This was the Time Out New York "Hot Seat" portrait from two weeks ago, Daily Show regular, Mac pitchman, author, and all-around egghead John Hodgman.
I'm a huge fan of Mr. Hodgman's--I'm always thrilled when he shows up on TDS--so, like it was for Sarah Vowell the previous week, it made that week's Hot Seat portrait just a little more fun.
Considering Hodgman's first book was called The Areas of My Expertise, and his new one is called More Information Than You Require, my first concept was what you see above--Mr. Hodgman, at a Peanuts-style information booth. His "Mr. Know-It-All" persona seems like a Charles Schulz character, at least to me.
But...I knew this approach was a stretch. TONY generally likes more...generic backgrounds, and this was anything but that. But I loved the idea so much I had to send it in. So as not to cause a problem at the deadline stage, I worked up a safer alternate version:
I'm a huge fan of Mr. Hodgman's--I'm always thrilled when he shows up on TDS--so, like it was for Sarah Vowell the previous week, it made that week's Hot Seat portrait just a little more fun.
Considering Hodgman's first book was called The Areas of My Expertise, and his new one is called More Information Than You Require, my first concept was what you see above--Mr. Hodgman, at a Peanuts-style information booth. His "Mr. Know-It-All" persona seems like a Charles Schulz character, at least to me.
But...I knew this approach was a stretch. TONY generally likes more...generic backgrounds, and this was anything but that. But I loved the idea so much I had to send it in. So as not to cause a problem at the deadline stage, I worked up a safer alternate version:
I liked this one, too, because it felt like Hodgman was sitting at an information booth, ready to dispense helpful info (plus, it felt a little Criswell-ish to me, something I always enjoy).
So I sent both in, and...surprise! The magazine went with the first one. They actually had to run it by their legal department, because "The Schulz people are very litigious", but TONY loved it so much they were willing to try.
Obviously everything got smoothed out, because there it was, on the last page of the magazine when it arrived in my mailbox. Ginchy!
So I sent both in, and...surprise! The magazine went with the first one. They actually had to run it by their legal department, because "The Schulz people are very litigious", but TONY loved it so much they were willing to try.
Obviously everything got smoothed out, because there it was, on the last page of the magazine when it arrived in my mailbox. Ginchy!
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