These were several editorial illustrations created for the May/June issue of UTNE Reader. They were done for a bunch of stories that revolved around the topic of narcissism.
Half page, opener for "The Culture of Narcissism" - playing off the idea of thinking you are the center of the universe.
"The Narcissism Myth" - this one revolves around the subject of young people and their need for outside validation (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) being rooted in their own insecurity.
"Just Do It" - the focus on this discussion was about self-improvement, self-help books, obsession with being the best we can be, and the power of positive thinking. More or less poking fun at this stuff.
"Whatever Happened to Empathy" - explored how much we've lost our ability to empathize with others, walk in other people's shoes, etc.
"Narcissus Regards a Book" - People want to read about themselves and what they're into, not great literature.
Album design and illustration for Foster McGinty's new album Chateau Fiasco.
Having designed his first album Peach Red a couple years back. I wanted to continue the evolution of that style on this one, incorporating a similar bizarre and surreal flavor with the same illustrative approach.
The title provided a nice foundation of word play to begin drawing inspiration from. Bringing down the house via a good ol' seafaring cephalopod was where things ultimately ended up. The music was a nice evolution from the first album as well. I definitely recommend checking it out and I hope you dig the cover too.
I was recently commissioned for a pretty sweet illustration opportunity with McDonalds for the filet-o-fish "Tales From the Sea" campaign. Had to crack all five out from sketches to finals in five days too which was interesting. Unfortunately the billboards are only being used for a St. Louis, MO metro campaign though (not national). So if you're in St. Louis keep eye out and see if you can spot all five! Below are a few pics that have been sent back to me of them out "in the wild"...
Check out my other freelance illustration work over at rawtoastdesign.com. Also check out my educational children's book series at quirkles.com, each book is full of easy science experiments for kids.
Had the opportunity to do another cover illustration for Christian Century. They actually contacted me about a concept sketch that I had done from the last assignment and thought that the idea behind it would translate well for The Pursuit Of Happiness issue. Win-win. So with a few modifications to the original concept this is the final editorial illustration that ran in January. Another reason why it's always a good idea to submit several concepts to your art directors fellow illustrators!
I had the pleasure of sitting down and really getting to hear Mark Federman, the principle of East Side Community High School, speak passionately about education, the arts, his school, and most importantly near to his heart, his students. This guy is the real deal. He's been living out of a tent on the street in front of his school for over a week now to raise awareness for his school. All because of a promise that he made to his kids as a mentor and leader that they all look up to and admire. KOHL's is giving away ten million dollars that will be split up between 20 schools, each getting 500,000 and Mark really wants this for his. It's a voting game. Unfortunately they're on the low end of the technology spectrum(due to current funding) which makes promoting this cause all that more of an uphill battle against many of the private schools currently holding the top 20 positions. It would be really unfortunate to see all of these awards only go to privately funded schools and not deserving Title 1 schools like East Side High that really are desperately in need of a boost like this to change the lives of the students there permanently.
Mark and I spoke for about a half an hour, but it didn't take more than a few minutes to see the energy in Mark's eyes even though he'd only had three hours of sleep the night before. He introduced me to their current arts program and all of the things they currently pull off with a non-existing budget, including a full gallery that they do student exhibitions in for the community to help raise money for the arts. In fact, pretty much anything that is outside of the lean and stripped down "norm" has to be personally funded out of his own pocket and other teachers at the school. We both conversed on our passion for a solid balance of technology with the arts in the classroom. This money would help fund a new mac lab where his students can access the equipment they need for a proper introduction to the graphic arts, computer illustration, and video production. In addition to this he has a pretty extensive list filled with after school programming, some fine tuning, and just making the overall experience a better one for his students.
So here's whats up. I need you to vote for very a deserving school that really needs our help and has lit up many faces on a street nearby where I live. In exchange I'm going to give you my work for free. This will not cost you a penny (I'm covering shipping costs too). Only about 30 seconds of your time will be needed for the voting. Mark has literally been camping out and living in front of the school for the past week in order to raise awareness for the needs of his school and the students that walk it's hallways. His ambition and determination has inspired me. He's out there doing exactly what every person in a leadership role should be doing in their community. He's lit a flame in everyone around him, brought together the community with his students, faculty, and parents and given them all hope and a dream worth coming together for. Bottom line, it's always near and dear to my heart when I see someone that's willing to go the extra mile and show the world they care... especially when it's for the kids.
I realize that we are bombarded by proposals on the internet non stop which is why I understand the value of a little bribe in order to elicit action. So go vote for East Side Community High School in the KOHL's Cares For Kids contest on Facebook to help them realize this dream of winning $500,000 and I will ship you a print of your choice that is hand signed and dated completely for free to anywhere in the world.
Here's how it works...
This must be done by Friday, September 3rd in order for it to count.
Now Vote for East Side Community High School!... and make sure you vote 5 times for them. You can vote 5 times for one school.
Awesome.
This is important! Take a screenshot of the webpage that shows your name and picture proving to me that you voted. (How to Take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows: http://bit.ly/eMVb | How to Take a Screenshot in Mac OS X: http://bit.ly/X70NJ )
Now email that screenshot picture file as an attachment to rawtoastdesign@gmail.com along with the name of the print you want from the RTD Store http://bit.ly/1549YG as well as your mailing address.
And don't forget to go tell all of your friends!
Done. And thank you kindly :)
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Why am I doing this? I've got a few reasons.
1. I've walked by here at all hours over the past week and whether it's morning, afternoon, or night, this school's steps have been lit up with smiling faces and people who genuinely care about their futures. And that makes me care. I also had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Federman, the principle of East Side Community High, and listen to him passionately speak about how profoundly this money would benefit his students, especially in the arts and technology.
2. I'm just a sucker for people who give a damn. All great things that materialize start off as an idea. An idea that is then fueled with emotion, heart, and perseverance by someone who cares. East Side High is a perfect example of this. Let's give these kids the recognition they deserve and make believers out of each and every one of them that have volunteered their time for this cause.
3. It's in my best interest to care about this school because every afternoon these kids repopulate my neighborhood. And the better educated and well rounded they all are the better chance that the future of this area that I live in will be a positive and fulfilling environment for all.
4. I am still just plain fascinated by the power of the internet and humans. How the influence of a few can generate a tidal wave of reaction. And that just maybe, if I send this on to the people that I know and then they forward it on to there friends. A little public school in the East Village of NY, that caught my attention through a 7 year old volunteer with a blue flyer and a principal sleeping in a tent, can see this dream materialize. Something like this will be more profound than we could ever imagine for these students.
A few new illos done for a recent Time Out NY Kids feature on tips for getting your kid organized and back to school. Full article can be seen on the TONY Kids website here - LINK.
I got invited by Scott over at Born Magazine to create the cover for the 2009 Issue #2 a little while back. The theme is alway loosely based around "birth". I had something similar to this in one of my sketchbooks that had been patiently waiting to be released on the world. After a little inking, careful planning of proportions, and strategic placement of hairs, this is what I ended up with. Check out Born here - http://www.bornmagazine.org/
Prints will be available in the RTD $TORE soon too, so sit tight and dream of all the lonely Mermen that will soon need homes.
Three spot illos done for the July issue at St. Louis Magazine. The first was for a section highlighting St. Louis farmer's markets, the second for a Missouri based electric car company, and the third for a piece on a campus wide bottle ban at Washington University.
More good news! Waiting For A Believer was chosen by the fine jury over at Creative Quarterly and will be featured in Creative Quarterly 15. Art prints are available as well to help pay off those sweet entry fees :) - Waiting For A Believer prints
This was a cover editorial illustration that I just did last week for the lawrence.com Deadwood Edition. They let me do my own custom type for the headline too which was cool. Check out the "Hope Is the New Fear" story here - link.
This editorial illustration was done for the Talk of the Town section in the February issue of 417 Magazine. The blurb was about the Branson Regional Airport kicking off its opening with a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds show - the title was "Eyes to the Skies".
I guess everyone's definition of funny is different, but here's a few samples from some of my new work that made me smirk a little while I was working on them.
FREE signed prints of my work until Saturday...details on my blog.
This was a piece recently done for Time Out Chicago's Eat Out section. The article was about a roundtable discussion with critics, chefs and bloggers discussing multiple issues. I was told that the chefs are now starting their own blogs in order to have a forum to respond to critics. Apparently these tend get heated, and people respond to specifics, and there's lots of trash talk and back and forth etc...
This was the final, a little mix of culinary guerilla warfare and critic-blogger droids caught up in the cyclical nature of these virtual discussions. I only had an overview of the article to work off of, but Mike Novak (TOC Art Director) did a great job of conveying what it was that they were looking for. The full article and illustration can be viewed here.
A couple illos recently done for IndyKids. The first(above) was done for an article that discussed why books should or should not be banned in libraries.
The one below accompanied a student written article discussing The Story of Stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html). It raises questions and concerns about our continuous extraction of raw materials from the environment and the toxic nature that all the products we consume and discard have on the atmosphere around us.
My submission for Illustration Friday's weekly topic - Memories. I think the trash can is an interesting concept for this. It probably temporarily holds more things that are linked to our own personal individual memories than any other device in the world. I also have many "memories" as a kid finding all kinds of magical things in and around alleys and trash cans, that with a sprinkle of imagination could be transformed and transport me to an entirely different world. It's a shame so many of us lose touch with this ability as we get older.
