More black and white interiors

Continuing work on the book project this week, and here's a look at some more of the black and white interior illustrations for this project, including a set of four small 'passage of time/4 seasons' spots that will be sprinkled throughout the book.

Oscar Poster 2012

My brother throws an 'oscar party' at his restaurant in Chicago every year, and for the past 8 years, I have presented him with a 'caricature poster' of all the nominees in honor of the occasion. (If you want even more historical trivia, me and my younger brother first began watching the oscar broadcasts in 1972, and neither of us has missed one since, and often will call to recap the highlights no matter where we happen to be)
In past years, I have done this poster in black and white line, but for some reason, this year I was inspired to try doing the entire thing in a 'painterly' style (perhaps it was the inclusion of a 'black and white' movie in the nominees which inspired it). Almost didn't get this one done in time, but put in some extra hours on Friday evening to finish it up so that I can print out a copy tomorrow to present on Sunday night. You can click on the image above to see a larger, more detailed version.

Previous posters in this series:
annual oscar poster 2011 (2010)
annual oscar poster 2010 (2009) (in 3-D!)
annual oscar poster 2009 (2008)
annual oscar poster 2008 (2007)
annual oscar poster 2007 (2006)
annual oscar poster 2006 (2005)
annual oscar poster 2005 (2004)

Snow Day

After a month of above average temperatures here in Michigan, we finally got a last minute snowstorm this weekend (which is rapidly melting), and while everyone else is out on the slippery roads, I'm snug in my office working away. The illustration above was a quick turnaround piece for the Wall Street Journal, and below, are several black and white interior pieces for an upcoming book project (one of which I shared here previously, but it has since undergone some slight revisions).

Unusually Normal

Enjoyed a rare 'normal' day today. After finishing up one book project that I've been working on nearly every day for the past month and a half, and before I dive into a couple more over the next few weeks, I had a couple illustrations from some old clients today. In fact, these two clients, with the same art directors, I've been working for since around 1991 or 92. The illustration above was one for US Catholic, about the Hostess Bankruptcy, and the piece below is for the Chronicle of Higher Education to go with a two part commentary section about university presidents from outside academia.

A nice change of pace, but back to the 'new normal' for the rest of the week.

Sneak Peeks

Been a while (for me) since I've updated the blog, but it has not been because I haven't been working. I've spent most of this past month working on a pair of projects for two different publishers, neither of which I'll go into too much detail about. The illustration above is one in a series of approximately 30 outfits for a paper doll project which will probably be going to press rather rapidly this spring, as soon as certain details are ironed out (more details as it becomes available). Below is an example of one of a series of 30+ sketches I've been doing for the interior of a book for another publisher (I've posted the color cover illustration previously here), and I'll be starting to move onto the finishes for these in the next couple weeks. Surprisingly, same day, and short turnaround work has slowed way down this past month, which is just as well, as there weren't many spare moments during the day to fit them in. But I sure miss the sense of completion that quick turnaround work gives you, so I'm hoping that will pick back up again as the year progresses.

Besides the drawing, I've also been working hard this spring on finishing up the recording and mixing of my band's first full length cd release, and we hope to have it available by the end of April to coincide with a high profile gig we just booked. I reworked the cd cover since I first designed it about a year ago (a full six months before we actually began recording tracks), and here's a sneak peek at the cover art. (track listing & order still subject to change at this point)

And on top of all this, Oscar season is quick approaching, and I'm way behind on this year's poster (my brother hosts an 'Oscar Party' every year at this restaurant, and I've been presenting him with a caricature poster of all the nominees for the past 7 years). And if that weren't enough work, I've decided to try doing this year's poster in a different style, and in color. Here's a sneak peek at a small portion of that piece:

Now back to the drawing board...

Phoenix for the weekend

Back home now after an extended weekend out to see my Father in Phoenix. I brought my wife's laptop and the 'mini tablet' with me, so I could get a few quick turnaround projects done while I was out there. The two pieces below were for the Wall Street Journal and for Barrons (and the one above was done this morning for Barrons as well). I've been using 'Corel Painter IX' for the past several years, but for some reason ran into a glitch on the laptop with that software, and ended up downloading a trial version of 'Painter XII' (the most recent version), which I used to complete the two illustrations below. I may just upgrade to this newer version (I never upgraded to X because I ran into some technical glitches that made it unusable for me, frequent crashes & certain tools that never quite worked right).