New Blog

I case you were wondering where I'd disappeared to after all this time!!! HERE I AM!

Houston Press Spots

Just wrapped these for Monica Fuentes at Houston Press.

Don't even ASK what I had to do in order to get reference for these!!

ASCA Tearsheets

Time Out New York Tearsheet

Just saw the tearsheets from Time Out New York. I was intially a bit disappointed that they had to drop out the background I was so pleased with but in the end I have to say I really like it!

Dream A Little Dream

I'm gonna have a couple of pieces in an upcoming show at the Lana Santorelli Gallery in Manhattan, opening this following Saturday.


Here's the press release from the gallery:

DAYDREAM

Artwork for the Children and the Young at Heart.

The tattered softness of your favorite stuffed animal. Stretching your feet out to touch the clouds as your swing climbs higher and higher. A boundless expanse of time sprawling before you, imagination running wild with possibility. As we grow older, we yearn for and try to reclaim the simplistic beauty of childhood. We strive for this most priceless and difficult to attain element of youth: a free and open state of mind.

Exhibiting Artists: Walter Garcia, Kimberly Gaul, Stephanie Graegin, Angela Cazel Jahn, Ilana Kohn, Angie Lee, Basha Maryanska, Jessica Roller, Lana Santorelli, Mark G. Taber, Rin TERADA, Edina Tokodi/ Mosstika Group, and Lubomir Tomaszewski

Lana Santorelli Gallery will host an opening reception for Daydream on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 from 6 to 9pm at 110 West 26th Street in New York. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday 11 am to 7 pm. Daydream runs through October 17th, 2009.

We hope to see you at the gallery!

Lana Santorelli Gallery
110 West 26th Street, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10001
ph: 212.229.2111
fx: 212-229-2262
www.lanasantorelligallery.com

Backlog!

Such a blast I had with this one! Had less than 24 hours (still in recovery) to whip this one out for Jeff Quinn at Time Out New York. The subject was music lessons on the cheap in nyc. He wanted a smaller illustration to be surrounded by text but I ended up suggesting a larger image where the text could be inserted in the middle of the illustration (over the colored stage lights). Once the illustration was complete and turned in the sad conclusion was reached that laying the text over the busy color field simply wasn't going to work. A poor retoucher was tasked to drop out the background leaving only the figures. Sigh. I'm still very pleased with the piece though so we'll just have to enjoy it in it's entirety here.


Sloppy contractors setting a bad precedent - Custom Home


Disgruntled employees spread bad vibes throughout a company - MyMidwest

*Starring Shane Luitjens as disgruntled employee. :)


Architects putting their heads together for a 'Best Practices' meeting - Residential Architect

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So there you have it, I'm still here, still illustrating. :)

New Blog!

Hey, hey! In case some of you might be wondering where in the world I've disappeared to this summer, I've actually been posting a lot of my going-on's to another new blog I've created:


There I've been ranting about my sewing obsession (surprise!) and all things history nerd-ery.
Check it out HERE!


Take note of the 19th C. Pub Crawl some friends & I are organizing for this fall - come join us cause it should be a whole heck of a lot of fun.

MyMidwest Management Column Number Two

MyMidwest + Surpise Surprise

It has certainly been awhile! I've been meaning to post this illo I did for Shane at MyMidwest. I'll be doing their management column on a regular basis now and this was number one. Article was about management needing to learn to share info with everyone all the way down the food chain - better to share news - good AND bad.


Found this while flipping through a friends copy of Saveur the other day! I went 'HEY'! That's my cover from Houston Press right in front there! Such a funny surprise.

New Web Store + L Mag

Crazy, my first web only commission. I sent in a lo-res jpg and then that was it! A little anticlimactic? A little taste of the future of illustration? Fortunately I can attest that the rates were not only on par with print rates but actually a little higher than what this particular client had paid in the past. Phew! Certainly a little disappointing not to have a printed version to look forward to but ultimately - no complaints here.
The story was about an NYC man who is advocating for rooftop bee colonies. Crucial to the eco system he says and likely correct. You can read the article HERE.

On another note! I've decided to give Big Cartel a whirl. I'm convinced people feel more comfortable purchasing in a way that feels more official as opposed to simply emailing me....I'm using the free version right now which only lets you load up five items at a time so my apologies for the scant offerings. I've got a handful of my small flea market paintings up, all going for $40 a pop (Yay! Affordable art!). Should this prove a success you will certainly be seeing more indeed - promise!
Check out the NEW SHOP!

Sick of Fat Cats Yet?

Grizzly Bears Eat Fat Cats

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Note: My aim is to have a good deal of these small paintings available at the Brooklyn Flea later this summer. If in the meantime you should stumble across a piece that really tickles your fancy, feel free to contact me. All of these small paintings will be available from $10 - $50. Email me to see additional paintings not on the blog as well.

Fat Cats Like Food

Some recent 'doodles'

Just For You

Last year Pablo Correa invited me to participate in a book he was working on. 'Just For You,' a collection of art done by artists for their loved ones - strictly non-commercial. I'm dying to get my hands on a copy to see what other artists might have created for their friends & family. Here are links to the book's official site, blog, and you can now purchase the book through Index HERE.

**Portrait of Roxey (Queen of the House), done for mom.

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Side note: The painting I did for the Full of Pryde show is now up for grabs on Ebay. Snap it up for a good cause.

The Tools Artist's Use Interview

I've got an interview up on the site 'The Tools Artist's Use'. Much thanks to Bill Turner for the pleasure!
Read the full interview HERE.

Houston Press Cover

Cover for the wonderful Monica Fuentes at Houston Press about unisured twenty somethings self medicating. Yikes.

The Fires of Hell (Just Kidding!)

Kitty Pryde Update

I just recieved the press release for the Kitty Pryde show I wrote about recently:

The show is a fundraiser for the Hemophilia Treatment Center at OHSU. So we’ve asked dozens of comic artists, graphic designers, and illustrators to do their rendition of Kitty Pryde for this May’s First Thursday show. We’ll have original artwork and prints for sale and 100% of the proceeds go the the HTC.

WHO: Over 70 artists including: Bryan Lee O’Malley, Farel Dalrymple, Nathan Fox, Vasilis Lolos, Jeffrey Brown, Tom Neely, Brandon Graham, Corey Lewis, Zack Soto and more!
WHAT: Kitty Pryde tribute show, fundraiser for HTC
WHEN: Thursday, May 7th, 6-10pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave #101

BIO INFORMATION:

Kitty Pryde is a lot of people’s favorite X-Man. The fact that she was an adorable thirteen year-old girl when she joined the X-Men might have something to do with it. She can “phase” through objects, which means she can walk through walls or have dangerous weapons pass right through her without killing her. Only Joss Whedon can kill her, but don't bring that up with Mr. Sherwood.

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You can also view a smattering of work being featured in the show HERE.

Time Out New York - NYC Puppeteering

This had to be one of the most FUN assignments I've had in recent memory! Jeff Quinn called me up from Time Out New York and just said 'Puppets.' And do pretty much whatever you like. Yessss. I also did a handful of small puppet silhouettes to accompany the main illo. If you'd like to read up on modern puppet craft in nyc, you can read the accompanying article HERE.

Kitty Pryde

Yes, Kitty Pryde of the infamous X-Men. Done for a benefit - 'Full of Pryde' - being put together by the wondeful Jason Leivian at Floating World Comics in order to benefit Hemophilia research at the Oregon Health & Science University. Always feels good to put some art to work for a good cause!

Custom Home

A new piece for the wonderful Brian Walker at Custom Home. About how building contractors need to get creative in order to "break through" and thrive in these iffy times.

The Bankrupt Patient

This was for Jennifer Wenger at American Medical News about what to do when your patients declare (or are in danger of) bankrupty. Below is the final version that I sent in - the newsprint was the AD's idea, not something I would have likely come up with on my own but I am certainly pleased with the result.


Alternate sketches:

Drawing Dreams Foundation

"[Drawing Dreams] is a Berkeley, California-based non-profit organization that provides art supplies to children's hospital's artist-in-residence art programs, and other organizations where the need arises."

I was recently asked to contribute some images to Drawing Dreams to be used in a collection of images that they use to create cards that are then sent out as gifts to donors. That said, if only I had boat loads of money I could dole out to the millions of worthy and needy organizations that are out there, that certainly not being the case, it's so incredibly nice to have the opportunity to help in another way by donating art.
Be sure to stop by their website as it is most definately worth it - not only do they display a sizable gallery of professional artwork but work by the very children who are benefitting from the program as well.

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

The Claim Game

Just did this one for Jason Lavinder (a pleasure!) at Custom Home. It was for a story about a carpenter who hurts his back goofing off and then fakes the injury as being a work place incident taking the employer's insurance for quite a ride. His boss later comes to uncover the fraud and is forced to confront it....I'm sure this is a pretty common story to say the least unfortunately....

i enjoyed this image without the $$ signs as well, here it is for kicks:



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And on another note, my awesome buddy Jashar Awan has a new site devoted solely to his awesome comics. Check it out HERE!

Neighborhood Golf

Just did this one for Justin Long at Orange Coast Magazine about an odd neighborhood ritual in Newport Beach. Neighborhood golf! With no time to head out to the links over the holidays, they simply take it to the neighborhood streets and swing away. Incredibly, according to the story, they have yet to damage any cars or break any windows.....Amazing.

PEN Canada

I had the pleasure of bring asked to contribute a couple of illustrations to the PEN Canada Annual Report a couple of years ago - hands down one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever had the opportunity to work on.
The goal of this annual report was to bring attention to the plight of a handful of writers around the world who had been wrongly and often cruelly punished for what we here in the US consider to be our wholly entitled first amendment rights. Every contributing illustrator was asked to illustrate one of the persecuted writers. That illustration would then also be used as a postcard that could be torn out of the book and mailed to the offending (to put it mildly) governments as a form of protest/petition to free or pardon said writers.
As an added bonus, Gary Beelik of Soapbox Design was an absolute pleasure to work with on this project and the report looks just amazing. Some of my favorite tearsheets to date!
So my reason for bringing up this project now is that it appears to have finally made it online as a downloadable pdf. Though this report was put out almost two years ago, I'm sure it most definately can't hurt to print out the postcards and mail them nonetheless.
You can find the report HERE. Now get to it!

From the Archives...

Digging through my files I stumbled across this small spot I did last spring for Jodi Rossi at Hadassah.

Pratt

I'll be at Pratt tommorrow and wedsday (1/20 & 1/21) from 9:30-12, speaking with Rudy Gutierrez's two senior classes. Stop by and say hi!

MyMidwest Tearsheets & More

Beautiful tearsheets for an assn I did awhile back for Shane Luitjens at MyMidwest.

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In other news, read the recent interview that I did with Josh Cochran for Lost At E Minor. You can read it in full on the WFOF blog HERE!

tony doodles

Some Recent Personal Work

Here's to 09!

Here's to looking on the bright side in 09! Though this image created for the wonderful Alese Beckett at 5280 Magazine may seem to contradict that notion...Here's to a fantastic 09!

Holiday Season's In Swing!

My homage to the best christmas movie ever.

Kiehl's Holiday Display

I was beside myself when Kiehl's asked me to contribute some work for their annual holiday display--I am a devout fan of their products to day the least! Unfortunately they only used my shampoo bottle, but I really have no complaints! I saw the display for myself the other day and it looks wonderful, the whole store looks merry and festive. Good thing I had no money on me at the time cause I really could've done some damage.....