Eight Hours

Here is a piece I did for an article in last week's Washington Post on the science of sleep disorders.  The illustration was especially fun because we had a bit of lead-in time and I was able to collaborate with the AD, Brad Walters, on not only sketches for the composition but actually pitch a few ideas for how it could interplay with the page.  Below are a few of the layout ideas, and above is the Health & Science page with the finished artwork and copy.

A Just Defiance

I had the chance to illustrate the cover for Peter Harris' novel "A Just Defiance" for Portobello Books in the UK. The book chronicles the trial of four young ANC soldiers being charged with a string of political murders in Pretoria, South Africa in 1987 and, told through the eyes of their attorney, is interlaced with flashbacks of the violence and circumstances leading to the events. Above is the wraparound cover illustration and below is the final cover design by the always great Michael Salu.

Destiny & Desire

Here is an illustration I did for the LA Times Book Review of Carlos Fuentes' new novel "Destiny & Desire."  Based on the brief synopsis and a couple overviews of the book, my AD Paul Gonzales and I came up with a couple specific visuals from the story, including the severed head of the novel's narrator lying on the pacific coast. Below are the quick thumbnail roughs, and then two tighter sketches that best carried across the cast of characters and violence while retaining some traces of magical realism, found in Fuentes' storytelling.

New York, New York

Last week, I had the good fortune to get a call from Aviva Michaelov at the New York Times with an assignment for the Op-Ed page.  The article, which ran yesterday, reflected on Sinatra's role as the touchstone of style and cool within mainstream hip-hop on what would have been his 95th birthday.

The American

This month's British GQ has an illustration I did alongside their review of Anton Corbijn's film "The American." Inspired by the duotone designs of the film's poster, the sketches (below) were done with a mono-print approach in mind, using red over blue and white to allude to the character's nationality (and line of work.)

Kind of Blue

Here is a piece from yesterday's Los Angeles Times book review of Miles Corwin's latest novel "Kind of Blue."  The book centers around the reinstatement of the main character, an unusually keen and obsessive officer, to the LAPD to solve a high profile murder.  The thumbnails and sketches below were a inspired by the character's lone-wolf mentality against the backdrop of LA.  Much thanks to Judy Pryor for the call.

Collateral

Excerpts from side projects over the past couple weeks.

By Nightfall

Editorial assignments are generally fast-moving targets, and having one good shot seems like the best you can usually hope for.  So the chance to take two swings at the same subject for two different assignments was unexpectedly nice.  The assignments were book review illustrations for Michael Cunningham's new novel "By Nightfall," in which the main character, a successful Manhattan art dealer, begins to question the life and career he's built after the his wife's younger brother enters their lives.

The first call was from Nick Vogelson at OUT, and the focus was on a specific chapter in the book to accompany an interview piece with the author.  Below are the sketches, a few color phases and the finished piece.



Shortly thereafter, I got a call from Paul Gonzales at the LA Times to do a piece for their book review with a broader focus on the overall story.  It's rare opportunity to do a second finish on the same concepts and characters so in the LA Times piece, I tried more of a designed poster format.  Below are the sketches and the finished piece, where the main character is being pulled between two worlds with his wife on his arm and a young and bright figure drawing his attention behind him.  Overall a lot of fun to do both, much thanks to Nick and Paul for being great ADs as always.

Mary Poppins

Today I have an illustration on the Picture Book Report, an ongoing narrative/collective blog I've been enjoying for months and home to illustrators like Meg Hunt, Sam Bosma, and Kali Ciesemier among many others. The above piece is based on a scene from the first Mary Poppins book by P.L. Travers, where Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael Banks to St. Pauls Cathedral in London to see the Bird Woman. Below is a bit of the process from idea thumbnails, through to the rough pencils and then the finished ink drawing.

Engineering Terror

This is an illustration I just finished for an article in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine about the disproportionately high number of engineering degrees found among members of radical/terrorist organizations. The initial three sketches were based on the discussion of detachment and calculation, which are characteristics of members of both groups in the article.

After going over these sketches with Leo Jung at the Times, I went back and expanded further on the second one and the miniature city idea from a little more claustrophobic angle. In the process, I noticed the rough colors on the wall had a strange smudged look, almost a burn-mark feeling that worked unexpectedly well with the rest of the piece.