more from the editorial years

A while back I posted some of my work from when I created original illustrations for magazines and periodicals.  Editorial art was my chosen field of aspiration upon graduating from college, and I did get published on occasion for the first 7 or 8 years that I actively pursued it, with occasional commissions from Playboy, Outside, National Lampoon, Crain's Business, The Atlantic Monthly, and others.
Along the way, I supplemented the erratic income of this profession by freelancing in the advertising business, doing layout design, marker renderings, and some storyboarding. All of this while living in Philadelphia and regularly trekking up to New York to show my portfolio.   eventually falling into designing product at Tyco Toys as a freelancer, it didn't take long until I stopped pursuing commissions altogether I just became so busy creating toys.  Now it seems like another lifetime. 

This was before the advent of digital art and desktop computers in general, so everything I did was on the drawing board by hand. Some of my influences during this era were illustrators like Blair Drawson, Lane Smith, and I was also exploring some resist wet media with gouache and colored pencil.   Looking back, I was trying to cultivate my own signature style so it was always evolving somewhat,  but from 1987 until 1994 this was some of the work I was doing for the editorial world;

National Lampoon magazine - 1988

on business communication

on the dangers of genetic engineering

on games that increase intelligence

on puppet politicians

roller coaster dog

on tax stress

the flirting waiter

The Editorial years

When I graduated from college in 1985 I hit the private sector as an aspiring illustrator. It seemed that the coolest thing to get into was editorial and publishing work, since the other alternatives suggested to the students were Advertising, children's books, or medical and technical illustrators (for visual reference).

I put a portfolio of work together and hawked around the magazine and periodical business for about 7 years.
During that time I worked regularly for a variety of publications like Crain's Business, Outside, Playboy, National Lampoon, Student Lawyer, The Atlantic Monthly.
I really enjoyed doing this kind of work, ..but the assignments were inconsistent, and it never paid well enough to cover all the rent. During this time I supported myself by working at an advertising agency, ..which, after 5 years, was more than enough. I had my own personal work to nourish me, and once I got into the toy business I was so busy that I stopped pursuing editorial work altogether.

All of my editorial work was done before the advent of Mac and Phototshop.
I worked with gouache wet media and colored pencil, developing a 'resist' technique that gave a textural and atmospheric feel that I liked.

These are unretouched.




























..this Escher-esque piece inspired one art director to suggest the following, for an article on the acceptance of women CEOs in the corporate world;




















..some other spot illustrations;











































Over the years, a number of art directors have suggested that I pursue illustrating for children's books.











































I had a nice working relationship with Playboy Magazine, and they even called me to do a few 2 page illustrations on occasion. This is one of several spots I did for them sometime in the early 1990s;




































This is an illustration for the cover of a 1994 issue of Student Lawyer magazine;