The rule of thirds...

apparently I like to draw people in 3's. so be it.
Quick piece I did for HR Magazine about cuts across the board.
basically at a certain State University, rather than firing workers HR had the genius idea to just implement miniature, unpaid leaves of absence - super miniature - maybe just a few hours once a week. these were also tiered so that it had the greatest effect on the highest paid employees - that way, everyone could afford the cutback. basically everyone sacrifices so that no jobs are lost.
Good of the University to want to keep its employees - from bottom to top
heres some roughs.

Quick, like a bunny ...

yesterday i did a very fast turn around op-ed for the nytimes (running today) about doctors treating patients using guidelines rather than personal assessments. this is a reaction to malpractice suites etc - and in an effort to curb that - standardization would help. the downside is you can not treat an illness in a uniform way - everyone is different. from beginning starting on roughs to end about 4 hours. read it online here
Thanks Alex for bringing the wrong credit to my attention :)

SAAS

Sometimes a less conceptual approach is necessary.
Those words haunt me, but are true. I recently did this piece for CSO magazine about Software as a service coming to surveillance. Say that ten times fast. Basically this means that those that use surveillance software will be able to use it anywhere thanks to the internet. Thanks internet.
I tried to push for a few conceptual ideas - but a clear a+b+c solution made more sense. We decided to do with 50's style service men presenting the necessary components. I wanted them to all look the exact same to get across a more mechanical / consistent vibe as its ultimately being offered by technology, not a human being.
heres some roughs and a picture of me painting. For a while i was focusing on the "dead weight" that was dropped by the new software ^^^

I have issues with food...

A few months ago I was contacted by Houston Press about doing some spots for their "Best of" restaurant issue - Here is a few of them -
Best "ethical zen" dining:
Best highbrow, oldschool, expensive meal:Best winebar (and a reuse idea from when i was in university)There were more, but i felt these worked really well as a series of portraits.
Oh - and heres a video that goes with the title: man like me - fruit

Under Pressure...

Such a classic song. maybe, in my top ten. maybe. Anyway, heres a piece i did for AARP about the added pressure bank fees and overdraft charges cause their customers. is costumers the right word? are bankers customers? anyway, was really happy with the solution, seemed to fit like a glove. upon submitting the final i received an email asking if i could do another small illo for the bottom of the page to show tying together finances, and they needed it ASAP. AARPASAP. so did that one too. really nice clients to work for, thats for sure! - couple of roughs, there were lots!loved this idea - cant believe it hasnt been done before! im sure you'll be seeing it sometime in the future. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and then the little spot illo
and a rough i was hoping might make the grade:

Mao Mao Mao

Op-ed running in the LATimes today about the Chinese Communist Party "adopting" many of the ideologies of Confucianism - in an attempt to bridge many of the serious gaps plaguing the country. Long sentence ... sorry. Essentially, the solution is a bit suspiciously convenient. Man this painting went late - but its great to work at that time of night - the city gets so calm. Drawing Confucius' mustache on Mao was my favorite idea, so i was thrilled Wes went this way - here are some of the other roughs too:

thunder struck

(ever notice my shadows make NO sense??)

This piece was for Leap Magazine, Alberta Cancer Foundations magazine, put out by the great people at Venture Publishing. The article was called "the science of stress", and basically went into the health and personal dangers stress causes. Even though its very serious subject matter, i had some fun playing with depicting stress, and its consequences. Nice, fun piece to paint, so big thanks to them for thinking of me for this project. On a side note, nonslick is getting a bit more help (Mark and I are falling behind) as friend and fellow illustrator Daniel Fishel has agreed to join the team and help us conduct some interviews. I'd really like to add at least one more person, so, if you'd like to reach out to other illustrators and discuss their work with them get in touch with me.
Here are some of the roughs that were submitted:

bully

My titles suck.
So, this piece was for byFaith Magazine. Its a Christian magazine that tackles everyday subject matter. In this case, Wall street's possession of the housing market, among other things. my initial stab at roughs was way off - as i wasnt focusing on wall street, or housing, but rather the strong element of materialistic Christianity found in the article, as well as the tendency to put money and spending ahead of their faith. so I sent some roughs in, heres a look...those, and others were turned down, and i was given some thoughts on what i should focus on and a bit more of idea of what they were looking for. I had some clear ideas of ways I'd like to show wallstreet, as well as the role they played in the mortgage meltdown, and their possession of so much real estate. so, i submitted more roughs (that i might just hold onto for now) and my fav was picked. a bull wearing a (house like) cowbell seemed like the perfect way to show the possession and control, so i was happy. Like most pieces, i tried some new techniques. My hope was that the viewer would be drawn to the eye / face area of the bull and almost notice the bell secondary. So, I kept the colours similar, except for the blue. I wanted him to looked a bit pissed, but more powerful than anything else. really fun to paint
thanks for visiting. oh - and check out the FANTASTIC layout up top!!!

and then there was light

heres a little spot i did for Treasury & Risk Magazine. The piece was about people whistle blowing solely for the cash incentives. The kicker, is that those being caught arent necessarily upset, they can get a cut too. its all loco.

Run away train, never coming back

Heres a piece i did last month for New Jersey Monthly about this train line called "The Dinky". Its this really little train thats been running to Princeton since, like, 1839 and its going to be replaced with a bus service. The article title "Death of the dinky" really says it all - making the solution of a train speeding into a tunnel / grave a pretty obvious one - they are the same shape after all. Pretty sad article considering its rich history. Very rarely do i have to paint things that looks like they do in real life, so this was a fun challenge.
I have to say too, the AD for this was THE COOLEST.
Gregory is a former hardcore kid, still straight edge, and we've had a lot of fun talks about music, concerts etc. Really hope i get to work with him again in the future, but in general, all around super rad guy!!
some roughs:
there were lots of other "death / grave ones"

if you build it...

This should be in todays WSJ - an overnight about how workers help build investments.
it appears REALLY small - like 2.5 by 1.75 - so i wanted it to be pretty bold and easy to read. these fast turnarounds REALLY make you think on your feet and I was super happy with the solution. In other news it seems like fall has crept up on us. Stay warm with handmade vintage fur headbands, by headmistress here <--- Oh come on, its my girlfriends company, i have to plug it from time to time.

Operation Ivy

Operation Ivy was a band. Fish, I'm look at you to have been a fan. This really has nothing to do with the piece, it just clearly involves the childrens game Operation ... nevermind. Ok, I got a chance to work with one of my fav AD's recently - the great Colleen Nicholson at Canadian Family. The article was called "Beat the Odds" and was about preventing childhood illness. Pretty serious content, but not impossible to approach light heartedly. This little gem of an idea was 100% Colleens, but i posted a few of my own below as well (there were way way more). If you haven't worked with Colleen send her harassing emails until you do - its a lot of fun and totally worth it. Wait ... maybe dont do that...