Murray Tinkelman does it again

Illustrators hear the word "style" a lot. One major stress for soon-to-be illustrators during senior year of art school is finding a style (even though most illustrators' style changes significantly after they graduate, and continues to evolve throughout their career). The word gets thrown around a lot. So every now and then, when I hear someone remark to me about my style, I'm honestly a little caught off guard. To this very moment I consider myself still struggling to "find" a style. I don't have a formula for approaching an illustration assignment the way some illustrators do. I solve every problem individually, and without a preordained method for visual communication. I draw inspiration from a thousand different places. I do admit that I have a few top influences. My favorites are posters (from rock shows, to propaganda, to Polish films). But no two illustrations of mine look identical. And sometimes I worry about this. Is an illustrator's work supposed to look consistent? I mean, really consistent? That way an Art Director knows exactly what to expect. I hope not. I came across this post on Today's Inspiration, a blog by Leif Peng, and it put my mind at ease. Murray Tinkelman is the subject of the post, and it displays a few pieces Mr. Tinkelman has done throughout his career. They look like they could have been done by five different artists. "All these examples, taken from the first two decades of Tinkelman's career, suggest that the restless illustrator rarely settled twice on the same visual solution to any given problem," explains Peng. He reports Mr. Tinkelman stating in an interview in American Artist magazine from 1970: "'I enjoy variety and I try to use style in the same way a typographer uses type faces. The style is not dictated by whim, nor by the art director, but by the problem the job presents.'" I named Mr. Tinkelman, in a questionaire I answered for Communication Arts' Fresh page, as a major inspiration to me as an artist. When I was a soon-to-be illustrator, he gave a lecture at my school as a visiting artist. Now, through my monitor, from a quote on a blog, he's managed to inspire me yet again. Thank you, Mr. Tinkelman. Here's a great Tinkelman bio on Zina Saunders' drawger blog.

LA Times Op-Ed

I just did a piece for Wes Bausmith at the LA Times for an op-ed piece written by Barbara Ehrenreich. It was a great article about unemployment in the U.S., and how Americans deal with it. The gist of it: Unlike the masses of unemployed in other countries, we don't organize in any effort to change the system. We get pretend jobs. A very well written piece, and a lot of fun to work on. Wes is one of my favorite ADs to work with. He always has great insight and feedback.

Village Voice Cover

I just finished a cover illustration for the Village Voice in NYC. I was working with Ivylise Simones on this one. I worked with her back when she was at the Miami New Times, and it was great to work with her again. The cover story is a really horrific cold case in the Bronx that's just been solved. Its a very sad story that, no matter the outcome of any trial, doesn't have a happy ending. Read it here.



I recently got a call from Joshua Kors, the author of the story. He called to compliment me on my illustration, and to tell me that he appreciated my work. I've never actually heard from any writers of the articles I've illustrated, so it was great to hear from him. Thanks again for the kind words Joshua, and keep up the good work.

Card for Sabrina Vega

Sabrina Vega, a very talented graphic designer from Austin Texas, has a blog called Sabrina: A design project. Her idea was to send out self-addressed, stamped postcards to various illustrators and designers, to let them put "Sabrina" on the card. After they were sent back to her she scanned them and displayed them on her blog. The first round of 100 cards were sent to such design legends as Milton Glaser and Gary Baseman. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she chose to include me in her second round of postcards. She just received my card and posted it on her blog.



Here's the card that I sent to Sabrina. I noticed that everyone else was writing the word "Sabrina," so I thought: why not show it in sign language? Check out Sabrina's blog. There are a lot of really cool cards. Thanks again, Sabrina!

Communication Arts Illustration Annual 50!

Last week I was informed that a recent piece I did has been chosen to appear in Communication Arts Illustration Annual 50. I've been looking at Communication Arts magazine since art school, hoping to one day get the chance to grace the pages of its Illustration Annual. Its an incredible honor to be included in this publication, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other work when it comes out in July.


This is the piece that will be in Communication Arts Illustration Annual 50. It's a personal work that reflects my feelings towards people that use their religion to justify any act of violence, no matter what faith they subscribe to. It's mixed media on vintage book cover.

SND Award of Excellence

The first piece of news I have concerns an illustration I did for Wes Bausmith at the LA Times last year. As visitors to my website may already know, I received an Award of Excellence from the Society for News Design for the "Wrong Turf" piece I did. It's a great honor to be recognized by the SND. The illustration was for an Op-Ed story about the author's neighborhood, and its persistent gang problem.




Thank you for the opportunity, Wes!

What's one more blog?

Having realized that operating my own web page didn't sufficiently propel me into the 21st century, I've decided to join every other person in the world and create a blog. I'll be using this blog to share illustration, news, and thoughts and opinions with anyone who cares to look. The "News" page on my website will probably be phased out in time, as this will be quicker to update. Enjoy!