People Who Died 2013

I was recently approached by the Philadelphia City Paper to once again do their annual People Who Died issue. I had done before it two years ago and had a great time working on it so when the opportunity came up again, I jumped on it.
AD Reseca Peskin came prepared with the idea of framing the portraits in presidential-style duotone stamps with the portrait full-color inside. I found a wealth of reference to draw from with different style frames from various countries and time periods.

Apart from the cover, I wound up with the task of doing seven portraits of the notable Philadelphia residents who passed away this past year.

Politician Happy Fernandez and jazz pianist Jimmy Amadie

Middle school student Laporshia Massey and firefighter Michael Goodwin

Lawyer A. Charles Peruto Sr. and MOVE bombing survivor Michael Ward

1950's television host Sally Starr

You can read about these subjects as well all 23 Philadelphians who died this past year on the City Paper website HERE or even read the entire issue at http://issuu.com/phillycp/docs/issuu_1_9_2014
Thanks again to Reseca and the City Paper for such a great gig!

--CKL--

Fifty Shades of Orange

This one is for the Philadelphia City Paper's Fall Book Quarterly Issue, which you can read at http://issuu.com/phillycp/docs/issuu_10_10_2013

For this piece, art director Reseca Peskin asked me to recreate one of those stereotypical romance novel covers where the voluptuous woman swoons against the shirtless man in some romantic location. Considering that the cover story is about fan fiction being written about Philadelphia Flyers players, the man being swooned for in this case is Philadelphia Flyers left wing Scott Hartnell.

I had a lot of fun finding various examples and references of the romance novels and discovering just how many of them have the exact same composition (seriously) For my initial sketches, I worked up some variations of the standard pose and placed the couple in a moonlit garden.

Once the first sketch was picked, I moved on to inking the final. I just switched to a new brand of ink and was extremely happy with how black my linework was on the paper. The previous ink I had been using was always turning out grey and not as opaque as I wanted.
In coloring the piece, I tried to make the orange of Hartnell's hair and Flyers jersey really stand out against the blues in the rest of the scene.

I'm really pleased with how the piece turned out and loved the text that Reseca and the folks at the City Paper did on the cover - it really nailed the romance novel look! Thanks to Reseca and the City Paper for the sweet job!

--CKL--

City Guide 2013

Here's a new piece I did for the Philadelphia City Paper's City Guide 2013. The City Guide is the City Paper's annual publication for introducing residents both old and new to a potentially richer experience in the City of Brotherly Love with venues, restaurants, neighborhoods, and events. You can peruse the entire issue at http://issuu.com/phillycp/docs/cityguide_2013
Art director Reseca Peskin contacted me with the idea of drawing Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Bridge along with the city skyline behind it.
I sketched up a couple of ideas that would fit the bridge and skyline into the cover's layout. Right from the start, I wanted to do my first sketch. Luckily, Reseca and the folks at the City Paper agreed and let me go for it.

Sketches

With the go-ahead, I started gathering a whole lot of reference images. Since this piece was specifically for people in Philadelphia, I was determined to get all of the details just right. I know I'd be peeved if someone got my hometown wrong, so I really didn't want to disappoint.

Detail - Skyline

Although I was initially a bit intimidated by the architectural aspects of the drawing (despite the genetic predisposition possibly passed on to me by my dad the architect) I ended up really enjoying inking this piece. I especially enjoyed it because I got through a whole bunch of episodes of This American Life.
In order to get that detail I wanted, I did the piece as two separate drawings. One was just the foreground with the bridge and its base and the other drawing was of the skyline, which I then shrunk down to the appropriate size in Photoshop. 
The issue just came out and I'm incredible happy with how it turned out.

Thanks to Reseca and the folks at the City Paper for a great gig!

--CKL--

2013 Writing Contest

Here's some work I did recently for the Philadelphia City Paper, who I always enjoy working with. This time, AD Reseca Peskin contacted me to do the cover as well as an illustration inside the issue for their annual Writing Contest issue. The winning fiction story, which you can read here, is about a woman who works as a casino card dealer. When her child dies, she and her husband take a trip to New Orleans to help get their mind off of their loss.
Reseca had the idea for the cover of a black voodoo pin, which is used to relieve pain, pushed through the suicide king playing card. As for the illustration inside the issue, she had the idea of an airplane made out of playing cards.
When I began sketching, I went through several variations just to push the ideas.

Cover sketches

Plane sketches

We wound up combining the normal king face and my more gruesome skull king into one and going with the plane covered in the elements from the card rather than made out of cards.
I had a great time working on both pieces in all of their great detail.

Final

Final

Thanks again to Reseca for a great gig!

--CKL--

QFEST

I was contacted recently by AD Reseca Peskin to do another cover for the Philadelphia City Paper. The last two covers I did for the City Paper, the People Who Died 2011 and the Urban Farmer's Almanac, were a blast so I jumped at the chance to do another.
QFEST is Philadelphia's annual GLBT film festival with over 100 GLBT films from around the world. For the cover about the festival, Reseca wanted an old fashioned movie theater with a big drag queen in the ticket booth. I worked up a few variations on the idea with my favorite image being the one with the drag queen (named Divine in homage to John Waters) right front and center welcoming the viewer to the festival.
I had a great time researching and finding reference for the theater facade and drawing everything on Divine from the sequins to the wig to the chest hair. And I even ended up giving lettering a shot!

Sketches

Marquee Lettering

Final

Thanks again Reseca and City Paper for a fun, fabulous gig!

--CKL--

Urban Farmer's Almanac

 
I got a call earlier this month from AD Reseca Peskin of the Philadelphia City Paper, who was a blast to work with on the People Who Died issue, asking me to do the cover of their upcoming Home and Garden issue as well as a logo to be used with corresponding articles.
Reseca and Editorial Designer Matt Egger essentially wanted me to replicate the Old Farmer's Almanac cover with some specific new vignettes.

While it was nice to have an idea in place from the beginning, it still presented a challenge in mimicking a specific look while still allowing me room creatively.
Inking this piece was a lot of fun because of the loads of small, detailed work. I always enjoy the chance to break out the smallest brushes I've got.

As for the logo, they wanted something that reflected the ribbons from the top of the Old Farmer's Almanac. I went with something badge-like, almost like a 4H winner's ribbon with some simple flourishes around the text.

Thanks again to Reseca and Matt for an uber-fun gig.

--CKL--

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-