Illustration for “The Vampire Ship” piece by Alexander Clapp for The New Republic. A fun and interesting challenge to research and dramatize different moments from the plot using a cinematic approach.
Above are some early development sketches working out broader, compositional options, and below are illustrated moments from the piece designed into a second half-page illustration.
AD Lindsay Ballant.
Excited to share my cover illustration for Corinne Dauvis’ upcoming novel “The Art of Saving the World” from ABRAMS Books. Below are some development sketches exploring visual approaches to the interdimensional rift and the multitude of Hazel’s converging, along with the final cover design, and the book summary from the publisher. Art Director Hana Nakamura.
“When Hazel Stanczak was born, an interdimensional rift tore open near her family’s home, which prompted immediate government attention. They soon learned that if Hazel strayed too far, the rift would become volatile and fling things from other dimensions onto their front lawn—or it could swallow up their whole town. As a result, Hazel has never left her small Pennsylvania town, and the government agents garrisoned on her lawn make sure it stays that way. On her sixteenth birthday, though, the rift spins completely out of control. Hazel comes face-to-face with a surprise: a second Hazel. Then another. And another. Three other Hazels from three different dimensions! Now, for the first time, Hazel has to step into the world to learn about her connection to the rift—and how to close it. But is Hazel—even more than one of her—really capable of saving the world?”
Michael Vick portrait illustration for ESPN and a few of the making-of sketch process below.
AD Eric Paul.
Illustration for a piece in the The Los Angeles Times on how Los Angels became synonymous with noir and crime writing. Incredibly fun to work on and a great series of historical dots to connect.
A few sketches below on different approaches to deadly encounters across the city. Thinking of the great Raymond Chandler quote “The streets were dark with something more than night.”
AD Paul Gonzales
An illustration for The Atlantic for a fascinating piece by Liza Mundy on World War II’s female spies and their unsung contributions to the field of espionage and to the wars ultimate victory.
AD Katie Martin
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
Sketches and final llustration for Quinta Jurecic’s Op-Ed in The New York Times on the many detective novel/film noir perspectives on the crime and corruption documented by the Mueller Report.
AD James Datz
Cover artwork // Mother Jones May/June 2019
Earlier this year I worked with Art Director Carolyn Perot on a series of illustrations for the May/June 2019 issue of Mother Jones, which is on stands now. The cover story is the first of a two-part investigation by Shane Bauer in Syria and is an insightful, often wrenching account of life on the ground beneath the fog of the Syrian war.
Below are sketches in early development stages, working with the page layouts as they developed was a great help. Also included below are a few illustration influences I looked to on this project to help push myself towards bolder shape design and lost-and-found drawing.
Thumbnail sketch and layout development
Design influences // L to R Paul Calle, Faraz Shanyar, Tom Lovell
The final print cover // Type and design by Carolyn Perot
Illustration and sketches for The Hollywood Reporter piece “Inside a 'Making a Murderer' Lawsuit and the Hidden Dangers of TV's True-Crime Craze” by Rebecca Keegan. AD Christopher Hawkins.
Illustration for ESPN Magazine. AD Rami Moghadam
Illustration and some development sketch ideas for a feature piece by Tracy Ross on Skiing & Booze for 5280 Magazine. Art Director Dave McKenna
“The Raid” illustrations for a feature story by William Langewiesche on the B-2 Stealth Bomber for The Atlantic. Art Director Paul Spella.
A couple more illustrations from earlier this year for This American Life. The first, above, "Swtiched at Birth," we follow the lives of two families whose daughters were born in the same hospital on the same day in 1951 in Wisconsin. The aspects of shifting crossover/symmetry in their lives jumped out as key to represent in the drawing.
The second piece, "Chip in My Brain," a new episode premiering earlier this year, we follow a seemingly mundane series of events over ten years of childhood as Cody Treybig. The episode is fascinating and unexpected, I highly recommend listening to it. Process sketches below.
Thanks again AD Whitney Dangerfield.
Happy to report this years Communication Arts Illustration Annual includes a piece that I worked on late last year for The Hollywood Reporter.
"Murder, Mayhem and Torture" Off the Sunset Strip" is a true crime piece covering the days and months leading up to the night police apprehended Blake Liebel with the scalped, murdered body of his girlfriend in their Los Angeles apartment.
Below are some of the development process for the final illustration. Rough thumbnail sketches to explore the visual elements, tone and composition, and then from there taking the strongest ones to a tighter final sketch to discuss with the Art Director. Ultimately we went with the drawing of the arm and bed melting into the interior apartment crime scene.
Thanks again to AD Kelsey Stefanson and everyone at Communication Arts.
The latest Jack Reacher film "Never Go Back" is now on Blu-ray, and included with the special edition is an illustrated copy of Lee Child's short story "Everyone Talks" that I had the pleasure of illustrating.
The story is a noir glimpse into the Reacher world, and was a lot of fun to develop with the team at Paramount. Thanks again to Rebecca Johnson and Scott Klein for the opportunity.
© 2017 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
I came across a copy of Vault of Shadows this week, the second in The Nightsiders book series that I illustrated for Simon & Schuster, with Art Director Krista Vossen.
Author Jonathan Maberry's second book in the series picks up where The Orphan Army leaves off with young Milo Silk and his friends defending their Louisiana bayou camp from an alien bug invasion.
The Vault of Shadows book dives further into the malevolent Huntsman, so we played with a few different designs and compositions emphasizing him in different panes, though ultimately the dark worked best as an anchor and we kept the darker block beneath the title.
Below is the illustration for The Orphan Army (The Nightsiders Book 1) and a few sketches, which include some of the design elements that became part of the type template for the set.
Thanks again to Krista for the excellent design and spot varnish on the final covers. Both are available now from Simon & Schuster.
Cover illustration for the New York Times Book Review of Caleb Carr's latest crime novel "Surrender New York." Art Director Matt Dorfman and I discussed various ways of representing the forensic science elements of the book. Ultimately, we landed on the fingerprint-as-reflection.
Full page and spot illustrations for WWD Magazine piece on Sycamore Partners’ Stefan Kaluzny and Golden Gate Capital’s David Dominik's competition for the future of the American mall. AD Oliver Yoo.
Illustration for a feature on life threatening outdoor scenarios for 5280 Magazine. The opening piece depicts the scene moments after David Torchia's rafting group accidentally went over an 8-foot dam in the Arkansas River. Sketches below show some different approaches to the spread. The final page layout above by Art Director Dave McKenna.
