Everyday Heroes
I had the pleasure of illustrating the cover of this week’s Las Vegas City Life. The end-of-year feature recognizes Las Vegas residents who made a positive impact in 2011. Art Director Maureen Adamo pitched doing something superhero-related, in bright primary colors, but gave me the latitude to develop that idea a little more. Some sketches below:
Thinking along the lines of ‘Everyday Heroes’, a superhero doing something completely mundane, like waiting for a bus.
A neon hero glowing against an evening sky parodying of the famous ‘Vegas Vic’ cowboy sign.
An everyman donning the superhero cape and mask, towering over the Las Vegas skyline, which ended up being the choice.
After finishing the job up, I got a nice note mentioning that the editor was really happy with the cover. It is alway nice to hear that the boss likes the art.
Sportaldislexicartaphobia*
I’m participating in this year’s Members Open Show at the Society of Illustrators. The theme of this year’s show is ‘Fear’. I thought the image above that I created a few months ago about computer hackers for Inside Counsel would be a good fit for the show.
The opening reception is at 6:30 p.m., tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30. The show is on display starting today and runs through Thursday, December 29. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood.
*Sportaldislexicartaphobia is the fear of paintings and other forms of visual art.
Helping Hands
Here’s a quick, pre-Thanksgiving job for the Chico News & Review.
The story profiles residents making a difference. Like any paper that runs recurring stories, the challenge was coming up with an art solution that didn’t look too much like previous years. The obvious solution – superheroes had been done a few times, as had some solutions with ‘shining stars’.
Thanks to art director Tina Flynn for the job.
It’s Christmastime in Hollis, Queens (and other places, too)
Christmas is rapidly approaching. That means you need cards to send out to family and friends. Instead of heading down to the mall buying the same ho-hum stationery as everyone else, visit my online store. Three unique, New York-centric cards are available. They’re guaranteed to delight your loved ones this holiday season.
http://johnwtomac.bigcartel.com
If you happen to be in the New York City metropolitan area and want to save on shipping, place your order via e-mail and I’ll be happy to make arrangements for you to pick up your order from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn or Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.
Syrupy Sweet
I ate pancakes for breakfast every day for nearly eight years. I’d like to think this borderline obsessive compulsive behavior made me the natural choice to illustrate the following fun fact for ‘The Numbers’ section in the November issue of Spirit Magazine: It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.
I had the pleasure of working with Emily Kimbro on this assignment. Her initial idea was trees pouring syrup on pankcakes…
…she encouraged me to expand upon that idea. This is what I came up with.
Maple trees inside the bottle.
Syrup straight from the source.
More trees inside the syrup bottle.
And what would eventually appear on the page, with some alterations.
A special thanks goes out to editor Ali Miller for showing my work to the Spirit art department my work in the first place.
How ’bout them Cowboys?
Football is back… and this week’s Dallas Observer takes a look at the Cowboys. It seems the locals are a little down on America’s Team this year. 2011 looks a bit like a rebuilding year.
Art direction by the awesome Alexander Flores, whom I also worked with, perhaps not-coincidentally, in January on a Super Bowl-related piece.
Below are some other ideas, mostly portraying the team as a bunch of hapless, losers. Easy work for someone who will be rooting against them in week one.
A face for radio, a voice for print
Here’s a brief video clip of me talking about running, cancer and illustration with Runner’s World. Thanks to Kory Kennedy, Charlie Butler, Brian Sabin and David Graf for taking the time to make this happen.
Like last year, I will be running the New York City Marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training. If you would like to make a donation click here.
Thank you for your support.