posted: March 25, 2008

An incorrect hunch by a pediatrician results in the court-ordered separation of a 3 year-old girl from her loving mother.  The mother originally brought her daughter in for an evaluation of the child's physical developmental issues.  The doctor felt that the mother was creating these conditions in her daughter via Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (when a mother causes illness in her child in order to gain sympathy and attention for herself).  This was not a proven diagnosis, simply a hunch that she reported to officials.  There's only one problem.  The mother was in fact a devoted caregiver. 

By the time a contradictory second opinion was obtained, the damage was already done.  Now it was time for the agency to circle the wagons to save their own asses.  They dropped the original charge and replaced it with a newly conceived charge of "Excessive Care".  That's right, she was just caring too much for the special needs of her child. 

The New Times Phoenix AD, Peter Storch, and I went back and forth between whether the image should depict the moment before or after the "intervention" by the agency.  We also considered versions with and without the mother's hands.  In the end, with the headline , they were included.

Another tough topic but a great subject to work with.  Peter has only been at the New Times for a few weeks, but he's an AD to put on your mailing list.  peter.storch@newtimes.com

I've updated this post with a couple samples of some of my raw materials. See below.

posted: March 14, 2008

What child doesn't enjoy a seaweed wrap, eyebrow plucking, or exfoliating rub?  This image accompanied the article, "All Dolled-Up" in the new issue of Phiadelphia Magazine  in which the writer reveals sickening rise in the number of mom's who are bringing their little girls in for spa treatments and cosmetics makeovers.

The irony of a mom turning her poor child into a doll for herself  jumped-out as the key to the image.  I don't often send only one sketch, but in this case I felt strongly that this was an image I wanted to do. 

I want to thank AD Andy Zahn for such an awesome topic to work with.

posted: March 12, 2008

posted: March 4, 2008

Here is a handful of images that are just now seeing the light of day. It seems that by the time my work for monthly and quartely publications makes it to the newstands I forget about posting it here on drawger. 

There's also a few other samples from the New York Times that were done around the hectic holiday season.  There was just too much going on to get them up here.

There's a piece here for Seattle Magazine about the rise in popularity of catholic schools.  It seems that nuns as teachers have gone to the wayside.  Students of all denominations are welcomed as the placement rates to ivy league schools skyrockets.  Maybe they do have God on their side.  AD Sue Boylan rode me like a pony on this one, wrangling some extra sketches that made the difference.

"No flame imagery" was the main direction from Jonathan Bernbach for the next piece, about treating the hot flash symptoms of menopause. I got a chance to play around in Adobe Illustrator a bit on this one, further confusing my style.

Annemarie Neff of the AMA News asked, "Ever had an itch you couldn't scratch?"  She commissioned a full-pager to communicate the frustration of sufferers of chronic itching.  It gave me a chance to get out my old life drawing studios from college for body expression.

And finally, for the New York Times both Peter Morance and Paul Jean came through with a couple of sweet assignments for the covers of the Arts and the Style sections.  The first, from Paul, was for a story about the difficulties in making documentaries in Iraq.  How do you get a balanced and accurate film if you are embedded with troops?  The second image, for Peter, was about how the gifts we give and receive define who we are and how others see us.

Sorry for the shotgun approach on these, I've just wanted to post them for a long time.