Praising poison ivy

This illustration ran in the Op-Ed section of the L.A. Times this past Sunday. The author wrote a very informative piece on poison ivy- from its benefits to nature, to its appearances through American history. There's also a frightening bit about possible effects on the plant from rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere (Hint: No, its not in any danger of going away).



Read the article here, which also displays my illustration- surprising, as that doesn't usually happen with Op-Ed pieces. Wes Bausmith is the awesome AD who commissioned this, and put the headline in the ivy vine/dress. Very cool.

On a side note, the article to the right of my illo is an excellent piece written by Hagit Borer. Borer is an Israeli-American who will be on board The Audacity Of Hope, an American vessel taking part in the next flotilla bound for Gaza. I recommend reading her article as well.

Up in ARMs at the Wall Street Journal

This piece for the Wall Street Journal was finished a couple weeks ago, but the story was held over 'til this past week, when it ran in the Weekend edition. The article explains how some people are reconsidering ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages), now that their interest rates are much lower than those of fixed rate mortgages. However, it's a gamble, as interest rates could jump up in the next few years while the mortgage is still being paid off.



Read the whole article here. Thank you, Keith!

Communication Arts Insights interview!

My interview for the Communication Arts Insights page is up today. From the teaser on the homepage:
"Justin Renteria comments on paleontology, the link between Tylenol and creativity, and the apology he owes to Steph Glaros."

Excellent. The Insights page has interviewed such legends as Edel Rodriguez, James Jean, and Gary Taxali, just to name a few. Check it out here. It's always an honor to be involved with CA- thanks again, Sue!

And coming soon to Draw Your Weapon- new work for the Wall Street Journal...

Nonslick interview

Pete Ryan is an illustrator, who aside from creating very smart, conceptual work, runs a blog called Nonslick. On this blog, Pete posts interviews with illustrators and designers, and even art directors, with questions that are well thought out, and tailored to the individual being interviewed.

He contacted me recently for an interview, and has just posted it on Nonslick. Check it out, along with the interviews of other artists, from Scott Bakal, to Anita Kunz, to Dave Plunkert and many more. Thank you again, Pete!

Getting metaphorical

My recent cover piece for the Washington Post's Capital Biz magazine ran yesterday. The story describes the recent multitude of venture capital firms in the area, providing investment for new, smaller businesses. Fairly dry stuff, so I had to get metaphorical on its ass!



And they did a great job of linking the article to the illustration by way of the headline. Brilliant copywriting. Thanks again, Mere! It was a real pleasure!

New Op-Ed piece for L.A. Times

This piece was finished last week for Wes at the L.A. Times, for the Sunday Op-Ed. It accompanied several stories by various authors writing about books: from the ones they had finally gotten around to reading, to the novels they will probably never finish.


It was awesome working with Wes again. The stories were online, but now I can't seem to find them. If I end up locating the page, I'll return the link.

Comm Arts Illustration Annual 52!

My copy of this year's Communication Arts Illustration Annual arrived in the mail earlier this week. As usual, it's chock full of great work by some of the best illustrators working today. And as with the previous two years that my work was featured, I'm honored to be a part of it. The series for my recent Zoologica Graphica booklet is displayed on page 190, for anyone interested in checking it out.


And more news with regard to CA, I was contacted recently to be featured on the Insight page of the Communication Arts website. My interview will be up on the site Tuesday, May 24th.

Tout va bien!

Everything is fine... with regard to the situation concerning public employees in at least three states. Or at least that's what you would think due to the lack of coverage anymore. The airstrikes and predator drones in Libya, and the budget "debate" here in the U.S. have sort of squeezed that story out of the picture. Here's a piece I did recently about what the bills in WI, OH, and MI essentially do to collective bargaining for public employees.


They make it not exist anymore!

Luerzer's 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide!

I just received my copy of the Luerzer's 200 Best book. I have three pieces featured: one assignment for Wes from the L.A. Times, another for Joey, also at the Times, and one for Ronn for the Harvard Law Bulletin.



I'm honored to be considered by the judges as one of the "200 Best Illustrators Worldwide." To be considered for publication, the illustrator had to create the work within the past 18 months, and be nominated by an art director, or have been published in the archive before. There were 6,075 submissions from 1,139 illustrators in 44 countries.

Speak Out- while you still can

Here's a poster I designed for fun a few weeks back, when the public employee union fight in Wisconsin was just starting to get heated (I told you things were going to get ugly, didn't I?). It goes along with my earlier plea for people concerned, to call Senators, Representatives, and Governors. The first step in affecting any sort of change, is being heard. In a heartwarming show of solidarity, hundreds of thousands of people in Wisconsin and across the country have shown support for the workers unfairly punished by Walker's budget repair bill. For all you Wisconsin residents, here's a link to recall efforts.

Not only are people finally standing up to the attacks on unions, they are finally starting to get pissed off about the fact that many multi-billion dollar corporations pay NO federal income taxes. Here's a link where you can get involved.

And of course there are those who are still paying attention to the fact that we are at war in three or four other countries, NOT including Libya. I'd love to get off my soapbox, but this stuff is getting really hard to keep quiet about.

Washington Post Food section

I was pleased to receive a call from Marty Barrick at the Washington Post the other day, for a small illustration on the front page of the Food section. The story explains the importance of keeping old family recipes around, and how passing them down from generation to generation preserves family history.


You can read the article here. This was my first assignment for the Washington Post, and it was really nice working with Marty.

Cover for The Pitch

Last week I got a call from Sarah Norwood, to do the cover for Kansas City's The Pitch. The story's writer followed a team of competitors in the BonkHardChill, a treacherous race consisting of biking, canoeing, and trekking on foot (in February mind you), through the Lake of the Ozarks State Park. The very first words of the article are a description of the writer flying over the handle bars, and landing in a ditch. I felt this concept was appropriate:



This cover was a lot of fun to work on. I even got the wheel off my own mountain bike and covered it in paint for the track pattern. This was my first assignment for Sarah, and it was great working with her.

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.