Public Option Please

Here's an 18 x 24 poster I submitted to the Public Option Please competition... if it wins I'll silkscreen it.

Slide Show!!!!

New 826LA Time Travel Mart posters!

Finally some new stuff again! Since I left journalism (Los Angeles Times) for product design (Knock Knock), I've found I have less material I can post as it's finished BUT here (at last) are the new posters for 826LA. I'm very, very grateful for the opportunity to work with 826; they're smart, creative, and have a great mission. Everybody wins. I made these with help from Mac Barnett and Jon Korn, two very talented copywriters who were the brains behind the Time Travel Mart in Echo Park. The typefaces Turnpike and Featured Item were designed by Stu Sandler at Font Diner. The script face, Vitrina, is from Cubanica.

You can buy these posters and a lot of other great stuff at 826la.org/store.

Valentine's Day

New York Times

I made this illustration for the New York Times last week. Here's the story. Exciting!

826:Tiny Vaudeville

Here's a preview of the poster for Tiny Vaudeville, a new-for-2009 monthly event to be put on by 826LA. When i was researching Vaudeville I learned that the word means 'voice of the city' and has also been described as 'literary burlesque', which makes it a great match for a booksy setup like 826. The plan is to do three or four versions with different iconography (film projectors, books, typewriters, microphones, etc) and also more of the legs that I drew. Those silver strappy mary jane heels from J.Crew finally paid off! Oh - this information is not real - the names are for type tests only.

vote for GOOD

I just sent this off to GOOD magazine's awesome Project 001 bumper sticker challenge. Check it out here.

826 holiday cards: sneak preview

Manifest Hope at the DNC

Denver was amazing. AMAZING. I saw my posters all over the city--I'm told that 3000 were distributed at the Women's Caucus! You can see more photos from the trip here.

Denver-ready!

These came back from the printer Tuesday - the stock is beautiful! They were printed at Heinz Weber in Santa Monica, and everyone there was really nice and helpful, and no one made fun of me for being so nervous about signing them. Everyone involved in this process has been fantastic!

something new i'm working on

826 finals

Los Angeles Times: illustration

May 27 2008

I just did this spot for the Highway 1 section of the LA Times. In the column, the writer describes the experience of driving her parents' old Buick around Los Angeles. Her posh, hybrid-y friends mock her for cruising around in a passe giant, but in the old car, she finds she's surrounded by love and nostalgia.

we're soaking in it

I made this yesterday morning for my friend Alonso. Every year he makes an audio fruitcake for all of his friends. This year's title is "You're Soaking In It." I can't wait to hear it!

Going Away

One of my favorite people threw me a fantastic going-away party my last weekend in Detroit. Thanks, Mauricio!

Detroit Free Press: We gotta get out of this place

September 16, 2007

This is my last Free Press Editorial cover illustration.

Detroit Free Press: The Case for Preschool

published July 29, 2007

This is the first time I ever art-directed a child. Good job, kiddo!

Detroit Free Press: Remembering the Riots

published July 22, 2007
The weekend papers were full of riot-related stories, many illustrated with archival photos. I wanted to take a different approach, as did the Editorial page editors, who wanted to refocus on the Detroit of today, and the ways the city is still failing to pull it together, and what we can do now to fix the city. The first idea I had was ambitious and stupid; I wanted to render a page turning, with the front page from that day in 1967 giving way to a page in our 2007 paper. I sketched it out in illustrator, but it was pretty clear that the idea was...unclear. And cliched. And would require a lot of tedious photoshop that I honestly wasn't up for. The next idea I had was to set the whole page up super-typically, with a nice aerial shot of city front and center, and the text dropping below not unlike it is in the current version, but with a giant, looming '1967' shadow casting across the page. Ultimately, I couldn't find an aerial photo in the archives I was happy with. Then I went to my fall-back "What would Week In Review Do?" Something simple. So I did this. I like it.

Detroit Free Press: Sundays in July

Up top is a spot illustration I did for Ron Dzwonkowski's Sunday column about the misconception that men know how to grill safely and effectively. Below is an On Point front that featured Free Press columnist Rochele Riley and introduced and roundtable discussion among five recent Detroit-area high school graduates, on race, moderated by Rochele.

illustration: The Giving Tree

published April 8, 2007
This illustration accompanied a column by Editorial Page Editor Ron Dzwonkowski that memorialized his friend and longtime Free Press Publisher Neal Shine, who passed away April 3, 2007.