bridesmaids movie: 2012

Mr. (or Ms.) Wrong!

I have an illustration in the July edition of Ebony magazine! The theme of the article is about toxic relationships and ways to recognize bad boys (and girls) you shouldn't date. In the course of coming up with identities for Mr. Wrong, I figured the symbolism couldn't get any clearer than a vampire lothario, or a hidden devil! (beware, ladies!)

My original sketches (sometimes working in color is easier for clarity):

(I even tried out a vintage Dracula-movie-poster font for fun!)
Big thanks to AD Lynn Galloway for letting me basically turn this piece into a cover for a supernatural romance novel :) The final layout looks great:

Swifter, Higher, Stronger...Sexier?

An illustration in this past weekend's Boston Globe Magazine about the uniforms for female Olympians. Some sport leaders want to create "a more female aesthetic", i.e. sex appeal, to draw in more crowds and attention for female sports--but this can come at the cost of athlete practicality and performance. This year boxing and badminton started requiring all female competitors to wear skirts, but later dropped the rule after bad press and complaints from athletes. Female beach volleyball players have always been required to wear bikinis (and some feel most comfortable in them), but the association recently changed their dress code to allow for shorts and t-shirts too.

Yes, aesthetics can have a powerful effect--drawing a bikini'd butt will almost certainly direct attention to the article-- but I think the article's writer, Shira Springer, sums up the issue nicely "The Games should showcase the world’s best athletes at the peak of their abilities, and that means team uniforms should be about practicality and performance, not eye candy."
Hear hear!

Sketches:

Thanks again to AD Ryan Huddle! You can read the rest of Shira's article here.

The Power of Mom!

Right on the heels of my last piece are two more illustrations for this past weekend's Boston Globe magazine! This time I was honored to be illustrating the cover again, as well as an accompanying page inside.

The theme of both illustrations was the power that moms wield through online networking (the cover is focused on the power, and the inside illo is focused on the connectivity). It's easier than ever for moms to connect and share tips, info, advice, and warnings on a variety of sites, blogs, and forums that are catered to them. From the article, "While a mom’s opinions once only stretched so far — to her local play group or over the backyard fence — now they are amplified and shot around the world with a keystroke. And if you make a mom mad, the power of her network is a force to be reckoned with." You can read the rest of the article here!

The cover I made is a deliberate riff on Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. I remembered the painting from my college art history class partly because it was the first time I learned about triangular compositions!

The revolutionary spirit also seemed to fit the article, though the editorial staff didn't want any moms with mean faces, so my ladies are a little more lighthearted instead of murderous.

There was limited time for both illustrations so the inside illo is more simplified out of necessity, but because the colors for both are all in the same families I think they fit together, and I enjoyed working in both styles.
Thanks again to my great AD Ryan Huddle for the assignment, and the fun layout he created inside!

Sketches for the cover:

Sketches for the inside illo:

Star Gazer

Many months back I started and neeeeearly finished this piece, for fun, between work. I have been (and am currently) in a long busy stretch, so I didn't get the chance to put the finishing touches on it until last week!

This all started as a composition exercise. I was reading the wonderful Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis (out of print, but free pdfs available online) and he has a great section about informal subdivision as a compositional tool. Informal subdivision is a process Loomis created, where you divide your image space unequally (and somewhat randomly!) by drawing a series of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines. As he shows it in the book:

Once you create this dynamic linear plan for your image, you let it suggest your composition for whatever subject you have in mind. Here's the subdivision I made:

I didn't have a particular subject in mind, I just wanted to draw a lady. So I kind of just let myself meander a bit with the drawing.

I settled on the lady in the chair, who I made into a space lady (one of the best kinds of lady) who maybe got herself into some sort of a sticky situation.

Here's the final lined up with my informal subdivision.

It's a pretty fun exercise! It might be a little tricky to use if you need to have a specific sort of layout, but it's great for suggesting ideas. Try your own! Composition for all!

I need your help!

Hey guys! This year my friends and I have 2 tables at SPX— Sam & I are sharing one, and our talented pals Andrea & Jimmy are sharing the one right next to us!

I’m going to primarily be selling prints this year, and I need your help to figure out which prints I should bring!
Of the prints above, please let me know what your top 5 favorites are. Which would you wanna buy? (and for those of you who have already given me your picks on tumblr or twitter, thanks so much for your help!)

Also, for anyone who won’t be attending SPX, these prints are also available from my inPRNT shop, and there’s a Labor Day sale today!

The Expendables movie screenshots

Movie director: Sylvester Stallone
Movie writers: Dave Callaham (screenplay), Sylvester Stallone (screenplay)
Movie stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li
Movie length: 103 minutes