“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

“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