AARP: The Last Days of Stan Lee

Illustrations for an AARP feature story on the last days of Stan Lee. The goal was to hint at shadowy elements of his life with a nod to the poster feel of the Marvel cinematic universe. Sketches and early process ideas attached below. AD Todd Albertson.

ESPN: Kyler Murray

Illustration for ESPN Magazine. AD Rami Moghadam

The New Yorker: Gone Girl

I was out of town when I got the call asking about illustrating a piece on David Fincher's upcoming Gone Girl for The New Yorker, but by the time I was halfway through the walls-closing-in noire trailer I realized this was one of those assignments I was already sketching out ideas without having even said yes.

The great public specter looming over Affleck's character struck me as the stuff of great pulp covers, so the sketches began to take a turn towards the more theatrical devices of Norman Rockwell's "Razor's Edge" and Allesandro Biffignandi's "The Day the Sky Exploded." Ultimately, Rene Peron's graphically brilliant work on "The Passion of Joan of Arc," set the tone for the homage to the great pulp classics and cinema posters.
The issue hits stands this week, and Christoph Niemann's cover is brilliant. Thanks as always to AD Chris Curry.

Entertainment Weekly: Mr. Mercedes

A couple illustrations I did for Entertainment Weekly's feature on the upcoming Stephen King novel Mr. Mercedes are in the issue on stands this week. The story follows a retired detective working to stop a killer who murdered 8 people and injured 11 at a job fair with a stolen Mercedes. The excerpt focuses on the dark interior of the antagonist's basement and mind as he reflects on past and future attacks.

Above are development thumbnails and sketches for the spread and interior, working out different compositions for the foggy morning street and the ominous wired basement. Ultimately, the more overt violence was selected and the circuit diagrams became a connecting visual motif. AD Dennis Huynh.

Mental Floss: Head Case

Illustration and idea sketches for a Mental Floss magazine piece on archeologist Ephraim George Squier's 1860's search for evidence of early neurosurgery in the jungles of ancient Peru. Creative Director Winslow Taft.

The New Yorker: Blue Bloods

I love horseshoe crabs. It might be their quiet witness to half a billion years on earth, or the fact their hearts pump a singular amebocyte that defends their blood from pathogens, or the fact they can't be raised in captivity yet are preciously harvested by pharmaceutical companies. Horseshoe crabs are fascinating.

I wish I could claim that my interest in them predated the piece by Ian Frazier but it truly started after Christine Curry from the New Yorker sent me the article to illustrate. Once I read the story and began researching and drawing horseshoe crabs it was hard to stop. Below are some of the development sketches, exploring different ways to try to do these orthropods justice. Did I mention they swim upside down?

Houstonia: Notes From Underground

Illustration on the booming world of vigilante home security for the latest issue of Houstonia Magazine, layout and design by AD Chris Skiles. Process roughs below from the development of ideas of, particularly how paranoia and fear obscure the reality that violent crime rates continue to decline each year.

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.

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.

Symposium

Here is my latest Symposium opener illustration for the current issue of OUT, which is on stands now. It is accompanying an excerpt from the story by Helena Andews entitled "Riding in Cars with Lesbians" about witnessing domestic violence as a girl. Initially there was a sketch that touched on the fight itself, but ultimately the sketches of the moments after when she's tending to her mothers injuries in the bathroom seemed truer to the overall tone of the piece.

The Redhead

The spring issue of Granta just arrived and includes an illustration I did for a fiction piece by Roberto Bolaño called "The Redhead." A part of the Sex issue, the excerpt sketches the narrator's dreams and memories of a girl from his past and her relationship with a narcotics cop. I worked with the very cool Michael Salu at Granta who suggested we play on the author's style with an equally loose illustration finish.