The Crying Show (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition)

CLEAR YOUR CALENDARS FOR THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010! This day, (8:00/7:00c) my episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be airing, on ABC! Set your DVRs, VCRs, Tivos, tripods with a camera, or whatever you have to to be sure not to miss it!

Back in November, I was contracted to create a mural for a young girl who's into theatre. It was a rigorous process to concept, draw, ink, color, and email (yes, email!) the final result to be install in just ONE week. All of it was worth it, though, because I hear the house turned out beautifully!

Working for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EMHE) was truly and exhilarating experience. The show really does take place over a week timeline (assembly in 72 hours), making the sketch-to-finish process a major challenge. Although the project was stressful at times, I'm excited to have had the opportunity to work with EMHE to give a family the home of their dreams and I can't wait to see the expressions on their faces.

In case you miss it (and you better not) or you just want to watch it over and over again (better idea!), you'll be able to find it for all your viewing pleasure on ABC's website.

Oh, and I almost forgot; the special guest hosts are pretty spectacular!

Front Runners New York Annual Report 2010

Annual Report season is upon us. I was asked by my running club, Front Runners New York, to create a cover for their first published annual report, to be released in February. It ended up being a little more work than I anticipated; after submitting four concept sketches, I was asked to create two of the images, instead of one.

I was touched that all the sketches went over so well, but I was working down to the deadline to get it all together. The image above is the image for the cover and below in an image for the interior. I'm really happy the way they turned out; as I attempted a new technique.

Usually, I draw a piece entirely by hand and color it digitally. I've been working more and more on the computer these days (designing websites, layouts, etc.) and graphic elements have already begun to appear in my work. It was only a matter of time before I gave them a larger role in a piece. It seems like a such natural step forward for me.

The foregrounds are created the way I traditionally work, while backgrounds are created entirely in Illustrator (with the exception of a few added textures fo' flava). There's still a few kinks to work out in the process, (and I'm already looking at these pieces seeing how I could have done them better) but I'm really happy with the approach and am excited to work this way in the future.

I love the cover (above). The image wraps around the front and the back of the report, so that it is actually square. I was really wanted to make sure I made it a representation of both the city and the park, since they're both so present in each run we do. Since the background takes up such little space in the image, it was great to have a second image, where the opposite was true.



This piece was originally planned for the cover, also, but I think I liked it better as a landscape. It just had a nicer flow to it. The additional space for the roadway opened it up more and made it feel freer. I'll have to have to post the sketches so you can decide for yourself. It looks great inside the report, though. (I've been lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the whole report, designed by Sandi Rowe. I'd share it with you, but then I'd have to kill you...). Actually, the whole report looks AMAZING! I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy. I'm so glad I could contribute this year.