Color and Whiteout

Last year I was smart enough to attend the Illustration Academy in Sarasota, FL. Among many many other things I took away from it, I started giving myself a lot of permission to go nuts in my sketchbook. I've been sitting on these scans for a little while. I could describe some of the thought behind a lot of them, but honestly, there wasn't much. Again, my subconscious is a dark and smelly place.

Ballpoint Pens v. NYC

Its a cliche that illustrators draw folks on the train. But here are some of my sniper shots at unsuspecting New Yorkers. A lot of these are ballpoint pen, my weapon of opportunity, although some colored pen and some pencil sneak in. Oh, and some angry rat handpuppets too. Whoopsy.

Summer Travel Guide

Sue Foster at the Wall Street Journal gave me a ring with a quick job for her "Middle Seat" travel section. All jobs for the Journal are quick, since she gave me all of Memorial Day weekend, this was actually relatively generous. The assignment was their Summer Travel Guide, something to describe all their valuable tips about navigating the airlines this season.They suggested an idea with a coach detailing tips to travelers. I think its pretty common these days for illustrators to have ideas suggested to them. Usually I see it as a challenge to one-up them and show I can think as well as draw. So while I followed my orders, I got a bit nutty with the perspective and put half of the travelers in pool gear. Obese pool goers. Genius, Scott.
My idea was a bit more conceptual. A tourist with a grey overcast city on one side of him, and a pleasant beach on the other. A hawaiian shirt with planes to bridge the gap. Maybe a bit off the mark, but I thought it would be fun.

Needless to say, they chose the crowd scene. I get a lot of work for my crowds, it wasn't that big a surprise. But I have no complaints, the finish reproduced great and I had some fun with color and perspective. Thanks again, Sue.