“Moon Over Manifest” Book Cover

The year is 1936, and the protagonist, Abilene Tucker, is in most ways a typical eleven year-old girl in Moon Over Manifest, the middle-grade debut novel by Clare Vanderpool. What is unusual is that Abilene’s single-parent father is a hobo, and as the story begins, she has spent the last several years of her childhood happily riding the rails with him.

For the cover, art director Vikki Sheatsley asked for a shot of Abilene walking down the Kansas railroad tracks. The hardest part was finding the right model (thank you, Kate!) and setting. The most labor-intensive task was aging the overalls. The rest pretty much took care of itself.

CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: VIKKI SHEATSLEY

NY Times “House Of Dreams” Illustration

Apparently, trying to buy the “house of your dreams” in this economic climate can lead to actual nightmares, and that is the subject of the article this illustration accompanied in the Home section of the NY Times. For me, subject matter does not get any better than this, so I really tried to have fun with it. The final montage was created by combining a photograph of the “sleeping” model with a table top set I created, along with some images from my archives for the background. Below are the rough sketches I originally presented.

ART DIRECTOR: KEN McFARLIN
CLIENT: NEW YORK TIMES

"A Very Cold War" illustration

So it turns out that the U.S., Canada, Norway, Denmark, and Russia are all vying for property rights to oil reserves in the Arctic Circle. Hence the title of the feature this illustration accompanied, “A Very Cold War”. The idea of divvying up an “arctic pie” seemed somewhat obvious but irresistible to me. The most fun was making the frosted window treatment by mixing beer and epsom salts, details of which can be found on many how-to sites. Okay, so the studio smelled like a brewery for a few days, but it passes. Below are the two rough sketches presented.

CLIENT: MILITARY OFFICER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
ART DIRECTOR: LYNNE WOYCHIK

Tech Survey Illustrations for Internal Auditor

Below is a series of four illustrations for the Technology/Software issue of Internal Auditor Magazine. The biggest challenge in these kinds of jobs is to present very familiar themes and relatively dry content in a fresh way. I often respond by marrying organic symbols and images to the dry material, in this case different kinds of birds and a handmade “data” globe. Below the illustrations are the two sets of sketches presented, including an alternate set with a “flower” theme.

CLIENT: INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL AUDITORS/YACINSKI DESIGN
ART DIRECTOR: JOSEPH YACINSKI

Unpublished Cover: The Cross Gardener

Another one that got away, and alas, will not see the light of Amazon, at least not in this guise. The Cross Gardener, by Jason F. Wright, interweaves themes of loss, grief, and healing as a young father struggles to deal with the sudden death of his beloved wife. Designer Annette Fiore-DeFex requested a bucolic image with a picket fence, some vegetation, and possibly a path. Above are two of the comps presented.

CLIENT: BERKLEY BOOKS
ART DIRECTOR: ANNETTE FIORE-DeFEX

“Cartagena Paper Girl” Book Cover Illustration

The Cartagena Paper Girl, by Iris Gomez, explores the themes of immigrant Latino culture, family relations, and mental illness, set against the backdrop of 1970's Miami. In the story, the teenage daughter, Gabi, struggles to hold her family together as her once stable father, Roberto, descends helplessly into madness.

Art director Brigid Pearson requested an image of Gabi swinging around the family's backyard Mango tree, fading into a background texture of classified want-ads, which her father repeatedly forces Gabi to scour.

I think I must have searched out and photographed just about every Mango tree in Sarasota, and I never did find the perfect one, so in the end I had to make a composite of many, many Mango trees, which is what you see here. Fortunately, the want-ads and the young woman were easier to find.

CLIENT: GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING
ART DIRECTOR: BRIGID PEARSON

“Day of the Pelican” Book Jacket Illustration

The Day of the Pelican is another great read for young people. Written by Katherine Peterson, author of Bridge To Terabithia, the story recounts the difficult journey of a family from war-torn Kosovo to America, as told through the eyes of the adolescent daughter. An old framed family photograph, a prized keepsake, is burned in the senseless destruction and becomes a prominent symbol in the story. Above is the final cover, below are the original comps I presented. The photographs used are from my archives.



CLIENT: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
ART DIRECTOR: SHEILA SMALLWOOD