ANTHONY (TONY) CARTER

My latest image is a portrait illustration of Tony Carter for ByFaith magazine. Tony has written (edited) a book called “Glory Road: The Journeys of 10 African-Americans into Reformed Christianity.” The interview is about the book and how African-Americans perceive Reformed theology, white church/black church differences, worship styles, etc. Watercolor and digital.

ANDY GULLAHORN

A new collage (an album cover) for my friend Andy Gullahorn. Also shown is a bit of my initial thought process and sketches. Collage & mixed media.

ROOTS

Here is a new assignment that I recently completed for B&H Publishing Group. They came to me wanting an original piece of art to use in support of an upcoming book called (Church in the Making) about church planting - by author Ben Arment. Limited edition and framed wall art prints were created and will be sent out to several key media folks. Collage and mixed media.

MONSTERS OF FOLK

A new and recently completed assignment for the cover of vita.mn (a Minneapolis based magazine and street publication.) They wanted this issue and cover to feature the band Monsters of Folk dressed up as monsters . . . as they arrive in Minneapolis to play a show on the eve of Halloween at the Orpheum Theatre - October 29th. They asked that I create a graphic and bright image in order to catch readers attention from several feet away. Here is my final illustration and a documentation of some of that process. It was a hit upon presentation! Collage, mixed media and some pen & ink for detail in the faces.

MINNESOTA

Off to Minnesota for a visit with my parents! New work post's coming upon my return.

BLUE COLLAR COMEDY

I received some finished print samples of this project I worked on earlier this summer for Warner Brothers. Very pleased with the outcome. It's printed on uncoated, matte paper. I'm a paper junkie!

NEW WORK COMING SOON!

Sorry for the lack of post's lately. I've been busy working on some really fun illustration projects here. Let's just say that there are "Monsters" involved with 1 of the commissions and some killer music mixed in there too - more to come! 

ANNE FRANK and THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Here is my latest OP-ED image for the Los Angeles Times. It ran this past Sunday, September 27th. The article discusses Anne Frank's literary voice and the author's assertion that she knew her diary would one day be received as a work of art. I got the call late one Friday evening around 9:00 p.m. from my contact at the Times. He wanted me to focus on making it a portrait, but perhaps use actual text from her book in parts, book bindings, materials associated with literary endeavors, etc. My original idea was to work in a bunch of the above mentioned items into the blue background you see posted here. I also wanted to find some material very similar to what her actual diary is covered in (red and tan plaid.) Once the actual collage portrait of Anne was completed, I experimented with 3 different backgrounds to see what might work best. With the help of a fellow illustrator and friend that I highly respect (Kristi Smith) she suggested that the image with the plaid border might reproduce best in black and white and to submit that one and perhaps submit the blue background  image for use on the web. Here is a bit of that process and the final outcome as it ran in The L.A. Times.

DETAILS

I just finished a new commission for the Los Angeles Times (a collage image) scheduled to run this Sunday, September 27, 2009. I will post the image and information about it next week. Upon completion of that particular piece, I decided to photograph the image to see if it would capture more of the detail, shadow and depth of the collage, as opposed to scanning it. (I've always scanned my illustrations over the years) I was blown away by this new experiment and how much integrity of the raw image remained and was not lost . . . needless to say, I was thrilled with the result and began shooting several of my images from recent commissions to capture their depth, detail and beauty. I wanted to share them with you here.

SHARE SOME CANDY

Thanks to everyone at Share Some Candy. They have shown me some love. Please check out their site...it RAWKS!

FIRE IN MY BONES

More art that I created for Sara Grove's album project. The "Judith" image will not be used. However, the additional two images will be. Collage, mixed media, pen & ink & digital mediums. 

DONKEYS AND LAMBS

Here is another illustration that I created to go on the inside of an upcoming (recently completed) Christmas project. The cover for this project was posted earlier. Collage & mixed media.

SARA GROVES COVER

Here is my cover for the upcoming Sara Groves project entitled "Fireflies and Songs" produced by Charlie Peacock. The record is incredibly raw, honest and full of hard truth, redemption and grace. One of her best! Also shown above are two of several options that were presented for consideration. These ideas will be used on the inside and or throughout the package somehow. The selected cover was created using pen and ink, mixed media and digital mediums.

THANKS FOR ALL THE LOVE!!

A big thank you, goes out to Courtney at Design/Work/Life, Jason Dean at The Best Part, and Amy over at Auqa-Velvet for all the love they've shown me over the past few weeks! I am grateful for all the publicity! Please check out their amazing, very inspiring blogs and daily commentary on design, illustration and just plain 'ol beauty in the world! 

NEW PROJECTS

A couple of recently completed and approved covers for upcoming projects. Collage, pen & ink & mixed media.

PAULA SCHER is COMING TO AIGA THINK TANK!

Recently, I was invited to illustrate and create the promotional pieces (save the date postcards, and posters) for the upcoming AIGA Think Tank conference here in Nashville. An incredible line-up featuring: PAULA SCHER, DAVE WERNER, KEN & JEN VISOCKY O' GRADY, & IAN DEPOT. I decided to create somewhat of a tribute to Paula Scher, and her fame of "MAKE IT BIGGER" by doing large paper cut letters and collage.

THE LITTLE CHIMP SOCIETY

My Willie Nelson Illustrations have been accepted and published on The Little Chimp Society illustration news portal! Thanks Darren, Nick, Alex, Ben and Beach! I'm grateful - and thankful for your community of creative's and for your passion! Check out the link above to those little chimps . . . very cool site! NOTE: The portrait illustration is based on a provided photo by photographer, Jim Herrington.

PORTRAIT

Portrait illustration of author, theologian (professor of thology at Westminster Seminary) and speaker - MICHAEL HORTON for ByFaith Magazine. Pen and ink, mixed media and digital.

LINOLEUM BLOCK RELIEF PRINT

This past weekend, I participated in a two-day linoleum block relief print workshop at the FRIST MUSEUM of ART. This class was offered in conjunction with the current Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration exhibition. I was blown away by Chuck's work . . . to see it in person and study and ponder the talent, time and energy that he puts in to his work was unbelievable! Here is the image that came out of my time there. I am drawn to any sort of human element portrayed in art. The connection is very strong for me and I so easily and quickly identify with our humanness . . . the good and the bad.   

UPDATES & NEW PROJECTS

I've been out of town all of last week in Vail, Colorado on vacation with my family. Great time had with all! I Love Coloroado! I'm busy working on several new projects here for Warner Brothers, Universal Music, and byFaith magazine along with a few others. Also, while in Colorado, I got a call from the Art Director at BusinessWeek magazine with an assignment to create an illustration for the upcoming issue. Unfortunately with me being out of town, I had to decline. He said he would look for something for me on the next issue! Stay tuned . . .

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

I've been working on this illustration and package design for an upcoming "various artist's" Christmas project. 8 x 8 inch collage & montage. More to come soon.

KILLED

I was commissioned to work up some cover options for this artist named Matt Maher. Unfortunately, these were all killed. I really like the way they came together and wanted to share them. The photography (shown all lo res here) was done by the fabulous Tec Tepaja! Please check out his work when you have a few moments.

WILLIE NELSON

Here are some of the illustrations that I created for an upcoming Best of project for WILLIE NELSON. I was thrilled to have gotten the call and commissioned to create these! The watercolor illo of the bus was an alternate cover option. The collage (front of bus) is the final selected album and LP cover along with the back of the bus being the flip side. The album has a killer track listing featuring some power punch guest artist's like Rob Thomas, Lucinda Williams, Diana Krall and Elvis Costello! It will also be available on vinyl! Suh-weeeeeeeeeeet!! NOTE: The above portrait illustrations are based on provided Jim Herrington photographs.

AIGA WINNER Best of overall Illustration

This past Saturday evening, Nashville held it's inaugural AIGA CASE Awards show. I was honored to be the recipient of two awards for illustration. BEST of OVERALL ILLUSTRATION CATEGORY - ENTERTAINMENT for the BRETT DENNEN cover and BEST of ILLUSTRATION for ADVERTISING for the NEIMAN MARCUS / JUICY COUTURE CATALOG illustrations. I removed the models and clothing out of respect for Neiman Marcus and their clothing designers, etc . . .(hence the bad pencil sketches over the top) Thank you, Nashville AIGA and member voters!!! I am grateful! Here is a link to an article that ran in the Nashville Business Journal.

PEACE TO YOU

I've been working on a few new commissions. I will post some new work next week. May your weekend be filled with peace and truth. Cheers!