The New York Times: India/Pakistan

Yesterday morning I received an email from Matt Dorfman at The New York Times about an illustration for today's Op-Ed by Mohsin Hamid on the recent extremist violence between India and Pakistan and the growing public outcry. I pitched ideas of a flaking icon of militarism or figures coming together in the wake of destruction to see if either struck a chord. The flaking fresco won out, and twelve hours later it's in the paper. Thanks again to Matt Dorfman.

British GQ: Literary Stalkers

Above is an illustration in this month's British GQ on stalkers in the world of literature, and James Lasdun's book "Give Me Everything You Have On Being Stalked." Sketches below largely inspired by the great cat-and-mouse scenes in films like The Third Man and Night of the Hunter. AD Warren Jackson.

Ink Sketches

Happy 2013 out there.  Even with all the freedom of digital work on assignments, I've found sticking to ink on warmup drawings has pushed me to try out some interesting techniques, like dry-brushing, grinding Sumi ink, and experimenting different ways to grow the drawing without a pencil. I've recently become a big fan of the smooth heavyweight paper in the Stillman & Birhn "Epsillon" sketchbooks after discovering one a few months ago in San Francisco. You can find sketchbook ink drawings from the last year or so on my Flickr page, as well as new drawings as they happen.

The Wall Street Journal: Neighbor

A small illustration I did for this past weekend's Wall Street Journal on identity fraud rings operating close to home. The sketches below were first done using the Paper app for the iPad and then tightened up in photoshop before going to the ink and digital finish (above.) Much thanks to AD Mark Tyner.

Also signed prints are now officially available in the shop!

The New York Times: Is This the End?

Last week I illustrated my first Sunday Review cover for the New York Times. The opinion piece by James Atlas touched upon aspects of changing coastlines and vanishing civilizations throughout history and up through present day. Erich Nagler, Art Director for the Sunday Review, proposed an underwater Antlantis-type view of New York City, which I started in the sketches below, ultimately adding in a bit more sea life and light to the adjusted Statue of Liberty scene.

It was a pleasure to get to share the paper with so many great illustrations in the Sunday paper, and an additional surprise to see it cited by Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News the following day.

 

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The New Yorker: Flight

I got a call from The New Yorker to illustrate this week's review of Robert Zemeckis's new film "Flight" starring Denzel Washington. Even though I only had access to a few interviews and trailers, I enjoyed the challenge of keeping things simple and a bit more iconic in the sketches.
Much thanks to AD Chris Curry.

Washington Post: Glucagonoma

Medical Mystery series illustration in today's Washington Post. This story followed a man whose skin condition symptoms misled doctors for nearly a decade. The sketches below were based on one point in the article when a seminar of 20 medical specialists were brought in to consult on the situation. This apparently included a lot of "head scratching." Art Director Brad Walters.

The New Yorker: Doctor Who

Getting assignments to work on something you're a fan of is always fun, but getting to work on something that you become a fan of while working is especially cool. I got a call from The New Yorker to illustrate a Doctor Who piece by Emily Nussbaum for the Sci-Fi issue and immediately regretted having put off watching the series. However, there's a lot to be said for being immersed in an entirely new subject while sketching and, in the case of the Doctor Who series, the only real visual struggle was editing down the wealth of great locations and monsters. Below are some of the unused rough sketches and the four sketches I cleaned up to submit. Thanks again to Chris Curry for the consistently fun assignments, and to the BBC for an exceptionally smart show.

Granta: Horror

Over the past year, I've had the opportunity to illustrate several short fiction pieces by Roberto Bolaño for the literary magazine Granta. A few weeks after working on the watercolor illustration (above) for the short Bolaño story, "The Colonel's Son," art director, Michael Salu, asked if I would be interested in collaborating on a motion comic he had in mind to tie the short story and issue in with their digital readership. Time was short, but having already read through and sequentially visualized much of the story, it sounded too interesting to pass up.

The animation is now live at nothingbutamovie.com, and here are some samples of the finished layered illustrations, which were all inked digitally using Manga Studio (which I've just recently begun using inspired by the amazing illustration work of Asaf Hanuka).

Many thanks to Jocabola, David Bonas, Sorgerune and the visionary Michael Salu for the collaboration.

Seattle Met: "Diary of a Deadly Year"

Last month, I had the opportunity to work on an illustration for the Seattle Met Magazine's November Issue on an article about a sudden spike in murder rates in Yakima County, Washington in 2010.  The illustration's job was to both narrate a specific attack as well as convey the tone of shock from the string of 29 killings in a population of only 89,000.

Below are sketches we worked through to develop the direction (the first couple thumbnails in this case were done on my phone) and the final artwork and headline treatment from the magazine by André Mora and Chris Skiles, which is on stands now.

Washington Post: September Medical Mystery

The September installment of the "Medical Mysteries" series is out in today's Washington Post, with an interesting story about a young boy's sudden, inexplicable development of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive tics.  As with the previous illustrations in the series, the design was to convey the symptoms as well as the culprit, which in this case interestingly enough was an autoimmune neuropsychological disorder's (PANDAS) response to to a bacterial strep infection.

Above are the thumbnails and finished sketches, attempting to convey fever symptoms from different angles as well as his symptoms of severe anxiety.  Art Direction by Brad Walters.

Saturday Evening Post: "Yesterday's Garbage"

Earlier in the summer I got a call to work on a short fiction piece for the Saturday Evening Post September/October issue.  The story by Jon Hassler is entitled "Yesterday's Garbage" and follows a garbage man through an unexpectedly macabre turn of events in suburban Minnesota.  Below is the smaller second illustration that accompanies the text, as well as some of the sketches for the full-page piece.  Art Direction by Brian Sanchez.
 

Boston Globe: "This Beautiful Life"

Here is a small illustration I did for last weekend's Boston Globe Book Review of the novel "This Beautiful Life" by Helen Schulman.  The review traces the path of a family newly transplanted by the father's career into an affluent Manhattan lifestyle, and crisis that emerges against the unfamiliar upper-class backdrop.  Below are the rough ballpoint thumbnail ideas and then the more legible sketches that were submitted.  Art Direction by Jane Martin.

Idris Elba

Working on a portrait of Idris Elba for this month's issue of British GQ reminded me how much fun just hitting the page with a brush and ink and some flat colors can be.  Below are the sketch ideas inspired mainly by his role on the BBC crime thriller "Luther" with a little super hero thrown in since his role in "Thor" was kicking around the back of my mind while working.

Also in case anyone's interested the original artwork for this piece, along with a few other paintings is now available for purchase at owenfreeman.bigcartel.com

Forgetting Why We Remember

Here is an illustration I did for an Op-Ed piece by David W. Blight in yesterday's New York Times. The article was on the largely unknown beginnings of the Memorial Day tradition in America, and the events surrounding the first recorded gathering to mourn the losses of the Civil War in 1865.

Below are the quick ballpoint thumbnail ideas, and then the two more realized sketches from there, and then the finished ink wash painting. Much thanks to Aviva Michaelov for the always inspiring assignments.

Herman Wouk Is Still Alive

This month's issue of The Atlantic is on stands now, and features a new short fiction piece by Stephen King that I was asked to illustrate.  The story (which is available on The Atlantic's site), follows two young mothers who win a small sum in the lottery and a retired couple from outside Fairfield, Maine whose lives eventually intersect.  The illustration appears alongside the first page of the text, so one of the challenges was to allude to the end without undermining the narrative that was taking you there.

The thumbnail sketches below were jotted down in pauses while reading, and rougher than usual since much of the idea phase ended up being done through an ongoing dialogue with the Art Director, Jason Treat.  The conversation was especially helpful with such an emotional and highly-charged story. The third sketch, which was an interior of a van, came up as a strange/interesting option for the bleak but beautiful world the story is set in. And below that is a slightly more worked-out composition, and then the ink and wash underpainting, which was then finished digitally (above.)  Much thanks to Jason for the opportunity.

The Inside View

A few months ago, I got a call to work on the cover and interior spread for a feature on insider trading for Wardour's Securities and Investment Review magazine in London. The article was still in progress, so I began working from the brief, which mainly outlined a noir take on a short sequence involving the illegal exchange of privileged information. So right out of the gate the spy sketches were flying and rainy nights and briefcase handoffs at train stations were too enticing not to jot down.  However, after sending in the above sketches, I received the final copy for the article and after chatting further with the Art Director, I realized that, as opposed to corporate espionage theatrical international treason, real-world insider trading is usually done under much more mundane circumstances like homes or offices, often with as little as zero fedoras.

So the next round of sketches were tailored to the idea of a dark and stormy night, but more in a cubicle setting and with some foreshadowing of the regulatory enforcement agencies looming into the scene in the second image.

The second set above were approved with a few small adjustments, like adding an eerie late-night custodian on the cover and lowering the angle on the office on the double page spread.  Overall, it was an unexpectedly fascinating subject to get to research and illustrate. Much thanks to Steven Gibbon at Wardour for the call.

Eight Hours

Here is a piece I did for an article in last week's Washington Post on the science of sleep disorders.  The illustration was especially fun because we had a bit of lead-in time and I was able to collaborate with the AD, Brad Walters, on not only sketches for the composition but actually pitch a few ideas for how it could interplay with the page.  Below are a few of the layout ideas, and above is the Health & Science page with the finished artwork and copy.

The American

This month's British GQ has an illustration I did alongside their review of Anton Corbijn's film "The American." Inspired by the duotone designs of the film's poster, the sketches (below) were done with a mono-print approach in mind, using red over blue and white to allude to the character's nationality (and line of work.)

Kind of Blue

Here is a piece from yesterday's Los Angeles Times book review of Miles Corwin's latest novel "Kind of Blue."  The book centers around the reinstatement of the main character, an unusually keen and obsessive officer, to the LAPD to solve a high profile murder.  The thumbnails and sketches below were a inspired by the character's lone-wolf mentality against the backdrop of LA.  Much thanks to Judy Pryor for the call.