Around this time, in addition to the regular bi-monthly ‘health care’ column for the WSJ (pictured right), I received an assignment from America magazine, a jesuit publication I’ve been doing a fair amount of work for over the past few years (although this would end up being one of the very few I would get this calendar year), something to do with communion and breaking bread (the exact topic escapes me). (pictured above) The nice thing about this client has always been the freedom to experiment in different styles, for instance, on this one, I played around with a combination of light washes and colored pencils, and adding different transparent layers over the whole thing to add depth (all digitally of course).

Also in the mix during this time period, were a few spot illustrations for Barrons, a publication I’ve been doing more and more work for this year. The piece on the left was for a story about carbon taxes – my least favorite things to draw, cars and buildings, but in this case I thought they turned out rather nice (a little research goes a long way). And the one below is yet another visit with our old cliche friends the bull and bear. This time ringing bells for some reason, a reason which has now been long forgotten.

A same day black and white assignment from Newsday came through around this time (pictured below). The topic was a story about improper teacher/student romantic relationships.

Another portrait for the Far Eastern Economic Review, a Hong Kong client, also came through around this time. More practice on both portraiture techniques, and on asian faces in general.