36 Bald Guys.

School Turnarounds.

Finished Illustration for Annenberg VUE, about the disastrous impact of federally mandated "school turnarounds."

Finished Cover.

VUE36 Cover.  I still have a few days before it's finally due but I think I am finished.

Last Minute Panic.

I experienced a last minute panic on this one.  I'd uploaded the first version for the client but felt very shaky about it, so I decided to try something to reconcile my misgivings.

Believe it or not I absolutely slaved over the bottom image. Two days of painting and re-painting to no satisfaction. The idea worked OK in the sketch, and the client approved it, but when I brought color into the game everything fell apart. I was shooting for my usual neo-primitive treatment of the face, but the guy is just too damned good looking to deserve such injustice. Ultimately, I erased the goofy stuff, did a quick, minimal trace of his features and overlaid it on the painting, making adjustments to the skull  to accommodate. Surprisingly, while I thought I'd distorted his head significantly in my first attempt, it was almost dead-on in the contour. Weird.

Anyway, this one's done. My butt's killing me from sitting for three days straight. God bless the dogs for their patience—they've been amazingly calm and loyal.

One Down, One to Go.

Sketches

Sketches for portraits of TEDMed Speakers.

Deborah Estrin is a computer scientist and one of the key developers of network sensing, with applications which include monitoring the self—one's health, state of mind, environment, etc.—with the use of remote devices. Something as commonplace as a smartphone can be used to remote monitor a patient's health, for example.

Peter Attia often uses himself as a test subject in his research on nutrition in an effort to combat obesity. He's also an accomplished swimmer.

A Few More Sketches.

The first two are ideas for a piece about the need for equitable distribution of federal resources.

A spot illustration about the need for more time for students, including the possibility of lengthening school days by three hours.

Another for the same article, but emphasizing "getting a piece of the pie" as a result of having more time for school and extracurricular activities.

Some other rejects for the piece about draconian school turnarounds, which sometimes includes replacing teachers and school staff without fully anticipating the negative repercussions.

Rejected cover ideas about the next four years of education reform.