I am realizing my portraits to life. If the future of images is online, might as well make them wink!
Winky & Puffy
Attention America! Attention World!
My artwork is apparently the Jerry Lewis of France
The Ever-Lovely Mayor of Toronto
Owls!
Owls are in the air, so to speak...
This year I've had two lovely owl-themed commissions. The first was for a logo for "Little Owl Urns". The business-owner needed a logo to imprint on the bottoms of the ceramic and wooden urns she creates for beloved pets. I added more background afterwards, just for fun:
in folklore, owls shepherd spirits safely to the underworld
The second commission was for a wine merchant, Rookwood & Perry, in the Hudson River Valley. I am not sure why they felt an owl was needed for their image, but I sure enjoyed drawing it!
note: I in no way condone owls drinking wine
Wendy's "Hidden Message"
I have been receiving links to this all day, re: the hidden message of "MOM" in Wendy's collar. Ha! My mom actually detected this way back when it was unveiled, and I did not disabuse her of the notion. But no, it was not intended. My work is so calligraphic, I expect it is full of unintended messages like this one.
Pope Saga continued...
Here is a beautifully written ode to Pope hope, on the advent of the Papal succession, by writer Rebecca Brown. It gave me another opportunity to add to my Pope Collector card series. Thanks, Stranger Magazine!
The Pope Saga
In honor of our new pope, The Stranger republished this hilarious feature by Lindy West from the archives, a brief history of the papacy, highlights of the great and not so...
Pope Ratzinger
Pope Alexander VI has a secret
Pope Innocent (?) IV
Classic Style for Grimm's Tale
"The Cat and the Mouse Set Up House"
That is the title of the Grimm's Fairy Tale which these accompany in the holiday issue of Waitrose Magazine, a lovely glossy publication full of recipes and ideas for foodies. This is one of 50 of Grimm's tales, as retold by Phillip Pullman. It features a good-hearted, over-trusting mouse, a salivating cat, and a small pot of fat. I am sad to say, two of those three subjects do not survive to the end of the story...
Wendy!
FINALLY! I have been sitting on this secret for two months, and it has been three years in the process. Today the new Wendy, based on my work,
. I had the good fortune to be found by Tesser and together we went through scads of revisions to arrive at the final a really good looking final. Here is my final version. She received a few final tweaks from the artists at Tesser, noticeable mostly in the hair. I am delighted.
Newsweek
It was years in the process, but I finally became a Newsweek contributor in 2012. Here is one of my favorites: Mr. David Frum. I had a great time with his pronounced features. I also get a kick out of his career trajectory: Former Bush speech-writer, now calling his party out on its strident looniness. This portrait + 8 others (including of Tina Brown) viewable on the iPad edition of Newsweek/Daily Beast.
Kurt Vonnegut
The Stranger Magazine, Seattle's alternate weekly, runs a "Regrets" issue at the end of every issue, in which they list all of the errors, regrets, etc., of the paper's staff and contributors. This year they solicited regrets from area artists & writers. I wrote in that I regretted that I have drawn many authors, but had never yet had the opportunity to draw Kurt Vonnegut. The paper responded by asking if I would like to draw him as the feature illustration for that segment of the paper, thereby allowing at least one citizen the opportunity to conquer one of her regrets!
Fierce, Ghostly Didion
I was so delighted to get the assignment to do Joan Didion for Intelligent Life Magazine. Her apparent frailty in appearance totally belies her continued ferocity. I find her the epitomy of cool.
In Airports Everywhere!
The new James Patterson book, Worst Case is finally out, and full of my illustrations! I was asked to conjure up the lead character's 10 adopted children. It was a hoot: I was given only ages and ethnicities, with maybe two words of description for each. Despite the meager descriptions, I tried to instill them with a lot of character. I can't even fathom the idea of millions of fans contemplating these characters, whom they have tried to imagine all of these years; it's a huge responsibility!
Dylan @ 70
Here's a fun one! Intelligent Life Magazine asked for Dylan portrait for his 70th birthday. Martin (Lovelock) said I could choose the era of my choosing, as long as it evoked essential "Bobness". This is a melding of two ages: the face of Dylan now, the iconic hair of earlier day, the stern aspect which is, apparently, timeless. It was hard to find any photos of this man expressing mirth!
NY Observer cover #2
in Rathke, illustration, line, paladino, portrait
Glad Carl Paladino isn't running here!
Stranger Mag Geniuses
It is time again for The Stranger Magazine's annual Genius Awards! For this year's portraits I experimented with doing entire bodies instead of just faces, all because I wanted to do a full figure of a horse for the film recipients. Susie Lee is shown with one of her characteristic performance shadows, and Jim Woodring holds one of his surreal creations.
NY Observer Cover!
Communication Arts Award
This came in the mail today. Woefully, I have no lobby in which clients can admire it while they wait, so I am hanging it here, in my virtual lobby.
Popes!
This week's Stranger Magazine has a feature on the worst popes through history, by hilarious and talented writer Lindy West. I got to pick three of the most photogenic popes (from a surprisingly long list that began in 157 a.d.) for portraits.
Beards! + 1 Correction
in Rathke, illustration, line, portrait
I just sent out a new email campaign, featuring Beards in all of their tonsorial glory. Woefully, I blundered in one credit. This fellow, Chef Pietoso, was a commission from Cincinnati Magazine, not Cleveland Magazine. Sheesh, you'd never know I was from the midwest. My apologies, Grace!