5280: The Long-Forgotten Vigilante Murders of the San Luis Valley

Illustration for 5280 Magazine feature story about a string of murders in 1860s Colorado Territory and the murky history of colonial racism and revenge that led to the manhunt of Felipe Espinosa and his younger brother, Vivián.

I took a lot of inspiration from the great western painter Frederic Remington for his brilliant, eerie night scenes, and grew the final artwork from rough sketch to drawings to painting in layers as seen below.

AD Dave McKenna

Frederic Remington

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.