NewsFade to Black: VOL 1
I made a zine of some of my favorite works that I thought would translate well to black and white. After sending a couple out to some a few art directors and a couple of friends, I got a lot of positive feed back. Soooo I thought I would throw my zine to sell online for cheap….. Lack of Police Presence – Honolulu Magazine
For May, I was asked to illustrate an opinion-driven piece for Honolulu Magazine’s “Afterthoughts.” The article described the lack of police presence in Honolulu’s up and coming China Town. The authors used Otto of Otto’s Cakes (a famous local cake shop) to show how drug dealers are threatening local merchants to move out of the neighborhood. Otto attempted to gain the attention of police with no luck. Eventually, he wrote “HELP” on the window and a note saying he would only take orders placed over the phone/email and no longer held regular business hours . What a shame!
Here are two other ideas I conjured up. The first, a switch blade in a cake. The second, Otto waiting for phone calls hunched behind the counter while the doors remained locked. Thanks again Cody + Mike for an awesome written piece to illustrate. Davids Discovery
I was approached a few months ago by a non-profit to create sample images for a children’s book. The director of the non-profit believed that my work would bring a more mature look to a children’s book, making it less traditional. I do not see myself as an illustrator for children’s book, but am open to trying something new. Sadly, I was not chosen but I love the images I created and wish to share them with you.
There were a few moments in the story where the main character, while in bed, tells all of his fears to his stuffed monkey, Somo. I thought that this was really a nice charming moment in the story to paint.
At the climax of the story, David calls his mom to tell her that something went wrong at his friends house and his friends sister and he were alone and needed her. So, they went to the Library to wait for his mom to show up to tell her what happened. I wanted to make a more open spread so the art could breath. And, I wanted space for the type.
I was most excited by the possibility of interpreting the story. I wanted the characters to have different ethnicities where a child of any background could save the day. After this experience I can see myself as an illustrator of children’s books and would say yes without hesitation if approached again. Stairway to Heaven – Honolulu Magazine
This month I was generously given some breath-taking photographs to use as reference for a column I illustrate for Honolulu Magazine, “After thoughts”. The story is about a trail called “the Stairway to heaven” which consists of “3,922 metal stairs bolted to the side of lush” mountains that stretch miles. Unfortunately the Hawaiian government has banned people to walk the trail since 1987. However, many people sneak onto the trail in the thick of night when guards are least likely to protect the entrance.
After reading the story, I wonder why it’s such a concern to keep people off of the trail. Is it for health reason? Did something really terrible happen? All I know is that after seeing some of the photographs of the trail, I really want to walk it. Anyway, Cody and I decided to combine both of the sketch ideas seen above.
Alumni Stories – Notre Dame Magazine
I had the pleasure of working with Kerry at Notre Dame magazine on a series of short stories written by alumni. This a dream job for me because I believe that my work fits well with a lot of content, but short stories go the extra mile in terms of visuals.
This is a story written by an alumni about a crazy adventure in the Congo where she had to get a signature from an arch bishop. What would of normally been a 3 hour drive became a five event because of different conflicts that came along the way. % 50 Shades of Grey – Boston Globe
I am very pleased to share a cover that I did for the Boston Globe’s “G Style”. I’ve been wanting to do one of their “G” covers for a while after I saw illustrators like Kali Ciesemier, Tim Goodman and Martin Gee’s beautiful covers for the publication. Anyways, I’m really lucky to work with Catherine again on this cover, who is really great to work with. The brief I got for this cover is that there is a semi-new book that is being republished on a larger press called “50 Shades of Grey”. It’s supposed to be the next big twilight series and suburban mom’s are going nuts to get a copy of the book. After reading the description of the book, I’ve found out that the book is about S&M, and risky relationships. I was getting ready to draw a bunch of sketches of house wives with whips and chains but the art direction lead me to focus on how the books make it easier to talk about sex (with their spouse and other wives), and aren’t ashamed to be reading the book in public.
It’s been really nice out so some idea’s revolved around people reading it outside, in coffee shops, ect. In the end, we wanted to focus on having a hip late 20/early 30 women getting steamy while reading the book over tea. In the window you can see other women reading the book as well.
It’s harder to talk about Race with Obama in office – Washington Post
Talking about racial ethnicity has always been a funny topic for me. Mostly because when I tell people that I am Ethiopian, I usually get rattled off of a long list of ethnicities they thought I was (Latino being the usual first assumption.) As fun as it is to play twenty questions every once in a while, it was interesting for me to be assigned an article for the Washington Post about how it’s even harder to talk about race now that Obama is in office. Renique Allen did an excellent job writing the article. She really connected with how strange it is that even with an African American President, a greater sense of diversity and tolerance, it’s still hard to talk about race. This is mostly because of the uncomfortable fear/judgement of being called a racist for having a simple conversation about race. I collaborated with Kristin Lenz on this article to come up with the best solution. We talked back and forth on whether to include Obama or to have it be more of an abstract piece to talk more in general about the disconnect and deflection people had when talking about race. After talking with her and getting some feedback from the editors, we decided that the design/headline will help solve the problem in connection with the illustration.
Kristin did an amazing job with the layout of the article. When I picked up the paper Sunday morning, I was really taken back by how well the marriage between the design and the illustration melded together.
Here’s a follow up spot that goes along with the continuation of the article. Thanks again Kristin for taking a chance, and making a great piece of work with me. You can read the article here…. What you get for buying cheap bank stock – Bloomberg View
I had the pleasure of working with Phil on a piece for the Bloomberg View. The article is about how buying bank stock may still be cheap but that there are all sorts of problems that come along with it. On Sale Gold bicycle = Bank Stocks. Click here to view the image larger… view my tumblr news feed in a new window… |
