ooblog

In light of the recent Michael Douglas son/drug situation, I coincidentally watched the movie Traffic.  At the end Michael Douglas has a great quote that says something to the effect of “I don’t know how you can wage war on drugs when it is like waging war against your own family.”  I realize he is going through a tough time, but I couldn’t help but think about how the onion or someone could post a header like “Michael Douglas speaks out about his sons sentencing…” and then play that clip.  I don’t say this to make fun as everyone and anyone, even a celebrity going through rough times, deserves comfort and privacy.

Also coincidentally, about a month ago I was asked to create a cover for Nature Medicine magazine.  Because I figured it would be a bad idea to put a face over the text, I composited my solution with the text in the sketch phase along with sending the work.  They went with my suggestion which was exciting.  Below is the result of this effort.  Thanks to Roxanne and Nature Medicine for the work along with a special thanks to Seth and Jess.

Side Note: Pill Pusher refers to the title I gave my artwork and is not about the Michael Douglas situation.

To start this week I wanted to mention that I didn’t make it to Mocca this year.  Mocca happened earlier this year and as a result I didn’t attend.  I was able to go to dinner with an artist the night before the event who did go however.  Below are covers to two (of three) comics I was able to get from him.  They reminded me of how much fun stories can be.  Check JP out and maybe if you email him he can tell you an interesting story about Paisley Park.

The third image isn’t mine either.  Actually it is from a book of artist Patrick Nagel.  I am reminded of Beardsley and Japanese wood block prints when I see Nagels images.  I know I mentioned Frank Miller in an earlier post, but some of his imagery also comes to mind along with a few others I will probably mention in future posts.  Anyway, I posted the Nagel because of the image below it that I am working on.  The last two images are parts of two different illustrations I worked on today.  I’m sure to post the completed girl image at a later date.  Hope all reading is smiling at their taxes being completed at this point.  Regardless of how some may feel, most people were taxed less this year than in recent years.

In the interest of trying to switch things up,  this is supposed to be the study/sketch image post, but I ended up working on something else today, so maybe next week.  I thought about posting something I worked on on the day it was created since I usually post things which are a few weeks old to me.  This one was finished yesterday which I guess is close enough, but the point of the end of the day image was to put a little of pressure on myself with little idea as to what it would look like moments before posting.  One of these days…  Below is my interpertation of a frog mutated with a dog.  I call it a froodge although drofog was a close second.

Happy Easter everyone!  It’s been years since I’ve seen the movie Ghandi and I was fortunate enough to see it again recently.  Desperate times often gives opportunity for great change.  I wonder if now is one of those times again with unemployment, uninsured, homeless, global warming and war.  When Bush was president I might not have agreed with his practices, but I never wished for his best efforts for America to fail.  The one thing I cannot understand is why someone would oppose making a situation better.  Regardless of who is president,  it is unpatriotic to hope that that president fails.  We should all ask ourselves the question.  If the president is our best chance of representation and change and he fails because we want him to,  what does that say about us?  Maybe we should fail because if we don’t understand the value of the thing we are fighting for, then maybe we don’t deserve it.

If you’ve stopped by the site recently, the image below will come as no surprise.  I read “Life of Pi” when I was in school.  It is a wonderful book about desperation, faith, and what can be achieved under drastic circumstances.  All should check it out.