Boston Globe Illustration in the Flesh

I received this in the post at the weekend. I was fortunate that a friend over in the US was able to pick up a copy of The Boston Globe from a few weeks ago with my illustration inside. So here it is. Turns out the picture eventually ran in black and white (I had to provide a colour and a B&W version). I think I quite like it in monochrome.

First post of 2013, so I should also add- Happy New Year!

Boston Globe Sketches

Thought I'd pop up some of the sketches I did for the Boston Globe illustration I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the final sketch: 

Boston Globe Illustration

Last week I was asked to produce an illustration for the Opinion pages of the Boston Globe. In the editorial, the writer reminisces about her life before and after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, where her husband was an investment banker. The story hangs around a recollected holiday afternoon in the summer of 2001. The art director was particularly keen on capturing the evocative atmosphere of the piece.

The editorial, by Judy Abel, can be read online, but is subscribers only. It's a great piece though!

The illustration ran pretty large- it was printed at about 10 inches high, I believe, which is very cool. I'll try to post up some of my sketches for this too.

Thanks for looking!

He wins with just his hands...

This is the first in a series of portraits I've started, featuring people I admire. 'Heroes' it could be called. I conceived this Jackie Chan image in context of an article about him in a magazine. I wanted the text & image to work together more effectively than the usual rectangle spot or 1/2 page illustration, although I could've pushed this a lot further.

There's a lot of dichotomy within JC and his films: 'East' and 'West', violence verses pacifism, the fact that his US-made films are beloved of audiences yet strongly disliked by Chan himself. I tried to express the contrast between, on one hand, the fighting and shooting in Chan's films and on the other his distaste for violence and love of comedy, hence the pistol becoming a water pistol. The talisman is from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon, in which Chan is tasked with preventing these 12 magical chinese zodiac charms falling into evil hands. The tiger talisman has the power of dividing the user into two people: a good side and a bad one, ying & yang. That seemed very appropriate. 

The cartoon is awesome, check it out if you haven't seen it. At the bottom I've posted up the ending theme, which is possibly the greatest song EVER. Even if it is a Wheatus song with the lyrics changed...