Year of the Snake 2013 Japanese New Year's Card

acrylic painting process.  this is the one time of year that i do a 100% non digital painting with acrylic, colored pencils, pens, whatever.  Here are a few process shots.  

I lived in Tokyo for a year and a half until the big earthquake and during that time I took to the Japanese tradition of sending out a new years postcard with that year's asian zodiac animal.  The post office there holds all of these new years postcards and magically delivers them all on January 1st.  2013 is the year of the snake.  red snakes are good luck and white snakes are the embodiments of gods.  The bottom left says "Happy New Year", the single character at the top is "snake" but this character is special and only used to refer to the year of the snake and different one is used in everyday language.  On the right it says 2013 (with a complex Japan specific year numbering system).  The bad thing about gold paint is that it doesn't reproduce well at all.  the good thing is that the real painting looks awesome with gold paint.  Happy New Year!

Some Old Illos

spot for Emory Alumni magazine.  An alumni author writes about the hardships and joys of caring for a child with down's syndrome.  The art director told me that when the author saw this she cried (in a good way).

full page for Westchester magazine about “Helicopter Parents” and how they hover over their children and the PTA

Mon prémiere travail en France (my first job in france)

Mon prémiere travail en France. my first job in france. Le Nouvel Observateur is one of the biggest new magazines in France.  I did a full page and a spot illustration for them.  emails and communication were in french so it really was a "french" job.  story is about dating services for the rich.  There is one that is 5,000 euros to join.  some of the clients make crazy requests like they must be 1 meter 82 centimers, Argentine, a surgeon, own a helicopter, graduated from Harvard, etc....

Some new Parisians Illustrations

Another one for my Parisians project. I met Clara at Bar Ourq along Canal l'Ourq. She says her hair is from her Bretangne (north west region in France) and Algerienne origins. She loves Bollywood dance and wants to go to India to study. She loves to climb trees (Oak and Mimosa are her favorite) and rocks, walk on the rooftops of Paris at night, and walk barefoot on hot pavement. J'ai rencontré Clara au "Bar Ourq" le long de canal de l'Ourq. Selon delle sa chevelure particulière vient de ses origines Bretonnes et Algériennes. Elle est passionnée par la danse Bollywoodienne et aimerait partir en Inde pour apprendre. Elle aime danser d'une manière générale, se balader sur les toits de Paris la nuit, grimper dans les arbes (sa préfères les Chenes et les Mimosas), et sur les rochers et marche pieds nus sur les goudron chaud.

A personal project illustrating select people that I see around Paris. I saw this stunning woman standing in the background watching musicians play on St. Louis Bridge one day in early spring. J’ai vu cette éblouissante femme debout à l’arrière-plan regardant les musiciens jouer sur le Pont Saint Louis un jour au début du printemps.

I meet some of the people in my Parisians series on the street and get their email and later ask them some questions. I finally did the hand lettering for Catharina's story. Catharina in front of cafe "Le Progress". Jacket by "Mimi's Beer". She was born in Germany and a few weeks later her family left for Paris. Her passion was horseback riding and she was winning all the jumping competitions but at 18 she had to choose between horses or studies and she chose studies. She was also a model and published a book in German about her experiences. Catharina devant le cafe "Le Progrès". Vest par "Mimi's Beer". Elle est née en Allemagne et quelques semaines plus tard sa famille part pour Paris. Sa passion était l'equitation et elle gagnait toutes les compétitions du saut, mais à 18 ans elle du choisir entre les chevaux et les études et elle choisi études. Elle était aussi modéle et a publié un livre en Allemand sur ses expériences.

My Parisians project.  I met Marion in the Marais.  She was smoking in front of the boutique “Majestic” where she works.  Everyone smokes in Paris.  She is from Bordeaux and was a medalist in Taekwondo.  J’ai rencontre Marion dans le Marais.  Elle fumait devant le boutique “Majestic” ou elle travaille.  Tout la monde fume à Paris.  Elle est de Bordeaux et est mèdaillèe de Taekwondo.

 

I saw this woman while i was sitting at cafe Le Progrès. I love her fur coat juxtapozed against the big sporty moto scooter and her helmet visor.  Une femme à moto dans rue de bretagne.
 

Another one for my Parisians project.  Une fille dans le Metro ligne 5 ( a girl on the line 5 metro)

Saeko and Atsuko in Paris

Saeko and Atsuko came to Paris.  They live in London but are from Tokyo.  It was a few days of partying and relaxing



Nabil works at one of the Maje stores, a French women's brand. He has a twin sister and his other sister is a model in NY



girl on bike, Jackets bar in the background. 









that corner of Ile de la Cité





on the left if a book by Illustrator Gerald Dubois and on the left is a book by Illustrator Serge Bloch.  Both giants of illustration in America as well.



walkin' the dog



Bal Barge, part of the Paris Plages summer time fun program.  They do swing dancing here too.  It's along canal ourq



Saeko



this Chablis was pretty darn good.  Their Chablis Grande Cru is even better



Kaz dreams



I have been seeing Peter Pan a lot lately.  It's like he's taunting me.



This book was in Merci and had a short history of all the streets in Paris.  Moulin des Prés was our street.  Finally on my last day in Paris I learned the difference in pronunciation between the up and down accents on an E.  For example the Pré in Moulin des Prés means "meadow" but if the accent is down like Près it means "close" and the pronunciation is different.



you call this a shovel France?