Born in Detroit and youngest of four artistic boys for whom many a creative ruckus were attributed. Moves to Pittsburgh in his youth and finds it a cool town. Attends Syracuse University and studies illustration. Lives in Vermont for a few years doing freelance illustration and lots and lots of snowboarding. Moves to New York City and begins doing illustration and interactive design work for the Wall Street Journal Online. Lives in NYC for 10 years during which time he meets the ever-amazing Kristina. In the spring of 2009 they drive across the country with two cats in the backseat to relocate in Sacramento and enjoy the awesomeness of nothern California.
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.
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:
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!
Over the years I’ve done a lot of skateboarding, most intensely in the mid-eighties to early nineties and these days cruising the streets of midtown Sacto on a longboard. Recently the Wall Street Journal’s Conor Dougherty wrote about what an incredibly skate-friendly city Portland Oregon is and to my luck the WSJ editors requested an interactive map of the best skateparks across the US. As soon as I got the assignment I knew what to do. Click on the image of above to see a larger version or the link below to see the interactive version — and take a few minutes to read the rad article as well.
Wall Street Journal Link: America’s Best Skateboarding Parks
This past May my sweetie Kristina and I tied the knot in the Hudson Valley north of New York City where we were living. We’ve since relocated into the chillness of northern California. The wedding was an amazing time and a wonderful way to wrap up our 10 years in the city. Below is the invitation I designed and illustrated. It was a fun challenge to create the illo in such a way that it would align in the middle of the gatefold.
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:
My beautiful wife Kristina and I recently returned from Costa Rica where we were honeymooning after a great wedding in the Hudson Valley. We spent amazing time down there surfing, sloth watching and fish-taco eating, all the while befriending local gatos.
I sketched the paintings below in my moleskine watercolor sketchbook:
Tools of the trade:
And let it be known that when I see a strange sea-monster shuffling it’s way back to sea,
I do what has to be done:
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.
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.