Freelancing
July 21st, 2020 | Posted in Freelancing
I did the art for this “commemorative plate” gag in the latest issue of Viz. I had to do it in a real hurry in the middle of a couple of other deadline jobs, so I used a lot of Photoshop tricks to create the image. It’s not really a full painting. I used a few different photo references I got from the web, shot a couple myself, put them together into a composition, ran them through a few filters and then painted over it all creating the parts that needed to be done from scratch. The editors didn’t want it to look cartoony or… READ MORE
July 2nd, 2020 | Posted in Freelancing
This was a job I did for the School Library Journal back in 2008, illustrating a story about popular teen science fiction literature from years ago compared to modern work. I happened to run across the concept roughs and much of the process stuff as well so I thought it might be interesting to see that: Above: Two initial thumbnail concepts… one a full page and one a “cross gutter” type layout. Often a magazine job needs to be placed within an already set layout, but in this case they allowed me flexibility in that regard. They liked the cross gutter layout, but wanted to… READ MORE
May 29th, 2020 | Posted in Freelancing
The newest issue of Viz (a UK humor publication) has a couple of pieces I did the art for. The one above is a take-off on an old (and apperently beloved by Brits of a certain age) British sitcom called “Steptoe and Son”, which was adapted here in the U.S. as “Sanford and Son”. Same premise, it’s an older father and son running a junk shop/collector business. I watched multiple episodes to get the feel of the show and the characters… it was damn funny, but pretty dated as you can imagine. The show ran from ’62-’65 and had a revival in the 70’s. The… READ MORE
March 31st, 2020 | Posted in Freelancing
I did this for UK humor mag Viz as part of a gag ad for a collector’s plate commemorating Prince Andrew’s 60th birthday. You’ll have to do a search for “Price Andrew Pizza Express” to get the story. Here’s the actual page from Viz #294: I may use “Poland Piano” as a pseudonym from now on, although that is a poor picture of me. BTW the guys at Viz are damn funny. READ MORE
February 13th, 2020 | Posted in Freelancing
My Sketch o’the Week of Steven Tyler I posted yesterday solicited several social media comments about how Tyler famously hates caricatures of himself (or portraits that don’t make him look like he’s 25). That reminded me of one of the longest freelance nightmares of my career… a job that took over two years of waiting on and then never actually happened. Back in the early 2000’s I got a call from an art director at Disney Design, a division of the Disney empire that works on all kinds of projects from merchandising to packaging to promotional materials for the Mouse. He wanted me to do… READ MORE
September 20th, 2019 | Posted in Freelancing
It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I did the art for this smartphone app that caused a bit of a fuss when it was released. The app was called “Bobble Rep”, and it was a simple non-partisan database that allowed you to identify your U.S. Government Representatives and Senators either via lists by state, a search by zip code or other criteria, or using your phone’s location. The app had an entry for each member of the 111th congress, complete with contact information: Each entry also featured a caricature of the politician by yours truly as “bobblehead” doll, so if you shook… READ MORE
September 17th, 2019 | Posted in Freelancing
I illustrated a fun feature in the October issue of Ranger Rick Magazine, the kids aged 7-12 format publication of the National Wildlife Federation. Entitled “Welcome to the Creepy Greenhouse”, the obviously Halloween themed article by Jennifer Bové spotlights several scary looking plants and Fungi like the Cobra Lily and the Doll’s Eye. They wanted some “Mad Monster Party” flavored characters as well as an eerie greenhouse background. READ MORE
September 10th, 2019 | Posted in Freelancing
When I do any talks about the business of freelance illustration one of the things I point out is that no illustrator makes a living doing nothing but covers for TIME or some other single high profile gig. Illustrators make their living working for a large variety of clients, many of which you’ve never heard of. I’ve done a lot of work for many small circulation magazines/publications that serve a specific industry or audience. These kinds of clients are the bread and butter of most illustrator’s income. One such client for me is the USA High School Clay Target League and their publication Pull USA.… READ MORE
