Sunday, January 29, 2012

Brachiosaurs

Another drawing for a friend.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Wu Tang

I was pretty excited to get an email from Dallas Observer art director Alexander Flores asking me to do some quick drawings of the members of Wu-Tang Clan. The last time that Wu-Tang Clan performed in Dallas, not all of the members showed up, which apparently was and is a consistent problem throughout their tours as members come and go. So with Wu Tang set to perform in Dallas in the next couple of weeks, the Observer wanted some portraits to make a stakes graphic, showing the odds of which members are going to show (even including the late ODB)
Who needs a lightbox?
I had a blast working with Alex, who's incredibly clear in his direction and just a good guy. Plus now, I know who is who in Wu-Tang, which seemed impossible before.

-CKL-

Monday, January 9, 2012

People Who Died 2011

I was recently asked to do some illustrations for the Philadelphia City Paper's annual "People Who Died" issue. I created the cover as well as 7 portraits of Philadelphia-related people who passed away this past year.
In looking at Joel Kimmel's wonderful work for the issue last year, I set out to do something different. I eventually came up with the idea of tattoos and how they're often used to memorialize somebody. I gathered a lot of reference material and went from there.
Philanthropist Ruth Perelman and opera singer Julian Rodescu
Geno's Steaks founder Joey Vento and vintage shop owner Lara Long, also the sister of DJ AM
Philly punk legend Mikey Wild and local scrapper Greg Loper
Boxing legend Joe Frazier

You can read about the subjects here at the Philadelphia City Paper site.
Because of the deadline, I was able to work on the pieces while I was at home with my family in Michigan for the holidays. It was fun to have them around to see how I work on assignments.
Thanks again to art director Reseca Peskin for a fun gig.

-CKL-