Christoph Hitz

End of Summer

2008-09-01T18:02:23+00:00

Initially, I had plans to upload some pictures of my garden with comments guiding you from Spring to Summer, then I changed my mind to some "drive by photos" I took on the way back from our vacation in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. I did end up bringing the powerbook, scanner and the Wacom tablet to the beach house, working on a job until the wee hours. It turns out I have to wait until I can show the project here. In June, I photographed an incredible local historical stone house, illustrated a few editorial jobs and I'm currently designing a website for an event management company. Yup, It was a fine mixed bag of a Summer with all kinds of surprises and changes. This summer I came across a tomato salad recipe in a few publications, including the New York Times, that seems to reflect this summer. To my surprise the white peach tree that I planted last year has produced about 30 peaches this year and the yellow cherry tomato plants are at peak production. I can't think of a better way to conclude this Labor Day.

Enjoy

Ingredients
Equal amount of tomatoes, cut in wedges, or sliced
Equal amount peaches, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup
Red onion thinly copped
Fresh mint leafs
3:1 Olive oil / Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Chocolate?

2008-07-04T01:37:07+00:00

I arrived in Manhattan around 2:30 by bus, then made way over for a quick walk trough Grand Central Station in the hopes of spotting some early birds with sketch books (sorry Don). It wasn't too difficult to find my way up to the Roosevelt Hotel, the Ballroom and then my designated table. After depositing my heavy back pack underneath the tablecloth covered table, I spotted Ross McDonald in the bookstore section. We talked shop and fence post mending.
I then spotted Von Gitschka, Felix Sockwell, and Peter Cusack.
Soon the place started filling up with more arriving artist, carting portfolios and tons of promotion material. Edel had a nice table right at the entrance where his assistant handed out fresh pens and ice for his overworked signature hand. In the meantime, Zina arrived with Barry schlepping all the tote bags. After introducing myself to my table neighbor, Heekyung Hur from Korea, I started setting up my table.
Upon opening my backpack, I immediately realized my laptop was gone! My heart sunk into my pants, "S@$%^&!" I quickly called me wife: "Yes, your laptop is here," she said.
That wonderful news relaxed me completely, nothing could go wrong now.
By this time, Nancy and Alan had set up their tables and there where just a few minutes left to talk to my fellow artists before the crowd arrived.
My table was located next to two very talented Aussi girls from Melbourne, Beck Wheeler and Andrea Innocent. The place started to fill up and for 3 hours my fellow neighbor artist went to work the crowd. I got to talk to a wide variety of art directors ranging from book publishing, design/advertising to editorial, some coming from as far as Germany and Canada.
In between mini breaks, I briefly chatted with the talented John Hendrix, Bri Hermanson, Kim Rosen, Pamela Henderson, Andrea Offermann, Cory Sandulis and Matt Hebermehl, all located in my quadrant of the room. Somehow, I managed to shake hands with Istvan Banyai and give Isabel Devereux a hug, and....BAM, time was up and Road show came to an end.
Looking over my table arrangement map, I missed talking to so many fellow artists. Overall, the show was well attended and a great success.
Mark Helflin and his crew deserve a big THANK YOU.
While packing up, Dave Barmundo, with a quick touch of the iPhone and Google, managed to find a Cuban restaurant where a tired crowd could settle for dinner. On the way out, I spotted the guy who was supposed to stop signing Posters at six o'clock. Yep, you guessed it right.... Edel was still working.
Over mojitos and aarroz con amarone, I got to talk to wonderful Jean Tuttle, Alan Witschonke, Peggy Goodman, Theresa Logan, Jack Tom and Melanie Reim. Time flew again, by now it was 11 o'clock and I had to do a mad dash to catch the last bus going back home to the Catskills.

I had the iBook printed up a few months ago, it has completely replaced my epson print portfolio.

Die Robot die...

2008-06-30T12:54:02+00:00

How to manage your inbox with filters, automation and a few folders, that was the topic for this MacWorld assignment. Personally I get a lot junk mail, so I proposed a spam sorting pig robot just to widen the gap of spam to important e-mail. At the end my spam sorting pig robot got nixed and the magazine choose a more classy idea. Nothing wrong with that.

I'm getting ready to go to New York for Icon5, hope to see you there.

LIEABILITY

2008-05-14T12:40:20+00:00

I liked this story about true and false memoirs by Con Chapman that ends by offering a test to the readers as to his or her memory regarding memoirs. His parody investigates the widening blurry line between fake memoir and a true memoir. I'm glad Josue Evilla from the Boston Globe thought of me for the illustration since I love nothing more than a witty intellectual story. Great copy with a twist is what I call a tasty morsel for an illustrator.

BRAIN FOOD

2008-04-01T04:08:53+00:00

Abrill Eins from Food magazine called me out of the blue. She gave me roughly 24 hours for this express job.The assignment was about a Wall Street restaurant that has seen an increase in businesses serving organ meat every Thursday for lunch.
The restaurant had promoted the fact that organ meats contains vitamins B12, D, A and C that enhance mathematical thinking. Unfortunately for me, Abrill asked me to stay on the conceptual side for this job. Who would have thought that big Wall Street mortgage bankers are pigging out on a pig heart for lunch?

What's your most outrageous topic?

Tapped Out.

2008-03-28T14:45:39+00:00

The sap is dripping in my neck of he woods, the two professional sugar houses down the road look like something from the past with their steady stream of smoke and steam rising to the sky. I tapped eight trees in my drive way and made about two gallons of maple syrup with the use a propane outdoor cooker. Alex who let me borrowed some taps and buckets called and invited me over for a tour, I figured I bring my cool pix and shoot some black and white.
Enjoy.

St. Paddy Day Atlanta Style.

2008-03-17T16:25:57+00:00

I got this assignment a few weeks back from Atlanta Magazine. "Could you do a a drawing of the St. Patrick's Day parade?" the art director asked. "Sure," I said. I've been to a few parades in the last few years, just to get a glimpse of my wife's nephews Paul and John playing the bagpipes while marching up Fifth Avenue. All the big piper marching bands train for this televised spectacle in New York. In the old days I would try to find a reference in my own books, or perhaps go over to Borders and try to find a book about Atlanta's architecture and culture. For some reason I just couldn't picture an Irish St. Patrick's Day parade to be like the one in New York or Boston. I wanted to give Atlanta Magazine an illustration that matched their parade. With a bit of luck I found this video clip on YouTube and started sketching from it. Heck, if all the bagpipers must play in the Big Apple, send in the clowns with cars.

Happy St. Paddy day everyone.

Totally Board

2008-03-01T16:45:05+00:00

Over the years I've done less then ten jobs with illustrator. I used the application primarily to aid my work in photoshop. More recently I started learning the program more in depth, so when Rob Dunlavey posted the Salomon Snowboard competition I incorporated the challenge as learning exercise. I had fun, Thanks Rob.

Lunar Eclipse Reminder

2008-02-20T19:54:24+00:00

Don't forget to step out side tonight.

The spectacle of a total lunar eclipse will lasts for about an hour from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. EST.

Helvetica the Movie.

2008-01-12T02:25:42+00:00

I noticed the title "Helvetica" while cherry picking trough the Netflix documentary film list. The movie commemorates the 50 year anniversary of the timeless type face. The director Gary Hustwit mixes clever pan shots of the type face in use with interesting interviews of prominent designers like Erik Spiekerman, Herman Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Lars Müller, David Carson, Massimo Vinelli, Paula Scher to name a few. Since it's inception in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Edi Hoffman for Haas Schriftgiesserei in Switzerland the type face took off and has become the worlds most visible font. Not without controversy, the purists among the designers who used solely "Helvetica" and the proponents of the type face make this documentary a very interesting movie to watch.

Snow Day

2008-01-02T02:35:01+00:00

This mornings first glance out the window said it all, Mother Nature had dished out a clean white blanket of snow for New Year's Day. Soon everything started to look like a big black and white etching. By early noon I could no longer contain myself, I had to go out and take some pictures of the quarter size snow flakes tumbling from the heavens. I constructed a camera shelter out of a plastic milk gallon container and mounted it with my Nikon Coolpix on the tripod. Just as I was set up and ready to shoot, I felt like I was in the right place at the right time.

A Christmas Tread

2007-12-22T22:37:17+00:00

My mom would start baking Christmas cookies about 4 weeks before Christmas. Soon the house would begin to smell of orange zest, cinnamon, toasted nuts and chocolate. As
these different aromas started wafting through the house, all of us kids would know that the countdown to Christmas had begun. She would produce up to 30 different kinds of cookies, all well researched from cookbooks and magazines. Some were multi-layered, others glazed with orange sugar glaze or filled with homemade marmalade, also coconut macaroons, vanilla kipferl, mini linzer tarts, hazel nut logs...the list goes on and on. If I think about it, I can't help myself but marvel and reminisce about how she baked them every year.
I regret that I didn't inherit the baker gene from her or have her cookie recipe box, however I lucked out by inheriting her cooking gene.
Here is my favorite holiday dessert. The flavors and texture in this dessert remind me of family holidays and the happy side of my childhood.

Have no fear, it's very easy to make:

- 6 peeled, cored and sliced in half pears (recommend Bosc, Bartlet or Anjou)
- 1 bottle of red wine ( any kind of red will do )
- 1/2 to 1 cup of granulated sugar ( I go easy on the sugar)
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 2 bay leafs, cloves, orange or lemon zest, ( let your inner holiday child guide you)

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Once the wine mixture is boiling, turn heat down to a simmer for about 20 minutes. If you started with juicy soft pears you're most likely done, check with knife if they are tender, if not give them another 10 minutes. Pour the pears into a bowl with the wine sauce, let cool down and hide them from two legged predators in the refrigerator. For the final dessert, move the pears to the dessert plate and reduce the wine sauce in your sauce pan. Add one scoop of vanilla ice-cream to each pear and pour the hot wine reduction over the ice-cream and the pear.

Drawgers, I wish you the very happiest of holidays. It’s been quite a year, and I’ve loved spending it with you.

Do you procrastinate?

2007-12-11T01:48:03+00:00

I did crash my hard drive on my laptop on Thanksgiving while showing some photographs to my photographer friend Roman. I also managed to procrastinate on an assignment for the WSJ
that was due the following Friday. Apple support was down to a skeleton crew and my hard drive started to make some funky noises that sounded like mechanical failure. After a few attempts at accessing the hard drive by using utility CD's and keyboard short keys, I caved in. In all these years I learnd how to add hard-drives, install expansion boards, upgrade modems etc. At this point it was all useless knowledge for repairing this next generation of laptop. There was just no way I would get my MacBook going on time and make the deadline. Heck there was my old G3 tucked away on my side desk. Lucky me, I had done some maintenance work about two weeks ago and the machine was purring like a kitten. I set the alarm clock for 3 o'clock the next morning and hit the hay around midnight on Thanksgiving day. I inked the illustration, scanned it and finished around 7:00 am with plenty of time to spare. Darn, I hate when I procastinate, because on the rare occasion that I do, I usally end up paying the price.

We grow'em, we pick'em and we carve'em

2007-10-31T04:14:19+00:00

Halloween marks the end of a long growing season in my garden. I had planted some crookneck squash, butternut squash, zucchinis, eggplant and pumpkins in early spring by sowing them from seed. The crookneck was supposed to grow into a nice little yellow squashes for stir-fries. The bees and mother nature had an entirely different plan, I soon noticed freakish orange looking pump-cinis and zuc-kin's growing in my raised beds, in addition the crookneck gourds turned into a leathery gourds. The damned gourds definitely had there own way of getti'n this Halloween started early. Over all I had a splendid garden year growing salads, raspberries, gooseberries, asparagus, 10 different heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, bok choi, swiss chard, leeks, beets, peppers and a wide variety of herbs. The strangest plants I planted this year had to be kiwi vines and wild ginseng. The most remembered dish this year was zucchini flower tempura.
Happy Halloween.

CLARK

2007-10-16T14:42:31+00:00

I have to admit I've been at O'Hare airport twice, but never in Chicago. Whenever I get an assignment from Chicago magazine I find myself doing a bit of research with books and on the internet with google. Here is the story: The writer would start walking "Clark" Street in the morning and pit stop all the way to Wrigley Field. With google map I found myself retracing the writers steps and realized that Clark cuts through Chicago like Broadway does in New York. This set the tone for this "on the go" food story. I found the "Crispy Chow-Mein Noodles" board in my collection and submitted two sketches incorporating the cardboards design. While inking the illustration I started to think, man this guy....hmm... he looks familiar. Ah, Yes! He is a fellow Drawger and he is originally from Chicago! It happens once in a while, I would sketch and subconsciously incorporate friends and family into my drawings. I think I even draw more beagles since we bought Daisy.

This story coincides with my 1 year anniversary here at Drawger.
Thanks again for Inviting me to Drawger mystery man.

Cider Day

2007-09-30T13:13:26+00:00

Here are some impressions from this glorious weekend of cider making at the Hitz house. If all goes well, by late December this batch should be hard cider. There are a few steps involved until the final product, and my intent is to do a more detailed follow up post.
Cheers

Forever

2007-09-07T22:06:03+00:00

For a parent of a newly minted 7th grader, this is the week when everything changes back to "normal". Yes, just a few months ago we blasted the house with the infamous Alice Cooper song "School's Out". We left for a vacation, made outdoor fires, road our bicycles, swam in the pool, had sleep overs and played video games past midnight. While summer breaks seam to go on forever life takes a more chaotic turn, it's a challenge to provide an eventful, relaxed summer for a pre-teenager. With labor day a distant memory we parents are wearing a smile at our sleeves and secretly highfiving our spouse. You can find us still humming that Alice Cooper song, duh with slightly altered lyrics: "SCHOOL'S BACK FROM SUMMER, SCHOOL'S BACK IN SESSION"

Now come on just sing along.

While summer lasted (forever) I heard this fabulous "Alice Cooper" interview by Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

Country Living; "The Alien Badonkadonk Episode"

2007-08-31T17:22:21+00:00

I wear sunglasses and earmuff's while cutting grass, my Kabota tractor is loud and smelly and the pollen and insects are at a constant buzz.
I find all kinds of things while hovering through my grassy kingdom on my orange throne. Things like: box turtles, baby deer, mice, bones, feathers, rare flowers, kids toys and burned out fireworks, you get the picture. At all times I'm prepared to stop, avoid or cut, leaving beneficial plants like milkweed standing for the next generation of monarch butterfly or stopping for big chunks of wood left by the spring flood. Around the house the grass is somewhat shorter, with the mower deck low, I keep a look out for strewn kids toys and stones peaking through the ground. I was just making my turns when I saw it first. My initial thought was, it's a deflated ball, as I got closer, a bread, a badonkadonk, an alien brain. At this point, I stopped and gave it the "Is It Dead Nudge" with my foot. Holy shitake, I found two giant mushrooms. I quickly secured my treasure and drove to the house. My online research confirmed my suspicion, I found a giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) or the Tofu of the grass meadow.

At this point my cooks heart started to beat a bit faster. I fond some advise on how to prepare a Giant Puffball on the net and proceeded to present my dinner plans to my family. My wife needed irrefutable proof to eat "That Thing" and my son Emmett's eyes got larger than the mushrooms and he uttered the words "Crazy Dad". Should I skip the plan? I wrapped the "Thing" in plastic and placed it in the refrigerator. The next day, I called Goldin: Hey dude, I found some mushrooms, wanna come for lunch? I would love to, but my car is busted. On that note, I knew I was on my own and started to heat the skillet.

I peeled the mushrooms skin, cut it like a loaf of bread, minced 3 large garlic cloves, 3 slices of bacon and picked about 20 sage leafs from my garden. By the time I hear the bacon bits sizzling, I added the garlic and sage leafs followed by the white slabs of mushroom. Soon the kitchen started filled up with an aroma that said lunch. What a heavenly combo, golden browned garlic with fried sage, bacon bits on "Tofu of the meadow" with a scoop of heirloom tomato salad.

Beach Book.

2007-08-18T01:02:16+00:00

Prior to leaving for a summer vacation, things got very busy at my studio. On the top of it, I had planted a large garden this spring and all the good stuff started to come in. By the time DG's and Edel's party approached,
my head started to swell on one side and I ended up doing a nice root canal surgery. In addition my clients have the uncanny ability to smell my plans to take off for a vacation.

I did pack the water colors, a sketch book and some pencils, thinking I'd do some sketches at the beach, read a book and play in the surf. After arriving on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, we got tickets to see "The Lost Colony" an outdoor play written by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, Paul Green. The play is now in it's 70th season, it is performed near the very site of the colonist's ill-fated settlement. The next day, I found the Islands book store and purchased 1491 by Charles Mann. His book has been on my radar for some time.

For the next couple of days I devoured 1491 on the beach, while visiting the the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, played with Emmett in the surf, ate grits and hush puppy's and trekked with my family to Ocracoke island for a fabulous lunch at the "Flying Melon".

1941 is superbly written. Charles Mann takes the most recent scientific revolutions from the fields of climatology, epidemiology, genetics, botany, economics, soil science and paints a compelling picture of the Americas before Columbus. A must read for any progressive history buff.

Mini Spots

2007-07-02T19:39:04+00:00

In January I got a phone call from Smart Money Magazine. The Art Director asked, a bit shy, for a spot drawing of a radiator. "Yes, can do!" I said, and I threw in an additional, cozy looking, sleeping, cat. The Art Director was happy to the extent of calling me a couple of month later and giving me a bimonthly mini spot assignment called; "10 Things You need to know about Wedding Planners, Plastic Surgeons, Pest Control, etc." You get the Idea.

In Memoriam

2007-06-08T01:58:55+00:00

PAUL DEGEN 1941-2007

The phone would ring and the voice on the other side would say something like "Stoeff, next week I'm in your neighborhood" just like Mars returns eventually to Earth every 4 years or so, Paul Degen would drop by. He stayed with me in Zürich for a few weeks. We'd hook up a few times in New York. As I'm typing this I realize he was just 6 years younger than my mom. It's hard to fathom getting a phone call out of the blue from a mutual friend and hearing the sad news that Paul Degen passed away after complications of a second surgery in Basel, Switzerland on May 30th.
Paul started his illustrator career as an apprentice in the lithography studio of Wassserman AG in Basel while attending the Basel Collage of Commercial Art. Soon afterwards, he was working in the graphic studio run by Theo Ballmer and the Académie Julien in Paris. After returning to Basel he worked as a free-lance graphic artist for Herbert Leupin, Celestino Piatti, Fritz Bühler and the Eidenbenz Studio. (Swiss all star designers). By 1970 he was drawn to New York, where he produced over 30 covers for the New Yorker, countless illustrations for Harper's, Esquire, Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times
His conceptual mixed media illustrations radiate humor and charm. Paul was always on the go. He traveled the world and became a bon vivant. His next adventure was to travel in a bus through China following an antique car race. I will miss his juggler skills, his grin while playing backgammon, his illustrations, a friend and mentor and above all his adventures spirit.

Light Line

2007-06-01T16:10:00+00:00

After the initial shock of finding one of my favorite camera, thepolaroid SX70, in Lou Brooks "Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies" I decided to mount a nostalgic galley show with some of my experimental stuff from the cameras hay days. Once the camera was secured on a tripod I was able to paint with a ruby laser for about 14 seconds, resulting into these longtime exposed polaroid photos . At the time the camera was a favorite among designers and illustrators like David Hockney. Somehow looking over my polaroids I liked the similarities of the wire like line with Alex Murawaski's resent sketchbooks.

Stoner

2007-05-14T00:22:43+00:00

While replanting the garden and several fruit trees I also did some stone work. Last year we had to redrill the well and the big drillrig left a marred yard with an unsightly wellhead sticking out next to my garden. I loaded some stones into my pickup truck and started building a stone well cover. The Catskills are famous for the granite, blue stone and stone walls. Stone work is part of your garden, because 50% of your dirt is rock. It turns out to be a great medium to create art. Here a a few local samples: David Goldin,
Opus40, Andy Goldsworthy. A small well cover takes several hours to construct with plenty of time to think. In the midst of the construction my mind started to wander and suddenly I was about climb my rock pile, just like the rock heaps on the top of the Swiss
mountains as a young boy. Later on, by chance I started to look through my photo album and found the perfect memory link.

Online Bully

2007-04-16T01:00:32+00:00

The editor had an idea "A bully coming out of the monitor" she said. Marla called me for the first time from Atlanta Magazine. Since she was a new client and I figured I'd just throw in a few smart ideas and the "monitor idea" will be shelved, so I thought. I ended up sending two final versions, the magazine chose the card board version.
I'm off to jury duty this week, the fun never ends.

The Story excerpt:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”Nothing could be further from the truth for the nation’s 13 million victims of cyberbullying—the act of intimidating, humiliating, or threatening others via email, instant messaging, chatrooms, online networking sites, or text messaging. In this age of communication and connectedness, escaping the onslaught of cruelty is not as easy as outrunning some tough guy looking to
steal your milk money.

Change is good.

2007-04-12T21:05:22+00:00

Since today is Earth Day why not stopping by at Daryl Hannah's very cool V-blog? This is great content folks.

My studio fits into my "Rucksack"

2007-04-08T20:31:34+00:00

I had a crazy busy week with a plan to leave for Long Island by Friday afternoon. Wednesday morning I got a call from Barron's saying that the story had changed and they just needed an additional illustration. The additional Illustration started to infringe on my scheduled departure time that I tried to keep in sync with my family. I had finished my Barron's assignment and had yet another approved drawing due Monday for the Wall Steet Journal. By noon I packed my Wacom tablet , the scanner and my MacBook Pro into my backpack and off we went. By Saturday afternoon I found a quiet room, connected my computer, streamed in my favorite radio station and finished the assignment. I can't tell you how many times I packed the car with computer equipment just to make the deadline over a holiday and still get some quality time with my family. Packing my "Rucksack" studio was a cinch, having time to paint some easter eggs with the kids was time well spend..

Happy Easter

Idea Bubble

2007-03-14T13:26:53+00:00

After I e-mailed the finallized Illustration to the magazine, I got a phone call from the Art Director telling me that he was sorry and my illustration wasn't going to run. The story had evolved into a personality story and portrait photo was chosen. I was pissed for about 30 minutes, not because it was canceled, but because I liked the concept. Then I decidet crisis equals oportunity and turned the file into a texture / background test.

The Story
For the past few years Yahoo has found itself struggling against small startups to build the best next-generation Web features, tools, and social platforms. Now Yahoo is trying to tap its inner startup with a new teams of inovators, the whole effort is led by a genuine star of the Web 2.0 movement, Caterina Fake, who co-founded the innovative photo-sharing site Flickr. Yahoo would like to reclaim the reputation for Web innovation that Google has usurped in recent years.

Heart Rate

2007-03-05T03:13:52+00:00

The next gym is about 30 minutes by car and since my New York City speed walking days are over, I mix my cardiovascular exercise between roller skating, jogging and bicycling, depending on the season. This time of the year, I do laps with my cross country skies for about a 30 minutes a day.Last week we had a #10 day, blue sky and nice fresh snow, I figured I bring the camera and You guys along my route to the endof my patch and back. Also, I made a small gallery of unusal Winter photos send to me by my friends Garance and John.

Visual Double Check

2007-03-02T17:48:06+00:00

I found the Herder Symbol Dictionary a couple of years ago in New York City's best kept secret "The Cloisters Museum". It wasn't love at first sight, it had a medieval or "too historic" vibe to it. I never suspected this book being at the front of useful books on my bookshelf for so many years. With more than a thousand entries of symbols from art, archaeology, mythology, literature and religion this little book helped me find a different angle many times. The cross cultural information makes this pocket book a life saver while cooking up ideas under a tight deadline. For all of You who dabble with symbolism, I highly recommend this alternative view point . ISBN 0-933029-03-9

Valentine's or Valentina Day?

2007-02-14T16:45:43+00:00

Valentine's Day floral purchases by gender: 65% are made by men; 35% by women. Of rose-only purchases: 74% are made by men; 26% by women.

Stay warm travel safe and have a happy Valentin... Day. Zimm, Thanks for the pink.
I have to dig out the driveway in a while, love never ends....

Section Cover for the Boston Globe

2007-02-12T14:53:26+00:00

While I'm getting this article ready to upload, my studio radio tuned to WAMC, reports on the recent layoffs at the Boston Globe and the decline of quality reporting in general.The business travel story reflects on the airlines mediocre service to the business community
and happens to be my first illustration for the Boston Globe.

I was hoping the art director would send me a tear sheet or the entire section. The day I send the file out, Boston was inundated with "Art Terrorists" and my request got lost in the inbox. I did ask Robert Dunlavey to scan his recycle bin and forward the tear sheet.
Drawger to the rescue, Thanks again Rob.

CAR-TOON

2007-02-02T19:54:10+00:00

I did add some cartoon sketches to my gallery and I colorized this sketch for You my feathered Drawger friends.

Icing

2007-02-01T16:50:21+00:00

Emmet and I cleared the snow dusting of the pond and got it ready for skating. After the temperatures finally dropped for a several days without any snow falling on it, we got nearly perfect 5 inches of black ice! I consoled the internet, double checked, no triple checked, on the ice thickness temperature etc. and I talk to the kids about ice safety. We have a second pond right behind this one and it is fed by a small but steady stream, resulting in a very uneven freeze because of the current. So, my fellow Drawgers bring Your skates and hockey sticks this Saturday afternoon we will serve hot coco.

A greener Wal-Mart.

2007-01-29T15:48:40+00:00

This Business Week illustration did run about 2 weeks ago. I wanted the colors to look like a a sun bleached color photo print.

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, unveiled a new store that could revolutionize how the company builds and powers their stores. The experimental design combines a host of renewable energy technologies including numerous solar PV arrays, wind turbines, a bio-fuel boiler to recycle and burn recovered oil from store operations.

A Manure Plan

2007-01-17T00:12:11+00:00

Last winter after cleaning out the stable I noticed some green plants peeking out from underneath a foot of snow. After a investigation with a pitch fork I found a bunch of weeds growing in midsts of winter with their roots cozy warmed by the composting wood shavings and horse manure. All summer long I have been eating from my garden that I started from seed for the first time this year. By early October I realized, I wasn't quite ready to give up my salad section of the garden. After a little research in my gardening books I found a cold frame solution with a composting heat source. With a few left over bricks and an old glass door at hand, I dug out my raised bed filled it up withthe magic mix and toped it of with some fresh soil and built a rectangular cold frame on the top of it. The pond has frozen a few times, yet this has been one of the mildest winter so far.
I had plans to test the cold frame idea with at least a foot of snow.
In an eerie sense I feel lucky growing lettuce in January.

Lucky me I found some delicious Illoz in my spice rack. It makes salad taste even better. ;)

Collective Sketching

2007-01-05T21:20:29+00:00

I found this wonderful site last week.
In a far sense it's a online version of cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution.
SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the users. The site generates randomly a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. The collective is sketching what the collective thought was important last week. A new sketch begins after one week, or after the previous sketch reaches one thousand lines, whichever comes first.

It's fun and "borg" at the same time.

Santas melt down.

2006-12-23T23:06:01+00:00

A few years ago I came across an article that said that a new, all year shipping route had been established through the northern hemisphere and that the poles are melting. I drew this cartoon just to get acquainted with the idea that all of our Santa stories need to be rewritten if the north pole melts. After all these years reading about global warming etc. I finally managed to see Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" a week a go. With the real possibility of the poles melting, I'm not so sure if I'm still amused by my foresight. In the new year I will make a bigger effort to reduce my familys carbon footprint.

Happy Holidays - Meditate don't medicaid

Last minute x-mas shopping groove.

2006-12-19T14:43:02+00:00

Last minute x-mas shopping groove.

This book would makes a great x-mas gift, since so many of You are into music and art. The book by Eric Kohler is great collection of vintage record covers from the forties to the sixties. I do remember seeing some of theses covers at flea markets or at my parents house, to find them all compiled in one book is a tread. Eric Kohler brakes "In the Groove" down to designers, starting with: Alex Steinweiss, Jim Flora,Robert Jones,David Stone Martin and many more. The book is available at amazon for less than twenty bucks. The density of visual information found in this book gets me in the groove every time.

CLAUS

2006-12-07T14:40:50+00:00

December 7th is old Saint Nick Day in the old country. I'm back to school learning how to get my old animated gifs to work in this new CSS world. CLAUS was initially published as a small booklet produced from of a single 11x17 sheet of paper. Form conception to finish I had about 6 days. The gif you see on Your screen represents just about the original double page size. In the print version the snow was printed with a random splash of glistening varnish. "CLAUSNOST" is the only page that I removed to keep it more timely.

I'm very bad in reading a tutorial and create new art work at the same time, so please forgive me for playing with my old artwork.

I can't wait to hear all Your CLAUS versions...

Sightings

2006-12-04T15:28:00+00:00

Aliens and Monsters, this one is for J.D.& David and all the Drawgers.
Santa madness is coming soon to this site...

Ego

2006-12-01T20:29:09+00:00

I added some cartoon submissions to my site. I produced about 60 cartoon sketches in a 2 month time span. I still consider these roughs and not the final inked versions.
I did a few ink test back in 2005 and I don't like them anymore. Lately I'm thinking illustrator, just because the program is never lose. A perverted Idea ?

I hope everyone out in Drawgerland cracks a smile today.

Cheers

Cookbook for Linzie

2006-11-26T21:05:53+00:00

Linzie helped me patch a big gaping hole in my cildhood memory with one of her kidsbook postings. Thanks again Linzie, this one is for You.

I found this cookbook on a shelf in a dusty old factory. The Esquire cook book for man was published in 1955 by McGraw Hill. The book is illustrated by Bill Charmatz. He did a couple of 4 color partition pages and a ton of 2 color illustrations that alternate the spot color as the print form changes. Bill's illustrations have a great mix between humor and graphical whim that keep me entertained up to this day. Bill Charmatz died last year at the age of 80 years. He graced the magazine and book world with his illustrations for a half a century. The Society of Illustrators is hosting a memorial show in his honor this December in New York City.

The hardcover book has roughly 300 pages, that are designed with great typographical care using classical type faces like Futura, Bodoni and Garamond. The Art Director did a great job designing the book by giving the roughly 80 Charmatz illustrations plenty of space to breath. Some of the recipies list the restaurant where the dish was served. Finding
the book with some notes and clippings from the previous owner adds a personal value to this treasure.

Show Down.

2006-11-18T22:44:08+00:00

I don't like seasonal decorations. I always think of it as a bourgeois thing to do. This year I realized that the art shows in which the curator sends a wooden box, plastic cow, polyester frog etc. and one is encouraged to artwork it then return it for a a show at the mall or at a swank embassy is similar to carving a pumpkin or decorating an easter eggs. Carving a pumpkin has become a substitution for a rutabaga lantern carving tradition I used to do as a kid in Switzerland. Halloween replaced the Zurich artist carnival that originated in the Dada years. Cooking a turkey is just another day in the kitchen while family and friends are coming over. Hey Zina, what time did You say You are going to be here? Goldin don't forget the Pavarotti CD, Nancy a pumpkin pie is just fine.....yes,yes You are all invited.... so get ready for Turkey week...... and don't be afraid to bring out the seasonal bourgeois decorations.

Global, gobble,gobble....

Mother Load.

2006-11-12T15:53:25+00:00

Over the last couple of years Mother Jones Magazine has become
one of my favorite magazines to work for. The nonprofit magazine covers a wide range of political, economical and environmental stories.
Since what will be said and what will be left out is in the hand of stock holders and advertisers for so many of our national publications,
Mother Jones Magazine has managed to stay a strong independant voice. The Magazine ise a haven for great journalists, photographers and
Illustrators who are finding their articles and images published where the big magazines simply had to decline the topic.
Mother Jones won a 2001 National Magazine Award for General Excellence.
I love working for this publication and above all I love great articles.

See Tim run

2006-11-05T11:44:50+00:00

Don' t forget to check in on the progress of todays Drawger hero Tim O'Brien.Yes, today is NYC Marathon Sunday. Look for the American Deena Kastor in the women's division, the Italian Stefano Baldini in the mens division, South African Ernest Van Dyk in the wheeler division and our very own Tim O'Brien in the drawger division.

Have a great race. Go, Tim go!!!!

The NBC broadcast will begin at 9:00 a.m.

His bib number is 21173

My first promotion card.

2006-11-03T18:22:07+00:00

The Korean deli downstairs had stacked the old boxes by
cutting them into sizable chunks for the trash. I noticed all the interesting prints on the boxes, animals, oriental lettering etc. I started painting with gouache on these chunks of cardboard. The color xerox at the time looked like hell. The guy at "Jellybean"
wanted a fortune for highend prints. So I decided to send them out, one postcard at the time. Until a photographer friend of mine had mercy on me and took a color negative picture with his Sinar camera. I had about 100 c-prints made and mounted them on card stock. Something about this image seamed to resonate with the art directors, this image got me about 20 jobs.
The art directors liked the art until they found out that the corrugated cardboard couldn't be mounted on a
scanner drum. It was the year 1985 just at the dawn of postscript.

Yellow Mellow

2006-10-26T01:05:42+00:00

With the days getting shorter and the holidays coming up,
I figured I'd share this recipe page with you. It's easy to do,
and the chances are your guests will think you are a 4 star cook.
I did the layout and Illustration about 2 years ago with a grand
plan to turn it into funky cookbook. Then life threw me
a curveball, my mother died in Switzerland and I had my son
in the hospital being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes type 1 all
in the same week. It changed everything in an instant in my house.
Fast forward.
My son is doing well, he got his black belt in karate last spring
and he is back in school while hooked up to a life saving beeper sized
insulin pump.
The cook book project stays shelved for now since I have
a rather large list of computer programs to revisit over the winter.

I count my blessing and hope you get to share this chicken
recipie (PDF) with friends.

IF FRIENDS DON�T let friends drive drunk, should cars?

2006-10-19T17:04:42+00:00

Here is a recent Business Week spot assignment.
Cars with build in alcohol breathalyzer!
Turn around time can be extremely fast.
I was lucky the Art Director picked my favorite
for the final.

Leafs, Sticks and Frost. Homage to Andy Goldsworthy

2006-10-17T00:34:33+00:00

This year I had started all my plants from seeds for the first time.
I didn't think I would derive so much joy and inspiration out my
garden from spring until now. The first frost had set in just a couple of days ago and I find myself working outside. Every day I spend about an hour or so closing out
the garden or splitting fire wood. This year, I stared noticing how
the frost incased and burst the stems on my Marigolds, how fast the leafs desaturated
once they lay on the ground. The Frost had set the wheels of change into motion, mother nature
was getting ready for the big white blanket. The signs are everywhere. More so I ask myself: "Since when are You interested in how the Marigolds die, or frost lingers along with the fall shadows ?"
I was able to trace my steps back to last winter when my wife rented the movie "Rivers and Tides" about the artist Andy Goldsworthy and his work.
It's lasting impression had caught up with me and came to full circle.

Renting the full version at Netflix is the way to go. Here is the
YouTube snipped.

Cartoons...

2006-10-10T23:26:25+00:00

Here is my second set of reject New Yorker cartoons. I'm glad I got J.D. King laughing all the way up north in the Adirondacks with my first set. For know I hope You are all entertained with my second set. Cheers

Fellow Reject's

2006-10-06T16:28:11+00:00

I see, I come to the right place. Since the fire is raging behind the stage of Drawger, I figured I bring my own lamp oil. The plan was to get in the back door at the New Yorker. About a year ago, I started submitting several set's of cartoons. Here is my first set. Enjoy

Fun Summer

2006-10-05T14:59:59+00:00

It's been said that Illustratiors are lonley somtimes turning into total recluses. It's true it's a solitary profession. This summer, lucky me, I had some visitors, I ended up giving them a quick tutorial and let them play with Photo Booth. In return, I ended up with proof that I'm only a partial recluse.

emmett

Time

2006-10-01T16:04:37+00:00

Hello, It's great to be among familiar faces from the past. I remember Zimm, JD and Mark from way back at 7-Day's and OS 4.5. I met with Robert and Leo in Boston, had one fine day about a two years ago with Elwood across the river. Spending most of my time in a remote location behind my drawing table and computer. I can see DRAWGER filling the the void of time and geographical space. I can't wait to play idea ping pong on this site. Cheers, Christoph To Do List (Note to myself) Split more wood for the winter, replace bad hey bails in the barn, take Emmett roller skating, freeze extra kale, get sketches ready for monday, migrate data to new computer, update my website

Very first time....

2006-10-01T15:52:06+00:00