In the wee hours over the past few weeks, I've been designing a website for a great gallery in Paso Robles, California called PierceModern Gallery. Check out the site and the gallery, and if you're in Paso Robles I hope you'll go visit the space or go to one of their openings. piercemodern.com

New York Newsday Op Ed Piece on Thanksgiving Day

I had a quick job today for NY Newsday about a large set of funds that various regions of the state would be competing for. I basically ran with an idea the art director had because it seemed to sum the idea up fairly well.

I had this idea for a political Halloween cartoon over the weekend. Here's the fruit of my labor from that. Trick or treat! Happy Halloween, y'all!

Aunt Bertha to The Rescue! (For Nat Geo Kids!)

Aunt Bertha has been resurrected! Yes, my old character is back and driving across the country in a series of games and puzzles for National Geographic Kids and their book division. I missed ole' Bertie. The second image is a mock-up of the cover, but it's gonna have the finished illustration streaking across that cover. A Big Thanks to art director Eva Absher for making the executive decision to use me on this.

I promised to post this new postcard mailer image, so here's how it came out. Nice and colorful. Now, I just have to get this image out to a billion people and spread the word. BOO!!!!!

Halloween Mailer Rough Sketch Before Finish

I always enjoy seeing people's rough sketches before the final art is done, so maybe some of you will be interested in seeing this. I'm currently halfway through this color finish, which I'll post by the end of the week, but I thought I'd blog about the process. My initial concept was of a Drive-in Movie theatre with nothing but monsters watching the scary movie, which was "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers", but then I worried that since this is for a normal-sized postcard, the image was too complex to be appreciated unless it was a larger size and that's too costly for my current budget. So, I did this compartmental layout to showcase images of Halloween. The finish is coming along great so far and I hope it really grabs the people I'm sending it to in this mass mailer and e-blast. Halloween is just a fun holiday and it's probably one of the most effective holidays to take advantage of in my business. Most people think that Christmas is a good time to promote, but I think that right after Thanksgiving art directors, editors, designers, and creative directors are all too distracted as they get ready for their Christmas/Winter break to care about a postcard coming at them and begging for their attention.

Come back by the end of the week and I will have a lush color finish to showcase. It'll be interesting to see them side-by-side and compare how much may have changed.

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Early morning illustration for Alleen Barber about Traffic Networking solutions with current technology in the NYC area. Thank you Miss Barber! Sometimes I like a real fast deadline because it forces me to use limited palettes and work with the time constraints to make my client happy. Of course, I'd rather have a couple of days to noodle on an image, but I enjoy a good double-rush sometimes and Newsday is always good to me.

My "Debt Ceiling" Fall Mailer Illustration

It's the witching hour again...Fall promotion! Since it's August, it's the right time to be e-blasting and mailing out postcard bulk-mailings to garner the attention of art directors who can use my work. The subject that seems to be hot for now is the Debt Ceiling and how all the parties involved really mucked it up because of partisan politics. The people always seem to suffer while Republicans and Democrats refuse to work together or do what is best for the country. I tried to work in the effect of the Tea Party on the process too. It's all very whimsical in this illustration, but the subject is rather contentious. I love "hot button" issues.

The next mailer I plan on doing is for Halloween and it will go out in early September. That one should be a lot of fun.

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Piggies Are Back!

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I'm finally back on track with the work I had done for an e-book at the end of last year for See Here Studios up in San Francisco. Here's one of the possible covers that I'm waiting to see if it is approved or changed. Last year this project got sidetracked at the end of the year so I could meet deadlines for the company I have a temporary day job with. The work I do at this company sucks up a good amount of time and was pretty demanding, so this project got shelved for some months. I'm now back to work on finishing up all the work and will be posting the images here over the next couple of weeks.