Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 26, 201012:08 AM

Just sent this image off to Modern Postcard to have a batch of 5x7's printed up. Been toiling away on this illo the last few weeks and I'm pretty happy with the final result. Lately I've made an efffort at getting my portfolio more geared towards the children's illustration market and I wanted to push this one further than I usually go. Thanks to InvisibleMan Keegan for some great suggestions and prodding.

And while the resemblance is not striking I did base the cat off of Maru. Click on the image to view larger.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 14, 2010 9:22 PM

Some new characters for this year's Wall Street Journal college bowl game rundown. We went the throwback theme of electronic football for the animation this year which was a fun way to go. And you can't go wrong illustrating a horned-toad either.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
December 8, 2009 9:39 PM

A few months ago I'd had started this drawing for my 'Cabinet of Curiosity' project and had completed about 75% of it. I was working on it right up until my wedding/honeymoon/move-to-California and had pretty much forgotten about it by the time we got set up and running out here. I had also given it a bland filename which wasn't helping jog the memory. But I stumbled across it the other day and put a polish on it.

I'd initially had a different object atop the pedestal (a wooly mammoth with a castle-saddle) but it wasn't really working for me. So instead I worked up this horse sculpture which I had sketched while viewing a show of ancient Chinese art within the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2005:

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
November 28, 2009 2:31 PM

This article for Time Out Chicago by Jason A. Heidemann was part of a package looking back at the history of Chicago's Second City legendary comedy ensemble as it celebrates it's 50th anniversary this year. While many of the group's alumni have gone on to become legends of comedy, just as many went on to live less famous lives (This is a slightly different version than the one that ran in the magazine). Art direction by Mike Novak.

Click on the above image for a larger view.

You can see more of my work for Time Out Chicago here.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 22, 2009 7:09 PM

We're deep into autumn now so naturally my mind starts to linger on the ideas of Joseph Campbell, Hobbits, strong ales, falling leaves and the forest lairs of folkloric creatures. This drawing came out of the sketchbook and was finished off in photoshop and sorta captures my mood as of late.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 15, 2009 5:31 PM

I recently came along a 1972 Time-Life book entitled 'The High Sierra' while perusing a local junk shop. Among the many great images and graphics within is an amazing photo of Mount Whitney and the Alabama hills within Sequoia National Park. I did a quick pen drawing in my sketchbook and the illo's above were derived from that sketch.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 3, 2009 8:53 PM

The above illustration was for a Wall Street Journal interactive about how fan's of winning teams still have a tendency to weep about their fortunes. A fun illo, especially incorporating the team mascots.

After a few months of settling in here I'd like to announce the opening of the Sacramento Office of InvisibleMan. It's nice to be toiling away in the pleasant climes of northern California. Below is a photomerge of the InvisibleManCave:

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
October 25, 200911:29 PM

This illustration ran in The New York Times on October 25th on the cover of the Metro section (New York edition). The essay by Alana Joblin Ain describes her experience being suspended from shopping at the Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn, NY after falling behind on her required work requirement. The Co-op has a reputation for high quality local organic foods, at great prices. However the author of this essay highlights some of the difficulties in keeping up your end of the membership bargain, and the shameful consequences that follow.

Read on to see the accompanying spots and how it looked in print...

Continue reading "NYT: Flunking Out at the Food Co-op"
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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
October 2, 2009 8:35 AM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
September 18, 2009 4:59 PM

From the Woodstock Artlodge, clockwise from top right: Stephen Antonson, Jon Keegan, Jeff Nash, Kerry O'neill, Paul Clark and James Antonson. That's a crazy talented crew right there. Really looking forward to hanging out with a bunch of these cats as we swoop into the city for Kerry and Corrie's wedding!

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
July 13, 200912:35 AM

Here's two more time-lapse sketches I created on my iPhone using the fabulous Brushes app. One more after the jump...

Continue reading "more iPhone sketch movies"
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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
July 3, 2009 3:08 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 22, 200911:50 PM

A few pages from the sketchbook - drawn while my wife Kristina and I honeymooned in amazing Costa Rica. If you ever find yourself there, I highly recommend a visit to the MonteVerde Cloud Forest Preserve:

This crab was drawn on the beach in Mal Pais. If you ever find yourself there I'd recommend a stay at the very tranquil Beija Flor.

Some primary forest:

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
May 5, 200910:23 PM

Here's an illo for The New York Times that I busted out last week for their Sunday regional section. Since I recently became a huge fan of "Top Chef", I was excited to illustrate Jodi Rudoren's fun essay on how there ought to be a "Home Cooks" edition of the popular cooking show. Quickfire and elimination challenges that would make the TV contestants wither go on every day in a house full of hungry family members. Note the Dad playing the part of the poor-man's Tom Colicchio at the dinner table. Art direction by the always-pleasant Richard Weigand.

You can see more of my work for The New York Times here.

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
May 4, 2009 5:02 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
May 2, 2009 9:56 AM

Behold the illustration for this summer's Siren Music Festival and crazily enough, it's my ninth year creating the poster art for the Village Voice. For this years iteration I was really inspired by the new Cooper Union logo designed by Stephen Doyle and its primary palette. I also wanted the art to have a bright, positive vibe to it in this year of shaky confidence (it is after all a free, all-ages, rain-or-shine deal). Click on the image for a larger view.

I'd also like to give props to Diane Perini who is the brilliant mastermind behind the Siren Fest, picking the bands and overseeing the whole event. Also to Mike Gibson who's done the design work for this and last years festivals.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
April 24, 200910:00 AM

Two additional watercolor sketches from a recent Art Lodge.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
April 17, 200910:36 AM

Watercolor sketches from a recent Art Lodge.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
April 1, 200911:00 AM

A few panels from a comic I recently completed. Look for it in a future issue of Mome!

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
March 20, 2009 8:00 AM

The moored boat "Jennie D" - Naples, Florida - March 9, 2009

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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
March 13, 2009 8:34 AM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
March 3, 2009 8:55 PM

This was an illo for the Wall St Journal which was publishing an excerpt from Bryan Gruley's upcoming mystery novel Starvation Lake. The portion I read highlighted some hardscrabble hockey players in northern Michigan and from what I read seemed like a really good read. I only had about 6 hours to do the entire illustration so I kept it simple. For the final we cropped in close on his face since the excerpt dealt with the goalies need stay focused on the puck at all times and never look the opposing player in the eyes.

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
February 25, 2009 9:57 AM

A full page illo for the "Menu" cookery section in UK's House and Garden Magazine. I had to illustrate all the ingredients of one of the featured recipes.

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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
February 6, 2009 7:47 AM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
February 5, 2009 9:24 PM

A recent illo for the Wall Street Journal economic forecast report, which is obviously not predicting a rosy scenario. Right after I finished the pencil drawing for this I came down with a stomach virus. It was a rough slog dragging myself back and forth from the couch to the computer trying to finish it in the few hours I had before it was due. All and all I was happy with the outcome.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 17, 2009 5:13 PM

Just finished this illo for the Wall St Journal economic forecast report. It was the first time I've ever drawn Barack Obama and it's thrilling to know his presidency is looming only hours away now. This inspiration for this illo probably came from all the 'Top Chef' viewings I've had as of late.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
January 15, 2009 1:28 AM

A fun illo for Newport Beach, CA based Orange Coast Magazine about how parents are trying new tactics when teaching their teenagers to drive. Some methods include advanced driving courses and GPS trackers that keep tabs on the young driver's speed and route driven. Art direction by Justin Long.

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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
January 14, 2009 9:40 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 1, 2009 8:03 PM

Just finished an a interactive guide for wsj.com of these bowl game mascots facing off. We've been looking to do projects which could incorporate lots of illustration and the BCS match-ups seemed like a good candidate. Big props to my colleague Susan McGregor who did the animating and interactivity. Below is a look at the final layout which has a slight comic book cover composition going on.
Click on the images to view larger and here to view the guide.

Below is an early sketch done before match-up announcements were made.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
December 27, 200810:00 PM

Here's an illustration for The New York Times Sunday regional editions. As another new year begins, a grandmother reflects upon her past New Year's Eves and how they changed as her family grew. Art direction by the gracious Richard Weigand. Happy New Years everyone!

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
December 21, 2008 7:47 PM

Have a good 'un!

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
7:44 PM

An image for a short folksy xmas story that appeared in today's Seven Magazine, a supplement with The Sunday Telegraph.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
December 12, 2008 5:50 PM

More sketches from the same session I posted about below. This time the model posed for two minutes before changing position. These drawings were done at the Monday night figure drawing session at the Brooklyn Artist Gym, held each week from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. The sessions are open the public and only $10 for non BAG members. Stop by if you are interested. More info can be found here: http://www.brooklynartistsgym.com/events.html. There is also 3 hour long pose session on most Saturdays.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
December 5, 200811:46 AM

Recently I attended a few figure drawing sessions after having not done so in a while. I had forgotten how much fun can be had creating quick sketches while the model rotates through a series of short poses. They are like calisthenics for the hand and eye.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
December 3, 2008 9:05 PM

Josh Brown and Jeff Rooney operate the Capacitor Design Network, a very rad agency which works out of Burlington VT/Portland OR. They contacted me about illustrating my interpretation of a volcano for a Gordini magazine ad. I was stoked to have the opportunity to draw mountains, yetis, a volcano - stuff thats right in my wheelhouse. It was an interesting challenge incorporating this photo of Banks Gilberti jibbing in Colorado with my illo and ultimately a really fun project to work on. Click on the image for a larger view.

Here's a good interview with Josh and Jeff from the folks at Josh Spear.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 22, 2008 7:18 PM

This image started with the background in which I was going for a 'surface of the Death Star' type of look in photoshop. Then I thought to rework some sketchbook drawings of a Joel Shapiro sculpture and in the end they seemed to have a lumbering-robot feel about them which worked well with my Death Star theme.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
November 18, 2008 9:00 AM

Panel from a two-page comic I just finished for Mome. The book will be out in the spring!

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 3, 2008 8:34 PM

In less than two weeks the snowboarding season opens for those of us who reside on the east-coast - and I am damn excited for it. The drawing above was initially just a quick drawing in the sketchbook which I then scanned, augmented with a sharpie-drawn background and gave it the whole photoshop treatment. More than ever I've enjoyed rendering our elusive Yeti brethren and for some reason they seemed an appropriate addition to the lone operator of the shred-sled.

If you are in need of some additional snow-stoke (and who isn't?) I would recommend downloading the very awesome and very free snowboarding film 'Pony Tale' by the fine folks of Actionhorse Films. It's quite good - especially the Utah backcountry section.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
October 31, 200811:00 AM

Happy Halloween!

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
October 24, 200810:27 PM

Recently I caught the WunderKammer exhibit at MOMA here in New York. It's akin to the chambre des merveilles or 'cabinet of curiosities' shows of 16th century Europe. It's a good show and I was sort of taken with the whole idea of a collection of strange objects and specimens. I absent-mindedly doodled this cabinet in my sketchbook, then sketched out an old musty room for it to sit in and quickly finished up the color and such in photoshop.
Next I want to see what's in the drawers.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
October 18, 200810:57 AM

Here's an illustration I recently completed for the cover of Library Journal's "netconnect" magazine. The issue discussed how libraries are taking advantage of the latest in mobile technology to extend their resources and services to their visitors. Art direction by Irving Cumberbatch (who handily wins in the "Best Sounding Name - Art Director" category).

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
10:27 AM

With the nervewracking state of the economy as of late, I was hesitant to go too overboard with this month's WSJ Economic forecast. I'd already done the whirlpool of doom a few months ago, so it felt right to show Hank and Ben working to fix the dire situation. By the way, that's the fed rate that Dr. Bernanke is about to snip.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
October 12, 2008 4:08 PM

Multiple views of Joel Shaprio's sculpture 'Untitled' drawn in the sketchbook and tweaked a bit in photoshop. I like the AT-AT Walker-like feel to the overall sketch.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
1:38 AM

Drawn in the sketchbook while enjoying the MOMA sculpture garden's warm autumn weather. Lamentably I neglected to write down the sculptor's name.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
October 10, 200810:44 AM

Street sketching in Herald Square.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
October 5, 2008 2:28 AM

This is an illo for The New York Times' "The City" section. Eric Anthamatten's essay is about the frequent and common disorientation than every New Yorker has felt when emerging from the subway, perhaps at an unfamiliar station, and not being able to situate themselves on the city grid. Art direction by Richard Weigand.

See more of my work for The New York Times.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
October 1, 2008 8:03 PM

I'm tying the knot in May to my sweet Kristina and am in the midst of some designs for the invites and other assorted design elements. These trees were some tests.

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
September 24, 200812:58 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
September 23, 2008 1:17 AM

This illo ran in this week's Miami Herald on the cover of the Business Monday section. Apparently the usually brisk furniture market in Miami has been hit by the spate of home foreclosures, and is reeling from the downturn.

I always enjoy cramming a variety of colorful objects across a page. Art direction by Chris Melchiondo.
Click to see a larger version

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
September 16, 200812:51 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
September 6, 200812:08 AM

The art director at the Riverfront Times (Sarah Norwood) gave me this assignment last week and the brief I was given was 'goth cruise'. That was all the information I wanted to know. My favorite detail is that the fellow in the lower right corner appears to be wearing a Dracula-style cape. Click on the image for a larger view.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
September 5, 200810:53 AM

From the sketchbook

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
August 26, 200811:06 AM

Illustration for Prana Yoga Journal

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 24, 2008 9:35 PM

An illustration for the Wall Street Journal Economic Survey.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
August 23, 200810:33 AM

This is a piece I did for The New York Times this week. It is running in Sunday's "The City" section (of the New York edition). The author Thomas R. Pryor waxes nostalgic about a day in 1961 when his father and uncles took him to see the Yankees play the Red Sox. One of his uncles knew Luis Arroyo, the pitcher, and the author got lifted over the fence to hang out in the bullpen, and was awestruck by the pinstriped giants. Art direction by the always agreeable Richard Weigand.

Click for a larger view

Read the Essay

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 17, 2008 8:43 PM

It's fun to draw other peoples sculptures. These were drawn in my sketchbook and tweaked in Photoshop. To the left is a piece by Herbert Ferber titled 'Homage to Piranesi' and on the right is an untitled sculpture by Joel Shapiro.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
August 15, 2008 2:00 PM

I’m finally done with my latest comic for Mome, thank goodness! The book won’t be out for several months; however, the last issue was just released, and it, too, contains a story by moi. It’s available at classy bookstores or on the Fantagraphics site.

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
August 12, 2008 1:09 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 11, 2008 9:34 PM

the central park variety

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 8, 200811:35 PM

Illo for wsj.com regarding fantasy sports and if/when parents should allow their kids to get involved. I think the kid in the stroller here may be headed for trouble.

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
August 6, 2008 5:51 AM

An image to accompany an article on Psych-Folk for Plan B music magzine.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
August 5, 2008 1:05 AM

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
August 1, 2008 2:30 PM

I’m working away on a comic for Mome and Great Gulliver’s Goose, am I pooped!

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
July 25, 2008 2:00 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
July 21, 2008 8:54 PM

From an old sketchbook, Venice in March of 1997.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
July 18, 2008 2:00 PM

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
8:00 AM

Last Friday I was fortunate to see the Antonio López García exhibition at the MFA Boston. Having long admired his work, I was thrilled to see so many of his paintings, drawings, and sculptures in person. If you have the time and the inclination, I highly recommend seeing it before it closes July 27th.

While all of Antonio López García's works are incredible, his drawings are especially stunning. Their attention to detail and their incredible depiction of light is astounding. One can stare at these for hours. Although my egg drawing above pales in comparison, I kept Antonio's graphite gradations of tone in mind while I worked on it.

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
July 15, 2008 2:49 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
10:25 AM

An old sketch from a visit to the amazing town of Èze, France.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
July 11, 2008 5:40 PM

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
July 8, 2008 1:28 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
July 7, 200810:43 PM

Sketching in Millennium Park, from my trip to Chicago back in April.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 5, 200812:47 AM

Click to grow trees

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
July 4, 2008 2:00 PM

Some sketchbook buggies to honor our nation's birthing!

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
12:00 AM

Happy Fourth of July!

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
July 2, 2008 2:50 PM

A quick full pager to accompany an interview with Carl Shipman, one of the first British skaters to ever make it big in America. If I got to draw "RAD" stickers for every illo job, I'd be much happier. This one was a bit of a challenge to draw; the editor wanted a straight up portrait of Shipman, but didn't have any sample shots for me to draw from. We both spent far too long trawling the internet searching for any photo portraits of him, but to no avail. In the end I had to resort to climbing up into my Dad's attic to rummage through my extensive childhood sk8rat mags until I found a few snaps of him. Elusive.
And if you really want to know more about what it's like to be a pencil pusher, go to the July issue of Australian based readersvoice.com for an interview with me.

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
July 1, 2008 2:14 PM

Illustration for Prana Yoga Journal

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
10:04 AM

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the inspiring "An Event Apart" conference up in Boston. If you are a web designer / coder and don't read the invaluable A List Apart website (which created the annual multi-city conference), start today. Lots of great talk about CSS, Javascript and web design issues.

Luckily for me, this means two days of near-motionless models to draw in my sketchbook from a row in the back of the room. The models did a great job, holding their hour-long poses with a minimum of fidgeting. Thank you An Event Apart attendees, for allowing me to draw your bald heads and wrinkled shirts.

Believe it or not, the act of sketching lets me focus more on what is being said, and I do believe the ideas 'take' better than if I was just sitting staring at a tiny person on a stage.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 29, 200811:22 PM

Sketching subway passengers and trees will never grow old for me.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
June 28, 2008 9:00 AM

Graphite drawing, Ocean City, NJ, June 22, 2008.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 22, 2008 8:28 PM

This past Saturday while strolling through Central Park I stopped to draw the rocks and tree above. Later in the weekend a great idea for a children's book dawned on me and I added the elusive creature as a nod to the inspiration.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
June 20, 200810:22 AM

Graphite drawing, Southold, New York, June 8, 2008.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
June 16, 200811:52 PM

The lower part of this fella's beard is inspired by Eric's bushy mane.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 15, 200810:20 PM

I created this illustration for this past week's Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Report. It's been a long bout but according to a bunch of economists, Bernanke has the bear on the ropes. If I were that bear I'd lose the gloves and start utilizing a strategy of claws, paws and fangs.

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Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
June 12, 200811:16 AM

An illustration that I recently did for the Wall Street Journal

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
June 10, 2008 2:14 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
June 9, 200810:24 PM

It has been just shy of a year since the intrepid members of the Invisibleman Exploration Committee first surveyed the wilds of the magnificent Escarpment Trail in the Catskills. After a thorough examination of the flora and fauna, we declared it safe enough to bring our significant others along, and this past weekend we had a delightful (but HOT) weekend of hiking and camping, based at the North South Lake Campgrounds.

These are two small 'thumbscapes' I did while being consumed by gnats and black flies.

Posts from last year's trip:

http://invisibleman.com/archives/travels/000467.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/photos/000465.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/travels/000468.html
http://invisibleman.com/archives/drawings/000483.html

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 8, 200810:52 PM

A couple sketchbook pages made while wandering the grounds of Rockefeller University.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
10:36 PM

With Washington Square park mostly under construction the array of musicians have been squeezed into a denser area. This makes for some quality sketching and as well as some outstanding musicianship. The older gentleman with the saxophone wore a Members Only jacket and operated his instrument with amazing fluidity.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
June 6, 2008 2:00 PM

Sorry, guys! I’ve been taking a little vacation! I do have some exciting news, however—my Black Spot comic will be in the next issue of Mome. It debuts at ComicCon in San Diego!

However, if you need some nerd-out stat, do check out MoCCA this weekend in at the Puck Building in New York. There will be an array of fascinating speakers (including my fav Lynda Barry!) as well as fine publishers and mini-comics folks.

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Posted by: paulo (32 posts)
June 3, 2008 2:00 PM

A Circle Pit is a type of mosh pit. It is a type of strenuous dancing associated with certain subgenres of music such as ska, punk rock, thrash, heavy metal, and even some harder rock music and is usually started by members of the crowd running wildly in a circle slamming into each other in response to the speed of the music and the beat (...)

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 2, 200811:09 PM

The lonely yeti surveys his kingdom. These were separate drawings compiled and colored in photoshop. I thought the near-empty sky (with the exception of some owls) would be a good location to place some text at some point.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
May 23, 2008 2:44 AM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
May 21, 200810:37 PM

A few recent pages from the sketchbook.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
May 19, 2008 4:00 PM

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
9:58 AM

A full page advert for Document Skateboard magazine's "Big Push" competition, this year in association with Sony Cybershot. I love it when I get the chance to do my own typography- there's nothing worse than spending ages on an image only to see it destroyed by some clueless graphic designer a week later in print.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
May 15, 2008 9:19 PM

Recently I was perusing the website of illustrator & mad-genius Roger DeMuth whom I was lucky enough to have as a professor at Syracuse University. There's a great video interview of Roger on his site as well as a ton of his drawings, paintings, pop-ups, sketchbooks, boxes, plantlife etc and I immediately set about some creative output of my own. After I finished the drawing above it slowly dawned on me the DeMuthesque nature of what I'd done and I realized: I was under the influence of Roger.

I recall he gave me some of the best and most frank advice I ever received as I was preparing to graduate. He said "Paul... just go out there and fail." Roger has graciously accepted our offer to do a bit of guest posting on InvisibleMan so you'll see some of his amazing works here soon.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
May 12, 2008 7:21 PM

Quick sketch of the Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold, Long Island.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
May 9, 200810:32 AM

This is the eighth year of illustrating for the Siren Music Festival and I went with a half land/half sea composition. Props to Jon Keegan for encouraging me to go aquatic. The Creature from the Black Lagoon makes a strong showing this year but then again he does have centuries of passion pent up in his savage heart - so it sort of makes sense. Click on the image for a larger view.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
12:49 AM

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
May 5, 2008 2:00 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
April 30, 2008 7:12 PM

Recently broke out one of those watercolor sketchbooks that Moleskin make and did a few draintings (just made up that word) of Alaska using GoogleEarth as reference. Volcanoes in the Aleutian islands and the Kenai mountains, rendered with watercolor pencil.

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
April 28, 200811:29 AM

...and so here it finally is! The whole of Never Been, all nine and a bit meters worth, online, for the whole world to see! So if you couldn't make it to my solo show at Projekts MCR earlier this year, GO HERE NOW!!! I want to say a massive huge thank you to my genius graphic designer brother, Adam Kolakovic, for figuring out a way to get this all online for me! He's the most rippingest designer in town!

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
April 25, 2008 2:54 AM

This is one from the dusty depths of the archives...The blur on the boot is a bit too much, but I had just discovered Photoshop (version 2.5 if I am not mistaken), and it looked good enough to me on my grayscale PowerBook 165 at the time.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
April 23, 2008 8:39 PM

I made this pattern to use as texture and background for this year's siren illustration which I just completed. The sea hag of my dreams makes an appearance in up there. Congrats also to my fellow invisibleman and invisiblewomen as this marks our 600th post.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
April 18, 2008 3:00 PM

I’ve been working on this comic for an anthology—hopefully I’ll be done soon!

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
1:08 AM

I was psyched to get this super-fun job from Time Out Chicago to do a series of illos for their "Worst Case Scenarios" story in this week's issue (Thanks Mike!). The editors came up with a list of harrowing situations, and asked various Chicago-based experts their advice on how to keep your cool and survive these stressful calamities. The scenarios I illustrated are: "ATM eats your card", "Your car brakes fail", "Your boss asks you to take a drug test", "You lose your job", "The condom broke", "I got doored on my bike", "My apartment was burgled" and "A bat was trapped in my house". This is my first job for Time Out Chicago. Read on to see the full illos...

Continue reading "Worst Case Scenarios for Time Out"
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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
April 14, 2008 2:54 PM

On Friday night I attended my first Pratt Draw-a-thon. This legendary event, held every year since 1988, consists if 12 straight hours of figure drawing in which 18 models circulate throughout 5 drawing studios posing for designated periods of time (20 second action poses, 5 and 10 minute poses, 1 hour poses, and two extended poses of 3 and 6 hours each.) Drawing and posing began at 7pm Friday night and continued through the night until 7am Saturday morning.

This years Draw-a-thon was more popular than even Pratt's planners expected. Myself and my drawing partner were there for a few hours and only able to squeeze into the hour long poses room. Despite the crowds the event was a very exciting and a very unique experience. These graphite drawings are the results of my evening. It was great night and I hope to attend for the whole 12 hours next next year.

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Posted by: stuart (45 posts)
9:53 AM

Here's one of the final images that was used by Barclay's Bank on a huge billboard outside a new branch in Manchester that celebrates the city's achievements.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
April 3, 200810:53 AM

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts while working on illustrations lately. A great resource for this is LibriVox which features readings of works which are in the public domain. A great one I recently toiled to was The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells which was written in 1897 and is an absolute sci-fi classic.

The image above of The Invisible Man (who is also a co-founder of this website) was done in my sketchbook a while back and tweaked digitally.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
March 31, 2008 2:00 PM

A sketchbook experiment with casein and pencil. The image originated from a New York Times T Magazine article entitled "São Paulo’s Concrete Jungle." Click on it to view the sketch even larger than its original size of 6.5" x 8.5".

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
March 28, 200812:43 AM

Another illo for the Publisher's Weekly "Soapbox" column. This installment was a funny editorial was written by Mike Reiss, who has been a writer for The Simpsons for nineteen years. In an effort to reach kids with a different message than he does on TV, Mike has published eight children's books, and enjoys the freedom of being the sole storyteller. But he doesn't do it for the money:

"To earn what I make as a TV writer, I'd have to publish a children's book every four hours."

Money isn't everything though...but Homer Simpson has weighed in on this:

“Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!”

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
March 24, 2008 3:30 PM

Selected pages from an old sketchbook. Click on each to view an entire image.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
March 18, 200810:21 PM

A recent illustration for WSJ.com regarding economists current view of our economic standing. I usually have around 24 hours to turn these illo's around and in this case I wish I had a bit more time to work on the drawing.

Just found out that the great Arthur C. Clarke has passed away. This past fall I came across a dusty and yellowed pile of his books in The Stone Soup Bookstore of Camden Maine. I began to quickly digest his amazing stories and man were they in my wheelhouse. The Times has a great obit. I'd recommend Rendezvous with Rama, Childhood's End or Against the Fall of Night if your interested in a bit of grand sci-fi.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
March 14, 200812:07 AM

While working on a recent illustration I started using the lasso tool in Photoshop to draw some quick and spontaneous character silhouettes, which I really enjoyed. I was playing around some more with that this week in the lab...Also playing with the custom brushes a bit.

After a chat with P.A. this week about custom brushes (typical graphics nerds that we are), and in the spirit of openness and sharing that has energized the online illustration community, I am giving away the farm and offering up my most frequently used custom brushes for anyone to download...these were exported from CS3, so hopefully you can use 'em...

Download: Keegan's Custom Brush Collection #1

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
March 11, 2008 9:46 PM

Here are a couple characters for the Anteism road trip I whuped up. And a couple others.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
March 5, 2008 7:54 PM

Recent illo for WSJ.com. There's something rather timid looking about that googly-eyed congress.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
February 22, 200812:20 AM

Another drawing from the "One Fell Swoop" album artwork I posted about last week. This regal bird is printed on the CD.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
February 19, 2008 9:44 PM

The NY Press is doing a story about a city labor leader who's proposing that vehicles pay double the current rates to enter the city and mass transit made free. So for the cover illustration I created this image of the NYC subway under some Mumbai-esque crowding conditions. Click the image or here for a larger version.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
February 15, 200811:30 AM

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with the musical duo Rara Avis(Terri Hron and Robbert van Hulzen) on the illustration and design for their new album, One Fell Swoop. They are based in Amsterdam, and make strange, mysterious music that spans many centuries and many cultures. You will hear dissonant medieval sounds coming from a hand-carved recorder, traditional South Indian passages, a home made toobophone and electronic rhythms to complete the collage.

The title of their album is from a great line in MacBeth:

"All the pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam At one fell swoop?"

So I ran with that dark imagery for the cover. I also had the fun task of designing the whole package for the CD case. I enjoy deign projects like this from time to time, and I had secretly always wanted to design someone's album. Unfortunately I don't have the final package in my hands yet, but I will post some photos in a few weeks when I get my mitts on one.

Click on the image for a larger view.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
February 13, 2008 6:22 PM

Last weekend I created this illustration for The Riverfront Times of St. Louis highlighting an article they did about The Clowder House, a local cat retirement home (for when the owner gets too old to care for the kitty). It was fun showing the details like the cat meds, the pajamas, the rubik's cube and the Wii. Click the image to see a larger version.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
February 7, 2008 8:50 PM

I've been keeping a small moleskin sketchbook in my pocket to augment my bigger, badder sketchbook. This group was sketched on the NYC subway in recent weeks.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
February 2, 2008 3:04 AM

This is second in a series of pattern-like illustrations I've been working on. This one is based on New York City. The first in the series was based off a ghost story.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 29, 2008 9:22 PM

This was a quick Wall Street Journal Online illo for an economic forecast survey. Whether our intrepid donkey and doofus elephant are merely navigating some rapids or careening towards a deadly waterfall is the question I guess. I do like that the pachyderm has carelessly lost his paddle.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
January 25, 2008 1:42 AM

This is a poster I did just last week for the band Your Vegas. They originally hail from Leeds, UK and recently settled in NYC. Universal Records (their label) sent them out for their first gig in L.A. this week. To commemorate the show, the sharp marketing folks at Uni (thanks Frank!) decided to commission a limited edition poster. I had a crazy busy schedule last week while working on this, as I had the only other music project that I have ever worked on underway (more on that soon!). All in all it was a fun frenzied project, and I had a blast with the silhouettes, using only the mighty lasso tool to draw the loose shapes. Anytime I get to go nuts with glowing lights and a dusky sky, counts as a fun project.

Some detail shots after the jump...

Continue reading "Your Vegas Poster"
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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
January 23, 2008 5:24 PM

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
January 17, 2008 7:25 PM

It had been a while since my last figure drawing session and thus it was invigorating to draw and paint these images at the Society of Illustrator's Jazz & Sketch this past tuesday. One fellow in front of me was drawing on butcher paper with charcoal and white pencil and I couldn't believe how good he was... humbling.

The fellow on the right is an 89 year old illustrator who was also making some great sketches. I chatted with him briefly as we walked out and he told me how last winter he got a pair of the new fat ski's and how they were really fast. He also lamented that he was just a bit too old to start snowboarding.

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
January 14, 2008 3:18 PM

i scanned some sketches of shirts...

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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
January 11, 2008 9:04 AM

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
January 7, 2008 1:11 PM

I just started drawing in pencil again, after only using ink for years. It was pretty fun, and I was interested to see how it changed my process.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
December 26, 2007 9:00 AM

I’ve been a posting slacker, everyone, I know! I’ve been holed up in my apartment being sick and working on drawings for a group show in Portland. More on that to follow!

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
December 21, 200712:00 AM

This is another illo for Publisher's Weekly 'Soapbox' column (thanks for the steady work Clive!). The author, Mary Murphy writes about Jessica Seinfeld's book, "Deceptively Delicious". Seinfeld's book gives tips for busy parents on how to sneak pureed veggies into kid-friendly dishes, without them detecting the spinach you've surreptitiously included in the brownies. Murphy writes about how the culinary deception wasn't so successful with her kids.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
December 13, 2007 9:43 PM

This past weekend I created this illustration for The Riverfront Times of St. Louis. The paper was highlighting an upcoming lecture by one of the scientists who discovered a diminutive, fossilized skeleton in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores which was dubbed 'The Hobbit'. As for the scientist I was going for the academic version of Indiana Jones. This was a particularly fun job as I'm a bit of a Lord of the Rings nerd. Click the image to see a larger version.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
December 11, 200712:00 AM

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Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
December 6, 200710:39 AM

watercolor and graphic on paper

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
December 3, 2007 9:47 PM

The easiest subway sketching situation tends to be when commuters are either sleeping or reading. The downside is that your sketchbook fills up with renderings of people with their eyes closed or at best, downcast. Though I find more often then not people get off the train before you complete a sketch and I've got many disembodied ears, eyeglasses and hands floating around the sketchbook to prove it.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
November 29, 2007 7:00 AM

The timing of this illustration was uncanny. This fun story story was about Blackberry etiquette, for Las Vegas Life magazine. I had just become a proud iPhone owner a few days before receiving the job, and I was very much under the influence of the glowing little computer in my pocket. Having never had any kind of Blackberry-like device, it took a little getting used to the idea that I was so connected all of a sudden. As chance would have it, I received the email for this job on my shiny new gadget, and was able to reply and accept the assignment immediately. This was all while stuck in traffic on the F.D.R. (though I suppose this is a violation not just of etiquette but several laws as well).

It's fair to say I have been gushing about this thing for weeks now, but it's worth noting that the iPhone isn't just helpful in GETTING the jobs, but also in executing them. The camera makes quick reference shots very easy, and the screen is big enough to hold in your hand while you draw...much better than running over to the computer, importing the image, printing it out, etc. And having a hand-held Google image search in your hand is only a good thing for the busy illustrator! One of the first things I did was load up all of my illustrations form my website into the photo viewing app, and now I have a bright, crisp, flickable, pinchable, zoomable portfolio of my work with me wherever I go. Sweet!

Now if it only had a drawing program...

(Click on the image for a larger version)

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 20, 200711:42 PM

Third in a series of fed-chairman Ben Bernanke drawings for the Wall Street Journal Online. Below is one of the quick sketches which precede the final illo.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
9:00 AM

Illustration for a holiday card

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
November 15, 200710:06 PM

Here's a bunch of drawings that I had fun doing for a new client, Read Magazine (published by Reader's Digest). The story, titled "Twist of Fate" by Steven Frank is about a teenage girl that ends up spending a weekend in the library's rare books room reading a dusty old first edition of Dickens' "Oliver Twist", to avoid flunking a class. She snoozes off and finds herself magically transported into the story, and interacting with all of the characters. The only way home is to write herself out of the story, Dickens himself tells her. The sequence of the drawings is clockwise from the top left image.

Click on the image for a larger version.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
November 10, 200712:29 AM

"Merry Second-To-Last Christmas" is written on the inside of the card above. It's fun illustrating for the likes of The Onion. Both Christmas cards can be bought here.

I can imagine the kid crying and breaking crayons.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
November 7, 200712:26 PM

Several weeks ago I began taking a lithography class at the Manhattan Graphics Center. This image is my first lithograph ever. I am pleased with it. I consider it an experiment in which I got to know the materials, the crayons, the pencils, the metal plates involved with the process. My next experiment? Liquid Tusche.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
November 6, 2007 9:40 PM

The story for this month's Soapbox in Publisher's Weekly was a pretty fascinating one. Ben Cheever (son of John Cheever) writes about two seemingly unrelated topics: running and seeking the truth. Yet they come together in a most interesting way in his life.

Having just written a book about running ("Strides"), Cheever talks about how in his family of runners, running together lead to moments of surprising honesty because "the brain doesn't get enough oxygen to support a falsehood".

I was struck by the mention of his family's deepest secret, his father's bisexuality (thus the closet imagery) which lead to the idea for the illustration.

You can see more of my work for Publisher's Weekly here.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
October 28, 2007 8:06 PM

This is another illo created for the Stowe Guide, a magazine in Stowe Vermont. The humorous article deals with the phenomenon referred to as the 'Dude Patch' in which a group of snowboarders move about a mountain in a tightly packed posse. Click the image to view a larger version.

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
October 24, 2007 5:49 PM

This is the invite i quickly designed for my nieces upcoming 4th birthday party. Unfortunately the invites never made it to her friends school mailboxes, as her school was closed on Monday (and has been ever since) as the school is located near where the fires are burning in San Diego, and all the roads are closed. I am supposed to fly out there next friday... I guess we'll see how it goes. She was so excited to see herself on an invite. (Her actual quote: "I AM SO EXCITED!") Btw, she really is that cute and sweet and blonde. :)

Also - this weekend (and last weekend) was POST (Philadelphia Open Studios). Brian and I participated from 12-6 on Satuday. It was busy and fun. (So busy and fun that i didnt get to take any photographs!) Anyway we got some great feedback and I even got a lovely mention on a local design blog: design-phan. Thanks Caroline!

Also - i have 2 pieces in this toy art show at philadelphia's city hall. The opening reception is next Thursday from 5-7pm. I'm not sure if NY has something like this, but in Philly, it's a great opportunity for artists. (Especially since Philadelphia closed it's Office of Arts and Culture in 2004!) How crazy is that?!?

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
October 12, 200711:41 PM

About 10 years ago I did an illustration for the Vermont weekly 'Seven Days' about a couple getting caught in a blizzard while hiking up to the Stone Hut which sits atop Stowe. The hut was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 and is a special place; perched as it is atop the famous Nose Dive trail. Recently the Stowe Guide contacted me about reusing the art though I recalled having sold the original (pre-computer days: no scan). But I had a few sketches and drawings stored away and thus did a Dr. Frankenstein and stitched, spackled and redrew the drawing above. The original story by David Healy is a great tale and can be read here.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
October 11, 200710:12 PM

This is another illo for the "Soapbox" column in Publisher's Weekly.

Author Steve Weinberg laments the fact that once you are a bona fide published writer, you immediately become besieged by people looking to get their manuscripts (of varying degrees of quality) published.

He writes:

"When my telephone rings, I almost always check the caller ID before I answer. If the number and name look unfamiliar, I assume that the caller probably is (a) a prison inmate, or (b) a would-be author seeking advice about publishing a book."

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
October 2, 2007 8:00 AM

This illo for Publisher's Weekly was for a story about a book with a tricky title. Robert I. Sutton's "The No Asshole Rule" proved difficult to discuss on public airwaves, and the way the interviewers approached the title varied greatly. An NPR producer killed the interview after a producer got squeamish, and anything-goes satellite radio actually asked him to mention the title frequently as they figured their audience would enjoy hearing it on their radios.

I was listening to the audio book of Frank Herbert's Dune while working on this. Nothing like an epic story to keep you glued to your desk while working on a deadline.

You can see more of my work for Publisher's Weekly here.

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
October 1, 200710:43 PM

started out as a simple birthday card...

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
September 25, 2007 6:49 PM

A drawing in the sketchbook made of the mountains of northwest Montana as seen through Google Earth.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
September 20, 200712:06 AM

One of my favorite things about this website, is that when it's my day to post, and I don't have anything lying around that's obviously post-worthy, it forces me into the lab to play around and experiment...I don't do it enough, but it always leads to interesting things (though not necessarily this piece).

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
September 19, 2007 7:55 PM

so i recently got engaged (yay!) and am slowly entering into the crazy/bizarre world of planning a wedding. so, that being said... anyone want some wedding cake?

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
September 12, 200710:19 PM

I completed this illo of Ben Bernanke earlier today for a Wall Street Journal economic forecast interactive. The spooky atmosphere may be influenced by the Algernon Blackwood book I've been reading as of late.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
9:00 AM

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
September 11, 200712:00 AM

Sketch drawn on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade days after September 11th, 2001.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
September 10, 2007 8:30 AM

If you pick up a copy of this week's U.S. News & World Report you'll find a few of my drawings inside. The illos are for the annual 'Paying for College' package, and the team at the magazine picked a fun "Texas Hold 'em" theme for this year's section. Lots of great visuals to work from!

The image above is the opener for the package.

Click to see a larger version with the rest of the illos.

You can see more of my work for U.S. News & World Report here.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
September 3, 200712:57 PM

Growing up my family did lots of camping and the highlight of every trip was always the ghost story told by my father once the fire grew low. He was a master practitioner of the art. I made his always bone-chilling stories the theme of this pattern drawing I just completed. Click the image above for a larger version.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
August 31, 2007 9:00 AM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
August 29, 200712:00 AM

A pretty simple Illo for Publisher's Weekly. A writer (Pete Croatto) working at a bookstore tells how he found peace in the simple job of selling books:

"I’ve been snapped at, lectured to and dismissed, all of which could happen in an hour".

Even after being threatened with violence, and talked down to, he found helping readers rewarding.

I am doing more opaque color on my digital paintings now. I used to give color a much more watercolor type treatment, but I am feeling nostalgic for the satisfying opacity of oils. Time to go back into the lab with my neglected copy of Painter and see what develops.

You can see more of my work for Publisher's Weekly here.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 21, 2007 9:12 PM

This is an illustration for the Riverfront Times in St. Louis which highlights three upcoming events: a viewing of Troll 2 (rated worst movie ever by IMDB), a charity foodball game and a sumo and sake event. Click image for a larger version.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
11:23 AM

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
August 20, 200712:00 AM

Two watercolor sketches done recently. The first is from Watch Hill and the second from Pimlico Pond in Sandwich, MA. Click on either image for larger versions of each.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
August 19, 200712:00 PM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
August 17, 200712:00 AM

I spent last week up in Bluff Point, NY on Keuka Lake in the magnificent Finger Lakes region. I am always amazed at the amount of amazing geography in New York State. The Finger Lakes region is a particularly stunning area, with it's incredible gorges, and steep bluffs nestled between the majestic lakes.

This is a small gouache sketch I did looking east across the vineyards on John Hall Road, just off Skyline Drive.

Click on the above image for a larger version.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 12, 2007 1:08 PM

A drawing from the sketchbook. Further analysis can be found here.

Continue reading "Chu-Chu-Chupacabra"
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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
August 9, 2007 9:00 AM

Doodling in notorious cursed sketchbook I only ever use at work...

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 4, 2007 9:58 PM

Astro-Gato and Sharky McBeast are two of the six characters I drew for the rad folks at Anteism and their iMyGrate project. For this project Ryan Thompson and friends put out a call for character submissions and are now in the midst of a roadtrip from the Pacific to the Atlantic dispursing these characters along the way. They're going to track the character's destinations and are hoping some will migrate their ways back to their home base of Pender Island B.C. Good luck Astro-Gato and Sharky McBeast, I hope you make some friends along the way.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
August 1, 2007 9:31 PM

Some of the lakes and mountains of southern Chile sketched from Google Earth.

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Posted by: kerry (81 posts)
July 27, 200712:00 AM

Graphite sketches of the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 21, 200710:30 AM

I had a really fun time working up these Harry Potter illustrations for a The Wall Street Journal Online interactive. Click here to see the infographic, complete with floating scrolls (ala the Marauder Map) and animated owls. I haven't read the books but I really dig the films and was very enthused to illustrate within that universe. The entire time I worked on these the Harry Potter theme music was swirling through my head.

And really, I'd be remiss if I didn't address the best feline actor we have today and the true star of the entire Harry Potter series: Crookshanks the Cat. (As you can see from the illustration he is first in line to get his paws on 'The Deathly Hallows'). When I saw the new film 'Order of the Phoenix' and saw the work that Crookshanks had done, the type of cat actor he's become... well, I wept openly.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
July 18, 2007 9:00 AM

Today’s my dad’s birthday. Happy birthday, Pops!

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
July 16, 200712:00 AM

Last year, I worked on this illustration for a regional magazine which I was really happy with. Unfortunately, as often happens in the magazine world, the story got held and the art never ran.

I recently got the OK to use the art for my promo purposes since it was languishing in editorial limbo for so long, so I though I'd pub this step-by-step slideshow that I put together while working on the piece, but never posted.

My process has changed a bit since I did this piece (I now use a lightbox to transfer the sketch to real paper rather than vellum), but I still think it's a good peek into my process. I'll try to document some more of these in the future, as I loved reading Step-by-Step Graphics magazine, and I think the simple tutorial can by one of the great ways to learn.

You can see the full pictures here and see a nice large version of the art on my site here.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 15, 2007 3:45 PM

A drawings that came out of the sketchbook and then was digitally reworked of various sculptures at MOMA and Rockefeller University, including 'The River' by Aristide Maillol and Herbert Ferber's 'Homage to Piranesi' among others. Click here or on the image to see a larger version.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 14, 200710:45 PM

More sketching done on the New York subway - the ever fruitful place to draw people who are staring down or sleeping. Click here or on the image to see a larger version.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 9, 200712:08 AM

Drawings in the sketchbook made over a few days riding various subway lines.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 8, 2007 7:02 PM

My moon globe on a wooden pedestal and yet another back-of-the-head drawing.

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
July 4, 2007 5:53 PM

Drawn in the sketchbook while there was still light.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
12:00 PM

Well, it is the 4th of July, and one of my favorite things about America is the National Park Service. Utah has an unfair amount of natural physical beauty, and Canyonlands National Park spills over with majestic scenery at every turn.

I did this tiny thumbnail landscape in the Needles District of the park on a spectacular day last October. If you haven't taken advantage of the U.S. National Park system, you should, for it truly is one of the greatest gifts the government has given its people.

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
July 3, 2007 2:27 AM

Here are a few doodles from my current s-l-o-w-l-y progressing sketchbook. I worked up the values in photoshop...

I find that drawing in low light can really help make for a more interesting drawing. Often if I'm drawing while watching TV, the lights in the room are pretty dim, and it keeps the sketching loose and very fast. It can be a nice exercise to help disengage your brain when you are thinking about things too much. The guy in the lower left hand corner could be Darth Maul's pudgy, out-of-shape, underachieving older brother.

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
July 2, 2007 9:25 PM

chirp. chirp. here's my illustration friday "twist."

as previously mentioned, i am taking an off-loom fibers class. last week we were shown netting. i decided to draw the loops and knots and what i remembered of the demonstration, and somehow the drawing turned into twisty, funny looking birds. (note: i then used the "live paint" feature of illustrator. if you've never used live paint before, you should try it. it's fun to use and much easier than the traditional way of coloring up art in illustrator. it was a new feature introduced in cs2.)

also, if you want to make your own net, check out this page.

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Posted by: sara (25 posts)
June 25, 200711:17 AM

Doodling in my sketchbook...

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Posted by: pa (188 posts)
June 24, 2007 8:57 PM

The Queensboro Bridge is undergoing some rehabilitation lately and is partially wearing a Christo-like shroud. The sketch above I drew from York ave and the photo below nearby.

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Posted by: bz (54 posts)
June 19, 200711:43 PM

is there a difference between failure and rejection? i was thinking of that... and willy wonka. (good eggs and bad eggs) "rejection" was created for illustration friday. go & participate!

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Posted by: jamie (115 posts)
June 18, 200710:50 PM

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Posted by: kurt (67 posts)
9:16 AM

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Posted by: keegan (154 posts)
June 10, 2007 8:33 PM

This is an illo I just did for Publisher's Weekly. This installment of the Soapbox column was penned by author Harriet Rubin who sums her rallying cry for more old-fashioned editing as follows:

"Builders of ancient temples in Asia typically carved two huge statues at the temple gate. One holds a book, the other a sword. The book symbolizes knowledge. The sword is there to remind people to cut things off: to edit. Knowledge is not wisdom until you slice through the words you hear, judge them and are moved to silence."

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