loss of seeing and hearing are situations that we are familiar with and have attempted to comprehend, but what of the loss of smell. elizabeth zierah tells the painful story of her own life and of her anosmia, the absence of the ability to smell.
this was a tough assignment, as my illustrations don't generally go towards the realm of somber and serious, but i went for mood with this piece (albeit with a big-glaring-lack-of-nose concept) and the work of rené magritte popped into my head as reference. anyway, don't forget to appreciate your sense of smell.
slate heads to a reality-tv acting class which teaches how to be a reality-tv star. people most certainly practice to be on these tv shows, so why not have a class to teach you the finer points?
i got to do a whole series of illustrations for a slate special issue on procrastination. i hemmed, i hawed, i put them off . . . actually, i screwed up and got these illustrations done nice and quick!? i blame the studio environment. you may notice that the 'caveman procrastinating', isn't on the slate site. the description i had of the article didn't quite jive with the final story, don't tell the t-rex.
the kentucky derby is upon us, and slate has a couple of stories about horse racing. the one i illustrated is how betting away from the track via the internet is cheaper, easier, and even pays better. this benefit to the bettor, however, comes at the expense of smaller tracks and betting lifestyle:
As a writer, I also have to mourn the decline of the racetrack culture. The track and its characters—misfits, losers, and dreamers every one of us—provided the casts for Charles Bukowski's Longshot Pomes for Broke Players, Damon Runyon's Guys and Dolls, and Jay Cronley's Good Vibes, which became the movie Let It Ride.
slate reports on ways to actually control your child's behavior! okay, that's a slight overstatement. yelling or even explaining when a child does something wrong doesn't really help as the attention rewards bad behavior, instead put the effort into reinforcing good behavior.
the new studio helped with this illustration as there is fusebox across the room that was in my line of sight while sketching. and yes, i am sure that kids have dip switches on their backs that control their behavior.
slate investigates a more green way of giving flowers in response to this email:
My girlfriend is on the verge of kicking me to the curb, so I'd like to smooth things over with my standard apology gift: a dozen long-stemmed roses. But she's on the crunchy side, and I'm worried that cut flowers have become a major environmental no-no among such eco-minded folks. Should I find a greener way to say I'm sorry?
personally, i think the guy sounds like a dick, "standard apology gift", how often is this guy screwing up? maybe the relationship is just plain doomed. however, the email appears in the green lantern section which deals with environmental concerns and not dear prudence, who would be quick to question this relationship's validity, or possibly not even bother. anyway, put in your cfc flowers, every little bit helps!
it's late march, and that means the ncaa basketball tournament, an event so large, there have even been religions founded upon its holy brackets. i was asked to do an illustration for slate's annual teams we hate article. using all the fury, hate and phildelphia-ness in me, this assignment wasn't difficult at all, honestly, if you aren't in the big 5 (plus drexel) you won't be getting any love from this illustrator. i am always happy to cheer against teams, so in the spirit of competition, GO FU!
slate: teams we hate, by tommy craggs, bryan curtis, mike debonis, sam eifling, josh levin, chris park, john swansburg, and robert weintraub.
i've noticed around the illustrator sketchblog-o-sphere that people have been showing some of their ideas and sketches along with final work, so here's a sample of my sketching, or at least what i sent to the client. for full disclosure, i was pretty excited about doing a nadshot illustration (possibly NSFW, illustrated crotch-knee violence), but everyone really liked the 'GO FU' foam middle finger, which i couldn't argue with.
dr. syd's house call is a new video feature on slatev, featuring their medical expert talking with a slate editor about kids, parenting and health. in the video feature, dr. syd doesn't actually jump out from your computer screen, but i must say that it would be cool if he did. c'mon syd, jump!
this time of year always breeds heated oscar conversation. that said, i am not much of a movie person, but i do enjoy drawing a naked golden statue or two, holding a sword and drinking coffee (yes, coffee in front of a watercooler, use your imagination, the coffee maker is around the corner). so go read about the oscars.
slate: oscars, 2008, an email dialogue between dana stevens, kim masters and troy patterson
slate's moneybox column suggest the state of the global economy is due to being run by insolent toddlers, children and teens. an entertaining take on the situation, if so many of the comparisons didn't ring so true, and that the market protects them.
There's a final, telling way in which the markets are childlike. Children typically display an unwillingness to reckon with the consequences of their own actions. They look to parents to pick them up when they fall, and spare them from responsibility for their misbehavior. And parents will go to great lengths to insulate their offspring from the jolts the world can deliver.
happy new year everyone. i have plans to do a year in review, list of favorite illustrations, goals for 2008, etc, etc. but of course, i instead plan to get bogged down, forget about it, or just plain not do it. thankfully, slate did a a year end round up of illustrations, and having done a bunch of work for them this year, i will just post that! (many thanks to slate art staff, writers, editors and fellow illustrators.)
an email discussion about the year in video games. the conversation spans all sorts of games and systems, hence a gang of controllers. that atari 2600 joystick can still kick all your asses! (apologies to nintendo ds, psp, others, if you didn't make it into the illustration.)
slate: the gaming club, by stephen totilo, n'gai croal, seth schiesel, and chris suellentrop. (cover art)
slate defends audiophiles and their desire (obsession) for the highest quality of musical recording available. the author understands the desire to pack a thousand songs in your pocket, but looks forward to the day of music compression with the least compromise of quality. me? i drew a big ear, i couldn't be happier.
carmakers have fallen in love with geographic car names, hoping to connect the feelings of a location with their car (think suv + outer-mongolian-rain-forest-dessert, now that's tough). to this end, slate makes some suggestions of more apt geographic names and automobiles.
a food article about avoiding the complicated newfangled thanksgiving dishes, instead enjoying tradition, relying on good ingredients, and having a stressfree (ur, less stressful) thanksgiving meal. the article doesn't mention dealing with your family, however, i like my family, so this comment is there merely for those that fear and loathe going home for the holidays...you know who you are.
a series of illustrations for a slate legal feature, jurisprudence: american lawbreaking. this series discusses 'tolerated lawbreaking', situations where the law is either incapable of handling the situation, or happily looks the other way. enjoy your new life of crime. (update: all six stories and illustrations are now posted)
installment number two of mr. iphone, this slate article discusses the difficulties, benefits, and joys of unlocking your iphone. with all this chatter about the iphone jailbreak, apple locking it down, the jailbreak continuing, etc, etc, i still get a laugh every time someone talks about bricking the jesus phone. the term itself makes me laugh, more succinct than 'doorstop', and more interesting than 'paperweight', bricking is just great, especially after you have bricked your $399 techno wonder (ed. note: likely not fun for brickee).
it's been a busy week as i did a whole series of sex-related illustrations for slate's sex issue: state of the sexual union. mind you, these weren't about pr0n, however the sketching for these illustrations was a good deal of fun, with some dirty ideas, some very dirty ideas, and some fully wrong ideas. there were also plenty of childish, boring and prude concepts to go along with the others. honestly, apart from the condom-wing-tipped eagle, the guy with a question mark down his pants, and two i.v. bags going at it, feel free to look at these illustrations with your underage minor, charge or mom.
don't ask the sexperts, dan savage, dr. ruth, and other advice columnists on what's mystifying about sex compiled by morgan smith. naughty nursing homes, is it time to let the elderly have more sex? by daniel engber. pas de deux, why are there only two sexes? by amanda schaffer. cancer sluts, does the HPV vaccine "promote" promiscuity? by meghan o'rourke.
trailhead is a new campaign blog by slate, and with the current melee of democrats and republicans involved, i liked the idea of a blogger sitting on a heap of donkey and elephant for the illustration. to make the image read clearly, slate requested stars and stripes on the animals, which turned out fairly well. first however, i colored the animals in their natural state (as perceived by eben) to get a feel for them. here are both the flag and original version of the illustration.
article about russians getting the day off to have sex and make babies. i couldn't think of anything that i wanted to draw more than vladimir putin, in the words of my friend marge, playing a little knifey-spooney. this certainly is one of my dirtiest illustrations...ever!
this illustration was for an article about which is the better piece of gadgetry, the iphone or the blackberry curve. the art direction was for a knife fight between the two smartphones, and after much discussion, only narrowly missed becoming a cellphonic rendition of michael jackson's beat it. alas, my favorite line from the story got snipped:
"When you get 'sent from my BlackBerry,' you think the sender is on the road but still chained to work, reading his email in the elevator," a friend near Capitol Hill observed. "When you get 'sent from my iPhone' you think, 'This asshole wants me to know he has an iPhone.'"
slate did a series of fake greeting cards on the idea of a celebrity thanking another celebrity for taking the heat off of them with more stupid, more recent or just plain more 'news-worthy' actions.
four illustrations for slate's wedding issue. the bridezilla was a lot of fun to draw, and i am still impressed that they let me get away with drawing boobies (once again, hooray for figure drawing! mind you, most of the models don't look like strippers, but who am i to judge?).
slate fashion article about the disappearance of the tie clip. i actually own two tie clips. the first is the tie clip that my grandfather always wore, and the second is a retractable mechanical pencil that doubles as a tie clip, given to me for some reason by my grandmother (hmm, i really have to find that one). i guess that set of grandparents just really appreciated a tie kept in its place.
slate requested a series of illustrations for their series on BRAINS!. whee, squishy brains. there are five illustrations on subjects ranging from a god machine to exercising your brain with neurobics. articles will be posted throughout the week, so check back often. now, all together...BRAINS!
okay, this story is really just plain nasty. the LA dodgers turned the right field bleacher section into an all-you-can-eat-american-baseball-dream section. now don't get me wrong, i have often dreamt about entering a hotdog eating contest, but the idea of this many nachos and people around me eating as much as is humanly(?) possible while watching baseball just sounds disgusting. the article is great. go read it. and yes, i was tempted to draw a guy with nacho cheese spewing out of every conceivable orifice, but we can't all be neil swaab.
slate asked for an illustration about tax time, so i got thinking about how happy uncle sam must get this time of year, all flush with american citizens' tax money. speaking of which, have you filed yet?
slate: spend every dime!, by henry blodget -- also, this week's illustration friday topic is fortune. when i hear the word 'fortune' in april it's hard not to think of tax season (the commercials on tv, the nerves, the forms, etc), so here's sam and piggy bank:
illustration for an article about the the US marketing of green tea, and doing it in so very many variations. (note: all that figure drawing is paying off)
If snacks like the Think Green line of "superfood" nutrition bars assure vibrant health, green tea beauty products promise external radiance and inner peace. Oneness with the universe is more or less guaranteed if you begin your day washing with Dove's calming cumber and green tea soap and spritzing with Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea Scent, which "imparts a feeling of well-being, revitalizing both body and spirit." Origins "Perfect World" products are made with increasingly fashionable white tea, which is sort of baby green tea (think baby arugula). According to the company, white tea is "among the most potent antioxidants, anti-agers, anti-stress, anti-smoke, anti-pollution antidotes." How is it that tea becomes more medically potent as it loses color and flavor? Next in this progression will be an invisible ghost tea with the regenerative properties of fetal stem cells. Scientists may also one day discover that drinking hot water is good for you.
article about la times employee trying to quit. i am guessing that the original article had more intrigue, sex and espionage in it, but i don't think that part made it past the legal department. who knows, i just draw the pictures.
nothing finer than an illustration about march madness, this one being about the death of the hand written and scored bracket, and the people who manage them (note: not their actual death).
an illustration for slate's review of netflix's new on-demand movie download service. i don't personally watch enough movies to really get excited about something like this, however, i enjoyed reading about reihan salam's love of watching. hmm, love might not be a strong enough word (obsession? compulsion?):
I will note here that my Netflix habits are unconventional. During my early days as a Netflix subscriber, I spent anywhere from 1 to 3 hours a night watching DVDs on fast forward with the subtitles on. Because I read fairly quickly, I was able to follow twists and turns at high speed, thus increasing my cultural literacy in record time. This is impossible with Watch Now. To fast-forward, you grab the slider and drag it to the right, then wait. It's more like teleporting than running at high speed.
illustration for slate.com for an article about our fascination with eating pig, how it is the animal (which we eat) that most represents us, and of course, religious tie-ins. this was not a tough illustration for a bacon fan such as myself, and i am particularly pleased that this ended up being the lead story on the homepage for friday's addition.
the article isn't terribly complimentary of the idea, hence the port-o-potty on the moon's surface, which led to a very entertaining exchange with my friend pixel11, over what the name of this space bathroom company could be. below, are our thoughts (not for those easily offended by bathroom humor):
"lunar landing", "jonny on the moon", "apollo number 2", "moon rocks", "light peed", "space toilets", "...and you thought uranus was far", "orbital load", "dark matter", "cosmic dumping", "ASSTEROID!", "moon pootrol!", "ASSTRONAUT", "deep impact", "the right stuff", "shuttle blaster", "mission control", "we are go for launch", "all systems go!", "gozone", "turd rock from the sun!", "lunar eclipse", "gravitational poop", "black hole", "galacshit", "gas giant", "milky way", "poopernova!", "brown dwarf", "solar wind."
if you are familiar with pixel11, you may be able to sort out who made each suggestion, however, since we both enjoy a good (bad) pun, this might be a fruitless exercise.
the article isn't terribly complimentary of the idea, hence the port-o-potty on the moon's surface, which led to a very entertaining exchange with my friend 
mr. baseball indiana: alex meyer | guest gallery: grady mcferrin / victor gonzalez | slate: the nose that never knows | basics: smart gadgets acting dumb, as an upgrade g... | slate: my day at reality-tv school | what's online: why some succeed wildly | silver wants to be a millionaire! | what's online: fake gems, genuine appeal | pencil factory | what's online: filling up for a bit less |