Edel's first portfolio post inspired me to scan these in, from one of my early portfolios upon freshly getting out of art school.  For some reason I still have some c-prints of these lying around.  I developed these drawings in my senior year, 1987, I believe they were oil pastel.


Like many young freshly graduated art students, I was hoping to get published in Rolling Stone.  So, I drew a few charicatures and showed them to Gail Anderson, who freely offered criticism and advice.  It wasn't until a few years later that she entrusted me with assignments.  Here was my attempt at the "Let's Dance" era David Bowie.

This is a somewhat misguided attempt to illustrate Werner Erhardt's "Est" cult.

I was trying to include some economic images in my portfolio, so I made this somewhat generic image about oil. 

My clumsy attempts at concept were going up against giants like David Suter and Brad Holland, but I did my best to figure out how to do it well enough to be given a shot.  Stephen Taylor at Business Week was one of the first people to hire me in this style, it turned out to be a good relationship because even though I blew the first assignment by misunderstanding the dense material, he kept me on and had confidence I could get it right.  Sadly, I've lost track of the pieces that I did for him.

It was a strange style.  I liked to draw buildings.  I still do.

Yes, these were the times of "Purple Rain".  Not to mention, giant corporate record companies fueding over artist's properties.

They were also the times of Bush Senior, and a deep recession.  I made my living waiting tables and tending bar.  I don't know quite what I was trying to do with this piece, but there it is.

I made this piece, "Urban Jungle", into one of my first color mailers.  Nicki Kalish at the NY Times liked it, and so began a relationship of doing work with her and others at the Times, even as my style changed and evolved.  Ironically, many years later I'm developing this idea into a new children's book.