Vanderbilt

This illustration for The Nation was done for an article about Cornelius Vanderbilt titled "The Misunderstood Robber Baron" written by Steve Frasier, which discusses the changing portrayal of Vanderbilt by his biographers over the last century. I chose to show him as both threatening and celebrated, and used a combination of vintage print material collaged with my own drawings so that the image would suggest both past and present points of view.
Editor: John Palattella

Hobbes

This photo-collage appears in the Oct. 19, 09 issue of The Nation. It was made for an article written by Corey Robin titled "The First Counter-revolutionary", about the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. One of the points that interested me most was that Hobbes supported a strong central power, in his days that would be the king, but also believed that the central power should be an extension of the will of the people. So, his politics can be claimed by both modern left and right movements. Ché is about as left as you can get, while the crown and scepter represent the right. I put the illustration together from about 10 different sources, from historical paintings and different photos and textures. This was one that I thought worked best to just use collage and let the combination of source material express the concept without much traditional drawing.
As always with The Nation, I had great art direction from John Palattella on this illustration.

Sarasota

I've moved! Last month I was offered the chance to teach illustration as a visiting full-time faculty member at Ringling College of Art and Design, in Sarasota, Florida. It was such an amazing opportunity that I pretty much just packed a suitcase and moved. After seven years in Brooklyn it will be a huge change. These photos of the sunset last night at Lido Beach, courtesy of George Pratt, are about as different from New York as it gets. I'm loving it.
I'll be staying with my friends Nikki and Dennis Heil until the the end of the month, then I'll be up in New York for a weekend to pack it all up and move back down with my wife, Nicola. As soon as we get settled I'll have a lot more to share about the move and everything that is happening at Ringling. Thanks for checking in!

The Secret Shofar of Barcelona

I'm happy to announce that my 5th illustrated children's book, "The Secret Shofar of Barcelona", written by Jackie Greene, has hit the stores this month. I finished these paintings back in January and I've been anxious to see them become a real book. It has been published by Kar-Ben Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Lerner Books. My copy just arrived and I wanted to share some of the spreads from the book here.
The story is about a musician and his son who find a way to secretly celebrate their Jewish faith while living under the inquisition. The setting is 1500's Spain, so I looked to Renaissance and Baroque painters like Titian, Vermeer and Velazquez for inspiration. I wanted to have something of the mystery and moody, soft light that they have in their paintings. I looked at Piero Della Francesca as well, I love his simple forms and the spiritual quality they convey. When I'm working on a book I like to dive into old and new influences that I find relevant to the subject matter and which help me find colors, textures and shapes that evoke the mood and setting of the story. I hope you enjoy the results!

Illustration Academy 2009

Illustration Academy 2009 held at Ringling College of Art in Sarasota, Florida has just come to a close. My head is still spinning from 7-weeks of non-stop action and amazing stuff done by the students and visiting artists there. I taught full-time again this year as a core instructor along with Jon Foster, George Pratt, John English and Brent Watkinson, and on top of that we had Mark English, Gary Kelley, Sterling Hundley, Anita Kunz, Robert Meganck, C.F. Payne, Barron Storey, Sam Weber, Jillian Tamaki, Francis Livingston, Natalie Ascencios, Terry Brown, Andrea Wicklund, Robin Eley, and Ed Kinsella all teach as visiting instructors. I'm not sure how to begin to describe the amount of information that was exchanged, for a great impression take a look at Academy Guy's podcasts, there is one for each week posted on you tube.
I miss everyone already!
But...there is a new academy website that was launched last week and it is an incredible tool. It is an unlimited-use subscription site that lets you stay connected to the instructors, member artists at large and fellow students through discussion forums, member galleries, and instructional videos. Take a look at the visual literacy program site if you'd like to get more information, or write me or any of the other artists on the site if you have any questions about it. There is already a ton of activity on the site, as the community grows it I think it will become an unparalleled online resource for artists and students.
Thanks to everyone who took part this summer! Below I've posted a few of the drawings I did along with the students during the 2 hour figure drawing session held twice each week.