Twisting the night away

With apologies to M.C. Escher and Sam Cooke. This piece appeared in the L.A. Times Envelope section last week. For an article profiling a crop of new films that are challenging audiences with their unorthodox storytelling. Films like Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, and Nocturnal Animals are using twists, nonlinear narratives, and other unusual methods to tell a story.

Here's the page:

Read the article here. Thanks so much to Wes!

Priests on film

This full-pager ran in the L.A. Times Envelope section about a week or so back. It focuses on how priests and the catholic church are depicted in movies, and how the portrayals have shifted over time. From the positive and complimentary films of the 40s and 50s (think The Bells of St. Mary's), to the more scathing critiques of today (like Spotlight).

Thank you to my AD, the awesome Wes Bausmith! Read the article here.

Spread 'em!

I finished this multi-page project for USC Dornsife Magazine a few weeks back, for a story on Hollywood breaking into the Chinese movie market:

The image above was the opening spread for the article. In case you can't quite make out the copy, the deck reads:
As domestic box office returns plateau, Hollywood is setting its sights on China- the second largest film market in the world. USC Dornsife professors Stanley Rosen and Brian Bernards explain what it will take for the U.S. film industry to break into China's notoriously complicated movie market.

The assignment also called for a second, full-page illustration for the following spread:

Although there were only two illustrations needed, another one of my sketches was so well received, they decided to feature it as well. Ultimately there wasn't enough room to include the third image in the magazine, however, it is featured on the website. Here's that illustration:

One of the stipulations the Chinese government requires for importing American movies, is that a certain percentage have to be 3D movies. It's one of the reasons the 3D glasses worked so well in the illustrations. Check out the article, it's very interesting. You can download and read a PDF of the whole magazine on the website here. Thank you so much to Dan Knapp, art director on this one!

Hoo-ray for Hollywood!...er, wait

I did this really quick piece for Grantland.com, which is up on the site now, and is for a piece on Hollywood's lackluster blockbusters this past summer. Titled "Hollywood's Horrid Summer," it details the poor performance of the summer movies, due in large part to the industry's reliance on sequels, spinoffs, and remakes. Such as "Horror 3: The Re-Horroring," my favorite tongue-in-cheek example from the article.

I received the email late Tuesday night: "I'm looking for a 1024x576 illustration that shows the famous Hollywood sign in decay. What do you think?" I think I can do that. I didn't even know the story was focused on the summer's box office performances, but luckily by coincidence I chose to combine the sign with a cow's bones, in a sun-scorched, desert wasteland. It turned out kinda summery. You can read the article here. Thank you to my AD on this, Juliet!

Let's shake on it

This illustration for The Los Angeles Times appeared in yesterday's Envelope section. The story follows the release of several films involving con artists in recent weeks: Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, and of course The Wolf of Wall Street.

Believe it or not, this image did not come easily. What follows is a series of missteps, almost theres, and not quites:

These sketches focused more on the mention in the article of various awards that movies featuring con men have garnered over the years. One and two are attempts at showing that the flashier con men do better than the low key figures, when it comes to critical and audience acclaim.

This round focuses more on the consequences of the con men's actions, and how they ultimately become victims of their own greed (with the exception of the Wall St bull with award laurels for horns), but they still don't capture the main theme running through not only the article but the movies' storylines. Plus, we wanted to include a wolf somehow, since The Wolf of Wall Street was a slightly bigger piece of the story than the other two films. So after pulling out some hair, cursing myself, and pacing back in forth in front of my sketchbook, an idea hit me and I scribbled this pathetic doodle:

I tightened the "sketch" and sent it in. That was it. To quote my AD Wes: "Bingo." Finally.
Thank you to Wes for his always helpful insight, his ability to steer my frantic thinking towards a more coherent direction, and especially, his patience.
Happy New Year to all! 

Slavery in Movies

This piece is out in today's L.A. Times, for an article on how slavery has historically been depicted in movies:

The story reviews movies that dealt with the "peculiar institution," going back to Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1903, through 2012's Lincoln, and how the vast majority shy away from showing the true brutality of slavery. Excepting Tarantino's Django or the television classic Roots, the few that did explicitly show the violence and barbarity, such as Amistad, weren't box office draws. Up until now, Hollywood has preferred not to risk putting off audiences with such scenes of depravity. Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave changes all that by putting the reality of the brutality of slavery at the forefront. You can read the article here.

After turning in the sketches, it was a toss up between numbers 1, 3, and 5. We ultimately went with number one, obviously, but I think the other two would have worked out as well. They focused more on the idea of the most offensive aspects of slavery being hidden or cut out of movies.
It was a great assignment to work on. Thank you, Wes!