper a while back, and it's really cool to see some of the new work he's making. You can see a bit of the interview on the Juxtapoz site, but pick up a copy to read the whole thing.


Speaking of struggle, I also want to urge everyone who reads this to call your senators, call your governor, and urge them to voice support for public employees in this country. You can find the contact info for your senator here, and your governor here. I don't like getting too political on this blog, but public employees bear absolutely NO responsibility for the current state of the economy in this country. You can thank Greenspan and Wall Street for that.

As seen in Communication Arts...

I found out a couple weeks ago that my Zoologica Graphica series was chosen for the upcoming Communication Arts Illustration Annual! This marks the third year in a row that my work has been selected for inclusion in the prestigious annual. Now that a large chunk of the 100 booklets have been mailed out, I'm posting the series here for all to see (the four of you who read this blog)!




I'm extremely honored to be a part of the 52nd annual showcase of some of the best illustration being made today. And I'm really looking forward to seeing all the work that made it in this year.

Guns on campus, for the Globe.

I actually finished this illustration a few weeks ago, but it was just published in Boston Globe Magazine yesterday. The essay is written by a junior at Harvard University, who argues that students should have less, not more access to guns on college campuses.




One of the author's suggestions for trying to prevent future shooting sprees, is for colleges to alert law enforcement agencies about students that might be dangerous. Shining a light on troubled individuals might help the public be more proactive in preventing violent outbursts, such as the recent shooting in Tucson. You can read the essay here. Josue Evilla commissioned me for the job, and it was great working with him again.

Zoologica Graphica is out now!

I just sent out about 45 of my 100 limited edition Zoologica Graphica promo booklets (and have already gotten some responses)! I'll be sending out the rest in the next couple weeks.


As I've explained in earlier posts, this is a booklet I designed (including all the handwritten type), featuring a series of four illustrations. The series combines the names of animals depicted, with the medium used to create the image (E.g. a chimpanxerox, made from a collage of xeroxed paper). Eric Hines at Honest Bros helped me put the booklet together, helped with the text layout, and even screen-printed the little wrap-around belly bands.


More news about the Zooglogica Graphica series yet to come...

Zoologica Graphica: A sneak peek.

Here's a peek at what I've been working on the past couple months:


This is a limited edition of 100, self-promo booklet that I'm sending out in the coming weeks. It's called Zoologica Graphica. I'll post more details and pics after I send some of these babies out. I don't want to spoil it for the recipients by showing it all right now. Stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Not quite quick enough on the draw...

I started and finished a piece yesterday, in response to the developments in Egypt over the past week. I had planned on sending it to newspaper ADs I've worked with before, to see if they could use it in connection to any stories running on the subject. I had a concept in mind in the morning, and started working out the final. I had been checking the Opinion section on the nytimes.com site throughout the day to make sure nothing had already run. As I was finishing the piece, and getting ready to send a jpeg out, I checked the site one more time... wouldn't you know it, the brilliant Christoph Niemann had beaten me to the punch! It wouldn't have been a big deal, as I'm sure there will be dozens of illustrations about Egypt in the coming days, but we coincidentally thought of a nearly identical concept! Here's mine:


Here's a link to Christoph's.
Very different styles, and actually, mine was more addressing the possible repercussions of a revolution in Egypt. Christoph's appears to be illustrating the idea of individuals, working collectively, bringing down the entire Mubarak regime? But after seeing his piece had already been published, I figured it would be pointless to send mine to any ADs. I thought it was a funny story though, so I sent it to Alexandra at the Times, and she agreed it was pretty crazy. Oh well. If I may flatter myself, I guess great minds do think alike.

Also, my limited edition self-promo booklets are done! More details to follow...

A little New Year's piece

Here's a quick little spot I did for Ivy Simones at the NY Observer yesterday. The deadline was pretty tight- I had the first half of Tuesday, basically- and the article wasn't in yet for us to really go off of... But they just wanted a simple image of a handbag combined with the New Year's Eve ball drop, for an article about a party thrown by the Gilt Groupe.


I had never heard of the Gilt Groupe (and to tell you the truth, I'm still a little uncertain what it is), but it was a fun little job. I liked playing with the pattern of the famous ball's facets to make up the purse's pattern too. And it was really nice to work with Ivy again.

Happy new year, and to hell with 2010!

Happy new year, all! I wish everyone a great 2011, and let's hope it's better than 2010. The past few years have been pretty tough on a lot of people, but not all! Let's see, over the past twelve months there was an horrific earthquake in Haiti, catastrophe in the gulf of Mexico, and 29 miners were killed in an explosion in a Massey coal mine in West Virginia. There were record corporate profits, but the unemployment rate still hovers near ten percent. The war in Afghanistan continues, and has become our longest, while we fight more covert proxy wars in Pakistan and Yemen, and we discovered that there were around 15,000 more civilian casualties in Iraq than were previously reported. Elected officials continue to display a frighteningly dismal understanding of history, and even go so far as to criticize landmark victories for civil rights in this country. And we lost Howard Zinn!!! I have hope for the next twelve months, but things are already looking pretty gross. Budget cuts while millions of families are struggling, attacks on Social security, further demonizing of Muslims in this country- I think we're in for a bumpy, and stomach-churning ride. Good luck.

Anyway! On a lighter note, I received an awesome holiday gift from Eric Hines at Honest Bros. here in Denver. This hoodie was sent out to some of the Honest Bros. clients. It even came in a really cool box!
I designed a self promo booklet featuring some of my illustration that I'll be sending out soon. Eric has been helping me put it all together, and even screen-printed the cigar band that wraps around the booklet. I just got a proof back from the printer, and it's looking good. I'll be sending them out (and posting photos when I do) towards the end of January. And yes! The hoodie is comfy!

NY Times Op-Ed

I got a call from Alexandra Zsigmond at the NY Times last week, with an opportunity to do a small piece for the letters section. The fun thing about doing Op-Ed work for the Times is that you usually only have a few hours to do it. OK, so it's fun AND very challenging. This particular piece was to accompany letters written in response to a recent article that showed that hospitals have not made many improvements in safety over the past decade. The basic idea: how to fix the hospitals. My solution:


I like it because it's very simple and graphic. Simplicity is especially nice when you only have a few hours, start to finish. Thanks again, Alexandra!

Not your average dinner conversation...

I finished this illustration for Grant Staublin at Boston Globe Magazine a few weeks ago. The issue ran yesterday, in the Sunday paper. War correspondent Anna Badkhen writes about a meal she shared with an Iraqi woman, during which they recalled some of their experiences with war, in graphic detail.


Although the act of retelling incidents of death and injury during dinner seems strange to most of us, she explains that they saw it as a way of realizing how lucky they are to have survived. Here's the article. Thanks, Grant!

Great show at Indy Ink!

Friday night was a pretty big success! By the time I stopped by Indy Ink, half my pieces had been sold. I don't know how many are left, but I believe the exhibition of Andres' and my work will be up all November. Stop in to have a look, and if there are some pieces still available, the Holiday season is just around the corner... I wish I had taken some pictures Friday night, but the thought of bringing a camera didn't occur to me until just now. Rats. Thank you to Chris Huth, Indy Ink, and everyone who came down. And a special thank you to everyone who purchased art. It's a great feeling knowing that someone enjoys your work enough to not only pay for it, but hang it on a wall in their home.

Progressive assignment, and ready for Indy Ink

Here's a recent illustration I did for Nick Jehlen at The Progressive. The article is about Palestinian rappers in Lebanon, and Gaza. The story featured Mohammed Turk, aka TNT of the group Invincible Voice, so I modeled the figure in my piece on him.


Nick was one of the earliest art directors to give me a shot when I was first starting out, and is always great to work with.

I've also framed all my pieces for display at the upcoming Indy Ink show on Friday. Andres Guzman and myself will be sharing the walls of the screen print shop on South Broadway, so come down and have a looksee. I have ten in all: two originals, and eight high-quality giclee prints. All for sale (except my sweet Three Stooges poster seen in the photo)!

NY Times Op-Ed Piece

I got a call from Alexandra Zsigmond from the NY Times last week, to do a quick illustration for the Op-Ed page. My piece accompanied the letters in yesterday's Sunday Times, responding to a recent article on the culture of poverty. Alexandra thought it would be best not to focus on the roots of poverty, but instead show the struggle to escape it. Read the responses here. Thank you again, Alexandra.


I also had an illustration in the Boston Globe Magazine last weekend. The article's author, a Republican, is torn between supporting her party and her best friend, who is running for office as a Democrat. I worked with Grant Staublin on this job. Thanks, Grant!

A piece for the L.A. Times Op-Ed

I did an illustration for the L.A. Times Op-Ed page the other day. It's a very touching story of a woman's pride in her father, a cab driver originally from Afghanistan.


A short synopsis won't do the article justice, so read the whole thing here. Wes Bausmith art directed it, and was especially helpful, as it didn't have a straightforward message the way most op-eds do.