The Passenger Pigeon

Partly inspired from seeing the Audobon exhibit at the MFA a few times, and mostly inspired from seeing a Passenger Pigeon specimen yesterday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, I took a stab at a science-style illustration of the famed extinct bird.

HBS

Recently did some freelance work for The Harvard Business School by creating a couple series of quick illustrations to accompany video lectures by Clay Christensen. This is just one illustration from a lecture about the theory of flight, and how it applies to business theories. Very interesting stuff actually...reminded me of my old days in business school in Florida.

"The Spider Man"

For this month's issue of FACES magazine the assignment called for two spreads featuring a character named Anansi, a plucky spider from Caribbean folklore whose message in a nutshell is to never give up, even if you think you are small and insignificant. It's a suuuper trippy story that jumps from abstract scene to abstract scene so the concept for the illustration was very open ended. The only guideline I set for myself was to make sure to give it a hint of Caribbean characteristics in terms of character designs and palette. Below are the finals of the two spreads, plus a detail. I took a little inspiration for the ghost fight spread from Disney's Haunted Mansion in Orlando, which being a native Floridian I have ridden many many in my life. I always remembered that part in the ride where a swirl of transparent ghostly figures flies through the air in a big arch...if I remember correctly it's right before the ride car heads down into the cemetery? (AD and Layout: Joshua Banks)

Dog Portrait Commission: Miles Davis

Just finished this portrait commission of a great dane from Pensacola, Florida named Miles Davis. Based on the reference pictures he seemed to be a combination of stoic, chill, and slightly goofy humorous - all of which I tried to simultaneously translate over into the illustrated portrait. The features that stood out the most to me were the nice gray markings (especially the patch around the gleaming blue-greenish eye and the big triangle on his back), the spotty pink nose, and the stark, simple black collar that seemed to be a really nice punctuation mark on his overall appearance. The Notre Dame football prop is a reference to his owners, who I am told are ND alumni.

Taipei Subway (MRT) Poster Contest

Even though this news is a few weeks old, I'm happy to say my entry for the Taipei MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) poster contest was a winning finalist. The contest was to illustrate one of eight different rules of subway courtesy or safety (ex. giving up your seat to the elderly, refraining from smoking or eating, etc.) with the only parameters being a size requirement. I worked on the "using cel phones tactfully" category because it's a personal peeve of mine. Using animals prevalent in Asian folklore I tried to make an image that appealed to the masses, yet didn't appear overtly preachy in tone.

Having been born in Taipei, Taiwan it's fun to be able to now have my art go on display there.

Straight From The Crate

Now on view at Shoparooni gallery in Cleveland is a group show "Straight From The Crate," featuring artwork made on or from old vinyl records. Here's my contribution, entitled "Life On Mars." It's acrylic painted directly onto the partially gessoed surface of the vinyl.

If interested, click here to go to the gallery's online store.

Dog Portrait: Nattie Gann

Did a caricature-ish portrait commission of a dog named Nattie Gann, a funny lil' gal with a lot of energy. The pooch is enjoying her first winter up north here in Cleveland and it sounds like she's adjusting just fine, although I heard her tennis ball froze yesterday while she was trying to play with it. The painting is 5" x 7" watercolor and pencil on illustration board.

Dogs are the greatest invention ever.