Best Piece of Advice Show

I made this image last summer for the Best Piece of Advice Ever Show, finally opening this weekend in New York, and in London later in June. It was in response to the advice "Inspiration can come from anywhere, and usually when you least expect it." - Tom Brunner

The full spread from the book with drawn type. 

Drawing In Church -5/27

Sorrow and The River of Life. I think I may do a series of pages on biblical paradoxes... or as Tim Keller calls them, apparent contradictions.

This Week in the Sketchbook

A new drawing from church - a few Sundays back, just finished it.

... and a drawing of two esteemed fellow illustration professors at Wash U. Meetings are amazing!

Nobel Pursuits

This package was for the amazing magazine, Scientific American, about the Nobel Prize winners in Physics. I've worked with them several times and have loved the abstract challenge of the assignments, in this case, how to draw quantum mechanics and astrophysics! 

Instead of focusing on the non visual concepts like the Higgs Boson Particle and other phrases I'd only use to sound smarter than other dummies, I turned to the idea of discovery or uncovering the hidden. "Seeing" is an easier visual concept than quantum chromodynamics. 

Each section header got a half page banner to introduce the categories of discovery. 

For this project, I built a shallow relief diorama and tried to shoot it with a camera, but couldn't get enough sharpness and the color correction was tough. I ended up scanning these and adjusting... though I do like the deeper shadows on the one I photographed, below. Will keep fooling around with this and call Red Nose Studio for advice. 

The first attempt with a camera... 

Sea to Shining Sea...

David Saylor, from Scholastic, contacted me to be a part of a collaborative children's book that follows the song America the Beautiful. 15 artists were asked to do one spread, each given a stanza of the song along with a famous presidential quotation. 

My image is the closing to the book and the final stanza, ...from sea to shining sea. Also on the page is George H.W. Bush's famous quote This is America, a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

Other artists in the book include Raul Colon, Mary GrandPre (of Harry Potter Fame) Jon J. Muth and many others. Really fun to be included in this round up. Won't be out till next year, but don't worry, I'll remind you to buy it in bulk when it comes out.

Detail of ladder kids...

...and Lady Liberty. 

My two sketches, using the imagery of seas and starry skies. 

Spot art of the Capitol Building

The final art in place on the page. 

Bad Unicorn Update

After some edits (the impaled squirrel is stuffed now) and final formatting, here is the full wrap of the BAD UNICORN book, without the flap copy/barcode on it yet. Can't wait to see the spot varnish on the cover! So happy with this. The full post is below.

Titanic Update

Final Cover Art

After a few edits, here is the final version of the Dangerous Waters cover. The author pointed out that the fourth smoke stack on the Titanic was entirely decorative! So, no smoke could have come out of it. So a little photoshop surgery was all it needed. Plus, they wanted the skull removed from the moon, too scary! Next stop, bookstores everywhere.

Previous Cover Art

7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The amazing kid lit blog 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast has a long profile on my work, go check it out here. A small sample of the kind of information you might learn there:

* * * The Pivot Questionnaire * * *

Jules: What is your favorite word?
John: Phonetically: “Sequoia” or “Ticonderoga.”
Conceptually: “Agape.”
Jules: What is your least favorite word?
John: “Moist.”
Jules: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
John: I like sitting in churches during the daytime — to enjoy the stained glass windows.
Jules: What turns you off?
John: Left-over clear tape on glass and people who see everything through a political lens (of either party).
Jules: What is your favorite curse word? (optional)
John: I take the Fifth.
Jules: What sound or noise do you love?
John: Coins jingling in a pocket.
Jules: What sound or noise do you hate?
John: Fingernail-clipping while riding the subway.
Jules: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
John: DRUMMER IN A WEEZER COVER BAND!
Jules: What profession would you not like to do?
John: Anything that would require me to get up before 7 a.m.
Jules: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
John: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Drawing In Church- Belated Easter Edition

Just finished up my Easter drawing (on top of some xerox transfers I had done with my seniors in my sketchbook class the week before). I've never been able to get an Easter drawing I'm happy with. This one was fun. 

Guess the concept - Surrogacy

After my cover on autopsies from January, I got another call from the great folks at the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association. They gave me a simple one word prompt for this image. 

Want to take a guess at what this concept is about?

Offer some ideas and, lets see how well I did my job. I'll post the answer and some other images from the process tomorrow. 

UPDATE:

The art director gave me the topic of surrogacy, a woman carrying the child of another, usually from infertility. One of the other ideas I had. The lake is shaped like a woman's torso. Could have been a good one. Just noting I use a lot of lakes in my drawings. 

Also, I realize I spoiled my game because I named the final art "infertility.jpg" 

The image as it appears on the cover. 

American Illustration 31

Three images have been selected to appear in American Illustration 31, including two images from my sketchbook. Always love to have those featured. Many thanks to the Mark Heflin and the illustrious jury!

Bad Unicorn

Simon and Schuster commissioned me to illustrate the book jacket of an upcoming trilogy of young adult fantasy books called, of all things, Bad Unicorn. To say this was a dream job is to underestimate the disbelief I had when the art director herself suggested that I "impale a squirrel on the horn of Princess, the man-eating unicorn" Yeah. No problem. 

The full wrap jacket with the spine.

These were my first three concepts, they went with A, but needed less "Rambo" in the unicorn. They mixed and matched the back cover from C. 

A tight sketch and a few color comps. 

My first pass used 'atomic' colors, acidic greens and reds. But, this seemed not 'boyish' enough for the editor, so we switched the jacket and spine to black. Which works just as well. Plus, we added the 'greyscale rainbow' ... nice touch. 

Thanks to art director, and Washington University grad, Jessica Handleman for the great project! 

Drawing In Church 3/25

Dangerous Waters

Got a stellar job which gave me the opportunity to draw the Titanic for the young adult novel Dangerous Waters, by Gregory Mone. (This year is the 100th anniversary of the famous disaster). Once again, my MFA seminar on disasters found me another job as I've become the first call for turning epic tragedies into slightly whimsical ruminations.

I sent these two ideas, the first using the classic image of how the Titanic went down, and tried an unusual point of view for B, from above with dramatic forced perspective.

Going from the rough sketch was going to be tricky without some great reference, so I decided to order a model kit of the Titanic. I put it together with my son on a Saturday. My wife Andrea said "How exactly does this help you make a better drawing?" I was starting to think the same thing while gluing microscopic portholes on this thing. But, handling something in physical space makes it so much easier to construct that object in 2D on paper. Drawing from life cannot be replaced by shoddy pictures from Google. Remember this students! 

...my final sketch with the new reference. 

A few details of the final drawing. 

Peter Sagal's Childhood

A new drawing for Peter Sagal's upcoming column "Road Scholar" in Runner's World. Peter's touching piece is about running in the neighborhood where he grew up, and the memories he encounters on his, literal, jog down memory lane. As a kid, he imagines he never would have seen himself as a passionate athletic runner in adult life. So, I had the enjoyable pleasure of drawing a dorky kid in the 70's (see below).

A few of my other concepts before we settled on him jogging by himself and his house.