Drawing from my sketchbook…

i have been gone from invisibleman for a few months and the reason is this…
in january, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. he bravely tried to fight this terrible disease, but unfortunately was only able to make it a few months… He passed away one month ago today, on May 6, 2007. He was only 74. I miss him so much, every moment… every day. He was, and still is, such a hero to me and to all who knew him.
This photo is from my 5th birthday, when we were still living in Brooklyn. I made the popsicle stick frame. Weren’t the 70’s fantastic? I hang this photo, among others, above my desk. I know my dad is looking down and feeling proud. (And I know he is no longer in pain.)
Here is a website to learn more about pancreatic cancer. It is such a fast moving and under researched form of cancer. One last thing… this is “the place” where my dad spent his last 5 weeks. The place was absolutely wonderful so if any one has parents or grandparent on long island, they were great and made my dads last days memorable.
As my mom said in the nursing home, “No one knows whose tomorrow it is.” So, we have to live for today.

This is an illustration done in flash for a Wall Street Journal Online infographic highlighting the big business behind superhero movie franchises. It was really fun to work up some old friends in a comic book style, though I was lobbying for Hellboy to be in there rather than the ninja turtle. Alas I was overruled. Jon Keegan and Mei Lan Ho-Walker worked on the awesome animation and design aspects of the infographic. Check out the handywork here (Safari’s popup-blocker might thwart this link).

This is an illustration I did a few months ago for Publisher’s Weekly “Soapbox” column. This is a regular feature where authors, editors and other publishing figures get a chance to rant, rave or tell a personal anecdote about the industry.
This installment of the column was a particularly painful (yet funny) account by the author Liam Callanan who had just published his book “The Cloud Atlas”. Thinking he had coined a clever and unique title, he was more than disappointed when he found that his own publisher had just released David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” (one of my favorite books in the past few years by the way). Worse yet, Mitchell’s “Atlas” went on to receive heaps of praise and critical acclaim (even a breathless mention on a soap opera). This all lead to confusion at the book store, and misguided letters to the author. He took it all in good spirits though, and had a good sense of humor about the whole affair, noting how this has happened to many authors in the past.
So for the illustration, I imagined Callanan engaging on a guerrilla street campaign to alter the promotional campaign for Mitchell’s book, and co-opting it for his own title.
See more of my work for Publisher’s Weekly here

Excerpt from a story about my earliest memories

I came across these eight guys playing some incredibly tight New Olreans jazz in Washington Sq park a few hours ago. The tuba especially was blowing out.

The artwork for this summer’s Siren Music Festival put on by the Voice. I tried to capture the insanity and culturally brackish waters that is Coney Island while keeping the color palette limited to the reds and blues I’ve liked working with lately. Last summer I took a photo on the boardwalk of a man feeding seagulls frenchfries. He’d just hold them up in the air and the seagull would float down and gulp ’em right out of his fingers. That was partial inspiration for this illo and the moment is recreated right above the siren. Click here or on the image to see a larger version. The date is Sat. July 21st.

I’m no illusionist, but as you other photographers know, there are some shots that are hard to resist. This is one of those.