From The Vault: Lex Luthor - 2004

I was digging through my vault looking for a good piece for this week, and I happened across this portrait I did of Lex Luthor. Not only do I think it turned out pretty well, but Luthor was played by yesterday's subject, Jon Hamm, in a very funny video for Funny or Die. Perfect!

Most of the time when I've tried to mesh my style with a superhero portrait, it doesn't work that well, but of course for regular guy (he'd hate me calling him that) Lex Luthor, no weird costumes are required--just some monolith-y buildings with LexCorp's blood-red stamp on the front.

Jon Hamm

I haven't done one of my Hot Seat-styled portraits in a while because...well, I've generally been busy doing the actual ones. But I had some time this week, and thought Jon Hamm would be as a good a subject as any. Not only do I see him every week on Mad Men, but he's also in a new movie, The Town, opening this week.

Hamm has an old-school charm and classic leading man looks that makes him seem like a Hollywood star from the 50s or 60s dropped into the 21st Century. So I didn't get too fancy for the portrait--pretty much a straightforward shot with some cool, classy colors.

He'll Be Dead By Morning

One of my more crazy faux-vintage paperback book covers, this one started life with just the portrait of the gun-totin' babe and it somehow found its way to this Mondrian-inspired crazy quilt design.

When searching for an actual book title, I knew I wanted to keep the idea that the woman is the protagonist, maybe even an assassin (which was not typically a plot you'd find in a 40s or 50s paperback). I found a book called She'll Be Dead By Morning, and I was content to remove the "S" to make it a little more appropriate to what I had already conceived. The author and tagline remained the same.

Charles Bronson

I had a couple of suggestions for the next subject in my informal "tough guy" series, but at some point it occurred to me Charles Bronson fit that theme perfectly, and I had never really done a suitable portrait of the legendary actor.

I chose to represent him during glory days--the early 1970s, when he was about as a big a star as he ever was. Considering what most movie stars look like nowadays, its kind of amazing a guy who looked like this was considered a leading man.

While I was doing this, all I had for his hair was a flat black shape, and that didn't quite work for me--it looked too neat and tidy. So I went in and added a bajillion little strands of wild greyish hair, really letting my hand go all over the place, the better to capture that wild mop of hair that sat atop Bronson's head.

I've been trying to use the same elements for all these tough guy portraits--namely, the same set of colors for the skin, a light blue tone for the shirt, and that rough pattern I would place on top of it.

I at first thought the light blue shirt here didn't look sufficiently tough guy enough, and considered changing it. But then it dawned on me that if Charles Bronson is wearing a light blue shirt, that makes it a tough guy shirt.

From The Vault: Negative of a Nude - 2006

One of my faux-vintage paperback book covers that was on my regular site's paperback page for a while.

But in the regular pruning of the site's content that I do, I dropped it in favor of newer compositions, though I think this one still holds up pretty well. I think I'd use a different font for the author and tagline, but I love that checkerboard background!

Time Out New York: Ed Westwick

I was asked to do this week's "Hot Seat" portrait for Time Out New York, the subject this time being actor Ed Westwick, who is a cast member on Gossip Girl.

Not being familiar with Mr. Westwick, I searched around the internet for pics and info on him. I noticed that while he was squeaky clean in his PR shots, he looked much scruffier in more informal pics, so I thought it'd be more interesting to go that route for the portrait.

I knew I wanted to keep it monochromatic, and I think this came out as one of the best Hot Seats I've done in a while. I like the rough gray tones, the messy background, and the squiggly lines for his jewelry. I've already put this one on the "best of Hot Seat" list I have in my head.

Zorro

This was me just goofing around. I'm in the middle of a big magazine job, and while taking a break from it I worked this up just for the hell of it.

Zorro is such a natural subject for my style that I keep trying out portraits of him. The first one I did was just okay, but too stiff and formal. This one started out as a portrait but evolved into this design-y button type thing, and I kinda like it.

Lee Van Cleef

Another portrait in my informal "tough guy" series, this was another suggestion that came from my illustration Facebook page. After posting the Lee Marvin piece, someone suggested Lee Van Cleef.

Cleef, like Marvin before him, was someone I'd never done a portrait of before, so that seemed like fun. This one's a little less ragged than the previous two tough guys, so I'm a little less satisfied with it. Weird, I didn't see that the time, but just a few days later, its jumps right out at me.

Well, now that I've done two Lees in a row, who's next? Lee Majors?

From The Vault: Drug Raid - 2007

I did this piece for a medical magazine, part of a series of illustrations for a long article about a South American country. One of the aspects covered was the massive drug trade, the evidence of which can be seen here.

For reasons I can't remember, I don't think this ever saw print, which is kinda too bad--its different than the kind of stuff I normally do, and I thought it came out okay.

Plus, it took forever to draw all those packages!

Namtab on the Web: Horror Squad

John Gholson--of the swell horror movie site Horror Squad--wrote a very nice piece about my Monster PSA posters, which you can see above.

Thanks to John, and thanks to my pal Joe Mello for finding the piece in the first place and altering me to it!

12 Angry Men

I have no idea why I started in on this piece, but one afternoon I "saw" that famous group shot of them all in a sort of monochromatic fashion and I just sort of went with it.

I liked the idea of doing an entire movie poster with just two colors (okay, two colors plus a little bit of white), to see if it would work. And while I don't think this is one of the best things I've ever done, I do think it works!

One addition I felt I had to make: the famous shot of the titular angry men features only eleven of them, looking at the twelfth--Lee J. Cobb. Since I wanted all twelve men on there (plus I just love Lee J. Cobb) I shoehorned him into the shot, eighth from left. He deserves a more prominent spot, but it was the only place he fit. Sorry, Mr. Cobb.

Lee Marvin

It was suggested on my illustration Facebook page, after I posted the Humphrey Bogart piece, that I try my hand at Lee Marvin. Since I had never done an illustration of him, and he was a perfect subject for the rough-edged, "tough guy" look of the Bogie piece, I figured why not?

I knew I wanted Marvin's white hair to really stick out, so I had to use a grey-ish tone for the skin. It kind of makes him look like he's made of granite, which he kinda was.

From The Vault: Lobster - 2004

I honestly can't remember who/what this piece was for--it was never published, which is maybe why it looks a little unfinished to me. I think I got pretty far along and then the whole thing was scrapped. The rest is lost to the mists of time.

This piece was a change of pace for me, since its anthropomorphic, humorous approach isn't the kind of thing I'm known for. But I don't think it came out too badly!

Time Out New York: Justin Long

I was asked to do this week's "Hot Seat" portrait for Time Out New York, the subject this time being actor Justin Long.

I originally had a dot pattern behind the straight-ahead portrait, but since I had a little extra time to work on it (a rarity) I set it aside and opened it up a few days later.

When I did, I immediately ditched that background and added this kid-like, cartoon drawing of a heart, which obliquely refers to the new movie Long was promoting, Going The Distance. That seemed to fit perfectly, and another Hot Seat was ready to go!

Violets Are Mad

This faux-vintage paperback cover violates my guidelines for doing these things in two ways:

1)Its entirely made up by me--title, author, tag line, the whole thing, and

2)Its really not vintage in any way--faux or otherwise

It started out with the portrait of the pistol-packing mama, and as I played with it I liked using weird, day-glo colors. Once I decided to go that route, I realized she had to be named Violet.

And once I decided that, I realized there wouldn't be any old-timey paperback cover that I could match it with, so I decided just to come up with the whole thing myself. Since our young miss Violet is aiming a gun at someone(s), I figured this would be a "women's revenge" type of story, and everything else fell into place.

Bogie

This was one of those weird pieces that I whipped up in between working on other projects, having no idea where I was going when I started.

This version of Humphrey Bogart is from a time before he was the iconic Bogie--when the actor was stuck playing gangsters, prisoners, and all-around Second Tough Guys.

As I worked on it, I realized I wanted it to be as angular and rough as possible, which I think works to the piece's overall strength. I added a grimy pattern to the shirt, and did the background old school. I turned out as one of my favorite pieces in a long time.

From The Vault: Fashion - 2001

This was just a little doodle I did, wanting to create something high fashion-y. I think my favorite part is the background--its different than anything else I've ever really tried before, or since.

Chief Martin Brody

After last week's Charles Foster Kane pseudo-trading card, I let my mind wander to try and find another iconic movie character that I would enjoy drawing. It didn't take long, because Jaws is on my shelf just to my left as I type this.

One thing I did notice about these--there's something about the way syllables read, combined with the established design, that requires whatever character is the subject to have three names. So, going forward, I have to stick to only three-named characters. Anyone have any suggestions?

Dope Doll

This is more of a "drug book" than a mystery/thriller, but that's okay--sometimes sex and drugs are enough!

Monster PSA: Darren McGavin

The idea for this one came out of nowhere, and I had a few moments free to put it together almost immediately.

The original tagline was something to the effect of Darren McGavin being the coolest uncle you never had, but that didn't seem quite right. Sure, I wanted to reflect McGavin's iconic role in The Night Stalker, but he's also equally famous as the Dad in A Christmas Story, and I thought it was necessary to reference that too, somehow.

So, riffing off the first idea, I combined the two approaches and had McGavin as a crusty, avuncular uncle/dad-type who takes you monster-hunting as a day out--ending with ice cream, comics, and a ball game, surely. What kid wouldn't want a day out like that?

From The Vault: Count Dracula - 1998

It's Friday the 13th! To celebrate the occasion, I wanted to go back into the vaults and find something appropriately spooky--which is hard, because pre-my Universal Monsters posters, I really didn't do that much horror-themed art, despite my lifelong affection for horror movies.

But I did find this, the second in a row of Christopher Lee as Dracula portraits I did in 1998. While I think the first one is more interesting visually and overall a better piece, I think this one has its charms, too--I like the off-kilter angle and how Dracula's skin just blends off into the background.

Looking back at this piece, I realize it would make a great centerpiece for some sort of Dracula-themed poster. Stay tuned!

Charles Foster Kane

I'm not sure why this image popped into my head, pretty close to what you see here; but it did, so I tried to get it down as faithfully as possible.

There's something trading card-ish (again with the trading cards!), as if Topps decided to do a Famous Old Time Movie Characters series.

Jager in Armani

I was asked by a German magazine called Wirtschafts Woche to do an illustration for an article about headhunters, clad in Armani, doing their thing on the streets of Germany.

They asked me to do it in the style of my faux-vintage paperback book covers, which of course was a lot of fun. I did several versions until we settled on this more modern approach (inevitable, with the Armani suit, cell phone, etc.). It feels more Tom Clancy-ish than the other paperback covers I've done, but heck his books are in paperback, too.

Superman

I was very saddened to hear the news that legendary screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz passed away last week, at the age of 68.

Of course, like most comics fans my age, Superman: The Movie remains one of--if not the--greatest superhero movie of all time. Growing up, I had no idea who wrote the movie, nor did I care: I just knew I loved it (and its sequel). I was familiar with director Donner, but outside of him I didn't know who were the geniuses behind it.

But then when DVDs came out, Superman: The Movie featured a commentary track by director Richard Donner and screenwriter Mankiewicz, and listening to these two old friends reminisce about the movie was a revelation: I realized then just how important Mankiewicz's contribution was to the movie, and was masterstroke it was for Donner to have asked him to come in (under the guise of "Creative Consultant") and rework the script, which was a mishmash of action scenes and Batman TV show-style jokes.

I loved the commentary track so much I went out and bought other DVDs that featured Mankiewicz (Live and Let Die, for example--Mankiewicz wrote several of the early 70s Bond films), and his funny, humble, and self-effacing completely won me over. I considered even finding a way to contact him and writing a gushing fan letter, but for all the normal reasons, I didn't.

Now of course I'm sorry I didn't do that, because I'll never have the chance. Even if I had embarrassed myself, it would have been nice to let Mr. Mankiewicz know how much his work meant to me.

I originally thought of doing a portrait of him as a tribute, but that didn't seem like the kind of thing Mr. Mankiewicz would have wanted. So I decided to a portrait of his crowning achievement, Christopher Reeve as Superman. As I was finalizing it, I also decided to make it look slightly reminiscent of a movie trading card, hence the clipped background. Its no masterpiece or anything, but it was done with total admiration and respect and a joy to work on.

Rest in peace, Tom Mankiewicz.

From The Vault: Sheepdog - 2003

This was one of a huge wave of animal portraits I did in 2003, old school: cut-paper, glue, and paint!

My style doesn't mesh well with cuddly animals, but I thought this one came out pretty well. I must not have been the only one who thought that, because I later sold it at a small art show where I had a lot of my animal stuff on display!

Torgny Sandren, Live in Concert

Last week, I got contacted by Torgny Sandgren, a musician in Sweden who liked my work and asked me to do a concert poster for him. Teh internets are amazing.

Anyway, Torgny had only a loose idea of what he wanted, and pretty much allowed me free reign, which is always nice. He sent me a bunch of ref photos, and all but one had him looking into the camera and smiling. That was fine, but I thought this one pic of Torgny looking down, away from the camera and at his guitar--better suited the mood he wanted for the poster, so I used that as the basis for the portrait.

Torgny also wanted a slightly rougher look, nothing too clean and perfect. So I added a halftone pattern and (although you really can't see it here) a black "ink" line along the edges of the dark blue layer, giving the piece more of hand-drawn feel.

Torgny really liked it, and after working up an alternate version of the poster in Swedish, I sent them off. I had a lot of fun with this, Torgny was great to deal with, and I hope he gets a lot of use out of the poster!


(I must confess: I partly stole the whole black-and-blue-with-white-block-of-text look from the VHS box to a 1986 Bob Dylan concert movie, Hard to Handle. I've always wanted to emulate that design, and figured this was the perfect opportunity. Thanks, Bob.)

Murder Times Five

This was an idea for a faux-movie poster I had months ago, and despite numerous false starts (where whatever I tried just didn't work) I never quite gave up on it, determined to try and see the concept through.

The concept, as I saw it in my head, was a central figure--a detective or cop of some sort--surrounded by colorful puzzle pieces, which would each feature portraits of some shady dame that would, in true film noir fashion, be sexy and dangerous.

At some point in the process, I decided to make the film be a modern one, but with a twist--it would somehow integrate modern actresses (clockwise from left: Amanda Seyfried, Michelle Monaghan, Scarlett Johannsen, Charlize Theron, and Cate Blanchett) with Jimmy Stewart. Of course, as a film fan, that's a horrible, gimmicky idea, and one that I would never actually want to see as a real movie. But for the purposes of this poster, it worked just fine.

I played around a lot with the bottom half, but virtually anything I added made it look too busy and took away from the all the stuff up top, so I just added the requisite text and trademarks. Looking back on it, I'm not sure I quite pulled it off--at least compared to what I saw in my head--but at least I can say I saw it through!

Sweet Lips, Swap Lips

This is one of my favorite faux-vintage paperback book covers, because its lighter, more whimsical than these things usually turn out.

It didn't start that way, but as I messed around with it I realized I liked what I was doing, which I find is usually the best way to go about these things. Unless I have a rock solid vision in my head for what I want, I try and relax and let the muse (such as it is) take over.

This title and author are real--its from a book I have of paperback "drug" book covers, and I have absolutely no idea what the title means. It doesn't even make sense, really, but hey I didn't write it!

I did add the tagline, since the original book didn't have one. Once I added the red leafy effect in the background, I conceived the book's plot--some saucy dame shows up in a sleepy town (in the Fall?), and its like throwing a grenade. Hilarity ensues.

From The Vault: Campaign Finances - 2008

This straightforward piece was done for a financial magazine (called dBusiness, I think) back in early 2008 for an article about the respective finances of the Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Guliani, McCain, and Romney campaigns.

The page had so much text on it all they had room for were these six headshots across the bottom of the page, which is why they're all crammed in there together.

From the beginning, I definitely had a favorite candidate in the mix, and I have to say as the campaign wore on I enjoyed watching each of them fade away and drop out, until...

James Bond

For whatever reason, a week or so ago I wanted to do a portrait of James Bond, so current Bond Daniel Craig seems as good a place as any to start.

I messed around with adding text for a long while, but I never settled on anything I liked so I just left it as a portrait. I did add the little thin white box--I dunno, it just looked better with it than without it.

Bonzo

Yet another dog who needs a good home!

Bella

Yet another dog who needs a good home!

Update: In between writing this post and today, I found out that Bella has been adopted into a good home. Happier news I couldn't have heard!

Vote Warren

This idea came to me in a flash of inspiration the other day after reading some articles about economist and all-around egghead Elizabeth Warren possibly being appointed to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would oversee and help implement many of the changes specified in the recently-enacted Financial Reform Bill.

As someone who has watched a lot of financial documentaries over the years, I've become a sort of "fan" of Ms. Warren, and I'm not the only one--she's appeared on The Daily Show (where Jon Stewart said he had a crush on her), The Colbert Report, and Real Time with Bill Maher, among other smart shows. I couldn't think of a better choice to appoint someone like Ms. Warren to out there, making sure various financial institutions don't wiggle out of the new rules set up to (fingers crossed) keep them from blowing up the economy again.

So even though Warren's selection would come directly from the President, not by voting (at least at the nomination stage), I had an idea of a sort of campaign poster to rally support for Ms. Warren. I went searching for ref images of her, and when I saw a shot of her with her thumb and forefinger like you see above, the tagline pretty much wrote itself.

This poster started out in the exact same manner as I do the Monster PSAs, with just red, white, and blue; but I quickly saw that the harsh monochromatic look I use for the monsters just didn't work for a real person like Elizabeth Warren, especially for someone of her erudite, sophisticated look.

Realizing a full-color portrait was the way to go, I the kept the rest of the poster colors to a minimum, with a few added details. Let's hope it somehow lands on the President's desk, and he is so swayed by my work that he does indeed nominate Ms. Warren to head the CFPB.

From The Vault: Thurgood Marshall - 2002

If the "vault" I pull older, unseen illustrations from was a real place, it would consist of dusty but still organized shelves. This piece, to continue the metaphor, would've been found in some dark, forgotten corner of that vault.

I was contacted in 2002 by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to produce an illustration of the Thurgood Marshall Federal Building, which was celebrating its 10th anniversary. They wanted a sort of commemorative keepsake piece, to be put into a lucite block.

Along the way, they had wanted an actual portrait of the late, legendary Supreme Court justice along with the building, so I produced the portrait you see above. Before I had a chance to finish it though, they changed their minds so the piece never got further than this stage (it needs more detail, and the colors need some definite adjusting).

Usually I keep records of every finished or even mostly finished piece, so I can refer to it later if I need to. But somehow I forgot about this, and it remained buried on a CD back-up of the whole job, sitting in a file cabinet. It wasn't until Marshall was mentioned so much during Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings a few weeks ago that I remembered I even did it!

It was certainly an unusual job, and an unusual client. The Administrative Office was happy with the final result, which you can see here.

Time Out New York: Zach Braff

Last week, I was asked to do another "Hot Seat" portrait for Time Out New York, this time actor Zach Braff.

I toyed around with this one quite a bit, but eventually settled on the hot/cool contrast of the blue portrait with the orange background. I added a (very)faded mosaic effect, but otherwise I wanted to keep this simple, clean, effective.

Monster PSA: Evelyn Ankers

This Monster PSA was done as a request from one of my "fans" (feels weird, typing that), who specifically I asked I give The First Lady of Universal Horror, Evelyn Ankers, a turn.

Besides starring in The Wolf Man, Ms. Ankers appeared in literally dozens of other Universal horror/suspense movies of the 40s. From what I've read of Ms. Ankers, she really wasn't that into acting--it was mostly work, a way to make money, and when she got a little older (and horror films were mostly on the outs) she packed it in and never looked back. (Later, when he was living in Hawaii with her husband, she was asked to appear in Hawaii 5-0, which was just starting up production. She turned them down)

Whatever her feelings about being in movies, it didn't really show: she was always a welcome presence to this horror/monster fan. But I'm betting her advice would have been close to what you see on the poster.

Monster PSA: Lon Chaney Jr.

This Monster PSA is a bit more serious than the others; since fans of the late, great Mr. Chaney know that he suffered from alcoholism; and Lon's inability to get a handle on led to the dimunition of his career, and eventually early death.

I remember seeing the 1972 cheapie Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, which featured an aged, bloated Lon in a few scenes as a mute hulking brute. The movie itself is glorious, Z-grade fun, but seeing someone who I loved as a child used this way made me sad--Bela Lugosi's scenes in Ed Wood movies looked like acting triumphs by comparison. Lon died shortly thereafter.

So I thought, out from under all the various make-ups Lon endured, this is the kind of advice he would dispense if he was sitting down with someone, one on one.

Monster PSA: Dick Durock

Not too long after completing my Adrienne Barbeau PSA, I thought why not complete the mini-Swamp Thing run and feature the man himself, Dick Durock?

Mr. Durock has many, many credits to his name, but to people my age he's really known for his work in various levels of make-up and rubber: as Swamp Thing of course, but also as Battlestar Galactica's Imperious Leader, and as "Frye's Creature" on The Incredible Hulk.

That must have been marinating in my head for a couple of days, because suddenly the tagline popped into my head, fully formed. I couldn't wait to put this together once I had it!

Of course its a bastardization of the classic "three chords and the truth" line, and at first I was content with this just being a silly goof on that. But then it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, there's an actual point here: considering how many god-awful CGI fests Hollywood keeps pumping out, substituting charm and characterization with spectacle, maybe all you really need is a rubber mask and the truth.

From The Vault: Hung My Head - 2006

I dunno, I must have been in a really bad mood when I did this.

Christopher Nolan

This week's portrait is of Dark Knight and Inception director Christopher Nolan, who is by this point of the most famous--yet little seen, publicly--movie directors out there.

Doing this in black and white seemed a no-brainer, but I decided I did want some little drop of color, so I added blue to the eye and had a very muted blue background. It was originally a lot bluer, but after playing with it for a bit I thought it looked better even more muted, with more gray.

While I'm looking forward to Inception (and I have enjoyed, to various degrees, his other movies like Memento, Insomnia, and The Prestige), I'm more happy that, now that its here, that means Nolan's next film will be Batman 3. I knew from reading about this stuff that Nolan always demanded time to make another movie in between Batman sequels. So now that that film is out of the way, the third Batman movie can really get underway!

Monster PSA: Adrienne Barbeau

Unlike the last Monster PSA poster I did, which was inspired by the tagline first, this one was driven entirely by the fact I love Adrienne Barbeau, and desperately wanted her to be part of this series.

From Escape From New York to The Fog to Swamp Thing, Ms. Barbeau was a recurring...er, face in the movies I saw and loved as a kid. But not only was she a sex bomb, but she was tough--equally adept at firing a gun or kicking your head in as she was at seducing you. So for the tagline I wanted to reference that part of her on-screen persona.

As I write this, it occurs to me my last two Monster PSA posters both featured cast members from Swamp Thing. Surely, that's simply a coincidence...?

Charles Schwab On Investing: Summer 2010

Another issue of Charles Schwab on Investing, another chance for me to do something really fun and different!

Sly

Yet another portrait of a dog who needs a good home, Sly. This was one a special request by one of the people trying to help the (not-so) little guy. How could I say no?

From The Vault: Wish You Were Here - 2006

This was done for a magazine client; but time has erased my memory of just what it was for. I do remember that it was about this specific woman (whose name, again, escapes me) and the magazine wanted her lounging on a beach chair on a prototypical Summer day.

So that meant I had to stitch two pieces together to get the portrait (head + body), and overall I think its fairly seamless. The colors are maybe a tad too saturated, but overall I thought it came out okay.

Helen Mirren

Actress Helen Mirren has a new movie out, a spy thriller called Red, but I didnt't really care about that--I just wanted to play with the contrast of her bright white hair and a totally black background, which was what I saw in my head when I first thought of doing a portrait.

Of course, Ms. Mirren's hair isn't quite that white, but again it was the contrast I was most interested in. I briefly considered adding a Hollywood Glamor-type light fade in the background, but finally decided this was fine the way it was.

Jerry

Yet another portrait of a dog who needs a good home, Jerry. Jerry's off-kilter mug completely melted my heart once I saw it on Facebook. If circumstances were different, I'd be on a plane right now on my way to California to pick him up. I find him completely, utterly charming.

John Wayne

I watched the classic film Stagecoach for the first time over the weekend, and as I listened to the accompanying commentary track, it occurred to me I never did a portrait of the film's legendary star, John Wayne.

Even though Wayne did many films other than westerns, its that genre he's most known for, so I pretty quickly decided I wanted a classic, full-figure shot of him, in front of an impossibly blue sky.

Since we're so far away, this doesn't immediately click as Wayne, but that's okay--the overall design of the piece was the thing I was most concerned with, and that's what I got!

Fiona

This is another portrait of a dog who needs a good home, Fiona.

From The Vault: Satan Girl - 2006

Since this whole week has consisted of female portraits, I thought it was only appropriate to finish it off the same way.

This is just me fooling around; obviously influenced by the artist Coop's "Devil Girl" character and not wanting to spend too much time on it. I like the design of this piece a lot, and maybe if I had put a little more effort into the portrait it would have turned into something special, transcending its humble initial inspiration.

Time Out New York: Olivia Munn

Last week, I was asked to do another "Hot Seat" portrait for Time Out New York, this time actress/host Olivia Munn, who is mostly known for Attack of the Show, but has just started doing segments on The Daily Show.

When doing a portrait of someone famous for their looks (Google "Olivia Munn" and see how many pages of images you find), you really just try and make them look as glamorous and/or dynamic as possible. So I kept it fairly simple, putting her in a dotted red dress, with a slight tilt to the whole thing.

I'm not sure what the background means (nothing, really), but it looks good, and for whatever reason seems to fit with the portrait.