Trying a little something new here - fewer lines, more shapes.

Thanks to Max for this assignment, which ran in the June 8 & 15 issue of The New Yorker.

This was an illustration for an interesting essay about an old doorman in the city who would drop pearls of wisdom on passersby and residents of his building, while standing outside the building and chain smoking. I would have been happy finishing any of these sketches - it was a great assignment. Thank to one of my favorite art directors, Richard, for this job.

The Mark Morris Dance Group is putting on Romeo and Juliet (the Prokofiev version). Since Romeo and Juliet don't really die at the end, in this adaptation, my first sketch didn't really work, and the third didn't suggest dance in any way, so the final art was the correct image for this feature.

This portrait was commissioned by SooJin at PlanSponsor (she's a wonderful A.D. who uses lots of illustration in every issue). The man in the portrait mentions the reward that awaits at the end of a risky road, if investors are careful and make the right plays. The umbrella sketch was deemed too 'Mary Poppins,' and I can see why. Still, I would have enjoyed taking it to final, as well. All in all, a fun assignment and a chance to draw perilous cliffs and deal with tricky lighting.

This one was on the topic of the life cycle of the Social networks (the article also predicts that their demise is imminent). I liked the dead Twitter bird sketch, but the chosen art suits the headline better, I think. I'll post some other Slate covers soon.

Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli will probably be laid off, due to the fact that he failed to turn things around at the company. Here are my sketches and final art - thanks to Nick for this fun piece. I kept this one really simple and graphic so that the concept would read clearly, but I fear I may have wandered into a style that is not clearly my own, therefore damaging my 'brand' so to speak. It's a tightrope, sometimes, and I wobble as I walk...

Thanks to Erin for this fun assignment. Here are the two sketches I presented along with the line art and final.

Thanks so much to Leanne for this fun Letters assignment. Topic: Should Justices be Required to Retire? Shown below: sketches and the final.

I decided that this would be a good place to post process images (sketch to final), since I don't do that on my homepage. Enjoy! 

This first piece is a recent NY Times assignment for the City section. AD: Weigand.