The New Normal

I had a lot of fun illustrating this article for the February edition of Philadelphia Magazine. "The New Normal", written by Emily Goulet, pokes fun at some of the ridiculously inane "Kardashian-esque" things that many women have adopted into their daily beauty regimens.

From blow-dry bars and spray tans to obtain the perfect shade of oompa loompa orange, to eyelash extensions and pubic hair softening (ahem) oils, the article explains how 'Thanks to Instagram, Snapchat and basically the entire E! network, we have a front row seat to the glamification of celebrities - once strictly a behind-closed-doors affair and how savvy entrepreneurs have begun to capitalize on the ever-growing gray area that lies between Sephora and plastic surgery'.

So toss that mane and get your best trout pout on, it's time to take selfie!

*Many thanks to Alyse at Philly Mag for the Art Direction

Team Portraits for messageLOUD.com

I recently had the opportunity to work with messageLOUD to create illustrated team portraits for their new website. This company is doing great things! They created an app that actually reads your emails and texts out loud so that you don't have to while you are driving. To read more about messageLOUD and what they are doing to keep you safe, check them out here.

Illustration of Chelsea Wolfe.

I am frequently hired for my ability to create an accurate straightforward likeness. Portrait work has always been one of my strengths as well as one of my favorite subjects. I love drawing people and am very lucky that on many days my job doesn't feel like a job at all.

I've been wanting to push my portrait illustration further for a quite some time but have (gratefully) been so busy that there has been little time for me to do so.  I believe that as an artist, you should always be evolving, expanding and trying new things. I feel like there is so much untapped potential within me just bursting to come forward. Sometimes it's nice have a little breather in between deadlines to focus on coaxing it out.

The first few weeks after the winter holidays are always a little slower for me so I took the opportunity to draw someone who I've been wanting to draw for a while. This is a portrait of the experimental singer and songwriter, Chelsea Wolfe. Her unique sound is mix of (pardon my description) brooding, sludgey metallic drone to floaty, ethereal gothic folk among other things. I took the opportunity to just listen and absorb the music then draw my own interpretation of it.

*Of course, since there is limited reference of her online that I can actually see clearly enough to draw from, I had to use some probably well known photos from numerous photographers. (Thanks guys, whoever you are) See below for close up details.

Close up detail of face

Close up detail of hands and trees.

Portrait of author, Suzanne Berne, for Chicago Tribune Printers Row Journal

This week I illustrated author, Suzanne Berne, for the cover of Printers Row Journal.

Blackstar - RIP David Bowie 1947-2016

What can I say? What a huge loss to the world. First Lemmy Kilmister and now David Bowie. I was shocked when I heard the news this morning - as was the rest of the world. Two great musicians gone not much more than two weeks apart.

As I did with Motorhead upon Lemmy's passing, today I listened to David Bowie's whole catalog of music and twelve hours and this illustrated tribute later the music is STILL playing.  It is amazing, how prolific he was, how many songs were HITS.

Safe travels, Mr. Bowie, the world is a better place having had you in it.

Thank you.