Weekly portraits for the NY Observer

About a month ago I was contacted by Ivylise at the NY Observer to do a weekly portrait for their sister publication, Commercial Observer. Doing a portrait a week has been amazing, and is really great practice and exploration. I constantly try to loosen up a LITTLE bit more each week, and avoid being too tight and contrived - but I'm still extremely happy with the way this weekly column is going. Thanks to Ivy for the great opportunity, and thanks to you for reading! Check back soon for more updates and more weekly portraits from this series!

New portraits for Toronto Life

Here are a few small portraits I did for the January issue of Toronto Life Magazine. Thanks to John, the AD for the assignment!

Cover and feature for UCLA Magazine

I recently worked on this feature for UCLA Magazine, and found out that they chose to use one of the features as a cover, which is always great to hear! This story was called "Bruins on Broadway" - about UCLA graduates that have become actors/dancers/singers, etc. Alicia over at UCLA asked if I would be interested in using some studio photographs already taken and essentially creating a "set" like environment behind the actors, without actually using THE set from the play/production. I thought it would be an interesting challenge and took on the project! Thanks a bunch to Alicia and Charlie over at UCLA. Lots of fun this one was! Enjoy...



Taylor Sternberg performs for "Jersey Boys"


Heather Lindell performs in "La Cage Aux Folles"


Michael Stuhlbarg plays Arnold Rothstein on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire"

Wall Street Journal

Last week I did a quick illustration for the Wall Street Journal- Sunday Journal, for a column called "Yoder and Sons". I had a great time working on this job and was thrilled to get a call from WSJ! Thanks a bunch to Mark - such a nice guy and great to work with! Enjoy

Holidays in NYC

I try to get to Rockefeller Center every year to draw the famous Christmas tree and Holiday festivities. I got off the train at Rockefeller Center and had all intentions of walking over to the tree, but decided to do a drawing of Radio City Music Hall. I had a blast drawing this corner. It was about 35 degrees with a "Feels like" of 24. Needless to say, it was cold, but I was able to bang out this drawing before my fingers went completely numb. Click to enlarge it a bit... Enjoy!

Orange Coast monthly illustrations

For almost a year now, I've been doing a monthly illustration for a lovely column in Orange Coast Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for the Orange County, CA area. For some reason, I've never posted any of the illustrations, so I'll post a few of my favorites now. It's sometimes a tricky job because of the horizontal size restraints. But at the same time, it's a challenge and forces me to think a little differently. Thanks to Mindy for assigning these to me, and putting all of her trust in these illustrations. It's a pleasure to work with her. CLICK to enlarge these so you can get a better view!


for a story on the Orange County Fair


for a story on Prop 19 and educating your children about Marijuana


for a funny story on the Housewives of OC, and complaining of going broke, meanwhile living in style...

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

Crime/murder illustration

I had gotten a lot of great feedback on a personal piece that I did last year of a Mafia Boss' first time contract killing. Below is another crime/murder piece that I wanted to do and finally found some time to do another personal piece. This one is inspired by the events that led to the killing of Albert Anastasia, the founder of Murder Inc. Anastasia was gunned down by two men wearing scarves as masks in a hotel Barber shop in 1957. Although many have had their theories on who the killers where, the gunmen were never caught. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments!



I have been watching a lot of ID (Investigation Discovery) channel, so maybe that's where I draw a lot of this inspiration from - but it also comes from my love for old style illustrators such as Bernie Fuchs, Joe Bowler, Robert Weaver, Robert Fawcett, Al Parker, Bob Peak, etc. These illustrators from the 50's, 60's and 70's had such an amazing ability to narrate a story. Whether it be stories of crime, love, murder, cinema, etc - they just had a way with composition, color, story telling, and DRAWING. I'd really love to do more professional work like this - not that it has to be murder and violence! I just love seeing illustrations in print - in a nice big spread or full page - telling a story!

Cover for Vita.mn

This is a recent cover I illustrated for Vita.mn, an entertainment magazine for the Minneapolis area. The cover story was on James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. It was really fun to play around with colors I normally am not used to using. Stepping out of my comfort zone was great and led to this illustration that I'm very happy with! Thanks to Leslie, who was wonderful to work with. Enjoy!

New portrait for Phoenix Magazine

New portrait for Phoenix Magazine of Sam Fox, a restaurant entrepreneur in the Phoenix area. Special thanks to Nicole for these fun portrait assignments!

Cover for The Deal

Last week I received a call from Larry at The Deal for a really quick deadline job that turned out to be a rush! He was looking for a drawing of the House Finance Committee - to be used as a full page. The total turnaround was less than 24 hours and that was a lot of fun because I only had time to draw and see what happens! Larry also asked if it was possible to throw some key politicians in the drawing - such as Barney Frank (top left), Bachus (middle top), Maxine Waters (bottom right) and a few others shown here.

The most exciting thing about this job is that Larry decided to use it for their cover! Such a nice surprise and I thank Larry for the great opportunity. Enjoy!