The Power of Mom!

Right on the heels of my last piece are two more illustrations for this past weekend's Boston Globe magazine! This time I was honored to be illustrating the cover again, as well as an accompanying page inside.

The theme of both illustrations was the power that moms wield through online networking (the cover is focused on the power, and the inside illo is focused on the connectivity). It's easier than ever for moms to connect and share tips, info, advice, and warnings on a variety of sites, blogs, and forums that are catered to them. From the article, "While a mom’s opinions once only stretched so far — to her local play group or over the backyard fence — now they are amplified and shot around the world with a keystroke. And if you make a mom mad, the power of her network is a force to be reckoned with." You can read the rest of the article here!

The cover I made is a deliberate riff on Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People. I remembered the painting from my college art history class partly because it was the first time I learned about triangular compositions!

The revolutionary spirit also seemed to fit the article, though the editorial staff didn't want any moms with mean faces, so my ladies are a little more lighthearted instead of murderous.

There was limited time for both illustrations so the inside illo is more simplified out of necessity, but because the colors for both are all in the same families I think they fit together, and I enjoyed working in both styles.
Thanks again to my great AD Ryan Huddle for the assignment, and the fun layout he created inside!

Sketches for the cover:

Sketches for the inside illo:

Swifter, Higher, Stronger...Sexier?

An illustration in this past weekend's Boston Globe Magazine about the uniforms for female Olympians. Some sport leaders want to create "a more female aesthetic", i.e. sex appeal, to draw in more crowds and attention for female sports--but this can come at the cost of athlete practicality and performance. This year boxing and badminton started requiring all female competitors to wear skirts, but later dropped the rule after bad press and complaints from athletes. Female beach volleyball players have always been required to wear bikinis (and some feel most comfortable in them), but the association recently changed their dress code to allow for shorts and t-shirts too.

Yes, aesthetics can have a powerful effect--drawing a bikini'd butt will almost certainly direct attention to the article-- but I think the article's writer, Shira Springer, sums up the issue nicely "The Games should showcase the world’s best athletes at the peak of their abilities, and that means team uniforms should be about practicality and performance, not eye candy."
Hear hear!

Sketches:

Thanks again to AD Ryan Huddle! You can read the rest of Shira's article here.

Education Week

Illustration for an article in Education Week about the decline of the teaching profession and how policy makers can revive it. The process of revival outlined in the article involves an increased focus on Professional Capital--valuing high quality teachers and teaching. I wanted to put a positive spin on things and show the goal of the revival: a teacher growing and flourishing. I really like how this one came out (interesting environment, stylish lady? Yes please!), and as a teacher myself it was a really interesting article to read. Thanks to AD Vanessa Solis, who also happens to be a fellow MICA alum!

Sketches:

Fitness nuts!

I kept forgetting to post this one--this was a quick job from the Boston Globe a few months back. The article in question was about how so many Bostonians are so into fitness--you'll see people running and cycling all over the place! Thanks again to AD Ryan Huddle & editor Francis Storr!
I'm thinking about starting a running program myself...getting out of shape is easy when you're home drawing on the computer all day!

The article specifically mentioned all the neon sweat wicking outfits you see whizzing by, so I wanted to get that colorfulness in the final.
I don't often use color for sketches, but sometimes it's more helpful on a clarity level if things are getting too jumbled in greyscale:

Runway to Win!

Drawing Iman (supermodel extraordinaire) and Anna Wintour (Vogue EIC) shopping together has got to be one of the more fabulous scenarios I've been asked to illustrate! The June 7-13 issue of Time Out Chicago has an article about Anna and Iman hosting a fashion/shopping event at Harpo studios as a fundraiser for Obama. All the merchandise the two ladies are holding is from the Runway to Win collection, designed by a bunch of fashion designers in support of Obama.
Thanks to my AD Ian Dingman for this fun, stylish job! (in my hometown, no less!)

Sketches:

Summer Girls

I saw these stylish ladies walking around Baltimore the other weekend. They were too cool not to draw! (and they were all wearing some pretty killer heels)

The Space Mariner

Here's a little madlib for you, “The Illustrator’s Lament”:

No matter how many ( cool objects, people, or scenarios ) I draw, I will still be a ( self adjective ) ( self noun ) who will never ( fanciful action ).

For instance:

No matter how many tough lady space marines I draw, I will still be a cautious nerd who will never fire an interstellar harpoon.

This was just a piece I did for fun, out of my love of sci-fi and awesome ladies. I also used it for a quick Photoshop demo when I was a guest in Sam's advanced digital illustration class (which I will be teaching next semester!)

I used a lot of clipping masks in this for many of the textures. If you want to see how I do it, I made a walkthrough post on my tumblr about texture and clipping masks (albeit with a much simpler image). You can read it here!

My original sketch:

(although looking at it again, I kinda like its simplicity.....ah well!)