Kayflowers

While working on another one of the Films of posters, I found an image online of actress/singer Kay Francis, and, like how it frequently happens, something in it made an image appear in my head of a very simple, sleek black shape.

Getting that shape together was pretty easy, and I liked the contrast when I dropped in the flowery pattern.

Its simple and sweet and pretty chaste, which was what I was going for.

The Films of Spencer Tracy

While working on yesterday's Films of Vincent Price, I thought of other actors (primarily from the Golden Age of Hollywood) who I've always liked, and the late, great Spencer Tracy is definitely on that list.

During the years I toiled away as an assistant manager of a video store, I took advantage of the store's policy of free rentals, and I worked my way through every Spencer Tracy movie I could get my hands on, and some of them--Inherit The Wind, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Bad Day at Black Rock--became some of my all-time favorites.

With rare exceptions, Tracy always played characters of unbendable moral authority, and that's what was only my mind when I was working on this--I tried all kinds of titled angles for the text and the background posters, but it looked unnecessary and too fancy for the straight-arrow Spencer Tracy.

The Films of Vincent Price

This started out as just a portrait of Vincent Price, since after posting an older portrait of him it occurred to me I didn't really have a "proper" portrait of the actor, someone whom I've always admired.

So I put a nice close-up of Mr. Price's face in a sea of black, but at some point it morphed into this image--I'm not exactly sure what The Films of Vincent Price is--is it a book cover, a movie poster, a DVD insert?

I don't know, I just kind of worked on this until I liked how it looked--the rough edges vaguely remind of the posters for all those Edgar Allen Poe adaptations Price appeared in, and that's good enough for me!

(By the way--among the films listed from Price's filmography are The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Confessions Of An Opium Eater, Edward Scissorhands, Last Man on Earth, The Oblong Box, and Witchfinder General)

From The Vault: Assassin Girl - 2004

This was another one of those pieces that I started on without having any idea in my mind where I was going, I just dabbled with it until I stumbled upon something that looked like...something.

I don't remember when or why I added the target/gun-sight thingy in the background, but as soon as I did, I realized that, along with the woman's grim visage, it made her look like an assassin of some sort, which was good enough for me!

Once I added the rounded corners, it became one of Tracy's favorite pieces of mine, for whatever reason. She's a gentle soul, so I'm not sure why she likes "Assassin Girl" so much...

Time Out New York: John Cleese

It was a real honor to illustrate the legendary John Cleese for this week's Time Out New York "Hot Seat" column--I've been such a huge fan for so long that I was thrilled when I found he was the subject.

Since Mr. Cleese was promoting his role in the The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, and it was a serious role, I didn't feel it was appropriate to try and have anything funny in the image so I went with something dignified and (hopefully) classy, like the man himself.

Baby Penguin

This is a baby penguin, done in the same style as the baby peeps I had previously done as presents for Darlin' Tracy.

Every so often, for a birthday or anniversary or something, I like to do a piece of animal art for her, and they eventually end up framed and hanging on a wall somewhere. The first time I showed her the baby peep done in this sort of abstract style, she got so excited that I kept doing them just for her.

But I thought for Christmas, I'd shake it up a bit a try and different animal, but done in the same cut-paper (pieces of colored paper cut out and glued down) manner.

She's going to get it tonight for Christmas, so shhh! Don't tell her!

Xmas 2008

I wanted to do something Christmassy for the blog, the first time I think I've ever done any holiday-related artwork.

I didn't want to draw Santa or Rudolph because that just sounded boring to me, so I went with characters I associate with the Christmas season just as much as them--the Heat-Miser and the Cold-Miser from those great Rankin-Bass TV specials (if I could've come up with a way to work in Burgermeister Meisterburger I would have).

So I thought, with a new President around the corner, there's a greater spirit of partnership in the air, and so these two mortal enemies would join together to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

(I think my favorite parts of this piece are the font up top and the patterned background--they look very Rankin-Bass to me.)

"Model For Murder"

For whatever reason, I saw the design for the title in the my head first--the titled angle, the outlined boxes--and built everything else around it. Maybe I shouldn't have used the color red again, but at least I used some different colors for this, the newest in my series of faux-paperback covers!

From The Vault: Vincent Price - 1994

This portrait of Vincent Price is nothing terribly ambitious--its just my own take on Price as he looked in the film The House on Haunted Hill--but it ended up being significant later on.

At the time of its creation, I was working at a video store, struggling to get the giant jumbo jet that is a freelance art career off the ground. I was creating new work constantly, thinking I couldn't let up for a second if I ever wanted to start landing work.

My work didn't go unnoticed at the store, and the managers there asked if I wanted to create some t-shirts of famous movie actors done in my illustration style to be sold at the store. That sounded good to me, so I worked up three designs--one of Orson Welles, one of William Powell and Myrna Loy (two of my favorites from the Thin Man movies), and this one of Vincent.

But when I got the shirts made, I told the printer to put the artwork of Price all the way over on the right of the shirt--I thought it gave the shirt an extra little "something", and worked well with the very vertical design of the piece.

For some reason, the printer actually argued with me, trying to convince me I wouldn't want them that way. It got so ridiculous that I almost had to walk out and search for another printer, because they kept trying to talk me out of what I wanted.

Finally, they relented, and I got the shirts made. And you know what? Of the three designs, the Vincent Price shirt was the only one we sold out of.

I kept one for myself, which I still have. I knew I was right!

Time Out New York: Benicio Del Toro

This week's "Hot Seat" column for Time Out New York was another rush, because the original subject got bumped back a week to make room for super-cool actor Benicio Del Toro, who is currently starring as Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's new bio-pic (two bio-pics, actually).

Obviously, adding the ubiquitous Che t-shirt was a no-brainer, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to add anything else.

I guess what I'm the most sorry about is, since Hot Seat subjects never seem to repeat (I've been doing these every week for three and a half years, and have never to had to illustrate the same person twice), that means I won't get to do a portrait of Del Toro next year, when he's promoting the remake of The Wolf Man. I had a really cool idea all worked out for that...

WPA: Flowers

This was another idea I had for a WPA-inspired public service poster--the message seemed like the kind of common sense, for-the-public-good that the WPA would've gotten behind.

I haven't really had the opportunity to draw flowers much before, but I thought they turned out pretty well, and I enjoyed it. I'll have to try them more, partly because Tracy loves flowers so much and she was particularly thrilled at my efoorts this time around (she just doesn't get as excited about monsters, for some reason).

I have to admit, as a finished piece, it doesn't really look all that vintage, so it doesn't read as a real WPA-type poster as some of my other ones have, but I didn't let that stop me from putting together something I thought looked cool.

Redhead

This piece had started out as a more of a retro advertising-type thing, with text and all that.

But as I worked on it, I realized I liked it just as it is--just a simple little portrait of a beautiful woman with flaming red hair.

Universal Monsters: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Eh, I just can't stop with these "Universal Monsters" posters , even when it isn't a "Universal Monster"!

As a fan of those Universal Monster movies from the 30s and 40s, it always sorta bugged me that Universal never did a version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, the one classic literary monster that's on the same par with Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, etc.

I guess that's because MGM did a a version in 1931 (which is the one reflected here--it even won Frederic March an Oscar for his performance) and then did another one (with Spencer Tracy, less well-received) in 1941, so maybe Universal never felt like they had enough time to make a mark with their own version.

In any case, I felt like it would be fun to graft the 1931 Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde into the Universal Monsters poster framework I had built, as if at some point down the line they got the rights to it and released with the rest of their classic monster movies.

I debated for a while how to portray the Jekyll/Hyde persona--have them both as the main monster? When I realized that would make things way too crowded, I decided the obviously right way to do it was focus on the monster--Hyde--and have Jekyll as a co-star, even if March spends way more time being Jekyll than Hyde in the film.

Like I mentioned before, I'm always a little concerned about watering down my collection of Classic Monster Posters, because they are by far the most popular work I have done, and I don't like to add one to the roster if I don't think its as good as the rest--but I think this one came out really well, and I'm happy to add it to the collection.

From The Vault: Pepsi Dance - 2002

Six years ago this Saturday, I was laid off by my then-regular employer, for whom I was doing web design.

I had had a couple of freelance jobs going at the time, but I still needed (or felt I needed) a regular paycheck. It was relatively unexpected, so I drove him in a fog, wondering What The Hell I Was Going To Do.

So I came home, told some friends, and let myself think about it for a few hours. I called another friend, who was a very successful freelance artist, and told him I was thinking of just going freelance from then on. I didn't really want to try and find a new job, and knew I would zero to no enthusiasm for any job I could land. Not only did that seem like a nightmarish prospect, but it wasn't even very fair to any potential employer who I might be able to fool into hiring me.

"Go for it", he said.

So sitting in my chair that night, I had officially become a freelance artist. My life's dream had been achieved, albeit in a very weird, scary, and anti-climactic way.

That was six years ago--at the time, I told myself if I could do it for six months it'd be a "moral victory" and I'd be willing to try something else, knowing I'd done it. The fact that its been six years seems like a miracle to me.


To commemorate the anniversary, I went back through my records and tried to the first new piece I worked on after Going Freelance, but my memory is hazy and I don't exactly remember which piece it was.

But this one is from around that time, so it might be the first one. It was a job from an ad agency that had Pepsi as a client(!), and they were comping up some new can designs to show to them. One design they wanted was a "very hip" couple dancing, done in the Pepsi colors, to be potentially put on the can.

Of course I was very excited to get the job, because it was a huge client, and who knows? Maybe my work could end up on millions of cans of Pepsi, rotting kids' teeth from coast to coast.

But they needed it fast, something like overnight fast. So I stayed up reeeeeally late one night, trying to find the right two, "very hip" people that would look good dancing together. I finally found the two you see above, changed their clothes and hair a bit, and dressed them in Pepsi blue and red, ending up with what you see above.

I turned it in, and the ad agency really loved what I did--it was exactly what they were looking for. Huzzah!


Sadly, days then weeks passed, and I heard nothing back. From my experience, when someone needs something from you Right Now and then you hear nothing back for weeks, something bad has happened.

And I was right--the agency told me that at some point down the line, Pepsi canned (sorry) the whole idea of having illustrations on their cans, so there went the whole thing. I still got paid for the work I did, and I had a nice piece for my portfolio, but obviously I was disappointed. Having my work on a Pepsi can as my first post-firing freelance job would've been a huge morale builder.

But it was not to be. And I've managed to do okay since, so I guess I made the right decision back on Dec. 13, 2002.

Time Out New York: Michael Ian Black

This week's "Hot Seat" column for Time Out New York was a rush x5 type of job--the subject, comedian/actor Michael Ian Black, wasn't decided upon until later than usual in the week, plus this piece had to be in earlier than usual because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

So while I think this piece is fine, I wish I had had more time to mess around the with background, or something. It looks sort of unfinished to me, but at the time it didn't seem that way.

Bill Murray

Sort of continuing the thread I've been following this week, I realized while working on yesterday's piece that I've never done a straightforward portrait of Bill Murray, certainly one of my all-time favorite actor-comedians.

So I did this, again just for the fun of it, similar in a manner to how I used to my portraits--all black background, just the figure. (I guess if I had really wanted to do it Old School, I would've pulled out paper and glue, but I'm low on xacto blades).

I hope, one day, (maybe for Time Out New York?), I'll actually get the chance to do a portrait of Mr. Murray for real.

Larry Darrell 1984

I was still on a big The Razor's Edge kick last week, so in addition to re(x20)reading the book, I put on the two film versions as I worked.

The first was from 1946 and starred Tyrone Power as the book's protagonist, Larry Darrell, and then there was another in version in 1984, starring Bill Murray, in his first "straight" dramatic role.

I won't get into the details of the movies, other than to say I like them both. Each film differs quite a bit from the book, as they differ from each other. The Power version was a decent-sized hit at the time, the Murray version was not.

But I enjoyed it, so I worked on this portrait of the Bill Murray version of Larry, as he searched for spiritual fulfillment in India. Its no great shakes as a piece of artwork, but it I enjoyed working on it nonetheless.

The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham, is my favorite book. I've read it about twenty times, which is nineteen times more than I've ever read any other novel (with the exception of Lost Horizon, which I've read 2-3 times).

I don't even remember what made me first want to read it, because I have never been a big reader of fiction. Non-fiction, history, sociology, biographies: those I can devour with barely any knowledge on the subject. But for some reason, novels have always been a tough slog for me.

But for whatever reason, The Razor's Edge spoke to me in a way no other book ever has, and eventually I started collecting different editions of it (an idea I first heard of from the recently-late and always-great Forrest J. Ackerman, who owned something like five hundred different editions of Frankenstein). I own hardcover editions, paperbacks, movie tie-in versions, one made for soldiers in WW II (reformatted so it could more easily carried in a back pocket), even one entirely in Hebrew! (I haven't read that one yet)

Every so often, when I get in the mood to read it again, I go on eBay and see if I can find yet another edition I don't have. And once again I found one, a British edition with a different cover on sale for only a couple of bucks. A few clicks later...

Which brings me to the piece above (way above--jeez, I'm talking a lot here), where I imagined what would I do if I had the chance to design a cover for the book.

I tried several different takes on this basic theme, and eventually I settled on this, simple and clean, with the addition of the book's epigram ("The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.")

At first, I had the blue boxes stretched all the way off the edges of the picture, but then I saw that it made it look more like water, and that the man walking was walking on water, which of course brought up all kinds of inappropriate associations (the book even features a part ultimately dismissing that particular kind of miracle), so I had to reign the colors back in a bit, which I think ends up looking better anyway.

I'm almost done my latest read through of the book, and who knows? Maybe some day, if the stars align, the book's publisher will want to put a new edition, and need a new cover for it...

From The Vault: Two-Face - 1995

Back when I first got out of art school, my illustration style was collage art, and I tried to get work that way.

After a while of no success, I gave up on it and moved onto the portraiture that I do today. But then, something weird happened--I landed a couple of illustration jobs--my first ever--with my collage work! I had sent out fliers advertising my collage stuff, and then promptly forgot about them. So, in 1995, I was back doing collage!

But of course I never gave up the portraits, and this piece was my first and only attempt to combine the two. Batman Forever was due out in a few months, and knowing I'd see the first ever live-action Two-Face got me excited enough to try this.

While the idea is solid, and the collage half is cool (I really like the crazy eye), the portrait side is dull. Of course it's not going to be as exciting as the other side, but I think I could've put a bit more detail on the portrait side to make it stronger visually. It sort of looks like Tommy Lee Jones, but not quite.

But at the time though, I didn't see that, and thought this piece was great. It stayed in my portfolio for a long while. Too long.

(Hmm...maybe I should go look for some Aaron Eckhart photos...)

Time Out New York: Craig Robinson

This week's"Hot Seat" column subject is comedian/actor Craig Robinson, who was promoting a NYC stand-up show, but is more well known as laconic, sarcastic Dunder Mifflin warehouse manager Darrell Philbin on The Office.


This makes the third Office cast member I've had the honor to illustrate for Hot Seat, the previous two being Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson:

Since, in each case, the actors were promoting projects other than The Office, I had to stay away from anything specific to the show (no reams of paper, Dunder Mifflin ID badges, etc.), so in all three cases I've gone with generic backgrounds.

Now, I can only hope Jenna Fischer has something to promote...

"Carol Borland"

Are you like me, and you sometimes just want to draw Carol Borland?

No?

"Sunny Day"

This piece morphed into several different things as I worked on it.

The woman in the water started out as the central figure for another faux-paperback cover, but I could never get a handle on adding text to it, so I abandoned that idea.

Then it was going to be more of a straight "glamour" piece, with no background or realistic details except maybe the water. I ended up not liking any of those attempts, either.

Finally, I started adding more realistic elements (yeah, that sun is pretty big, I guess...) and it became more, in my mind, of a piece of advertising art, maybe for travel or beachwear or something. In any case, it was in this form that it worked best for me, so I called it a day.

(Maybe it was more a case of wish fulfillment, since it was miserably cold and rainy outside as I worked on it)

Universal Monsters: It Came From Outer Space

Embarking on another one of my "Universal Monsters" posters is always fraught with a self-imposed set of expectations.

They are by far the most popular illustrations on my site, so if I decide to try and add another one to the series, I'm hoping that it measures up to the others. It would weaken the whole effort if there were a couple that weren't so good.

Of course, if the end result came out really bad, no one but me would ever see it, but from my experience that doesn't seem to happen. No, the ones in the series I don't think have measured up have just missed--they're not truly bad, but they are a missing a certain something that keeps me from adding them to the official roster.

But overall, I'm pretty happy with this one, a poster for the 1953 classic It Came From Outer Space. It presented a different challenge than the rest of them because the "It" in question is not seen that much in the movie, and not at all on the original posters. Seeing a full on, clear shot of the alien would really ruin the effect, so I went for a similar approach the original Universal art department did--you see the one giant, creepy eye, but all the other details are hard to make out.

This poster is a bit more crammed with stuff than the usual approach, but I thought it worked with all the crazy colors.

Speaking of colors, I decided when I moved onto the 1950s era, sci-fi Universal films, the posters would be in color, as opposed to the monochromatic look for the 30s and 40s monster ones. So I had to continue that here, and overall I'm pretty happy with the results.