Ten Thousand Saints

Illustration and idea sketches for the LA Times book review of the novel "Ten Thousand Saints" by Elanor Henderson.  Art Direction by Judith Pryor.

American Trypanosoma

A series of illustrations from a side project that's been in the works.

Illustration Now! Portraits

Just got a copy of the new Taschen Illustration Now! Portraits book in the mail.  I have a couple pages in the book alongside an humbling collection of work by eighty illustrators and edited by Julius Wiedemann. The first section of the book is available to browse through on the Taschen site.  (Cover illustration by the always cool Raphael Vicenzi.)

Beach

Two-color illustration for a short fiction piece by Roberto Bolano in the "Aliens" issue of Granta Magazine.  Much thanks to Michael Salu (and Roberto Bolano) for such consistently rich source material.

Idris Elba

Working on a portrait of Idris Elba for this month's issue of British GQ reminded me how much fun just hitting the page with a brush and ink and some flat colors can be.  Below are the sketch ideas inspired mainly by his role on the BBC crime thriller "Luther" with a little super hero thrown in since his role in "Thor" was kicking around the back of my mind while working.

Also in case anyone's interested the original artwork for this piece, along with a few other paintings is now available for purchase at owenfreeman.bigcartel.com

Medical Mysteries

Over the past couple months I've been illustrating the Medical Mysteries column for the Washington Post Health page.  The articles are on real-life cases where symptoms and conditions lead to unexpected revelations with some false-leads along the way.  From an illustration standpoint it's been an interesting challenge to try to distill the long-term situations into a single dramatic reenactment that contain the condition, the suspects and the culprit, all without giving too much of the ending away.  The June mystery (out yesterday) is about a man who's was repeatedly admitted to the hospital after suffering serious symptoms of liver cirrhosis and diabetes; below are the rough thumbnail ideas and then the sketches which lead to the finish above.

The second illustration below was for the May Medical Mystery about a wedding photographer suffering from a debilitating skin condition and potential culprits from her daily life.  Art Directed by the always great Brad Walters.

Forgetting Why We Remember

Here is an illustration I did for an Op-Ed piece by David W. Blight in yesterday's New York Times. The article was on the largely unknown beginnings of the Memorial Day tradition in America, and the events surrounding the first recorded gathering to mourn the losses of the Civil War in 1865.

Below are the quick ballpoint thumbnail ideas, and then the two more realized sketches from there, and then the finished ink wash painting. Much thanks to Aviva Michaelov for the always inspiring assignments.

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.)