Month: July 2013

… and cold

Barrons, US Catholic, WSJ

The heat wave finally broke, and work has picked up a little bit, but I wouldn’t say I’m busy yet, by any stretch of the imagination. Just as well, as I’ve been keeping pretty busy with the new CD mastering, gigging with the band, and trips to Lansing to take care of my Dad. A new book project is expected sometime soon, and August will be fairly busy with extracurricular activities (like a vacation planned for mid month, one of the first we’ve taken in many years), so things could get hairy at a moment’s notice.

Above is a piece I did for Barron’s this morning, and below is an illustration I did for the Wall Street Journal a few days ago (click on the small version to see an enlargement). Below that, is a cartoon drawing I did for US Catholic earlier in the week.


Also, recently I’ve begun a ‘Tumblr’ blog which is featuring an overview of my favorite pieces of the past 25 years, jumping here and there with new pieces and old stuff from the flat files, at a larger size than I usually post here on this day to day blog. I’ve been trying to post 5 or six pieces a day Monday through Friday as an additional online presence. Time will tell if this ends up being a worthwhile addition to my marketing efforts, or if it will be just another time-waster.

Hot

Barrons

…and just like that, I end up with a busy day. Two pieces for Barrons today, and back to waiting for the phone to ring tomorrow. Not a business for the faint of heart.

Meanwhile the temps around here have been in the high 90s with heat index warnings around 100. Spending a lot of time in front of the air conditioner.

Hot and Cold

Barrons


The days are getting hotter, but the workload is getting colder. The end of June/beginning of July showed signs of picking up, but quickly fizzled out, and once again I am finding myself back to working on my summer challenge of drawing portraits of everyone in the Zazzle ‘famous people pre-1900’ list. Still in the Architects sub-category, and today’s portrait is of Inigo Jones, the british architect.
Last weekend had a rush job for Barrons, pictured below, along with the three rough concept sketches I presented, and I’ve got a few smaller jobs lined up for this week. Looks like we are going to be hitting some record high temps here in Michigan this week, and I’m just fool enough to spend a great deal of it out on my bicycle (but bringing my phone along with me, just in case).



Summer Challenge 2013

AHMM, Green Prints


Well, no sooner had I announced that things may be picking up around here, they came to a dead halt. Finished up the last two pending jobs on the docket (not counting the possible future book project, which may stretch out until the Christmas holidays), and found myself on Wednesday with a lot of free time on my hands. So, I went back to my planned ‘summer challenge’: ie: work my way through the Zazzle category of ‘Famous People Pre-1900’, pushing myself to work in various mediums and stretch my limitations, and in doing so, generate a library of obscure Zazzle products that may or may not sell at sometime in the distant future. I’m currently in the ‘Architects’ sub-category, and did a couple black and white portraits of Frederick Law Olmstead (pictured above) and Charles Bullfinch (below).

The two smaller jobs that I finished up earlier this week were also in black and white, and both in my usual scratchboard style. A period fiction piece for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and a humor piece for GreenPrints.