Janet Hamlin on Bill Maher's "Real Time" (HBO)

My good friend Janet Hamlin's courtroom illustration work was just mentioned in a bit called "New Rules" on his show "Real Time with Bill Maher". Max and I were watching this, and I saw her courtroom art and yelled out, "That's my friend Janet's Work"!. He grabbed his handy camera and "voila", here's what it looked like. Although, I do agree with Maher that courtroom illustration in the modern world is starting to make less and less sense. It is one area of illustration that is obviously going to become a thing of the past. One advantage that illustrated courtroom art has over just a quick cell phone pic is that it manages to interpret, through the illustrator, the mood and climate of the courtroom and all the players involved. A pic can't always express that.

Homage to Peter Bagge for The Stranger in Seattle

Aaron Huffman asked me to do a blatant homage to Peter Bagge in this illustration for an article about radio royalties for performers. I tried to make it more of a hybrid than a blatant copy of Bagge's work. It's somewhere in the middle.

Cavalcade of Food & Restaurant Review Illustrations

In these really hard times I am so grateful to have 2 restaurant review columns to illustrate each week. For the past 7 1/2 years I've illustrated more than 1000 newspaper columns for both The Miami New Times and also The Broward/West Palm Beach New Times in Florida. Thank God for Pam and Michael Shavalier for always keeping me as the illustrator of those columns. I've had to draw everything from sushi to pizza to crawfish to vegetarian dishes and the entire gamut in between. Asian fusion, to french bistro...The corner Deli to very high end cuisine. Half of the dishes I haven't a clue about. I have no idea what they look like and taste like. I usually google to find it or check to see if the restaurant has a website. Sometimes I just focus on the atmosphere and the overall experience. All in all, I do love illustrating for a regular column. Over the years I have illustrated for 13 newspaper columns and some end early and some last a very long time. When I illustrated for Joe Bob Brigg's column "Joe Bob's America", it ran for 10 years and went from Creators Syndicate to the New York Times Syndicate. Sadly, the NY Times Syndicate had no idea how to promote a humorous column like Joe Bob's and they ended it after a 10 year run. they only had it for I think about 2 years. I've also illustrated for an astrology column, a psychotherapy column and a DIY column. But as time wears on, I worry about the newspaper industry and as cartoons get cut, and the fat gets trimmed so they can stay alive, I worry that the columnists will lose their columns and I'll get dropped along with them. My fingers are crossed that newspapers will make the transition to the internet and find a way to survive and eventually thrive.

Financial Shakedown

I did this piece for NY Newsday recently, but it got altered quite a bit and became something else. I did like the original piece and decided to post it here. What do you think?

He's Just Not That Into You, Slumdog Millionaire

Max shot this marquee in his neighborhood. He's always telling me how the movie theatre is combining movies on the marquee that have these hilarious outcomes. Case in point, "He's Just Not That Into You, Slumdog Millionaire". I would give that movie 2 thumbs up.