God of the Desert Illustration

Writer Richard Rodriguez' new book is about the role of the desert in the formation of the Abrahamic religions. This illustration accompanied a profile of the author in Sojourner magazine. Art director Ed Spivey, Jr. left the concept up to me, as long as I included an image of a desert and a photo of Rodriguez. I was visiting family in Ohio while I was working on this project, and while Ohio is very flat, it really is not a desert. So I made a very mini-desert in my mother's garage for the illustration, which was fun.

CLIENT: SOJOURNER MAGAZINE
ART DIRECTOR: ED SPIVEY, JR.

“Beautiful Disaster” Book Jacket

Beautiful Disaster, by Laura Spinella, is a romance/suspense novel set in Athens, Georgia. Art Director Rita Frangie asked for a romantically beautiful country road scene with a lone figure and a motorcycle in the distance. The tricky part for me was making the southwest Florida countryside look like northern Georgia. Some diligent location scouting and Photoshop helped me out on that score.

CLIENT: BERKLEY BOOKS
ART DIRECTOR: RITA FRANGIE

“Edges” Book Cover Illustration

Edges, by Léna Roy, is a coming-of-age novel for young adults set in the breathtaking canyons of Moab, Utah. In the story, two teens grapple with family relationships as well as addiction and recovery. Above is the finished artwork for the cover. Photo of the juniper tree and rocks© Cliff Walker iStock Photo.

CLIENT: FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX
ART DIRECTOR: ROBBIN GOURLEY

“Reserve Fund” Magazine Illustrations

The financial crisis has affected not only individual homeowners, but condominium associations as well. Many of these associations find they do not have enough cash reserves to properly maintain their structures. Thus, many have fallen into disrepair, some to the point of having to be condemned. For this article on the subject, a cover image with some sort of “ticking clock” or hour glass was requested, along with an opening illustration suggesting the deterioration of the buildings. This was a fun one to work on because I love the look of objects and surfaces that are old and damaged. I made miniature sets out of dollhouse materials and created the damaged walls by covering cardboard with spackle and Golden Crackle Medium. Below are the original sketches presented.



CLIENT: COMMON GROUND MAGAZINE
ART DIRECTOR: CORI CANADY

“Sackett Brand” Book Cover Montage

This was to be the first of a series of six cover illustrations for reprints of Louis L’Amour western novels. The idea was to recreate the look of the great photos Edward Curtis made of western subjects and landscapes. Art director Scott Biel requested five cowboys riding towards the viewer with a “black mesa” in the background. The montage was built from the stock photos below, along with my own sky images and hand-painted textures. Unfortunately, the series has been put on indefinite hold.



CLIENT: RANDOM HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: SCOTT BIEL

“Twenty Gold Falcons” Book Jacket

The middle-grade novel, “Twenty Gold Falcons”, by Amy Gordon, is a fun read with lots of unusual characters and plot twists. A spunky twelve-year old girl and her two friends search for lost gold coins, and my art director, Claire Counihan, said she wanted the cover to convey “the thrill of the search”. There were many visual themes running through the book–gold coins, old clocks, opera, sumptuous wealth, along with actual falcons. There is also a scene with a flashlight, and I felt that depicting the protagonist shining a flashlight would be the best way to show the idea of a search.

Below are the sketches in the order I did them. Since I love birds, I wanted to include the image of a falcon along with the character shining the light (first sketch), but the concensus was that the image was confusing, so I replaced the falcon with “hidden” gold coins (second sketch). This was an improvement, but Claire suggested I make the character crawling towards to add drama, which seemed to do the trick (final revised sketch) . I also could not resist adding some red velvet curtains to suggest both wealth and the opera. Special thanks to Grace, my fine young model.



CLIENT: HOLIDAY HOUSE
ART DIRECTOR: CLAIRE COUNIHAN

Caregiver Support Illustration

I did this montage a couple of months ago, I just haven't had much time to post lately, which I guess is a good thing(!).

It has been well documented the difficult time wounded Iraq War vets have struggling with brain injuries and the psychological wounds of combat. The stress on their caregivers, usually parents and spouses, has received somewhat less attention. This illustration accompanied the transcript of a panel discussion addressing support services available for these caregivers. Special thanks to my friends and neighbors Eric and Pedreia for posing for this piece.

CLIENT: MILITARY OFFICER MAGAZINE
ART DIRECTOR: JILL AKERS