Has anyone used ADBASE? and What do you think?
Posted by Roberto Parada at 2:55 pm on September 23rd
Just wondering if anyone out there has used ADBASE? and what kind of feedback you might have from using it. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about it.
Wishful Drinking
Posted by Roberto Parada at 3:48 pm on July 10th
Carrie Fisher has had some real ups and downs in her life but no one could illustrate it with as much charm, wit and gut busting humor like she can. She has put together an incredible one woman show highlighting all of her "lowlights" like an Ivy league professor making a power point presentation. The play titled "Wishful Drinking" has had a run in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and is coming to DC to be performed as part of The Arena Stage Festival this fall.
Scott Mires of Mires Ball gave me a call and asked if I'd be interested in illustrating the poster art for "Wishful Drinking". I rarely get opportunities to do poster art so I was all too willing to take part in this project. I had a chance to read the script sent to me by publications director for Arena Stage, Cathleen Tefft. It was so brilliant and self deprecating I didn't want it to end. The image had to highlight what brought her to fame and not exactly prominence - Star Wars. I proposed the idea of her, Darth Vader , C3PO and R2D2 all having stiff drinks and a smoke in a booth at Sardi's. Is this how Luke learned "The Ways of the Force"? I'd like to think so.
Napoleon's Privates
Posted by Roberto Parada at 12:04 pm on June 24th
When Richard Aquan, from Haper Collins called me last fall and asked me if I would do a cover for a book titled "Napoleon's Privates, 2500 Years of History Unzipped" I thought it was too good to be true. Tony Perrottet , historian/journalist wrote this very entertaining historical guide. It's everything you wanted to know about history but were too afraid to ask. I rarely get the opportunity to work on book covers so I'm hoping AD's in the Book publishing world will notice this one.
The Rivalry Rekindled
Posted by Roberto Parada at 1:25 pm on June 11th
It's been a while since I've posted or commented on Drawger, I've become quite distracted with the new house and life by the water. It has a way of hypnotizing you. However, I'm committed to get back to posting more often.
Last week I got a call from the LA Times to do a cover Illustration for the NBA Finals supplement. The twist was to recreate the famous Bird/Magic photo from Andrew Bernstein. It was a classic photo from the Bird/Magic match up in the 1984 finals. Derek Simmons, the deputy Design Director asked me if I could recreate the spirt of the photo with Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce. With a quick turnaround and an odd size I got right to work. I had a few issues to start with - the clothing the faces and how big do I make it. I had to go big (24x45) even though at times it can make the painting go faster( i like to work with bigger brushes) it's not the most practical size for me to photograph. I have to do it in a lot of pieces then put it together in photoshop.
I finished the painting in just under 3 days (with a sore neck) and managed to get a file of the painting out amid a tornado warning, a lightning storm and 60 mile an hour winds. I was on the edge in a matter of speaking. Power Outages are most unwelcome. I can still vividly remember the NY Blackout of 03. The Heat! The Heat!
I'm rooting for the Lakers even though I'm not a big fan of Kobe. I Just can't bring my Yankee DNA to route for anything Boston. I was glad to see last night that they got back into the series.
The Best Advice of All Time
Posted by Roberto Parada at 5:02 pm on August 23rd
I wish I had the best advice of all time to give to ya'll but all I could come up with is "if someone offers to buy you a round of drinks you don't turn them down".
April Bell at Money Magazine asked me to come up with an illustration that would work as a spread which included Warren Buffet, Ben Franklin, Picasso, Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Coco Channel, Peter Lynch and the often photographed, Confusious. The only pretext I had to work with is that Buffet would be the star giving the best advice of all time, and everyone was listening. Capturing the moment -- that's how I saw it. It was the first assignment from Money magazine for me in some years. I'm glad they gave me this opportunity to help me pay my new mortgage off. Well... at least a good start.
Ben and Pablo
Warren making hand gestures
Harry
Peter Lynch, who must have been a first cousin of Warhol
Home by the Sea
Posted by Roberto Parada at 2:26 pm on July 30th
I haven't lived in one place for more than 2 years in the last 10. Moving has become second nature to me, but not because I like it, but because life has been so damn unpredictable and situations kind of forced me to move. One of the greatest things the John Lennon ever wrote was "Life is what happens when your making plans".
After getting married to Sarah in May we were finally ready to get a house. We've lived in apartments for long enough that we really couldn't wait around any longer. We had saved enough and it was time to look for a house to buy. The market place for homes has been good for buyers these days. Some deals to be had. Since relocating to the DC area a little more than a year ago I never felt quite enamored with the city the way I felt about Manhattan. I've always loved Manhattan but it was a place I could no longer afford. DC wasn't much better but it's easy to love NYC and I was indifferent about the capital. But I always heard about how great the little Navy town of Annapolis, Maryland is, which is about 45 minutes northeast of DC. Lots of sailboats, seafood and Chesapeake coastline. So Sarah and I decided to go check it out. We went with our realtor, Jackie, to check out some houses. The first couple of houses sucked. Then we hit jackpot. A beautifully located property a block away from the beach with a beautifully stylish house with a lot of character. We closed on the house last Thursday and we'll be moving in this weekend. It's home now and I think I'll be staying a while.
the view from the parking lot to the water
My wife Sarah on our new porch swing
The front door
the first level view
another view of the first level
kitchen on the first level
staircase leading up to the 3rd level(with views of the beach)
master bedroom on the 3rd floor
I'll set my studio up here. it's a 14 by 14 with views of the beach
back of the house. it has a balcony on the 3rd level that leads to a roof patio deck
the view from the roof patio deck. This is where I'll be drinking my morning coffee(when it's not raining)
Der Spiegel and the Superhero's
Posted by Roberto Parada at 11:28 am on July 23rd
I've had the pleasure of working with Der Spiegel Magazine and Stefan Kiefer in Germany for almost a decade. In these times cover art is not in demand a whole lot but Der Spiegel utilizes it very prominently. Like all cover art it will more often then not be filed away and not used, as my friend, Tim O' Brien, has talked about in past posting. So every now and then I get lucky and this week they ran my Der Spiegel cover.
Commander-in-Chief?
Posted by Roberto Parada at 6:30 pm on July 16th
Commander in Chief?
There is this great photo by Stanley Tretick, of JFK jr. at play under President Kennedy's desk. It's an iconic photo but it provided me with a great metaphor for today's Commander-in-Chief.
I submitted the idea to David Harris at Vanity Fair for the "Sketchbook" column and they liked it and published it in this month's Vanity Fair.
The Spoon That Rocks!
Posted by Roberto Parada at 9:27 pm on June 18th
The band SPOON
Some of the recent posts have been about the music everyone is listening to and I've thoroughly enjoyed the suggestions.
Well, I have one but it hasn't actually come out yet. Guess what? you can hear it on a website (for free). I can appreciate a band that has that much confidence in their music to let you hear it all before you buy it. The band is SPOON and they hail from Austin, Texas (Burckhardt land). The new album which hasn't been released in the stores or on Itunes yet is GaGaGaGaGa and you can hear the entire album and sample it to your hearts desire at
Spoon is a great rock and roll band and they make some of the most catchy and melodic music out there. I love all their records and If you like this one you'd be sure like their whole catalog of work.
The song that I really dig is "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" ... It's a pop gem.
Poker Despots
Posted by Roberto Parada at 10:04 am on June 18th
The Reader's Digest were doing a feature on "The World's Most Dangerous Leaders" and asked me to illustrate a high stakes poker game with Kim Jong Il (North Korea), Bashar Al Assad (Syria), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran) and Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) playing for warheads. I'd have to say if the title read "The World's Most Dangerously Stupid Leaders" you know who would have been on that list. The Digest may have a different point of view but I can agree with them on these guy. I originally had drawn them with more jovial expressions thinking it would create a bit more of a sociopathic irony with all of the warhead winnings on the table. The folks at the Digest thought otherwise. They wanted them with a more serious and engaged expression. Can't win them all. Either way it still worked out to be a fun assignment.
