Cloud Becomes Your Hand illustration, 2016

I was delighted to see my friend Stephe Cooper's band Cloud Becomes Your Hand on a short trip to NYC recently. I love their music & their live show is truly something to behold. I was pleasantly surprised to see everyone actually DANCING! Not moshing, not sitting around, but boogying! It was a sight for sore eyes. Their finale was a monumental display of synchronized dancing, it was smile educing.
Triple Threat Lives! Stephe gave a huge shout out to Triple Threat before their set started. It was dope. I attended with my good, good friend and incredible artist Jade Kuei. A good night out!

2007-2009 Political Illustration

From 2007-2009, I did a lot of illustrations for Manhattan Media. They owned a bunch of free weekly newspapers: NY Press, The Capitol, City Hall, West Side Spirit & Our Town. These were the lowest paying jobs with the quickest turnaround times, mostly political subjects, it was very depressing but I had to pay my bills. Part of me wanted to hide these forever, but the thing I like about this site is that you get to see a progression and another side of my work. So... here we go!

Some illustrators make a career out of drawing people they dislike, but it's not for me. I dislike the corruption, greed and blatant illegal practices of politicians. I must have drawn Bloomberg 20 times, it was torture.

Sptizer is another one I've draw too many times, he was a big deal during this time because he was caught being a patron of escort services. I think this country has its priorities mixed up. What we choose to be outraged by vs bigger issues we don't really care about.

Never have I had to draw a more horrific site! The art director told me where to place each politician on the tower based on how they were doing in the race at the time. I guess Obama laughed last.

Another cover I drew, I really liked this one because it did not feature a politician!

This was funny because the art director told me to draw him peering into the piggy bank. Esther exclaimed, "But he's BLIND!" She suggested I have him shake it next to his ear, I'm so glad I did that! How insensitive that would have seemed.

This one is one of my favorites for a very odd reason. I used frisket film to mask out the words on the chalk board, to really get the texture/feel of chalk. When I pulled it up, it did exactly what I wanted.

 

Don't get me wrong, I vote every chance I get. I'll never give up trying to make this country better, even against such corruption which is consistently rewarded.

2006 Illustration for 11211 Magazine, Let's Grow Art Show

Another early job I got was to illustrate Roni from Laila Lounge in Williamsburg for 11211 magazine. There was no direction or images sent to me, so I went down and interviewed him/sketched him in person. This was not typical in 2006 and is practically unheard of today, but it was a really great experience. Roni was a very funny and interesting person, he told me all about the place and himself and I was able to add some details into the image. I really like the way the spray came out in the background; the gradient and textures. They only ended up using the image as a quarter page, which meant my already tiny compensation would be even less. I never got to see the image printed, and I also had to fight for months with the owner of the magazine to get paid. But, Roni loved the image and wanted me to show my work in his place.

Flyer designed by Esther Westwood, art by artists in show

I organized Let's Grow! Art Show on Aug 17, 2006 with some of my friends including: Fumiko Yoshioka, Jason Raish, Rob Harrigan, Stephanie Buscema, Esther Westwood and Magie Serpica. We had about 5 or 6 pieces up each and there was a pretty good turnout. My childhood friend Lucas came, and my friends Matt and Morgan, Molly Crabapple etc. It was a really nice night and all came about from one tiny job.

1991 How I Love Comic Books

In elementary school, we used to create these books made of construction paper (such a good name), that were laminated and bound using that plastic comb binding. I loved making them, though I hadn't developed a sense of layout/design yet. This book was called "How I Love Comic Books". The "typography" on the cover is interesting because I chose to draw in the holes on the B.

My poor mum used to have to stand there for endless amounts of time while I went through every book in the store, and if I came out empty handed... that's when she'd flip her lid. Rightly so, sorry! I don't actually recall her ever saying that I am a comic book, I think that was me using my creative license. Ah, youth!

I find the text in this book hilarious. I remember getting yelled at for using ballpoint pen to draw on that green paper, I understand now tho. It doesn't read well.

I'm glad I appreciated weirdness. The weirdest part about this page was that I didn't even like the Fantastic Four! I never even bought an issue my entire life. I think I was writing this book as more of an introduction to comics. I wish I was more bold with my imagery here, maybe I should recreate this book? haha

I get a kick out of this page, especially in the google adwords time we live in today. I drew most of the book in crayon. My handwriting is pretty neat. I remember coloring this all in at my classmate Eric's house, he was the fastest runner in our grade. He lived in a very ritzy part of town. I remember 2 girls from our class skated by us and he yelled, "Posers!" at them. I'm not sure why he did that, at the time I didn't know what the word meant and I just thought he was complimenting them on how they were able to pose why skating. I remember weird things.

I wonder if any parents that read this were inspired to begin reading comics? There was a parent's night where everyone came and read all of our laminated books, there was a sheet on the back of each book for them to write comments. I lost the sheet, unfortunately, but I remember people wrote about how much they loved the artwork. My Mum wrote something nice in there too.

This is probably my favorite part of the book, I can't believe I wrote this! haha

I'm happy to say I still love comics, and I'm re-reading Dragon Ball (still good after all these years!). I love Frank Miller's early work, everything by Alan Moore especially Miracle Man, Jaime Hernandez' Locas, Alejandro Jodorowsky's many masterpieces, The Maxx, and a new book I love is the Invader Zim comic. If you are in NY I highly recommend my friend Menachem Luchin's shop Escape Pod Comics. His ability to recommend books is more spot on than any silly algorithm, and he has a true passion for comics. Here in SF, I go to Comix Experience. Enjoy!