I'm back

Hello again. I'm back to work after a brief stint in the hospital following a traffic accident.
The above are from the Nov/Dec HOOP Magazine Jumpball opener. Topic: Home Court Advantage.
No place like home, indeed.

HOOP Magazine 12

New assignment, new square format. This one is about the "laboratory" that is the NBA's Summer League. Essentially it's a highly-scrutinized proving ground for players, coaches and officials. Do us all a favor and buy a copy in September.

Powerpals

Character design for CPS Energy's youth energy safety messaging.

HOOP Magazine 11

Topic: To Play or Not to Play (for the national team)
With the upcoming Olympics and growing national competitions, the NBA player is faced with playing more and more games with little to no offseason from the NBA grind. The Team USA members are the most high-profile examples, but there are plenty of international stars (Yao, Yi, Nowitzki, Parker, Ginobili, etc) that face pressure from their home countries to represent their country. In many cases, the international players face greater pressure in suiting up for their country since top talent isn't as plentiful on their rosters. Does an NBA player owe their loyalty to their country to play or do they focus on their NBA team's quest for a NBA title? On one hand is your patriotic duty; on the other hand is your livelihood and NBA paycheck.

Macrodermabrasion

Hang in there

An insipid inspirational poster for all the cube-dwellers, lonelyhearts.

Protección

**Original post follows**

After games A and B against the Hornets in this playoff series, I decided that I couldn't sit idly by. I consulted with my curandera and decided that the only way I could help the Spurs out of this slump was to create my own protección votive candle. I urge you to go to your local botánica or supermercado and buy a plain 8" white glass votive candle. Print out the illustration below at 100%, cut along the dotted line and apply it to the candle with clear masking tape or double-stick tape. Hurry, your boys need you.

My Way

But then again, too few to mention.

Invitation

HOOP Magazine 9

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HOOP Magazine assignment: Coping with Long Road Trips.

HOOP Magazine 8

Primary and secondary illustrations for HOOP Magazine article, Playing with Injuries.
Not to confused with guys on the IR, NBA players constantly have to battle and play through a litany of small physical ailments (bruises, bumps, jammed fingers, sore joints, slight pulls, etc) on a daily basis. What are some of these "injuries" do they have to endure? How do they manage to not just play with them, but to still excel despite these pains? Do coaches know about some of these things or do they keep it a secret from the coaching staff? Is it a badge of honor to persevere without complaint? When does it get to be too much to endure?

HOOP Magazine 7

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These latest HOOP illustrations are for an article dealing with players adjusting to a new situation (e.g. finally making the league, coming into money, moving to a new franchise, coming back from injury, going from player to coach). Considering the many figurative hats a player will have to wear during his career, it follows that the illustration should show those hats literally (as well as suits and jerseys and anoraks and shorty shorts). See it in print in late Oct/Nov.

Hermann Broch final

Finally finished the design and typesetting of my friend's book. While the color is more subdued than that of the last post, this scheme will work better within the context of the whole series of books. (The blues will change color from book to book, the greys will stay.) I changed the drawing to a single, contour vector line and tilted the grid to make this esoteric tome a little more dynamic. (Just kidding; the book is only 150 pages and very manageable, given the subject matter.)

Hermann Broch

This is a working cover for a book I'm designing and typesetting for a friend. He's translating a series of works by the author José María Pérez Gay on Austrian writers in the early part of the last century. This is the first in a series of five. I'm still working out the color and some of the details to ensure that they work well as a group, but in the meantime I'm learning pithy things like "modernity is the triumph of secularism." Heavy.

HOOP Magazine 6

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New feature illustrations for the Jumpball column in HOOP. The editor had some good, specific ideas for what he wanted this time around. This article deals with what NBA players do with their downtime in-between seasons (vacation, marriage, clothing lines, movie deals). Look for it on shelves in early September. Go Spurs!

Fannie Mae

A friend and former coworker of mine was kind enough to give me some freelance work for a TV spot for her client, Fannie Mae. I did the storyboards, character and environment design and contracted with a production house animator to create a :30 regional TV spot for the Hispanic market. The above image is from an early storyboard test. I'll see if I can post a link to the final Quicktime movie once it's approved and airing. Muchísimas gracias, Martha.

Borracho

HOOP Magazine 5

Hey, whaddya know?! An update! Expect a few more soon.

Here are the new feature illustrations for HOOP. This article was about players paying attention to stats while they're playing. With so many crazy stats out there, does a player know if he is a few rebounds or assists shy of a triple-double or a few points short of a career mark during the course of the game? Does someone tell them? Do their teammates go out of their way in helping them achieve the goal?

Bowls

Totally stupid, but it reminds me of a story. When I was 16 I was a stock boy at Michael's Arts-n-Crafts for three weeks. The old lady who hand-made all of the pricing and sale signs for the endcaps (retail industry argot for the things at the end of the aisles) took great pride in her calligraphic abilities and really knew her way around a glitter pen. Long story short, in cleaning up the glasswares aisle one day, I found a very handsome sign advertising "Fish Bowels Now 50% Off!"

In hindsight, that's probably funnier than the drawing above.

HOOP Magazine 4

Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been a busy few weeks. Anyhow, here are the new illustrations for HOOP. The editor asked me to change up the style a little bit, so there's kind of a clean, vector/cut paper look with loose brushwork on top. The article (which comes out in late April) is about the floppers of the league. How many do it, how they sell it, and who are the best at it. Ginobili!!!

Something about the second illustration, though... in working on it I couldn't get the character to stop looking so familiar — but I still can't put my finger on exactly who he looks like.
Some contenders were:
Lou Rawls
Ben Vereen
Billy Dee Williams
Marcus Camby
Your thoughts? Post 'em in the comments field.

Keister Bunny

A little early, I know.

Patent Pending

...and just in time for troop redeployment, too!

HOOP Magazine #3

Here are the new primary and secondary illustrations for the next issue of NBA's HOOP Magazine (Due out in Feb. Pick up a copy and keep me in hot food!). The theme is Starting vs. Coming off the Bench. Some NBA vets who've been starters early in their careers are now adjusting to coming off the bench (McDyess, Stack, Horry), and some players have flip-flopped between starting 5th and 6th man in their careers (Ben Gordon, Mike Miller) to find out the differences between the two (some players do prefer coming off the bench). So I went with a "grass is always greener" motif; the player on the bench would rather start, the starting player misses being the 6th man.

A Can in a Kidney Store

For Jake.

House Sparrow

Sorry for the wildly incongruous meanderings of style and subject in these first posts. Here's Monday's attempt.
Photoshop and Painter.

Math Problem

L'Engoulement

Everybody knows that el chupacabra is the apocryphal goat-sucker of Central and South America, but safe money says you never knew the French form of the noun. Don't say I never taught you anything.
The background collage of photos is from a trip to West Texas I took a few years ago for a TV shoot.
Done in Illustrator & PS.

HOOP 2

New primary and secondary illos for NBA's HOOP magazine. Note the high-top fade and knee socks. And Michael Knight? Buh? You'll have to pick up a copy.

Corazón Partío

A quick and unapologetic sketch of a boy I once saw on a bus in Madrid. During the whole of the 20 minute ride into the center of town he was pumping his fist and unabashedly singing this song over and over and over again:


powered by ODEO

That Castilian lisp still bothers the bejesus out of me.

To Laugh or to Die

This is a second test image (a topsy-turvy) for the cover of my friend Eduardo's book. I'll post the image within the context of a layout once the book's subtitle has been approved.

Value Study - Pears

In-computer value study. 30 mins. PS & Painter & tablet.

Jakenstein 1

My hunky brother. Mean-muggin. 1.5 hours - Photoshop, Painter, Wacom tablet.

Orangutan

First draft (rejected) for a book cover for my friend Eduardo. Maybe too controversial.

Honeysuckle

No idea.

HOOP Magazine 1

My good friend Andy in NYC was nice enough to give me some freelance work for NBA's HOOP Magazine. This first project was to illustrate a feature article about the rigamarole that sophomores in the league put rookies through (you're still a rookie until you get your first 82 games under your belt - even if it's your second season). The first illo is the Sisyphean routine of getting donuts for the vets (never just a single box, but generally gobs of difficult-to-find donuts).


The second pic is more self explanatory (read: heavy-handed).

Edwardian Kermit

No idea what this is about. A more formal sketch of something I drew in the sidelines of an old legal pad. Kreepy.

Keith Richards

Personal project. Done in about an hour. Photoshop CS1 Wacom tablet.

Elvis Costello

First test post. This blog is intended to be a repository for personal projects and paid work. I hope to update on a weekly basis with new illustration projects. However, it's likely to be thin on comments/explanation. Let's see what happens.