"Spellbound" by Lydialyle Gibson for The University of Chicago Magazine.


An Illustration for an article based on renaissance scholar Armando Maggi's lecture on fairytales.
My roughs focused on the author's commentary about how the old fairy tales have been exhausted and that the "mythic debris" we carry around with us from stories and tales, have lost their efficacy.
 
Art director Guido Mendez suggested having the weaving spool snagged in the dress the train. I thought was a nice detail, and I always appreciate when an art director makes a suggestion that improves the idea.
This was such a fun job to work on. The article was full of rich material from which to extract ideas, and it was an interesting read.
Chris Buzelli did the cover, he posted it here on drawger a few weeks ago.

http://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/spellbound
 

It was also a delight to create an illustration that floated across a white spread.

I have created a few illustrations in the past depicting coyotes and wolves, that also involved myths and fairytales.
The one above was for Arena Stage way back in 2000 for the play "Coyote Builds North America " by Barry Lopez, which deals with the native american folklore of wildman coyote.
 The one below was based on Red Ridding Hood for a gallery show at Uppercase.

 
 
 
Another recent piece, Cover of Research News, a feature article on mental illness and addiction for art director Lara Minja.

Inside illustration, on the topic of mental illness in children, focusing on a characteristic of the brain called plasticity: the ability of the nerve cells in the brain to reorganize themselves.
 

 
 
Illustration Package for Marti Golon at Reader's Digest.
Short stories by celebrities on the best and worst advice their mothers gave them.
Seven illustrations painted in seven days.  I'm not the quickest illustrator, so that's record for me.
 

One of the inside illustrations "How to be a Lady" by Lee Smith.
" If you can't say something nice say nothing at all".