To End All Wars

Here is an illustration I did for Sunday's Boston Globe Book Review of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild.  The review highlighted the complexities and political ramifications of the first World War.  Instead of attempting to capture an elaborate, global concept, I thought it would be interesting to focus on the effects on the individual soldiers, who, due to the breakdown of technology and resources, were left in unprotected trenches with only rudimentary equipment and supplies to survive.

Herman Wouk Is Still Alive

This month's issue of The Atlantic is on stands now, and features a new short fiction piece by Stephen King that I was asked to illustrate.  The story (which is available on The Atlantic's site), follows two young mothers who win a small sum in the lottery and a retired couple from outside Fairfield, Maine whose lives eventually intersect.  The illustration appears alongside the first page of the text, so one of the challenges was to allude to the end without undermining the narrative that was taking you there.

The thumbnail sketches below were jotted down in pauses while reading, and rougher than usual since much of the idea phase ended up being done through an ongoing dialogue with the Art Director, Jason Treat.  The conversation was especially helpful with such an emotional and highly-charged story. The third sketch, which was an interior of a van, came up as a strange/interesting option for the bleak but beautiful world the story is set in. And below that is a slightly more worked-out composition, and then the ink and wash underpainting, which was then finished digitally (above.)  Much thanks to Jason for the opportunity.

Communication Arts 52

This year's Communication Arts Illustration Annual comes out this week, and I'm very honored to have had my illustration, "Visiting," chosen for the cover.  My Burroughs covers were also included in the books section.  The CA Annuals have been sources of great inspiration to me since way before I began actually working as an illustrator, and it's a tremendous thrill to be included alongside such a consistently excellent group of illustrators.  (Art direction thanks to Melissa Bluey for The Atlantic and Jo Walker at Harper Collins.)

Panorama

Last week, I got a call from Judy Pryor at the LA Times to illustrate the book review of the novel "Panorama" by H. G. Adler.  This is the first english translation of the novel, written in 1948, which follows its character, Josef Kramer, through 10 distinct chapters of his life, some of which mirror the author's own years in Nazi forced labor camps and surviving Auschwitz and Langenstein (where Kramer's character ultimately arrives).

Below are the rough thumbnail ideas based on a couple passages in the text echoing a recurring theme of isolation and obliteration throughout the passages of Kramer's life.



Above are refined versions of three of the sketches; the third sketch of the characters at the labor camp was selected.  Below is the ink-wash drawing, which went through a range of trial and error with color and light before coming up with the final version (top) that felt closest to the tone of the story.

The Inside View

A few months ago, I got a call to work on the cover and interior spread for a feature on insider trading for Wardour's Securities and Investment Review magazine in London. The article was still in progress, so I began working from the brief, which mainly outlined a noir take on a short sequence involving the illegal exchange of privileged information. So right out of the gate the spy sketches were flying and rainy nights and briefcase handoffs at train stations were too enticing not to jot down.  However, after sending in the above sketches, I received the final copy for the article and after chatting further with the Art Director, I realized that, as opposed to corporate espionage theatrical international treason, real-world insider trading is usually done under much more mundane circumstances like homes or offices, often with as little as zero fedoras.

So the next round of sketches were tailored to the idea of a dark and stormy night, but more in a cubicle setting and with some foreshadowing of the regulatory enforcement agencies looming into the scene in the second image.

The second set above were approved with a few small adjustments, like adding an eerie late-night custodian on the cover and lowering the angle on the office on the double page spread.  Overall, it was an unexpectedly fascinating subject to get to research and illustrate. Much thanks to Steven Gibbon at Wardour for the call.

By the Power of Grayscale

Here are a couple of recent black and white assignments for the New York Times and Nylon Guys.  Getting to think in limited color and focus on light and contrast are aspects I've always loved doing in sketchbook work so it's fun to be able to develop those elements into more finished pieces.

Above is from last week's New York Times for an Op-Ed piece by Mohammad Al-Asfar about revolutionaries in Libya, and below is a piece for the Times letters page on "Echoes From the Revolt in Egypt" which ran shortly before Mubarak's departure.  The third image is the illustration for the latest installment in the Nylon Guy's serialized story, "The Empath."

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.