Here are some images from when Paul, Kerry and I camped out at Watch Hill on the Fire Island National Seashore a few weeks ago. It’s an incredible stretch of nature, and refreshingly isolated from the more popular beaches on the western end of the island. There were close encounters with a huge snake (a Black Racer), countless nocturnal toads, rabbits and of course, the voracious mosquitoes. We managed to beat the odds on the gloomy weather forecast, and were able to do some painting (see my landscape above), drawing and night photography.
See more pictures on Flickr here and here

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.

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

I hope this isn’t the best picture I will ever take, but it very well might be. This almost feels like cheating. Nothing I could make on my own will ever top the grandeur of nature.

Oh, and I’d like to be invited to the Siren Festival next year. I can take a mean picture too. 🙂

Graphite sketches of the Brooklyn Bridge.

For an illustrator or designer, redesinging one’s web portfolio can be one of the most gut-wrenching projects to work on, as you are often your own worst client to work for. I have probably dozens of photoshop files of various versions of ‘new’ designs for my website that never got built. Meanwhile, my site was growing some cobwebs, and my long-overdue overhaul was dead in the water.

So last fall, I made a deal with myself: You can keep the general design of the site in tact for the time being, but for god’s sake, make the site dynamic — SOMEHOW…and do it fast!

Click here to read more »

i was long overdue for a new sketchbook, so last night i made this. ive been noticing and obsessing over clouds lately… my dad was a huge fan of them. he used to take rolls of film of them… so i guess this is a recent self-portrait in a way…
the bookcloth is from papersource. i really wish there were one of these in philly. the binding is a “4 needle coptic”. I’ve only done that once before, but i think the result is pretty nice and simple. the inside paper juts out from underneath the covers. i’m not sure if i like it, but i wanted to try it. (i usually like it on other books.)
the other bottom 2 photos show the rest of my sketchbook making “ritual.” i always create a notes/calendar section in the back and i always write the “d.o.b.” in the front. bookmaking is so rewarding.
ps stay tuned for > new studio < information. here's a peak at the new space that my friend brian and i will be sharing. it’s in this philadelphia landmark building. fun fun!!!

Whoa. This was the first year I had the pleasure of attending the Village Voice Siren Music Festival. Yeah, that was my big bald held up there hob-nobbing with the rest of the VIP’s…Invisibleman Paul Antonson of course was responsible for getting us on the guest list as he has created the amazing poster art for the show for the past seven years, though I’d say this year’s was a standout.
This shot above is The Noisettes‘ amazing Shingai Shoniwa who electrified the crowd early on with a fun and rockin’ set. MIA who I have been waiting a long time to check out in person was also a treat, and The Black Lips put on a cool performance, though they shoudn’t have blown up Popcorn the chicken. I didn’t get over to the other stage, and I missed the New York Dolls, but still a pretty incredible fun day. Thanks for the access PA!
My Siren pictures on flickr
Paul’s Siren pictures on flickr

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.