Death & Frolic



Just finished this album cover for Fellaheen, a band based out of the New York City area. Check them out here:

http://www.fellaheen.com/

The album is called, as seen above, "Death & Frolic". You can listen to it on their site! And you should -- they're pretty rad.

Tea Party




It remains to be seen what exactly will happen on the 2nd, but it's clear that these people will have a great deal to do with whatever it is. How they handle the next two years will be another story.

Oh, and for those of you watching, my website has been updated with this painting and this year's Applefest, in addition to some of my black and white work from the summer. Sometime soon I'm going to completely redo the "spots" section with all of the spot work I did this summer.

TCNJ





I finished these more than two months ago, but it's definitely about time that they graced the internet. They're in graphite, which is unique for professional work, I think. I liked the outcome, which is good, because it was a pretty long process. The story was about the discovery of the identity of an anonymous author who wrote about the inner workings of the Lincoln Cabinet during its' early days. Each one of the figures up there actually is someone real, which is fun. I got to really immerse myself in research. History is good.

Oh, and the two portraits below were also part of the assignment -- professors that had uncovered said discovery.

Applefest 2010 Final, Crouse College




Here's the final image for this year's poster. I finished it a few weeks ago, and the posters are already up! Later if I can get my hands on it I'll post a copy here. I'll also be running an art booth at the festival, where I'll be selling some drawings of buildings around town, as well as a few other paintings.

In addition, I was recently asked to do a "portrait" of the main building of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, my alma mater (I feel so old being able to say that!). I've posted that here too. It was really great being able to work for SU -- and to leave my own permanent mark on the school!

Next time: that TCNJ stuff. Also, some personal work. Until then, enjoy!

Obama



Midterm woes -- November isn't looking to be a very good month for the President. And the recent additional economic proposals almost certainly aren't going to get passed before then. Not a fantastic time to be a Democrat.

AppleFest Progress





So I was going to post the civil war stuff today, but since I just finished the final drawing for Applefest this afternoon, I figured I'd show that instead. I've been talking about it here for months, after all. The premise this year is a 1920s-ish tea party. I wanted to move forward from last year while still making sure a lot of the feeling stayed the same. I also wanted to draw adults this year. I've wanted to do an image like this for quite a while, and so I kind of worked it into the assignment. I had a lot of fun with this drawing, so it took a little longer than usual.

I'll post with more soon. The final painting should be finished sometime in the next week, but I'm still behind on posting from other projects. Stay tuned!

Business







Sorry I've been remiss in my posting! I've been VERY busy these last few months. I'll stagger some posts and updates over a few days, because blogger makes a 5 image limit, and to make things more exciting.

Above: More spots for Rutgers (I have a double page spread of these things in the September issue, hitting the press in, well, September.) and also more spot work for FDU, which I also think is for the September issue but I am not entirely sure.

Tomorrow: TCNJ stuff, finished (for the Seeeeeeeptember issue!) and the then Applefest progress. I've been promising this for a while, and I'm actually in the middle of it right now. This year is going to be great! It's a 1920s apple tea party!

The Graduate



Spot for Rutgers Magazine. The article was a small advice column for recent graduates going home to bleak job prospects and, well, their parents. Fun!

Recent goings-on...






Spots and small amounts of progress work for a few articles in FDU's alumni magazine. There's a third on the way -- my computer just returned from the computer doctor's office and so I lost a few days.

To come:
- Editorial piece for Rutgers Magazine -- a 1/8 page spot. Final and process work to come sometime in the next few days.
- More work on Applefest 2010. I have a lot of process work already. I think there will be a final drawing next week.
- Editorial piece for the Marathon Group on the civil war. Also incredibly exciting. Details and process work to come.

A Scanner Danny, Rahmbo




My new scanner came in the mail the other day. I am officially up and running now. The above drawing is a little dated -- it was produced during the flurry of press on the White House Chief of Staff while passing Health Care Reform was looking bleak.

Things in progress:
- AppleFest 2010
- Spots for FDU Magazine
- A personal piece about eating disorders.

More posts to come soon!

Launching




So, two weeks ago I graduated from Syracuse University, summa cum laude. It was a very high note to end four years on -- in addition to academic honors, I graduated with the Outstanding Senior Award, given to the best graduating illustrator in the department, and the Thomas Yohe award, which came with a nice little going away gift. I made some fantastic friends, learned more than I could ever have imagined, and became an illustrator. I owe Syracuse everything. I will miss studio and my classmates tremendously.

But now the real work starts. I've spent the past two weeks both recovering and putting together a new studio space. I have one small freelance gig I'm working on, and then I have to start work on this year's Applefest poster (we're doing it a bit earlier this year), which should be a blast. I'm also sending out cards like a madman. It's up to around 50-something right now and there's a new batch of 20 for this week. And then in a few months, they go out again. And again. And again. Until the end of days. How exciting! The above work was the first thing I did upon getting home -- a thank you card specially printed for all of the nice people that commented on my portfolio at Lubin House.

Oh, and if posts are few and far between right now, it's because I NEED A SCANNER. The first thing to miss about school was the access to equipment. I've had to get several things scanned at home, and it's been nuts. The first time I tried the staples in town and they had sent the scanner guy home, so I went to Kinkos and they charged me eight dollars for ONE SCAN. I was furious but I really had no choice. The second time I went to staples, and the scanner-man was there, so I got it for 50 cents. Ugh. Hopefully this issue will be corrected soon. I'll post a lot more artwork then.

Lubin House Postcard



Syracuse University alumni in Advertising Design, Illustration, and Communications Design will be receiving one of these cards, illustrated by yours truly, in the mail sometime soon. Come to Lubin House! Look at our portfolios! We're paying for it! Really!

Oh, and figures are all either myself or my classmates. Except the guy in front. He is no one.

President: check!







The books came! And they look brilliant! Blurb.com -- wonderful prints, just wonderful. All 44 presidents, a foreword, and some neato printing = nifty promotional materials. I am most pleased.

P is for Pedophile



Following the recent goings-on in Europe.

Teaser



I feel like I haven't seen the outside world in so long. There's only the computer screen. This project, not surprisingly, is taking forever. First there was the drawing, then there was the scanning, then there was the cleaning, then there was the formatting. Now: the inking. This part will be done digitally, because I really really really don't want to mess these drawings up. This way I can do it again and again and again until I'm satisfied! And then maybe someday I'll finish!

Anyhow, I think I've finally got a system worked out for the digital ink blotches. Above is something of a prototype. The drawing, of course, is Abraham Lincoln. He's one of my favorite drawings out of the entire batch -- I think because I've drawn him soooo many times, he comes more naturally to me. I feel like I know his face. That's kind of weird.

Picture an entire book of these. Go ahead. Do it.

Hoot.



Okay, so it's been a little while since I've updated. That won't happen again. I'd like to keep this blog more active from now on. In a couple months, I will journey into the great beyond that is the professional world. It's awful scary looking out there. I wouldn't want to go without a blog.

Some bits of news, as I transition:

- The "Applefest" piece that got into the Society of Illustrators Student Show this year was the recipient of the $2500 Nancy Lee Rhodes Roberts Scholarship Award! Woohoo! The awards ceremony is the 7th of May at the Society of Illustrators, from 6:00 PM to 8:00. Come! Be merry! I shall be attending!

- I'm in the middle of a fairly large project that will be finding it's way onto the internet shortly. All 44 Presidents of the United States. Epic. I won't reveal too much until I have a product to show. As we speak (you and I, oh devoted reader), all of the drawings are done. But there's some design work to do -- I'm getting them printed as a book on blurb.com as something of a promotional piece, and also as a deck of trading cards. So much to do, so little time...

- There's going to be a fairly massive influx of new work in the next few weeks as I make final preparations for graduation, and...

- The website has been updated! A new painting, some minor fixes, yadda yadda. Check it out.

Anywho, I'll be more present on the internets as we go. Until next time!

Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Competition 2010




I know I've already posted these pieces -- but I just received notification that the two of them got into the Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship 2010 show!! The exhibit goes up on May 5, 2010 -- and there's an opening reception on May 7. Congratulations to all the other accepted entries!

SYR Film







Above are 5 portraits out of 6 I did for a commision from the Syracuse International Film Festival. Blogger won't let me upload a sixth image. Curses. Anyways, all of these men are composers who died in the holocaust. They're being used for an event called "Recovered Voices" -- a performance of their music, played by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra on January 30. Should be interesting!

Forensics Painting



Okay, so I finished this painting weeks ago, but I'd forgotten to upload it until now. Woops!
I also have a whole bunch of other un-scanned work. I'll try to get that up when I get back to school in a few weeks.