2016 Artists of the Year

 City Arts 2016 Artists of the Year !!! Every year they commission me to draw portraits honoring Seattle's worthiest artists of the year. The good folks here represent the best of Seattle’s culture in many ways; Dance, Music, Film, Visual arts, activist posters, activist culture (Amelia Bonow’s ‘Shout Your Abortion’ movement, Natasha Marin's 'Reparations' project)

Lower left to lower right: Dave B, Donald Byrd, Amelia Bonow, John Criscitello, Tariqa Waters, Shannon Perry, Nate Gowdy, Natasha Marin, Christopher Paul Jordan, Clyde Peterson

I am tasked with arranging these folks in a way that they are mildly interacting. In previous years I have arranged them having cocktails around a piano, draped in and around a restaurant booth, etc. This year I have them arranged in a nod to Vanity Fair’s Annie Liebovitz academy award winners tableaus. Rather than taking/engaging with one another they sit together and gaze out at the viewer. I think it works really well. Congratulations Everybody!

Let the animations begin!

So I have a broken arm. It's my non-dominant arm, so could be worse, but I had to resign myself to a lot more time lying down (way more comfortable than sitting up), which meant iPad, which meant why not hone my animation skills?! Perfect excuse. So get ready for a series of postings of animation explorations. First up, Roald Dahl:

Prince!

Huge thanks to The Stranger magazine for the excuse/opportunity to draw Prince. I felt a huge weight of responsibility with this one; there are SO MANY adoring, grieving fans here in Seattle... I had to get it right!

De Rockster-Econoom

I recently started a wonderful new gig; a bi-monthly portrait of some notable worthy for Dutch magazine Elsevier Juist. Guy Rolnick must have loved being referred to as a "Rockster-Econoom"!

TS Eliot for The Guardian

Here's the perfect way to start a year; a commission from my favorite publication for my favorite poet! It simply doesn't get any better than this...

Illustration Age Magazine

I got an email today from a nice fellow in Amsterdam who had seen a write-up about me in Illustration Age, and it reminded me of what a great resource this site is!

WORLD CUP FEVER!!! oh the passion, the theater, the flopping and vampirism. Here are some of my favorite blokes to watch this year:

Wonderful World of Food Packaging

I had the (relatively new) pleasure of seeing my work twice in the realm of food packaging today!

The first came when my wonderful new client in Saudi Arabia (@Leo Burnett - Jeddah) sent me a photo of the packaging we worked on together earlier this year:

In this illustration there is a continual line connecting the mother, through a bowl of (delicious looking) food to the rest of the family. I love these continual-line projects; I make them into puzzles, and do not let myself cheat!

The second food packaging find: this collection while walking the dog. Nearly every piece in the Wendy's collection is here, including the embossed napkin!

Winky & Puffy

I am bringing my portraits to life!

Because if the future of imageery will be digital, might as well make them wink...

Adorable Evening Standard Contributors

A couple of years ago, Ben Brannan found me to create portraits for The Evening Standard's contributors. Every once in a while I get to create anorther one, and I have to say they are among my favorites: they are all such adorable folks