Illo for "The Art of Doing" blog: Lynsey Addario

Here's a drawing I did of combat photojournalist Lynsey Addario to help promote 

"The Art of Doing," a book by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield. 

You can read more about the book here: http://www.theartofdoing.com/

The Grim Reaper Votes

Cover illo for WESTWORD

art direction by Jay Vollmar

Cosplay Apocalypse #2

Cosplay Apocalypse #2

Back cover art for Jeremy Baum's anthology ARCADIA, 

available here: http://bit.ly/Ry6Mdk

Danny Hellman appearing at MICE in Cambridge, 9/29/12

I'll be sitting in with R. Sikoryak at MICE in Cambridge this Saturday, 

flogging my new limited edition screen print "Cemetery Nude" 

http://www.masscomics.com/

Three two-page spread illustrations for HOTWIRE

Three two-page spread illustrations by Danny Hellman for HOTWIRE, 

a comics anthology edited by Glenn Head. 

“King Ludwig II’s Dream War” from HOTWIRE #2, 2008

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/Qf1CiB

“Alice vs the Sandman” from HOTWIRE #3, 2010 

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/SSYQ8P

“Mop Man vs Ape-O-Tron” from HOTWIRE #1, 2006

Buy it here: http://amzn.to/RgTQE1

Cover art and interior illos for MY YEAR OF FLOPS

Cover art and interior spot illos for 

MY YEAR OF FLOPS by Nathan Rabin Spring 2010 

art direction by Rex Bonomelli 

The book may be purchased here: http://amzn.to/Rxdv81

Seven assorted Presidential race illos

"ROMNEY UNZIPPED" 

Cover illustration for Boston Phoenix

February 2010, Art direction by Kristen Goodfriend

"WET PAINT OBAMA"

Illustration for C&E Politics

May 2008, Art direction by Jeff Brown

"SUPER OBAMA"

Cover illustration for Creative Loafing Tampa

July 2008, Art direction by Jason Hatcher

 "DESTROY ALL REPUBLICANS"

Illustration for Las Vegas Weekly

October 2011, Art direction by Ryan Olbrysh

 “DESKTOP ELECTION”

Illustration for PRSA TACTICS

January 2008, Art direction by John Elsasser

"PEPPER-SPRAY THE GOP"

Cover illustration for SF BAY GUARDIAN

January 2012, Art direction by Mirissa Neff

“CANDIDATES 2008”

Illustration for THE STRANGER

October 2007, Art direction by Aaron Huffman

R.I.P. Robert Hughes.

R.I.P. Robert Hughes.

(illustration for Alexander Cockburn’s NYPress column, June 1, 1997)

Labels for BIERE GALLIA, Paris.

Labels for BIERE GALLIA, Paris.

Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012), R.I.P.

Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012), R.I.P.

(illo from New York Press, October 19, 1998)

Guitar World: Zombie Apocalypse

Four illustrations by Danny Hellman for Guitar World magazine. 

GW asks four rock guitarists, (Brett Hinds, Jerry Cantrell, Lenny Kravitz and Mick Mars) 

what they plan to do when the Zombie Apocalypse arrives, 

(art direction by Alexis Cook). 

The Malling of San Francisco

The Malling of San Francisco, 

cover illo for SF Bay Guardian, week of July 10, 2012.

Art direction by Brooke Robertson.

http://www.sfbg.com/2012/07/10/malling-san-francisco

Fake Ad: Institute for the Dying Arts, (starring Wally Wood)

Scan of the back cover of BLACK EYE #1.

Wally Wood would’ve been 85 today, (6/17/12).

My Take on Hans Rickheit's COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA

I think I've hoisted my fan flag for cartoonist Hans Rickheit a few times here in the past. I've enjoyed every scrap of his exquisitely-drawn, darkly hilarious work that I've seen, and I've had the privilege of publishing him in a couple of comics anthologies. You can imagine how excited I was when Hans asked me to offer my take on his delightful twins, Cochlea & Eustachia.

I don't remember exactly when Hans sent me the invite. What I do know is that it was far enough back that I'm embarrassed at how long it's taken me to get my shit together and crank this one out.

As you might expect, I loved wandering for a few days through Cochlea & Eustachia's world, the best part of the trip being our daughter Alice's questions about the drawing. Questions like, "are the girls escaping from something," "is one of them a robot," "is the little monster their friend, or is he going to eat them," "why are their feet green," etc.

(and if you don't know Hans Rickheit's stuff, get your ass over here: http://www.chromefetus.com/ )

 

CBGB Festival 2012 Poster Art, Version #3

Yet another version of my poster art for the upcoming CBGB Festival 2012, 

this time for the event's film series.

CBGB Festival 2012 Poster art: Alternate Version for Whiskey Tasting

CBGB Festival 2012 Poster art: alternate version for the whiskey tasting.

Poster art for CBGB Festival 2012

Here's my poster art for the CBGB Festival 2012, coming in June. I’ll post more info on the event when I get it!

Art for 360i's BrandLand SXSW page

Here’s some fun web-specific stuff I drew last month for the award-winning digital marketing agency 360i.

360i’s marketing manager Katie Perry was looking for some art to serve as a backdrop for their SXSW Tumblr page, as well as a logo for a promo bag to be given out at the event. My solution was to draw a whole bunch of Austin-themed icons, which could then be rearranged into various formats.

The image with the red silhouette of Texas is what’s being used for the bag, and the image with the icons scattered over a light blue map of Austin and the surrounding environs is the Tumblr page backdrop. I’ve also included a logo design that ultimately didn’t get used, but one that I think turned out nicely.

Oh, The Jobs That Get Killed, Part Two

Here’s the second batch of illos from last Summer’s killed Dr Seuss parody book project, the saga of which can be read here. 

Cartoonist Darren Gendron brought my attention to a successful legal action by the Geisel estate against Penguin Books in 1997. It seems that, at the height of the OJ Simpson trial, the folks at Penguin were moving forward with a Dr Seuss-style parody of the OJ case, written in anapestic tetrameter, with Seuss-style illos and the divinely inspired title, “The Cat NOT In The Hat.” 

After reading about the case, I find it hard to decide whose side I’m on. It’s pretty obvious that “The Cat NOT In The Hat” was going to be a TERRIBLE book, and the world is probably an infinitesimally better place thanks to the swift action of the Geisel estate’s attorneys. That said, I can’t see how a book featuring drawings of OJ Simpson wearing a red & white striped hat could ever be confused with the genuine works of Dr Seuss.

As far as I can tell, Penguin wasn’t appropriating Seuss’ trademarked characters for profit, (as Dan O’Neill and the infamous Air Pirates did with Disney’s characters in 1971), and I can’t imagine anyone stupid enough to accidentally hand their child Penguin’s OJ parody book in place of the actual “The Cat In The Hat.”  So, why did the judge side with the Geisel estate?

The Plaintiff’s complaint cites an interesting opinion by SCOTUS justice David Souter in Acuff v. Rose: “For the purposes of copyright law, the nub of the definitions, and the heart of any parodist’s claim to quote from existing material, is the use of some elements of a prior author’s composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that authors works…. If, on the contrary, the commentary has no critical bearing on the substance or style of the original composition, which the alleged infringe merely uses to get attention or to avoid the drudgery in working up something fresh, the claim to fairness in borrowing from another’s work diminishes accordingly (if it does not vanish), and other factors, like the extent of its commerciality, loom larger.”

In other words, it’s not parody, (i.e. protected speech) if you’re merely borrowing elements of the original work to get attention and save yourself the drudgery of coming up with something new. But then, doesn’t the use of Seuss’s gimmicks, (the striped hat, the drawing style, the rhyming pattern) juxtaposed with the horror of the Simpson case add up to some kind of commentary on Seuss’s work, and beyond that, is it even possible to create new work that doesn’t draw on existing material? Isn’t new art always, (to some degree) a synthesis of what came before?

My verdict: bad book shut down by worse decision.

More info about the Seuss v. Penguin action here.

Oh, The Jobs That Get Killed, Part One

I spent the Summer of 2011 working on a heap of illos for a satirical book project about how terrible job prospects are for recent grads in this shitty economy. The publisher, (who for their own protection will go unnamed here) had the tragically brilliant idea of massaging the written text into the format of a Dr Seuss book, and I was tapped to provide the illustrations.

This assignment was a bit of a stretch for me, not only because I’m not the illustration world’s most adept style mimic, (R. Sikoryak comes to mind), but also because Dr Seuss’ wildly loose approach to drawing is pretty much the polar opposite of my own unforgivingly precise, tight-assed style. Nevertheless, I’m a big Seuss fan, and I welcome the occasional modest challenge, so I dove into a stack of Seuss books and got to work. 

A few months into the project, (after I’d turned in about half of the book’s 80 or so illos) the publisher sent promo materials for the book  out to retailers. Apparently, some wicked, Grinch-like person felt compelled to pass these materials along to attorneys who work for the Ted Geisel estate, at which point this flock of legal carrion birds descended on my publisher much as the Onceler clan does on a newly-discovered forest of virgin Truffula trees.

Okay, enough of the Seuss metaphors. Suffice to say that my publisher was hit with a Cease & Desist letter, and the project was killed, in spite of our well-established First Amendment right to commit parody.

Sometimes it’s actually a relief when jobs get killed, but more often it comes as a bit of a heartbreak, (at least in my experience), and this episode definitely falls into the second category. In spite of the generous kill fee I was paid, I was disappointed that these drawings would never be seen. Now that some time has passed, I’ve picked twelve of my favorites, which I’ll post in two batches. I hope you like them!

Four LOVE & SEX spots for LV Weekly

Four illos for the February 9th, 2012 issue of LAS VEGAS WEEKLY, 

the “Love & Sex Issue,” art direction by Ryan Olbrysh.