Bathtime

This was a piece I just did for "Seance 2: Mystery, Superstition, & the Occult" a halloween show of student, alumni, and faculty work curated by Daniel Krall currently hanging in the Julian Allen Gallery at MICA. It's up until November 24th, so if you're around MICA any time soon, stop in and check it out!

Star Spangled Spectacular!

This year marked the 200th anniversary of the attack on Ft. McHenry and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner. There was a huge festival and celebration in Baltimore. As part of it, a number of illustrators were commissioned to create one page comic biographies of some of the figures involved. They were to be blown up and displayed 20 feet high at the Fort during the celebration.  I created a bio for Mary Pickersgill, the woman who sewed the flag now known as the 'Star-Spangled Banner' and Grace Wisher, the young indentured servant working under her.

The banners were created, but due to severe inclement weather were sadly never displayed. You can see still see mine and the others over here at the Atomic Books Blog!

Posters!

 Posters for my friend's birthday show, a street fair, updated MTYG event poster, and a little image done for the Mutant zine sent out during Free Comic Book Day this year. (Zelko vodka is gross, y'all, even in vodka sauce.)

Speak No Evil

         

I was asked to do the cover for Baltimore's City Paper back in late May, but wasn't given the subject of the story until after I'd accepted the job.

The story was on child sexual abuse within the Jewish Orthodoxy in Baltimore and the surrounding area. Heavy, heavy stuff, and an extremely powerful story. The cover had a very quick turnaround, but I wanted to handle the subject as eloquently as I could. Reading the story over multiple times, there were a few things that stuck with me, but what resonated most, was the idea of victim shaming, and the idea that things like this were not talked about, and those who did became outcasts. Sort of like a version of "Stop Snitchin'" The idea for the cover came from there.

The illustration was originally supposed to run as an inset piece under the City Paper title, but when I sent the image, the AD decided it would be better as a full page, and asked me to extend the image up to the top of the page. It was also run as a full page interior mirroring the article.
I was really honored to be the one to illustrate such a powerful and challenging piece. Thanks to AD Athena Towery! If you have a chance, please give it a read: Speak No Evil by Phil Jacobs

Brews and Boardgames Happy Hour

I was commissioned to do a poster for the Brew and Boardgames Happy Hour event that takes place monthly over at the Windup Space. This one was a lot of fun because I was asked to illustrate a scene involving people playing games/cards but was otherwise given almost entirely free reign. I went the Milton Bradley boardgame route, and really enjoyed this one.

I didn't stray too far from the initial sketch other than some of the type and information in the poster. That left panel went through a few variations as the client went through a few iterations of what information should be on the poster.

Colors also went through a few changes. I really liked this version, but was having a hard time making the colors not compete too much , especially once I laid in the logo and whatnot on top. I'll have to play around with this palette again, cuz it was super fun!

Baltimore Powered Bicycles

This was a little logo done for a motorized bike company here in Baltimore. The owner wanted something "steampunk" while still showing essentially what the bikes actually are.

While working on these, I was looking at a lot of vintage auto ads, Russian propagada posters, and various art deco stuff. Initially I had missed the mark by interpreting it as slightly more of a dirt-bike type deal, but eventually got it to where the client wanted.

Overheard

A buncha Overheard comics for Benn at Atomic:

McGriddle 2: a comic

    

There Can Only Be One: Loretta Lynn vs. Dolly Parton

This was for the rebooted Mobtown Shank e-zine, as part of a series of musician fights. (Who would win....) Its honestly a tough call for me on these two, but one thing I know for sure is that they would definitely fight with their hair.

Lady Brew Baltimore

The lovely ladies of Lady Brew Baltimore approached me about doing a label for one of their newest brews, a gruit called "Herbal Salvation" made with juniper, rosemary and lavendar. I was thinking of the liquid as a sort of healing tincture, and was reminded of reliquaries present in medieval and renaissance christian art.

BBP: Winter Mode

The poster for Baltimore Bike Party as it transitioned into the winter months. The poster certainly has been appropriate for how much snow and ice we've gotten here in Maryland!

Radiator Ghosts

This little comic was inspired by my leaky radiator, and the thought that no matter how much time passes, some things will always stay the same. They just gain a little more soul to them.

Wicked Lady

It's pretty rare that I draw fan-art, and even more rare that I decide to make it a bit more finished looking. Some days you just need to revert into a teen girl and roll with it.

I decided to do a pin-up of Wicked Lady from Sailor Moon, because, you know, why not?

Overheard x3

It's been a minute since I've posted anything, so I have quite a backlog! These are a few Overheards done for Benn at Mobtown Shank, and run in the B: Daily newspaper.

The Deer Queen

This is my piece for "Seance: Mystery, Superstition, and the Occult". An illustration alumni group show at MICA. It's been AGES since I've done anything in black and white, so it was a fun exercise. I wanted to try doing a few different things in the way I handled line and tone, so it was sort of an experimental piece for me. The show runs now through November 4th, so if you're in the area, be sure to check it out! It's hanging in the Julian Allen Gallery at MICA.

Overheard

Another Overheard for the B. What's wrong with dolphin art???

Music to your Gears

I did this poster back in August for a Bikemore event. I had fun playing with the Music and biking theme, creating the radio tower out of bike parts. The only thing that was required was that the color scheme be purple (Bikemore colors)

The layout went through a few different changes and some last minute art direction/additions and subtractions. I was definitely a little more into some of the earlier variations of it, but it still turned out pretty rad in the end, I think. You can check out Bikemore's website, and any upcoming events they may be hosting here!

Mountain Mystery

These illustrations are from a job I recently completed for Cricket Magazine. It will be in their October issue, and was for a sort of modern "ghost" story. Karen Kohn was my art director, and pretty much gave me total freedom. This is the first big project I've done in a little while, and it felt really good to get back into the swing of things art-wise. (Always keep drawing no matter what is going on, or you will quickly realize how easy it is to get rusty!)

When I sent over the sketches, I wanted to make sure they were fairly tight, and decided to go ahead and do some b&w tonal studies to give a sense of what I was planning to do when it came to color. I definitely could have kept working on (and potentially overworking on) these - after I sent them, I realized there were a couple things I had meant to do but had forgotten. Overall though, I think they came out quite nicely

Cheap Beer

Cheap Beer is sometimes the best beer after all. This was done for the zine Mutant! which will be given out at Atomic Books for Free Comic Book Day on May 4th. Make sure you stop in and pick up a copy! 

I never took any kind of sequential illustration or comic development type classes while I was at MICA. I'm not sure if I regret it or not. I think its sort of one of those things you can figure out on your own if you really want to. I'm hoping to get enough of these together to put out a zine of my own by the end of the year. 

Aloha!

I'm pretty sure I will never be able to stop drawing mermaids, ever.

It had been pretty cold and gross all through March this year, which left me wishing for some tropical sunshine. The mermaid in this picture was originally a quick little sketch I did for a friend, but I liked the look of her, so I decided to finish it up a bit more. I was looking at a lot of vintage hawaiian postcards and travel posters, and tried to emulate their color schemes. Lots of warm bright pops of color!