THEISPOT.COM: Illustration News: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

Michael Morgenstern: Financial Hell

Michael Morgenstern was invited by Common Ground magazine to come up with an illustration depicting the "depths of financial despair" for community associations that are going under. The article, in turn, offers the positive side of filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy as a way out.

Ruth Rowland: Green’s Cake Mix

Ruth Rowland was delighted when this job for Green's Cake Mixlettering turned up in her inbox. “Anyone who knows me will know I'm partial to a nice bit of cake,” she laughs. The client is based in Australia but in this digital age distance makes little difference to a job, as long as you keep track of time zones.

Keith Negley: The New Face of Hate

Keith Negley’s cover for The Nashville Scene illustrates a story about the American Renaissance Conference, whose followers believe they are “intellectual racists.” Unlike the KKK, this movement seeks to explain their beliefs through science and intellectual thought.

Dan Page: Green Wedding

Dan Page ties the knot in green for Audubon Magazine, illustrating an article about eco-friendly weddings.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Thomas Ehretsmann: Zodiaque

Thomas Ehretsmann's intense noir style of painting lends itself very well to the mystery genre. Take a look at this on-going series of Zodiac themed covers he created for French publisher Delcourt.

Megan Piontkowski: Tiny Underdog City

Megan Piontkowski will host a book launch and cocktail party for her hand printed, hand bound paperback edition of Tiny Underdog City: An Uncomprehensive Guide on Saturday April 14th at 8pm at 75a 10th St. in Brooklyn.

Dave Arkle: Hulk Hogan

Dave Arkle’s latest promo mailer found its way into the PR department of Hulk Hogan’s office. They ordered a print for the boss right away!

Kathryn Rathke: Newsweek Portraits

Kathryn Rathke is thrilled with her new status as a Newsweek/Daily Beast contributor. Here is her portrait of David Frum, a former Bush speech-writer, now calling his party out on its strident looniness. This portrait + 8 others (including Tina Brown) are viewable on the iPad edition of the magazine.

Jennifer L. Meyer: Bunny General App

Jennifer L. Meyer’s Bunny General App is out for the iPad. It has “The Attack at Mushroom Pass” as well as several of her cute animal sketches.

Jonathan Williams: Old Raver

Jonathan Williams continues his series of “Musical Tribes” for Q magazine with #7, Old Raver. “As he rocks the baby for the fifth time that night, this new dad drifts off into a sleep-deprived dream of the good times he once had with the gang: Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Gatecrasher, Cream, now dinner parties topped off with a dessert dab of MDMA…”

Niklas Asker: The Illustration Project

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]Niklas Asker will be having an exhibition in Sweden, The Illustration Project, inspired by the books of Virginia Wolf, Haruki Murakami, Italo Calvino, Carl-Johan De Geer, Joan Didion, Philippe Claudel, Jeanette Winterson, Jón Kalman Stefánsson and Siri Hustvedt.

Michal Dziekan: All Around the World

Michal Dziekan has been keeping busy with jobs both near and far from his native Poland. This wacky series of images was created for TBWA/Raadin Dubai:

Anthony Freda: London Riots

Anthony Freda was cited by the Huffington Post in an article about artists who responded visually to the London riots of 2011.

Yvetta Fedorova: Yum Yum

Yvetta Fedorova created this fun mural for pan Asian restaurant Yum Yum in upstate New York.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

James Bennett: And Nothing But the Truthiness

James Bennett’s portrait of a Mt. Rushmorized Stephen Colbert strikes a properly wry note for the cover this behind-the-scenes biography of the comedian.

David Vogin: Chakota Magazine

David Vogin is featured on the cover and interviewed extensively in the current issue of Mexican arts publication, Chakota Magazine.

Chris Gash: Feeling the Moves

Chris Gash pens an unusually fun image for his regular Observatory column in the NY Times Science section this week. Ballet lovers may “truly feel that they are dancing” when they watch a performance, researchers have found after measuring the brain activity of experienced spectators.

Edel Rodriguez: Recent Editorial Work

Edel Rodriguez continues to produce astounding creative work through his ability to distill a concept and present it in its purist form.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Mark Smith’s recent illustration for CPO Agenda had to do with fraudulent business types getting banged up.

Scott Brundage was commissioned by the Wall St. Journal to illustrate the obscure fact that the modern bracketing format used in sports tournaments was originally created by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.

Tim O’Brien: Chuck Berry

Tim O’Brien’s portrait of the legendary Chuck Berry graces the cover of this month’s St. Louis magazine, celebrating the 100 greatest musicians in the city’s history.

Edward Kinsella: St. Louis Magazine

Edward Kinsella worked with his hometown magazine last month, illustrating an article honoring the 100 greatest musicians in the history of St. Louis. It was a tough one: eleven portraits in two weeks with minimal, mostly grainy reference material for many of the artists. Here are a couple of his favorites from the group (Albert King and Uncle Tupelo).

Taylor Callery: Military Religion

Taylor Callery created this piece for The Progressive, illustrating a story about religion in the military.

Chuck Gonzales: Rise or Fall

Chuck Gonzales illustrated Rise or Fall, a game of jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, punks, goths... What's your favorite clique from teen movies? In Rise or Fall, play as one of eight groups and try to get the most popularity points by stealing them from your opponents.

David Saracino: Strategic Planning

David Saracino worked a quick turnaround for the Washington Post's Capital Business. The image was a fairly straight-forward concept for a more serious article about Strategic Planning.

Shaw Nielsen: Be Loud

Shaw Nielsen issues a brief public service announcement: Its O.K. to rock out and be loud. You have permission.

James Yang: Back to Work

James Yang’s illustration for the Washington Post accompanies a special section describing US job growth by sector.

Anthony Freda: Screwed

Anthony Freda’s brief and brutal animation sums up his feelings about the National Counter Terrorism Center database, which now has free rein to “retrieve, store and search information about Americans gathered by government agencies for purposes other than national security threats.”

Melinda Beck: CMYK

Melinda Beck is interviewed about her creative process in the current issue of CMYK Magazine.

Chase Stone: March Madness

Chase Stone’s unpublished image for the Wall Street Journal depicts the comical pseudo-explanation for the mysterious origin of brackets.

Robert Neubecker: What Little Boys are Made Of

Robert Neubecker’s latest children’s book for Harper Collins romps through simple verse and lushly happy illustrations to show the world, once and for all, just What Little Boys are Made Of.

Jon Krause: American Grace

Jon Krause created this image for Liberty Magazine to illustrate “American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us.”

Monday, March 26, 2012

Roy Scott: Recent Covers

Roy Scott was commissioned by Wolters Kluwer Health to create two powerful covers for their Nursing and Nursing Management magazines. The Nursing cover illustrated a feature on “Bipolar Disorder Medication Paths”.

Alex Nabaum: Harnessing Carbon

Alex Nabaum created this piece for Corporate Knights to illustrate an article about capturing carbon and turning it into something useful, instead of burying it.

Jing Jing Tsong: Instant Gratification

Jing Jing Tsong wryly comments, “The funny thing about illustration is that sometimes you never see your work in the context for which it was commissioned.” Fortunately, providing show posters for her band, Leche de Tigre provides instant gratification!

Michael Sloan: Washington Post

Michael Sloan’s recent work for the Washington Post is full of fun, motion and color.

Andrew R. Wright: Saints Throughout Time

Andrew R. Wright was contacted by Loyola Press to do a series of images based on saints throughout time. The only restriction was the cropping of the figures at about thigh high and no where else. This was to allow them to use the figure in silhouette or with the background.

Paul Mirocha: Titanoboa

Paul Mirocha’s chilling portrait of Titanoboa, the largest snake ever to slither the Earth, appears in the April 2012 edition of Smithsonian Magazine. The good news is that it lived a safe 58 million years ago.

Jonathan Williams: Pop Fiend

Jonathan Williams continues his series of “Musical Tribes” for Q magazine with #6, Pop Fiend. “…He wears his Janet Jackson lanyard underneath his shirt at the office, but when he gets home, he swaps it for his The Saturdays T-shirt. People think he means it ironically, but he knows it’s for real, always.”

John Kachik: Young Women Camp

John Kachik designed a retro-styled "campy" camp postcard image to accompany story in New Era Magazine celebrating 100 years of Young Women Camp.

Jeanine Henderson: Mermaid Commission

Jeanine Henderson was delighted to get her hands back on real brushes and paint for this recent commission for a private collector. “The only guideline was that it should be a mermaid,” says Jeanine, “Which definitely tops my list of favorite subject matter!”