Ball point pen on the morning newsprint Pope Benedict is coming to New York. I remember when Pope John Paul ll visited New York in 1979. He traveled down Fifth Avenue in the Pope-mobile right past Parson School of Design, on 13th Street, in Greenwich Village. I was an art student at the time. I took some pictures and did a sketch from a window on the 12th floor illustration department. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint I think investing in the intelligence of our future generations is probably the most important expenditure for securing peace and economic strength as a people. I'm going to give ten dollars to Miramax. Not just because I'll probably enjoy a movie of, by and for smart people, but to stimulate more of the same and maybe raise the level of culture. ...
Read MoreBall point pen on newsprint Today I had two photo shoots for book covers I'm working on. That means a commute into the city. I think New Jersey Transit coaches might have the worst suspensions of any moving vehicles still in operation. Besides making it challenging to read a newspaper, it makes it very difficult to draw a picture...but not impossible. I did this doodle on the train. You have to abandon all hope of placing the pen down and moving it exactly where you'd like, in short, forget about line and think like a painter scribbling in mass and form. After my shootings I stuck around and went to see James Gurney Lecture at the Society of Illustrators. This is the second time I saw him lecture at the society. He is a perfect cocktail of talent, intellect, imagination and dedication,...and I'm not just saying that because he was gracious enough to sign my book and add a doodle of hi ...
Read MoreBall point pen on the morning newsprint After I graduated from Parsons I started to get book cover work from Simon and Schuster. I loved going there to drop off work. Before the digital age, art departments were filled with racks and racks of original art by all of my heros in the business. But while I loved looking at the work, I also realized I needed to step up my game if I wanted to stick around in this field. So, even though I was keeping busy with commissions during the day, I started lugging my french easel up to the Art Students League at night. Forty years earlier, before he got his break in films, Charlton Heston was an artists model at the League. I'm no fan of the NRA, but you could see why the camera loved him. He had great chiseled features and I would've liked to have been around forty years earlier to paint him. ...
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