The Pencil Factory / AIGA NY Mixer

It's been almost two years since I moved into studio 515 at the Pencil Factory here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It's been great to have a place to go to work to, and be surrounded with such exceptional individuals.

Now, spearheaded by AIGA Board member Jesse Ragan, the various studios in the building have come together to host the latest edition of the AIGA New York MIX, a networking event taking place at the Wooly in Manhattan.

Here's the official link: http://aigany.org/events/mix-designers-drinks-2/ AIGA Members only, RSVP while you can, we would love to see you!

We're all creating some swag for the event and everybody is very excited. Here is a first look at the exclusive silkscreen printed pencils we all drew, printing courtesy of Two Arms. Mine is the one with the bite out of it.

There will be tote bags with goodies for every guest, including my brand-new cards I just got made.

Also, my studio mate Neil Swaab put together a site that lists all the studios involved in the event, so now the Pencil Factory has finally a Website: http://pencilfactory.biz

See you next week!

"Ruins Girl" selected into SILA 52

Another win for this piece: My "Ruins Girl" has been successful in the 52nd competition of the Society Of Illustrators of Los Angeles, woot!

Previously it has been judged into the 3x3 Illustration Annual, Communication Arts, and Chosen by American Illustration.

Thanks so much to the judges, and congrats to all the winners!

New York Times Op/Ed: The Forgotten Virtues of Tammany Hall

I had the great pleasure doing an Op/Ed for the New York Times last week, which ran the past Saturday. The article dealt with the landmark status for the Tammany Hall, the building that hosted the notorious and highly influential "political machine" that was synonymous with corruption in NY during the 1800s up until 1930s. But this article made the case that Tammany Hall actually helped some of the poor of New York City.

Op/Ed Art Director Matt Dorfman encouraged me to check out some of Thomas Nast's cartoons of that time, often ridiculing "Boss" Tweed and picturing him as a massive, over-sized figure, so I went from there. The first sketch shows the actual building and and a self-righteous Boss Tweed, as well as one of his underlings feeding the poor.

In the second version, I managed to make him more involved and boil the idea down better. And we got rid of the building altogether. All along, Matt and I went back and forth with layout screenshots, as this image plays with the page design in a subtle way, it's kind of open and not boxed in which is fun.

Here is the final result. Thanks again to Art Director Matt Dorfman for the great project and awesome collaboration!

Happy New Year!

Something just for fun– hope everybody is having a good start into the year!

100 ILLUSTRATORS by Taschen

I'm extremely honored to be part of this beautiful book by Taschen: 100 Illustrators sets out to showcase […] today’s most successful and important illustrators from around the globe […], and along many of my heroes, it features a few spreads about me.

This massive 2-volume book in a slipcase is decorated with all the self-portraits by the artists on the outside. Mine is on the back of the slipcase.

The Huffington Post already wrote some very nice things about the book and included it in their list of Best Art-Books of 2013. You can find more reviews and info on the Taschen website, where you can also order it directly.

Many thanks again to editors Julius Wiedemann and Steve Heller for including me and for creating such a fantastic showcase for illustration.

Which Way USA: Hawaii

My next book from the Which Way USA series for Highlights for Children is available now, this time it's Hawaii! This one was fun because the palette was a little different. Some of the pieces even made it into my recent show at the German Consulate General.


Here are some of the interiors:

You can order all the Which Way USA books from Highlights for Children through their website or through the magazine.

Thanks again to the lovely folks at Highlights and my art director Michele Weisman!