Beep bloop beep beep

Test your knowledge of Movie Robots.

Oh Happy Day

Happy Wedding, Happy Pride!

Blue Bulldogs

Cosplayer

This was originally to run in WIRED magazine, but the article got killed. Wah. I think this is a cute piece and I was pretty psyched about doing a watercolour for $$.

Tiananmen Square Op-Ed

Here's an Op-Ed piece that appears on today's NYTimes Op-Ed page. Read the article here. AD Brian Rea.

SPD

Hey, I won this thing(!):*



*A Society of Publication Designers Gold Medal! For this piece. Thanks to Leo and Arem at the New York Times Magazine.

NYTimes Health Illustration

Speaking of colour, here's a piece I did for this week's Health section of the NYTimes. It printed fabulously, probably due to the very saturated and bright colour scheme (images on newsprint are automatically dulled down quite a bit). Something to remember for next time.

Contractual Ne'er-do-wells

There is a lot of buzz in the comics blogs about the evil Tokyopop contract. Contracts and business stuff are the boring, unglamorous side of commercial art-making and, frankly, sort of exists as a grey area when it comes to some illustration stuff. But I think linking to some of the commentaries surrounding this particular case is useful, especially since I know a lot of you are probably art students. Maintaining high standards for your work not only benefits you, but the entire community.

Stevie Wonder

Test your knowledge of Stevie Wonder.

Carrie for Entertainment Weekly

Here are sketches and the finished illustration I did for Entertainment Weekly's Sex and the City issue (out tomorrow). I did four, but this is the lede illustration. Here's John Hendrix's contribution to the mag.

The sketches started out as depicting a SATC writer, but eventually they requested that it be Carrie herself.

AD William Hooks.

Orphan Works Bill

I've gotten an email 3 times now concerning the Orphan Works Bill. Might as well post it here: if you are an image-maker (and I'm assuming you are), this legislation involves you and your creative rights.

Here is an easy way to send a pre-written statement to your representatives. Non-US citizens can take action here.

Here is a podcast of Brad Holland talking about the bill. Even if you discount half of it as alarmism, it's still some scary shit.

Vivienne Flesher

Vivienne Flesher is one of my favourite illustrators.

Read this interview.

End.

Yoshitaka Amano and Pingmag

This dude I know is really obsessed with Amano and so he's grown on me too. Here's an interview with him at Pingmag (if only to look at the pretty pictures). This is a good Amano book, if you're interested.

Pingmag posts some pretty cool stuff so poke around. I like Pingmag MAKE, which profiles Japanese craftsmen and artisans.

El Mirage

I'm illustrating an article by Michael Musto, Village Voice columnist, for Entertainment Weekly right now. It reminded me of this old illustration I did for his column a while back. It's about El Mirage, which he deems the dullest sex club in New York. I enjoy the boy in the sling.

It's crazy looking back at old work and seeing how things change (and how you come back to some things too!).

Risk

Here's an illustration for Planadviser magazine, AD SooJin Buzelli.

The concept is "great risk for great gain". I prefer the last sketch, but we agreed it might be a bit obtuse. I'll have to finish it on my own (or find an assignment for it).

Bats

For the Boston Globe, AD Greg Klee. Bats have weird proportions.

Reference Folders

(which hold reference photos for current projects on my desktop)

Mariah Carey

Test your knowledge of Mariah Carey.

My job is awesome. Where else does "research" involve watching dirty ol' Mimi and her various breast slings bounce around in youtube videos? I was minorly obsessed for a few hours. 'Love this cheese.

Bon Appetit Spots

Here are some spots I recently did for Bon Appetit's current Travel Issue. They accompany an article about foodie travel in France. AD, Robert Festino.

I actually really like these little drawings. They are simple and the monochrome feels really classic. Like old-school magazine illustration. I am trying to integrate this more into my work these days, but it actually takes guts to present stuff that's so restrained.

Check out Today's Inspiration for a huge catalogue of classic publication illustration.

SKIM BONANZA

Hey guys,

This will be last post for about a week. I will be up in Toronto promoting our book. I thought this would be a good time to do a megapost about the latest and future goings-ons in Skimland.

First: an excerpt! This is a little cut from Part 1 of Skim. You can also download a .pdf version if it's too big for your browser or you'd like to zoom in on the art.



If you are in Toronto, come to The Launch. Mariko and I will be doing a small presentation where I will be showing sketches and other process stuff. And, of course, yammering about our experience. And partying. Details:

This Is Not A Reading Series, Skim Launch
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 7:30pm
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON


Also on Wednesday, you can listen to Mariko and I on CBC's entertainment radio show "Q". I think that comes on around midday. Check local listings. I was actually on Q once before with the lovely Hope Larson. But that time we had a guest interviewer... this time I will actually meet celebu-host Jian Ghomeshi. I am terrified.



If you are an OCAD student, you can also come to a talk next Friday. It will be more in-depth and illustration-focussed. Mariko will also be there to talk about Skim. We'll probably bring some copies to hawk.

Friday, March 28, 2008
10am-12pm
Ontario College of Art & Design
Auditorium (room 190)
100 McCaul St



Lastly, I thought I'd post some media tidbits, including a review from last weekend's Globe & Mail and this month's BUST Magazine. Read a small online article about my comics-making soundtrack at Drawn (thanks, Matt!). And, lastly, a feature in the National Post is due to run on Wednesday. I archive all this stuff on my website under the "books" section.




THAT. IS. IT!

Thank-you for your patience. I thought I'd blast all this info at you at once, instead of stringing it along over multiple posts. Maybe I'll meet some of you in Toronto!

-J

ESPN Fantasy Sports

Here's a recent project done for ESPN's 10th Anniversary Issue. The concept: "Fantasy Sports are Fun"! The editors actually came up with the idea of the pinata party, which was initially a bit daunting. How exactly does one draw a group of kids grabbing at 10 specified athletes flying out of a pinata? But actually, I think the challenge did me good.







There's something that makes me think the image actually looks better in the layout than by itself. I'm not sure why. Maybe the "JACKPOT" extends the line of the girl's arm or something. Anyway. You'll notice the asian girl got a bit of a haircut and became a boy for the magazine version! I suppose girls aren't that into fantasy sports, but I do like the black of her hair in the original. AD Siung Tija.

Dr. Seuss

Test your knowledge of Dr. Seuss. How odd to do an illustration about an illustrator.

19th Century Japanese Toy Design

Via BibliOdyssey.

You've seen the James Jean Prada stuff. The SoHo store is basically a giant, fabulous shrine to him. James, you are truly a champion! Read Chris Butcher's rundown on the whole Prada deal. It's an exhaustive little post.

I've noticed a growing trend of illustration colliding with high fashion. I collected some pictures for you.

(I don't know how to do the "behind the jump" thing.)

Boob Tomatoes

Yes, boob tomatoes. How else to describe them? Plus a few rejected sketches. For Esquire, AD Erin Jang.

Matching Gold Medals

Our hardware from this year's 50th Annual Society of Illustrators annual (editorial category). Neat!

Skim Redux!

A fun piece of Skim Fan Art from Simon Häußle! It is wonderful (and really really weird) to see little ol' Skim re-imagined.

Some press is starting to trickle in, including this Quill and Quire starred review. (pdf)

I will have more information about Skim and promotional events in Toronto within the next few weeks. So stay tuned.

Robert Weaver

Amazing Robert Weaver slideshow on the NY Times website. How much more awesome would it be to look at these in a magazine, as opposed to a series of photos?

Maniac, Maniac

Test your knowledge of Dance Movies. Then watch the clip below (kinda NSFW!). Yay Friday!

Children's Books

Here are some spreads from this month's Cookie Magazine. The theme was classic children's books. Fifteen illustrations in total! It was cool to work with the art director, Alex Grossman, to do something more thematic and integrated.






And a few close-ups of the main illustrations.

My Friend Frank

Frank Stockton also did a beast for the Beast! book. And, like mine, genitalia was to be had!

Frank has a great bloggy-news section in which he details his impressive process and also gives very sage and energetic advice to fellow illustrators. There is something very Mr. Miyagi-like about Frank.

MAXIMIZE YOUR GROWTH, PERFORMANCE & STRENGTH

I couldn't resist posting this illustration that came in a spam email today. Call me crazy, but wouldn't doing illustration for spam be fun? I mean, it's offensive and unsolicited to begin with. The sky's the limit.

Tanuki Complete!

If you're wondering about the ball sac, it's explained in the post below. As mentioned before, this is an image for the upcoming volume of BEASTS!, published by Fantagraphics.

Nepalese Farmer

Here is a job, start to finish, for the Asian edition of TIME Magazine (AD May Wong). The piece was a book review for a novel about impoverished Nepalese farmers in the mid-twentieth century. The book was a simple story and spoke to the plain truths about poverty: the poor are powerless, and the poor are destined to get poorer.

Here are the sketches (after a few hours of scouring the internet for reference on Nepal). I saw a great photo of a man carrying a seemingly impossible load of hay, and it seemed like the perfect metaphor for the burden of the poor. Case in point: research is NOT about just "getting the details right". It can spark creative ideas unto their own. Which is why research-gathering, not thumbnails, is step #1.




I started on two versions of the final. I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it. I have a minor obsession with a book by Vittorio Giardino that I have, so I think that (and Tin Tin) is why the Clear Line style comes up every now and again. I didn't end up taking it to final though.

Final!

Detail.

Outsider Art

An "Outsider Art Fair"? "Outsider Art Dealers"? My goodness. Such a crazy strange world we live in.

Here is a NYTimes slideshow of some of that Outsider Art. For more, I suggest the American Folk Museum in Midtown.

Above, an image by Henry Darger, who seems to be a very common reference point for many in the illustration world these days.

The Emergence of Baby Boomer Retirement-Income Products

Plansponsor, AD SooJin Buzelli.

Maps

I really love maps. I think they're such an engaging way of conveying information. I occasionally do illustrated maps, though I'm by no means a virtuoso mapmaker. I'm currently working on one for National Geographic Adventure magazine and stumbled upon this amazing site called Strange Maps, which catalogues maps of all different kinds including:

The Illustrated


The Satirical ("How Japan Sees America" map)


and The Fantastic ("The Land of Oz"... shaped like Kansas)


Below are a few of my illustrated maps.

Artists Against the War

Slideshow from the Society of Illustrators.

W.B. Yeats

This piece was awarded a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators this year, which pleases me immensely. The sketches aren't too horrific so I thought I'd share them.

The article, for Esquire, was explained to be me as "about how poetry can get you girls". If you're interested in that theory, you can read the article here.

Art direction by Darhil Crooks.

Dorothy

Test your knowledge of the Children's Fantasy genre.

A Brief Message

Not a lot of posts lately. It's been super crazy. Super Duper crazy. But here's something new and educational to boot! Read a short article on design that I illustrated over at A Brief Message. And, if you have time, check out the back archives... I'm loving the "Under 200 Words" format.

Thanks to Khoi Vinh!

Here are the sketches for a piece that appears in this weekend's New York Times Magazine. The article is about a man on trial for killing feral cats who were preying upon endangered birds.





This is the final full-sized drawing (after the editorial changes), over which I inked the final illustration. As you can see, it serves as more as a rough guide and isn't exactly set in stone.



Final image. It's a full page; it's nice when stuff is actually big enough for people to appreciate the details. I've also posted the accompanying spot. Art Direction by Leo Jung.

Old School

Here are three illustrations I recently did for the Washington Post, to accompany an article about funny real estate stories (not an oxymoron!). I think they're sort of amusing because they're such traditional, old school-type illustrations. Like you wouldn't blink an eye if you saw them in an article from the 1960s or something. I actually used to do quite a few humorous type illustrations like this when I first graduated. Not so much anymore.