Are you happy? If you are, what is it worth? More than money. The United Nations wants to get the world to stop thinking so much about wealth creation, as expressed by gross domestic product (GDP), and to instead focus on gross national happiness, or GNH. You can read the article here
I struggle with this question all the time. I would love to have wealth and happiness, but I am often working towards one or the other, or both.
The GNH scale offers a perspective so radically different from GDP, I thought it would be a good idea to show separate halves of the globe - one side focused on wealth and production, the other on more heartfelt pursuits.
Thanks to Dave Bamundo at the Wall Street Journal for this assignment. Happy to work on this quick-turnaround piece!
Inspired by the glorious morning, I decided tp create this two-colour tribute to the season. Pardon my gushing, but I do love this time of year, even the rainy days. Don't get me wrong, winter is beautiful, but almost always overstays its welcome. This year has been spectacular, full of promise.
I have also been able to work on some great assignments as well. A recent piece for the New York Times. The cold reality of paying taxes also hits home, and my friendly little automaton is giving it up for the IRS.
And while we are still on the topic of spring, it's also a great time to tee off. Here's a recent full-page illo for Golf Digest.
I grew up in Leamington, Ontario. My old hometown is now surrounded by greenhouses. My grandfather and uncles owned greenhouses. I remember them as fragile glass structures heated by massive coal or gas-fired boilers. Modern operations cover acres of high-tech hydroponics and utilize waste co2 to feed the crops inside. Farmers are seeking out alternative green energy sources like biomass, wood pellets and methane.
So there is more 'green' in greenhouses than meets the eye.
I found this assignment from On Earth very satisfying and intriguing. It's about greenhouses built in hot, arid environments that draw salt water from the oceans, use the water to cool and control the temperatures inside the greenhouses, and produce fresh water for the operation. High tech, green and innovative.
I haven't worked in my CMY-X style for a while. I enjoy working with Gail Ghezzi on these assignments. Here are a few sketches from the assignment.
I received a call from Minh Uong at the New York Tiimes for this business section cover that ran in the weekend edition.
Private equity has been squeezing profits from various corporations. What are the repercussions? Marc J. Leder is the head of Sun Capital, the company that Mitt Romney founded. He is also the campaign manager of Mitt Romney's presidential run. If elected, who will get the squeeze? This feature article takes an in-depth look.
After considering the alternatives we decided on this image, of a large mecanical claw gouging the landscape.
I really enjoyed working on this image. Here is a detail of the background. I designed a number of factories in isometric form and developed the background to be interesting but not overpowering. I wanted the black excavator arm to stand out.
I worked on a number of sketches. Here are a couple of them. I liked both the concepts but the images here were a bit over the top.
I've been getting a lot of business-related assignments lately. Ecomomics may be the dismal science but that doesn't mean that the images need be that way. I also worked with Minh on this piece about emerging from the lingering after effects of a financial crisis.
