SECRET(ly) AGENT(leman)

Mot-dièse! A spot about using Twitter in France for Wired. Who...

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:55:14 -0400

Mot-dièse! A spot about using Twitter in France for Wired. Who better to dance nonchalantly with wine service for two on their head than a french computer?

Great illustrations. do a comic dude or something like that.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:24:42 -0400

Thanks very much!

I am totally working on it. Should be comics in the near future for sures! One called “Doom Cannon” and another called “Double Cross”. Keep your peepers a-peepin!

Last (and sexiest) in that series of running spots for Wired. I...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:43:06 -0400

Last (and sexiest) in that series of running spots for Wired. I know the ol’ anchor tattoo is a little played out, but I totally think that dude would rock one of those non-ironically.

Another piece from the same series for Wired! A snowman in a...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:57:41 -0400

Another piece from the same series for Wired! A snowman in a derby, moon-boots, and bright orange leggins? Yes.

One of 3 spot illustrations about themed running events for...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:19:18 -0400

One of 3 spot illustrations about themed running events for Wired.

Portrait of Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan of The Joy...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:33:51 -0400

Portrait of Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan of The Joy Formidable for the New Yorker! Thanks Jordan!

OH! Also, there’s a giant robot.

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:44:22 -0400

OH! Also, there’s a giant robot.

Other Doom Cannon characters (see previous post)! I had the most...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:32:44 -0400

Other Doom Cannon characters (see previous post)! I had the most fun noodling around with these guys.

These are some character drawings I did a little while back for...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:17:23 -0400

These are some character drawings I did a little while back for a project I’m working on! It’s called Doom Cannon, and it’s kind of a riff on teen robot pilot cartoons (Voltron, Evangelion, etc). Like most illustration types, I think character design is one of the best parts of the job. I’ll probably throw a bunch of these up here!

Hey! Remember these guys? Duh dut duh dut dah dut duh duh dut...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:00:03 -0400

Hey! Remember these guys? Duh dut duh dut dah dut duh duh dut dahhhh!

your avatar is outdated.

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:28:19 -0400

It’s vintage!

wanna hug~?~

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:02:59 -0400

Sure, I’m into it! So long as you don’t get your pepperonis all over me.

Also, some details on that jam! Vicious times my friends,...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:54:45 -0400

Also, some details on that jam! Vicious times my friends, vicious goblin slaying lady-times.

Remember that post I did about composition a couple weeks ago?...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:51:18 -0400

Remember that post I did about composition a couple weeks ago? Well this is the drawing I built on top of that mess. It’s about a dragon butcher and his daughters. They fight off goblins while he carves up choice cuts of sweet sweet dragon meats.

It’s for the Lady Knights/Women Warriors zine put together by my pals Abby Boeh, Roxie Vizcarra, and Julia Scott! It’ll be available at MoCCA this year, April 6th through the 7th. There are so many top flight illustrators in it! Go get it and soak in all of the badass lady-action!

Working on some layouts for a mod themed poster! Some bits of...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:45:19 -0400

Working on some layouts for a mod themed poster! Some bits of these are loosey goosey, but I thought it might be nice to peep them out. I’m probably going to land on something completely different in the end. Have a sweet art peepin’ day, art peepers!

Oh, whoops! I forgot to post the final version of that Prince...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:29:57 -0400

Oh, whoops! I forgot to post the final version of that Prince piece I did for the New Yorker! Dear Prince, you are the greatest ever. Thank you so much for endless impossible amounts of radness. The end.

your compositions are really fun and dynamic is there anything you do in your process that helps you come up with them?

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:56:19 -0500

Well, I’m working on a piece right now that’s got a lot going on in it composition-wise. I’m by no means an expert on this sort of thing, and the fast answer is that I move things around till they look good! This is a sample of my super rough compositional under-drawing/sketch. A few things I try to keep in mind are: Avoid a lot of boring parallel lines. Take advantage of not just the x & y axis but also use z to create a little depth and make the foreground middle ground and background separate. Frame the piece in by directing the eye toward the important parts of the piece and not off the page. Try to take advantage of the real estate on your page but don’t clutter it up. Design the page overall first and then think about details (I have no idea what these people really look like yet. No costume details etc). Don’t make too many same-size things (it stagnates your composition). Don’t be afraid to crop things and do it in interesting ways. Do lots of thumbnail sketches. Don’t get too precious about certain areas of your drawing. Be willing to change it completely until it looks right to you. Draw a whole bunch all the time until you get it. It clicks eventually. I think good composition is one of the hardest bits. Once mine got a little better and I stopped doing puppet show looking stuff my work improved a ton.

Hope this was a little helpful! I don’t usually write a bunch of silly notes on my sketches. They’re just there to show you how I’m thinking about the diagonal lines and sizes of stuff in the piece so far!

Thanks for writing!

—->d.

Currently working on an illustration of Prince for the New...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:29:26 -0500

Currently working on an illustration of Prince for the New Yorker! This is not the one they’ll be running, but I was really digging it so I thought I’d share. I’ll post the completely different equally fun final version after it goes to print! I’m pretty stoked about this job because Prince is on constant playlist rotation in my studio.

And here are the final pieces! M-m-m-m-moooovie people.

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:13:14 -0500

And here are the final pieces! M-m-m-m-moooovie people.

Here are a bunch of sketch options I did for a bit about Oscar...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:11:13 -0500

Here are a bunch of sketch options I did for a bit about Oscar votes in this past weeks Entertainment Weekly. The idea was to present the mystery and drama surrounding the voting process for academy members. These are pretty rough (also a crazy fast turn around), but I thought it might be fun to share how many different incarnations these one had at the preliminary stage! Thanks very much to Dennis Huynh and EW! Woosh!