End of the Year Top Ten List - #4 Drawger.com

If I'm blogging, then the fad is probably already over. I was brought into it via some illustration web boards (the ispot.com), and found it to be an interesting way to talk about my favorite subjects with like minded folks.

I somehow stumbled onto Drawger, which is a community of illustrator's blogs. It's like a gated community of illustrators where you can play in the playground, but you have to be invited in if you want a site there(more on that in a minute). For the most part, they're a supportive, interesting, diverse group with some thought provoking posts and good art. For me, it's addicting because I love illustration, and some of my favorites are there. It's fun to see the process behind some of the art we see in magazines, newspapers, and places we didn't know to look.

It's mostly artists posting their latest work (As this blog started out to be) and the rest of the crowd giving up a chorus of attaboys/girls. But on ocassion, you get a great Randall Enos story of illustration back in the day, an amazing Zina Saunders portrait, a surprisingly personal post about Tim O'Brien's childhood, the always thoughtful Marc Burkhardt, and the industry unto himself, Bob Staake. Steve Brodner is there, but he doesn't post much. I wish he would. Out of the whole crowd, he's by far the most fascinating. Maybe it all goes into his work and he's used up all he has to say in that.

There are many more, but when you see certain names, you either hit the next button, or you're suddenly committed to an hour or so of surfing the site.

Full disclosure: I was invited to join, did so, and then was disinvited. I compounded this humiliation by anonymously posting(never anything nasty) until I realized that this was a sport I was meant to watch, not play. I'm still not sure why I got booted so quickly. It usually takes me a bit longer to piss that many people off.

James Brown, R.I.P.

As you know, James Brown passed away over Christmas. He was a great musician, whose influence and legacy will reach far beyond our generation. Music historians will look back on his career and mark Brown's musical contributions as a lynchpin in the evolution of late 20th century music.

But. The man was a major league asshole. He seemed determined to provide a personal Yin to his artistic Yang. As anybody with loved ones who have been touched by domestic violence knows, violence is the gift that keeps on giving. It can take generations for a family to rid itself of the abuse that a member like Brown inflicted on his "loved ones". He cut a vile swath through life as a drug abuser, and serial wife beater. He was often forgiven because of his music, but never contrite. The lesson he seemed to learn was that as long as he was the "Hardest working Man in Show Businesss", he could also be the biggest asshole in any roomed he walked into.

I love the music. But the man? Good riddance.

End of the Year Top Ten List -#5 Christmas Party

We have a Christmas party every year for the kid's friends and my wife's colleagues and their children. It started a few years ago when my wife's employer no longer had a family holiday party. We picked up the torch and continued, and although it's a ton of work, it's a blast.

This year we had 67 kids, and probably 200 people overall. Santa shows up and gives all the kids a gift whether they're good on that particular day or not. He's preceded by a chorus of however many kids we have in attendance signing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". That's one of the best sounds I've ever heard.

By 9pm or so we're usually left with the cool adults and it turns into a nice time with good conversation that you can actually hear.

End of the Year Top Ten List-# 6 Sirius Satellite Radio

I've always loved listening to the radio. From AM talk radio back in the days of Jerry Williams, Norm Nathan, Larry Glick, to FM and NPR's studio 360, Fresh Air, This American Life, to Howard Stern. I've always loved college radio too. You'll here things you'd never have heard elsewhere.

When Stern left regular radio last year to go to satellite, they replaced him with David Lee Roth, and then Opie and Anthony. While Roth was just an amatuer, O&A were all of what I dislike about Stern. The strippers, sex, etc., I find very dull. What I love about The Stern crew is when they just sit around and pick on each other. It's toxic, and funny, and highly entertaining. I finally gave in and bought a satellite radio and I'm glad I did. I've become so used to the minimal commercial interruptions that when I do listen to regular radio, well, I just can't listen.

End of the Year Top Ten List-#7 Kate DiCamillo

I stumbled across Kate DiCamillo's book "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulaine" by way of the amazing cover illustration by Bagram Ibatoulline. I would have bought the book just for it's cover and the exquisite illustrations within, but the story itself turned out to be the most memorable I'd read all year. It's basically about having everything, losing it, and finding your way back. I read this to my kids at bed time every night, and we were all sad when it was over.

We've since gone on to read most of the rest of DiCamillo's titles. My favorite besides "Edward" was "The Tale of Depereaux". Sadness, loss and redemption are the recurring themes in DiCamillo's stories, but not in the sugar coated Disney-esque sort of way. There are times when I'm reading this stuff to my kids that I think, "Geez, should I be reading this stuff to my kids?", but I've learned to trust the author and have faith in the humanity with which she writes.

End of the Year Top Ten List-#8 I Can't Tell You

This really belongs in the top 3. I cannot tell you what it was, but Jesus, it was good. If you have the secret code to the private access area, I've posted pictures. Whew!

End of the Year Top Ten List -#9 Zina Saunders

I'm doing this at my own peril I suppose, but I figure it'll be one in the Karma bank account.

This is the work of Zina Saunders, whose work I first saw at Drawger.com. Zina is very involved in reportage, or as someone else put it, "reportaiture", which is involves a portrait acccompanied by an interview with the subject. As well done as the interviews are, the portraits themselves are usually stunners. I check out the site everyday hoping to be treated to a fresh Zina portrait. When it's there, it usually sets a nice high bar for me to work up to that day.

My only complaint is that I think she she drop the "Saunders". Go for the iconic one name thingy that's big with the Hollywood set.

End of the Year Top 10 List -#10 Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race

This list will be in no particular order. The order will be determined by the convenience of the photos available.

Anyway, First up, or last, depending on which way you see it.

I got 3rd in the Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race in June. 3rd overall(Masters). This was huge for me. The previous year, I was around 25th, which was okay for a first year roadie. I focused like a mother all winter, training hard and smart, never deviating from the plan my good friend and coach Mark McCormack laid out for me. I lost 10 lbs., which made all the difference on the climbs. After getting 5th on the first stage Time Trial, I held on in the Circuit Race, then followed my mentor/brother/friend Tobi Schultze's wheel around the first 4 laps of the road race, then launched off with the front group up the final climb to take 4th on the day, which put me into 3rd overall. The last stage, a rainy, crash filled crit was probably the most fun I've ever had on a bike. I remember hearing that awful sound of carbon, flesh, and helmet plastic hitting the pavement time after time, and turning to Dave Connery, and we simultaneously yelled "Holy Shit"!! I hung onto my 3rd place overall. It felt good. Very good. Next year I'm going to win.

That's me in the red and yellow.

Baklava update/retraction

I'm updating my previous post on one person's bold move to take a giant step towards danger's outstretched arms. The project in question was a baklava for a very well attended and scrutinized Christmas party. I had expressed my grave concern for the chef's reputation if, as was likely, the procedure was a failure.

This was a classic case of threading the needle. After an auspicious start, the chef's attention was, as is usually the case, (and the reason I cast doubt on the project) drawn away from the task at hand by one or two needy colleagues. This brief lapse in attention resulted in a near disaster. The water/sugar/honey mixture that is quite literally the glue that holds everything together, resembled something you'd apply to a leaky roof. I'm sure it tasted better than tar, but the consistency was similar.

I tried to be supportive. I feigned conifdance in giving it another shot. But inside, my opinion of the likely outcome was as stuck as that goo which was still cooling in it's pan, trying to pass itself off as delightfully buoyant, but in fact would be, if ingested, the cause of much discomfort for quite a while.

As I said, I was outwardly supportive. And this lead to a vow of vigilance on the chef's part, who, while not monogomous in her attentions, did her best.

And that was good enough.

Take two was the success that a fully realized recovery should be. We should all learn from our mistakes, and not be deterred by them. This will be the unintended gift of Christmas that I receive this year. And this statement is what I'm giving back.

Note that it's not after the weather, or sports, or some backside of the second half of the show. Here, we issue our retractions/apologies as the headline.

That was some screamin' good Baklava!

Well done.

Dogtown Skates

It's amazing what a little rubber/plastic compound can do. Back in the mid-seventies, when urethane skateboard wheels were introduced, I'm sure manufacturers like GT had no idea how they would eventually affect an entire generation and their children, eventually creating a billion dollar industry with it's very own culture. I like to think of it as a "mainstream subculture".

Back in oh, around 1977, I discovered "Skateboarder Magazine", which was chock full of pictures of these badass surf punks skateboarding in swimming pools. Guys like Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Stacey Peralta. Part of what really pulled me in were the shots of these guys coming up and out of the pool with the bottom of their boards exposed to show some magnificent accidental art. There were collages of stickers that had been worn away from the abuse these guys dished out during hundreds of hours of skating. The coolest boards were the "Dogtown" skateboards. The art was a mix of tattoo art, graffitti, and vaguely stained glass. It looked very iconic, especially with my "heroes" faces just above the art in the shot. I remember trying to get my boards to look similarly "perfect". I'd never get it though, because the final touch was to have a true hardened surf punk riding the board. I was simply a happy suburban white boy.

These skateboards had a huge impact on my art, and even my overall aesthetic. I've spent years trying to get the feeling from my art that I had when I'd turn the magazine's page and see another fantastic skateboard bottom.

Baklava

A very close friend of mine is flirting with the idea that she can just whip up a baklava for a Christmas party. As though it were a mere trifle. I am here to assure her that this is an ill advised adventure that will end in disgrace, humiliation, and ultimately, a reputation for anticry. If the goal is to drive down attendance at future gatherings, then by all means proceed with this dark plan. If not, then keep in mind that sometimes the gift that is not given is the best gift of all.

Society of Illustrators Christmas Card

These guys send me this same Christmas card every year.
They need to change it up a little. Make it more fun. Maybe "SI, SOL"

Diablo

I just finished this for a "ocean activity oriented" magazine. The story is about a guy who unknowingly went swimming in a lagoon that was home to a big alligator. People living in the houses surrounding the lagoon looked on in amusement while the guy was swimming. Later, someone said to him "If you see Diablo, say hi for me". Turns out the community had sort of adopted the alligator, named him, fed him, etc.

At first I wanted to capture the horror of how it must have felt to just barely get away with your life. But after sketching a few thumbnails, I unconciously drew a sketch of an alligator as a pet. Collar, leash, doghouse, the whole bit. It amused me enough to send it to the AD as my idea, and he liked it.

My Mother's Christmas card

Here's a Christmas card I did for my mother and stepfather based on their recent run-in with the wild kingdom.

'Tis the(Bear Hunting) Season!

This little critter was shot on my mother's deck a couple of days ago. No, not with a gun, just a camera. When we're there, I think nothing of letting the kids go play outside with little thought to their safety. I mean, we're out in the middle of the woods on a lake in central Massachusetts. What could possibly go wrong!

My mother told me that this vicious specimen made a bold attack on her bird feeder. I guess that just makes him an oversized squirrel.

Hot Stove

I saw this picture Gilberto Simoni winning the Monte Zoncolon stage of the '03 Giro d'Italia on velonews.com, and my heart rate jumped 10 beats. Maybe it's the snow outside. Maybe it's that race season seems so far away. Maybe it's that I'm not that motivated to train lately. But this picture just reminds me how much I love racing my bike. No, I've never won a mountaintop finish with thousands cheering and pushing me on, but this picture is what I have in mind while I'm deep into my Walter Mitty frame of mind while climbing Blue Hills, or Mt Washington.

Or, maybe it's just the idea that you can put on a jersey, shorts and shoes and ride, rather than spend 20 minutes layering up.

Juggling

Man, when it rains it pours. I'm working on jobs for Bloomberg News, Sail magazine, Portland Monthly, Golf Digest, and one I won't name because I'm putting the sketch up here. This will accompany an article on how Howard Stern basically did what the Borat movie has done as far as using anti-semitism, racism, and misogyny for years. I decided to take the offensive approach a lttle further and do a satire on a Madonna and Child icon. Thanks god for art directors who aren't afraid of offending!

3 hour ride

I went for a decent 3 hour ride in the mist with 2 very fast guys this morning. The one in the red and black and green is my good buddy Mark McCormack. Mark is a former cyclocross and road professional national champion. He and his brother Frank are legends in New England and nationally. One day I'll do a post just on Mark. It'll be a long one.

The guy in the yellow is Brad Sheehan. Brad is a dangerous cat 2. By dangerous, I mean that if you ride shoulder to shoulder with him for too long, you'll end up in a world of pain. He's also a great designer. His team consistently has the best looking kits of the bunch. Another great guy.

One of the things I've really benefited from by training with Mark is the range of people I've met along the way. There are multi-millionaires, blue collar construction workers, musicians, artists, doctors. The thing about the bike is that it's a real equalizer. It has no idea how much money you make or what you do for a living. It does help you to see what kind of person you are, though. If you're the type to throw in the towel quickly, this crowd is not one should try to hang around with.

Led Zeppelin

This was to be my first (only?) cover for Rolling Stone magazine. I got the call on my birthday, and I thought it was a friend playing a joke on me. Anyone who knew me when I was a kid knows how much I loved Zeppelin, and the cover of Rolling Stone has always been the brass ring of my illustration career.

So, I got the call and was like, "Yeah, suuuure, I'll draw a little picture for you. But the guy on the other end sounded sincere, and the small part of me that hasn't been turned to blackened stone held out a little hope that it was the real thing. Turned out it was.

After about a dozen sketches, a final was approved and I went to work on the final...uh, final. The trouble with working digitally is that clients feel free to ask for changes more often than they did before Photoshop was so widely used. So, after I finished the "final" and sent it, more changes, etc. No big deal at all, though. This was a COVER for Rolling Stone.

After I sent the final final final, I jokingly said to the AD, "So what are the chances this thing will actually see a newsstand?" He paused and said, "Well, you never know, usually Jan (Wenner, the publisher) comes in and says "I love it", or "I hate it". Well guess which one it was for me. They went with a colorized black and white stock photo instead.

The thing is, after spending so much time sweating over this thing, I can't even see it any more. It's almost as though I have no idea whether it sucks, or if it's just okay or what.

Anyway, here it is.

Tom Waits

Tom Waits released a new triple album today. I love this guy. For the first part of his career he was kind of a lounge novelty act. Very sentimental and/or drunken rants. Funny, but not what you'd call art. He met the woman he married and she challenged him to creatively throw himself off a cliff and learn to fly, and the results have been amazing. I can't say how many times my wife has wandered into the studio and said "What the HELL are you listening to?". For me, it's been a real inspiration to see a guy who's fearlessly charted a path of his own. I don't think you could classify Wait's music under any other genre than "Tom Waits".

I hope to take my own singular artistic path. I feel like I'm still the funnyish lounge act, but I'm going to be an artist someday.

Muqtada Al-Sadr

Al-Sadr is an on again, off again, Good Guy/Bad Guy in Iraq. At any given moment, he could be about to fall, or about to take control of everything. He seems to embody our tenuous position there. This was done for an editorial on who would take over in Iraq if we pull out.

Personally, I'm very thankful to him for looking like this.

Robert Johnson

There are 2 known photos of Blues legend Robert Johnson. I've used both as reference for this piece. Johnson is a favorite subject of artists because he has such a great legend surrounding him, as well as being the first real "rock star". He'd show up late for gigs, get drunk, and leave early with someone's wife. They say he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for being able to play like the devil. I tried to get an iconic feel to this, kind of a stained glass treatment. Someday I'd like to learn how to make stained glass and try this one out.

Breakdown Lane

This is a comic strip I've been fooling around with for a few years. I'll post them on ocassion.

My Chemical Romance

This is Gerard Way from the band My Chemical Romance. I love that name. I also love how Way just pours himself into MCR's music. For a long time rockers seemed to be almost apologetic about being over the top and theatrical. I enjoy watching music videos with my kids, and when this band comes on, it scares the bejeezus out of them.
This was for a review of their latest album "The Black Parade".

Dylan

Here's a portrait a Bob Dylan I did for a record review. I like that Dylan's not afraid to alienate his audience by trying new things, even rework his songs completely. So in keeping with that, I tried to veer off my usual flightplan a bit and make this a little more "collage-y".

Vincent Desiderio

I've really been enjoying a new monograph on the painter Vincent Desiderio lately. A great example of beautiful paintings telling you terrible things. If you're into figurative/narrative work and you've never seen this guy's stuff, I think it's worth checking out. It gave me bad dreams, which is one of my benchmarks for really good work.

If I could do it all over again...

...maybe I'd be oneoftheseguys

Dan Zanes

Music

I did this yesterday for the Wall Street Journal. The art director is David Bamundo, who is a very talented illustrator and all around great guy. We were both in Philadelphia a few years ago for an Illustrator's conference and had our first real Philly cheese steak together. I think we had the same reaction - "Huh." I remember there where more than a few beers consumed that weekend. It's nice having someone like Dave in the position he's in at the Journal. It feels like our side has infiltrated the other side in a way.

Anyway, about the piece. Dan Zanes used to be in the Del Fuegos - the Next Big Thing out of the Boston Music scene back in the 80's I think he was in the Neighborhoods before that. At any rate, the Del Fuego's high water mark came when they scored the soundtrack to a beer commercial (Miller?), and it seemed to go downhill from there. My band "Thunderhouse" opened for them at a bar in Scituate around 1989. God, I'm old.

Zanes has found a new career as a children's music performer. I've heard some of the stuff, and I have to say, it's pretty darn good. Way better than your Raffi or Wiggles or Barney type of thing. Still, I wonder if he's ever done any shows with those cats. I'll bet backstage is a little different than what it was when he was a "grown up" rocker. At least now the backstage vomiting and pants wetting is performed by actual babies and toddlers instead of guys who just act like that.

Self Portrait

American Classic

The election had me thinking about my favorite White House story. During the Carter administration Willie Nelson was a guest at the White House for a party, and he took a break from the crowd to get some fresh air up on the roof...and smoke a joint!

Clinton Final!

Oh yeah, the final!

Wrapping up Clinton

I've softened the edges using the same transparent brush described below, andused the "bristle" brush shown below for hair details and skin texture.

I put some violet in the shadows of the face to cool things off, and added some very light blue to the hilights to make them hotter.

Also, I added a tie dye peace tie to break up the somber feel of the piece.

For the background, I created a scattered sponge-like brush with color dynamics. I brought the color of the background down over the jacket to unify the piece a bit and give it all a sense of continuity.

By the way, I experimented with using only 4 layers on this which is unusual for me. For something even as simple as this, I'd usually have over 15 layers.

That's about it for this piece, thanks for coming along for the ride!

Election Day

Here's a little election day music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3jBXEF3eAo&mode=related&search=

From here, it's really just a matter of plugging away at the skin texture and eyes with the same 2 brushes I showed below. I have the brushes set at about 25% opacity. I also used the dodge and burn tools for hilights and shadows.
Next, I'll work more on the clothing.

Here's the custom brush I made for the hair, and the pallette I'm using for most of the painting.

Here's the first stage of the Clinton portrait I'm working on.

I got a decent sketch together, then scanned it full size. Then in Photoshop I adjusted the levels so that I had a neutral gray background. I made another layer and started painting using a semi tranparent brush with the opacity knocked back to about 40%.

I'm going to be putting up a sort of step by step. But first, here are the tools I use. I have an Apple G4, 2x1.42 processor with 2 gigs of RAM and a 120 gig hard drive. The monitor is the Apple 23" cinema display and the most imortant part is the Wacom 21"Cintiq monitor that allows you to use a stylus directly on the screen instead of a tablet. This has brought the whole digital thing right back to drawing on paper, or painting on canvas. If you're an artist working digitally, I can;t say enough about the Cintiq.

This whole John Kerry joke thing has really pissed me off. If I was still doing editorial cartoons, this issue could keep me going for a week.